hort as it is, will, I trust, give some idea of
what my long stay among head-hunting Dayaks was like. All things must
have an ending, however, and having finished my collecting in this
neighbourhood I said good-bye to my Dayak friends, with deep regret,
and I think the sorrow was mutual. I know well that Dubi and his little
Dayak sweetheart were almost heartbroken. The Dayaks begged me to stay
longer, but I had already stayed longer than I had at first intended.

Old Usit, the chief, and his crew of Dayaks paddled me all the way
to Sibu. There is little to relate about the journey there, except
that the canoe leaked very badly and the Dayaks had to keep bailing
her out. At night we tied the canoe up to a small wooden platform
outside a Malay house on the Rejang River, to await the change of
the tide, and one of the Dayaks knocked at the door of the house so
that we could cook some food, but the Malays thought that we were
head-hunters, and there was great lamentation, and for some time they
refused to open. While eating my food, with my legs dangling over the
side of the wooden platform, I noticed a dark object that glistened
in the moonlight noiselessly swimming toward me, and I pulled up my
legs pretty quickly. It was a large crocodile, attracted, no doubt,
by the smell of my dinner. The only objection I had was that it might
have taken me for the dinner.

CHAPTER XIV

Visit to the Birds'-nest Caves of Gomanton.

My stay in British North Borneo--Visit to a Tobacco Estate
(Batu Puteh)--Start for the Birds'-nest Caves--News of the
Local Chief's Death--Applicants for the Panglima-ship--We
Visit the late Chief's House-Widows in white--The Hadji "who
longed to be King"--Extraordinary Grove of Banyan-trees--Pigs,
Crocodiles and Monkeys--Astonishing Swimming Performance of a
Monkey--Water Birds Feeding on the Carcase of a Stag--The Hadji
and his Men pray at a Native Grave-shrine--An Elephant charges past
us--Arrival at the Caves--The Entrance--A Cave of enormous Height,
description of the Interior--Return to the Village--Visit to the
Upper Caves--Beautiful Climbing Plants--We reach the Largest
Cave of all: its Extreme Grandeur--"White" Nests and "Black"
Nests secured--Distinctions between the two kinds of Swallows by
whom the Nests are made--Millions of small Bats: an Astonishing
Sight--Methods of Securing the Nests described--Perilous Climbing