we saw no
elevation of land of any consequence. I have given a drawing of the
mountain of Keeney Ballu, distant forty miles. At this distance, with
the aid of the glass, you may perceive the numerous cascades which fall
from its summit in every direction. The Dyaks of Borneo imagine that a
lake exists at the top of this mountain, and that it is to be their
receptacle after death.

As the island is in most parts a flat and marshy jungle, extending about
200 miles inland, and the rivers are not rapid, although numerous, it
would be presumed, especially as the dews of the night are very heavy,
that the island would be fatal to Europeans. Such, however, proved not
to be the case. During our repeated visits to the island (a period of
nearly two years), we only lost one man, by a most imprudent exposure
to the night air, sleeping in an open boat, without the awning being
spread, and exposed to a very heavy dew.

Borneo abounds with rivers, some of them very fine, running inland for
one or two hundred miles. Most of these rivers have been taken
possession of and colonised by the various tribes indigenous to the
neighbouring isles and continent, to wit, Arabs, Malays, Illanoans,
Bughis, the natives of Celebes, Chinese, &c. The reason for this
emigration to Borneo is the protection afforded by these rivers; for as
all these tribes live entirely by piracy, they here find a safe retreat
for themselves and their vessels. How long ago their settlements may
have been first made, or what opposition they may have received from the
Dyak aborigines, it is impossible to say; but as most of the head men in
Borneo claim to be of Arab descent, it may be presumed that many years
must have elapsed since the aboriginal tribes of Dyaks and Dusums were
dispossessed of the rivers, and driven into the interior. Of these
people I shall speak hereafter; there is no doubt but that they were the
original inhabitants of the whole island, and that the various tribes I
have mentioned are but colonists for piratical purposes.

These piratical hordes generally infest the high lands upon the shores
of these rivers, which are difficult of navigation; and, moreover, from
their numerous branches, their resorts are not very easily discovered.
These towns are fortified with stockades, guns of various calibre, and
the passage up the river defended by booms or piles of timber, which
admit of but one narrow passage for their prahus.

It must be understood that