Speaking of the Malau diamond reminds me of the famous one formerly said to be possessed by the Sultan of Matan, for which he was offered immense sums. Borneo, however, has always been famous for its diamonds, which are worked at the present time by the Chinese and Malays at Landak, a country lying farther inland than Sambas; and there are two streams in Sarawak, the Santah, and a branch of the Quop, where diamonds of a very fine water have been found, but those places have not yet been regularly explored. Occasionally very pretty diamonds are brought over from the Dutch territories to Sarawak, but I have seldom examined them. It is never safe to trust to reports respecting diamonds; for instance, I was once informed that a noble in Brunei had a very large diamond which he wished to part with, but when we came to examine it, we found it was a pinkish topaz, as large as a pullet’s egg, and he asked a thousand pounds for it.
CHAPTER III.
MY LIMBANG JOURNAL—continued.
Wet Morning—Wild Cattle—A Night Adventure—View of Molu Mountain—A Pebbly Flat—Moose Deer—Our Tents—Kayans—Their Attacks—Desolation—Course they pursue to invade these Districts—Difficulties—Attack the Lepuasing Muruts—Fearful Retaliation—Attacks on the Villages of the Lower Limbang—Makota’s Treachery—His Cupidity—Surprise of Balat Ikan—Alarm Signal—Advance—Fresh Kayan Marks—Inundations—Unskilful Sportsmen—Difficult Rapids—The Sertab Hills—Enter the Limestone District—A New Kayan Hut—High Pork—Effect of Pebbles on the Rock—Agreeable Evening—Omen Birds—Japer’s Method of easing a sore Heart—The Punan Tribe—The Spy—The Alligator Omen—The Bird Omen—Attack the Village—Poisoned Arrows—Destruction of a Tribe—Effect of such Forays on the Country—The Ghosts on the Tapang Tree—Numerous Bees’ Nests—Sand Flies—Seribas Omen Bird—The Salindong—Kayan Resting-place—Traces of Captives taken—Precautions—Difficulties increase—Limestone Country—Severe Toil—Accidents avoided—Hauling the Boats—River narrows—A Fresh—Towing-ropes—Story of the Death of Orang Kaya Apo—Enter the Sandstone District again—Broader River—Snakes on Trees—The same Colour as the Boughs and Foliage—Biawaks or Guanas—A large One—Their Ways—The Fowls and the Cobra—Heavy Day’s Work—Future Plans—Two Ways of reaching Adang—The flying Foxes—Huge Frog—The Madihit—Leave our Boats—Handsome Trees—Appearance of the Country—Sand Flies—Preparations for the Overland Journey—Division of Food—Our famous Hunters—A Cache—The Chinese on the Madihit.
September 1st, 7 a.m.—The night continued fine till towards early morn, when the rain commenced, and still continues. The showers are not very heavy, but there is an incessant descent of drizzle. The river rose two feet during the night, but there is a tendency to fall. I should push on immediately, only it is now necessary to open all the mat coverings, and prepare for poling; before we could stow away the baggage, they would be wet through. I must have patience.
3 p.m.—Having breakfasted, and the weather clearing, we managed to get away at 8.15, and at 11.20 passed the entrance of the Madalam. At Pulau Tambadau, so called on account of our twice disturbing a fine tambadau bull from this island, I sent the Orang Kaya round the inner passage to drive any wild cattle that might be there towards the main river; but, unfortunately, they heard him, and we saw them plunge from the end of the island into the narrow stream. He fired, says he hit one, but there was no result—very vexing, as I thought he would go so quietly as to drive the cattle towards us. Had they plunged into the main stream, we should have secured several: there were eight, some of them quite young.
Just at the entrance of the Madalam, opposite the site of the China fort before mentioned, we once had what I thought might have proved a serious adventure. We had built a small hut, and our whole party consisting of but fifteen, we kept a good watch. Towards four in the morning, the sentinel touched me quietly, I got up, and found old Japer watching with a musket in his hand, who beckoned me to him; then I distinctly heard footsteps in the jungle. I told the sentinel to wake the men quietly, and when all were prepared, I shouted out in Malay, “Who goes there?” No answer, but perfect stillness. I then made Japer hail in the Kayan and also in the Murut languages, and as again no answer was returned, I fired a miniè rifle over the spot from whence the noise of footsteps had proceeded. The crash of the conical ball in the trees made the intruders rush back. In about a quarter of an hour we heard steps on the pebbly flat below us. We again hailed, but obtaining no answer, we fired a volley. There was much movement, as of footsteps in rapid retreat. I thought at first it might be a pig or a tambadau; but on examining the jungle near the hut, we found the footprints of several men who had crawled up very near to us. They may have been only wax hunters, but they ought to have answered the hail: my men, however, insisted that they were Kayans.
After leaving the Madalam on our right, we entered a perfectly new country. We saw a range of hills, said to be Sertab, to the eastward. We stopped at two p.m. below an extensive pebbly flat. It shortly afterwards commenced raining, and is now pouring heavily, though as the clouds are coming from the north, there is some hope of the weather clearing up. Just below Tambadau Island we had a view of the Molu range, and I was somewhat puzzled by it. There appear to be two peaks, the westernmost much lower than that to the east, which is considerably loftier. When we were at the foot of the range, we noticed that there was a peak to the westward, but not much separated from the mountain we attempted to ascend.[7]
9 p.m.—About four p.m. the rain ceased, but the river continued to rise till seven: it is now gradually sinking. It rose three feet in this broad space, so that in the narrow portions of the stream it must have risen much more. We have fastened our boats in a safe place, under a clump of trees near the northern part of the pebbly flat. This mass of shingle is, perhaps, 300 yards by 150 in its broadest part, and forms the easternmost portion of an island. In pulling along to-day, I noticed several of these beds of water-worn pebbles showing themselves in the banks, from two to eighteen feet above the present level of the river, which proves that the stream flows now at a much lower level; great accumulations of drift wood may also be occasionally observed cropping out of the steep banks. We have as yet passed no ancient forest; young jungle, mixed with bamboos, cover the banks. The water to-day has, on the whole, been very shallow, and we had to use great exertions occasionally to get the boats over the rapids.
Just before dusk, a man shouted out that there were moose-deer in the island. We instituted a very active search, but the cunning animals hid themselves away in the long grass and brushwood, so that without dogs they were not to be found, and swimming exceedingly well, they always take to the water when pursued.
2nd.—(My journal appears to be filled with nothing but notices of the weather; but as success or non-success depended entirely on the amount of rain that fell, it is very natural that I should have recorded the changes from dry to wet and wet to dry.) There was a little drizzling during the night, the water falling two feet, but at four a.m. the rain came down in torrents, and the rush of the stream forbad any attempt at advancing.