262 THE TAWARAN AND PUTATAN RIVERS. 



lage of Gantisan stood. A low neck of land separates Sapan- 

 gar bay at this point from the adjacent basin of the Karimbu- 

 nai river. Coal is reported by the natives at this point. The 

 water supply is good, and there is secure anchorage close in- 

 shore protected from both monsoons. A very slight cutting 

 would suffice to pierce this narrow collar, and would thus 

 render Gantisan, the natural outlet of the trade of the Karim- 

 bunai, Mengkabong and Tawaran rivers. The soil of the 

 whole of this dividing ridge is apparently lateritic sandstone. 

 Descending into the valley of the Karimbunai river, a short 

 walk down its left bank brought us to the village of that name, 

 the headquarters of Pangeran Kaup, the Governor of the dis- 

 trict, a feudatory of the Sultan of Brunei and a member of 

 the former Brunei royal family. On examining an outcrop 

 of the strata on the river bank, the strike proved to be N.E. 

 with a dip of about 80° bed rock sandstone. After an inter- 

 view with the old Pang&ran, a boat was procured in which we 

 paddled down to the common mouth of the Karimbunai and 

 Mengkabong rivers. This is remarkably narrow and would 

 seem to have been contracted by the formation of a high sand- 

 bank which has been, and is being, pushed southwards by the 

 influence of the north-east monsoon and of the heavy swell 

 from the China Sea, the action of the opposing monsoon being 

 greatly neutralized by the protection afforded by the project- 

 ing bluff of Gaya head to the south-westward. The entrance 

 is said to be fairly* deep, but would probably be impractica- 

 ble in heavy north-westerly winds. Paddling up the broad 

 expanse of the Mengkabong river, our course, on the average, 

 being about E. by N., we came upon some fine reaches of 

 water. Numerous channels branched off from the main one, 

 which was flanked to the northward by mangrove growth, and 

 to the south and east by grassy hills, while a bold range tow- 

 ered up to the S.E. A few miles further brought us to a 

 point at which the river expands into a large, lake-like sheet 

 of water, from the upper end of which a perfect network of 

 broad channels diverge, dotted in all directions with Bajau 

 villages extending far away up to the foot of the mountains. 



* Eight feet or so. 



