The most necessary of my belongings were stored inside the shelter, and
there I passed the four days quite comfortably. On account of many noises,
including that made by the engine, reading was impossible, so I employed
the time in mending two suits of my precious linen-mesh underwear which
was rapidly going to shreds, without prospect of opportunity to replace
them in the Far East. Morning and afternoon the Malays on deck held their
Mohammedan services, apparently singing in Arabic, and during the night
the sailors sang much. There were two rough bath-rooms, but I bathed only
once, as I was afraid of losing my slippers or other articles that were
liable to drop into the river through the intervals between the narrow
boards of the floor.
We travelled steadily day and night, but stopped at many kampongs to take
on more cargo, and an additional tonkang was attached, which relieved some
of the congestion on ours. One afternoon the monotony was relieved by a
fight in the kitchen of the little steamer, when a sudden thumping sound
of nude feet against the floor was heard and boiled rice flew about. But
it was very soon over, evidently only an outburst of dissatisfaction with
the cook; somebody called for the Malay captain and we heard no more about
it.
There was a Bombay Mohammedan merchant on board who had small stores of
groceries and dry-goods on the Kutei River, as the Mahakam is called in
its lower course. He also spoke of the hundreds of thousands of Hindus who
live in South Africa. On the last day of our journey a remarkably tame
young snake bird was brought on board, which one of the sailors bought.
According to reports, there are many of these birds on the river. He tied
it to the stern railing until night, when he put it on top of the cargo,
apprehending that it might try to dive if tempted by the constant sight of
the water. When asleep it curled itself up in an extraordinary manner, the
long neck at first glance giving it a serpent-like appearance. It cried
for fish and showed absolutely no fear.
On August 22, 1916, we arrived at Samarinda. The custom-house authorities
permitted me to put our numerous packages in the "bom." The lieutenant and
Mr. Loing went to a new Chinese hotel, while I, in a prahu, paddled to the
pasang-grahan, a spacious building with several rooms. Our journey through
Central Borneo had been successfully concluded, and during nine months we
had covered by river 1,650 kilometres, 750 of these in native boats.
During my absence the great war had become more real to the Archipelago
through the occasional appearance in Bornean waters of British and
Japanese cruisers.
