aiideKj^ THE BlIRBIDQE / M (ts. THE GAKDENS OF THE SUN. .MALAY PAXCIXG GIRL. Fruntisp'.ect- C. K. OGDEN THE GARDENS OF THE SUN OE A NATURALISTS JOURNAL ON THE MOUNTAINS AND IN THE FORESTS AND SWAMPS OF BORNEO AND THE SULU ARCHIPELAGO. By F. W. BURBIDGE, TRINITY COLLEGE BOTANICAL GARDENS, DUBLIN, AND FORMERLY OF THE ROYAL GARDENS, KEW. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS. LONDON : JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1880. [All Eights reserved]. LONDON" : BRADBURY, AOMEW, & CO., PRINTERS, WIIITEFRIAR8. DS LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA I geoicafc this Wiath MY WIFE, BECAUSE WHILE I WORKED ABROAD SHE WAITED AT HOME. MOST OP US KNOW HOW EAST IT 13 TO LABOUR — ALL OP US KNOW HOW HARD IT IS TO WAIT. PREFACE. This record of a time spent among the less well- known portions of Malaysia may be interesting to those whom the goddess of travel has wooed in vain, as per- chance to some of those " birds of passage " to whom the islands and continents of the world are as well known as the church-spires and mile-stones of their own land. In the islands of the Malay archipelago — the Gardens of the Sun — Nature is ever beautiful, and man, although often strikingly primitive, is hospitable to the stranger, and not often vile. A voyage of a few weeks brings us to these beauty- spots of the Eastern Seas — to an " always-afternoon " kind of climate — since they are blessed with the heat and glory of eternal summer — to a place where winter is unknown — monsoon-swept islands oasis-like basking in a warm and shallow desert of sea. Warmed by perpetual sunshine, deluged by copious rains, and thrilled by electricity, they are really enormous con- servatories of beautiful vegetation — great Zoological Gardens inhabited by rare birds and curious animals. In these sunny garden scenes man is the Adam of a viii Preface. modern Eden, primitive in habits and numerically in- significant ; he has scarcely begun his battle with things inanimate, or his struggle for existence as it is known to us. At home we have man as in some sort the master of Nature, but in the Bornean forests Nature still reigns supreme. Here with us man wrests his suste- nance from her — there she is lavish in the bestowal of gifts unsought. The immediate future of an island larger in area than Great Britain canndt fail to be of interest to political thinkers, especially to those who belong to the " scientific frontier" school. Malay Government is weaker now than it was even at the time Sir James Brooke received Sarawak, and the aid of our own Government is now being sought in favour of the cession of the whole of Northern Borneo — from Gaya Bay to Sabuco — to a public company ! Unaided by England, Borneo seems likely to suffer in two ways — either to be annexed by the Government of Manilla, or else to fall into the hands of the promoters of public companies. The Sulu Archipelago has already thus lost its independence; and the question which now suggests itself is, What will England do with her foster -colony, Borneo the Beautiful ? Borneo offers to the student of nature an ever-interesting field for research and study. The local government is very peculiar and interesting. Every village of any pretensions has its " Orang Kaya," or head man, and his house is at the service of the passing stranger. In any Preface. ix matter of dispute he may be referred to, and my own experience of these petty rulers was on the whole very satisfactory. I found them honest and just in their advice, although at times a little grasping in their bargains. The ease with which food is obtained in such a tropical land is of course inimical to any great exertion or progress on the part of the natives. That most generous of all food-giving plants, the Banana, is everywhere naturalised in Borneo up to an altitude of 3000 feet. It fruits all the year, its produce being to that of wheat as 133:1, and to that of the potato as 44:1. With rice and a few esculent roots, all easily grown, it gives a profusion of food at a slight expenditure of labour — labour for the most part performed by the women. The Malays of Borneo are morally far inferior to the inland tribes ; and, wherever it is possible to them, live in voluptuous ease. Borneo is the home of the "Orang-utan," or "wild man of the woods," an animal which, with its African relative, the " Gorilla," has occupied the attention of so many of the first thinkers of our time. Here, in its native forests, this large man-like ape lives in the great natural orchards, swinging itself from bough to bough with its peculiarly long arms, building its platform or nest of leafy branches, and eating its meal of fruit in peace. "Let any naturalist," says a modern observer, "who is prejudiced against the Darwinian views go to the forests of Borneo. Let him there watch from day to day this strangely human form in all its various phases of exist- x Preface. ence. Let him see it climb, walk, build its nest, eat, and drink, and fight. Let him see the female suckle her young and carry it astride her hip precisely as do the Coolie women of Hindostan. Let him witness the human- like emotions of affection, satisfaction, pain, and childish rage. Let him see all this, and then he may feel how much more potent has been this lesson than all he has read in pages of abstract ratiocination." After all, the Orang-utan is a poor creature, with but an outer re- semblance to the human species. In intelligence he is not only far below the lowest savage, but even inferior to the horse or the dog. No amount of teaching will make the Orang-utan or any other ape practically useful to man. Do all we can for them in a state of confinement, they are simply big helpless monkeys to the last ! The avifauna of the island is very rich. Its pheasants rival those of China in beauty. The great hornbills abound in the fruit groves, and are giants in comparison with their representatives the toucans of South America. Here the humming-birds of the new world are amply representated by the sun-birds. Mound-building mega- podia are common, their earth-works rivalling those of the termites ; and the edible nest-making swallow works in its dark cave dwellings to satisfy the epicurean tastes of those Eastern aldermen, the mandarins of the Celestial Empire. One peculiar species of kingfisher always makes its nest in company with that of a colony of wild bees. Its young may be fed on the young larvaB, or perchance the company of the bees may be courted for the sake Preface. xi of their protection in the event of the nest being attacked. Amongst my own introductions to European gardens is a singular species of pitcher plant or nepenthes, the urns of which are armed with two sharp and strong spines (see p. 341). Its pitchers always contain insects of various kinds, and I am convinced that the spines are present to prevent birds and insect-hunting animals such as the tarsier from removing these insects from the urns. The stalk of this nepenthes is swollen quite near to the pitcher in a singular manner, and is there punctured by a peculiar species of ant, but I could never satisfactorily account for their presence, unless it be in search of water. Beccari, during his travels in Borneo, discovered a singular plant — Myrmecodia — parasitic on low jungle trees. Its economy is most interesting. The young seedlings, when about an inch in height, are punctured or bitten by an ant, an operation which causes the stem to become gouty and eventually hollow ; in fact, a natural living hive in which the ants then shelter themselves. This is their own gain, and they in turn rush out to resent any attack which may be made on their living nest. A case analogous to this of mutual protection is recorded of an African species of acacia. The most singular tiling in connection with this co-operative affair is that unless the young seedling plants are bitten in due course they are said by Beccari to die. I saw this plant daily for a long period, and often amused myself by xii Preface. attacking it in order to see how invariably the ants rushed out in force to repel the intruder. I also noted many- young seedlings both living and dead, but of my own knowledge could scarcely venture so far as to say that the dead ones had succumbed owing to the ants having neglected to bite them ! An account of some of the more remarkable of my discoveries and introductions may be found in the Ap- pendix to this volume, p. 339. In conclusion, I may be allowed to say that the far interior of Borneo still remains to be explored. It is emphatically a wild land without roads or bridges, and a march right across the island from the north-east to the north-west coast, although a formidable undertaking, would if accomplished reveal much that is at present unknown. F. W. B. xiv Contents. CHAPTER V. KINA BALU, OR CHINESE WIDOW MOUNTAIN. PAGE Journey to Kina Balu — Visit to Pangeran Eau — Agricultural im- plements— Sea gipsies — Datu of the Badjows — Musa — Fertile plain — Biver-side gardens — Women gardeners — Fording the Tawaran — Bawang — Good scenery — Si Nilau — Kalawat — Rat- traps — A wet journey — Bungol — Koung village — Native traders — Rice culture — Kiau — Hiring of guides — Aseent of Kina Balu — A curious breakfast — Rare plants en route — Mountain flowers — Large pitcher plants — A cave dwelling — Scarcity of water — Mountain orchids — Cool climate — Slippery descent — Lost in the forest — Return to Kiau — Native produce — Journey to Marie Parie Spur — Return to the coast — Native women of the interior — Hire of native boat — Return to Labuan 77 CHAPTER VI. LABUAN ISLAND. Labuan — Inhabitants — Industries — Coal mines — Revenues and acreage — Oil spring — Climate — Rare ferns — Tropical flowering trees — Fruit culture — Birds — Pitcher plants — Snakes — Sun birds — Large spiders — Ants — Salt making — Pratchan — Old gardens — Lizards — Mason wasp — A favourite horse — Annual games on the plain — Church — River travel 114 CHAPTER VII. BEAUTIFUL BORNEO. Borneo — Wild animals — The Malays — Poetry — Romances — Dewa Indra — Native government- -Pile dwellings — Intermarriage — Language — Clothing — Courtship — Marriage — Inland tribes — Land culture — Native villages — Food products — Textile fabrics — Bark cloth — Native women — Climate — Native produce — Kayan weapon — Rivers — Gambling — Opium smoking . .139 Contents. xv CHAPTER VIII. A CITY OF LAKE DWELLINGS. PAGE Brunei the capital — Market Chinese traders — Gun foundry — The Istana — Weak government — The Sultan Moumein — Native jewellery — Native smithy — Public executions — Punishment for robbery — Sago factories — Inter-marriage — Morality — Old mission church — Boat journey inland — Murut hospitality — Canoe travel — Forest travel — New aroids — Native insects — Day flying moths — River travel by moonlight — Sago-washing station 161 CHAPTER IX. A VOYAGE TO SULU. Sulu Archipelago — Long drought — Jungle fires — Sandakan — Good water supply — Insects and birds — How an alligator was uti- lised— A boat excursion — Visit to the shore — A Chinese trader — Chinese hospitality — Slavery — A walk by the river — Manilla hemp — Native tombs — Frangipane, or the "' dead man's flower" — Rough walking — Interesting birds 183 CHAPTER X. A ROYAL TIG HUNT. A royal boar-hunt — The Sultan of the Sulus — Sultana and ladies of the Court— Sulu costume and arms — Fine breed of ponies — Rough ground — Tig-sticking — Food for the dogs — A pleasing sight — Invitation to the Istana — Datu Mahomed — The Sulu "Prince of Wales" — Curious saddles — I'oiiy racing — Meimlwng stream — Pleasant evening light — Birds — Large bats — Abun- dance of butterflies — Fine fish — Good angling — The " Hill of Tears"— Sugh, the old capital — Market at Meimlxmg— Tobacco — Native produce — Chain armour — Chinese settlers . . . 193 xvi Contents. CHAPTER XI. THE SULTAN'S ISTANA AND THE "HILL OF TEARS." PAGE moonlight ride — A fragrant weed — The Istana — Modern arma- ment— " Gelah " — Eoyal hospitality — A social servant — The Sultan — State sword or " Barong " — A Sum dinner — A long audience — Curiosity of the ladies — Departure to the mountain — A newly-made grave — Orchids at home — A treat for our cattle— Rough climbing — Ferns and mosses — The summit — Good views — Old traditions of the mountain — A picnic under cocoa- nut palms — "Gelah' ' t\ Hennessy — Return to the Istana — Further audience of the Sultan — Former civilisation — Carved wood- work — Old manufactures — Old enemies — Physique of the Sulus — A pearl among the swine — Market-people — Slavery — Language — Land culture — Native food products — Domestic animals — Sea fruit 207 CHAPTER XII. A ROYAL VISIT. Exploring rides — A state visit — Culinary business — Arrival of the Sultan and suite — Procession of boats — Armed attendants — A royal salute — Visit to the ship — Use of dogs aboard — Amuse- ments ashore — Eastern singing — A royal interpreter — Dress of the ladies — Influence of the women — An early rising Sultana — Marine amusements — Departure — Journey to Bu'ut Dahau — Hospitality of the mountaineers — Ascent — Fine views from the top — Flowers and insects— A Hadji's tradition — Siassi Island — A horned steed — Sandakan — Pulo Bahalatolois . . . . 223 CHAPTER XIII. KINA BALTX, Vld TAMPASSUK. Preparations — " Salaamat jelan " or safe voyage — Contrary winds — A total wreck — A sea bath — Making the best of it — Native visitorsfromtheBornean shore — Drying stores — Pigeon shooting — Foraging — Football — Tent life — A new boat — A marine visitor — Pulo Tiga — A fish dinner — Shore plants — Big fish — Contents. xvii The Tampassuk— " The fatted calf"— Start for Kina Balu— Bare hills — Land culture — Bad roads — Ghinambaur village — Textile fibres — A chance shot — Thrifty natives — Buffalo riding — A friendly chief — Sineroup — Native wealth — Charms — Crossing swollen river — New orchids — Kambatuan — Rokos — Butterflies — Koung Green — Aboriginals from the interior — Pretty weeds — Lemoung's death — Native ornaments — Native cloth — Bee keeping — How to manage " guides " — " Kurow " — Start for "Kina Balu " — Sleeping rock — Dusun cookery! — New plants — More of the " guide " nuisance 239 CHAPTER XIV. riant collecting — Large Nepenthes — Sociable birds — Mountain climbing — Cold nights— Descent — Safe return to Kiau — Old skulls — Tree ferns — Fine climate — Land culture — Crossing rivers — " Lapayang's " welcome — Tafippe fruit — " Beuhan " — Pleasant evening at Kambatuan village — Graceful young girls — Bundoo — Little gardens en mute — Ghinambaur village — A hard day's walking — Return to the Tampassuk — Short-tailed buffaloes — Two-horned rhinoceros — Return to Laboan — Smith's illness — Success of the expedition 27S CHAPTER XV. TROTICAL FRUITS. Tropical fruits — Culture of — Natural fruit orchards — The Durian— A vuiccdoine of fruits — The Mangostccn — " Prada Prada" — Mango — The Rambutan <>r '• hairy fruit " — Breadfruit — Jack fruit, or '• Nangka " — " Champada" — Jintawan, or Manoongnn fruits ( Willvghhe'ia *}>]>.) — Tampoc fruit — Red " Bilimbing " — •• Mandaroit " — " Ramlienecr " — " Mnmbnngan " — " Luing " — •• Langsat" or" Duku" — "Rambi " — " Mangalin" — '' Jnml>oKa," or •• Rose-apples" — Melons — Oranges — I'otnoloes — Custard apples — Cocoa-nut — Wild onion fruit — Banana, or " Pisang " fruit 301 xviii Contents. CHAPTER XVI. NOTES ON TROPICAL TRAVEL. PACE Hints on travel — Food supplies — Bathing — Medicines — Modes of travelling — Shelter — Resting-places — Barter — Articles for ex- change— Arms in a wild land — Products of the island — Projects of Borneo 323 APPENDIX. List of Ferns collected in Borneo 345 Report on Burbidge's Ferns of the Sulu Archipelago ,~ 350 A Contribution to the Avifauna of the Sulu Islands . 352 On. Collections of Birds from Kina Balu Mountain in Xorth-Western Borneo 359 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. I'AfiE MALAY DANCING GIRL FrulltispicCC EGYPTIAN WATER COOLER 5 .SHE OF THE MARKET 7 ARAB DHOW 10 "KAYU KUTOH" 27 ORANG UTAN or wild men OF JAUORE {male and female) . . 44 GREATER MOTH ORCHID (PHAUENOPSIS) AT HOME ... .52 PLAN OF A DfSUN COTTAGE, N.W. BORNEO 85 BAMBOO RAT-TRAP *7 PLAN OF LARGE DUSUN HOU8E, AT KIAU, N.W. BORNEO . . . 96 TANYONG KCEONG, OR COAL POINT, LABCAN 11 4 elk's horn fern 119 MASON w.vsr , 130 SECTION OF ITS NEST 131 COURTSHIP 147 MARKIAGE 148 KATAN WAR KNIFE 15S CARVED WOODWORK OVER DOORS AND WINDOWS . . . . 216 DAPfcNG, OR OUTRIGGED BOAT, 8ULU ISLANDS .... 225 FORDING TAMPASSUK 11IVEI1 ON BUFFAL0E8 250 DlslN BORNEANS AT A srr.F.AM 2G4 RHODODENDRON BTENOPHYLLUM 274 KINA BALD FROM GHINAMBAVR (EVENING) 298 oMoS FRUIT '21 PINANGA VEITCHII 340 NEPENTHES BICALCARATA 341 THE GARDENS OF THE SUN. CHAPTER I. EASTWARD, HO ! Gibraltar — Port Said — Suez Canal— Kantara — Aden — Life Afloat — Floating Homes. When our ship had nearly reached the mouth of the Mersey, on her outward voyage, the boatswain and his men were busily engaged in lashing everything moveable in its place on deck. "We shall get it to-night," said that man of the sea ; but on the vessel went as smoothly as ever, and everybody was meny at dinner-time, hours after the " Bosun's " prophecy. We watched the setting sun, and a gorgeous after-glow of purple, grey, and gold. Then came the twilight, and a sense of chilliness. The land on the port-side was lost in a soft grey mist ; then it became colder and darker, and we went below. The saloon looked bright and cheerful, with its sparkle of glasses in the swinging racks, and the mellow light of the lamps. I read for an hour or more, and then " turned in,'* heartily glad to think we were having such a smooth and pleasant time, and that the " Bosun's " prediction had not been verified. I was soon asleep. How long I slept I do not quite remember, but I dreamed that I was 2 The Gardens of the Sim. [en, i. falling down a well, and the crash made when I reached the bottom awoke me. I forgot for the moment where I was, but my first impressions were that, Zazel-like, I had been shot out of a cannon, and that I was whirling round chain-shot fashion. Instinctively stretching out my hands, I found myself in my berth, but the ship was plunging and rolling very much, and everything move- able was knocking about in all directions. Another crash, similar to the one which awoke me, told of loose crockery going to destruction in the steward's pantry. I spent some time in trying to decide whether the ship was playing at leapfrog, or trying to turn a somersault. A " sea change " put an end to my deliberations. Sleep was impossible, and I was glad when morning came, and I held on to the berth with one hand, and dressed with the other. That man of the sea was right. We had "got" it, and no mistake; and we continued to "get it " until oif Cape St. Vincent, when we regained smooth water. Cape St. Vincent is a rocky bluff, crested with a ruined convent and a lighthouse, the white walls of which gleam out brightly in the sunshine, although we are fully ten miles away. After we have passed it, and look back, it forms a much more picturesque object than when seen directly opposite ; and in front of the nearly perpendi- cular cliffs is a curious cone-shaped rock, and through the narrow passage between this and the mainland, tradition says an American skipper ran his vessel for a wager, and got through safely. The whole coast here is bold and rocky, but not dangerous. Large craft may ride close in under the cliffs. A few miles further along is Cape Sartenius, a rocky headland, which rises perpendicularly from the sea, and is crowned with a fort and lighthouse ; and from this ch. i.] Gibraltar. 3 point the rugged coast-line falls away towards Trafalgar Bay and Gibraltar, a distance of nearly two hundred miles. We were fortunate in seeing the red honey- combed rock at Gibraltar in the morning's sunshine, the pretty little town of St. Roque lying behind across the neutral ground. To the left the cork woods and Alge- •siraz. Exactly opposite " Gib," on the African side, is Ceuta, with its lighthouse and fort on the hill, and square flat-topped Moorish houses below ; while Apes* Hill stands up clear and dark against the masses of fleecy white clouds. The straits here are about six miles wide, and it was near this point that the Moors used to cross, Pict and Scot fashion, into Spain in the olden time. Of course, like Mark Twain, we saw the " Queen of Spain's chair " on the hill behind Gibraltar, and a naturalist friend reminds me that the rock here is the only place in Europe where monkeys and scorpions are naturalised. The wag meant " Hock Scorpions " I sup- pose, but the monkeys are there all right enough. B3' the aid of a good glass, we saw patches of cultivated crops on the low coast hills, and whitewashed farm- houses were freely dotted amongst them. Now we were fairly into the blue waters of the Mediterranean, and the coast lines began to recede on either side. Here and there, however, over the coast hills we obtained glimpses of the snow-peaked Sierra Nevada mountains standing out clear and cool against the blue sky. It was about the middle of June, and very hot during the day time, but chilly at night. The sea is of the most emphatic blue when you look down into it, but has a purplish glow towards the horizon. The sunsets are occasionally very beautiful, with their tints of crimson, salmon, grey, vermilion, and gold. It is pleasant at sun- rise, after a bracing salt-water bath under the hose-pipe, 11 2 4 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. i. to watch the silvery dolphin as they follow each other in line and play around the bows of the ship, at times leaping clear out of the water. The velocity of these creatures is wonderful ; they gambol around a ship, and keep up alongside without any apparent effort. A few black and white sea-gulls are the only aerial visitors, except that now and then flying fish are seen skimming the surface of the blue water with their glistening wings. In some places they may be seen by the hundred, rising in flocks from the water, to escape their enemies below. They fly for a distance of two or three hundred yards, rising and falling in a sinuous manner ; and occasionally they dip into the crest of a wave for a moment, to moisten their wings, which enables them to prolong their flight. Many were washed or flew on board during the night, and were very delicate in flavour. The sailors say they fly at the lights, and thus fall on deck, which may be the fact, as it was only after dark that any were caught in this manner. Some specimens were sixteen inches in length, but about half that size appeared to be the average. We caught a passing glimpse of Galita and Malta on our way. Both were once little more than barren rocks ; indeed, Galita is so still; but Malta has been improved by cultivation, and now yields much of the early vege- table produce brought to the Paris and London markets. Tradition hath it that formerly vessels trading to Malta were obliged to bring a certain quantity of earth with them, so anxious were the Maltese to improve their tiny farms. Port Said was our first stopping place ; and, after a fortnight afloat, we were glad to see the lighthouse, like a yellow speck on the horizon. We went ashore, and saw the town, which stands close to the sea-beach, and CH. I.] Port Said. by the entrance to the canal, with which it is con- temporaneous. Behind, as far as one can see, stretches the arid desert itself. The old Arab town of square, flat- KliYl'TlA.N WAIhK-OJOLKK. topped houses, is nearly a mile away to the right. The new town consists mainly of shops and hotels, with the exception of the consular residences, the hospital, and post-ofhce. I visited the hospital, witli the young Irish ship's doctor 6 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. i. as a companion, and among the inmates saw an American suffering from fever and chronic rheumatism. In one of the cells, guarded by a couple of Arab sentries, we found a young, fair -haired, blue-eyed Greek sailor, who had murdered an Arab girl through jealousy the night before. I was struck by the gentle, inoffensive expres- sion on his face ; but I suppose he did not deserve the pity I felt for him. A public square, planted with trees, shrubs, and flowers, forms an oasis in the midst of the desert of dusty streets, and white-washed or stucco houses. Most of the houses are two-storied, and furnished with cool, shady verandahs ; and in some cases they are covered with the green drapery of a large convolvulus, which adds much to the picturesque effect of walls and fences throughout the place. In the gardens, bananas, date-palms, bamboo, and other vegetation common to hothouses at home, here grow in the open air, with no other protection than that afforded by a belt of tall reeds. Nothing is produced here, even the necessary fruits and culinary vegetables being brought from Malta, or the Mediterranean ports. Soil and fresh water for the little gardens has to be procured from Ismalia, fifty miles awa}\ In the markets we found plenty of ripe grapes, fine pomegranates, Avater-melons, and great pithy-skinned oranges. Vegetables consisted of lettuce, onions, beet, the Egyptian turnip-rooted kind, peas, okre, and gourds. Most of the stands were attended by lazy Arab women, of various ages, who sat cross-legged among their goods, and kept off the flies with switches of horse-hair. A tight-fitting cap, ornamented with little gold coins, covered their heads, and their figures were enshrouded in great black cloaks, reaching to their heels. We saw some old Arabs watering the hot and dust}r streets with sea-water, which they carried in large skin en. i.] Suez Canal. 7 " bottles," slung behind them, so that the march of modern progress has not yet obliterated all the old customs and utensils of these singularly primitive people. We took about a hundred tons of coal on board here. This was brought to the side of the vessel in lighters, SHE OF THE MARKET. and carried up sloping planks by some fifty or sixty swarthy fellows, who kept up a droning chant the whole time. They each carried up about a hundred weight at once in a basket ; and the whole gang reminded one of a colony of black ants, as the}' swarmed up one plank in quick succession, and trotted down another, after disposing of their dirty load. Perhaps the Pyramids, and other gigantic architectural erections, were reared by myriads of ant-like workers, similar to these we now saw. Two mail steamers entered the Canal before us, and it 8 The Gardens of tlie Sun. [cu. i. is a very odd sight to see the masts of the first one glid- ing away to the left, nothing else being visible but the flat sea of sand as far as the e}^e can reach. Pilots are ne- cessary for the Canal, and notwithstanding their special knowledge and skill, vessels frequently get aground. Coaling over, we get under way and enter the strip of salt water which connects the Mediterranean with the Gulf of Suez, passing through the fiat desert, a distance of about eighty-seven miles. The completion of this under- taking, apart from facilitating European and Eastern commerce, has also, if local report speaks truly, benefited the climate of the district as well ; a current of cool air is now attracted along its route, and the precious burden of the rain-clouds has also been brought to this tract of arid sands, which previously were almost entirely destitute of showers. Another benefit to the dwellers on its shores is the fish which travel along this strip of water-way and so are caught close to the doors of those who live or who are employed along its banks. At five mile intervals along the banks are stations for signalling purposes, and as the strip of seaway is not broad enough for two vessels to pass each other, the Canal is widened at each " gare," so that one vessel can make fast while the other passes. The whole thing is regulated by a simple telegraphic and signalling system. Nearly all these stations have little gardens, but the prettiest of them all in this way is that at the old Arab town and ferry station of Kantara, through which many caravans pass on their way to and from Cairo. Here is a tiny hotel, and several little whitewashed houses with shady verandahs laden with climbing plants of various kinds. One of the houses is sheltered by a row of poplars, and the colour and fra- grance of the oleanders were delightful. The Arabs call this flower the " Hose of the Desert," and certainly at ch. i.] Kantara. 9 this little oasis it might fairly be said that the desert had been made "to blossom as the rose." We reached here at sunset, and the air was deliciously cool and fresh, and a sight of the dark green poplar trees was most cheering and home-like. Crickets chirped in the sand, and the splashing of the fish in the Canal was heard very frequently after we had made fast for the night. The tints on the vegetation and sand-hills by the banks just before sunset are most lovely, and the sunsets themselves very gorgeous as seen through the clear dry air. Two of the firemen had to be placed in irons soon after leaving Port Said, to prevent them from leaping overboard or injuring themselves. They were literally maddened by some villanous spirituous drink which had been smuggled on board during the hurry and bustle of coaling in the morning. Here and there we passed the bodies of dead camels, on which wolfish-looking dogs or vultures regale themselves. Flocks of flamingoes were seen in the distance. As the air becomes clearer after sunrise the distant sand-hills resemble islands in a broad lake or sea, an effect due to mirage; indeed, the semblance of a flat expanse of water lying in the full sunshine near the horizon is so perfect as to deceive all but the expe- rienced. The hills of loose sand close to the banks of the Canal are swept quite smooth by the winds in some places, while here and there the surface is rippled like a snow-ruck, and the foot-prints on these "sands of time" made by the passing Arab are singularly like those made in frozen snow. At one of the stations an old Arab offered a basket of very fine fish for sale which he had caught in the Canal the night before. We got a view of the Khedive's Palace and M. F. de Lessep's residence at Ismalia just before running through the " Bitter Lakes," and reached Suez before to The Gardens of tJic Sun. {en. i. sundown. The passage through the Canal takes about two days, as the rate of progress is necessarily slow to avoid washing down the hanks, and there are frequent stoppages. Suez is a larger town and much older than Port Said, hut its inhabitants depend almost entirely on the few residents connected with the Canal and Railway tc- Alexandria, and the pilgrims who land here on their way to Mecca and Medina, the birthplace and tomb of their Prophet. After leaving Suez the climate becomes hotter ■-^ ARAB DHOW. every day. The coast-line is backed b}r barren looking copper-coloured mountains, and the air smells hot and dry, like that of the greenhouse devoted to the cactus family at Kew. Two or three steamers with pilgrims on board for Suez were seen. Among the visitors from the coast were great brown locusts, a humming-bird hawk moth, and one or two small birds. A quail flew on board, and flitted about the deck for two or three days. Another little bird, as elegantly shaped as a lark, stayed on board for several days ; it was brown in colour, with almost black wing- ch. i.] Life Afloat. i & tips ; it had a band of white just above the tail, and this gave the bird a characteristic appearance, especially during its jerky red-cap like flight. We went into Aden, and I never felt the heat so much anywhere before or since. It is a huge Dutch oven of sunburnt rocks without a sign of vegetation as seen from the harbour. It is astonishing how soon one begins to- take a personal interest in a ship on which a long voyage has to be made. The second mate was the skipper of a China trader, and tells me of the palnry days before the Canal was opened, and when freights were <£12 a ton. One of the quartermasters was an ex-royal yachtsman, a civil and obliging old fellow, with a sharp eye for grog. One of the stewards has been a photo- grapher, and another is a hairdresser — rather a luxury to have aboard ship. The old Welsh stewardess was a character, with nightly tendencies towards hot rum and water and old superstitious stories of the sea. The captain is a fat, red-whiskered old sea-dog, who knows all about everything, but evidently never enjoyed an introduction to Mr. Lindley Murray in his youth. His politics are peculiar, and his motto appears to be that of the ultra radicals, " Down with everything what's up." Penang was our next stopping-place, and we got ashore for two days, and enjoyed a walk around the town and a ride to the " Falls " and the " Hill." Two days afterwards we stepped on to the Pile wharf at Tanjong Paggar or the " fenced cape " at Singapore, and our experiences of the tropics really began. The voyage for two days down the Straits of Malacca had been very pleasant, and we thoroughly enjoyed the smooth blue sea and clear sky. flecked now and then by tiny fleets of junks with their mat sails of a soft golden 1 2 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. h hue, reminding one of cornstacks at home. Bukit-Jugra, Cape Rachardo, and Mount Ophir towering up above the horizon behind the town of Malacca itself, were distinctly seen ere we reached the numerous islets near the entrance to the harbour and roads at Singapore. A long sea voyage has its pleasures as well as its drawbacks ; and in travelling eastward, more especially, it is quite possible, after crossing "the Bay," to get a smooth voyage all the way. There are times when the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean, and the China Sea lie sleeping in the sunshine, and a steamer runs as smoothly as a canal boat. Of course a yachtsman of the old sea- dog school is disgusted with this sort of fine weather sailing ; but it is most pleasant to passengers on board steamships who can lie and read under the cool side of the awning, drinking in the fresh ozonised sea air, un- troubled for the nonce by the cares of business or the whirl and bustle of the town. A curious feeling comes over one on viewing the boundless ocean for the first time on a calm, cloudless day. It makes one feel extremely small to gaze on what appears to be the eternity of sea around, with not a speck or a sail to break the view on all sides. Then when a breeze springs up a sense of freedom animates the breast as the vessel rushes through the water and shakes the milk-white foam from her bows, as though also glad to be free. The pleasure is akin to that of the saddle. The exhilarating motion of the ship stirs one's blood and sends it coursing through one's veins, as she "walks the waters like a thing of life," and the strong pure breeze fans our cheeks and the cool spray comes in ■our faces like a shower of dew. Well might Ruskin give our English pastime of yachting the first place amongst recreations. Nothing can be more refreshing than to ch. i.] Floating Homes. 13 stand on board a tight little vessel when there is, accord- ing to the poetry of youthful memory, " A wet sheet and a flowing sea, and a wind that follows fast." In the joy of the moment you do not wonder at the sea-fights, the brave sailors, and the corsairs of old ; the men who love the sea and can struggle with it through all its moods and phases, will be brave anywhere. If the sea does not nerve a man to brave actions, nothing* else ever will. ' Life on the sea is most refreshing to v the average landsman, and on board ship time flies more pleasantly perhaps than anywhere else, if it be true that " sweet do nothing " is the acme of enjoyment. "What an appetite the sea-breezes give one for breakfast, which is perhaps of all meals that least enjoyed by inland resi- dents on shore. Our floating cities are the triumphs of modern civilised ingenuity ; and during propitious weather in a warm climate, life afloat possesses for the time a freshness and novelty unobtainable elsewhere. CHAPTER II. SINGAPORE. Hotels — Singapore— An Eastern Port— A Tropical Island — Chinese Set- tlers— Chinese Play — Tropical Night — Climate. This port, which is also the seat of the government of the Straits Settlements, has not inaptly been called the "Liverpool of the East," and the applicability of that title soon becomes evident to the stranger from " home," who finds himself on the landing-stage at Tanjong Paggar for the first time. Here is a range of warehouses or "godowns" for the storage of goods, and coaling sheds for the supply of the mail and other steamers moored alongside. One is soon glad to get away from the heat, the noise of the steam winch, and the coal-dust ; and a .gharry or cab having been procured, the dusky Jehu springs to his seat on the shaft, from which " coign of vantage " he uses both whip and voice in urging on at a gallop a plucky little pony, scarcely larger than a donkey, and most probably bred either in Sumatra or Pegu. You meet other little ponies in other little gharries coming full tilt down the road to the wharf, a string of buffalo-carts, or occasionally a neat little private carriage, and you soon become aware of the fact that Singapura, as it is still called, of the Malays is both hot and dusty. On you go, and the stuffy little gharry, even if it has no windows, soon becomes as hot as an oven, and the per- spiration streams from every pore. By the time you ch. ii. i Hotels. 15 reach the hotels the chances are that your shirt and collar are in the state best described as " pulpy ;" and if you are of a sanguine temperament, your face may be said to resemble " the rising sun." Of course you have kept your eyes open as you came along past the rough hedges on the right clothed with red lantanas, the neat police-station on the bank to the left, with those beautiful crimson and buff-flowered hibiscus bushes before the door. Then the rows of Chinese houses and shops, an elaborate Hindoo temple or two of white stone, and then street after street of whitewashed [red tile roofed shops, until you reach the square, where jrou meet your agent, or to the hotels, nearly all of which are clustered around the tall spire of the cathedral, which you will have seen us the ship steamed slowly into harbour. The chances are you will have been recommended to one or other of the hotels by some knowing friend. The Hotel de l'Europe is the principal one ; but at the time I arrived in Singapore the chef -de-cuisine had such a bad name that I was recommended elsewhere. One is sure to be comfortable at any of the first-class houses at prices varying from two to five dollars daily, or less by monthly arrangement. For this sum one may secure a more or less comfortable bedroom or suite simply white- washed, the floor covered with yellow rattan matting, which is both cool and clean. The walls, as a rule, do not boast of anything great in the way of pictorial embel- lishment ; at night, however, lively little insect-eating lizards disport themselves thereon ; and then, too, the hum of the hungry mosquito is heard. In the morning you rise soon after gun-fire (5 a.m.). It is daylight about (1 a.m. ; and after partaking of a cup of tea or coffee, and the inevitable two bits of toast, you have a walk. Every- body nearly seems astir. While dressing, the chances 1 6 The Gardens of tJie Sun. [ch. ii. are you will hear a gentle tap at the door, or hearing it opened very cautiously, you turn suddenly, and are startled by a dusky apparition in an enormous white turban. It is an itinerant Kling, or Hindoo Figaro, who seeing you are one of the new arrivals by yesterday's mail, would like to shave you, or cut your hair, at a charge of half a dollar. Strolling outside into the main thoroughfares you see a strange motley crowd. The markets are full to over- flowing with edibles of all kinds ; meat, fish, vegetables, and fruit lie about in glorious profusion. Here a heap of fresh fish of the most vivid colours, there a pile of yellow pine-apples or bright scarlet chilies, oranges, pomoloes, mangosteen and rambutan, Chinese long beans, fresh green lettuces and young onions, tomatoes, and the hundred and one elements of native cookery, which are perfectly unintelligible to any but native eyes. Chinese coolies coming in from the interior of the island laden with fruit and vegetables, or other commodities. Sleek fat-faced celestials in black jackets, loose white trousers, and Avhite European felt hats, taking their morning's stroll, and in every doorway gaunt-featured Chinese artizans of the tailor and shoemaker type sit or stand enjoying the cool fresh air and their morning's whiff of tobacco at the same time. The Chinese predominate, but 3Tou will find dusky spider-limbed Klings and the more compact little brown Malays fairly represented. You will notice gharries coming into town laden with Chinese traders, and other vehicles bring in the European storekeepers, agents, clerks, &c. You return about eight o'clock, and have a bath, and then dress for breakfast. As you sit in the verandah or open basement awaiting the gong for breakfast being struck, various itinerant traders, generally Klings or Chinese, try to tempt you ch. ii.] Singapore. 1 7 with their wares, for which they ask about five times as uiucli as they are worth, or could be bought for in London. Japanese and Chinese fans, slippers, cabinets, lacquer ware, and carved ivory goods, all of second or third rate value, form their stock in trade in general, while some offer gold brocade worked for slippers or smoking-caps, crape handkerchiefs and shawls, or Indian embroidery, and even socks and white handkerchiefs of cheap European make. Of course, to a new arrival, everything is strange, and not the least perplexing is the Babel of language on all hands. English, Dutch, German, Chinese, Javanese, Hindustani, Spanish, Portuguese, and Malay, the latter by far the most general — the lingua franca which all use in common. At last, bang ! bang ! ! bang ! ! ! goes the gong, and breakfast is ready exactly at 9 a.m. There is no ceremony. A little regiment, — an awkward squad rather, — of Chinese " boys " hand the dishes in turn. As a rule, everything is well cooked, and there is variety enough for everybody. Beef-steaks and mutton-chops, one or two well-made curries and rice, eggs and bacon, cold ham, boiled eggs, salads, vegetables, and plenty of fresh fruit. Coffee or tea is not so much in favour here in the East as at home, bottled Bass, claret, or Norwe- gian beer, being preferred instead. After a long morn- ing's walk, however, scarcely any beverage is so grateful as an accompaniment to the post-prandial cigar as is a cup of freshly-roasted coffee. Breakfast over, the real business of the day commences. All the large stores and godowns are opened at 8.30 or 9.0 a.m., and from 10 until 12.30 everyone is alert and busy. Gharries are whisking about in all directions. The fattest and sleekest and richest of Chinese merchants arrive in their more or less imposing carnages, boats and sampans are going to or c 1 8 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. n. returning from the shipping in the roads, buffalo carts ply between the godowns in town and those at the wharf, the sun pours down its heat and light from the zenith, and everybody seems intent on making their hay while it shines. All the principal stores and shops are either in " the Square " or its vicinit}r, and here you can procure home comforts of nearly every description, together with the latest books and home papers. You will procure the latest news at Little's Store, and will see many things there to interest you. Sale & Co.'s, and Katz's Stores, are also well worth a visit, and few of the Chinese shops will compare well with that of the late Hon. C. "VVhampoa, C.M.G., who was a most influential trader in the place. The " Square " is an oblong plot of turf planted with various tropical trees, and one of these, although fast going to decay, is well worthy of notice, being completely enshrouded with rare orchids of various kinds. This stands immediately opposite the Singapore Dispensary, and owes its interesting appearance to Mr. Jamie, who first planted it with orchids some years ago. Amongst other plants Aerides suavissimum is especially luxuriant, completely wreathing some of the principal branches with its glossy green leaves, and many seedlings of this species have germinated and are now promising little plants. Vandas, Phal&nopsis grandifiora, and P. amabilis also grow and flower well here in close proximity to the dusty streets. In Singaporean gardens the rarest of moth orchids are planted in cocoanut- shells and hung from the verandahs, or placed on the mango or orange trees on the lawn, where they soon establish themselves. How many English orchid amateurs would wish for such a genial clime. A morning in the " Square" gives one a tolerably clear ch. ii.] An Eastern Port. 19 insight into the enterprise and trade of Singapore. You hear a good deal about the price of sago or gutta and rice, or about the chartering of steamers or sailing craft, or the freight on home or export goods. You are sure to meet two or three captains of trading steamers. Captain Linguard, perhaps, after one of his trips to the Coti river away on the south-east of Borneo, and then you will hear something of the rubber-market, or of the pirates, of whom, perhaps, few men know more than this energetic " Rajah Laut," or " Sea King," as he is called by the natives. Another maritime celebrity is Captain Ross, a genial sailor, who owns the mail steamer " Cleator," which runs between Singapore, Labuan, and Brunei, on the north-west Bornean coast. Captain Ross is well ac- quainted with the principal places in the whole Malayan Archipelago ; and few residents have an equal colloquial knowledge of their languages. He has been attacked by pirates more than once in the old days, and is quite a nautical authority in ever}'' waj\ That tall, dark young fellow yonder, with the heavy moustache, is Captain Cowie, who ran the gauntlet of the Spanish gun-boats so successfully during the Sulu war, carrying rice, powder, and arms for the Sultan's people ; and here one also meets " old sea dogs " of nearly every nationality, but more especially English and Dutch. One must of course look in at Emmerson's for tiffin, and a glance at the home papers and telegrams. Tiffin is much like breakfast, only nearly all the dishes are cold. The curries here are excellent ; and a well-made salud of fresh green vegetables is a treat, when the temperature is 92° in the shade. The Raffles Institution is well worthy of a visit — an interesting museum of native curiosities and natural history specimens having recently 20 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. n. been formed ; and there is here an excellent library of books, on nearly all subjects. A collection of economic products is in course of formation, and if well carried out, will add much to the interest of the place. The Botanical Gardens are situated at Tanglin, a distance of about three miles from the town of Singapore ; and as the roads are smooth and level, it is a very pleasant journey, either in the morning or evening. One night each week the military band performs in the garden ; and then a good many of the residents ride or drive out to " eat the air," and hear the music before dinner. Good collections of orchids, palms, and economic plants, are here kept up, and the place forms an agreeable promenade morning and evening. In addition to the plants, a small collection of animals and birds, for the most part natives of the Archipelago, may be seen here. The island itself is tolerably flat, the elevated portions being in the form of low hills, or " bukits," the highest, Bukit Timah, being about 400 feet above sea level. Many of the rare plants, formerly found here, have died out since the destruction of the old forest for cultivation. "Wild pigs are plentiful ; but the tigers do not often repeat the predatory visits of twenty or thirty years ago, when two or three hundred Chinamen were devoured every year. They now very rarely cross the "Old Straits," a channel about half a mile wide, which separates the island from the mainland of Jahore. In the Singapore Times, however, for Feb. 1, 1879, the following paragraph appeared, which shows that the brutes have not quite lost their old-established man-eating desires : — " Tigers, it would appear, are approaching Singapore town unpleasantly close. On the 29th January a China- man was taken away by one on a plantation only about ch. ii.] A Tropical Island. 21 four miles from town ; and unpleasant rumours are afloat that some have lately been seen in Sirangoon and Changhie." Much fruit is grown ; and there are cocoa-nut, gambir, pepper, indigo and gamboge plantations on a small scale. Vegetable crops here, as in San Francisco, are a monopoly of the thrifty Chinese gardeners. The trade in economic products of the soil of the neighbour- ing islands is an important one, and, ere long, when cultivation extends more fully into Jahore and Perak, this will be much increased. Some of the planters from Ceylon have alreadj' commenced extensive clearing operations in Jahore ; and if these succeed, the rest is but a question of time. A few rare and interesting plants 3-et linger in the jungle, notably, the curious pitcher plant (Nepenthes liaffieslana), which, singularly enough, is one of the first plants to spring up after a jungle fire. Gleichenia dichotoma clothes some of the hill-sides here as freely as the common brake-fern at home. One of the most singular of native plants, however, is that known as Amorphophallus campanulatus, a relative of the " Lords and Ladies " of our English woods; but this tropical species is of Titanic dimensions, producing a lurid spathe, nearly two feet in circumference, and exhaling the most fetid and repulsive of odours. In rambling about the island one comes across fertile little gardens and groves of mangoes, mangosteen, and other fruit trees, the tenants being generally Chinamen. The bye-streets of the town present some novel sights to a stranger, being tenanted for the most part by Chinese artizans and shopkeepers, the workshops being generally quite open to the street. Blacksmiths, tin-workers, tailors and shoemakers, carpenters, coopers, and basket- makers here ply their callings, and turn out excellent 22 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. n. work, although some of the tools used are exceedingly clumsy in appearance from our own point of view. Passing down some of the streets beneath the shade of the piazzas, one meets with general stores of every de- scription, each with its little stall right outside the door close to the path. Here you can purchase almost every- thing; tools, nails and screws, needles, pencils, cotton, cutlery, ammunition, old Tower muskets — indeed nearly everything in the way of hardware goods, whether Chinese or European. The European goods are such as are especially made for this market, and the prices are surprisingly low. It is curious to observe how some industrial products are universally used here to the exclusion of others. For example, " Bryant & May's " matches, so common at home, are here supplanted by a neatly made " Tand- stickor," ten little boxes of which are made up into a packet, which sells for as low as six cents, although ten cents is always asked of strangers. In many Chinese and Kling shops European tinned provisions and patent medicines may be obtained at a very slight advance on home prices, as these petty traders watch the sales of old ships' stores very closely, and are thus enabled to purchase very cheaply. The Chinese compete with all comers in cheap labour ; and their innate capacity for imitation enables them to do so very often with advantage in the case of manu- factures. If you can only give a Chinese workman a pattern or sample of the goods you require — whether boots, clothing, cabinet work, or jewellery, he may be trusted to imitate the same even to a fault. They are most industrious, having apparently no regular hours of labour, but often toiling from early morning until far into the night for a scanty pittance ; but no matter how ch. ii.] Chinese Settlers. 23 small their earnings, they generally contrive to save something. Indeed it is difficult to say whether 'tis their industry or their thrift which most deserves commenda- tion. Of course they have their faults as a people, and most serious some of them are ; and wherever they are admitted as emigrants, a strong hand is needed to keep them in order. For opening up new trading enterprises or colonies in the East their aid is invaluable, as they are most frugal, and possess a peculiar habit of making the best of cir- cumstances. In Sarawak, and also in the British colony of Labuan, the money derived from the opium and spirit farms form a main feature in the revenue, so that eastern colonies, in favouring Chinese emigration, add to their revenue by their expenditure as well as by their labour. Many, by thrift and frugality, rise to positions of afflu- ence, and then it is curious to see how thoroughly they fall into the ways of the class to which they reach. This makes a Chinese colony so prosperous as a rule ; for if a man has money he is sure to spend it either in trade, or in a fine house, garden, servants, horses and carriages, and other luxuries. As a rule they deal with their own class, but they take to European luxuries very kindly. I was asked out to dine several times at the houses of wealthy Chinese whilst in the East, and was at first rather disappointed at the thorough European character of the repast. Clean cloth, knives and forks of course ; and every course might have been prepared in Pall Mall, if we except the curries; and it is but natural that the curries of the East are inimitable elsewhere. You get most delicately prepared pastry, and ten to one, roast beef and plum pudding, which are all the world over understood to be our national dishes. A gentleman told me that once when in Paris, just 24 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. n. after the war, lie was conversing with a friend near the Tuileries, when a wicked-eyed young gamin overhearing his bad French with an English accent, observed, "Ah, M'sieu rost-bif, God-dam," as he rapidly vanished round the corner. Many of the rich merchants speak English well ; if not, then Malay is the medium of conversation. And the wherewithal to wash down your food is not for- gotten : indeed, many of the rich " babas " give excellent champagne breakfasts, and "Bass" and good Bordeaux are as common as at European meals. However addicted to "samshu" and " shandu," — the baleful narcotic im- mortalised by DeQuincey, — a Chinaman maybe privately, you will find him courteous, and eagerly apprehensive as to the comfort and enjoyment of his guests on all occa- sions when he entertains Europeans. Sometimes you meet with a surprise at a Chinese dinner — a surprise especially prepared for your benefit. I was present at one where we had small dishes of rice and condiments set before us, with " chop sticks " in lieu of knife and fork. Now a native to the manner born will use his two chop sticks as cleverly as Mr. G. W. Moore handles his bones ; and as he leans over his dish you see a constant stream of food running up to his mouth, while with your chop sticks awkwardly held you simply demonstrate what " eating porridge with a knitting pin " really means. Well, dish followed dish, and we began to think the whole thing " awfully slow," when the host arose and requested us to accompany him to the " dining-room." Sure enough we found ourselves in a large and well lit interior. There was a dinner-table laid in European style, the silver and glass irreproachable, and floral deco- rations rather tastefully arranged graced the board. Of course there was a good deal of laughter as the neat ch. ii.] Chinese Play. 25 Chinese " boys " handed round the sherry and bitters as we stood in groups ; and a few minutes afterwards the gong was beaten for dinner in quite a homely fashion. A jolly old Spanish priest was present, and our long- tailed host did not omit to ask him to say grace, which he solemnly did, first in English, standing the while, and then we were all surprised as the rubicund-cheeked friar rolled out a Chinese prayer interlarded with choice maxims from Confucius, and all in the Hokien dialect of Chinese. The whole thing was much enjoyed. "We had soup oxtail and " birds' nest," the latter extremely good, but perhaps rather too sweet for European liking ; fish of several kinds, beef and mutton cooked in various ways, also pork cutlets excellently cooked, as indeed only Chinese cooks can prepare them ; pastry, cheese, and such fruits for dessert as no money could procure from Covent Garden. Fat juicy mangoes, delicate mangos- teen, rambutan, bananas, and other kinds, never eaten in perfection anywhere but in the tropics — the gardens of the sun. A " wyong " or Chinese play had been organised by our host, one portion of his house being fitted up as a private theatre, and to this we adjourned after dinner. The performers were a celebrated troupe just arrived from China, and very clever they were, especially in pantomime. Of course we understood not a word of what was spoken ; and yet so expressive were the actions that the plot and motive of the play was perfectly com- prehended even in detail. The music of shrieking two- stringed violins, and the rattle of gongs and tom-toms which accompanied them, however, might fairly be added to Mr. Sothern's list of things which "no fellah can understand." The plot was of an undutiful daughter of poor parents who was beloved of a youth of her own age 26 The Gardens of the Sun. [en. n. and station. A rich mandarin, however, loves and marries her. Her young lover is the most dutiful of sons, and a good spirit helps him on ; while at the same time a bad one causes the mandarin heavy losses by sea and land. The undutiful daughter has her parents driven from her husband's gates, where they had come to beg, while her former lover succours them, and they ultimately die, blessing him. Eventually the mandarin is degraded, and the dutiful youth is elevated to his place for some service he has rendered to one of the emperor's favourite ministers. He then makes a speech, telling how good and clever he has been, and ultimately marries the tiny- footed daughter of the minister who has befriended him. Nor does the play finish until his "poor, but honest parents " and the audience are convinced by ocular proof that a son and heir has been born of the union, a piece of good fortune for which the rich but wicked mandarin before him had hoped in vain. The character of the youth was excellently played throughout by a young Chinese lady from Hong Kong, and I do not remember to have seen a male part acted much better by a female actress anywhere. So that the Lottie Venns and Kate Vaughans of our own stage must look to their laurels, as ere long they may possibly have to compete with the ■" cheap Chinese labour" of the Eastern mimes. It was late that night as we drove back to our hotel, and such a night as one can see only in the tropics, where the moonlight is bright enough to read by, and streams down like a gloriously brilliant bridal veil over sweet- scented blossoms wet with dew, and the most elegant of palm-trees, over the gorgeous floral treasures of eastern gardens, and over the homes of thousands of dusky brides. The sounds heard during the otherwise still hours of evening or night are peculiar, the clucking CH. II.] Tropical Night. 27 sound of a lizard in the tree overhead is quite bird-like, you hear some frog-like croaking in the wet ditch beside the road, the subdued humming of distant tomtoms reaches you from the hut of a Hindoo Syce, and the KAYU KUT'.iH. almost mournful cadences of a Javanese prayer chanted by a party of labourers in a garden-house or field-hut reach you on the cool breeze. Then comes the boom of the " Kayu Kutoh,"* or wooden gong on which the Malay " mata mata," literally "man with eyes," or watchman, beats the hour at one of the outlying police- * This last instrument closely resembles the "tcponaztli," an instru- ment still in use by the Indians in the Cordilleras of Mexico, the deep thuddinq sound of which may be heard a distance of several miles. 28 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. n. stations. Fires are not at all uncommon, and then you are roused out of a sound sleep by a couple of shots from the signal battery, which shake the whole place. As you lean from your window enjoying just the last sweet whiff ere turning in for the night you may, perchance, hear the silence broken b.y snatches of song familiar to j^our ears — the songsters being a party of rowdy sailors returning to the ship after a " wet night " on shore. I am sadly afraid that the low grog-shops monopolise much of "Jack's" time and money when ashore, notwithstanding that there is here an excellent " Sailor's Home," furnished with many conveniences, and supplying the comforts of an hotel at a cheap rate. Towards morning the chattering of sparrows and the shouting of rival roosters are among the most familiar of sounds which remind one of home. The society of Singapore will compare favourably with that of any British Colony, and for genial hospitality its residents cannot well be surpassed. As in India, new comers are expected to call upon the residents first. In my own case I brought letters of introduction to some of the older inhabitants, and I must here acknowledge how handsomely those cheques were honoured by them. One scarcely knows how valuable genial hospitality really is at home, but far away it is pleasant to find how thoroughly English — British, one ought to say — is the welcome extended to strangers. Government House is the Court, of course, and it is needless to say, that all courtesies essential are there extended to both residents and others. Of course, in a community formed of many nationalities, and of people whose trade and other in- terests are liable to clash with those of their neighbours, there are sure to be little murmurings and bickerings, together with petty jealousies of various kinds. This is so, more or less, everywhere, but in the Colonies there en. ii.] Climate. 29 are few, if any, old titled families to balance the commer- cial interest. One may see some bonny English faces in the carnages which are here driven around the Esplanade just as along the "Lady's Mile" at home; or one even- ing a week are gathered around the band-stand at the gardens. The climate, however, is not well suited to the development of the rosy cheeks we see at home ; the peach-like bloom too soon gives place to the soft purity of the lily, and it often becomes necessary for the wife and children to return to a cooler climate, in order to regain somewhat of the health and strength of which a lovely but debilitating climate has robbed them for a time. Here, as in India, this is a serious drawback to many residents. Here, too, there are no hill stations sufficiently near, or, as yet, adapted to serve as Sanato- riums. Now that Jahore is being opened up, however, it is to be hoped that a few bungalows may be erected on Gunong Puloi, on the summit of which the air is compa- ratively cool and bracing, much more so than on Penang Hill, and it may be readily reached from Singapore in two days. The cost of living here, even in proportion to the large salaries received, is far in excess of that at home, and the mode of life itself is different. Here, one must have a large house, and if there is a family, five or six servants at least are needed. The wages paid to these appear small when compared with the cost of English servants, but at least three times as many are required. The master must have his " boy," the mistress her "ayah, then the cook, water-earner, grooms, gardener, must be provided, to say nothing of nursery attendance. Native provisions are tolerably cheap, but many tilings essential must be imported from home at an advanced rate. Furniture is dear, and pianos, and many other necessities, to say nothing of luxuries, must also be 30 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. n. brought from the old country, and freight, if not commission, has to be added to the cost. The very nature of the currency used adds to other expenses. Many things purchasable at home for a shilling, here cost a dollar, at the least a rupee or two shillings, and the result of all this is that with an annual income of five hundred pounds in England, one must think twice ere a jump is made at what appears a tempting bait, namely, "a thousand a year" in the East. The progress and importance of Singapore, commer- cially and politically, have never ceased to increase since 1819, when the British flag was first raised on the island by Sir Stamford Kaffles. CHAPTER III. VISIT TO JAHORE — GUNONG PULOI. On the way — Gambling — River-travel — In the Forest — Vegetation — A Resting-place — Tropical Fruits — Breed of Dogs — On the summit — Wild Animals — Wild Men — Sale of Women. This mountain lies about twenty-five miles north-west of the native town of Jahore, and is a trifle over 2,000 feet in height. To reach it from Singapore, one must take post-horses or the coach which runs daily to Krangi, a police-station on the margin of the " Old Strait," and thence little steam ferry-boats carry one on to Jahore, from which place the mountain is reached partly in boats via the Scudai river, and partly on foot through the forest. I had agreed to visit the Puloi mountain in company with the government botanist, and leaving Singapore early, we reached Jahore about 3 p.m., after several little stoppages on the wa}\ The ride from Singapore to Krangi was a very pleasant one to me, fresh as I was from the " old country." The roads are remarkablv smooth, and of a bright red colour, their margins fringed with orchards of tropical fruits or rows of betel-nut palms. Here and there are patches of sugar-cane, tapioca, or indigo, little plots of great-leaved bananas, while at in- tervals one catches passing glimpses of neat white bun- galows nestling amid tall cocoa-nut groves. Arriving at Krangi, hot and dusty, we rested some time hi a clean The Gardens of the Sun. [en. m. "bungalow or rest-house, built for the convenience of travellers by the Government. The native police were very attentive, and we took our luncheon here and strolled around the station, and saw abundant evidence of the wild pigs, which are said to be very plentiful. While we waited, the Maharajah drove up in a neat little carriage drawn by a pair of ponies. This was just before his visit to England, and we obtained a good view of him. He is a fine manly fellow, with a bushy mous- tache, and was dressed in white trousers and jacket, with n white sun-hat, and wore a coloured " sarong " around his waist. We informed him of our intended visit to the mountain, and he promised us that Mr. Hole, his secretary, should furnish us with guides and boatmen. We had arranged with a Chinese sampan man to ferry ourselves and baggage over, but just as we were about starting one of the little steam ferry-boats came over, and leaving "Johnnie" to bring on our things and a Chinese " boy " in charge, we crossed in the steamboat. We took up our quarters with Mr. Boultbee, with whom we were to stay the night. Jahore itself we found to he a straggling place built along the margin of the strait, and consisting of the Istana and a mosque, together with a few whitewashed houses roofed with red tiles, and native palm-thatched cottages. The best of the tiled houses are occupied by Chinese shopkeepers, the principal wrares being rice, fruit, fish, coopery, boxes, baskets, and miscellaneous stores. The principal industry of the place is the timber trade. Extensive steam saw-mills, fitted with good machinery, are here worked by the Maharajah, a good many natives being employed in the trade, Avhile the timber finds a market in Singapore, where a depot exists for business purposes. A railway was projected to the forest near Gunong Puloi some years ago, and h. in.] On the Way. 33 several miles of wooden tramways were actually laid down, but the work is now suspended. Were such a roadway completed, it would do much to open up a fertile country especially rich in fine timber, rattans, and other jungle produce. The culture of gambier (Uncaria Gambir, Roxb.), pepper and other products now cultivated by the Chinese settlers would also be facilitated. As it is, the timber is cut as near to the streams as is possible, and is then dragged by buffaloes through the jungle and floated down to the town, several logs being lashed together so as to form rafts, on which a man stands to steer it clear of snags and other obstacles. Gambling is one of the curses of this place, and is publicly carried on in some large buildings near the saw- mills. As the Maharajah derives a percentage from the tables, gambling is not likely to be suppressed here, as it has been at Singapore. Mr. Boultbee's house, where we stayed, is a large and comfortable one of wood, and it stands on an eminence at the north-east end of the town. From the verandah a beautiful view of the old strait is obtained, reminding one of Windermere, only that the vegetation is more luxuriant, brightened as it is by a tropic sun. We walked in the garden and forest behind at sunrise, when every flower and leaf was bathed in dew, and were much pleased with the vegetation. The clk's-horn fern (Platyccrium biforme) grew on the stems of several of the trees, and we saw it high up in the branches of the forest trees behind the house. Ne- penthes nmpullaria, and the noblest of all ferns, Diptcris Horsficldii, were also abundant in the jungle quite close to the sea-beach, and tall gleichenias clambered up the bushes to a height of at least twenty feet. Birds and butterflies were alike plentiful in the jungle, and some of the latter were very gorgeous in colour. D 34 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. m. After our morning walk we looked over the saw-mills, and then returned with the manager to breakfast. We afterwards visited Mr. Hole at the Istana, and found that he had already obtained guides and boatmen, so that we at once had our baggage transferred to the boats, and prepared to start on our journe}\ Some delay arose, however, owing to the man having to purchase stores, and so it was after four o'clock before we bade Mr. Hole adieu on the steps of the Istana jetty and got fairly off. All our heavy baggage was stowed in a native boat, manned by four Malaj^s, while we ourselves and our stores occupied a Chinese sampan. Our craft was pulled, or rather pushed, by its owner, a stalwart celestial ; and as he had never been up the Scudai river before, we had an old Malay sitting on the prow to act as pilot, the stream being very narrow in places, with numerous snags and shoals. Notwithstanding this precaution, however, we were aground twice, and the boat heeled over in the current rather uncomfortably. " Johnnie " had to plunge out into the mud of this alli- gator's paradise to push our craft into deep water again. These were trifling discomforts, however, not worth a thought amid much that was novel and interesting. We ate our dinners in the boat just at dusk, and enjoyed the cool breeze which swept over the water as we glided up stream. The silence of the night was unbroken, save by the regular dip of the oars ; and as darkness increased, the tiny lamps of the fire-flies became visible here and there among the vegetation on the banks. As we glided on- wards their numbers increased, until we came upon them in thousands, evidently attracted by some particular kind of low tree, around which they flashed simulta- neously, their scintillating brilliancy being far beyond ch. in.] River Travel. 35 what I could have imagined to be possible. During my whole sojourn in the East I never saw them again in anything like such numbers. The moon arose about eight o'clock, revealing more distinctly the gradual nar- rowing of the river, the vegetation of which appeared to be very luxuriant, towering far above our heads. We could recognise the tufted leaves and tall stems of a slender- growing pandan, standing out clear and dark against the sky, and here and there the tall dead trunk of a giant tree added to the weird beauty of a scene, in which the lack of accurate knowledge left much to the imagination. Our solitary Chinese boatman dipped his oars with the same easy swing as at starting ; and about nine o'clock he finished a stiff pull of nine or ten miles by running our boat into the little creek at Kanka Kaladi, he having kept ahead of the Malays, who paddled the other boat, all the way. On our arrival, all the Chinese who live here were abed ; so we hauled our craft up to a boat- house at the head of the creek, and got all our things into the loft overhead, and having spread our rugs, and lighted our lamp, we turned in for the night. Before we fell asleep some of the people, who had been disturbed by our arrival, came to have a look at us, and did their best to keep us awake by talking most of the night. We awoke the next morning just before sunrise, and soon prepared our breakfast of soup and biscuit. We had a stroll around the village, which was entirely occu- pied by Chinese settlers. The houses were of wood, thatched with palm-leaves, and most of them were sur- rounded with fruit-trees and cocoa-nut palms. We tried to hire coolies, to carry some of our luggage on to tin- next village, Kanka Ah Tong, where we were to rest for the night, starting for the summit to-morrow. Infor- d 2 36 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. hi. tunately, the head man was away at Jahore ; and some coolies, who expressed their willingness to accompany us> demanded a sum equivalent to five shillings per day for their services, so we decided to do without them; indeed, the Malays we had with us protested against this extor- tion on the part of the Chinese settlers, and said they would endeavour to carry all themselves. We pulled out of the creek, and proceeded further up the river, finally landing at a place where there is an excellent road, leading through the forest to Kanka Ah Tong. Here we landed all our things ; and our men were fortunate to secure a couple of Javanese wood- cutters, who were fishing, and who were willing to carry part of our gear for a fair payment. "We rested a little in a hut heside the road, in which were two men suffer- ing from fever, and another, who had dysentery. We gave them medicine, and pushed onwards. Monkeys were very plentiful on the tall trees heside our path ; and we saw several grey squirrels, and a few hirds, in- cluding a curious shrike, and a harbet, which I had never seen before. The trees around us were very tall, and in many cases festooned with rattans, and other climbing-plants. Flowers were not plentiful ; and although we made several detours in the forest, nothing of interest was seen. It was very hot in the middle of the day. Our thermometer stood at 93° in the shade ; and nearly all the way our path lay in the open, the sun being very hot overhead. After the first few miles we came to several open plots of land, under cultivation, gambier and pepper being the principal crops. We stayed at one place, where the raw gambier, or "terre japonica," was being prepared in a low shed. There were several low brick fire-places, over which shallow iron pans were placed ; ch. in.] In the Forest. 37 and in these the leaves and young stems are boiled. The product, when finished, looks like wet red clay, and is packed in coarse bags, and sent to Singapore, where it realises about five dollars per picul of 133 lbs. Gambier is a very exhausting crop, literally ruining the land on which it is grown. The Chinese whom we found here were very much interested and surprised at our visit, and gave us a supply of cocoa-nuts, oranges, and papaw fruit from their garden. The latter fruit are as large as a small Cadiz melon, with delicate red flesh, when perfectly ripe. They are not much esteemed ; but I thought these very nice, having a flavour resembling that of apricots. The colourless miUv of the young cocoa- nuts, fortified by just a soupcon of brandy, tasted really delicious, after our tramp under a hot sun. These thrifty Chinese had a fine flourishing plantation of bananas, but no ripe fruit ; and clumps of yellow sugar-cane here and there attracted the attention of our followers, who helped themselves to the natural " sugar-sticks," without any compunction whatever. Refreshed by a short rest, and a cooling draught, we pushed onwards, and reached Kanka Ah Tong about three o'clock. We sought out the old Chinese headman, and through him obtained the loan of a new house, just erected in the centre of the village, so that we were soon established in quarters, and the " boy " then began to cook our evening meal. We were of course soon surrounded by a crowd of villagers ; and a paraffin cooking apparatus, which the ''boy" had in working order before the door, interested them very much. I noticed an excellent breed of black and white dogs at this village, in build not unlike a fox-terrier, but larger. These people evidently desired to keep the breed 38 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. in. pure ; for I noticed that all the dogs in the place were the same. A clear stream ran past the front of our house, and we were glad to get a bath before dinner. In this stream were at least two species of little fish, the largest rarely exceeding three inches in length, being beautifully spotted with dark brown on their sides. We felt deliciously cool after bathing, and ate our dinner com- fortably, on seats we extemporised just outside our door. After a smoke, in the cool of the evening, we prepared our sleeping gear, and turned in for the night. We were up at sunrise, and bathed in the little stream, while my friend's servant and our men prepared breakfast. We left some of our less needful gear in charge of the headman, and then shouldering our guns, we set out for the mountain, a good ten mile walk, over bad roads, and the last three or four miles is stiff climbing most of the way. Altogether it took us about six hours to accomplish, as we started at about seven o'clock in the morning, and reached the hut at the top a little after one p.m. The first mile or two the path lies through gambier patches ; and at one of the clearings we flushed a couple of fire-back pheasants, but we were too far off to get a shot at them. Their plumage shone resplendently in the morning sunlight, as they rose with the " whir-r-r," so familiar to sportsmen nearer home. A tolerably level jungle path succeeds the gambier patches for two or three miles further, and then the path commences, leading up the mountain- side. Our first stopping place was at some distance up the base of the rise, where a bit of folded paper in a split stick directed us to the " Lady Jervoise Falls ;" and, as we stood quietly, the sound of the falling water fell on our ears from the left-hand side of the path. We ch. in.] A Resting-place. 39 soon plunged down the slope, and reached them, but were rather disappointed, as all the water visible was a brook rushing down a rocky gully, and falling a distance of five or six feet over into a water-worn basin below. The water was clear and cool, and we took advantage of it to secure a bath in the shade of the tall trees over- head. The rocks were beautifully draped with ferns and mosses ; and a small species of ansectochilus grew here and there on the mossy rocks. Its leaves were of a rich velvety-green colour, netted with golden veins. "We sat here, and rested awhile, the cool splash of the water sounding pleasantly as it fell into the spread- ing limpid pool at our feet. Here, for the first time, I made the acquaintance of the jungle leech, a most energetic thing, which neglects no opportunity of taking its sanguinary toll from the passing traveller. Several of them fixed themselves on our legs, the first notice of their unwelcome presence being the oozing of our blood through our white trowsers. Their first bite is rarely felt ; and very often, as I afterwards found, it is only by their gorged bodies feeling cold to the skin, that their presence becomes known. The road from the falls to the summit is in places very steep, and the muscles of one's legs feel it ere the end of the journey is reached. Many of those who read of jungle travel at home will be sure to imagine it very pleasant to explore a tropical forest, accompanied by a posse of native guides and carriers — with gun on shoulder, and luxuriant vegetation on all sides, and an occasional shot at a big monkey or a beautiful bird overhead. So of a truth it is, but in common with all other pleasures it has its drawbacks. After three or four hours hard walking, varied by a rest now and then, and a few stumbles, we 4-0 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. m. reached the summit, and we luckily were rewarded by a most beautiful view. The atmosphere was clear, and in all directions a vast billowy sea of jungle stretched below us — foam-like flecks of white cloud being visible here and there on the top of the low coast hills. We found the little hut on the summit rather out of repair, but a little labour in strengthening the principal supports of the roof, and the addition of a little palm-leaf thatch, made it more comfortable. We enjo}red a magni- ficent sunset, and lit our lamps just at dusk, nor were we loath to make a hearty meal of warm soup, rice and tea, which had been prepared while we looked around our camping ground. After a smoke and a chat we wrapped our rugs around us and were soon asleep on the side benches of sticks covered with freshly-cut palm-leaves. We were awoke during the night by the rain dripping through the roof, but managed to keep ourselves dry by suspending our waterproof sheets overhead. We awoke at daybreak, but could see nothing but a mass of snow- white clouds below us on all sides. After breakfast we started on a collecting tour down the mountain side, and soon struck a deep gully, through which a streamlet washed over the water-worn stones and pebbles. Here we found one or two very interesting aroids (Schismatoghttis), and ferns were abundant, notably two or three species of lindsayas, their bold fronds being of a rich green colour, shot with steel-blue. Dipteris Horsfieldii clothed the rocky declivities of the gorge here and there, and a large-urned variety of Nepenthes ampnl- laria was strikingly luxuriant, growing along the edges of wet mossy rocks. Tiny plants only three or four inches in height and half buried in wet moss, decayed leaves, and other forest debris, bore eight or ten pitchers four inches in height and three inches in diameter. A7. ch. in.] Wild Animals. 41 Rafflesiana, an allied species, we saw clambering up the thick undergrowth to a height of twenty or thirty feet, but the pitchers were not larger than ordinarily are pro- duced by the plant when grown in our hothouses at home. A large branching species of gleichenia grows luxuriantly near the top of this mountain, and seems to replace G. dichotoma, which is so common in Singapore and Pulo Penang. Orchids were sparingly represented by a ccelo- gyne, and one or two other genera, but nothing of interest was observable. A form of our own Ptcris aquilina grew luxuriantly around the hut where the forest had been cleared. A dracrena, with green undulate foliage, almost grassy in its tenuity, and the variegated Cissus porphyro- phyllus were plentiful, and a red-veined echites covered mossy trunks beside the stream. We returned from our collecting about 5 o'clock, tired and wet through — a very common thing indeed in a tropical forest, so that we were glad to strip to the skin and have a bath, followed by a rub dry with coarse towels, and dry clothes. Our dinner of tinned soup and boiled beef was very acceptable, and our cook made a very appe- tising curry of dried fish and a few chilies collected from bushes which grew in the clearing around our hut, seeds having been sown either designedly or accidentally by former visitors. A cup of tea and a cigar were deli- ciously soothing after the rough falls and scrambling of the day. We were disappointed with the place as a col- lecting ground, and resolved to return to the richer forest of the lower slopes near Kanka All Tong on the morrow. Our guides gave us an account of this mountain, and assured us that tigers were not uncommon, and that the Chinamen were frequently carried off by them when working in clearings near the forest. Wild pigs, monkeys, and deer, are plentiful. The Argus and fire-back pheasant 42 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. in. are found here, and alligators of enormous size are reported as frequenting the rivers further inland. After dinner we made up a large fire outside the hut, dragging all the fallen trunks in the vicinity to it, for we scarcely relished the idea of a "man-eater" lurking in the neighbourhood, who might wish to vary his diet. These burned brightly all through the night, although at times it rained heavily, and served for cooking purposes in the morning. We descended about eight o'clock, staying here and there to collect plants and flowers on the way. We reached the " Falls " about 10 o'clock, and I looked around for plants, while my friend bathed, and the men rested themselves awhile. "Shall you not bathe?" he asked me. " I replied, "I'll just wash my face and hands presently, and let that suffice until we reach All Tong." We were just about to return to the path when a pretty fern I had not before observed attracted my attention, growing on a bit of jutting rock overhanging the Falls. I borrowed a chopper from one of the men, and clambered up the rocks, but to reach it I had to stride across the stream just where it falls over the boulders. I had secured my prize and was turning to leap back when slip ! bump ! splash ! I went, plants, chopper, and all, into the water-worn basin below. When I regained the surface I was washed down again like a cork by the weight of water pouring down from above, but the next time I struck out for the side and crawled out like a half-drowned rat. My friend and our Mala}-s had a hearty laugh over my misadventure, and I was for- tunately not injured in any way. I took off my clothes and wrung them as near dry as possible and then put them on again, and it is astonishing what an excellent substitute wet clothes so treated are when dry ones are not procurable, especially if they can be dipped in sea ch. in.] Wild Men. 43 water and again wrung dry. We walked on rapidly, stay- ing here and there in open places where the vegetation was especially luxuriant to collect such plants as in- terested us. About 1 o'clock we reached Kanka Ah Tong, and I took the opportunity of at once having another bath — not an accidental one this time — and of getting into dry clothes. I also took a dose of quinine 111 a glass of brandy-and-water, and felt no ill effects from my accident and long walk in wet clothing. We stayed here for the night, and the next day we returned to Jahore, and crossing the straits reached Singapore about 6 o'clock. In returning down the Scudai river we saw a slender habited pandanus bearing its Crimson fruit in clusters among its long glaucus leaves, and in places on the margins of the stream the beautiful red-sheathed areca palm was very beautiful. Although this journey was a singularly unproductive one so far as the discovery of new plants of horticultural or botanical interest were concerned, yet it had taught me much in other ways, and gave me an insight into the habits and customs of the Malays, whose language I had commenced to learn as soon as I landed in Singapore for the first time. It is unfortunate that this Puloi mountain is not more readily accessible, seeing that at its summit the air is deliciously fresh and cool, and beautiful views are obtain- able. A good road thither, and a bungalow or two, are all that are needed in order to make this a valuable sana- torium for residents in Singapore, who are worse off in this respect than the Penang people, who have a cool health station, with bungalows, Sec, on the " Hill," which is only a pleasant pony-ride from the town. Apart from the Malay and Chinese inhabitants of •Jahore, there are tribes of wild men or Jakuns, who are 44 The Gardens of the Sun. [cu. hi. believed to be the descendants of the aboriginal popula- tion. These reside in the interior of the country, some of the tribes even construct their rude dwellings in the trees, and wherever land culture is by them adopted it is of the most rude and primitive description. As a rule, their life is nomadic. Dr. Maclay visited these people in 1875, and the following are some of his observations respecting them: — * " These people are thoroughly disinclined to improve- ment of any kind in their mode of life, intellectually or otherwise, although it is not occasioned by want of opportunit}' nor from want of brain. "3. That these tribes are gradually becoming extinct not only the Malays, but also they themselves are fully aware. " This process of extinction is due mainly to the following causes : — " a. The constant advance into the jungle of the Malay and Chinese population displaces the original occupiers of the soil, who retire into greater solitude. " b. Owing to frequent intermarriages between the Makys and the ' utan ' women, the latter race is becoming intermixed into the former, and this mixed race is fast increasing. " In spite of the almost foregone conclusion with which I set out upon my journey, and after severely criticising upon my return the observations I made, I cannot doubt the fact of the existence of an aboriginal non-Malayan population. Furthermore, previous experi- ence and intimate knowledge of the Papuan race lead me to the conviction that this aboriginal population is not * " Journal of Eastern Asia." July, 1875. Triibncr k Co. OKAMi I'T.W u|! Wll.ll MEN UK IVIIUHK iMulc and Female ) Tu fan /hi^i «. ch. in.] Mixed Races. 45 only not of Malay origin, but probably related to the Papuans. Here and there I came across individuals whom I could not consider otherwise than as retrogrades to the main aboriginal type. In most of these cases the hair, though not absolutely identical with that of the pure Papuan type, resembled in texture and in growth that of the Papua-Malay (mixed race) of the west coast of New Guinea, who are by no means inconsiderable in number. In these individual cases the hair was quite different from the curled hair of the other orang-utans. "My chief reasons for my decision on this point, are deduced from the existence of these retrograde instances from the present to the aboriginal type : the fact that the orang-utans are not easily distinguishable from the Malays inhabiting the interior of Jahore, does not diminish this decision, because these Malays gradually by intermarriages have partly inherited the orang-utan type. This intermarriage has been in practice for cen- turies, and is likely to have been occasioned by the flight into the interior of those of the Coast-Malays, who pre- ferred retirement in the jungle to embracing the doc- trines of Islam at the time of the Mahomedan conquest in these pails. To such causes are mainly attributable the variations in the type, and the diversity in the skull formations which I met with in my journey. In size the " orang-utan " are strikingly diminutive. The men rarely exceed four feet eight inches in height, whilst I came across many instances of women, mothers of several children, whose stature was about four feet two inches. Some allowance in these cases must be made consequent on the early marriages, and the defective nourishment at all times. " Some of the ' orang-utan ' whilst preserving their traditional habits and mode of existence, continue to 46 The Gardens of the Sun. [CH. m. dwell in the neighbourhood of the Malay population, selling to them the best-looking and strongest of their daughters. It is rare for the ' orang-utan ' to change to Islamism or to adopt the Malay habits of life. In these cases their aboriginal language has yielded to the Malay and become entirely forgotten as if it had never existed. Such are the conclusions arrived at after wan- dering in Jahore, which I traversed from the Straits of Malacca to the China Sea. In the study of these people I felt as if I were commencing the perusal of an interest- ing old work, of whose semi-effaced pages some were missing." * * It is curious to find that in Borneo, and elsewhere in the Malayan islands, the name "orang-utan" (literally "wild man," or, "man of the woods, ") is applied not only to the large red monkey, as with us, but also to the aboriginal inhabitants of the interior. The Muruts are frequently spoken of a.s " orang-utan," not only by the Malays, but also by the Kadyans, a tribe of aboriginals converted to the Mahomedan 1'aith. CHAPTER IV. RIVER AND FOREST TRAVEL. A Sea-snake — A dreary landing — Native dancing— Orchids at home — Tropical flowers — The jungle leech — A bad dinner — Rough paths — The blow-pipe — Head-hunting — A Murut reception. Setting forth for the first time in a new country, of which but little is generally known, is always exciting work, and as a rule things turn out to be very different to what one had imagined they would be. I had pictured to myself landing in Borneo beneath a hot sun, and at one of the trading stations ; but, on the contrary, it was a dark stormy night when I readied its shores amid a perfect deluge of cold rain ; the thunder and lightning was more impressive than I ever saw it before or since, and the place where I landed was an obscure little village of scarcely a dozen palm-leaf huts, and up a river nearly twenty miles from the coast. It came about in this wa}\ The Hon. W. H. Treacher, of Labium, very kindly undertook to introduce me to the Bornean Kadyans and Muruts — the last a head-hunting tribe — who had settlements near the head of the Lawas and Meropok rivers a little to the northward of the capital. We crossed in a small open boat pulled by eight Brunei men with paddles, which is here the usual and best way of making short sea or river journeys. We started from the fish- market pier, Labium, about 9 p.m. on September 7th, 48 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. iv. and soon after turned into our rugs beneath the awning and slept until morning. We awoke about daybreak, and found ourselves some miles distant from the mouth of the river ; but the heavy swell we had had all night had now subsided, and the men wrere making headway fast. About 7.30 they stopped pulling suddenly, and pointed to a large sea-snake lying full length on the surface of the water in the sun. It was about eight feet in length, and of a blue-black colour, barred with rich golden-yellow, the belly being dull white. Mr. Treacher fired at it with a shot-gun, striking it about the centre of its body ; and we could see quite plainly where the shot had ripped the skin. As it lay quite motionless after the shot for several seconds, we imagined it to be dead, but on the men paddling the boat towards it it dived quite suddenly ; and as the water was clear and still, we could distinguish it at a great depth below the surface. A week or two before, during my voyage from Singapore to Labuan, we had noticed a good many of these snakes on the surface of the sea, but none so large as the one seen here. The natives say it is a very dangerous kind, and some strange tales are told of their hiding themselves in boats and huts near the shore. About ten o'clock we entered the mouth of the Lawas, the well-wooded banks of which formed a beautiful foreground to the picturesque mountains behind, which rise higher and higher right away into the interior. We soon reached the first cluster of huts on the right bank, and it is here that one of the Sultan's relatives, Pangeran Bazar, resides. His house is built on nebong piles over the water, from which you climb up a rude ladder on to a spacious platform, on which are half-a-dozen or more brass swivel guns of native manufacture. This platform is roofed over, and an immense wooden drum hangs over the entrance. en. iv.] Native Princes. 49 This is formed of a hollow tree trunk, over one end of which a deer or goat skin is stretched Tightly by means of a rattan ring and wooden wedges. It is beaten in the evening after the old Pangeran has read from the Koran, and sometimes on the arrival of strangers. Beyond the platform is a large public hall, wherein strangers may rest, and where the natives meet to hear the Koran read, or to talk. The Pangeran's private residence is behind, and differs but little from the other half-dozen palm-leaf houses around it, being merely a superior sort of shed, with mats in place of doors. Duties to the amount of ten per cent, are collected from the natives who bring gutta, rice, or other produce down the river ; but by many this tax is evaded, as they drop down the river on a dark night in a prahu, and creep out along the coast, lying up some creek until a favourable breeze enables them to hoist sail for Labuan. I have stayed several times at this place, and always found this river chief obliging and hospitable, but a chronic deafness on his part makes a conversation with him anything but easy. He read from the Koran most evenings when I was there, the choruses or responses being chanted — I ought to say yelled — by five or six wicked young Malay boys, who amused themselves by laughing and talking, except just when their vocal powers were needed. Two or three hundred yards further up the river is the residence of Pangeran Tanga, and here we went ashore to eat our breakfast of cold fowl and rice, eggs and fruit, followed by coffee and a weed. We bought a dozen new-laid eggs here, also some freshly-plucked bananas, and a splendid durian fruit, nearly as large as a child's head. We noticed a half-finished prahu, or native boat, under one of the sheds, the timbers of which were we1! E 50 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. iv. modelled, being fastened together with stout wooden pegs. After our men had cooked their rice and fish, we again started up the river for Meringit, a Kadyan settle- ment at the head of the Meropok branch ; but owing to the strong current coming down, we did not reach the place until after dark, and, as before remarked, in a drenching thunder-storm. It was so dark that our men could not find the proper landing-place, and having ourselves just left a fairly lighted boat, we could not see a yard ahead in the blinding rain, and so we were soon drenched as we floundered along up to our knees in the soft mud of the river bank. At last two boys came down from the houses in answer to the shouts of our boatmen, and under their guidance we reached dry quarters after a few stumbles over logs and through the long grass. Our first care was to throw off our wet things and get on dry ones, after a rub with a dry towel, and we then ate our dinner, surrounded by most of the swarthy-skinned vil- lagers, who flocked in to look at us. Afterwards it cleared up a bit, and hearing music in a neighbouring house, we adjourned thereto, and found a few of the young men and women enjoying themselves. Their in- struments consisted of a native-made violin on a Euro- pean model, a curious kind of native banjo made of a single joint of a large bamboo, a triangle, or its music rather, being represented by two or three steel hatchet heads, which were laid across laths on the floor, and beaten in time with a bit of iron. The music so pro- duced was of a rather melancholy description, and one or two of the girls and boys danced a little, a mat being spread for the purpose ; but their dancing is merely shuffling about in a more or less slow and stately manner, a singular effect being produced by the graceful way in which the arms are waved about in all directions. This ch. iv.] Native Dancers. 5 1 was particularly noticeable in the case of one of the performers, who waved a handkerchief about during the dance, changing it from one hand to the other, until eventually it vanished from sight altogether ; still the arms waved, and the fingers, in their ever slow changing movement, resembled tentacular groping for their prey as they were slowly waved through the air in every possible direction, presumably in quest of the lost article, the ultimate recovery of which terminated the dance. The only light in the apartment was the lurid nickering of a dammar torch, and its reflections on the faces and slightly-draped forms of the performers and lookers-on produced a weird effect, which was intensified by the silence of all present. The next day " Bongsur," a well-known bird-hunter of the district, and a party of natives, undertook to guide us to the forest we wished to explore, and we set off up one of the largest creeks in a canoe, followed by two or three others containing our men and guides. After paddling about a mile we landed, and after walking through several clearings in the hot sun, the primaeval forest was at length readied, where it was much cooler and more pleasant, the sun's raj's being screened from us by the masses of leaves, epiphytes, and flowers overhead. After mountain climbing, and the wonders of the sea, perhaps nothing suggests one's own littleness more forcibly than a walk through the old forests which exist in tropical lowlands. There is a comparative dearth of undergrowth, — but a hundred feet or more overhead the birds, insects, and flowers enjoy the bright light and warmth denied to all below. The monkeys and birds too find their favourite fruits aloft, and fling the husks below at your feet. Nothing can possibly be of more interest to lovers of exotic plants generally, thun to be able to form some 52 The Gardens of the Sun. [en. iv. idea of their native homes, so far as description can possibly supply the place of travel. The earth's surface is like the sea, inasmuch as it is pretty nearly the same all the world over, but in countries where the mean temperature is thirty or forty degrees higher than in England, the clothing of the earth, so far as represented by vegetation, is of a luxuriance we can scarcely imagine, and the variety caused by the addition of such distinct types as tall palms, bananas, grasses, or bamboos and tree ferns to the more ordinary kinds of tree beauty, and the further clothing of these with epiphytes and parasites of the most singular or beautiful description, makes up a scene of immense interest. Epiphytal orchids are essentially heat-lovers — like palms they are children of the sun. One may often travel a long way in the islands where these plants are most abundant without catching a glimpse of them ; and this is especially true of Phalcenopsis grandifiora, which is of all orchids perhaps the least obtrusive in its native habitats. This trait is, however, the unobtrusiveness of high birth, they do not care to touch the ground, but rather prefer a sphere of their own high up in the trees overhead. The plants have a charming freedom of aspect, as thus seen naturally high up in mid-air, screened from the sun by a leafy canopy, deluged with rains for half the year or more at least, and fanned by the cool sea-breezes or monsoons, which doubtless exercise some potent influence on their health — an influence which we can but rarely apply to them artificiairy, and the greatly modified conditions under which we must perforce culti- vate them may not render this one so desirable as it some- times appears to be abroad. In the lowland forests near the equator a peculiar phase of vegetation is not unfrequently seen. Trees one hundred ■HEATER MOTH UKCIIID U*HAl..ENOrstS) AT HOME. TO fun !■<".>■ "-. ch. iv.] Orchids at Home. 53 feet to two hundred feet in height tower upwards on all sides; and one walks in the shade — diffused light is perhaps the more correct expression — the tree trunks being the pillars of Nature's cathedral, and the leafy branches high up above represent the roof. All the vegetation you see around you on earth, rocks or fallen trunks, is repre- sented by a few ferns, lindsayas, with bright steel-blue fronds a yard high, broad-leaved aroicls, or ginger- worts ; but epiphytes of all kinds seem totally absent : and the truth is, that, like lovable " Tom Bowling," of Dibdin's minstrelsy, they, too, have "gone aloft." Above you is a world of light and air and sunshine which birds, insects, and flowers alike enjoy. You feel very small and helpless as you try to catch a glimpse of the plants and flowers so high above you, and almost envy the long-armed red monke}'s that swing themselves so easily from bough to bough. The monkey, however, has a rival in the human natives of these forest wilds, and it would be extremely puzzling to find a tree so thick, or tall, or otherwise so difficult to climb, that the lithe and dusky native would fail to reach its summit. The chances are that he will literally walk up a slender tree in the neighbourhood with the aid of hands and feet, and then find a route to the one you wish him to explore by way of the interlaced branches so high above you. If any sufficiently stout lianas are dangling near, he ascends hand-over-hand in a wa}r that would delight the most accomplished gymnast ; and if the tree so stood that the ascent could onty be accomplished by the direct way of its own gigantic trunk, then the chances are that a stair of bamboo pegs would enable the ingenious savage to effect his object of scouring the branches, and sending the epiplrytes in showers to your feet. Nor does he neglect to glean such other jungle produce as comes in 54 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. iv. his way, such as gutta or indiarubber, camphor, dammar, or forest fruits for food or medicine. This is in the forest primaeval, but near clearings, or on the skirts of the forest near rivers, which let in the light and air, the phalsenopsids and other epiphytes are less ambitious, and they may then be found in positions but little above the more plebeian terrestrial kinds of vegetation. This is also the case when, as sometimes happens, they are found on the trees which fringe little islands ; and then not only do the plants receive a good deal of sunshine as it streams through the leafy twigs of the branches to which they cling, but it is also reflected back again from the glistening sea. The intense light in which they thus exist, added to the fervent heat and the deluge of rain which falls during six or seven months of the year, accounts for the enormous leaf and root growth made by these plants in their native habitats. The flowering of the plants is not so extraordinary, indeed rather disappointing, after the results which may be seen in English gardens. It is not so much the paucity of flowers produced, however, as their early de- struction caused by the " unbidden guests " the orchids are made to entertain. High up overhead the most lovely orchids hold their court in the sunshine : here they are really " at home " to their winged visitors. Now and then, however, you come across a newly-fallen tree — a very monarch of the woods — which has succumbed to old age and rude weather at last, and has sunk to the earth from which it sprang a seedling generations ago ; its branches laden with everything inanimate, which had made a home in its branches. Some of these ruined trunks are perfect gar- dens of beauty, wreathed with graceful climbing plants, and gay with flowers and foliage. The fall of a large ■i ch. iv.] Tropical Flowers. 55 tree, and its smaller dependents, lets in the sun, and so the epiphytes do not suffer much for a time ; and one may thus observe them in all their beauty. Here, right in the collar of the tree, is a plant of the grammatophyllum orchid, big enough to fill a Pickford's van, and just now opening its golden-brown spotted flowers on stout spikes two yards long. There, on that topmost branch, is a mass of the moth orchid, or phalamopsis, bearing a hundred snowy flowers at least ; and in such healthy vigour is it, that lovers of orchids at home — supposing it could be flashed direct to "Stevens's" in its present state — would outbid each other for such a glorious prize, until the hammer would fall at a price near on a hundred guineas, as it has done before for exceptional specimens of these lovely flowers. There, gleaming in the sunlight, like a scarlet jewel, beneath those great leathery aroid leaves, is a cluster of tubular reschynanthus flowers ; and here is another wee orchid, a tiny pink-blossomed cirrhopetalum, whose flowers and leaves scarcely rise above the bright carpet of velvety moss among which it grows. But what is that attractive gleam of gold and green swaying to and fro in the sunshine ? Ah ! that is a beauty of another kind ! And a native, to whom it is pointed out, ejaculates, " Chalaka ! ular Tuan ! " — a wicked snake, sir; and we are content to move on, and leave him alone in his glory. We tramp on for an hour longer, without even the glimpse of a flower being visible, except here and there a few fragments on the ground, the remnant sjtulia of the flower world which exists on the roof of this grand cathedral of trees. Half an hour further, and the increasing numbers of terns and selaginella mosses suggest the presence of water 56 The Gardens of the Sim. [ch. iv. in the neighbourhood, while the patches of graceful seed- ling calami or rattan palms increase at every step, the stones and trunks become moss-covered, and then at last the " sound of many waters " breaks on our ears with a cool and welcome noise, and a few minutes later we have " struck " the stream, as it rushes and sparkles amongst mossy and water-worn boulders down an open and sunny ravine. Some of the larger rocks are covered with a palm-like fern (Polypodium bifurcatum) ; and filmy ferns, of the most delicate form and texture, abound on the dripping stones. As we sit down on the rocks, a small flock of gigantic hornbills " saw the air " with their great wings far above us, making a noise almost like a locomotive engine in their flight. Butterflies come with wobbling motion down the sunny clearing, formed by the shallow stream ; and, as we are intent on the cold fowl and coffee, which forms our breakfast, the sanguinary stains on our white trousers prove that the wily jungle-leech has not been unmindful of his morning meal. How this little slimy monster loves to gorge himself with gore ! The wonder, however, is how they exist when men are absent from the jungle they infest, as often happens. I susjDect that human blood forms simply an accidental part of their supply. I know they exact all they can from the water buffaloes ; and perhaps even the astute monkey is made to pay toll by these blood-suckers as often as may be. I have often watched them, when aroused by footsteps, as attached to a stick, or stone, or leaf, they wave their bodies about, or walk towards you with a caterpillar-like motion, in quest of happier hunting-grounds. A squeeze of wet tobacco juice is the best plan of dislodging them from your skin ; for if pulled oft', however deftly it be done, there is a chance of a bit of their sucker apparatus ch. iv.] A Bad Dinner. 57 remaining in the wound, which will often cause it to become inflamed, and to fester in a troublesome manner. We suffered a good deal from mosquitoes during the night ; indeed sleep was nearly impossible, and in very- shaded parts of the forest to-day the little pests fixed on our hands and faces with a persistency that was very annoying. We saw very few birds. A gorgeously attired bee-eater was secured by Mr. Treacher as we paddled up the creek; and " Bongsur," who used an old Tower musket as a fowling-piece, secured a tiny spotted owl and one or two other small birds common to this district. We distinctly heard the whoops and yells of the Muruts, who were out pig-hunting, as we came along, but did not fall in with them. Just as we crossed the stream one of the men picked up a fruit of one of the several varieties of durian, which are here indigenous. It was about the size of a cricket-ball, and only contained two of its chesnut-like, pulp-covered seeds. The seeds were very large in proportion to the quantity of pulp, but the flavour was very delicious. We had a long walk back to the creek where we had left our canoes, and reached the village about three o'clock, just before the commencement of a heavy shower. As it cleared up a little about five o'clock we took our guns and had a stroll across the padi .fields behind the houses, returning to dinner about sunset. I shall not soon forget that dinner. Mr. Treacher had brought his Chinese " boy " who had cooked the previous day. My "boy" was a Madras Telinga to whom, of course, the lard or pork fat which the Chinese use in cooking is an abomination, so that my ingenious fellow, as it was his turn to prepare dinner, made us a fowl cuny, using rancid cocoa-nut lamp oil in which to cook the fowl. 58 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. iv. We were rather hungry, and tried to get the stuff down, but had to give it up as a bad job. The nasty taste was most persistent, however ; and for several days coffee, biscuit, rice, and even fresh fruit, seemed to have some- what of the offensive cocoa-nut oil flavour about it. I remonstrated with my "boy " about the matter, with the usual result. " Yes, sah, that China boy bad man, sah ; he tell me oil very good for curry, sah ! " I have no doubt, but that the " China boy" enjoyed the joke with " a smile that was childlike and bland," and doubtless he related the story to his pretty Malay wife on his return, with many " Ah yahs " and inward chuckling. We made shift with biscuit and coffee, and a smoke destroyed the bad taste for the time being. This was the evening preceding the commencement of Ramadan, the " fast month," observed by all Mahome- dans, and there was a great burning of gunpowder in the village. Muskets and small cannon were being dis- charged all over the place in honour of the event. Salutes of this kind, and the festive firing of shot-guns, however harmless it may seem in print, is in reality sometimes a little alarming. The powder used in charging may possibly be bad in quality ; but as a great noise is thought to be the thing, any defect in its quality is pretty well made up for by the quantity used. I am not a very nervous person, but I once or twice felt just a little anxious as the natives amused themselves by firing a charge of five or six inches of powder from a seven and-sixpenny German gun. I once saw some Sulus firing a salute from some old dismounted brass guns which were lashed on the floor of the wharf at Sandakan. They coolly sat down beside the ordnance, waved a bit of rope-}rarn until the smouldering fire at one end brightened up into a glowing spark, and then plunged ch. iv.] Native Dwelling. 59 it into the touch-hole ; nor did they seem in the least disconcerted as the guns sprang a yard into the air dragging up the nebong planks with them, the whole returning with a crash by reason of their elasticity. In the morning, after breakfast, Mr. Treacher returned down the river, but could not cross to Labuan until next day, as a heavy sea was running with much wind and rain, so he had to put back to Pulo Sirra until morning. After his departure I had a consultation with " Bongsur" about the country, and eventually decided to shift my quarters from his father's house to that of his brother, from which the forests and hills of the district could be more readily reached. A party of natives and one or two Muruts who had come to the Kadyan's village to trade, soon got all my traps stowed into the canoes, and half an hour's pull brought us to the clearing in which my future head-quarters were situated. I found here half-a-dozen palm-leaf houses built on piles six feet high, a notched tree trunk serving as a ladder by which to enter. The largest house was forty or fifty yards long by eighteen or twenty feet wide, and being nearly new, it was clean and in good condition. It was occupied by " Bongsur's " brother, a lithe and intelligent young fellow named " Mouniein," and three or four other families. Within, it was simply one large room open to the roof, and divided in half by the central path, communicating with doors at either end. On the right were the hearths for cooking, water-jars, bamboos, baskets, and other simple tools or utensils, the left-hand side being covered with the sleeping-mats of the separate families. Two or three mosquito nets hung over the mats, and at the head of each hung the parong, spear, musket, or other arms of the men, other spears, shields, blowpipes, &c, being laid 60 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. iv. across the timbers overhead. The floor was of open lattice-work, or rather parallel nebong laths an inch apart, so that perfect ventilation is obtained ; and these houses are always cool. The owner was not at home, but his wife brought a board and desired " Bongsur " to partition off one of the corner compartments for me, which was soon done ; and getting up the boxes, ham- mock-sleeping gear, &c, the place soon assumed a more comfortable appearance. As it was a beautiful clear afternoon I left my " boy " to prepare dinner, and started off to the forest with half- a-dozen of the native boys who had followed from the village. I shot a pretty scarlet-breasted trogan with beautifully pencilled wings, in a large fig tree near the houses. We had a rather rough walk through long grass, in which ugly concealed logs were plentiful ; and the only bridges across the streams were formed of a single tree-trunk, often a very slender one not perfectly straight, so that when a particular part of it was reached in one's journey across, it had a treacherous knack of turning round and landing one in muddy water up to the neck. The natives are used to such slender makeshifts for bridges, and, being barefoot, are as sure-footed as goats. We followed one little stream for about two miles, and reached a rocky hill about five hundred feet high, where rhododendrons (R. javanicum) were flowering freery. Hoyas and various orchids were in bloom on the lowest trees ; and it was on bare tree -trunks on this hill that I saw the Veitchian pitcher-plant (Nepcntlies Veitchii) wild for the first time. It has a singular habit of clasping the trunks on which it is epiphytal with its leaves, and many which bear pitchers have the blade of the leaf much reduced. Four other pitcher-plants grew on this hill, namely, N. gracilis, X. liirsuta, N. Ilafliesiana, and the ch. iv.] Fruits and Birds. 6 1 large-urned variety of the last named, known as " gla- berrima." A dendrobium bearing clusters of milk-white flowers was common, as also were bolbophyllums and several greenish-flowered ccelogynes. The ground in some places was matted with a very pretty terrestrial orchid (Bromhcadia Finlaysoniana) which has leafy stems two to three feet in height, terminated by a zig-zag flattened spike of white-petalled flowers as large as those of the " Spotted Indian Crocus " (Pleionc metadata), and having a blotch of lemon-yellow on the lip and some bright amethystine veins or streaks. We loaded the men with roots and specimens, and then returned to the houses just before nightfall. It was during the wet season, and after dark each evening the mosquitoes were most ravenous. As a remedy for this annoyance the women lighted fires beneath the house, on which cocoa-nut husks were placed and made to smoulder gradually. This certainly kej)t the little pests at bay, but the smoke brought tears to one's eyes, and was almost as bad to bear as the mos- quito bites. The Avild forest fruits were now plentiful in this district, and, as a natural consequence, birds and monkeys were abundant also, for they migrate to diffe- rent places as the fruits begin to ripen. The bird- hunters were busy, and rarely a day passed but I was gladdened with the sight of some bird or other animal that was novel to me. Argus, Bulwer, and Fireback pheasants and other large ground birds were caught in snares or springes, while hornbills, owls, eagles, or hawks, and large birds generally were killed with shot, or very often small gravel discharged from an old Tower musket. The smallest birds, especially the brilliant little sweets or sunbirds, were killed with small arrows from the blow- 62 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. iv. pipe or " sunrpitan," in the use of which some of the Muruts and Kadyans are especially expert. Even large game was formerly obtained in this way, poisoned arrows being used, in which case the harmless-looking blow- pipe becomes one of the most subtle and deadly of weapons. The slightest puncture with one of these poisoned darts is as certain to terminate fatally as is the bite of the cobra ; and this, added to the possibility of the arrow being propelled on its journey with lightning- like speed, without the least sound being heard, will give an idea of its deadly power in the skilful hands of savages, to whose ambition the death of an enemy and the pos- session of his bleached skull for the decoration of their dwellings on feast days, was the all-important feature of their social existence. I have seen a Murut strike fish after fish with unerring certainty with arrows from a sumpitan, even at more than a foot below the surface of the stream ; a much more diffi- cult thing to do than one might suppose, since allowance has to be made for the deviation from a right line which the arrow takes on touching the water. The springes in which pheasants are caught are set in artificial fences half a mile or more in length, and are simply nooses of rattan, although rarely thin brass wire is used. A bent sapling is attached to the noose in such a manner that when the bird runs against a twig in passing through the opening in the fence it becomes disengaged, and flying upwards, draws the noose tightly around the creature's neck. A device similar in principle, but much more dangerous, is used by the Muruts for capturing the wild pigs. In this case a stout spear of bamboo is made to pass through guiding loops of rattan attached to trees or stakes, so that by the aid of a stout sapling drawn back to its fullest ch. iv.] Head-hunting. 63 tension it can be hurled right through the bocty of any- passing animal, which unconsciously disengages the ap- paratus by pressing against or treading on a branch across its track. These pig-sticking contrivances are very dangerous to strangers, and even the Muruts themselves are sometimes injured by them. One of the Lawas Muruts showed me where the bamboo spear belonging to one of these pig or deer-traps had been driven right through his leg near the knee. His bronzed features underwent the most extraordinary and suggestive of contortions as he explained how it had taken the strength of five or six men to hold him against a tree while others tugged at the bamboo shaft until they succeeded in withdrawing it from the injured limb. In some districts these pig-traps are very numerous, and one has to be continually on the look-out for them. I visited the Lawas district several times, and had good opportunities of seeing the Muruts, and noting many of their peculiarities. Their houses are similar to those of the Dusun, but instead of living in separate houses, one enormous house is built sufficiently large to accommodate from twenty to fifty families. These houses vary from thirty to one hundred yards in length, and, like those of the Kadyans, are built on piles. As the different tribes are continually at variance with each other, and knowing each other's affection for crania, they congregate in one large dwelling so as to be better prepared for resistance in case of a sudden attack. These people, and the Kayans who live in the vicinity of the Baram river, and one or two other tribes of the aboriginal Borneans, still continue the practice of head-hunting, although the custom is now fast dying out here, as it has in the case of the Dyaks of Sarawak, and other places further south. Only a few years back a youth was not allowed to marry 64 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. iv. until lie had taken the head of an enemy, and if any ill- luck or death occurred in the tribe these head-hunting raids were indulged in at once to appease the malignant spirits which were believed to have been the cause ; or if a chief's favourite wife or child died, he at once took to head-hunting in a bloodthirsty spirit of revenge. The desire to shed blood seems inherent in all savage natures, and is adhered to tenaciously even after civilisa- tion has reached them, and so it happens that human heads or skulls are considered the most valuable property of these wild Borneans, just as the Sioux and other Indians of North America still attach a peculiar value to the scalp locks of their foes. Even although head- hunting is gradually becoming a thing of the past in Borneo, still so highly are the old skulls valued even by the now peaceable tribes who have not taken a head for years, that they can rarely be induced to part with them, no matter how much may be offered in exchange. In several Murut houses I visited near the Lawas large baskets full of human crania were preserved as trophies of the prowess of the tribe. It is very rare that anything like general open fighting now takes place between the native tribes, as was for- merly the case, when a party of fighting men would, after marching at night only through the forests for days together, steal up to the house of their foes just before daylight and endeavour to set fire to it, after which the place was surrounded and the men killed as they at- tempted to escape, the women and children being made prisoners and carried off as additions to the wealth of the victors. Sometimes, however, the besieged were too wary for their foes, and either boldly rushed out and drove them off with loss, or formed ambuscades, into which they unwittingly fell and were annihilated, or ch. iv.] A Murut Reception. 65 perhaps a few would break through and escape to tell the tale. In this way a good many heads and slaves were obtained, but at present the additions to the baskets are more rare, and principally obtained by stealthy murders rather than in warfare. The Muruts and other abori- ginals are great believers in omens, and whether on head • hunting or pig-killing expeditions they pay great regard to the cries of birds and animals ; and if they meet an alligator or a snake, they at once return and wait for a more propitious season. In travelling with these natives as guides, their careful attention to omens becomes exceedingly trying to one's temper, as they will stop immediately if the omens seen or heard be not good ones, and if anything more than ordinary duties are required of them it is astonishing how soon a bad omen will put an end to all further progress for the day. One place where I stayed for several weeks was within half a mile of a large Murut house, and their gongs could be heard very plainly some- times all night when they were feasting and drinking a peculiar spirit, which is made of lice and tampoe fruit mixed with water and strained off for use after fermenta- tion. These feasts seemed to be held on the occasion of any good fortune befalling the tribe, such as success in hunting pigs or deer. One night they were gong-beating and shouting louder than usual. I asked the native in whose house I slept the reason of this, and he told me that they had been out head-hunting for a fortnight, but had failed to pounce upon any Murut of another tribe ; so to end the suspense they had seized one of their own slaves, who had in some way offended them, and had made a scapegoat of him. I visited this house some days afterwards, and smoked a " roko " with the " Orang Capella," or chief, while three of his lusty followers kept 66 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. iv. up an incessant din on five gongs which were suspended in the centre of the public apartment. I asked to see his collection of heads, and after a good deal of talking, a few diy old examples were brought ; but after we left I was told that they had many more, including the one so recently taken, but that they were afraid to let the fact be known. This tribe had good reasons for secrecy in the matter, since one man had been hung at Labuan for a head-hunting murder a year or two previous to my visit, and another would have suffered the same fate had he not died in jail. They had actually crossed over to the English colony to look out for heads, and ascending a little river on the western side, had shot a man who was coming down in a canoe. The shot, an old nail, struck the shaft of the paddle, and passing through, entered the man's body, after which they made off, but were captured by the Government and tried for the murder. This identical paddle was one of the first things I saw when I paid my respects to His Excellency the Governor of Labuan, and when the story was narrated to me it did not sound very cheering, seeing that I expected to live among these tribes for some months at least. However, I could never hear of a white man being killed, except by the pirates from Tawi Tawi and Sulu, with one exception, which was of a man who is supposed to have been poisoned by his native mistress. St. John mentions one tribe, however, who are peculiarly addicted to poison- ing anyone who may be disliked by them. The nature of the poison used is not exactly known, but it is very generally supposed to be a peculiarly irritating fibre or spiculse derived from some species of bamboo, the effect of which is to cause a chronic state of sickness and depression, followed by death. Whatever it may be, it is a mechanical rather than a chemical irritant. When en. iv.] The Kadyans. 67 one travels in such a lovely island, however, as Borneo undoubtedly is, it is extremely difficult to believe half the tales told of the native tribes, and altogether the proportionate number of robberies and murders is not more than takes place in the most enlightened centre of civilisation in the world. The total population of the island is supposed to be from 3,000,000 to 4,000,000, and when we consider that all these un christianised natives (excepting those in Sarawak and the Dutch ter- ritory) live together with no law — nothing in fact but their own sense of right and wrong, and public opinion to keep them in order — the wonder is that, even according to our own standard, crime is so seldom heard of. The Kadyans are a tribe of peaceable and well-disposed aboriginals, who, living along the coast near to the capital, have mixed a good deal with the Malays and speak their language. It is not uncommon, however, to find the older and more intelligent men of this tribe well acquainted with several dialects of the interior, such as Murut, Dusun, and the Brunei dialect, used by the common natives of the capital. They are mostly Maho- medans, and so are more respected by their Malay rulers than are other of the aboriginals. They form thrifty little colonies on most of the rivers near Brunei, and many have settled in Labuan, where they cultivate their rice fields, and occasionally bring fruit or fish to the markets. The}' are for the most part a clean and healthy race, and form a great contrast with their neighbours who live in a more irregular manner, and are often troubled with skin diseases, this being in a measure owing to the want of cleanliness and of a regular diet. There cannot be any doubt but that Islam is a great blessing to many Eastern races, especially so far as cleanliness and temperance are concerned. f 2 68 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. iv. The Kadyans are very quick in selecting rich bits of forest and in raising fine crops of rice, which forms the main portion of their food. Kice and fish from the river or sea, fruits from their gardens or the forest, and a few simple vegetables are all the food they require. They also collect gutta and caoutchouc, camphor and rattans, from the forest, and the sale of these in Labuan, or to the Chinese traders who visit the coast, enables them to obtain cloth, muskets and ammunition, tobacco, and any other little necessaries or luxuries of Chinese or Euro- pean manufacture which they may require. Although less active than the Muruts, yet there are some fine men among them, and their women, as a class, are perhaps the most refined and intelligent of all the aboriginals, some, when young, being singularly attractive. The boys are also bright fellows, with a keener sense of humour than is common in other tribes. They live a free and easy life, contented and happy, and I could not help contrasting the peace and plenty enjoyed by these people with the squalor and misery in which the poor of civilised lands are often plunged. Here, in these sunny wilds, an all- bounteous Nature, with a minimum of labour, supplies their every want, and it would be difficult to find another country where man is more truly the "monarch of all he surveys" — more truly independent on his fellow-man than here in Borneo. Although these people are nomin- ally Mahomedans, still their women enjoy the greatest freedom and are never secluded, as is the custom of the Malays of the coast, indeed, many Kadyan houses consist of one very large room onry, there being no private apartment of any kind. This is a rather singular trait of these people, since even the Muruts and the Dusan have one side of their houses partitioned off so as to allow of a separate private room for each family, the ch. iv.] Population. 69 other half being open from end to end and free to guests or strangers. The Kadyans take but one wife, and are apparently good husbands and affectionate parents ; large families, however, are exceptional. This question of increase of population in the island is one I could not profess to explain. Here is a rich and fertile island larger than Great Britain and Ireland, with an entire population scarcely exceeding that of London. In the old times inter-tribal warfare may have operated as a check, and even now whole villages are sometimes carried off by epidemics, such as cholera or small-pox, yet when we consider that there are practically none of the checks on marriage itself as with us, and the readiness with which food is obtainable in plenty, the easy and natural way, indeed, in which these people live, it is a puzzle that they seem scarcely able to hold their own. In the case of the North American Indians or the Maories of New Zealand, there is the competition of the white races, but here they are not crowded out by a stronger type, nevertheless, the population is supposed to be less than was formerly the case. If a Kadyan youth wishes to marry, he has only to select a site for his house, and clear the ground around it for a garden. He may take an unoccupied plot anywhere, and there is no ground-rent to pay, it is freehold so soon as he has in a manner "staked his claim," by cutting down the brush and burning the trees, in which the other "lads of the village " will assist him. The ground is cleared towards the end of the dry season, and with the commencement of the first rains a few seeds of Indian corn, cucumbers, betel popper, &c, are sown, and yams, kaladi, sweet potatoes, together with cocoa-nuts, and banana suckers from his father's or a friend's garden, are planted. Then timbers, rattans, and nipa leaves for thatch are obtained, jo The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. iv. and, with the assistance of his friends, a good roomy house will spring up, if not quite mushroom-like in a night, at the least in a week or ten days. A dollar or two, or the jungle produce he could collect in less than a month, will enable him to obtain the few articles of fur- niture, cooking utensils, &c, which he requires, toge- ther with a new " sarong " or two for himself and his bride. And she, the dusky beauty, will have made a few neatly worked palm-leaf sleeping mats and other needful trifles, and doubtless looks forward to her wedding with as much pleasure as her fairer sister of the West. The actual ceremony of marriage is here very simple. A pay- ment has to be made by the bridegroom to his father-in- law, and this varies in proportion to the charms or other good marketable qualities of the girl — an ordinary girl being worth as much as a good buffalo, or say, £4 ; as much as £20, however, is sometimes demanded for the "belle of the village," but in addition to the first cost such beauties are apt to give their husbands a good deal of trouble afterwards, unless, indeed, they be of Cato-like temperament. Marriages may be dissolved for the merest trifles by either party, but if by the woman herself, part of the money or goods paid to her parents is re- funded. In the case of the Mahomedans, a woman retains all her real and personal property after divorce- ment. A native, in whose house I stayed several weeks, told me that his wife had been married to another Kadyan before he married her. "And did her husband die?" I enquired. " Oh, no," he answered. " Then why did she leave him ? " " She did not like him," was the re- joinder. And such cases of mutual separation are far from uncommon. These people, unlike the Muruts of the Limbang, had plenty of rice and other food, the produce of their padi ch. iv.] Food Supply. J i fields and gardens. In some parts of the island it is extremely difficult to purchase food of any kind, the natives possessing only barely enough for their own wants. Here, however, one could obtain fowls, eggs, rice, and vegetables in abundance. The prices may be interesting. For excellent fowls, from fivepence to eiglitpence was charged ; eggs fivepence per dozen ; vegetables enough for two or three days' supply for two- pence ; while lodging, fire-wood, and plenty of jungle fruit in season, may be had for nothing. Dollars and cents were current here, but cloth, especially grey shirt- ing and a stout black fabric, were also readily received in exchange at a slight advance on Labuan prices. The men here were willing to act either as guides or carriers for tenpence to a shilling per diem. When I returned to the house at night from the forest, I generally found a liberal share of the jungle fruit which had been brought home by the men laid on my mats ; and after dinner my own men and the villagers would drop in for a chat by the light of a flickering dammar torch. Twenty or thirty dusky figures smoking or eat- ing betel-nut had a curious effect in the badly lighted hut. All through the fast month these people never eat or drink anything between sunrise and sunset, but the}' make up for this between sunset and sunrise, the women being busy cooking rice and fish nearly all night. At the end of the month, too, a great feast was held, at which all in the village and neighbourhood met and smoked the " roko " of peace, all old feuds and wrongs being for the nonce forgiven or forgotten. Everyone came dressed in their best head- cloths and sarongs, being armed with their war parangs, and altogether forming an animated and brightly coloured assemblage. This feast was held 72 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. iv. at night, and for several days previous the women had been busy bringing in lire-wood and cleaning rice. On the day on which this gathering was held the culi- nary operations were on an extended scale, and, at the appointed meal time, great heaps of rice, vegetables, fish, and fruit, were piled on fresh banana leaves right down the centre of the house. A dignified green-coated old hadji graced the repast with his presence, and he was pleased to kill the fowl for nry own dinner, according to native rite, and evidently liked being noticed as a traveller, for his dark eyes sparkled with pleasure when I asked him of his voyage to Mecca. He complained very much of the insults, losses, and hardships, to which pilgrims were exposed, but his appetite was evidently as good as ever, since the clearance of rice and fish he made around him at dinner was something startling to see. These people had but few domesticated animals. The Muruts had plenty of dirty, half-starved black pigs run- ning about the jungle near their house, and a few goats. They had also a peculiar race of small, brown dogs, resembling terriers, which are very useful in pig hunt- ing. The Kadyans had cats wonderfully like our own, but with abnormal tails. Poultry are represented only by cocks and hens. Some of the wild birds of the forests are domesticated as pets, the most common being Java and little red sparrows ; a beautiful little green ground pigeon ; paroquets of two kinds, one very small like a love-bird, the other having two long blue attenuated feathers in its tail. Mino birds are not ^infrequently tamed, and they may be taught to speak words or phrases quite readily. Some of the larger hornbills, the "rhinoceros" variety especially, are also tamed, and are most amusing creatures. There was one in a house ch. iv.] Bird Catching. 73 where I stayed a week or two, and a more voracious bird I never saw. At night it would perch itself on a stick below the house and croak for hours together, but with daylight in the morning it would enter the house to beg for food, and the quantities it could consume during the day were surprisingly large. Everything edible seemed equally welcome — rice, fruit, vegetables, and even the entire bodies of small birds which my boy had been skinning as specimens were gulped down with apparent relish. Any trifles thrown towards it were sure of being caught in its great bill, and then thrown again in the air and caught previous to their being swallowed. The Kadyans have an ingenious way of capturing the little green or piini pigeons (Chalcophaps indica) with a bamboo call, by which their soft cooing notes are exactly imitated. These birds are gregarious, and just before breeding-time they arrive in large quantities. " The call is formed of two pieces of bamboo, a slender tube, a short piece 3" — 4" in diameter, and a connecting piece of wood. In the short piece is a hole similar to the embouchure of a flute ; and the lower end of the blow-tube is fitted to this in such a manner that, on blowing, a soft, low, flute-like ' cooing' is easily producible ; and this can be readily modulated so as to be heard either at a long distance or near at hand. This instrument is figured in Proc. Zool. Soc. 1879, Part II., p. 34G. The native, who has taken up his position in the forest or jungle where these little birds are found, blows very softly at first ; but if there be no answering call from the birds he blows louder and louder, thus increasing the radius of sound. If there really be any pigeons of this kind within hearing, they are sure to answer; and then the hunter blows softer and softer until they are enticed into 74 The Gardens of the Sun. [en. iv. the ' wigwam ' of leafy branches which he has erected in •order to conceal himself from sight. The door or en- trance to these ' wigwams ' is partially closed by a screen of palm (Nipa fruticans) leaves. This is elevated a little to allow the pigeons to enter, after which it is allowed to fall, portcullis-like, entirely, so as to close the entrance ; and the bird is then easily secured. Above the entrance two holes are made, so that the hunter can look out without being seen. These huts are formed of a few poles or sticks, rudely thatched with twigs and palm- leaves, and vary from four to six feet in height. " This pigeon is migratory, and arrives in Labuan and on the opposite Bornean coast with the change of the monsoon, about April. Many hundreds are then caught by means of this ' dakut,' or ' bamboo call,' and are offered for sale by their captors for a cent or two each. They are also kept by the natives as domestic pets, along with young hornbills, the 'Mino' bird or ' Grackle,' a small species of paroquet, and Java sparrows." At this season little huts are built in the forest, and the hunter, ensconced within, blows his call, and they will actually run inside the hut, where they are caught. The Kadyans and their Murut neighbours collect a good deal of gutta and caoutchouc in the surrounding forests, which is afterwards manufactured into lumps or balls, and taken over to Labuan for sale. The gutta is ob- tained from four or five kinds of large forest trees, belonging to the genus isonandra, by felling the trees and girdling or ringing their bark at intervals of every two feet, the milky juice or sap being caught in vessels fashioned of leaves or cocoa-nut shells. The crude sap is hardened into slabs or bricks by boiling, and is gene- rally adulterated with twenty per cent, of scraped bark — indeed, the Chinese traders who purchase the gutta from ch. iv.] Gutta and Cdoutc/wuc. 75 the collectors, would refuse the pure article in favour of that adulterated with bark, and to which its red colour is mainly due. Caoutchouc or rubber is in the N.W. districts of Borneo the produce of three species of climbing plants, known to the natives as "Manoongan," "Manoongan putih," and "Manoongan manga." Their stems are fifty to one hundred feet in length, and rarely more than six inches in diameter, the bark corrugated, and of a grey or reddish-brown colour ; leaves oblong, and of a glossy green colour ; the flowers are borne in axillary clusters, and are succeeded by yellow fruits, the size of an orange, and containing seeds as large as beans, each enclosed in a section of apricot-coloured fruit. These fruits are of a delicious flavour, and are highly valued by the natives. Here, again, the stems are cut down to facilitate the collection of the creamy sap, which is afterwards coagu- lated into rough balls by the addition of nipa salt. It is most deplorable to see the fallen gutta trees lying about in all directions in the forest, and the rubber-yield- ing willughbeias are also gradually, but none the less surely, being exterminated by the collectors here in Borneo, as, indeed, throughout the other islands and on the Peninsula, where they also abound. It was formerly thought that gutta was the produce of one particular species of tree — Isonandra gutta — but that from the Lawas district is formed of the mixed sap of at least live species, the juice of ficus and one or two species of artoearpeffi being not unfrequently used in addition as adulterants. The Bornean "gutta soosoo," or rubber, again, is the mixed sap of three species of willughbeias, and here, again, the milk of two or three other plants is added surreptitiously to augment the quantity collected. The gutta trees are a long time in attaining to maturity, j6 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. iv. and are not easy to propagate, except by seeds. The willughbeias, on the other hand, grow quickly, and may be easily and rapidly increased by vegetative as well as by seminal modes of propagation, hence the latter are more especially deserving of the attention of our Govern- ment in India, where they might reasonably be expected to thrive. No doubt there are yet many thousands of tons of these products existing in Bornean woods, but as the trees are killed by the collectors without a thought of replacement, the supply will recede further and further from the markets, and so prices must of necessity rise as the supply fails, or as the collection of it becomes more laborious. The demand for caoutchouc from Borneo is a very recent one, yet in many districts the supply is prac- tically exhausted. In Assam, Java, and also in Aus- tralia, rubber is supplied \>y Flcus elastica, which is cultivated for the purpose. There are many milk -yield- ing species of ficus in the Bornean forests which might possibly afford a supply in remunerative quantities as the result of careful experiments. The Malayan representa- tives of the bread-fruit family also deserve examination, as excellent rubber is yielded by Castilloa elastica, a South-American plant of this order. CHAPTER V. KINA BALU, OR CHINESE WIDOW MOUNTAIN. Journey to Kina Balu — Visit to Pangeran Rau — Agricultural implements — Sea Gipsies — Datu of the Badjows — Musa — Fertile plain — River- side gardens — Women gardeners — Fording the Tawaran — Bawang — Good scenery — Si Nilau — Kalawat — Rat-traps — A wet journey — Bungol — Koung village — Native traders — Rice culture — Kiau — Hiring of guides — Ascent of Kina Balu — A curious breakfast — Rare plants en route — Mountain flowers — Large pitcher plants — A cave dwelling — Scarcity of water — Mountain orchids — Cool climate — Slippery descent — Lost in the forest — Return to Kiau — Native pro- duce— Journey to Marie Parie Spur — Return to the coast — Native women of the interior — Hire of native boat — Return to Labuan. On the 29th of November, just as the dry season was commencing in Labuan, Mr. Peter Veitch (who had a few days before joined me after his travels in Australia and the Fiji Islands) and myself started off on a journey to Kina Balu, which we intended to reach by way of the Tawaran river. We had with us twenty -six men and two bird-hunters, so that we formed a rather imposing party of thirty, all told. The men were armed with native parangs or swords ; some had krisses, and eight or ten carried muskets with which we had provided them. We embarked our men, stores, and travelling gear on board a little coast-steamer bound for Sulu, and the following morning we arrived at Pulo Gaya, and the captain lowered another boat in addition to the one we had brought with us, and put us all safely ashore near 78 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. v. Gantisan in Gay a Bay. We waited here at a Roman Catholic Catechist's Station for some time, and I as- cended to the summit of the grass-covered hills north- wards. These are forest-covered below, the nebong palm being very abundant, and attaining large dimen- sions. The hill-tops above, which look so smooth and green when seen from the sea, are found to be clad with coarse " lallang " grass a yard high, among which the men who accompanied me pointed out several deer lairs. Fresh green tufts of Cheilanthes tenuifolia grew in the crevices of the decomposed sandstone, and among the clumps of nebong palm ; a singular fern, Scliizcea digitata, was very plentiful. Returning, we re-arranged our baggage, and sending our boat round to Pangeran Rau's place at Kalombini, by sea, we and the majority of the men started over the ridge of the wooded hill on foot. It was a stiff climb in the hot sun, the path being both steep and rough. In descending to the plain on the other side we shot three large swallows and a crimson and blue-painted barbet ; we were also fortunate in finding a pretty pink-flowered zingiberad in bloom. The flat plain into which we descended was partly cultivated, and the rice especially looked strong and healthy. Fine buffaloes were also grazing here. We reached Pangeran Rau's house at three o'clock, and had the usual bichari or talk, arm-chairs and mats being at once brought into the head-house on our arrival. Some of the women were busy pounding the rice to separate it from the husk ; and one or two ran away shrieking at our approach — it was simply affectation, and not fright. AVe found the Pangeran rather reserved, but hospitably inclined. He was a gray-haired old or. v.] Pangeran Rau. 79. fellow of over sixty, and spoke but little, asked no ques- tions, and spent most of his time sitting cross-legged on a mat drinking tea, chewing limed " sirra " leaf and betel, or smoking long cigarettes of tobacco rolled in nipa leaf, all being brought to him from time to time b}r little Malay boj-s. The head-house was soon filled with men from the other houses, who flocked in to see us and to hear the news from Labuan of our followers. We rested a little, and then walked out to obtain a bath before dinner. Some natives directed us to a spring about half a mile off across the plain, which here, near the houses, is of sand covered with coarse sedges and scrub. We passed two or three palm-leaf cottages on our way ; and here I noticed £he first implement of agriculture I saw in Borneo. It was a wooden harrow ; and a native seeing me interested in it, pointed to a rude iron-shod plough which hung in a large mango tree near one of the huts. A good many of the people who live here are Badjows or " sea gipsies," so called from their habit of wandering about from place to place in boats, in which they seem more thoroughly at home than in the wretched huts they now and then build on shore. They are essentially lazy, and will not walk a yard if they can get a buffalo or anything having four legs to carry them. We saw two Badjow boys going to the spring for water, and they both rode on a buffalo calf, which seemed used to its mischievous load. We returned to dinner at dusk, and managed to get a good night's rest here, as the houses were cool, being built over the water, and the mosquitoes were not nearly so bloodthirsty as usual. Our boat did not come round until nearly ten the following morning. We had been up since sunrise, and had our breakfast ; so, when our craft appeared, we So The Gardens of the Sun. [en. v. borrowed a boat and a couple of men from the Pangeran, and left for the Badjow village on the Menkabong. We reached that place about noon in a drenching shower, and our guides assured us that further progress that day was impossible. We therefore had our things brought up into the head-house and soon made ourselves com- fortable. We had brought two dozen fine pomoloes with us from Labuan, and the ripe ones were now realty excel- lent in flavour; and we thoroughly enjoyed this delicious fruit for dessert after a frugal luncheon of bread and dried fish. About four o'clock the rain ceased, and the sun shone beautifully, so we took our guns, and went ashore for an hour to shoot. We secured a few pigeons and other birds, returning to dinner at sun- set. Mr. Veitch lost his watch among the long grass, but was fortunate enough to find it on retracing his steps. We arose at day-break the following morning, and started off, reaching the market-place on the Tamparulie plain about seven o'clock. A large market of fruit, fish, vegetables, rice, and other native produce, was being held, and on landing we met with the Datu in whose village we had remained last night. We told him the object of our presence in his territory, and found him agreeable, although not nearly so dignified as Pangeran Rau. He sent off one of his men to fetch us some fruit, and he soon returned with a basket of fine langsat, in return for which we gave him a couple of pomoloes, and we afterwards smoked a cigar together while our men unloaded the boats. We tried to hire two or three men from him; but as he was veiy extortionate in his demands as to payment for them and a buffalo -sledge which we wished to load with rice for our men, we cut the matter short by refusing his assistance at any price. ch.v.] "Musa" 8 1 We sent back the Pangeran's boat, and giving our men as much rice each as they could carry, we returned the rest to the other boat and left two men in charge until our return. I am inclined to think his greed was excited by seeing the cloth and goods we had as the men unloaded the boat. We now found out the value of the man " Musa," whom we had engaged to superintend our men. He was an old man, but still powerful and active, and he pos- sessed the secret of persuasion to the utmost degree. Under his direction the men were all loaded equally, and to their individual satisfaction, and we set off towards Tamparulie. We saw a pretty white-flowered cucurbit growing over bushes here and there, and bearing spindle- shaped fruits of a scarlet colour and about two inches long. Here and there also the red-berried spikes of an amorphophallus were seen among the tall grass. I and Veitch shouldered our guns, and pushed on across a low grassy plain inhabited for the time by a few black water buffaloes, and then came a long march in single file across a series of wet rice or padi fields, the paths through which were scarcely a foot broad, very uneven, and being of pure clay, the last night's rain had made them as slippery as wet soap. We avIio had only our guns to carry found it rather hard work floundering about on the greasy tracks ; but the men were in good spirits, and a march of about two hours brought us to the Tawaran, close to the village of Tamparulie which stands on its banks. The plain we had just traversed was well cultivated, and very fertile, rice, bananas, cocoa-nut trees, and other vegetation being most luxuriant. Buffaloes were em- ployed to draw the rude ploughs through the rich, moist earth. We saw immense flocks of white "padi birds," 82 The Gardens of the Sun. [en. v. and here and there a crane, majestically stalking among the crops. At our halting-place the river is veiw shallow, its high banks being fringed with groves of cocoa-nuts and bananas ; and in one or two places I noted neatly-fenced and well-kept gardens descending nearly to the water's edge. In these were sweet potatoes, cucumbers, maize, and " kaladi," or Caladium escu- lentiim. The women seemed to be the principal culti- vators of these little plots, and we could see them at work among the garden crops here and there as we passed along. Here we noticed a lovely palm for the first time — a caryota — having dark green plumose foliage, the pinnae abruptly jagged, and notched along its margins. As we partook of our luncheon, an intelligent old native came along, and sent our men to his garden, which he pointed out to us, for some green cocoa-nuts, so that we obtained a delicious draught, which we found very refreshing after our hot walk. He was very talkative, and begged a little brandy ; and he also gladly accepted the seeds of a fine pomolo (Citrus decumana), to plant in his garden. We did not cross the stream here, but plunged on beside the river, following a narrow, muddy buffalo track, which in places resembled a tunnel, being com- pletely embowered with tall grasses, bound together with large convolvuli and other creeping and climbing plants. A heavy walk of a couple of hours brought us to the first group of Dusun houses, which stood on a bit of rising ground close beside the stream, being surrounded by a grove of cocoa-nut palms and other fruit-trees. "We stayed here to rest our followers, and while waiting shot several birds on the surrounding trees. Let not the gentle reader blame us for wanton destruction ! There ch. v.] A River Village. 83 was" method in our madness;" we did not "kill for sport," but only for the advancement of learning, or for food. About half a mile beyond we came to a fording-place in the stream, and descending the slippery clay banks, we crossed the river, which in places reached up to our waists ; and in one place the current was rather too strong to be pleasant. Reaching the other side, our way lay along an abandoned bed of the stream for some distance. The old shingly bed was in some places quite thickly covered with Celosia argentea, forming compact little bushes, two feet high, every branchlet terminated by a rose -tipped spike of silvery bracts, forming, as seen here, a very pretty object. AVe reached the Dusan village of Bawang {baicarig, in the Dusun dialect - river) about four o'clock, after fording a creek up to our necks, and indeed we were both tired and hungry. AVe took refuge in a house, which stood on the bank, quite close to the river, and our men soon had several fires ablaze on the pebbly beach below. AVe pulled off our wet things, and enjoyed a bath in the bubbling stream, and then a nice rub, dry and clean clothes, made us quite comfortable by dinner time. " Bongsur," one of the bird hunters, brought in two or three very pretty birds here ; and Mr. Veitch added a black, red-bellied squirrel (" basing ") to our collection. AVe slept the sleep of the weary ; and the following morning pushed on up the slope beyond the village. The shady jungle through which we passed ere we began to ascend was thickly carpeted with selaginellas, ,S'. WcUichii being especially luxuriant. »S'. outlcscfus drooped from the moist rocks here and there very graceful! v. AVe found the climbing rather arduous work, 84 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. v. and but for the shade of the overhanging bamboo, which grows here plentifully, we should have fared worse. On reaching the crest of the hill, an altitude of say 800 feet, we got along better. At this height we found our first nepenthes, a pretty green-pitchered form, swollen below, and having a broad, flattened red rim to its mouth (N. Phyllamphora) . We rested an hour on the top, but could procure no water, excepting a few drops from the cut end of a climbing plant, which the natives call "kalobit," and of which they sometimes form rough cordage, b}^ rending it into long strips. The juice of this plant is intensely bitter ; but the water which dis- tilled itself slowly from the cut end was quite pure and tasteless. We ascended about 1500 feet to-day, and the views from the summit of the range between Bawang and Si Nilau were very satisfying, all the intervening country to the sea being plainly visible, as well as the whole coast-line, as far as Gaya Bay. We walked along quicker than usual, for the sky became very black, and it was evident that we should soon have a drenching shower. Our guides had forgotten the way to Si Nilau, and so there was nothing for it but to push on, in the hopes of meeting with a shelter by the way. At length we suddenly came upon the site of a deserted village, and took shelter in a hut — a little better in repair than the rest — while from the trees near both langsat fruit and cocoa-nuts were procurable. Here we waited until the rain abated, when we took up our quarters in the house of a Dusun man, near the site of the old village, which had, as we afterwards heard, been deserted on account of the death of the headman. We had previously met our Dusun landlord about two en. v.] A Dusun Cottage. 85 miles from this village, in some patches of rice and gourds, but he had been too frightened to answer our inquiries as to the route, and rushed down the hill just as the first few drops — big, heavy, solitary drops — fell from the black rain-clouds over head. Fortunately, I had struck the right road a few yards further on, and followed it up, when in turning a rocky corner, where two roads merged into one, I came across the man again Sleeping Room. Sleeping Room. Lar< Hearth. ;e Public Ko Door. Oil). Verandah. PLAN OF A I>USUN CoTTAOK, N.W. BOHNEO. lace to face. Pie was so surprised at my sudden reap- pearance, that he fairly shook with terror, and he rushed down the rocky ledge, which served as a path around the hill-top, with the speed of a startled deer. I had yelled after him to stop, but he ran all the faster; and when afterwards we entered his house, our men had a little trouble to reassure him that we meant him no harm. We soon put the old boy at his ease, however ; and 86 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. v. then a fowl for our dinner was caught and killed. For this and the fruit we had stolen we paid him a fathom and a half of grey shirting, with which he was ver}r pleased. His house was a very neat one, having a large public room in front, with a stove, hearth, or fire-place opposite the door, and two little sleeping rooms behind. Like all Dusun houses the floor was elevated four feet from the ground, level on piles, so that the pigs and fowls had shelter beneath. The side walls and floors were of bamboo, beaten or pressed out flat, like boards, and being of a clear, yellow colour, they had a warm and comfortable appearance as the fire glowed on the hearth, above which was a rack for the storage of fire-wood, or on which clothes could be dried. After dinner we lit our lamp, and made ourselves as cosy as possible over our post-prandial cigar, after which we were not loath to turn in. Up by daybreak, and snatching our morning meal, we were soon en route for Kalawat Peak, and thence we descended to Kalawat village by a rocky mountain-path, fringed with bamboos, large ginger-worts, and ferns of various kinds. A strong growing species of bauhinia was very showy here, overrunning the branches of bushes and low trees beside the path, and bearing its pale, yellow flowers in large clusters very profusely. As seen at a distance it has a pleasing effect in the landscape — a rare thing with Bornean flowers ; and a nearer sight of it is suggestive of our native woodbine. Selaginellas were plentiful near the streams, and near the crest of the Peak (alt. 2000 feet) we saw a dainty little bertolonia, rarely exceeding two inches in height, having pearly- spotted leaves, and terminal clusters of rosy-pink flowers. A stately habited nephrodimn, with gracefully arching light-green fronds, nearly a yard CH. V.] Bamboo Rat-Trap. 87 TRAP AS SET. long, a zingiberad, with richly barred foliage (Alpinia sp.), two or three species of gleichenia, and now and then an inconspicuous epiphyte, orchid, or fern oc- curred, to add variety to our route. We were puzzled to- day by seeing horizontal bamboo-stems fixed in the trees over our path, but we eventually discovered that they were intended to serve as bridges or paths to rats or other animals, traps being set to catch those who were unwary enough to avail themselves of the con- venient crossing. A curious custom of the Dusun is to entrap and eat the common field rats, wild cats, &c, of the country. Beside all the little paths through the forest, near Kina Balu, wooden rat-traps (seeFig.) are set in the herbage through which the animals have made their tracks. A form of this trap, slightly modified, is hung aa, Pegs connected by rattan for sot- ,11 1 ,• . tiiiir the trap: b, catch, anything on the branches of trees touching this liberates the peg*? ami the bamboo lorces c tightly down on -! P P Path. p Public Room. c S > Hearth. Hearth. Hearth. PLAN OP LARGE DUSUN HOUSE AT KIATJ, N.W. BORNEO. seen before. For dinner we had boiled fowl and rice, followed by coffee and a cigarette of native tobacco wrapped in maize-husk. We lay on our mats and rugs at one end of the large public room, all our men being cooking and jabbering away to their hearts' content, the Babel of sounds, partly Malay and partly Dusun, being deafening. Tobacco was brought in for sale soon after our arrival, and one man brought a fowl, but as he asked double its value we refused to bu}r it. The greatest interest was shown in all we did, more ch. v.] Wc Engage Guides. 97 especially by the boys and young girls who crowded on the pathway just in front of where we lay. When we extinguished our lamp and turned into our blankets they soon became quiet, the people of the house retiring to their private apartments, and the others to their houses in the village. It was a wet night, and we felt chilly, but slept well. Our first task after breakfast in the morning was to overhaul all our stores, arranging those we wanted on the mountain so that they could be easily carried, and packing the rest so that they could be left with safety. Our stock of rice was so low that we were rather alarmed, but " Musa " assured us that he should be able to buy some in the village. After re-arranging all our things, we took our guns and walked over the hill. We saw very few birds, nor Avere the plants we discovered of any particular interest, with the exception of a large white- flowered arundina, having a rich amethyst-coloured lip. We saw some immense gingerworts, having leafy stems ten or twelve feet in height ; also large ferns of the angiopteris type, while Mikania volubilis overran the bushes along our route. Returning to the house, we engaged Boloung and Kurow, the acting head men of the village, and six of their followers, to take us up the mountain on the morrow. "Musa" and Pangeran Raman did most of the bargaining on our side, and at length concluded the matter by paying over the amount of cloth and brass wire as agreed. Next morning we selected sixteen of our men and started for the mountain. In a rich bit of shady forest on the other side of the Kiau ridge we found the evergreen Calanthe macroloba, bearing spikes of white flowers much larger individually than those of C. vcratri- folia. A foliage plant marked with silvery blotches above and crimson beneath was also collected. Our road was a 98 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. v. rough and tiring one of sloping hillside paths very wet and slippery, and in places blocked by fallen trees. About one o'clock Ave reached a rushing stream, and our guides brought us to a large overhanging rock, where they said we must pass the night. It now began to rain heavily, so we at once told the men to cut sticks and palm-leaves to lay on the ground where we were to sleep, and over which we could spread our waterproof sheets and rugs. This was soon done, and meanwhile our " boys " pre- pared luncheon. "We were disgusted at stopping thus early in the day, and wished our guides to proceed when the rain abated, which however they determinedly refused to do. To make the best of a bad bargain, I and Mr. Areitch explored the forest above our camp, where we found a pretty aroid with white blotched leaves, and another marbled with silvery grey; also a variegated plant resembling an ansectochilus, but which Professor Reichenbach tells me is the Cystorcliis variegata of Blume. This plant I had previously gathered in another locality further south; indeed, it seems pretty generally distributed along the north-west coast. Specimens of two or three delicate filmy ferns were found near the streams ; and at our camping-place, which we named the "Sleeping Eock," the pretty little Adiantum diaphanum was plentiful, and living plants were brought to England from this habitat. About seven o'clock next morning we started on our upwrard journey. It was hot work at first, but we could feel it perceptibly get cooler after the first two or three thousand feet. At about four thousand feet mosses are very plentiful, the finest species gathered being Dawsonla saperba, which fringed the path, but nowhere in great plenty. A new^white-flowered species of burmannia was also gathered, and small-flowrered orchids were seen. In cu. v.] Mountain Vegetation. 99 one place a shower of small scarlet rhododendron flowers covered the ground at our feet, the plant being epiphytal in the trees overhead. It was very misty, and the moss which covered every rotten stick, and the vegetation generally, was dripping with moisture, and every sapling we grasped in climbing upwards was the means of shaking a shower-bath on us from the trees above. At about five thousand feet a dead and broken pitcher of Nepenthes Lowi lying in the path led to the discovery of the plant itself scrambling among the mossy branches overhead, its singular flagon-shaped ascidia hanging from the point of every leaf. It is a vigorous-habited plant, with bright green leathery leaves, the petioles of which clasp the stem in a peculiar manner. The only plants we saw were epiphytal on mossy trunks and branches, and we searched for }'oung plants diligently, but without success. All the pitchers hitherto seen are cauline ones, and as the plant has never yet been seen in a young state, it is an open question as to whether the radical pitchers differ in shape or size, as is the case with most other species. As we ascended higher, epiphytal orchids, especially erias, dendrochilia, and ccelogynes became more plentiful, and we came upon a large-flowered rhododendron, bear- ing rich orange flowers two inches in diameter, and twenty flowers in a cluster ! It grew on a dangerous declivity, and not one of our lazy men would venture to get it for us. Such a prize, however, was too lovely to forego, and after a wet scramble among the surrounding bushes, I secured it in good condition. Two or three other species were seen in flower, but none equal to it in its golden beauty. Casuarina trees became common, and higher up these were joined by two or three species of gleichenias, and a distinct form of dipteris. Phyllocladus also ap- peared, and a glaucus-leaved dianella (/>. jaranica). ioo The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. v. Here also were two of the most distinct of all rhododen- drons, R. ericifolium and R. stenophyllum. On open spaces among rocks and sedges, the giant Nepenthes Rajah began to appear, the plants being of all sizes, and in the most luxuriant health and beauty. The soil in which they grew was a stiff yellow loam, surfaced with sandstone-grit, and around the larger plants a good deal of rich humus and leaf debris had collected. The long red-pitchered N. Edivardsiana was seen in two places. This plant, like N. Lowii, is epiphytal in its perfect state, and is of a slender rambling habit. Highest of all in the great nepenthes zone came N. villosa, a beautiful plant, having rounded pitchers of the softest pink colour, with a crimson frilled orifice, similar to that of N. Ed- wardsiana. All thoughts of fatigue and discomfort vanished as we gazed on these living wonders of the Bornean Andes ! Here, on this cloud-girt mountain side, were vegetable treasures which Imperial Kew had longed for in vain. Discovered by Mr. Low in 1851, dried specimens had been transmitted by him to Europe, and Dr. (now Sir Joseph) Hooker had described and illustrated them in the Transactions of the Linnamn Society, but all attempts to introduce them alive into European gardens had failed. To see these plants in all their health and vigour was a sensation I shall never forget — one of those which we experience but rarely in a whole lifetime ! We reached the cave (altitude 9,000 feet) about three o'clock, wet and hungry, but far from unhappy. Our first care was to light a fire, which was not at all easy to do, since everything was dripping wet. We secured a bit of dry wood at last, however, and by whittling thin shavings from it with a knife, we managed to start a good fire, and some of the men were directed to cut fire- ch. v.] Scarcity of Water. 101 wood ; but so paralysed were they by the wet and cold, that it was with the greatest difficulty that we could persuade them to do this. Poor old " Musa " cut some wood and made a floor to the cave, after which some brushwood and leaves formed a substitute for a mattress. The next difficulty was to obtain water, since the men we had sent to search for it returned empty handed, having failed to find any. As a last resort I had to undertake this duty myself, and, descending the hill-side, I found a tin}- pool in a gully, from which I procured a little in our cook-pots. It was not near enough, how- ever ; and in wandering in search of more, I came upon a patch of the large nepenthes, from the old pitchers of which I was able to augment my supply by carefully ] touring off the rain water from a rather liberal under stratum of flies, ants, and other insect debris. Our guides slept under a rock a little further on and higher up the mountain side, and they found a stream from which good water was procured by our men in the morn- ing and during our stay here. It commenced to rain heavily at nightfall, and we found it very cold, although we kept a good fire burning nearly all night, one of the results being that we were nearly blinded by the smoke, there being a draught towards an opening at the hinder part of the cave. The wet dripped from the roof all night, and the walls were also wet and slimy ; indeed our quarters were neither extensive nor luxurious ; still we made the best of them, and, after all, were rather sorry to leave them at last. We arose at daybreak to collect plants and roots, in the which we were tolerably successful; and before night we bad secured all our collections in baskets and bundles ready for the men to carry down. It was very cool and misty in the morning, but about noon it became clearer, UMvrnsrn oi- California SWl'A BARBARA 102 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. v. and it was hot indeed, the rocks and old trunks reeked in the sunshine. A slender-growing species of calamus was very common in the low forest below the cave, and it supplied " rattans " of excellent quality for tying up our plants. At least three showy species of coelogyne grow on the rocks and mossy banks here, at 9,000 feet eleva- tion ; and a dainty little plant with reddish pseudo-bulbs in clusters, each bearing a single spathulate dark green leaf, is common. This last has erect spikes of pure white flowers and buds, reminding one of the lily of the valley in cool, fresh purity, an effect partly due to its column being of a soft green tint, like a speck in the interior of the blossom. The ccelogynes are very dis- tinct and beautiful as seen here blooming among the coarse sedges and shrubs. One has white flowers with a blotch of gold on the lip, eight or ten of its waxy flowers being borne on an erect scape. Another has yellow sepals and petals, and a white lip corrugated with brown warts. Another, not so showy, has a nodding spike of white and brown flowers. We ascended about 9,000 feet, and were delighted with the charming views obtainable during clear weather. The whole upper portion of the mountain along the south and south-eastern slopes is nearly devoid of vegetation, except where there are streams and rather sheltered gullies up which the stunted trees and a few other plants struggle up near to the summit. On the north-western side the rocks rise very precipitous ; and here vegetation fails to gain foothold. Looking upwards in the early sunlight, we had clear views of the shelving granite slopes, on which are numerous shallow channels down which streams of water pour during mist}' and rainy weather. When we gained the top of the great spur the morning after our arrival at the cave, we ci i. v.] Beautiful Scenery. 103 were delighted at the immense panorama which lay sit our feet as we looked back. Looking away south-west we beheld the coast-line from the mouth of what our guides said was the Tampassuk river right down to Gaya Bay and Pulo Tiga, which was distinctly visible, the many-mouthed Menkabong river glistening like a silver net quite close to the coast line. Looking south-east over a billowy sea of silvery clouds we saw a gigantic range of mountains, and from this the conical peak of Tilong rises through strata after strata of cloud, or stands out on a clear blue background of pure sky, according to the state of the atmosphere. This claims our interest as the beacon of a land unknown ; and this magnificent peak, Tilong, is by repute as high, or even higher, than Kina Balu itself. Altogether we spent three days on the sides of Kina Balu collecting plants, flowers, and seeds ; and after a life on the plains and among the coast mountains — hills compared with this grisly giant — we found the climate most deliciously cool and invigorating. Rain generally commenced about 3 p.m., and continued until eight, the remainder of the night being clear, bright if moonlight, and cool — so cool, indeed, as to make a good camp fire and woollen shirts two or three-fold and blankets very desirable. The mornings were generally misty, every leaf and branch dripping with the rain and heavy dews common here at night, especially during the wet season. About noon the sun was warm, and the temperature at 9,000 feet rises to 7o8 if the day is fine and dry. As I have elsewhere said, our Malay followers suffered much from what to them was bitter cold ; indeed they seemed perfectly helpless, with scarcely energy to make a fire and cook their food. They have no notion of actively bestirring themselves in order to keep warm. 104 The Gardens of the Sun. [en. v. Our food supply, too, — that is, the rice — ran short, and so the men were reduced to live on kaladi and sweet potatoes roasted in the embers and eaten with a little salt. Our Dusan guides also complained of the cold, and tried to hurry us in our descent ; indeed at last they would wait no longer, and they slipped away, leaving us to reach their village alone as best we could. We were fully determined not to be defeated in our object, how- ever, and keeping ahead of our own men we descended leisurely so as to gather plants by the way, until all had as much as they could possibly cany down. I carried my servant's load in order that he might cany a lot of rare specimens which I had secured for him in a hand- kerchief. The descent after the rain of the night before was difficult and dangerous, and we had a good many falls. Once I fell down a steep place a depth of about twenty feet, among shrubs and creepers, which saved me from serious injury. Mr. Veitch and myself, my " boy," and a solitary Labuan man, went on a-head of our main party, and just at nightfall discovered that we had lost our way. The right path lay across a clearing down which we turned instead of pushing across and striking the path beyond. We floundered along in the gloaming down several dangerous steeps and across a rocky stream, in crossing which I stepped incautiously on a slippery water-worn boulder, and became thoroughly submerged in the water, which being from the heights above is icy cold, at least it seems so after one has been used to the heat of the tropics. This increased my discomfort, and poor Mr. Veitch was but little better. Here we were at dark lost and benighted beside the rocky declivities of this moun- tain stream ; but there was no help for it ; and after vainly trying to strike a path, we gave up at the base of ch. v.] A Dreary Night. 105 a large tree, and putting down our burdens, we resolved to pass the night here. To mend matters, it commenced to rain heavily about seven o'clock, and I am afraid we were not so happy as the mere possession of health and strength ought to have made us. We had no food except a couple of wet biscuits and about half a glass of brandy in a flask. These we shared, and perhaps they were sweeter than the choicest viands would have tasted had we been in dress clothes and in comfortable quarters. Then Mr. Veitch had a great find in his bag — a couple of cigars and a box of matches. Sitting in the smoking- room of a comfortable club, or in the billiard-room at home, one may smile at such a discovery ; but, situated as we were, cold and wet, a cigar added much to our comfort. Our two followers tried to make a little shelter from the rain for themselves, but failed miserably. About ten o'clock the rain ceased, and we then tried to improve our position ; for hitherto all we] could do was to walk about around a large tree — a distance of a few yards only ; for in the darkness we knew not what ugly falls might not await us if we strayed from our wretched camping-ground, which was wet and spongy under foot ; and the leeches crawled up our legs and bled us to their hearts' content. We noticed luminous fungi on the rotten sticks at our feet glowing quite brightly, and the effect was weird and ghostly in the extreme. My " boy," quite by accident, had placed a couple of dry flannel shirts, a pair of trowsers, and a blanket, in the other man's basket, and so, after the rain ceased, I was able to put on a dry warm shirt and trowsers, a luxury I had not expected, and also to give Mr. Veitch a dry shirt and a share of my rug. We now sat down on some brushwood, and leaning back against the tree, fell asleep, and we did not wake until near sunrise. Thus ended 106 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. v. one of the most dreary nights I ever spent in the Bornean woods. In the morning we retraced our steps across the rocky stream, and soon struck the right path for Kiau, but we had not gone far before we met " Kurow," the chief of our runaway guides, in a great state of excitement, coming in search of us. He brought us some fine langsat fruit in his bag — presumably a peace offering — and seemed rather surprised that we did not chide him for his desertion of the day before. As we arrived nearer the village we came across our men, armed with muskets, also in search of us, and the hilltop was covered with Kiau people, who appeared greatly concerned, and doubtless glad to see us safe and well. When we reached the house, everybody seemed glad to see our safe return, and sweet potatoes, maize, rice, and kaladi, were readily brought in by the villagers for ourselves and our men. " Musa " and the rest of our followers had arrived at Kiau soon after dark the night before. One man brought a basket of excellent langsat fruit, and a woman gave us two beautiful oranges from a tree near her door. They were quite yellow, with tender skins and sweet pulp, similar to those of the south of Europe, not green skinned, with tough desepi- ments, as are those of Labuan. I was much surprised at the oranges having grass - green skins when per- fectly ripe in Singapore, and even the brittle skinned Mandarin variety had this peculiarity. Our guide, " Kurow," was twitted pretty much by his neighbours for having left us the day before, and at last he retired to his house evidently not well pleased with himself, and, I believe, not a little surprised at our treating the matter so lightly. ch.^v.] "Marie Parie" Spur. 107 We went out to a shady spot near the house to examine our plants and see that they were in good order, and we then rested all day. We were not alto- gether satisfied with our trip to the mountain, and resolved to start off to it again in the morning, but this time taking another path so as to reach the " Marie Parie" spur. We sent off for "Kurow," and, telling him our intentions, asked him to collect his followers and be in readiness to accompany us. The poor fellow was delighted at this sign of our confidence in him, and helped us zealously, enduring cold, rain, and waiting — to him meaningless, weary waiting — without a murmur. In the morning we crossed the hill behind the village, and fording the " Haya-Haya," "Dahombang," "Pino- Kok," and " Kina Takie" streams, we reached the foot of the " Marie Parie " spur. Now came a climb up a rocky pathway, besides which we noticed fine plants of Cypripedium Petrcianum, Cyst- orchis variegata, and a lovely yellow flowered terres- trial orchid belonging to the genus Spathoglottis, but quite distinct from S. aurea. As we ascended, our path lay up through a belt oftall bamboos, and here two species of nepenthes were seen. One was the long, green pitchered kind, covered with purple blotches (N. Boschiana var. Lowii), and the other a tall growing species, bearing beautiful white pitchers, elegantly ewer-shaped, diapha- nous like "egg shell" porcelain, and most daintily blotched with reddish crimson in a way quite unlike any other variety. This grew on both sides of the path, and climbed the trees to a height of forty or fifty feet. We reached the crest of the ridge about three o'clock, in a heavy drenching shower, the climate being similar to that of a warm autumn evening in a Devonshire wood. We slept under some overhanging rocks at an elevation 108 The Gardens of the Stm. [ch. v. of about 4,000 feet, having an under stratum of sticks and- brushwood to keep our water-proof sheets off the wet ground. The air, even at this low elevation, was chilly during the night, and we found a fire and blankets acceptable comforts. Melastoma rnacrocarpa, bearing its large, rosy flowers, formed a large proportion of the brush around our camping ground. Here the large nepenthes were very fine ; and a beautiful white flowered dendrobium grows among the bushes. It belongs to the nigro hirsute section, and has pseudo-bulbs five or six feet high. The blossoms are described by Mr. Low as being similar to those of I). formosum giganteum, but with a deep orange red blotch on the lip. Just above our camping ground, the long, red, pitchered Nepenthes Ed ward si an a was very beautiful, growing up through the low jungle, its pitchers con- trasting with the tufts of rich green moss which draped trunks and branches everywhere. N. Rajah was also abundant ; and we noticed some immense urns depend- ing from its great broad leaves, far finer, indeed, than those found at 9,000 feet elevation, on the more southern spur. That distinct and curious fern, Lindsaya Jamc- sonioides, grew here and there in the chinks of the ser- pentine rock, and a long-leaved insect-catching sundew (Drosera) was common in most places among the stones and herbage. After collecting what plants we desired, we had break- fast, and then commenced our return. We reached Kiau in about five hours, but some of our men did not come in until long after our arrival, as they had heavy loads to carry, and the clay paths were very slippery. At Kiau village, and on the slopes of the mountain itself, we spent eight days, and then came the weary march back to Gaya Bay, which, however, we accomplished in six en. v.] Native Trading Parties. 109 days. When we reached the Datu's village, he gave us a fine goat, which our " boys " promptly slew for dinner, and, being young, it had a delicate mutton-like flavour, and we thought it a great treat after our hard fare. A present of a revolver and some cartridges delighted our host; and the next morning, having obtained another boat, and loaded the one we had, we pulled to Pangeran Rau's place, where we hired a prahu, and two days after- wards readied Labuan safely. During our journey to and from the mountain, we met occasional parties of natives from the far interior on their trading excursions, the women, as a matter of course, carrying the heaviest loads, while the men carried nothing, save a little food in a bag behind them, and their arms. Some had buffaloes with them. The women, as a class, are strong and healthy, with small hands and feet, and well-proportioned features — indeed, in many cases, the young girls are very pleasing in face and figure, and have lovely black hair, and the brightest of expressive black eyes. Early marriages, childbearing, hard labour, and exposure in the fields, however, soon make shrivelled leather - skinned old hags of them. Their drapery is nothing worth mentioning, and in such a climate but little is required. Their manners are gentle and dignified — often when we met them quite suddenly they showed no surprise, even though they had never seen a white man before. They make affec- tionate wives, and tender mothers — indeed, I never saw a child beaten or chided roughly during my stay in the island. In the capital and elsewhere on the coast, young Malay women are almost invariably kept secluded from the gaze of strangers ; but here among these hills inland, no The Gardens of the Stm. [ch. v. as elsewhere among the aboriginals proper, we found the women enjoying perfect freedom with the men. While staying at these villages, all the women and girls flocked to see us, and watched us eat and drink with evident interest. The young girls were especially confident, and formed laughing groups around us, chat- ting to each other in low, modulated tones, and evidently comparing notes on their observations. They frequently brought us little presents of fruit, and eggs, or fowls, and were delighted with the needles and thread, looking- glasses, and white cloth which we gave them in return. Some of the younger girls were much handsomer than the Malays, and stood lovingly together as they quizzed us, often resting their plump little arms or their cheeks on each other's necks or shoulders as they watched our every movement. Looking-glasses were considered fashionable at the time of our visit, and we could have disposed of many more with advantage had we had them with us. Combs were not so desirable, since these are made by their husbands or sweethearts ; and they are often very prettily decorated with carved work. Some of the men seem "thoroughly domesticated," and I saw them affectionately nursing their naked little babies at night, or in the daytime, while mamma had gone to the field for food, or the forest for fuel. I par- ticularly noticed the younger married men standing behind their nice little wives at night when we were at dinner. They folded their brown arms around their necks, and whispered loving gossip into their ears, evidently well contented with themselves and with each other ; and, perhaps, their love is as real and as ardent and as true here as it is in high places where dress clothes are worn. The farther one travels, the more plainly en. v.] "A Good Wife." in does one see how deep rooted and how world-wide are all the springs of human feeling, whether of love and joy, or death and sadness ; in every land and in every breast is written the great truth, " One touch of nature makes the whole world kin." One night after dinner a bevy of dusky beauties had gathered around our mats, and to afford some amuse- ment, I showed them several carte de risite portraits of friends which I had with me. They were particularly interested in that of one lady, and examined it very attentively ; not a bead or button escaped their quick eyes ; but they soon began asking questions. Was she married ? How many children had she ? Was she a good wife ? I asked what they meant by the last ques- tion. " Well," they answered, " did she bring plenty of firewood and kaladi in ? and could she clean padi (rice) well ? " Thus a woman among these thrifty vil- lagers earns her good name as a wife by her capacity for physical labour. This is also so among other savage races. The Indian girls on the north-west coast of North America in like manner endeavour to excel each other in the quantity of quamash (Camassia csculenta) roots they collect, their fame as future good wives de- pending on their activity in the Quamash plains. They were much interested in all particulars of dress as shown by the carte; but one girl regretted the absence of rattan coils around the stomach and " chawats " of thick brass wire on the wrists, and more to the like effect, all from the Kiau standpoint — for Kiau and its simple fashions are held to be inviolable. Kiau is all the world to them ! The morning we left, I believe all were sorry to part with us, and they came to the top of the hill to see us off. On loading our men, we found that we had four 1 1 2 The Gardens of the Sim. [ch. v men's loads of plants more than our men could cany, and so we engaged some of the Kiau villagers to carry them for us as far as Bawang. We had a good deal of talking, and a grand display of red cloth and brass wire on the hillside, but eventually " Musa " concluded the bargain, and paid over the goods in advance, as is the general custom here. After receiving the goods, they coolly told us they should not go on with us, as we walked very slow, but that they would start next day, adding, that they should reach Bawang before we did. We showed no signs of wishing otherwise, but passed on with our followers, after having told the Kiau men to water the plants well as they crossed the streams, and to protect them from the sun by means of large leaves, all of which they did ; and when we reached Bawang, there, sure enough, were our plants, all safe and in good condition. After reaching Labuan, both Mr. Veitch and myself had bad attacks of intermittent fever, the result of chilling exposure in wet clothes, and ill-cooked food, accompanied by more than ordinary exertions. Fortunately our long and difficult journey had been interrupted by nothing serious, and we were glad to see our native followers safe home again. Certainly one of them had a nasty fall from a rocky path near Bawang and cut his head badly, but he was a plucky Brunei man, and soon overgot his trouble. Another of our fellows who had been trusted with a musket tried to fire it off after he had blocked up the barrel by pushing it into the ground accidentally ! He succeeded in exploding the thing, and one of the frag- ments cut open his forehead, while another piece struck one of the bird-hunters on the arm. No serious damage was done. The road from Gaya Bay to Koung is so hilly and difficult for loaded men to traverse, that I determined ch. v.] Incidents of Travel. 113 that if ever I went to Kina Balu again I would take the Tampassuk route. This I did on a subsequent occasion, but during the wet season, when fording, the swollen rivers presented great difficulties and dangers. During the dry season, or say, in January or February, this route would be by far the best to follow. CHAPTER VI. LABUAN ISLAND. Labuan — Inhabitants — Industries — Coal mines — Revenues and acreage — • Oil spring — Climate — Rare ferns — Tropical flowering trees — Fruit culture — Birds — Pitcher-plants — Snakes — Sun birds — Large spiders — Ants — Salt making — Pratchan — Old gardens! — Lizards — Mason wasp — A favourite horse — Annual games on the plain — Church — River travel. Labuan is one of the smallest and least well known of all British Colonies. This island was ceded to Great Britain by the Sultan of Borneo in 1847, and the year afterwards a settlement was established here, the late Sir James Brooke, K.C.B., being the first governor. Its area is 19,350 acres, and it is situated in lat. 5° 20' N., being about six miles off the nearest point of Borneo, and about 700 miles from Singa- pore. When ceded it was uninhabited and very unhealthy, but now contains about 5,000 inhabitants, mostly Kad- yans and Malays, and by clearing and draining the climate is improved. The principal traders and artificers are Chinese. Chinese coolies are imported as labourers. A few Klings or Bengalees also live here. The main object of the colony was the suppression of piracy once rife along the coast, and the working of the coal mea- sures which exist at the northern point of the island. The quality of the coal obtainable here is very good, but the output hitherto has been comparatively small, owing to a series of adverse circumstances. At present the c«. vi.] Coal Mines. 115 mines are deserted, the company having discontinued mining operations. There is a good harbour at the only town, Victoria, and this place forms a convenient coaling station for H.M. gunboats on the China station, which cruise in these seas. The trade is mainly in the hands of the Chinese, who purchase the native products of Borneo, Palawan, and the Sulu Archipelago, which is brought hither in native prahus or boats. Some of the traders also make voyages to different parts of the Bornean coast to collect sago, gutta, beeswax, edible swallows' nests, camphor, trepang or beche de mer, mother-o'-pearl shell, and other produce, in return for which they barter cloth or cotton goods, opium and tobacco, muskets, ammunition, gongs, and crockeryware, spirits, tea and provisions, mostly derived from Singapore. The ss. " Cleator " carries the mails and most of the imports and exports between Singapore and this port, and affords the only regular means of transport. This vessel makes the voyage between Labuan and Singapore every twenty- one days, calling at this port on her way to Brunei. The main industries of the colony are the coal-mines, sago-washing factories, and the culture of rice, fruit, and other food products. The mines were leased by the Government to the Oriental Coal Company of London and Leith, at a yearly rental of £1000 a year for mining privileges and the right of cutting timber free of duty. £o0 annually was also paid for a wharf and store sheds at the harbour, a distance of nine miles from the mines. The coal was brought down in large sailing boats or lighters, manned by Malays. In 1870 only 5824 tons were obtained, but additional workings have been opened and alterations were made by the Company's manager, Mr. A. Boosie, which it was thought would have facilitated a much larger output. The greatest drawbacks to successful mining 1 2 n6 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. vi. operations were the enormous rainfall and its effects on the workings, and the inefficiency of native labour. Chinese coolies have now, however, been to a great extent substi- tuted for the Malays previously emplo}-ed. The ships of H.M. Navy have a prior claim to coal at £1 Os. Gd. per ton, ordinary trading vessels paj* a trifle more. The revenues of the Colon}* are derived from various monopo- lies, such as the sale of opium, tobacco, spirits, fish, arms, and ammunition, the rental or sale of lands, and a per centage on all timber cut in the Colony. In 1876 the opium farmer paid £2,687 10s. for the exclusive right of importing, preparing, selling, or export- ing opium in the island. Tobacco produced £750; spirits, .£300 ; fishmarket, £550 ; pawnbroking, £112 10s. ; licences to sell arms and ammunition, £65. A duty of ten per cent, is payable on the value of all timber cut on crown lands, except by the Coal Company, who, as already stated, have the right, free. The estimated acreage of the colony is 19,350 acres, of which 1,738 acres are sup- posed to be cultivatable, and 17,612 uncultivatable. Field labour, the felling of timber, &c, is carried on by Chinese and Malays, who receive 25 to 30 cents per day; carpenters, 50 cents ; blacksmiths, 60 cents. The land under padi (rice) cultivation is about 11,000 acres, and consists of well watered alluvial plains near the centre of the island. Cocoanut palms and other fruit trees, 550 acres ; sugarcane and vegetable gardens, about 50 acres. The Chinese here, as elsewhere eastward, monopolize the vegetable-growing industry. The largest cocoanut plantation and oil factory is on Pulu Daat, a large islet lying between Labuan and the Bornean coast. The total number of cocoanut trees in the colony is estimated at 200,000. The nuts, retail, either green or ripe, fetch two or three cents each, and the oil obtained ch. vi.] Oil Spring. 117 from them fetches the uniform price of .£33 per ton. A young plantation of the African oil-palm (Elccis guineensis) has been established on Pulu Daat, and the experiment promises to be a successful one. The little coarse un- crystallised sugar made in the colony fetches about 50 cents per gantang, a measure holding about 71b. Padi, or rice in husk, fetches about £1 10s. per 100 gantangs (6 cwts.). There are three sago washing works near Victoria Harbour, where the raw pulp, as brought from the Bor- nean coast, is hand-washed and sifted into the dry sago- flour of commerce. Some of the low-lying well watered or marsh-land has been planted with the sago-palm. A new fishmarket has been erected, and this building, together with the right of buying and selling all the fish caught, is let annually to the highest bidder with the other farms. No regular fisheries are organised, nor is any record kept of the quantity and description of fish supplied. It is estimated at about 1000 piculs. In the capture of fish along the coast, seine nets and "kelongs " or bamboo traps are used. In deep water a baited hook and line. An oil-spring exists in the forest, near the mines, at an elevation of 130 feet above the sea, the yield during wet season being about 12 gallons of petroleum every twenty-four hours. The highest land in the island is 13ukit Kalam, 280 feet above sea level. The total area in scrubs and fern is 1000 acres, timber or forest about 300 acres. The quit-rents on lands sold for W9 years produce about £230 annually. It not being consi- dered advisable to alienate any further crown lands at present on account of the low prices obtainable, the Government rice lands are let annually for prices varying from two to four shillings per acre. The edible fruits cultivated are fine oranges of several kinds, excellent 1 1 8 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. Vr. pomoloes, Durian, mangoes, tarippe, rambutan, jack fruit and champada, rose apples (jambosa), cocoanuts, man- gosteen, rambi, bananas in variety, limes, guava, papaw, cashew nut, and several others, including the bread-fruit, baloonas, mambangan. The total revenue in 1877 was £7,490, the expenditure being £7,995. Imports, total value, £126,594, exports £112,996. Cattle and ponies are cheap — thus, good cows are worth £2 to £4 each ; Shanghai sheep, £1 to £2 ; goats, 10s. each ; ponies, £4 to £10. These last are imported from the Sulu Islands. Water buffaloes are generally used as draught animals, and are worth from £4 to £6 each. The whole island is tolerably flat, and at one time was entirely covered with forests, yielding fine timber. Of late years, however, jungle fires have been frequent during the dry season ; and at the present time but little old forest remains. The climate is now generally sup- posed to be drier and more healthy than formerly ; but the flora has suffered much, many orchids and other rare plants, formerly found here in abundance, being now quite extinct. After the rains a lovely little blue bur- mannia (B. ccelestis), and a tiny sundew become very pretty on the plains. Yellow flowered xyrids and eriocaulons grace the wet ditches, and the orange orchards are redolent with perfume, the trees being then in bloom, and at night the gardens are illuminated with fire-flies. I resided for some time in a house which had been occupied by Mr. Hugh Low, the garden and fruit orchard of which afforded the most delightful walks morning and evening. I never saw the elk's-horn fern (Platycerium grande) so luxuriant anywhere as it was on the boles of some large orange -trees here. The barren fronds were broad, like the horns of the giant Irish elk; and the more slender fertile ones drooped on all sides from the CH. VI.] Rare Ferns. 119 base of the nest formed by the leafy expansions. I measured some of these fertile fronds, and found them fully seven feet in length. These splendid ferns (one of ELK S-HOK.V FERN'. which is here represented in my sketch), and the choicest of epiphytal orchids, which had been planted among the branches of the trees, made a walk amongst them most enjoyable. I thought at the time I should never like to 1 20 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. vi. see orchids, and other rare exotics stewed up in a glass shed again, after seeing them thus luxuriant in the open air. The flowering trees, many of which have been intro- duced into the gardens, are very lovely a week or two after the rains. Poinciana regia, two or three species of cassia, and Lagerstroemia regina, and L. indica, with white lilac or rosy flowers, are common. Different kinds of jasmines, ixoras, and hibiscus flower freely nearly all the year, as also does Thuribergia laurifolia, which drapes trees, and fences, the fire-blossomed pomegranate, the fragrant oleander ; there are also pools filled with the sunshade- like leaves and rosy flowers of the Sacred Lotus, the beauty of which rivals even the celebrated Lotus pools of Japan. One or two honey-suckles and Jasminum grandifiorum form tangled masses in the hedges, the pearly flowers of Pancratium zeylanicmn spring up from the grass, sheltered here and there hy caladium leaves, and a scarlet hippeastrum forms glowing masses in old gardens, and on waste places where houses have once been situated. Where many indigenous plants have died out, this hippeastrum has become naturalised : the light sandy soil and hot sun seem to suit its requirements ; and it increases so freely, that a barrow-load of bulbs might be dug from a square yard of earth. Another introduced plant, perfectly naturalised here, as also in Penang and Singapore, is the dwarf and acrid Isotoma longifiora, which bears snowy-white long-tubed flowers. The purple- flowered "Mudar " (Calotropis gigantea), and the glorious mauve wreaths of Bougainvillea spectabilis, are in places very beautiful. The climate is hot, especially during the dry season ; but about five o'clock p.m., when the land breeze sets in, it is cool and agreeable. ch. vi.] Fruit Culture. 121 Mangoes, especially the fine Manilla varieties, and pomoloes, grow well in the gardens and orchards, as also do oranges of various kinds. The soil is so poor, how- ever, that in order to obtain fine fruit, it is necessary to keep a herd of cattle, and to fold them at night, for the sake of a good supply of manure. Where the trees are planted on the grass, a circle beneath each is cultivated with the " chunkal," or heavy iron hoe ; and this is regularly manured and watered. It is quite usual to see the boles of mango and some other fruit trees gashed with blows from a chopper at intervals, an operation analagous to the ringing or strangulation formerly prac- tised in English gardens before root-pruning came into fashion. This is done to induce tthe trees to bear fruit earlier, and more abundantly. There is only one species of bird endemic, a lively black and white one (Copsychus aviamus), which frequents gardens near the bungalows, and sings very sweetly during wet weather ; indeed, it was the only Eastern song bird which reminded me of our dappled thrush at home. Of eagles and fish hawks there are several species. Tern are seen in flocks on neighbouring sand-banks. Golden plover and snipe abound on the plain near the shore, and there two or three sand pipers and rails. The white crane, or " padi bird," is common; and the long- pinioned frigate bird wheels overhead, far out of gun- shot, diving now and then into the sea after food with wonderful velocity. The mellow whistle of the mino bird is one of the most familiar sounds of the forest, especially when the fruit of the wild figs ripen, and then white, large blue, ajid pretty little green tree pigeons of many kinds appear, attended by flocks of glossy, red-eyed starlings. The "chuck, chuck" of the gout-sucker (Caprimulgu* 122 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. vr. macrurus) is one of the most familiar sounds during moon- light nights. At daybreak the chatter of the Java sparrows assures one of its being high time to rise. Cuming's mound bird (Megapodius Cumingi) is found in Labuan, but is more common on the islets of Kuraman, where its nests are met with in mounds of earth, three to four feet in height, and twelve feet in circumference. Even the Nicobar pigeon visits this island ; and a solitary hoopoo was shot there during my visit. Two species of great beaked hornbills inhabit the forest ; and there are three or four species of swallows. One of the prettiest of all the small birds is a long-tailed green and brown fly-catcher, which might easily be mistaken for a swallow, so swift and graceful is its flight. A large red kingfisher (Halcyon caromanda), found here, builds its nest in a peculiar manner, as described by Mr. Sharpe, in Proc. Zool. Soc, 1879, part ii., p. 331 :— " The nest is said to be pendulous, and invariably to be accompanied in the same mass by a bee, which is peculiarly vicious, so that the nest can only be robbed after destroying the bees." The interior of the island is flat and marshy ; and here the soil being deep and alluvial, it is well adapted for rice ; and the wet patches beside the streams suit the sago palm well. In the patches of low jungle beside the roads three or four species of pitcher plants abound, rooting into the wet, sandy peat earth, and climbing up the shrubby undergrowth in the most luxuriant and graceful manner. These nepenthes stems are wonder- fully tough, and are used as withes, and as a substitute for rattan cane in tying fence timbers together. More rarely they are used in basket-work. The kinds most common in Labuan are N. gracilis, several varieties, N. nivea, and N. ampidlaria. There are five or six species ch. vi.] Alligators and Snakes. 123 of terrestrial orchids ; and from trees on Dr. Ley's estate plants of the new genus astrostruma (A.spartiodes, Benth.) were gathered for the first time. Alligators infest the streams, and shallow sea, near the town of Victoria ; and now and then a native is carried oft'. One of these large brutes actually tried to carry oft" a pony one night during my stay. Snakes are plen- tiful. A deadly green snake is common on the Bird Island, just off the mouth of the harbour, and great brown rock snakes abound. One night a Kling man brought a black snake, six feet long, tied to a stick, which he said he had caught up a cocoa-nut tree, and added that it had just swallowed a bird. It was pur- chased ; and in the morning, when it was being skinned, the " boy " came to say that it had young ones inside it. This we did not believe ; and, on going to see it, we found that the " young one " was a snake, two feet long, of another species, very common in the island, which had been swallowed head foremost, as usual, and was in part digested. The large snake was so fat, that hunger could not have prompted it to swallow a smaller brother ; and so I more than suspect that Malaysia can now boast of a snake-eating snake, as well as British India, whence one of these cannibals, the opliiophayus, was introduced to the Zoological Gardens a few years ago. A large boa, ten to twenty feet long, and as thick as one's arm, is common in the jungle, and often commits depredations amongst badly-housed poultry, as also does the iguana. A singular sluggishness characterised all the snakes I saw ; and as many of those said to be deadly by the natives rest on the trees, rather than on the ground, this may account for the extreme rarity of deatli from snake-bites in this part of the East. A 124 The Gardens of the Sim. [ch. vi. slender green species, nearly six feet in length, infests the fig-trees when in fruit ; and, twisting its tail around a branch, it coils itself up ready to spring at any bird unwary enough to venture sufficiently close. One of these I saw shot ; and it had a double row of hooked fangs in its wide set jaws, admirably adapted to hold anything once within its grasp. Perhaps the most lovely and interesting of all, how- ever, are the sun-birds, which are here in the East the representatives of the true humming-birds of the Western tropics. " They are ethereal, gay, and sprightly in their movements, flitting briskly from flower to flower, and assuming a thousand lovely and agreeable attitudes. As the sunbeams glitter on their bodies, they sparkle like so many precious stones, and exhibit at every turn a variety of bright and evanescent hues. As they hover around the honey-laden blossoms, they vibrate their tiny pinions so rapidly, as to cause a slight whirring sound, but not so loud as the humming noise produced by the true humming birds. Occasionally they may be seen clinging by their feet and tail busily engaged in rifling the blossoms of the trees. I well remember a certain dark-leaved tree with scarlet flowers, that especially courted the attention of the sun-birds ; and about its blossoms they continually darted with eager and vivacious movements. With this tree they seemed par- ticularly delighted, clinging to the slender twigs, and coquetting with the flowers, thrusting in their slender curved beaks, and probing with their brush-like tongues' for insects and nectar, hanging suspended by their feet, throwing back their little glossy heads, chasing each other on giddy wing, and flirting and twittering, the gayest of the gay. Some were emerald-green, some vivid violet, and others yellow, with a crimson wing.'' ch. vi.] Birds and Spiders. 125 Sir Jas. Emerson Tennent describes them as being common in Ceylon, where they frequent the gardens, and rifle the blossoms of the passifloras, and other flowers ; at other times searching for small insects and spiders, and again pluming themselves, and warbling their pleasing songs on the pomegranate-trees. " If two happened to come to the same flower — and from their numbers this has often occurred — a battle always ensued, which ended in the vanquished bird retreating from the spot with shrill piping cries, while the conqueror would take up his position upon a flower or stem, and swinging his little body to and fro, till his coat of burnished steel gleamed and glistened in the sun, pour out his song of triumph." The rich plumage of the dainty little male birds is only seen during the breeding season, after which they moult, and are as unattractive as their mates. Two tiny eggs are laid in a wee nest, which is suspended from a twig, or sometimes the stout web of a large spider is made to bear the little shelter for eggs and young. The spiders in the jungle, and old buildings of the East, are numerous ; and some are of an alarming size, but of beautiful colours. One large, black, yellow- spotted species measures six or eight inches across its extended legs, and its web is held in position by grey lines, almost as stout as fine sewing-cotton, and strong enough to pull one's hat off. It is a very disagreeable sensation to feel them across one's face, as often happens in a little used jungle-path. Ants are particularly plen- tiful ; and the white termites throw up mounds of red earth, five or six feet in height, and often do much damage by burrowing into the piles of houses, and other buildings. The species of ants vary much in size. One is a tiny red fellow, but little larger than a cheese- 126 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. vi. mite, and scarcely visible ; others are black, their bodies being an inch in length. Some species bite very sharp if disturbed, as I found to my cost, when scrambling about over the branches of trees after orchids, and other plants. There is one species of nepenthes (N. bical- varata), having large red urns, the stalks of whicli are invariably perforated by a species of ant ; and I found a flowering shrub on the Tawaran river, the stems of which were swollen and hollow just below the flower-heads, this being due to the punctures of ants ; a remarkably curious gouty-stemmed plant, parasitical on low jungle-trees in Labuan — myrmecodia — actually depends for its existence on the bite of a species of ant. The seed .germinates on the bark of the foster- tree ; and when the seedling has attained a certain height, the growth ceases, and it remains stationary, until the necessary bite is given, when the stem swells out at the base, and leaves and flowers are produced in due course. If not thus punctured, the young plant dies. The gouty or swollen stem is hollow, and forms a refuge for the ants, which in their turn may afford it some needful protection, since they rush out boldly to attack trespassers who disturb the tree on which their fostered-shelter plant grows. One day, as I emerged from the forest on the western shore of the island, I came across a young Kadyan engaged in making salt. The process, as carried out by him, was very simple. A heap of drift wood is collected, and of this a fire is made, so as to secure a good supply of ashes. The ashes are placed in a small tub, and sea- water is filtered through them, so as to catch up whatever salt they contain. It now remains for the water to be evaporated, so as to leave the salt. To this end evapo- rating-pans, or rather receptacles, are neatly made from ch. vi.] Pratchan. 127 the sheaths of the nebong palm, fastened into shape by slender wooden skewers. Two logs are then laid parallel to each other, and a foot or fifteen inches apart, and over these the pans are placed close together, so as to form a rude kind of flue, in the which a fire of light brushwood is lighted, and very soon afterwards the salt may be observed falling to the bottom of the evaporators. It was a very hot morning, and the heat in the close forest where I had been exploring was so intense, that I was thankful to reach the coast and feel the delicious breezes which came from the open sea. The beach to the west- ward of the island is mainly of firm yellow sand, but here and there paved more or less thickly with honey- combed coral rocks and pebbles. The outer edge of the old forest nearest the shore is fringed with tall casuarina trees, here called " Kayu Aru." The Malays have some legends connected with this tree, and can rarely be induced to cut it down, although the tough light timber is well suited for some particular purposes. Under a group of these trees a large company of Kadyans were encamped, and busily engaged making " Pratchan." This is a reddish product made of prawns. Some of the men were out in canoes just beyond the shallow reefs catching the tiny fish, while others and the women and girls were preparing them on shore. The fish are jammed up in troughs formed of hollow trunks of trees by beating wooden pestles, and when finished resembles a stiff red paste, which is afterwards packed in circular palm-leaf bags or baskets for the Chinese marTcets. Some of the fish were being dried by being spread out in the sun on mats. They were bright as burnished silver, and in flavour reminded one of whitebait. The price of the red paste, or prepared " Pratchan," is about three 128 The Gardens of the Stm. [ch. vr. dollars per picul, and the dried article fetches ten or twelve cents per gantang. Their encampment of yellow palm-leaf mats and bamboo poles formed a pretty rural scene beneath the tall trees which overhung the yellow sands, and the dusky limbs and faces, and the bright- coloured " sarongs " worn by the women of the party, added much to the picturesque view as seen beneath a blue and cloudless sky. I and Mr. A. Cook visited the oil springs, which are situated in a shady glade in the forest two or three miles from the coal-mines. All the evidence of the old borings we saw was an old door and a rude trough, into which the oil-surfaced water rises as it wells up slowly from the rocks below. No use is now made of this oil, except by the Kadyans and other natives, who utilise it now and then in the manufacture of torches. The odour of the oil is distinctly perceptible near the spring, and the oil itself covers the surface of the little stream as it flows seawards. Before the spring was reached we passed through an open clearing of a hundred of acres or more covered with grass, on which a few milch cattle belonging to some of the Kling residents were grazing. We were surprised in one place to come across an old garden, of several acres in extent, contain- ing mango, banana, and other fruit trees, with here and there native huts, houses, and rice-barns all going to decay. A Kadyan, who overtook us just before we entered the forest, told us it was an old village belonging to his tribe, adding that they had abandoned it after their headman had died there. It is by no means unusual to find localities abandoned in this way in Borneo owing to the death of the principal man in the village, and when the rotten old palm-thatched houses have been eaten up by the luxuriant jungle which springs up around, the fruit-trees prosper and serve to mark the localities of ch. vi.] The Mason Wasp. 129 former villages long after they themselves have vanished for ever. Here, as elsewhere in warm climates, the mosquito is of all animals the smallest and most troublesome to the weary traveller. Large moths flutter about the ceilings, especially on cold wet nights, and insect life of many kinds is attracted to the lamplight. In every house there is a colony of lively little drab-coloured lizards. They run very nimbly up the sides of the room and on the ceiling, keeping a sharp look-out the while for their supper of moths and flies. The Malays have a proverb, *' That even a lizard gives the fly time to pray." This has been derived from the peculiar manner in which this tiny Saurian " goes for " its quarry. On seeing a fly it darts at it swiftly, but when within an inch or two off it suddenly stops itself and pauses several seconds ere the fatal spring is made and the fly seized. Now and then the lizards lose their hold of the ceiling and come on the table with a " flop," but this is a rare occurrence. One of the most common and interesting of the domestic insects is the " mason wasp," a large yellow species which constructs a series of mud cells or a gallery of earth against the woodwork of the verandah or roof. In each cell, as completed, an egg is deposited, and ere closing up the cavity it is stufl'ed full of green caterpillars, which are then sealed up alive to serve as food for her larva when hatched out. The big black carpenter bees are also often seen examining the woodwork of the house or verandah, and on finding a piece in suitable condition they bore a clean hole into it in which to deposit their eggs. These two insects are highly interesting — a mason and a carpenter — and both do " worke moste excellently well." Native houses and gardens are dotted pretty freely about the island, and there are some interesting 1 30 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. vi. walks. I was enabled to explore the island pretty well, in which work the Hon. Dr. Leys very kindly assisted me by the loan of his favourite horse "Joseph." This animal was the most gentle and tractable creature imagin- able, and admirably accustomed to jungle travelling, since he would go anywhere among trees or bushes, and MASON WASP. might be trusted to stand quietly if tied ; or he would follow one like a dog if loose. He was of Australian breed, and had his faults too. At the "whish" of a whip or stick he was inclined to bolt, and once threw me pretty heavily when frightened in that way. Another trick he had was to stop suddenly at any place where he had turned off the road, or had been tied before, and as he would stop short or turn off thus suddenly when at full gallop, the consequences which sometimes resulted from such freaks may be readily imagined. With all his CH. VI.] Annual Games. 131 vagaries, however, he was a sleek and loveable creature ; and I once saw the little daughter of the Doctor's Malay syce or groom lift up one of his hind legs when in the stable, at the same time telling her little group of dusky playfellows how very vicious he was (eine kudah jahat — jahat banyiak skali, etu lah !). " Joseph " was the swiftest animal in the island, and rigorously excluded SECTION OF ITS NEST. from competing at the races held on the plain by the shore every New Year's 1 )ay. These annual races and sports are much appreciated both by Europeans and natives, and they afford the only general holiday in which botli natives and Europeans mingle during the year. The native canoe races in the harbour are a speciality, the Malays and Brunei men being here seen in their native clement. The "tug of war" between Malays and Chinese is also an amusing feature, while all are inte- rested in the performance of the ponies and in the K '2 132 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. vi. European athletic sports. A palm-thatched erection beneath the casuarina trees, near Ramsay Point, does duty as a grand stand and refreshment bar, and from the slight elevation, it affords an excellent view of the dusky but smiling faces and parti-coloured costumes of the natives and Chinese. All the native beauties are present, and glimpses of bright expressive eyes, coal-black hair secured with silver pins, and brilliant sarongs beneath neat cool-looking sacques meet one at eveiy turn. Here and there the sparkle of jewellery and the glitter of bangles meet the eye, and on all sides the lavish display of pearly teeth and the ripple of merry laughter is seen and heard. A dinner at Government House, to which almost all the Europeans in the island, or from the gun- boat which may happen to be in harbour, are invited, winds up this gala day of the opening ye ar. There is a neat little wooden church here on the hill behind Government House, and there is a service once or twice every third year, when the Lord Bishop of Sarawak visits this part of his diocese. From some of the elevated portions of the island beautiful views are obtainable, with the blue mountains of Borneo towering skywards in the distance ; and from the verandah of the manager's house at the coal-mines at the northern end of the island, Kina Balu may be seen quite plainly at sunrise and sunset during clear weather ; and although more than a hundred miles away, its topmost crags stand out clear and sharp, and are tinged with the most beautiful tints of purple and gold by the rising or the setting sun. It was from Labuan that my visits to the Bornean coast and to Sulu were made. Some of these adven- turous' wanderings were pleasant, others the reverse. The following is a short account of a boat journey made by myself and Mr. Peter Veitch, its object being to obtain ch. vi. i River Travel. 133 pitcher plants {Nepenthes bicalcarata) , Burbidgea nitida, Pinanga Veitchii, Cypripedium Lawrcnceanum, and other beautiful fine-foliaged plants and orchids : — " Towards the noon of a hot day in January 1878 — a day hot even for the tropics — two Veitchian tra- vellers in North-western Borneo, with their native contingent of guides, boatmen, and carriers, were de- scending one of the most lovely of all the rivers in the island. The water was clear and smooth — so clear and so smooth that the great nipa leaves, which arched grace- fully out from the banks and laved their ends in the stream, were reflected in the water as clearly as if in a mirror. The boatmen were in good spirits, for there was but little work for their paddles, so they chewed their betel-nut and limed pepper leaves contentedly, or rolled up a little tobacco, cigarette-like, in wrappers made of the young leaves of Nipa fruticans, and smoked in a silence only broken by low laughter and sentences murmured in the most musical of tongues. The river banks were clothed with forest trees, as also was the rising ground behind, and where the river was shallow mangrove trees, thickly interlaced, took the place of the big fruited nipa. On the lower trees near the fringe of the forest coelogynes, dendrobes, bolbophyllums, and other orchids — not often beautiful as that word is too often understood — clothed the branches ; the tiny Davallia parvula,D.1ictcrophyllay and 1). pedata — all modest little species of fenis — were also seen on tree trunks or on rocks, and on the outer branches far overhead Platycerium biforme made itself a home, its fertile fronds drooping four or five feet below the cluster of barren ones. For company, but never at so great a height, varieties of Xeotto})teris nidus avis, or an allied species, were seen forming nests of glossy broadly strap-shaped fronds often of great length. Of 134 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. vi. palms the 'Nebong' (Oncospcrma filamentosum) and the unique red-stemmed ' Malawarin ' (which long defied Eastern collectors who wished to introduce it to Europe) were most beautiful. The former produces an excellent ' cabbage,' as good as seakale when well cooked, and its old stems are generally employed as piles by the Malays, who almost always erect ther palm-thatched ' atap ' houses over the water of river or sea. "Bird-life generally was dozing — the birds were enjoying their noontide siesta in the shady trees. The handsome Bornean pheasants, the ' Argus,' the ' Fireback,' and the ' Bulwer ' with its pure snowy tail of blackcock-like shape, were alike unseen and unheard. Now and then the deep rich and mellow whistle of the ' Mino ' bird or Javanese ' Grackle ' reached us, and a whole colony of large blue, and of pretty little greyish green, yellow- winged pigeons — Carpophagi — were surprised on a fig tree in fruit as the canoe shot around a sudden bend in the stream. Of the seven or eight species of hornbills known to inhabit these groves we saw not one — indeed our view of the birds would have been but meagre but for the apparition of a black darter with only its head or neck above the water, in which attitude its resemblance to a snake is well nigh perfect. A few kingfishers braved the sun and flitted alongside the nipa leaves, or flew rapidly across stream like clusters of jewels endowed with life and motion. Scarcely a sound disturbed the quietude and beauty of such a tropical scene, except that now and then for no very apparent reason the boatmen made a spurt with their paddles, any little extra exertion in this way being often accompanied by a plaintive song in chorus — melody in perfect keeping with a wildly natural albeit lovely spot. At one well-remembered bend of the glassy stream the men had been directed to stop awhile, ch. vi.] Birds and Plants. 135 and a few dexterous strokes of the paddle on the part of a handsome young Kadyan man named ' Moumein,' who acted as steersman, sent the canoe beneath the arching nipa plumes to a bare spot where it was possible to land. The wet branches of a low mossy tree were covered with the elegant little Davallia parvula, among which grew a cirrhopetalum only about two inches in height, and bear- ing little purple flowers in semi-circular whorl-like tufts at the apices of tiny scapes. On sandstone rocks near at hand the handsome Diptcris HorsfieJdii was abundant, its stout rhizomes creeping over the nearly bare wet rock, and adhering so firmly by its tiny rootlets that it was difficult to displace.* Above one's head grew the great glossy green umbrella-like fronds, borne aloft on stipes varying from two to eight feet in length. Truly a noble fern — alas ! how difficult to cultivate. At the time I lived in the locality in which it is found in the utmost luxuriance, I read of the plant being exhibited in London and elsewhere, but each successive report of it unfortu- nately recorded its decadence. This and the glorious Matonia pectinata — also Bornean, although first found together with our old friends Cyprijycdiuni barbatumy Nepenthes sanguined, and Rhododendron jasminiflorum, on Mount Ophir, in Malacca — are two of the most noble of all ferns, rivalling the palms indeed in stately beauty and substance of frond-tissue. How unfortunate, then, is it that both so persistently resist the efforts alike of collec- tors and cultivators. As one of the two travellers before- mentioned I had previously visited the spot where we had * On mountains in Borneo above 7000 feet a form of DipUris UorsficldH grows freely among dacrydiums, droscras, dianella, dawsouia superba, a tiny umbellifer, and other Australian types. It is dwarf, rarely above two feet high, with glaucous leathery and brittle fronds, almost silvery below. .- 1 36 The Gardens of the Sun. [en. vi. now landed, and after a long walk through the tall forests, which are carpeted in moist places and near streams by lovely steel-blue aspleniums and lindsayas, and also by the freshest and most luxuriant of selaginellas, had, after ascending a sloping and rather dry hillside, come upon a plant which I saw at a glance was zingiberaceous, but it was so distinct in port and flower to anything that I had previously seen that I sent roots of it to Chelsea, and a few of these fortunately survived. Its fate was not known to us at the time we again visited the spot, and so the object in again running the canoe among the nipa plumes at this place was to obtain a fresh supply. I shall long remember this second journey to collect Burbidgea nitida, since I was ill with fever at the time, and on Mr. Peter Veitch devolved the duty of a long tramp through the tall forest; past numerous felled gutta -yielding trees (Isonandra sp. !), and up the hill slope beyond, until just below the rocky summit, this plant is found at a place called the ' Devil's House ' (' Satan punya ruma ') where are some dark deep holes in the face of perpendi- cular rocks, frequented by the swallows which build the edible nests so highly valued by the rich Chinese. The burbidgea grows on low wet sandstone boulders, on which their rhizomes and roots form a perfect mat, and among the plants as thus elevated decayed leaves and other forest debris is blown by winds or washed by rains. Al- though growing in rich shady forest, and subjected to a heavy rainfall, and high, albeit fresh and often windy atmosphere, the plants rarely exceed a yard in height. To this place Mr. Veitch went with a body of trusty natives, and many bundles of the plants were brought back, some of them fine masses of twenty or thirty stems, each having recently borne a large cluster of its rich, orange-coloured flowers. ch. vi.] Snake-hunting. it>7 " While Mr. Veitch was away, my Chinese boy, ' Kim- jeck,' got out the cooking utensils to prepare dinner on the shore, and the men who stayed behind amused them- selves by looking for flowers (' cheri bunga ') in the low forest and on the sandstone rock near our landing-place. I had to lie in the boat beneath the awning, feeling very sick, and with a splitting headache — feverish symptoms which all travellers in tropical forests alike must suffer. I was just dozing off to sleep when I heard much yelling, and my boy, who had joined the men, returned down the jungle path at full speed, shouting ' Ular ! Ular ! Tuan ! Sayah mow etu snapang lakas skali ! ' ' Trima kasi ! ' he ejaculated, as he snatched my gun and dis- appeared with the agility of a young goat. The gist of the matter was, he had seen a snake and was off to shoot it. After listening for ten minutes to the most deafening shouts and yells, mingled with many ejaculations of ad- vice and caution, and the reports of both barrels echoing through the forest, I was rather disappointed to see them return with a small snake, not larger than the English viper. On my expressing my surprise, and observing that, by the noise, I thought it was a snake big enough to swallow a buffalo, the men all agreed that what it lacked in size was amply compensated for by its fatal bite — or, as they expressed it, ' if that snake bit a man he need not trouble about food any more, as he would have no time to pray.' ' ' The Muruts have a great love for gong music ; and now and then a cheap German gun, or old Tower musket, is obtained from Chinese traders. Spears, blow- pipes, krisses or parongs (swords), and their ghastly baskets of human skulls, form their only accumulated wealth. These heads are used to ornament their dwellings at their periodical seasons of feasting, and when illumi- 138 The Gardens of the Sun. [[ch. vi. nated by the flickering glare of ' dammar ' gum torches the effect is melodramatic in the extreme. It was rather difficult to make any use of these Muruts as collectors — they showed no powers of discrimination whatever, while the Kadyans, on the other hand — who are also aborigi- nals, but have mixed much with the dominant Malays, by whom they were years ago converted to the faith of Islam — showed great aptitude, and were of real service ; and I shall long retain pleasant memories of some of the Kadyan villagers, especially ' Moumein,' of Meringit, who received me into the little village he had founded with every de- monstration of friendship, and rendered me much intelli- gent assistance for many weeks. Of Malays generally one may say that they live by lying and thieving in one form or another, but the aboriginal races of Borneo, like the Papuans whom Goldie met inland in New Guinea, are gentle and hospitable to peaceably disposed strangers, and it will be a great pity to see them exterminated in the way their prototypes, the Incas of Peru, and the Red Men of the West, have been." CHAPTER VII. BEAUTIFUL BORNEO. Borneo — Wild animals — the Malays — Poetry — Romances — Dewa Indra — Native government — Pile dwellings — Intermarriage — Language — Clothing — Courtship — Marriage — Inland tribes — Land culture — Native villages — Food products — Textile fabrics — Barkcloth — Native women — Climate — Native produce — Kayan weapon — Rivera — Gambling — Opium smoking. Borneo, the beautiful — the " garden of the sun " — is the third largest island in the world, and boasts a much larger area than that occupied by the British Isles. The equator divides it, and the climate is, perhaps, that most suitable for vegetation of any other, being uniformly hot and humid all the year round. There are no volcanoes, the tiger is unknown, and it is the only habitat of the wild elephant in the Malay Archipelago. It is also re- markable as being the home of the wild man of the forests, or the " orang utan" of the Malays. Alligators abound in the rivers, and are the most dangerous of the wild animals. Snakes exist plentifully, and in great variety, but death from snake-bites is very rare. The two-horned rhinoceros, wild cattle, pigs in abundance, and several species of deer are known. The human inhabitants may be roughly divided into two races, the Malays and the Borneans, or aboriginals. The origin of both types is obscure. The Malays, how- ever, are immigrants who inhabit the coasts of all the large Malay islands where, as here in Borneo, they have 1 40 The Gardens of the Sitn. [ch. vir. long held the dominant power. Some believe them to have originally been the descendants of Arabs who settled in the Celebes long before the Dutch became rulers in these seas, and this view gains some support from the fact of the Arabic character being used in writing, and their titles as Sultan, hadji, and sherrif, are of Arabic origin. They all profess Islam. The Bornean Malays may be said to have but little literature : the Koran, a few MS. poems, prayers, and tales are the only books gene- rally seen in the island ; but the people possess a vast amount of traditional lore, and many of their songs refer to the history of the country, the beauty of their women, or to the personal attributes and prowess of their former rulers. The following may be taken as a fair sample of Malayan poetry, and was originally published in the Asiatic Journal. Many of the tales and legends of the Malays are in blank verse, with a good many repetitions ; and choruses, are extremely popular, as also are extempor- aneous vocal performances : — " Cold is the wind, the rain falls fast, I linger, though the hour is past. "Why come you not ? whence this delay ! Have I offended — say ? " My heart is sad and sinking too ; Oh ! break it not ! it loves but you ! Come, then, and end this long delay, Why keep you thus away ? " The wind is cold, fast falls the rain, Yet weeping, chiding, I remain, You come not still — you still delay ! Oh, wherefore can you stay !" Malayan romances and minstrelsy are alike rich in imagery, as the following examples from Marsden's Malay Grammar will suffice to show : — CH. VII.] Malayan Literature. 141 Passages extracted from a RO- MANCE, CONTAINING THE ADVEN- TURES OF Indra Laksana, Ma- HADEWA, AND DEWA INDRA. " The prince then smiling (at the defiance sent by the enemy) went to soothe the affliction of his wife, and addressed her thus : ' O my love, thou who art to me the soul of my body, farewell ! If per- chance it should be thy husband's doom to fall (in the approaching battle), wilt thou cherish the me- mory of him with some degree of fond concern 1 Wilt thou wrap him in the scarf that binds thy waist ? Wilt thou bathe his corpse with thy tears pure as the dew that hangs at the extremity of the grass ? Wilt thou bestrew it with the flowers which now adorn the folds of thy hair ? ' The princess upon this wept the more abun- dantly, and embraced the neck of Iiidra La-k*nna, her arm enfolding it as the muskscented epidendrum entwines the angxvlia tree (Pavctta indica). Such was the picture she exhibited, whilst Indra wiped away the tears from her eyes." Pungutib sagala remah deri- pada hikayat indra laksana, DAN INDRA ilAHADKWA DAN Dewa Indra. "Maka baginda pun tursunyum suraya piirgi mumbujok istrinya itu, katanya, ' adoh adinda ting- gallah tuan nyawa dan badan ka- kilnda, jikalau kakunda mati kulak, maka tuan kuuangkanlah kasili sayang kakunda yang sudikit itu, dan tuan slimutilah kakunda dfin- gan kain yang dipinggang tuan itu. dan tuan mandikanlah mayat kakunda dungan aver mata tuan yang sa'piirti umbon yang dihujong rum pot juga adanya. Dan tabori- lah mayat kakunda dungan bunga yang dalam sangol tuan itu.' Maka tuan putri itupon makin sangatalah iya mfinangis siii aya mumulok leher Indra Laksana. Adapun tangan tuan putri mumulok itu sapurti gadong kasturi yang mulilit pohon angsuka itu dumkianlah rupanya, maka sugralah disapunya ulih In- dra Laksana ayer matanya tuan jjiitri itu." " Upon the arrival of Indva Ma- liadcn-a at the palace, he seated himself by the side of the princess (his bride) and said to her, smiling. 'My love, my soul, what manner is it your intention to dispose of yourself, as I am obliged to proceed in the search of my brother? If it be your design to accompany me, you should lose no time in giving orders for the necessary prepara- '• Adapun Indra Mahadewa siit- lah iya datang kamahligie itu, nmka lain iya dudok dukat tuan putri suraya tursunyum katanya, ' ya adinda tuan nyawa kakunda, apatah bichari tuan skarang ini, kiirna kakunda ini akan i>urgi munchari saudara kakunda.' Dan jikalau tuan akan purgi bursama sama dungan kakunda, maka baik- lah tuan munvurohkan oraug bur- 142 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. vh. tions, as my departure must be immediate.' When the princess Seganda Ii/itna heard these words, she held down her head, and with glances sweet as the blue lotos flower in the sea of honey, replied, 'What plans, my love, am I, a young female, to pursue but those of my lord alone ? For is not a wife under the guidance of her husband .' Indra Ma haderva showed his satisfaction at hearing these expressions from the princess, embraced and kissed her saying, ' Thy good sense adds grace to thy lovely features ; thou shalt be the soother of my cares, my com- forter, my companion.' " simpan simpan, skarang ini juga kakiinda ini akan burjalan.' Sutlah tuan pfitri Seganda Eatna mSniing ar kata Indra Mahadewa itu, maka tuan pfitri itupon tundok, maka ekor matanya spfirti sruja biru yang didalam laut mfidu, rupanya manis bukan barang barang, sfi- raya bfirkata, ' ya kakfinda apatah bichara kapada anak prfimpuan, mulainkan lebih bichara kakfinda juga ? Kfirna prumpuan itu dida- lam maalum lakiny a ? Maka Indra Mahadewa pun tursfinyum mm- ungar kata tuan pfitri itu, maka lalu dipQlok dan chiyumnya sluroh tubohnya, sfiraya katanya, ' Pan- dienya orang yang baik paras ini bfirkata kata,' dan tuanlah akan pumadam hati kakfinda yang mfish- gol dan yang mfinjadi panglipur larahati, dan tfiman kakfinda." " Having spoken thus, Indra Mahadewa bent his course wher- ever his uncertain steps might lead. With an anxious heart and suffering from hunger and thirst, he pene- trated into forests of great ex- tent, ascended high mountains, and crossed wide plains. The sun was now set, and the moon rose in all her splendour as if to serve him for a torch. The prince, although fatigued, proceeded towards the hills of Indra Kila, and as he passed, the tender branches of the climbing plants waved with the wind and seemed inclined to follow the beautiful youth. As the dawn gadually arose, the clouds in the hordcr of the sky assumed a variety of shapes, some having the form of " Sutlah sudah iya bfirkata dumkian itu, maka Indra Maha- dewa ltupun btirjalanlah dungan sapambawa kakinya, dungan ra- wan hatinya, dungan lapar daha- ganya, masok hutan rimba yang bfisar bfisar, dan mfilalui gunong yang tinggi tinggi, dan masok padang yang luas luas. Maka mata hari pun masoklah, maka bulan pun turbitlah spfirti orang miinyulohkan Indra Mahadewa itu, chayanya pun tfirlalu trang tuma- rang. Maka baginda pun lalu miinuju gunong Indra Kila dungan lulahnya, maka sagala puchok kayn yangmfilataditiupangin mfilambie rupanya, spfirti handak mungikot orang baik paras lakunya. Maka fajar pun munyensenglah bfir- CH. VII.] Romances. 143 trees, and some resembling ani- mals ; but the trees of the forest were still obscured from sight by the dense vapour rising from the dew. The light of the sun now began to appear, glancing from the interstices of the mountains like the countenance of a lovely virgin, whilst its beams shooting upwards exhibited the appearance of flags and banners waving in front of an armv marching to battle." pangkat pangkat, maka awan ditupi langit itu burbagie rupanya, ada yang spiirti pohon kayu, dan ada yang spurti binatang rupanya.maka sagala pohon rimba itu pun tiadalah klihatan ktirna kabot ulih iimbun. Maka chaya matahari pun tur- bitlah mumanchar manchar deri chulah chulah gunong, spurti muka anak darah yang elok rupanya, dan rupa sinarnya yang muman- char kaatas spurti tunggol dan mega dihadapan lawan akan prang." " The king was highly pleased with the manners and disposition of Demi Indra, as well as with his graceful person and superior understanding. He said to him, ' I'artake of betel, my son.' Dnva Imlra\ laving accordingly partaken, returned the betel-stand to the king, who thus addressed him : ' I have sent for you, my son, in order to make known to you a resolution taken by me some time since ; that to the person who hav- ing counted out ten large measures of sesame seed and as many mea- sures of Hand, thoroughly blended together, should be able to separate the grains of the one from the grains of the other, and to complete tin- performance of the task in the course of a day ; to such person alone should J give the hand of my daughter in marriage.' Drrrti hitlra smiled on hearing the king"s words, knowing them to proceed from the artful suggestion of the princes (his rivals), and bowing replied, 'whatever may be your majesty's injunctions, your servant " Maka baginda pun turlalu sangat burkunan mulihat lakunya dan pukiirtinya Dewa Indra itu, tambahan pula dtingan baik ru- panya, dungan arif bijaksananya. Suraya katanya. 'Makanlah sireh, ya anakku.' Maka Dewa Indra itupfin lain makan sireh sa'kapor, maka dipiirsumbahkancya kapada Dewa Indra. katanya: 'hie anakku, adapun ayahanda munyuroh mu- manggil tuan kamari ini, ktirna ayahanda inisudahbartitahdahulu; shahadan barangsiapa dapat mum- bilang biji lang yang sa'puloh koyan, dan pasir sapuloh koyan juga, maka dichamporkan antara kaduanya itu. kumdian maka dipi- lehnya pasir dan biji lang itu, shahadan maka habislah dungan sa 'hari itu juga. atau kapada malam, maka iyalah akan suami tuan piitri.' Maka l>e\va Indra Kayangan itupun tursunyum. dan taulah iya akan tipu itu deripada p.nak rajah rajah itu juga, maka Dewa Indra itupun mOnyBmbah suraya kaatanya. 'mana titah ileri bawa duli tuaiiku, patik junjong.' 144 The Gardens of the Stm. [ch. vh. Is ready to execute them.' The sand and the sesame seed being then provided and mixed together in the court before the palace, Dewa Indra made his obeisance, descended to the spot, and as he stood beside the heap, silently- wished for aid from the king of the ants ; when instantly the mon- arch made his appearance, followed by his whole army, consisting of the population of nine hillocks. Upon receiving the directions of Dewa Indra for separating the grains, each individual ant took one seed in his mouth, and in this man- ner the separation was presently ef- fected and the grains laid in distinct heaps, not one being wanting. This •done, the king of the ants and all his train disappeared, and returned to the place from whence they came. Deiva Indra reascended the steps of the palace, and having taken his seat and made obeisance, said, ' Your Majesty's commands for the separation of the sand and the sesame seed have been obeyed by your mean and humble slave.' The king expressed his amazement, and all the ministers of state, the warriors, and the people in general were astonished at witnessing this proof of the supernatural power of De wa Indra ; but with respect to the princes, some of them shook their heads, some bent them down, and others turned them aside, being unable to support his looks." Maka pasir dan biji lang itupun sudah sudialah dichamporkan orang ditfingah miedan itu dibalerong itu, maka Dewa Indra itupun munyumbah, lalu turon burdiri dihampir lang dan pasir itu, maka dichitanya rajah sumut ; maka dungan skutika itu juga rajah sumut itupun datang dungan saga- la blantuntaranya, yang sambilan timbunan itu. Maka disurohnya" ulih Dewa Indra mumilih pasir dan biji lang itu, maka ulih sagala tuntara siimut lalu digigitnyalah sa'orang satu biji lang, itupun dilainkannya, maka dungan sku- tika itu juga pasir dan biji lang itupun masing masing dungan timbunannya, maka barang sa'biji juga pun tiadalah kurang. Maka rajah sumut dan sagala blant- untaranya itupun raiblah kiimbali katiimpatnya, maka Dewa Indra itupun naiklah ka'atas balerongitu lalu dudok munyumbah baginda suraya katanya, ' Sudah tuanku turpilih biji lang dan pasir itu ulih patik yang hina papa ink' Maka baginda pun hieran dan turchiing- ang chungang, turmangau mangau dungan sagala purmantri, hulu- balang, pahlauan dan rayat skalian, itupun hieranlah iya mulihat ka- saktian itu. maka akan anak rajah itu ada yang mfinggrakkan kapa- lanya dan ada yang tundok, dan ada yang burpaling, tiada mau mulihat muka Dewa Indra kay- ansrau." The Malays of Borneo acknowledge the rule of a Sultan, who is assisted by various Ministers of State, who are principally his own relations. The Court at ch. vii.] Pile Divellings. 145 Brunei is kept up by taxes imposed on the few Chinese merchants, and on the native Borneans who live inland beside the rivers on the north-west coast from the Baram to Kimanis. A yearly payment is also made to the Sultan by the Rajah of Sarawak. Many of the Malays are traders. The poorer classes are sailors, fishermen, or engaged in simple domestic industries. The true bred Malay has a penchant for building his pile dwelling over the shallow water near the mouth of or beside a river wherever such a site is procurable. The Borneans, on the other hand, prefer a clearing near the streams, and some tribes, especially the Dusan, build their huts high up in the hills. Intermarriages with native women hare helped to identify the Malays with the Borneans, and especially with the Kadyans, a tribe who live near the capital, and who long ago embraced the faith of Mahomet. The language of the Malays is soft and pleasing in sound — the " Italian of the East " — and very expressive. It is readily acquired by strangers, and forms the medium of commercial communication throughout the Straits Settle- ments and Malay Archipelago. Like our own tongue, Mala}r seems to be a conventional blending of several other languages, Arabic, Sanscrit, and the languages of the aboriginals with whom the Malays were first thrown into contact. At the present day many English and Portuguese words find their way into it but little dis- guised by pronunciation. Malay is the Court language at Brunei, but the inhabitants generally use a dialect similar to that of the aboriginals who live near the capital. The clothing of the Malays of high rank is often very lavish and showy, consisting of fancy head-cloths and short jackets, often highly embroidered with gold buttons L 146 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. vn. and wire or lace. White trowsers, similar to those worn by Europeans, and patent leather slippers are also affected by the rich Malays, and all, rich or poor, wear the national "sarong," a sort of chequered petticoat wound around the waist, and allowed to fall to the feet in graceful folds. When trowsers are worn a shorter "sarong" is worn kilt-fashion, barely reaching as low as the knees. The Malay Hadjis or priests wrear long green Arab coats, and green or white turbans around their shaven heads. The women when engaged in their household duties wear nothing but a " sarong " reaching from the breasts to the feet. When abroad, however, neat print sacques reaching as low as the knees are worn, having long and tight sleeves. This dress opens in front, and is fastened by a set of three silver or gold brooches. Below this a chequered, or Javanese sarong reaches from the waist to the ankles. Beautiful sarongs are made by the Brunei ladies. They are richly embroidered with gold wire, and are worn by the well-to-do women along the coast. Slippers of European or Chinese manufacture are sometimes worn. Their black hair is oiled profusely, and secured behind with silver pins. It is often perfumed by tying up in it flowers of the champaca, jasmine, gardenia, or other scented blossoms over night. Both men and women bathe at least twice daily, morning and evening, and the women dye their nails with a mixture made of the red stems of a common balsam, mixed with lime juice, as a substitute for the henna so largely used in Persia and Egypt. There are some very singular liberties allowed to loving swains in out of the wa}*- places in Wales and Cornwall, but those allowed biT the Malay and native girls of Borneo to their favourite lovers are of a vet more faithful kind. •CH. VII.] Borncan Courtship. H7 A Bornean youth may enter the house of his loved one's parents and awaken her if she be really sleeping, to sit and talk with him in the dark, or to eat betel-nut and the finest of sirih-leaves from his garden. A similar custom, so far as nocturnal visits are concerned, formerly existed in the country districts of Scotland. It is but seldom that immorality results from this custom in Borneo, even according to European ideas on the subject, jii id the parents think no more of putting a stop to these nightly meetings than do those of our own fair daughters in the case of the "morning call" of an eligible suitor at home. There was a grand wedding at the capital during one of my visits there, the bride being a relation of his Ilighuess the Sultan. There was a grand procession of 148 The Gardens of the Sim. [ch. vh. boats on the river, and a large lighter had been decorated with parti-coloured flags and streamers, and in the centre a raised dais and a canopy overhead of red cloth had been erected for the parties mainly concerned. In the case of the Malays there is the usual religious ceremony, at which the " hadjis " appear and chant the prayers in gorgeous apparel of green Arabic coat and ample turban. There was much firing of cannon throughout the town, the whole event lasiing nearly a week, and there was a grand re- ception, the bride and bridegroom being seated in state on a raised dais, and covered with finery and gold orna- ments, mostly borrowed for the occasion. In the interior, where nearly all enjoy "liberty, equality, and fraternity," in a way one can only dream of in civilised "society," marriage is very simple, and monogamy the rule. The celebration of a marriage consists of a notification of the fact, and it is acknowledged by all in the village, who meet for feasting. A couple of fowls or a goat is killed, and the appearances presented by these after death furnish auguries of-, good or ill fortune for the newly married pair. The native Borneans proper are sparsely scattered over the whole country, and are divided into various tribes, each inhabiting a particular district, and speaking a dialect peculiar to itself. These tribes have been com- pared with the natives of our English counties, but they are much more distinct, each having its own customs, dress, mode of life, weapons, and in many cases a language unknown to the tribes only a few miles distant. The Dyaks, Kayans, Muruts, Kadyans, Dusun, and Lamm, are a few only of these tribes. Another peculiar race are the Badjows, or " Sea Gipsies," common to all the islands of these seas. They are nomadic — water rovers — and /engaged in diving for pearls, or pearl shell, fishing, or in ck. vii.] Inland Tribes. 149 petty trade. They rarely settle down on shore, or remain long in one place, but live in their boats. Indeed they are the gipsies of the sea in every sense of the word, and given to pilfering like their namesakes on shore. The Badjows, Lanun, Balagnini, and Sulus, who inhabit the north of Borneo and the islands to the north-east are an adventurous people given to piracy, and, of course, ex- cellent sailors. The Muruts are the only existing race of head-hunters north of the capital. The Dusun and Kadyans, although formerly head-hunters, have now taken to agricultural pursuits, and are well fed and prosperous compared to the Muruts, who, although they clear and plant the land around their immensely long pile dwellings, still depend much on their skill in hunting wild pig, deer, and other game for food. The Dyaks of Sarawak, al- though formerly fierce and warlike, are now peaceful and industriously engaged in seafaring or agricultural pur- suits. The Kayans are still warlike, and a fine race of straight-limbed powerful people. They formerly in- habited the country inland near the Limbang and used to plunder the villages of the Muruts and Sabayans, killing the men, and taking the women and children into slavery. Of late years, however, they have migrated further south, and their head-quarters are now on the Bar am river. The Lamms live on the coasts north of Menkabong, and are petty traders or cultivators. Like the Badjows, however, they have a lingering affection for the sea. The Dusun, who live in the hills further from the coast, give them a bad character and assert that for- merly they used to steal their children. Land culture is becoming much more general among the natives inland than formerly, security of life and pro- perty having also increased. Bice, kaladi, sweet pota- toes, and Indian corn and sago are the principal food 150 The Gardens of the Stcn. [ch. vn. products cultivated. Tobacco, cotton, sugar-cane, tapi- oca, and fruit are also grown here. The implements used for purposes of land culture in the island are of the most rude description. On the plains of Menkabong, Tawaran, and Tampassuk, near the coast, ploughs and harrows drawn by buffaloes are em- ployed, and their produce is carried to market in light bamboo sledges. Further inland, however, the imple- ments are yet more primitive, nearly all the necessary labour of cultivation being performed with a blunt-pointed iron chopper, or a sharp-pointed bamboo. The hoe, another implement used, ma}' be taken as the type of that adopted by the Chinese emigrants in the Straits Settlements and Eastern Archipelago generally ; indeed, wherever a Chinaman sets his foot in a new locality for cultural purposes, a chopper and a blade or two of his national "chunkal" or spade-hoe are sure to form a part of his extremely small belonging. He sets to Avork cutting the brushwood and small timber on his future clearing, and piling this at the base of the large trees, he fires the whole until only a few great black stumps, and here and there a gaunt leafless durian or dryobalanops remains of the old forest. Now, the "chunkal" is used to stir the virgin soil by chopping it up, a much quicker process than digging ; indeed, a spade- would have no chance in a competition where, as in this case, the soil is full of roots. If desirable, the soil can be thus chopped up to a depth of 12 in. or 14 in., the only drawback being that the operator stands on the freshly cultivated land. Armed with a chopper and one of these spade-hoes, a solitary Chinaman will not unfre- quently build a miserable little palm-leaf hut on a well- watered bit of forest near a river, and in a month or two he will have cleared several acres, to which, when planted cir. vii.] Native Villages. 151 with gambier or pepper, he looks for a fair return. Here, alone in the forest, or at the best with a companion or two equally poor as himself, he subsists on a little boiled rice, until his crops of sweet potatoes, bananas, sugar- cane, egg fruit, maize, and yams, are fit for use ; for one of his first cares has been to clear the bit of land around his hut, on which to plant the few roots and seeds which he has brought with him, most probably the gift of one of his richer countrymen, perchance of the trader of whom he bought the bag of rice, which with a little freshly caught fish from the river, are the only "stores" which stand between him and starvation, until his garden pro- duce is available. I have often come across these clear- ings right in the heart of the forest, miles away from any other human habitation, and have been as much aston- ished at the amount of labour performed with such a simple tool, as the thrifty labourer himself was to see me. The Dusun villagers keep bees and export wax in quantity, and most of the tribes collect the varied natural products of the sea or of the forests in their respective districts. The Sulus were until quite recently a warlike race inhabiting the large island of Sulu, between Borneo and the Philippines. They were independent and ruled by a Sultan, who held Sulu, Tawi Tawi, and the north of Borneo, including the fine harbour of Sandakan. The Sulus, however, are now practically under the Manilla Government. Slavery, although not yet abolished in Borneo, is not nearly so common as was formerly the case. The native government at Brunei is practically under the eye of the British governor of Labium, and thus many former abuses have become mitigated merely by the moral influence of a British colony being located thus near to the capital. 152 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. vh. It must not be imagined that either the Malays or the native Borneans are the bloodthirsty savages they are sometimes made out to be. The Malays generally are courteous, dignified, and hospitable. Many of them have made long journeys for purposes of trade, and have a tolerably good idea of the manners and customs of Euro- peans. Others have taken to the use of European com- modities after observing them used by the Chinese traders and settlers, and one can rarely visit a native of any consideration without finding him the hospitable possessor of a chair or two, plates, dishes, water bottles and glasses, and very often of excellent brandy and cigars. They are most sensitive, innately polite and gentle in manners, and very quick to understand and appreciate any little courtesies or civilities one ma}r offer them. All but the poorest carry their national weapon, " the mur- derous crease," a sort of long sinuous-edged dagger, generally as sharp as a razor, and most deadly when wielded by a skilful hand. In many cases where the owners are rich or of high rank these weapons are beauti- fully finished — rarely damascened — and the handles of ivory or gold set with pearls, diamonds, and other pre- cious stones. The running "amok," so often cited as an instance of their savage bloodthirsty nature is really a very rare occurrence, and is generally attributed to the excessive use of opium, or to some great disappointment or dishonour having befallen the frantic creature who, drawing his kriss, rushes at friend and foe alike until either shot down like a mad dog or run through the body with a spear. Jealousy is the main cause of all the bloodshed of which the Malays are guilt}-. The co-respondent in Borneo must either have a tacit understanding with the husband or rather proprietor of the frail one, or his adventures may end very suddenly. I saw one man in en. vii.] Native Women. 153 the hospital at Labuan who paid the penalty of his indis- cretion. One night a kriss or spear had been driven into his thigh through the interstices of the floor of the house in which he was sleeping with his Helen, and with such force that the bone was completely severed. It is possible the weapon was poisoned, at any rate he died .some little time afterwards, notwithstanding all that sur- gical skill could suggest. In the case of the Malays their women are, as a rule, secluded from the gaze of strangers in private apartments, but in the interior the women of the aboriginal tribes enjoy equal freedom with the men, and often join in discussions and trading difficulties with great tact. Monogamy is the rule with the Borneans and polygamy with the Malays. In Borneo, as in Europe, the female exceeds the male population, and here, too, the Avomen do a large proportion of the field labour in addition to their domestic duties. Some of the little villages of the native tribes inland present a pleasant and prosperous exterior. Little palm- leaf houses stand here and there beneath groves of cocoa- nut trees, betel-palms, tree-ferns, or graceful willow-like bamboo. Breadths of fresh greensward occur among the