Two Brothers Were Intolerably Lazy, Continually Resting The Paddles, Lighting Cigarettes, Washing Their Faces, Etc., The Elder, After The Full Meal They Had Eaten, Actually Falling Asleep At Times.

The interest of the men centred in eating and early camping, and we made slow progress, detained besides by a thunder-storm, as it was impossible to make headway against the strong wind.

The man at the helm of the small prahu was intelligent, and from him I finally obtained information about a place to stop for the night.

At six o'clock we arrived at the mouth of the Kuala Sampit, where we found it difficult to effect a landing on account of the dilapidated condition of the landing-float. Some distance from the water stood a lonely house, in genuine Malay style, with high-gabled roof. The stairs afforded precarious access, a condition which may have been regarded as a protection, but more likely it was due to laziness and want of care. However that may have been, the interior was surprisingly substantial, with an excellent floor like that in a ballroom. I slept in a detached ramshackle room used as a kitchen, comfortable because of being open to the air.

In the morning the Malays were again too late. I was ready for a start at six o'clock, but about that time they began to cook. The small river, perhaps twenty metres wide, is deep enough to have allowed a steam-launch of the Selatan's dimensions to go as far as the kampong Rongkang, our first destination, and there is little current.

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