ch. vh.] Native Women. 153 



the hospital at Labuan who paid the penalty of his indis- 

 cretion. One night a kriss or spear had been driven 

 into his thigh through the interstices of the floor of the 

 house in which he was sleeping with his Helen, and with 

 such force that the bone was completely severed. It is 

 possible the weapon was poisoned, at any rate he died 

 some little time afterwards, notwithstanding all that sur- 

 gical skill could suggest. In the case of the Malays their 

 women are, as a rule, secluded from the gaze of strangers 

 in private apartments, but in the interior the women of 

 the aboriginal tribes enjoy equal freedom with the men, 

 and often join in discussions and trading difficulties with 

 great tact. Monogamy is the rule with the Borneans 

 and polygamy with the Malays. In Borneo, as in Europe, 

 the female exceeds the male population, and here, too, 

 the women do a large proportion of the field labour in 

 addition to their domestic duties. 



Some of the little villages of the native tribes inland 

 present a pleasant and prosperous exterior. Little palm- 

 leaf houses stand here and there beneath groves of cocoa- 

 nut trees, betel-palms, tree-ferns, or graceful willow-like 

 bamboo. Breadths of fresh greensward occur among the 

 clumps of low brush or scrubby vegetations, the remains 

 of the old jungle, and here buffaloes or goats, and occa- 

 sionally other cattle, browse around the houses. Pigs, 

 bees, and poultry are domesticated, and are often very 

 abundant. The houses are built on piles, and a sloping 

 hill-side or knoll is generally selected as a site, so that 

 all superfluous surface water may readily escape. The 

 fowls are caught every evening and placed in open-work 

 baskets of either rattan or bamboo, suspended beneath 

 the eaves of the houses. This care is essential in order 

 to guard them from the attacks of large snakes and 

 iguanas, or other poultry-stealing saurians. 



