islands of Sulu. This ship .is, however, not a t all
regular, and is sometimes away for months together.
The Far Bast is a little vessel which has steamed
about these little-known and less-frequented seas for
many years, making Labuan her headquarters. She
runs from that island up to Borneo, sometimes to Sulu
and Celebes, and sometimes goes far inland up one of
those grand rivers whose' sources have- still to be
discovered and described. I t is surprising how few
vessels come into Bornean waters. I stayed a week at
Coal Point a short time back, and during that time not
a single sail came in sight. Months sometimes elapse
without even a sail appearing between “ the vast
expanse of sea and sky.
There are often very brilliant sunsets in the far East.
I noticed a most impressive effect at Labuan. The
sun was setting in the west. The sky was tinted with
brilliant lines of gold, and blue, and green; the moon
pale, and giving apparently no light, had risen in the
south-east. Right under the moon appeared a cloud
illuminated with a silvery light. In singular contrast
to the hot red glow in the west was this cool yellow
light, which showed in the east. The sea was a deep
green from the reflected sunset, and on the distant
coast of Borneo a dark cloud hung heavily; l i g h t n i n o -
was visible at intervals, and the far-off thunder
rumblings gave signal of an approaching storm.9
8 Colonel Harington adds, “ The sunsets were peculiarly wonderful
in those regions—not the monotonous regulation sunsets one sees in
India, hut veritable transformation scenes, each evening producing a
different effect. The most remarkable exhibition of light I ever saw
out there was one evening in Gaya Bay, watching the '■sunset-light'
on Kina Balu. An artist would be amply repaid by visiting that
wonderful land.”
m
ON THE SEQUATI AND KURINA RIVERS.1
First impressions of exploration—A novel experience—Making a
Malay house—Working and watching—Digging for oil—“ Orang
Dusuns ’’—Astonishing the natives—Flying foxes—Exploring and
sporting—Tropical vegetation—Lost in the jungle—Pangeran
Brunei—A sick chief—Trading with the Dusuns—“ Never seen
a white man before ”—Searching for coal—Christmas-Day on the
equator—The slave question—Protecting a fugitive—An anxious
night—The New Year and a dark outlook—ADusun house—“ I
was simply a nine days’ wonder ”—Keeping away evil spirits—-
“ Well, well, s ir!”-—Native women at work—Strange and picturesque
scenes—Discoveries of coal and iron— hid i tig on buffaloes
s—Tropical floods—A perilous situation—Geology of the Binkoka
district.
•I.
Nov. 19th, 1881.—-Started from Abai with Captain
Harington and Mr. Witti, in the steam-launch Enter-
1 Only two of Frank Hatton’s original diaries have reached England.
They are the first and last, and neither of them is complete. The first
is written evidently from notes, and is reprinted here as far as it
go&s, the last entry being January 2nd, 1882. I take the remainder
of the record from the author’s report to the Company. The last
diary is in pencil, and contains memoranda, which shows that he was
in the habit of perfecting his diaries when he returned to his station,
wherever it might be. The personal details in the first diary prove
that there were many things entered in his diaries which he did not, of
course, report to the Governor, and this was part of the material which
he would have worked up in the volume he intended to write on his