189fi.] ^^5 [Hiller, 



friendly, lending a hand at fire making, wood gathering or fastening 

 the boats, while others look out for themselves alone. You soon come 

 to know them all — their names, Lejau, Blari, Deng, Terluat and Leshon ; 

 their peculiarities, and their worth, and the fact of their being untaught 

 savages, negligent of dress, careless of life, be it yours or theirs, fades, 

 and they enter into j'our life, as did your early playmates or your 

 college friends. One youth soon attracted our attention, on account of 

 his happ}^ disposition and his utter unselfishness, and we could always 

 recognize him by his red flannel jacket cut in the Eton style, the abbre- 

 viated skirt of that time-honored garment being still further reduced so 

 that it fell but a short distance below his shoulders. We were a party 

 of half a dozen boats, in one of which were some Punans suffering from 

 malaria. The Eton boy constituted himself nurse and cook for them, 

 though they were utter strangers. Our own cook was a Chinaman, and 

 all day he suffered from teasing at Deng's hands, yet when camping 

 time arrived the celestial found his wood collected and fire already 

 started by his never-tiring friend. 



If possible we camped near a house, and in the evening we would visit 

 the head man and make a small exchange of presents, usually a chicken 

 on his part and some Java tobacco on ours, but more often sundown 

 found us tied up to a bank, if possible near a small brook. In no time a 

 dozen small fires Avould be blazing over which each man's small pot of 

 rice was suspeudec", each person squatting near by tending his fire and 

 waiting for the pot to boil ; even the child had his individual pot, while 

 the Chinaman usually required two or three for his more elaborate 

 efforts. We usually sat apart on a log or stone watching them, listening 

 to their chatter, to the vesper songs of the birds, the good-night of the 

 argus pheasant, or the fluttering of the jungle fowl as it flew into the 

 trees to roost. I heard also the awakening of the night chorus of cicades, 

 frogs and birds while watching the sunset in all its golden splendor. As 

 the twilight deepened into night the colors faded and the stars came out 

 like lights in the sky, and the southern cross hung high over the trees. 

 The Malay trader spread his mats and facing Stamboul muttered his 

 prayers as the sun went down. The Kayau child early curled up in the 

 boat to sleep, and one by one the boatmen wrapped themselves in their 

 thin cotton sarongs and stretching ovat on the stony bank slept the sleep 

 of tired men. The river added its gentle murmur to the night chorus, 

 and ever and anon the "night-jar" raised its plaintive notes to tell 

 that it kept its vigil while the jungle slept. 



Beyond Belaga it was considered dangerous to venture on account of 

 the war between two great rival tribes, but finding a friendly chief re- 

 turning home we took advantage of the occasion and accompanied him. 

 A day's journey we came to the long-house of a former king, now 

 practically deserted because of the planting season, and the men and 



