Life in the forests of the Far East (vol. 2 of 2)

by Sir Spenser St. John

We had been told that the cataract was nine fathoms deep. To stop the raft was impossible: the pace was too great; and, as we approached this formidable danger, the men burst into a prayer, which, though they shouted at the tops of their voices, could scarcely be heard in the roar. I spoke not, but clutched the side of the raft with one hand and Ahtan with the other, for fear we should be swept off. As we came to the edge of the cataract, it looked so deep that the men were awed into silence, and my only thought was, Can we ever rise out of that abyss? Down we went. We felt a slight shock, the raft trembled, and in another moment we were buried in the recoiling waves. We rose again, our bows forced up into the air, and the stern completely hidden as I glanced round to look if the men were there, and then over the second tier of rocks, which were not so serious, as there was a deep pool beyond; and though we were again buried beneath the waters, yet we touched no rock. At the first cataract we but grazed the bottom. Had we struck, our raft must have been dashed to pieces; as it was, the centre trunk was driven from its place—I was about to say, like an arrow from a bow; but how far it went I cannot say; it left no trace behind it.

I have attempted since to estimate the length of these falls; but, after allowing for the exaggeration natural to remembrance of one’s own adventures, I cannot think they were less than three and two fathoms, but probably more. However, we passed so rapidly that it was impossible to judge correctly. On we went, over a small cataract; and then the men gave vent to their feelings in a frantic yell, which they had been unable to utter after the great danger. As we cleared the point, we heard shouts from the bank; and, looking up, saw four of our men calling upon us to stop, as there were worse dangers ahead.

As this reach was tolerably smooth, one of the men sprang into the stream with a long rattan in his hand, hoping to reach the shore, but it was dragged from him before he was half way. Then Musa, choosing a better spot, plunged in; he reached the shore, but, before he could land, the rattan was torn from his grasp, and we were swept away. I saw Musa, breathless, trying to free himself from the waves that dashed him against the rocks, and in another moment we were out of sight.

Our two skilled men were gone; but we managed to keep the raft straight, and presently we were caught in a whirlpool. This was our best chance; one of the men sprang into the water, and was soon ashore. The rattan was twisted round a tree just as the stream caught us. This was a trying moment. The rattan began to part as the great strain came upon it; so I ordered the last man to make straight for the shore, and draw the raft out of the strength of the stream. The men really exerted themselves; and, in almost less time than it takes me to write this down, we were moored comfortably under the bank.

Presently one of the other rafts came round the point; they tried to join me, but were swept to the other side, where they brought up; the next followed, and was also secured; the fourth soon came round the point, but with only old Japer upon it. I trembled for him, but the old fellow was used to danger, and cleverly brought himself under the opposite rocks, and threw a rattan on shore. This, however, was torn out of the hand of a stupid man who ought to have twisted it round a stump or a rock; nevertheless, an active fellow sprang from one of the already secured rafts into Japer’s, and twisted a strong rattan round one of the trunks. Now all were interested, and rushed to help to prevent the great stream carrying away the rafts.

I was very pleased to see Musa join me. He presently went ahead; and, after an hour’s absence, returned, telling me he had found a spot where we could secure ourselves for the night; but that the men requested that I and Ahtan, as the non-swimmers, would walk to the night’s resting-place. We found the way very difficult; and, after half an hour’s hard work, reached the rafts. I now heard that three of the most active of the party had gone ahead to examine. We had brought up the rafts in a kind of bay, with the rocks below stretching across the river, forming formidable rapids. At six p.m. the scouts returned, bringing the unpleasant news that the river for about two miles was one succession of rapids; in fact, as far as they had seen it, it was a continued sheet of white foam, from the innumerable rocks which studded the stream. To proceed in the rafts was quite impossible, so we made up our minds to walk.

Now I thought matters began to look sombre, particularly as Ahtan came to tell me that he had been to several of the men for my rice, and had found that they had only a day’s provisions left. Upon this I called the men up, and ascertained that three men had still six days’ rice, three had four days’, four had two days’, and the rest only provisions for one day; and, what was very serious for me and Ahtan, all our rice had been consumed, except sufficient for two days.

It was useless to reproach the men, so I called Ahtan on one side, and proposed to him that we should in future take thin rice-water, and trust to the cabbage-palm for our chief support. To this he readily agreed, and then added in a whisper that he had about two cupfuls of tapioca flour. I persuaded him that this should be kept, in case one of us fell ill. I must confess that, being excessively hungry, I was not sorry to find that he had cooked a fowl—the last but one—and boiled a lot of rice, before he discovered how short we were. We divided the food into two portions, and dined heartily.

Rocks, sandstone, dipping to the north-east, at an angle of 18°. It was in the great cataract, to-day, that my journal was wetted. As we were twice buried in the recoiling waves, nothing but a single change escaped being soaked. We made great fires to dry our clothes, but the continuous rain prevented our completely succeeding.

6th.—I was up at dawn. There was not much cooking; but Ahtan having saved a little cold rice, we breakfasted off that, and then started. We found the Muruts were correct in their account of the country. The walking was very difficult indeed, either along the sides of precipitous hills or up the face of them, where our hands came into as much play as our feet. I kept the men at it till five p.m., making but little advance over this very difficult country. We were evidently crossing the Kalio hills which I had noticed on our left in our walk from Madihit, and then estimated at 5,500 feet; but my barometer was now out of order.