The fugitives continued their journey from soengei Mantangei during the night. They had now been fully seven days on their travels. The country around gradually lost its alluvial appearance, and although the elevation of the soil was not yet very important and our adventurers could still clearly distinguish in the current of the river the regular and marked appearance of ebb and flood, the riwoet haroesan, breath of the stream, had totally ceased. The highest tide never brought the sea so far up and its waters were here free from all brackishness. About three o’clock in the afternoon the travellers reached a spot called petak bapoeti, white sail, by the natives. This consisted of a range of hills about forty feet high, formed of bluish-white sand, mingled with numerous shells of a different kind from those in the clay mud met with round the south coast of Borneo. In support of the hypothesis that once upon a time this must have been the southern coast of the island, similar hill formations are found at about the same distance from the mouths of the Doesson, Kahajan and Mantawei rivers. To stretch their limbs awhile on this white sand was a welcome relaxation to our Europeans, for to sit for days cross-legged in a canoe is exceedingly fatiguing to a person not accustomed to it. They therefore moved about freely, occupying themselves in gathering some dark red berries, not unlike our blackberries, which grew abundantly here and which supplied an agreeable relish to their monotonous meals. After they had walked an hour or two Dalim gave the signal for departure, telling them that where they were such multitudes of mosquitoes swarmed about at night that despite the use of any quantity of “brotoali” sleep would be impossible. According to him it was the spot where most of the mosquitoes of the island congregated; for which he accounted by relating the following legend: “The son of Sultan Koening, the Djata—or Crocodile—King of the Batang Moeroeng, was going to be married to the daughter of Anding Maling Goena, the Crocodile King of the Kapoeas River. The marriage was to be solemnized at this spot; and the fishes, water-snakes, shrimps, frogs and other inhabitants of the stream assembled to increase the pomp of the ceremony. They brought with them some hundreds of pounds of mosquitoes as the best present they could give the young married couple in token of their affection. The present was graciously accepted; and the descendants of those mosquitoes in a most disagreeable manner impress the memory of that marriage gift upon any traveller whose ill-luck carries him thither to spend the night.” “A queer present,” La Cueille remarked, “only a Dayak could suggest such a wedding gift.” “I heard Dalim speak of the island Kalimantan,” said Wienersdorf. “Which island is that?”