Life in the Forests of the Far East Author:Spenser St. John Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: DIAMONDS. 43 fears that, as he is now an old man, he may die without fulfilling the desire of his life. Speaking of the Malau diamond reminds me of the fam... more »ous one formerly said to be possessed by the Sultan of Matan, for which he was offered immense sums. Borneo, however, has always been known for its diamonds, which are worked at the present time by the Chinese and Malays at Landak, a country lying farther inland than Sambas; and there are two streams in Sarawak, the Santah, and a branch of the Quop, where diamonds of a very fine water have been found, but those places have not yet been regularly explored. Occasionally very pretty diamonds are brought over from the Dutch territories to Sarawak, but I have seldom examined them. It is never safe to trust to reports respecting diamonds ; for instance, I was once informed that a noble in Brunei had a very large diamond which he wished to part with, but when we came to examine it, we found it was a pinkish topaz, as large as a pullet's egg, for which he asked a thousand pounds. chapter{Section 4CHAPTER III. My Limbang Journal—continued. September 1st, 7 a.m.—The night continued fine till towards early morn, when the rain commenced, and still continues. The showers are not very heavy, but there is an incessant descent of drizzle. The river rose two feet during the night, but there is a tendency to fall. I should push on immediately, were it not necessary to open all the mat coverings, and prepare for poling ; before we could stow away the baggage, it would be wet through. I must have patience. 3 p.m.—Having breakfasted, and the weather clearing, we managed to get away at 8.15, and at 11.20 passed the entrance of the Madalam. At the island of Tambadau, so called on account of our twice disturbing a fine wild bull on it, ...« less