CILVP, v.] 



THE SEBORAN MOUNTAIN. 



71 



iiiiolher public aiidiencej with gife of rice ami eggs, ami 

 dlriuldDg of rice wine. These Dyaks cultivate a gj-ent 

 oKtent of ground, and supply a good deal of rice tn 

 Sarawak. Tlicy are rich in gongs, brass trays, wire, silver 

 coins, and other articles in which a lA'ak's weiilth consists ; 

 mid tlieir women and children are all highly ornamented 

 w ith bead necklaces, shells, and bi'ass wire. 



In the morning I waited some time, but the men that 

 were to accompany me did not make their appeamnce, 

 I hi sending to the Orang Kaya 1 found that both he and 

 another head-man had gone out for the day, and on 

 inquiring the reason was toid that they could not pei-snade 

 any of their men to go with me because the journey was 

 a long and fatiguing one. As I was determined to get on, 

 1 told the few men that remained that the chiefs had 

 b( haved very badly, and that I should acquaint the Rajah 

 with their eonduct, and I wanted to stiirt immediately. 

 Every man present made some excuse, hut others were 

 sent fur, and by dint of threats and pronuses, and the 

 exertion of all Ihijon's eloquence, we succeeded in getting 

 ofl" after two hours' delay. 



For the first few miles our path lay over a couutry 

 cleared for rice-fields, consisting entirely of small but deep 

 aod sharply-cut ridges and valleys, without a yard of level 

 ground. After crossing the Kayan liiver, a main branch 

 of the Sddong, we got on to the lower slopes of tlie Sehoran 

 Mouutaiu, and tlje path lay along a sharp and tnoderately 

 steep ridge, aflbrding an excellent view of the country. 

 lt,s features were exactly those of the Himalayas in 

 nuniature, as they are described by Dr. Hooker and other 

 travellers ; and looked, like a natural model of some parts 

 of those vast mouutains on a scale of about a tetith 

 thousands of feet being here represented by hundreds. I 

 now discovered tlie source of the beautiful pebbles which 

 bad so pleased me in the river-bed. The slaty rocks had 

 ceased, and these mountains seemed to consist of a sand- 

 stone conglomerate, wliich was in some places a mere 

 mass of pebbles cemented tog*jther. I might have known 

 that such small streams could not produce such vast 

 quantities of well-rounded peblJes of the very hardest 

 materials. They had evidently been formed in past ages, 



