INTERIOR OF BORNEO. 61 



feet high, and in one place where there was no way between 

 the rocks, we had to pull the boats up the perpendicular face 

 and let them down again the other side, dangling on to the ends 

 of rattans. This process was repeated four times before we 

 got through the gorge and reached our old encampment at 

 Long Tepin, so it can be understood that we were very hungry 

 and tired. 



Each one of us, I think, heaved a sigh of relief when we 

 got through the gorge and had left those grim grey cliffs be- 

 hind ; and for myself I am sure that, although the journey was 

 a unique and exciting experience, still I have no immediate wish 

 to repeat it. The grimness and solitude to which I have already 

 referred were too awe-inspiring to make it exactly enjoyable. 

 How it affected my followers was shown by the fact that, al- 

 though the Kenyahs are inveterate smokers and are never 

 without a cigarette between their lips, not one of them had 

 touched tobacco the whole of that day. 



What also struck me was the terrifie pace at which the 

 water ran through the gorge, and although I have been up 

 rapids in the Baram River and up all its larger tributaries, still 

 I have never seen the pace equalled. It is accounted for by the 

 fact that the greater portion of the gorge is never more than 

 about 40 yards broad, and the cliffs on either side are worn so 

 smooth that there is absolutely no resistance aquainst this large 

 volume of water. The natives aptly resemble it to "pouring 

 water through a bamboo." When we had reached Long Taoh, 

 we were much troubled with the rubber which I had received 

 as tax from'the Kalabits, as it loaded the canoes down too much 

 to enable them to go safely through the gorge. Dyau Blawing 

 persuaded me to allow them to despatch it in the way they sent 

 their rubber through, when they had been trading with the 

 Punans. I reluctantly agreed, and it was immediately strung 

 piece by piece on to a long rattan until it made a huge rope 

 about 50 yards long ; it was then wound up in a gigantic ball 

 about 9 feet in diameter, just like one winds up a ball of 

 worsted. Just before we started this ball of rubber was pushed 

 into mid-stream • Dyau Blawing promising that I should find it 

 on the morrow ashore on a gravel bank near the Iman River, 

 B. A. Soc, No. 49, 1907. 



