it is also cooler than aft when the vessel is under weigh. The
quarters of the crew are aft; and I was surprised to see how clean and
neat everything on board was kept, the more so that the ship's company
consisted entirely of Malays, who are proverbially careless and dirty
in these matters. She had but two European officers, the captain and
engineer. The former, Captain K., who had been in these seas for many
years, had some interesting tales to tell of the old pirate days,
when Sir James Brooke first visited Borneo in his yacht the
_Royalist_.

Our voyage across was very enjoyable, and our host a very agreeable
companion. It seemed but a short time, then, since our departure from
Singapore, that on the 25th of May at 4.30 p.m. we sighted the high
lands of the island of Borneo; the mountain of Gunong Poe, in Dutch
territory, towering high above the rest. By eight o'clock we were
abreast of Cape Datu, a long spit of land running far out to sea, and
the southernmost point of Sarawak territory. Rounding this we passed
Sleepy Bay, in which a boat in search of pirates, commanded by an
officer of H.M.S. _Dido_, was nearly captured by them some years ago.
The whole crew, including the watch, had fallen asleep one night while
at anchor in the bay, but one of their number happening to wake just
in time, gave the alarm, just as the pirate prahus, which had pulled
out from the land, were within about thirty yards of them. A sharp
skirmish ensued, and the Illanuns were at length driven off, but had
they not been warned in time the English must have perished to a man,
as these ruffians made it a rule to spare none but _Hajis_, or
Mahometans who have made a pilgrimage to Mecca. The bay derives its
name from this occurrence.

At daybreak the next morning we were summoned on deck by Captain K. as
we were passing _Talang-Talang_, or Turtle Island, and should shortly
be off the mouth of the Sarawak river. _Talang-Talang_ is a small
island literally swarming with turtle, whose eggs form a staple
article of commerce in the Sarawak market. The mode of procuring them
is curious. Turtles lay only at night, and having dug holes in the
ground deposit their eggs therein, and cover them over with sand.
Natives who have been on the watch then place sticks in the ground to
mark the place where they may be found, and they are the next morning
dug out in enormous quantities, and exported to various parts of
Borneo and the adjacent islands. The eg