1846.] 
THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE. 
549 
containing old men and boys. Many of these canoes were very small and shallow, 
the sides not more than two inches above the water. There was a large shed erect¬ 
ed near the fork of the river, containing a very large drum, made of a large hollow 
trunk of a tree, with leather stretched over the end, and a person was stationed by 
this with a drum stick in his hand. This, no doubt, was for the purpose of giving 
alarm, in case of attack. 
The houses were crowded with natives all eagerly looking, as though it were the 
first time that they had beheld a foreigner. Most of the children were entirely 
naked; even girls ten or twelve years of age, in their anxiety to see the white men, 
forgetting their complete nudity, would rush through the crowd, and only withdraw 
when reminded by some elder member of the community. 
The majority shave their heads, according to the Mahomedan faith, but several 
were seen with long hair. 
Many were affected with cutaneous diseases, many were blind of an eye, and 
numbers were affected with different diseases of that organ. 
The women were more corpulent than the men, and have a great sameness of 
appearance, marry very young, frequently at twelve years of age, and at the age 
of thirty are often hideously ugly. 
We endeavored to purchase some fowls, but found them very scarce and dear, 
they asking one dollar for six. 
Goats and pigs could scarcely be purchased for money, while no fruit could be 
had. Indeed every thing wore an appearance of poverty and wretchedness ; but 
probably if we could have waited a few days, they might have supplied us with 
some provisions, as the cultivated grounds are probably some distance from the river. 
As we returned, we stopped at the lower part of the city, wners a few small 
springs issue from the bank, and where the inhabitants obtain their water, car¬ 
rying it in pieces of bamboo, six or eight inches in diameter. Here I obtained a 
few minutes on shore, and ascending the hill, had a good view of the city, which 
appeared more extensive than I before supposed from a view from the river. I 
think fifteen thousand inhabitants for the city a low estimate. 
I have found a new species of Rubas, and a twining plant, with a large yellow 
flower, belonging to Convolvulae. 
The Dilleneaceas were very abundant. 
The Flaeourtia cataphracta is found growing here on the sides of the hills, the 
trunk being exceedingly thickly covered with thorns. 
We left the village, and descended with the tide, until about nine o’clock, when 
having run out of the channel we struck aground, and remained there .until one 
o’clock in the morning, when we made sail, and at half past three o’clock in the 
morning arrived on board the ship. 
We observed no Chinese in Borneo, but, within the entrance of the bay, was a 
large merchant proah, manned with half-breeds ; their mothers having been Malays, 
and fathers Chinese. 
They wore their hair in a queue, the same as the Chinese. 
April 10.—As the ship was getting under way I had permission to visit the island 
of Laboan with one of the boats. 
It was distant about twelve miles from the anchorage of the ship. This is the 
island from which it is said coal has been obtained, and that formerly the English 
had a settlement upon it, on the opposite side from where I landed. I found the 
shore low where I touched, very thickly wooded with dense under-brush, so that for 
want of time I was only able to penetrate about half a mile into the interior, the 
ground gradually ascending, but there was no outcropping of the rocks by which a 
satisfactory conclusion might be drawn. The shore was strewn with large frag¬ 
ments of sandstone, apparently of the old red sandstone formation. 
I discovered here in great numbers on the trees a species of sciurus of an ex¬ 
tremely black color, and I think the species is undescribed. 
Immense quantities of pagurus were found on the shore, and I can confirm 
the opinion of some naturalists, that some species only inhabit particular shells. 
A beautiful kind of yellow wood, similar to box, is abundant here, and a quan¬ 
tity appeared to have been cut some time previous for exportation; it is probably 
used by the Malays for the handles of their krises. 
