land, and thus give a more pleasing and civilized aspect to the country than
where the people move about only in boats, and confine their cultivation to the
banks of the streams.
After some trouble I hired a boat from a Malay trader, and found three Dyaks
who had been several times with Malays to Sarawak, and thought they could
manage it very well. They turned out very awkward, constantly running aground,
striking against rocks, and losing their balance so as almost to upset themselves
and the boat—offering a striking contrast to the skill of the Sea Dyaks. At length
we came to a really dangerous rapid where boats were often swamped, and my
men were afraid to pass it. Some Malays with a boatload of rice here overtook
us, and after safely passing down kindly sent back one of their men to assist me.
As it was, my Dyaks lost their balance in the critical part of the passage, and had
they been alone would certainly have upset the boat. The river now became
exceedingly picturesque, the ground on each side being partially cleared for
ricefields, affording a good view of the country. Numerous little granaries were
built high up in trees overhanging the river, and having a bamboo bridge sloping
up to them from the bank; and here and there bamboo suspension bridge crossed
the stream, where overhanging trees favoured their construction.
I slept that night in the village of the Sebungow Dyaks, and the next day
reached Sarawak, passing through a most beautiful country where limestone
mountains with their fantastic forms and white precipices shot up on every side,
draped and festooned with a luxuriant vegetation. The banks of the Sarawak
River are everywhere covered with fruit trees, which supply the Dyaks with a
great deal of their food. The Mangosteen, Lansat, Rambutan, Jack, Jambou, and
Blimbing, are all abundant; but most abundant and most esteemed is the Durian,
a fruit about which very little is known in England, but which both by natives
and Europeans in the Malay Archipelago is reckoned superior to all others. The
old traveller Linschott, writing in 1599, says: "It is of such an excellent taste that
it surpasses in flavour all the other fruits of the world, according to those who
have tasted it." And Doctor Paludanus adds: "This fruit is of a hot and humid
nature. To those not used to it, it seems at first to smell like rotten onions, but
immediately when they have tasted it, they prefer it to all other food. The natives
give it honourable titles, exalt it, and make verses on it." When brought into a
house the smell is often so offensive that some persons can never bear to taste it.
This was my own case when I first tried it in Malacca, but in Borneo I found a
ripe fruit on the ground, and, eating it out of doors, I at once became a confirmed
Durian eater.
The Durian grows on a large and lofty forest tree, somewhat resembling an