xii. 



Daring the afternoon of this day an island in the river was pointed 

 ■ nit as being the scene of Mr. H. M. Becher s death in September, 1893. 

 It appears that lie and another white man were ascending the river on 

 a prospecting expedition and coining to this island in the evening 

 Mr. Becher decided to camp on it for the night. The local Malays who 

 wore with him entreated him not to stop there, but to go a little higher up 

 and camp on the bank, as an island was not a safe place in a river like the 

 Tahan. He, however, disregarded their advice and insisted on spending 

 the night there. One boat was left, with Mr. Becher, his friend and a 

 lew Malays. The other Malays took the second boat higher up the 

 stream and made a camp on the bank. Shortly after dinner it was 

 noticed that the river was rising rapidly and Mr. Becher began putting 

 his belongings into the boat into which lie and the Malays jumped and 

 cast off in the hurry, leaving the other white man on the island, clinging 

 to the bushes ; for, by this time, it was all under water. Just as the 

 latter was giving up all hope, the second boat came down river and 

 picked him up, and the whole party safely landed on the bank further 

 down stream. The next morning they set out to look for the other boat 

 and found the Malays, who said that on clearing the island Mr. Becher 

 stood up and tried to guide the boat with a pole, although they begged 

 him to sit down and let them do it. As a result, the boat upset and he 

 was never seen again. A search was maintained for three days, but his 

 body was never found. A Malay, who went part of the way with the 

 present expedition, was the one who accompanied the party as headman. 

 The island was quite 6 ft. above water-level and looked safe enough, 

 except that all the bushes growing on it were bent down stream, show- 

 ing that they were frequently submerged. 



During the day some long stretches of deep water were passed 

 through, and particularly in these places the banks were densely clothed 

 with that beautiful fern Polypodium palmatum. At 3.30 p.m. a halt 

 was called and a camp, the third, made for the night. 



On the 23rd, at 7.15 a.m., the ascent of the river was continued until 

 4.30 p.m. This was a long day's work, and two of the boats, containing 

 rice and pressing paper, did not arrive. It began raining at 5 p.m., and 

 went on steadily nearly all night. The next morning a long porterage 

 commenced the day's journey, as the 4th Camp was just below a rapid. 

 A boat was sent down stream to find out what had become of the t wo 

 missing boats ; and a report was received that, the rain coming on, the 

 men in them had camped for the night, a short distance lower down the 

 river. 



Kuala Teku was reached at 2 p.m., and all the boats had arrived by 

 4 p.m. Quite a good house had been erected, just large enough to 



* According to Mr. Qoin, Mr. Becher's companion, -who cleared a small hill 

 ahore this camp, Ghtnong Tahan appeared to be only five or six miles array. 

 A.s :i matter of facr, it could not hare been Gunong Tahan that was seen, but 

 probably the range in the vicinity of the peak I hare marked as Gunong Ulu 

 Tenok. 



