74 



BORNEO, 



[OBAP. V. 



boats were often swaniped, and my men were afraid to 

 pass it. Some M-days witb a boat-load of rice here over- 

 tdok us, ami after safely passing down kindly sent back 

 tiue of their men to assist me. As it was, my Dyaka lost 

 tlieir balance in tlic critical part of the passage, and liad 

 they been alone would certainly have ii]>set t!ie boat. 

 The river now became excf'ndingly picturesque, the ground 

 un each side being partially cleared for rice-lie Ids, aflbrd- 

 ing a good view of tlie eoimtr}'. l^umerous little granaries 

 were built high up in trees overhanging the river, and 

 having a bamboo bridge sloping up to them from the 

 ijank; and here and there bamboo snspeusion bridges 

 crossed the stream, where overhanging trees favoured their 

 construction. 



L slept that night iin the village of the Sebungow 

 IJyaks, and the next day reached Sarawak, passing 

 thmugh a most beautiful country, where limestone mouu- 

 Uiins with their iantastic forms and white precipices shot 

 up on every side, draped and festooneil with a luxuriant 

 vegetation. The banks of the Sarawak liiver are everywhere 

 covered with fruit trees, which supply the l)yaks with a 

 great deal of their food. The Jhmgost^^eu, Ltinsat, Kam- 

 butan, Jack, Jambou, jmd Blimbing, are all abundant; but 

 most abundant and most esteemed is the Durian, a fruit 

 about which veiy little is known in England, but which 

 both by natives aud Eumpeans in the Malay Archipelago 

 is reckoned superior to all others. The old traveller 

 Linschott, writing in 1591), says It is of such an 

 excellent taste that it surpasses in liavour idl the other 

 i'l'uits of the world, according t^> those who have tasted it." 

 Aud Doctor Palndanus adds " This fruit is of a hot aud 

 humid nature. To those not used to it, it seems at hist 

 to snieil like rotten onions, but immediately they havti 

 tasted ifc they prefer it to all other lood. The natives 

 give it honourable titles, exalt it, and make verses on it." 

 When brought into a house the smell is often so offensive 

 that some persons can never bear to taste it. This %vas 

 my own case when I first tried it in Malacca, but in 

 Borneo I found a ripe fruit on the ground, aud, eating 

 it out of doors, I at once became a conlirmed Durian 

 eater. 



