Swift taps of the artist's pin would have made the patterns permanent. An hour after you enter the Ngemah, the river narrows, and rocks begin to ripple the water's surface. During the drier season, or kemarau, the boat must often be dragged through shallow water. The low water of this season claims many propeller pins and sometimes a gear system. But that is when the river is most beautiful.
Giant trees stretch low over the water and shade it with mazes of vines, orchids, and rattan.
When the monsoons, or landas, come in December, traveling can become dangerous. The rocks lurk unseen beneath a 20-foot flood of water, and the maze that was a jungle overhead becomes an obstacle course swishing on the river's surface. Furious paddling averts a dunking. Price and his companions fight to keep their prau from wallowing broad side as the boat teeters across a cataract on the Ngemah River. Travel means adventure in Sarawak, where the highways are rivers and streams.