black
dust, which I am preserving, and almost always in the black gleamed a
speck of gold. Where does it come from ? One piece is of appreciable
size, as large as a grain of rice, but thin and water-worn. There were
five men washing, and each was equally successful in finding gold, not
in dust, but in small pieces. They washed for two hours, and I was glad
they gave up as I could see they were very cold.
1
went up the Segama this afternoon to see if there were any hills, and
came across limestone on the true left bank, but nothing further of
note. Searching for orchids I raised a little mouse-deer, which
scuttled away from its lair at the root of a big tree. This is first
game I have seen. The wet weather renders it unnecessary for game to
come to the river to drink, and my men say a flooded river frightens
game away. We have seen nothing but a few alligators and the one
rhinoceros mentioned 12th November. We went up the Sungei Bilang:
unfortunately it rained a good deal in the night and the river is
pretty full, too much so for midstream working, and we have to content
ourselves with working the sides. The stuff is too new for any good
results. Still at each place we found gold in specks, brilliantly
discernable against the black metal accompanying it. No dust—where does
that go ? A fine day and pleasant working: we did not get back till 4
o'clock, very tired. The jungle is full of a tree, called Ankaug, whose
nut yields oil and which the Resident asked me to look for. The oil
used in place of coconut oil and is much more valuable. I have given
orders to collect a quantity. On the right bank of the Sungei Bilang I
saw a tree called Tappang by the Sarawak men, a bee tree, ten feet in
diameter at twenty feet above the ground. I believe this would be a big
tree in any part of the world. The timber on this river, Segama, runs
very large and increases in size as we progress inland.
13th
Nov.—The river is much lower and the men set to work near their old
spot, and found gold again. They say the river was lower on the former
occasion, which I can well imagine as when they stoop to fill the scoop
with dirt they buried their shoulders in water. I got my specimens of
stone together : tiiey include water-worn granite, like grey Aberdeen,
gneiss, slate, crystalline sandstones, jasper, porphyries, serpentine
basaltic limestone (water-worn), and coral limestone. As I write their
names I cannot help speculating on the possibilities of the future.
14th
Nov.—Got away early and found the river fuller than when we came up. At
the big fall, Tabauat, we got out to lighten the boats, but did not
remove the baggage. Going down the falls was exciting work at first,
but there are so many of them they are becoming less so; besides which,
as we progress, the waters are becoming quieter. The country we have
passed through has been fairly flat, much occupied by natives in days
gone by. I feel thankful we started, and that we have had a fine day as
we could hardly have come down safely in the rain. As it was we had
some narrow escapes, and, had the rock-ripples been hidden by falling
rain, we should probably have come to grief. I stopped a few times to
chip off a bit of rock and pick up bits from the single.
15th
November.—The 16th day. We left at 6-45 p.m. Last night we had a little
rain, but nothing that would account for the rising of the river which
rose rapidly from the time of pitching our camps until this morning. In
the night time I heard the men shouting, and on inquiry found they were
moving higher up the bank, and this morning I was awoke by the noise of
a falling tree and cries. A dead tree had fallen across one of the huts
striking Nacoda Budjang, the head of the Sarawak traders, on the the
back of the neck. He was sitting up smoking a cigarette, waiting for
daylight, when the tree fell. The day was just breaking, and after a
little I was able to examine him, and was glad to find no bones broken,
but he was almost insensible, I could do nothing beyond giving him my
pillow and seeing him laid in the boat as carefully as possible.
Immediately after starting we entered a gorge. Hills on both sides for
about seven miles—not high, perhaps 200 feet above the river
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