The raft on which they now stood consisted of two hundred logs of timber of excellent quality tied firmly together by rattan cables. A floor was laid over these logs and in the centre of the raft a roomy hut was constructed. Under a roof extending from the sides of this hut the products were safely housed. The raft carried nearly four thousand trusses of rattan, a couple of thousand gantangs of rosin, a hundred pikols of bees-wax, twenty pikols of India rubber and a small parcel of birds’ nests. The last two Bapa Andong had exchanged for bees-wax with some traders from the upper country. The other goods were the products of his own labor. The rattan had been cut in the surrounding soengeis, the rosin was partly gathered from the trees and partly collected along the banks of the river. It was quite evening when the raft shot the last projection and the entrance of the channel which forms the junction between the lake and the river became visible. The crew was exhausted with fatigue, rest was accordingly absolutely necessary. As there was no earthly possibility of steering the raft through the narrow canal in the darkness they moored it to the shore, after which part of the crew landed to clear the ground for some distance, so as to command an unobstructed view of the surrounding country. The shrubs and trees thus cut down were formed into a kind of entrenchment at the edge of the clearing to prevent the possibility of a surprise. They further divided their men into two watches, who would alternately take duty and keep a lookout, Johannes taking care that he and La Cueille should remain with one party while the two Swiss would join the other division. As soon as daylight appeared our travellers resumed their labors, and after an hour’s hard toil the raft was steered into the channel. The sun had nearly risen above the horizon when they had their craft safely moored against the landing-stage to receive the rest of its cargo. The lading was executed so rapidly that by the afternoon everything was ready on board for the resumption of their journey.