aulin, and lighting our pipes, we prepared to make the best of
it--no easy task in the space allotted to us--a space five feet long
by three feet wide, and the rain coming in on us in torrents all the
time!

We arrived off the village of Moratabas, at the mouth of the Sarawak
river, at mid-day, after a hard paddle. Matters here did not mend, for
the wind had risen since we started, and the roar of the breakers on
the shore recalled Kuching, and the comforts we had left behind us,
most vividly to our minds. After, however, a short consultation with
our steersman (who acted as skipper), we determined to push on for
Sadong at once, and hoisting the old rag that did duty for a sail we
stood out to sea.

Seldom have I experienced such a journey as on that day. Once outside
the bar, our troubles recommenced, for while crossing it a heavy sea
dashed over our bows, drenching everything on board, and at the same
time carrying away our awning. For eight mortal hours did we struggle
on, shivering like half-drowned rats, and occasionally taking a turn
at the paddles to keep life within us. Cooking was naturally out of
the question, and our only food that day consisted of a captain's
biscuit, some bottled beer, and a tin of preserved plum pudding! Our
progress through the water was not made the more rapid by the fact
that two of our crew had to be kept constantly at work baling the
water out of the wretched old tub, whose creaks and groans were dismal
to hear, and which, as we neared the mouth of the Sadong river, seemed
to be coming to pieces altogether.

But the longest lane must have a turning, and by 10 p.m. we were
entering the mouth of Sadong, and half an hour afterwards were in
smooth water; and heartily thankful we felt, for the _Sri_ must have
assuredly gone to pieces with another hour of it. Midnight saw us
scrambling, stiff and numbed, up the muddy "batang" or pole that
formed the landing-place of the fort, and we were not sorry to take
off our saturated clothes, and, after a stiff glass of grog apiece, to
tumble into the two little camp bedsteads, that, with the exception of
a table and two chairs, formed the sole furniture of the fort.

Morning broke bright and sunny, and we were up by six, feeling none
the worse, save a slight stiffness, for our exertions of yesterday.
While breakfast was preparing I strolled round the pretty little
garden, rich in roses and gardenias, that encircled the fort, and
whose sweet perf