19 
CHAPTER II. 
START FOR BORNEO.— LABUAN. —PULO GAYA.—THE S.S. 44 SPANIEL ” ON A REEF.—ON ANOTHER REEF. 
—REACH SANDAKAN.—RETURN TO PULO GAYA.—EXPEDITION TO KINA BALU ABANDONED.— 
LEAVE FOR THE PADAS RIVER.—PATATAN.—DUSUNS.—DUSUN FEAST.—THE OMEN.—THE KAWANG 
AMOK.—RETURN TO SANDAKAN WITH THE WOUNDED.—DE FONTAINE’S DEATH.—RETURN TO 
LABUAN.—PADAS RIVER.—MEMPAKOL.—MANGROVE - SWAMPS.—JOURNEY UP THE PADAS.- 
MOSQUITOES.—ORANG SUNGEI.—MURUTS.—MUSIC.-CAMP ABOVE THE RAPIDS.—WANT OF RICE. 
—RETURN TO LABUAN.—COAL POINT.—BIRDS.—WALKING-FISH.—CRABS.—INSECTS. 
FTER waiting in Singapore until the 1st of April for a ship to 
North Borneo, we left in a small Chinese tracling-steamer. The 
SS. 4 Spaniel ’ was the name of one of the filthiest and most 
uncomfortable boats I was ever on board of, although the passage- 
money was equal to the fares charged by the finest liners. The 
cabins were so small and dirty that in such a hot climate it required 
courage to go into them; so with one accord all the European 
passengers camped on deck, or rather on top of the deck-house, 
where we were almost on a level with the top of the funnel, and were exposed to the soot 
and fine ash until everything was black. For three days I was a martyr to sea-sickness 
and lay on a table surrounded by the dirty Chinese cargo-clerks; I also had several slight 
attacks of fever, the result of my Malacca experiences. The voyage was longer than it 
ought to have been, our captain at times not knowing quite where he was, this being his 
first voyage. We passed close to the island of Sirasan, on which some years later this dirty 
old 4 Spaniel ’ was wrecked. On the afternoon of the fourth day we steamed into Labuan 
harbour. 
Labuan is the name of the island on which the small town known as Port Victoria is 
built; the island itself is only some 19,000 acres in extent, and is for the most part flat or 
undulating, except at the most northern point, where it is slightly hilly. The chief value 
of the island is its safe anchorage and its coal deposits, which at the time of my visit had 
been abandoned to rack and ruin, owing to the failure of the company working them. 
These coal-mines, however, were re-opened some years ago ; how they are now getting on I 
am unable to say. 
As usual in our Malayan colonies, the Chinaman is strongly 44 en evidence,” absorbing 
all the trade and work within his reach, sending his coasting-steamers to Palawan, Sulu, 
D 2 
