I Know Well That Dubi And His Little
Dayak Sweetheart Were Almost Heartbroken.
The Dayaks begged me to stay
longer, but I had already stayed longer than I had at first intended.
Old Usit, the chief, and his crew of Dayaks paddled me all the way
to Sibu. There is little to relate about the journey there, except
that the canoe leaked very badly and the Dayaks had to keep bailing
her out. At night we tied the canoe up to a small wooden platform
outside a Malay house on the Rejang River, to await the change of
the tide, and one of the Dayaks knocked at the door of the house so
that we could cook some food, but the Malays thought that we were
head-hunters, and there was great lamentation, and for some time they
refused to open. While eating my food, with my legs dangling over the
side of the wooden platform, I noticed a dark object that glistened
in the moonlight noiselessly swimming toward me, and I pulled up my
legs pretty quickly. It was a large crocodile, attracted, no doubt,
by the smell of my dinner. The only objection I had was that it might
have taken me for the dinner.
CHAPTER 14
Visit to the Birds'-nest Caves of Gomanton.
My stay in British North Borneo - Visit to a Tobacco Estate (Batu
Puteh) - Start for the Birds'-nest Caves - News of the Local
Chief's Death - Applicants for the Panglima-ship - We Visit the late
Chief's House-Widows in white - The Hadji "who longed to be King" -
Extraordinary Grove of Banyan-trees - Pigs, Crocodiles and Monkeys -
Astonishing Swimming Performance of a Monkey - Water Birds Feeding
on the Carcase of a Stag - The Hadji and his Men pray at a Native
Grave-shrine - An Elephant charges past us - Arrival at the Caves
- The Entrance - A Cave of enormous Height, description of the
Interior - Return to the Village - Visit to the Upper Caves -
Beautiful Climbing Plants - We reach the Largest Cave of all:
its Extreme Grandeur - "White" Nests and "Black" Nests secured -
Distinctions between the two kinds of Swallows by whom the Nests are
made - Millions of small Bats:
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