and but for the shade of the overhanging bamboo,
which grows here plentifully, we should have fared
worse.
On reaching the crest of the hill, an altitude of say
800 feet, we got along better. At this height we found
our first nepenthes, a pretty green-pitchered form, swollen
below, and having a broad, flattened red rim to its mouth
(N. Phyllamphora). We rested an hour on the top, but
could procure no water, excepting a few drops from
the cut end of a climbing plant, which the natives call
“ kalobit,” and of which they sometimes form rough
cordage, by rending it into long strips. The juice of
this plant is intensely bitter; but the water which distilled
itself slowly from the cut end was quite pure and
tasteless.
We ascended about 1500 feet to-day, and the views
from the summit of the range between Bawang and
Si Nilau were very satisfying, all the intervening country
to the sea being plainly visible, as well as the whole
coast-line, as far as Gaya Bay. We walked along quicker
than usual, for the sky became very black, and it was
evident that we should soon have a drenching shower.
Our guides had forgotten the way to Si Nilau, and so
there was nothing for it but to push on, in the hopes
of meeting with a shelter by the way.
At length we suddenly came upon the site of a deserted
village, and took shelter in a hut—a little better in repair
than the rest—while from the trees near both langsat
fruit and cocoa-nuts were procurable. Here we waited
until the rain abated, when we took up our quarters in
the house of a Dusun man, near the site of the old
village, which had, as we afterwards heard, been deserted
on account of the death of the headman.
We had previously met our Dusun landlord about two
miles from this village, in some patches of rice and
gourds, but he had been too frightened to answer our
inquiries as to the route, and rushed down the hill just
as the first few drops—big, heavy, solitary drops—fell
from the black rain-clouds over head. Fortunately, I
had struck the right road a few yards further on, and
followed it up, when in turning a rocky comer, where
two roads merged into one, I came across the man again
Sleeping Room. Sleeping Room.
Hearth.
Large Public Room.
Door.
Verandah.
PLAN O Ï *A DUSUN COTTAGE, N.W. BORNEO.
face to face. He was so surprised at my sudden reappearance,
that he fairly shook with terror, and he rushed
down the rocky ledge, which served as a path around
the hill-top, with the speed of a startled deer. I had
yelled after him to stop, but he ran all the faster; and
when afterwards we entered his house, our men had a
little trouble to reassure him that we meant him no
harm.
We soon put the old boy at his ease, however; and