24 
NORTH BORNEO. 
high hills and islands. The village consists of a few Chinese shops, built in a row facing 
the sea on a few acres of flat land, about the only level space in the island. But I do not 
think that “ Town lots ” in Pulo Gaya would be a successful speculation, as years later 
when I visited the place the shops looked decidedly the Avorse for wear and had not 
increased in number. At one time the Chinese opened a small sago factory, but they 
shortly abandoned this business. The Government buildings are perched on the top of a 
hill, and are built of the usual materials employed in this country, attaps and kajangs, the 
latter being flat mats of threaded palm-leaves, which form capital walls to a house when 
nailed over a wooden framework. In Gaya one of the Company’s officers reigns and has 
jurisdiction over some hundreds of square miles on the mainland opposite, most of which 
has seldom, if ever, been visited. Gaya is, I should think, a most unhealthy place; it is 
certainly a very hot one, being sheltered from most winds ; if a good site for a town could 
be chosen on the main island where steamers could touch, it would be a good move to 
abandon Gaya for more reasons than its unhealthy position. The Company’s officers see 
little or nothing of the people they are supposed to be ruling, as few natives would trouble 
to come over to the island to have then- disputes settled; and for the same reasons they do 
little trade. It is, however, a suitable depot for prisoners, and there were rumours that at 
one time the jail would have to be enlarged in order to accommodate the large percentage 
of the population which it was found necessary to admonish by a little holiday at Govern¬ 
ment expense. 
From the Government bungalow, in the early morning and evening, one of the finest 
views of Kina Balu is to be obtained. During the day, soon after nine o’clock, this 
mountain is nearly always hidden in clouds. We made several pleasant boating expeditions 
round Gaya Island, and on one occasion we pulled up one of the large bamboo basket fish- 
traps, to see if we could find our dinner. The basket was full of fine fish, so the Govern¬ 
ment levied tax ; in taking one of the fish out the native boatman suddenly cried out with 
pain, a small fish about eight inches long having bitten him through the finger; on picking 
up this fish later on I found that it had teeth like a rat, so I offered it the wooden stem of 
a match, which it cut through with one bite as if with a knife. We visited several small 
islands on which numbers of Pigeons (Carpophaga cenea et bicolor) had taken up their 
abode for the time; these birds are always numerous on the smaller islands off the coast of 
Borneo, where no doubt they are seldom molested. In the afternoon we were overtaken 
by a terrific thunderstorm, accompanied by a deluge of rain, which soon ended our day’s 
enjoyment. 
One of the common birds on this island was a Tree-Swallow (Artamus leucorhynchus ).' 
This bird is called a Tree-Swallow from its habit of flying about after the manner of 
Swallows, and frequently resting on the branches of dead trees ; but I should think that, from 
its mode of nesting and its eggs, it is much more nearly allied to the Shrikes. The Tree- 
Swallows are most disagreeable little birds; they sit in families of four or five, huddled close 
together on the bare branches of some dead tree, and attack every other species that come 
near this spot; their note is a ceaseless disagreeable sharp chatter. 
On the 7th May my men arrived from Labuan, so I hoped to he able to start on the 
following morning; but somehow I had little hopes of success—the dry season being far 
