o, especially as they had seen
several herds of them in the distance; but the natives who had been
sent to drive the cattle performed their task with such indiscreet
ardour, and with so much noise, that of course they frightened the
cattle away.

Directly the sportsmen came on board we started, and proceeded under
steam close under Malleangau, and thence southward of the fatal Egeria
Rocks to the western extremity of the island of Mallewalle, passing to
the northward of Mandarilla, and to the southward of Kakabau, whence
we steered for Tigabu. By noon we had steamed eighty-seven miles since
leaving Kudat. Tom went up on the fore-yard at 6.30 A.M., and did not
come down until 1.30 P.M., when we had virtually passed the most
dangerous part of the coast. We sent his breakfast up to him in a
bucket, for he did not dare leave his post for one moment, the channel
being most intricate, and the only guide the difference in colour of
the coral patches. He suffered considerably from the heat of the
almost vertical sun, which blistered his legs, in spite of extra
protection, and made the glasses, which he had constantly to use, so
hot that they burnt his hands and eyes, as they did ours when he
brought them down on deck.

[Illustration: On the Fore-yard, making the Land]

About 4 P.M. we touched on a coral patch, in two fathoms, not marked
on the chart (in lat. 6 deg. 40' N., long. 117 deg. 52' E.), which rather
astonished us, and caused us to go still more slowly and carefully for
some time. The sea being absolutely smooth, and the sky overcast,
there was neither break nor reflection to help the look-out, though
Tom thought that he had noticed something peculiar in the colour of
the water a few moments previously. He was almost continuously in the
foretop again from two o'clock until dark, when he took up his
position on the topgallant forecastle.

We passed between Tigabu and Lipeendung, and outside Sandy Island,
Balhalla, Lankayau, Langaan, and Tong Papat, entering the Bay of
Sandakan at 11.45 P.M., and anchoring off the town of Eleopura exactly
at eight bells.

[Illustration: In the Bird's-Nest Caves, Madai]

CHAPTER VIII.

_ELEOPURA._

_Easter Sunday, April 10th._--Eleopura looked extremely picturesque in
the pale moonlight, with the grand sandstone bluff of the island of
Balhalla standing out boldly in the foreground against the starlit
sky; but the coast-line seemed still more beautiful in the bright
mor