NORTH BORNEO. 
23 
I visited Sandakan because I knew of no other place at the time where one could 
find accommodation, and that by my meeting .the Company’s officials I should be able to 
gain some knowledge of the country. My stay was short, as I again left for Pulo Gaya on 
the 28th, where I expected to meet a man that I had engaged in Labuan with a native 
contingent, who was to act as my guide to Kina Balu. 
However, during the few days I remained in Sandakan I used to ramble about in the 
forests and made a small collection of birds—one of the first being that extraordinary long¬ 
tailed white Paradise Plycatcher (Terpsiphone affinis), also a handsome green-breasted 
Partridge (Bollulns rouloul ); though very common in collections, this is indeed a beautiful 
little bird, with a hair-like crest on the top of its head, and bright coral-red beak and feet; 
the small green Cock-of-the-Rock (Calyptomena viridis) and many other interesting species 
were collected. In one of these early morning rambles I had the good fortune to be a 
spectator of one of nature’s curious dramas. Whilst standing still I saw what I took to be 
a small red bird settle on a tree-stump; after waiting a few minutes one of those long green 
whip-snakes began to ascend the tree by the aid of the small branches ; the red bird, which 
proved to be a tree-frog, croaked in alarm, but seemed quite unable to use its powers of 
escape. Slowly the snake twined up the stem; the tree-frog, knowing its last moments 
were near, seemed perfectly petrified with fear, and in one of its feeble jumps the snake 
sprang at it and caught it by the hind legs : the snake hung half its length in the air with 
the croaking frog in its jaws. Having a natural antipathy to snakes I shot it in this 
position, when it immediately relaxed its hold of the frog, which dropped to the ground. 
“ Just what I have been waiting for,” said the snake’s spouse as she seized the poor little 
wretch before it had reached many feet on the stem of a neighbouring tree; the little frog, 
however, stuck so firmly to the tree with its peculiar sucker-like toes, that I was able to 
approach near enough to administer a rap on the head to the snake, and so ended this 
unequal conflict. 
That snakes hunt in pairs there is little doubt: a friend in Sandakan showed me a 
snake eleven feet long that he had shot in the forest, whilst on its way to attack his dogs, 
which were at the moment busy worrying its companion. 
In Sandakan I made the acquaintance of Captain de Fontaine, Captain of the Police 
Force ; he showed me a most interesting collection of native arms and armour, many of 
'which he had himself taken in mortal combat in the various police raids against the 
aborigines. The next time I met this unfortunate gentleman it was under very different 
circumstances. 
On the 28th April I returned to Pulo Gaya by the SS. ‘ Banca ’; though a decided 
improvement on the ‘ Spaniel,’ even on this ship, but for the captain, things would have 
been bad indeed. The cabins are generally used for the smoking of that foul-smelling drug, 
opium, and unfit for anyone but Chinamen. 
The officer in charge of Pulo Gaya kindly invited me to spend a few days with him 
while waiting for my followers from Labuan; but it was not until the 8th of May that they 
arrived, so I amused myself in rambling about the island and in examining the coral-reefs. 
Pulo Gaya, or Gaya Island, is situated about the centre of the Company’s possessions on 
the west coast, and is well chosen on account of its harbour, which is almost enclosed by 
