CHAP. IV. J 



THE SIMUNJOK BIFm 



intervals of ray joiirneya. But so many books liave been 

 \mtten about this part of Borneo sinctj I was there, that 

 I shall avoid going into details of what I saw and heard 

 and thought of Sarawak and its ruler, confining myself 

 chiefly to niy experiences as a iiatnmlist in search of sliella 

 insects birds and the Orang-utan , and to an account of a 

 jonmey throufjh a part of the interior seldom visited by 

 Europeans. 



The first four months of ray visit were spent in various 

 parts of the JSar/iwak Kiver, from Santubong at it^ mouth 

 up to the pictures(ine limestone Mountains and Cliinese 

 gold-fields of Bow and Bed6. This part of the country 

 has been so frequently described that I shall pass it over, 

 especially as, owing to its being the lieight of the wet 

 season, my collections were comparatively poor and insig- 

 nificant. 



In March 1855 I determined to go tn the coal-works 

 which were being opened near the Simuujon Ki%'er, a 

 small branch of the Sidong, a river east of Sarawak and 

 between it and the Batang-Lupar. The Simunjon entei^s 

 the Sadong River about twenty miles up. It is very 

 narrow and very winding, and much overshadowed by the 

 lofty forest, which sometimes almost meets over it. Tho 

 wiiole country between it and tlie sea is a perfectly level 

 forest-covered svramp, out of which rise a lew isolated 

 hills, at the foot of one of wliicli tlie works are situated. 

 From the landing-place to the hill a Dyak road had been 

 formed, which consisted solely of tree-tnmks laid end to 

 end. Along these the bare-footed natives walk and carry 

 ]niiivy burdens with the greatest ease, but to a boated 

 EuiTtpean it is very slippery work, and when one's atten- 

 tion is constantly attracted by the variou-s oltjects of 

 interest around, a few tumbles into tlje lK)g are almost 

 inevitable. During my first walk along this ixtftd I saw 

 few insects or birtls, but noticed some very handsome 

 orchids in flower, of the genus Coeiogyne, a group which I 

 afterwards found to be very abundant, and characteristic of 

 the district On the slope of the hill near its foot a 

 patch of forest had been cleared away, and .several rude 

 houses erected, in which were residing Mr. Ooulson the 

 engineer, and a number of Chinese workmen. I was ai 



n 2 



