At length we came to a really dangerous rapid where boats were often swamped, and my men were afraid to pass it.
Some Malays with a boatload of rice here overtook us, and after safely passing down kindly sent back one of their men to assist me.

As it was, my Dyaks lost their balance in the critical part of the passage, and had they been alone would certainly have upset the boat.

The river now became exceedingly picturesque, the ground on each side being partially cleared for ricefields, affording a good view of the country.

Numerous little granaries were built high up in trees overhanging the river, and having a bamboo bridge sloping up to them from the bank; and here and there bamboo suspension bridge crossed the stream, where overhanging trees favoured their construction.
I slept that night in the village of the Sebungow Dyaks, and the next day reached Sarawak, passing through a most beautiful country where limestone mountains with their fantastic forms and white precipices shot up on every side, draped and festooned with a luxuriant vegetation.
The banks of the Sarawak River are everywhere covered with fruit trees, which supply the Dyaks with a great deal of their food.

The Mangosteen, Lansat, Rambutan, Jack, Jambou, and Blimbing, are all abundant; but most abundant and most esteemed is the Durian, a fruit about which very little is known in England, but which both by natives and Europeans in the Malay Archipelago is reckoned superior to all others.