They surprised their snake basking in the sun and cut off its head: but some time before we were ascending a waterfall, and while looking at some flowers, a friend accidentally touched a gray rock-snake that lay lazily extended across our path; I saw him spring aside, and had but a moment to get out of the way, as the reptile dashed past. On our return, while choosing a good pool to bathe, we observed the snake, which was about twelve feet long, vainly endeavouring to escape up a rock, and finding it could not, it made a dash at us. We thought at the time that it meant to attack us, but probably it was only an endeavour to effect an escape. We drove it back with boughs to the deep pool before us, and then hurled large stones at it till it seemed to be dead; but on descending to the water to get out the body to examine, it had disappeared, diving into some hole or crevice in the rock. The Malays have a great dread of most kind of snakes, but this they especially dislike. The cobra is, however, the most disagreeable one, particularly when met with in the water; one tried to swim across the river just below our boat; as soon as he saw us, he directed his course our way, not, I believe, to attack us, but simply as something to rest on; but my men in great alarm gave way, and escaped the beast. I have heard men say, that the cobra will not be frightened back by beating the water with the paddles, but must be killed, or it will enter the boat; if it succeed in doing so every Malay would instantly spring into the water and leave their canoe to drift away. 4 p.m.--Our guide has just returned, and brought with him the man whose traces have kept us on the _qui vive_. Our guide says that after walking about half an hour, he was hailed, and after a distant parley, the man approached, and to their mutual astonishment they found that they were countrymen, and that it was, in fact, his brother-in-law, in order to visit whose sister he had joined our party, the gay gentleman having left his young wife to go and seek his fortune and another wife in the neighbourhood of Brunei. Such meetings sometimes take place in romance, but seldom in real life. The stranger is one of a large party who are now pig-hunting in the neighbourhood, so that my chief fear--that we should not find our way--has left me. We may get a deer, as these hunters have just secured a pig. The new comer says he thought we were a party of head-hunters, therefore, did not make himself known to us. He followed us for some time, and felt a great inclination to send a poisoned arrow amongst us; but that we were too strong. Very fortunate for him he did not do so, or it might have fared ill with him.