A VOYAGE UP THE SARAWAK RIVER
The young hunters slept on board of the Blanchita, and they were
delighted with their accommodations. Sarawak, or Kuching, the native
name of the town, is only about one hundred and fifty miles north of the
equator, and must therefore be a very warm region, though away from the
low land near the sea-coast it is fairly healthy. The party slept with
the curtains raised, which left them practically in the open air.
Achang had given them a hint on board of the ship that mosquitoes were
abundant in some localities in Borneo. The Guardian-Mother was provided
with the material, and the ladies had made a dozen mosquito bars for the
explorers. They were canopies, terminating in a point at the top, where
they were suspended to the cross rods on which the canvas roof was
supported. The netting was tucked in under the cushions of the divan,
and the sleepers were perfectly protected.
Captain Scott had carried out his plan in regard to the watches. The
cook was exempted from all duty in working the little steamer; but each
of the other seamen was required to keep a half-watch of two hours
during the first night on board. Clinch was on watch at four in the
morning. He called the engineer at this hour, and Felipe proceeded at
once to get up steam. It was still dark, for the sun rises and sets at
six o'clock on the equator.
As soon as there was a movement on board, all hands turned out forward.
There were no decks to wash down; and, if there had been, the water was
hardly fit, in the judgment of the mate, for this purpose, for it was
murky, and looked as though it was muddy; but it was not so bad as it
appeared, for the dark color was caused by vegetable matter from the
jungles and forest, and not from the mud, which remained at the bottom
of the stream.
"The top uv the marnin' to ye's!" shouted Felix, as he leaped from his
bed about five o'clock,--for all hands had turned in about eight o'clock
in the evening, as the mosquitoes, attracted by the lanterns, began to
be very troublesome,--and the Milesian could sleep no longer.
"What's the matter with you, Flix?" demanded the captain.
"Sure, if ye's mane to git under way afore night, it's toime to turn
out," replied Felix. "Don't ye's hear the schtaym sizzlin' in the froy'n
pan?"
"But it isn't light yet," protested Scott.
"Bekase the lanthern in the cab'n bloinds your two oyes, and makes the
darkness shoine broighter nor the loight," said Felix, as he looked at
his watch. "Sure, it's tin minutes afther foive in the marnin'. These
beds are altogidther too foine, Captain."
"How's that, Flix?" asked Scott, as he opened the netting and leaped out
of bed.
"They're too comfor-_ta_-ble, bad 'cess to 'em, and a b'y cud slape till
sundown in 'em till the broke o' noight."
"Dry up, Flix, or else speak English," called Louis, as he left his bed.
"There is no end of 'paddies' along this river, and I'm sure they cannot
understand your lingo."
"Is it paddies in this haythen oisland?" demanded Felix, suspending the
operation of dressing himself, and staring at his fellow deck-hand. "I
don't belayve a wurrud of ut!"
"Are there no paddies up this river, Achang?" said Louis, appealing to
the Bornean.
"Plenty of paddies on all the streams about here," replied the native.
"And they can't oondershtand Kilkenny Greek! They're moighty quare
paddies, thin."
"They are; and I am very sure they won't answer you when you speak to
them with that brogue," added Louis.
"We will let that discussion rest till we come to the paddies,"
interposed the captain, as he completed his toilet, and left the cabin.
By this time all the party had left their beds and dressed themselves;
for their toilet was not at all elaborate, consisting mainly of a
woollen shirt, a pair of trousers, and a pair of heavy shoes, without
socks. Felipe had steam enough on to move the boat; and the seamen had
wiped the moisture from all the wood and brass work, and had put
everything in good order.
"Are you a pilot for this river, Achang?" asked Scott, as the party came
together in the waist, the space forward of the engine.
"I am; but there is not much piloting to be done, for all you have to do
is to keep in the middle of the stream," replied the Bornean. "I went up
and down all the rivers of Sarawak in a sampan with an English gentleman
who was crocodiles, monkeys, mias, snakes, and birds picking up."
"Wrong!" exclaimed Morris. "You know better than that, Achang."
The native repeated the reply, putting the verb where it ought to be.
"He was a naturalist," added Louis.
"Yes; that was what they called him in the town."
"I think we all know the animals of which you speak, Achang, except
one," said Louis. "I never heard of a mias."
"That is what Borneo people call the orang-outang," replied the native.
"Orang means a man, and outang a jungle, and the whole of it is a jungle
man," Louis explained, for the benefit of his companions; for he was
better read in natural history than any of them, as he had read all the
books on that subject in the library of the ship. "In Professor
Hornaday's book, 'Two Years in the Jungle,' which was exceedingly
interesting to me, he calls this animal the 'orang-utan,' which is only
another way of spelling the second word."
"Excuse me, Louis, but I think we will get under way, and hear your
explanations at another time," interposed Captain Scott.
"I have finished all I had to say."
"Take the wheel, Achang," continued the captain.
The sampan was sent ashore to cast off the fasts. The river at the town
is over four hundred feet wide, and deep enough in almost any part for
the Blanchita. As soon as the lines were hauled in, the captain rang one
bell, and Felipe started the engine. The helmsman headed the boat for
the middle of the stream, and the captain rang the speed-bell. When
hurried, the Blanchita was good for ten knots an hour, but her ordinary
speed was eight.
On the side of the river opposite Kuching, or Sarawak, was the kampon of
the Malays and other natives; and the term means a division or district
of a town. Many of the natives of this village had visited the
Blanchita,--some for trade, some for employment, and some from mere
curiosity. None of them were allowed to go on board of the launch; for,
while the Dyaks are remarkably honest people, the Malays and Chinese
will steal without any very heavy temptation.
Achang headed the boat up the river. For five miles the banks were low,
with no signs of cultivation, and bordered with mangroves. At this point
the captain called Lane to the wheel, with orders to keep in the middle
of the river. The "Big Four" had taken possession of the bow divans, the
better to see the shores. They were more elevated, which simply means
higher above the water.
"When shall we come across the paddies, Achang?" asked Felix; "for I am
very anxious to meet them, and maybe we shall have a Kilkenny fight with
them."
"No, you won't, for you speak English," replied Louis.
"The paddies are here on both sides of the river," added Achang.
"I don't see a man of any sort, not even a Hottentot, and I am sure
there is not a Paddy in sight."
"Your education has been neglected, Flix, and you did not read all the
books in the ship's library," said Louis. "I only told you the paddies
would not answer you if you spoke to them with a brogue. You can try
them now if you wish."
"But I don't see a single Paddy to try it on."
"Here is one on your left."
"I don't see anything but a field of rice."
"That's a paddy in this island."
"A field of rice!"
"Achang will tell you that is what they call them in Borneo."
"Bad luck to such Paddies as they are! But it looks as though there
might be some Paddies here, for the houses are very neat and nice, just
as you see in old Ireland."
"Certainly they are; but I never saw any such in Ireland," added Louis.
"You remember the old woman on the road from Killarney to the lakes who
told us she lived in the Irish castle, to which she pointed; and it
looked like a pig-sty."
"Of course it didn't have the bananas and the cocoanut-palms around it."
"I admit that we saw many fine places in Ireland, and very likely your
mother lived in one of them. But, Achang, is there any game in the woods
we see beyond the paddies?"
"Sometimes there is plenty of it; at others there is scarcely any. You
can get squirrels here and some birds."
"Any orang-outangs?"
"We found none when we came up the river, for this is not the best place
for them. If we run up the Sadong and Samujan Rivers, you will find
some," replied the Bornean. "I don't think it will pay to go very far up
the Sarawak, if it is game you want; but you can see the country. There
is quite a village on the right."
The party were very much interested in examining the houses they saw on
the borders of the stream. Like those they had seen in Java and in
Sumatra, they were all set up on stilts. A Malay or Dyak will not build
his home on dry land, as they noticed in coming up the lower part of the
river, though there was plenty of elevated ground near. The dwellings
were all built on the soft mud.
The village ten miles up-stream was constructed on the same plan. The
houses were placed just out of the reach of the water when it was higher
than usual. The material was something like bamboo, as in India, with
roofs of kadjang leaves, which abound in the low lands. In front of
every one of them was a flat boat--sampan; and one was seen which was
large enough to have a roof of the same material as the house. The boats
were made fast to a pole set in the mud.
"There is a bear on the shore!" shouted Morris, with no little
excitement in his manner, as he pointed to the woods on the shore
opposite the houses, to which the attention of all the rest of the party
had been directed.
At the same time he seized his repeating rifle, and all the others
followed his example. The animal was fully three feet high, and at a
second glance it did not look much like a bear. Whatever it was, it took
to its heels when the sound of the steamer's screw reached its ear. But
Morris fired before the boat started, and the others did the same.
"That is not a bear, Mr. Morris," interposed Achang, laughing as he
spoke.
"What is it, then?" demanded Morris.
"A pig."
"A pig three feet high!" exclaimed the hunters with one voice.
"A wild pig," added the Bornean.
"Is he good for anything?" inquired Scott.
"He is good to eat if you like pork."
"He dropped in the bushes when we fired. Can't we get him?" asked
Morris.
Under the direction of the captain the steamer was run up to the shore;
and the bank in this place was high enough to enable the party to land
without using the sampan. All hands, including the seamen, rushed in the
direction of the spot where the pig had been seen. The game was readily
found. The animal was something like a Kentucky hog, often called a
"racer," because he is so tall and lank. He was a long-legged specimen;
and Achang said that was because they hunted through swamps and shallow
water in search of food, and much use had made their legs long. He added
that they were a nuisance because they rooted up the rice, and farmers
had to fence their fields.
He was carried on board by the sailors, and Pitts cut out some of the
nicer parts of the pig. They had roast pork for dinner, but it was not
so good as civilized hogs produce.