ts lying loose, and so thin that I feared they
would give way when I stepped upon them. The household articles
consisted only of some mats and a pair of cooking vessels. I saw no
fireplace; probably fire was lighted on the beach. I could see no
reason why this place should be chosen as a dwelling in preference
to the neighbouring shore with its luxuriant vegetation, which at
the same time was not at all swampy, unless it was for the coolness
which arises from the any situation on the beach, and the protection
which the poles give from the thousands of crawling animals which
swarm in the grassy meadows of tropical regions. It is probable also
that the mosquitos are less troublesome along the sea-shore than
farther into the interior of the country.

Some of my companions saw similar huts during an excursion, which
they undertook in the steam launch, to the mouth of a large river
debouching on the neighbouring coast of Borneo. Regarding this
exclusion Dr. Stuxberg gives the following report:

"On the 19th November Palander, Bove, and I, together with
two men, undertook an excursion in the steam launch of the
_Vega_ to the river Kalias debouching right opposite to
Labuan. We started at dawn, a little after six o'clock. The
course was shaped first north of Pappan Island, then
between the many shoals that lie between it and the
considerably larger Daat Island, and finally south of the
latter island.

"Pappan Island is a small beautiful island, clothed down to
high-water mark with a dark green primeval forest. On Daat
Island, on the contrary, the primeval forest on the east
side has been cut down, and has given place to a new
plantation of cocoa-nut trees, the work of a former
physician on Labuan, which yields its present owner a
considerable revenue.

"We had no little difficulty in finding a way over the
sandy bar, which is deposited in front of the river mouth
at a distance of a nautical mile and a half to three miles
from the coast of Borneo. After several attempts in the
course of an hour we at last succeeded in finding the deep
channel which leads to the river. It runs close to the
mainland on the north side, from Kalias Point to the river
mouth proper. At the bar the depth was only a metre, in the
deep channel, it varied between 3.5 and 7 metres, in the
river mouth it was fourteen to eighteen metres and
someti