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Updated: June 26, 2025
It is, however, very pleasant, on a foggy day in November or February, to return in fancy to that land of sunshine and flowers; to imagine one's self again sitting in the porch of the mission-house, gazing at the mountain of Matang, lit up with sunset glories of purple and gold.
Our destination was reached at one p.m., and, loading our amiable crew with baggage and provisions, we started off up the mountain for the bungalow, which was reached, after a rather severe climb, at three o'clock. There was formerly a coffee estate on Matang belonging to the Raja.
Travel in Borneo Travelling Boats Leave for Matang Our Crew Alligators Mosquitoes Matang Bungalow The Garden Ascend the Mountain The Waterfall A Nasty Jump View from the Summit Snakes Return to Kuching.
Remarking to H. on the extraordinary number of snakes I had noticed on the way up, he informed me that Matang is famed for them, and that, on rising one morning at the bungalow we were then in, he discovered a cobra eight feet long, curled up asleep under his pillow.
The view from the house to the eastward comprises a reach of the river, and to the westward looks toward the blue mountains of Matang; the north fronts the river, and the south the jungle; and but for the uncertainty of our affairs, I would have had a garden ere this, and found amusement in clearing and improving.
We eventually gave it up as a bad job about eleven p.m., lit our lamps, and waited for daylight, when the cold land breeze came and dispersed these pests, leaving us a couple of hours' sleep ere we should start with the morning tide. The morning was bright and sunny, and, starting at seven, we were entering the Matang stream which runs past the Bungalow landing-stage at eleven o'clock a.m.
We shall be eaten alive!" It was too true. In the hurry of departure, and forgetting that we were to pass a night at the mouth, we had left them behind, knowing that on Matang mosquitoes are unknown. There was no help for it, however, and, our cigars finished, we turned in with a foreboding that sleep that night was not for us.
Moreover, the smell from the remnants of the crew's meals, such as stale fish and decayed fruit and vegetables which they will not take the trouble to throw overboard, but invariably drop under the "lanties" or bamboo deck is well-nigh insupportable. We left Kuching on the 4th of June for Matang, intending to make the ascent of Sorapi, the highest peak of the Matang range.
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