54 INTERIOR OF BORNEO. 



chief who was going to escort me on my journey. After 

 leaving his house, we proceeded on up the Tutau River till we 

 reached the Tepin River. 



Here the river becomes impracticable for boats on account 

 of rapids, so the next day we started climbing up the hills, 

 which flank the river. We were met by a party of Punans, 

 the wild people who live in the jungle, who had been called by 

 Dyau Blawing to show us the route over the hills. The going 

 was very bad and fatiguing, as we had to clamber up and 

 down the spurs of Mt. Mulu until mid-day, when we reached 

 the foot of a hill called Bukit Sigerun Sigop, called so by the 

 Punans on account of the wild tobacco growing there (Sigop 

 being the Punan name for tobacco). We did not reach the 

 summit of this hill till 5 o'clock in the evening when w r e must 

 have been at least 5,000 feet up. I decided to encamp here 

 for the night, as we were "all very tired and hungry. Cooking 

 was managed with difficulty as there was no water to be found 

 near the summit. It was lucky for us we had the Punans with 

 us, as they soon produced some liquid, which they had found 

 in a pig's bathing place and which therefore did not look very 

 appetising • still beggars cannot be choosers, so we had to 

 make the best of it. It was bitterly cold all the night. 



The next morning we started on the descent, and 

 when the mists had cleared away the view was perfectly 

 magnificent. At our feet in what seemed a crack in the hills, 

 flowed the Tutau River whilst all round hills towered up to some 

 thousands of feet- At midday we got through the range of 

 hills and from a spur had a still more beautiful view. Right 

 in front of us was the Kalabit country laid out like a map, 

 and as this tableland is comparatively flat, we could see for 

 miles and miles. Away to our right to the South, were the 

 hills in which rise the Pata and Akar rivers, tributaries of the 

 Baram. In front of us rose up Mts. Pamabo and Murud, which 

 separate the head waters of the Baram River from the Trusan ; 

 whilst on our left were the ranges which separate the Tutau 

 and Limbang waters. 



In the afternoon we reached the Tutau River again at Long 

 Taoh end the next day continued our journey in some canoes 



Jour. Straits Branch. 



