pass which divides the Sadong and Sarawak valleys, and which is about
2,000 feet high. The descent from this point was very fine. A stream,
deep in a rocky gorge, rushed on each side of us, to one of which we
gradually descended, passing over many lateral gullys and along the
faces of some precipices by means of native bamboo bridges. Some of
these were several hundred feet long and fifty or sixty high, a single
smooth bamboo four inches diameter forming the only pathway, while a
slender handrail of the same material was often so shaky that it could
only be used as a guide rather than a support.
Late in the afternoon we reached Sodos, situated on a spur between two
streams, but so surrounded by fruit trees that little could be seen
of the country. The house was spacious, clean and comfortable, and the
people very obliging. Many of the women and children had never seen a
white man before, and were very sceptical as to my being the same colour
all over, as my face. They begged me to show them my arms and body, and
they were so kind and good-tempered that I felt bound to give them some
satisfaction, so I turned up my trousers and let them see the colour of
my leg, which they examined with great interest.
In the morning early we continued our descent along a fine valley, with
mountains rising 2,000 or 3,000 feet in every direction. The little
river rapidly increased in size until we reached Senna, when it had
become a fine pebbly stream navigable for small canoes. Here again the
upheaved slatey rock appeared, with the same dip and direction as in the
Sadong River. On inquiring for a boat to take me down the stream, I was
told that the Senna Dyaks, although living on the river-banks, never
made or used boats. They were mountaineers who had only come down into
the valley about twenty years before, and had not yet got into new
habits. They are of the same tribe as the people of Menyerry and Sodos.
They make good paths and bridges, and cultivate much mountain land, and
thus give a more pleasing and civilized aspect to the country than where
the people move about only in boats, and confine their cultivation to
the banks of the streams.
After some trouble I hired a boat from a Malay trader, and found three
Dyaks who had been several times with Malays to Sarawak, and thought
they could manage it very well. They turned out very awkward, constantly
running aground, striking against rocks, and losing their balance so as
almost to upset themselves and the boat--offering a striking contrast
67