On the Wallaby

rneo - Labuan - Sandah

nd the affability of the chief engineer, our vessel would not have proved herself a good sailor. She was a loblollopy old tub, as full of cussedness as a six-year-old Solomon Boy, and I believe she would have liked nothing better than to have gone to the bottom in a smooth sea, just to prove her utter contempt

tunas, dim and distant on our port bow; picked up our first view of Borneo's coast with Brunei Cliffs on

obtained of mountain peaks towering dimly heavenward. Before we were properly at anchor, canoes of all shapes and sizes surrounded us, piled with bananas and kadjangs (young palm leaves dried), which their occupants clamorously offered for sale. Accustomed though I was, by this time, to suc

ng their own names (to say nothing of anybody else's) could be found. As an unsophisticated young English resident put it, 'Bless you, that don't matter; it's the bally look of the thing, you know. I reckon a man wants some bally privilege, if it's only a bally postage stamp, for living in this bally place without cutting his bally throat. I

big place, nor is it particularly interesting. The inhabitants are mostly Chinese and Malays, with a sprinkling of other nationalities. The Malay quarter is built on piles and perfume, at t

ompelled to round. Leaving Kudat a difficult bit of navigation lay before us, among flat islands, coral reefs, and horrors of a similar description, just the very place for such a tub as ours to give an exhibition of her worst qualities. During the day it rained: not showered, rained! Forty million gallons t

er the forrard awning, and casually remarked that it reminded him of a sh

ay. Then suddenly a flash of lightning came so close to us, that it singed the old man's beard, and the clap of thunder that followed it knocked him bang up against the binnacle. After that it began to rain, not drizzle like this, but Teal rain, sounding for all the world like millions of marlin spikes being dashed upon the deck. The skipper guessed he was getting wet, so down he dived to the chart room for his oilskins. While he was below there came the biggest crash you ever heard, and then, for no reason that we could see, the blooming old tub began to heel over just as if she was never going to right herself again. " God a'm

hat strong just about where we were, that it had rose the ocean ten feet, before the heavily loaded old - tub could come up on it. It's my belief, if it hadn't stopped then, it would have bro

f science, somebody ought to have hinted at the fate of Ananias, but for the moment no one had suffi

and a half across at the entrance, and running inland about fifteen miles. On the town side the view is almost imposing, but across the Bay, where the

Everything connected with it is primitive in the extreme. There is nothing stuck up about

who was returning to North Borneo after a holiday in England. Both were charming youths, and th

d have got in any other way.

nodding and smiling to passenger). '

ugh Englishman like, he dreads showing it

Jim's missus has got twins. The deacon's lame, and all the fowls have

Who's built the

n't it - girl wanting to come out here - specially to Paddy? Reckon she'll sigh for home comfort

mething very like tears in his eyes. 'God bless you, old pal, I've been awful lonely

doing so. The European population have their residences among the hills at the back of the town, and peculiar li

enough to raise the scalp of a tarantula. The death rate among the Chinese coolies is, or used to be, something appalling. From information received, it would appear that they die off at the rate of about 20 per cent, per week. But, saving the fact that everyone is so

s satisfactory character. Ah Chow they told to pack up and git He explained that he didn't know his way to the nearest township - some 150 miles distant - but that didn't matter to them, all they wanted was that he should git. He did git, only to return four or five days later in an emaciated condition, with the explanation that he had been bushed (lost) within twenty miles of the head station. Again they said 'Git!' and again

east not according to their notions of cookery. At the end of two days they began to regret their behaviour towards the heathen Chinee, and even went so far as

the borderland of death. He was too weak to stand, and a sad look came into his eyes as he explained: 'You sackee

pudding on the table, were annoyed! 'Ungrateful beggar!' they said, 'goes and dies out of pure contrariness, just as. we were

f the second, hove anchor, and steamed back on our track

harf, a vessel was getting up steam, preparatory to leaving for Batavia via Sumatra and Banca. Reflecting that if we could not, as proved to be

cognition. On an average, once every day they were compelled to heave her to for repairs. And yet her officers carried more dignity and natural conceit than one would have any right to expect in all Her Majesty's Admirals and Naval Aides-de-camp put together. Our quar

So thick did the weather eventually become, that, after half an hour's steaming we were forced to heave to, keeping our steam whistle going every minute like souls in torment. In the semblance of a gigantic pall, the fog enveloped us, un

st to within a cable's length of us, only to shift her helm, and disappear as mysteriously as she had come. The knowledge of the presenc

g up out of it. Sand-drops in the infinite though they are, the feelings they produce are very curious. There is a wondrous sense of rest about their beauty. Gazing at them, one feels almost inclined to forsake this great garish world and to retire to one of them, there to liv

f the small island of Banca (off the coast of Sumatra), after which the straits are named. Banca is chiefl

h him about fifty of his rank and file; poor fever-ridden wretches, returning invalided to Java from Achin. Now Achin is the northern portion of the island of Sumatra, and belongs to a race of people rejoicing in the catarrhish name of Achinese. In an unfortunate mo

have been a couple of months in the country, and in the meantime they run the risk of being blow-piped, toma-hawked, or otherwise put an end to by their determined foes. This sort of guerilla warfare has now lasted twenty odd years, cost many millions of guilders, and it would be extremely difficult