FLOATmG DOWN THE LIMATlKG. 



525 



The water, being high, enabled us to see the cleared 

 places that occurred from time to time on the bank ; 

 though generally only a thick wood or dense jungle 

 appeared on either hand, yet I never for a moment 

 was weary of watching the graceful bending of the 

 reeda and tall bamboos, and of the varied gi'ouping 

 of these with large trees. In two places the river 

 makes such long bends, that aitifieial canals have 

 been made across the tongues of land thus fomed. 

 One of these cuts, which was less than a hundred 

 yards long, saved us going round half a mOe by the 

 river. Every four or five miles we came to a large 

 kampong, and exchanged oui' boatmen for new ones, 

 so that all day long we swiftly glided down the 

 smooth stream, one relay of men not getting weary 

 before they were relieved by another, and the 

 strong current also helping us onward. The kam- 

 pongs here are free from the filth seen in those 

 farther up in the inteiior. The houses are all placed 

 on posts five or six feet high, for sometimes the 

 whole country is completely flooded. Many of them 

 ai'e built of well-planed boards^ and have a roofing 

 of tiles. When the sun had become low, we came 

 to the large kampong of Baruaiyu. At all these 

 villages there is a raft with a house upon it, where 

 the boatmen waited for us. Fastening oux boat to 

 one of these, we took up our quart eis in the rajah's 

 house. Like those built by our Puritan forefathers, 

 it had one long roof and one short one, but it was so 

 low that a tall man could scai'cely stand up in it any- 

 where. The floor, instead of being level, rose in four 

 broad steps, and the whole building formed but one 



