2 A TRIP TO MT, PENRISSEN, SARAWAK. 



hospitality offered to us by the gentlemen then in charge of the 

 Government coffee-estate at that place. Profiting by our expe- 

 rience we exchanged next day one of our heavy boats with its 

 Malay crew for two lighter boats with crews of Land-Dyaks ; 

 these men are experts in the art of poling up against a strong 

 and shallow stream and the women are not far behind the men. 

 It was amusing to hear our new recruits coaching our Malay 

 crews, the latter though secretly acknowledging the superiority 

 of their advisers as polers were too rroud to take advice in any 

 form from those they considered in every other respect beneath 

 their notice. With such valuable additions to our forces we 

 proceeded up stream at a fair pace ; the scenery was lovely, 

 precipitous walls of limestone carved by the weather into every 

 imaginable shape, rose high on either side. Their summits were 

 clothed with a dense growth of trees and creepers, which in 

 places almost roofed in the narrow channel up which we moved ; 

 the river itself here rippling over shallows or dashing through 

 rocky gateways, there running calm and still under an overhang- 

 ing cliff, ever added fresh beauty and interest to the scene. At 

 night we tied up opposite the village of turgor, and slept in 

 the boats ; an early start was made next morning and by mid- 

 day, we arrived at Pankalan Ampat, thus completing the 

 first stage of our journey. From here we dispatched messengers 

 to the neighbouring village of Sennah, and in the evening had a 

 visit from the Pengara and his youthful son. Thanks to a formi- 

 dable looking " surat" from the Resident of Sarawak, we met 

 with little difficulty in arranging the important matter of carriers, 

 and were able next day to dispatch the heavy baggage to 

 Sennah, following leisurely ourselves by river, preferring this 

 to the dangers of a Land Dyak road with its picturesque 

 though fragile bamboo bridges slung over nasty-looking places 

 where a fall meant a broken bone or two. 



On arrival at Sennah we were met with a cordial welcome 

 by the Orang Kaya and conduc:ed to the chief house of the 

 village. This, as is usual amongst the Land Dyaks, consisted of 

 four or five big houses all built up on tall piles at the summit 

 of the most precipitous part of the river bank. The approach 

 to the village consisted of notched logs, with or without a frail 

 hand-rail of bamboo ; communication between one house and 



