On our return journey to Kuching, we stayed for a few days at Bintulu Fort. The dress of the women of Bintulu differs slightly from that of the Kuching Malays, as regards the texture of their sarongs and jackets, and as regards their gold ornaments. These people appear to prefer sombre tints to the bright colours worn by their Kuching sisters. A sarong much favoured by the Bintulu women is made of cotton with fine black threads running through, forming a check pattern all over the skirt, without the dog-tooth stripe so conspicuous in Javanese, Sumatran, and Malayan designs. This cotton material is so fine in texture that it is as costly to buy as some of the gold and silken brocades. The Bintulu women manage to obtain a gloss on the material making it shiny like satin. One has to pay as much as £6 or £7 for one of these sarongs. Over this black-and-white sheath, these women wear a jacket of either black or dark blue satin, imported from China. It fastens in front with three huge knobs of gold, and small gold knobs are sewn all up the slashed sleeves. Large round ear-rings, sometimes very exquisite in design, shaped like open lotus flowers, are thrust through the lobes of their ears. Their scarfs are of quiet colours, devoid of gold thread, but their hats are marvellous. Sometimes they are as much as a yard across, so that no two women can walk near one another. They are made of straw, conical in shape, and are ornamented with huge pointed rays of red, black, and yellow, meeting towards the centre. Mr. de Crespigny, who knew of the dresses and habits of these people, told me to look out for the ladies as they wound their way up the path leading to the Fort, and it was indeed a curious sight to see two or three hundred of these discs, one after the other, apparently unsupported, winding slowly up the steep ascent. When the women reached the Fort, they left their hats somewhere--I never fathomed where--before they came into the reception-room. They are pleasant-looking people, these Milanoes of Bintulu, with their square, pale faces and quantities of jet-black hair. Their ankles and wrists are not perhaps quite so delicate as are those of the more southern people, for Milanoes are sturdier in build. They belong to the same tribe as the sago workers of Muka, but, owing to their more sedentary habits, their complexion is paler. Europeans who know them well have many interesting stories to relate regarding their superstitions and incantations, particularly in the case of illness, when the beautiful blossom of the areca-nut palm plays an important part.