The Malay archipelago : the land of the orang-utan ... - Wallace Online

56 THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [chap.them some satisfaction, so I turned np my trousers and letthem see the colour of my leg, which they examined with greatinterest.In the morning early we continued our descent along a finevalley, with mountains rising 2,000 or 3,000 feet in everydirection. The little river rapidly inci'eased in size till wereached Senna, when it had become a fine pebbly streamnavigable for small canoes. Here again the upheaved slatyrock appeared, with the same dip and direction as in the SadongRiver. On inquiring for a boat to take me down tlie stream, Iwas told that the Senna Dyaks, although living on the riverbanks,never made or used boats. They were mountaineers whohad only come down into the valley about twenty years befoi'e,and had not yet got into new haliits. They are of the same tribeas the people of Menyerry and Sodos. They make good pathsand bridges, and cultivate much mountain land, and thus give amore pleasing and civilized aspect to the country than wliere thepeople move about only in boats, and confine their cultivationto the banks of the streams.After some trouble I hired a boat from a Malay trader, andfound three Dyaks who liad been several times with Malays toSarawak, and thought they could manage it very well. Theyturned out very awkwai-d, constantly running aground, strikingagainst rocks, and losing their balance so as almost to upsetthemselves and the boat ; offering a striking contrast to theskill of the Sea Dyaks. At length we came to a really dangerousrapid where boats were often swamped, and my men were afraidto pass it. Some Malays with a boat-load of rice here overtookus, and after safely passing down kindly sent back one of theirmen to assist me. As it was, my Dyaks lost their balance in thecritical part of the passage, and had they been alone wouldcertainly have upset tlie boat. The river now became exceedinglyiDicturesque, the ground on each side being partiallycleared for rice-fields, aflbrding a good view of the country.Numerous little granaries were built high up in trees overhangingthe rivei', and having a bamboo bridge sloping up tothem fi'om the bank ; and here and there bamboo suspensionbridges crossed the stream, whei'e overhanging trees favouredtheir construction.I slept that night in the -s'illage of the Sebungow Dyaks, andthe next day reached Sarawak, passing through a most beautifulcountry, where limestone mountains with their fantastic formsand white precipices shot up on every side, draped and festoonedwith a luxuriant vegetation. The banks of the Sarawak Riverare everywhere covered with fruit trees, which supply the Dyakswith a great deal of tlieir food. The Mangosteen, Lansat, Eambutan.Jack, Jambou, and Blimbing, are all abundant ; but mostabundant and most esteemed is the Duinan, a fruit about wliichvery little is known in England, but which both by natives andEuropeans in the Malay Archipelago is reckoned superior to all