vt 
MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES, &.C. 
Karangan may be styled our township, Landak our sliire or coun¬ 
try,—Poutianak Residency being- our province or state. I am not 
aware that our latitude and longitude are known, but it is very pos¬ 
sible that Dutch gentlemen may have made observations for the pur¬ 
pose of fixing the position of Landak, and the village of that name 
is, in a direct line, but a few miles distant hence, though a day’s 
boating is necessary to reach it, by water. Following the course of 
the winding river Landak and the 7 or 8 miles that lie between Oto 
and the junction of our stream with the larger river, we may be at 
140 miles distance from Pontianak and about 150 from the sea ; the 
passage to the mouth of the Karangan I once made, by the severe 
efforts of three very superior oarsmen in 90 hours, during more than 
75 hours of which they used their utmost exertions. Parts of the 
route were certainly passed over at the rate of 4 mile3 an hour, and 
in few reaches of the river did we seem to achieve less than 1J, but 
sueh was the current that it is impossible to judge ; it may be added, 
however, that six oarsmen (taking, it is true, more rest) have re¬ 
peatedly spent more time upon the same distance. In going down 
the river I have accomplished the first 00 miles, with the same boat 
(planking thick and heavy, to avoid destruction by abounding snags) 
and the same number of good cheery rowers, in nine hours, noon to 
9 o’clock p. m. : it is very hazardous to go rapidly by night, and even 
the floating boat requires a constant look-out ahead, but that was a 
special trip, the whole distance having been traversed in 27 hours. 
A more common time spent by passengers is from 48 hours upwards. 
Upon the whole, allowing, at a venture, for the excessive crooked¬ 
ness of the river, I would place Karangan a degree and a half east 
of Pontianak, while our latitude is nothing to speak of; the town ol 
Pontianak lies upon the Line, and we are not many minutes north ot 
it. The celebrated hill of superstition, Tiong Kan dang (2500 
feet, perhaps, in height,) lies about 20 miles south of Oto, and a vi¬ 
sit to it or to the villages a trifle beyond would give title to all the 
privileges of “ crossing the line”, if there be any for landsmen. The 
crystal Karangan, as it flows westward, on our front, is a narrow 
stream, varying in depth from difficult shallows to several feet of water 
