Life in the forests of the Far East (vol. 2 of 2)St. John, Spenser, Sir
History
Life in the forests of the Far East (vol. 2 of 2)
St. John, Spenser, Sir
Borneo -- Description and travel; Natural history -- Borneo; St. John, Spenser, Sir, 1825-1910 -- Travel -- Borneo
I had suffered severely from exposure on former expeditions,
particularly when we ascended the Sakarang, and were eight days
sleeping in the leaf huts hastily erected by our followers. Of the
seven Englishmen who slept on shore, I believe only one escaped without
some severe attack of illness, and I remember the late Mr. Brereton
mentioning that on his return from a visit to the Bugan country, where
his men had been greatly exposed, a fourth of his party died of various
diseases. Another precaution I took was to carry myself a few night
things, as a light silk jacket, a pair of loose sleeping drawers of
the same material, a jersey, and a dry towel, so that if my men lagged
far behind, I was not kept for hours in my wet clothes; and whilst
travelling in these forests you are always wet, as if there be no rain
there are sure to be many rivers to ford.
On my return, I tried to remember the geographical information that
was given me before starting. I was told it would take six days from
Blimbing to Madihit: leaving out the two days’ detention from freshes,
it took us about three hours over the six days. Even the walking
distance was really correct; it was only two days from the Adang
landing-place, and seven from Madihit; as, although we took ten, yet
for the first five days we did not do a fair half-day’s work on any of
them. We were warned that it would be impossible to use rafts, and that
the banks were almost impassable, and we indeed found it so.
Many months before starting, I was told that if I wished to penetrate
far into the interior, to try the Trusan, and not the Limbang, as
the former was inhabited, the latter not. I went up the Trusan a few
miles, but found it so small, I had no idea it penetrated to so great a
distance. The fact is, that the rains run off very fast, and that the
ordinary states of the rivers give no idea of the amount of water they
bring down, but had we taken that route, we should have reached our
farthest point with comparatively little fatigue.
The Orang Kaya Upit arrived at his house November 13th, twenty-five
days after I reached Brunei; so that it is fortunate I did not wait
for him. I may add, that on November 20th, some Bisaya chiefs set upon
pañgeran Makota, the shabandar, and killed him. They were wearied
with his exactions. The immediate cause of his death was seizing the
daughters of seven Orang Kayas, one of whom he had in his curtains when
attacked, and this caused his death. The girl pointed him out to her
father, trying to escape in a small canoe. The alarm was given, and
his boat tilting over while he tried to avoid the shower of spears and
stones, he fell into the stream and was drowned; for he was the only
Malay I ever heard of who could not swim. Such was the end of this
clever bad man. The Sultan was furious, but his fury was not shared
by his four viziers; so that the affair ended by a dozen lives being
taken, instead of the hundreds the Sultan desired.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account