Furness.] ^^-^^ [Dec. 18, 



up and down, they splashed from one side of the river to the other, un- 

 til one of the men called to them from the house to stop their sport lest 

 they rouse a, sleeping crocodile. This put an end to the fun. Another 

 thing, which was quite new to us, was the way in which they could play 

 a sort of tune by splashing their hands in the water and flapping their 

 arms to their sides. They stood in a group, and by sinking their hands 

 back downward in the water and then clapping them above the water 

 and slapping their elbows to their sides, they produced a series of differ- 

 ent sounds, like that of a large stone dropping into a deep pool, with a 

 rhythm that was perfect and very pleasing. 



Afternoon deepened into dusk, and the workers from the fields came 

 home and trudged wearily up the bank and disappeared through the 

 little doorways. Small flickering lamps were lit here and there, and the 

 fire on the hearth, where our Chinese cook was preparing our rice and 

 tinned meats, disseminated a cheery glow and a smell of frying ham 

 throughout the long corridor, and I am sure that if the ghastly row of 

 human skulls above our fireplace had had chops to lick they would have 

 licked them. At night, according to Tamabulan's orders, no women are 

 allowed out in the public thoroughfare. So if we wanted social life we 

 went round visiting in the evening. A girl named Sara seemed to be 

 the belle of the house, but why I do not know, unless it was her powers 

 •of conversation, which, being foreigners, we could barely appreciate. She 

 •certainly was not pretty. We much preferred the society of Mujan and 

 her sister Lishun, who always had a good store of cigarettes, and whose 

 stock of Burok, or home-brewed arrack, was above reproach. Mujan 

 gave me her ear-rings before I left, and in return I gave her a cake of 

 soap and a piece of yellow cloth to tie round her head. 



Then the household quiets down for sleep, and we secluded ourselves 

 in our little pen and, stretched out on our mats, dozed off, scarcely realiz- 

 ing that we were in the heart of the Bornean j.ungle in the house of a 

 band of savage head-hunters. 



Thus the days passed, and the day of our departure was hastened 

 somewhat by the unexpected change of a festival into a funeral, by the 

 sudden death of a young married woman. Unfortunately this death 

 was also attributed to our presence, and had it not been for the staunch 

 friendship of Tamabulan and some of his men our heads would now be 

 decorating the fireside of a Kayan long-house. "We did not know until 

 a while after, when we saw Tamabulan again, what great danger we 

 had been in that night. However, "All's well that ends well," and 

 by the time we were ready to start on our return we were again in good 

 favor, and after a hearty hand-shake all round we bade farewell to dear 

 old Tamabulan and pushed out into the river amid waving of big hats 

 and white cloths, and the long drawn " Tabe, Tuan, Tabe " followed 

 after us and echoed in the juugle, even after we had rounded the turn 

 and lost sis;ht of our Bornean friends for ever. 



