"The Samatan river, like the others, is inclosed in a bay choked with
sand: the boat-passage is on the right-hand side, going in near Point
Samatan. The sands are mostly dry at low water, and stretch out a
considerable distance. There is a fishing station here, though not so
large as at Seru, and the fish at both places are very plentiful, and
are salted for exportation to Sambas, and along their own coast. Seru
is a shallow creek; the village may consist of 50 or 60 inhabitants,
and the sands stretch a long way out. We thus lost two days, through
the cunning of our Malay attendant; and the only advantage gained is
being enabled to fill up the details of our survey of this bay.
"_5th._--The day consumed returning along the coast to the Lundu,
and we did not reach Tungong till late.
"_6th._--Remained at Tungong. Every impediment was thrown in my way to
prevent my reaching the Lundu Dyaks; the distance was great, the tribe
small and unsettled, there was little probability of finding them,
&c. I would, however, have gone; but another cause had arisen of a more
serious nature. My feet, from the heat of the sun, musqueto-bites, and
cuts (for I foolishly went without shoes that unlucky day to Seru),
had become so painful and inflamed that I felt great doubt whether,
if I walked in pain to Lundu, I could come back again. With the best
grace I could, I yielded the point; with a vow, however, never to
have the same Pangeran again. I did _manage_ to be civil to him,
from policy alone. He was superfluously kind and obliging.
"_7th._--Left Tungong on our return to the vessel, and brought-to
for the night at Tanjong Siri. In the evening I walked along the fine
sandy beach as far as the entrance of the Sumpudin river. We saw many
wild hogs; and on one occasion I was able to get within twenty yards
of some ten of them together, among some large drift-wood. Just as I
was crawling over a tree and balancing, I found myself confronted by
these animals; but they were out of sight almost before I could cock
my gun and fire. They were of a large size, and most of them we saw
during the evening either dirty white, or white and black. At night,
after we had retired to our quarters in the Pangeran's boat, she filled
with water, and was near going down. The first intimation we had of
it was the water wetting our mats on which we were sleeping. She was
beached and baled out, and a hand kept baling all night, as they had
laden her so deep that she leaked considerably.
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.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account