This evening one of the men shot a large bat, called
“ flying fox,” or Cubong, by the natives.
The pit is now eight feet down. The dock is
eighteen feet by twenty feet, all of which had to be
puddled with clay and leaves. The pit is six feet
square and eight feet deep, timbered with what few
planks we have, and the rest with trees. The rock is
now a grey sandstone saturated with oil, and we have
only one pick and one shovel, as the men cannot use
my boring picks and shovels. The work is therefore
very difficult, although good progress is made. The
oil bubbles up well now, water and a little sulphurated
hydrogen come up. Smith took a few pieces of coal
out to-day. I think we shall shprtly strike coal. I
made a blow-pipe examination of the chloritic mineral
th a t Witti gave me, and found it to be anhydrous
silicate of magnesia and iron, with much carbonate of
lime. Therefore olivine with calcic carbonate. Smith
also took some hard pieces of rock out of the pit, which
I shall examine to-morrow. I went up the so-called
“ Kurina ” river to-day for about a mile and a half,
f t is a fine wide river lined with trees. Not very
deep.
When we were all over at the pit to-day, about four
o’clock, my boy Abdul cried out, “ Orang Dusuns,”
seized his rifle, and rushed out. All I could see from
over the water was two spears outside the door of our
hut. Smith and two or three of our men jumped
into a sampan and pushed for the other side. I seized
an oar and ran up. Two inoffensive Dusuns were
standing trembling outside my door with their spears
leant up against the wall. We asked them what they
wanted. They said they were out fishing, and where
was the Captain? After a little I made friends with
them,' showed them some pictures, photographs, a
looking-glass, my guns, Winchester rifle, and gave
them a shock from my magnetic electro machine, which
astonished them very much. They talked together,
examined my clothes, and the constant repetition of
“ Orang puti ” (white men) told us how astonished
they were to find us here. They said they would
come back in two days with eggs, fowls, &c. I gave
them some buttons and a box of matches, which they
liked very much. They were dressed in coarse blue
“ Dusun ’ cloth breeches and ja ck e t; a basket slung
a t their backs, a parong round their waists, and a
spear, with a wooden point protector, in their hands.
They shook hands with me a long time, and seemed
very sorry to go. My boy told me afterwards that
there were three men, only one ran away on seeing a
man with a gun ready to fire.
Thursday, the 24th, was á heavy, cloudy day. I t
cleared up after a time, but still remained all day heavy,
cloudy, and showery. This is the fourth day’s work,
and the pit is now eight feet deep. The oil is comma- i - - 1 O
out in httle streams from the sandstone. There is no
iron in the rock through which the pit is being sunk,
nor any iron concretions. Pockets of “ Brown coal ”
or lignite are found at intervals. I examined a
specimen to-day. I t was saturated with o il; it also
gave off much oil and gas itself. I t bums without
smoke. I secured specimens of the “ oil shale or sandstone
” to-day, and intend to examine them to-morrow.
The strata through which we are digging dips at the
same angle (i.e. 40°) as that exposed at the mouth of the
Sequati River. One of the men brought me a very fine