( 58fi ) 



i'obberv etc. <)iil\- i-arily dn llicv l.ike n»von,i2,e oii lliose iiiiwelcoiiie 

 guests, who live among llieiu either because they giitlier the forest 

 products, or l)eeause tliey liad to lly from tlie coasts on account of 

 crimes. 



The Kciija-lrihes are less long-suiTering: two gangs of Malays, one 

 consisting of live members from the Mahai^am and one of eight from 

 Scrawak, who tried to live upon them in a similar way, were all 

 murdered. 



As soon as we come in contact witli the Kenjas, this bold perso- 

 nality impresses us fav()ural)ly. Among the Bahaus we could not 

 estal)lish for years the frankness of intei'course between them and 

 oui-selves, which was bi-ought about witii the Kenjas in as many 

 uiontlis. Only incidentally and by indirect means could 1 get to know 

 among the Bahaus what they liiought of a plan and what they 

 intejided to do. When alone with one of tluMU I occasionally suc- 

 ceeded in getting him to expi'ess his tiioughts freely, iiecause he 

 had no reason to be afraid of his fellow tribes-men, but they never 

 (piile reliu(|uisluMl their fear and distrust. 



In (Mil- intercourse with the Kenjas the last trace of susj)icion had 

 soon vanished, and never shall 1 forget the impression made by their 

 jKtlitical meetings on us Kuroj)eans, used to the uncertain, hesitating 

 and insincere behaxiour of ihe Italians, even when discussing atfairs 

 of great importance. 1ji the meeting of the Kenjas all the chiefs 

 present freely expressed their O[)iniojis witii j)eculiar cei-emonies on 

 sid)jecls as e. g. whether it was advisable to adhere to the rajah of 

 Scrawak oi- to (he Dutch-Indian government, and tiie adxautages and 

 disadvantages were openly discussed. 



If on account of these ])eculiar cpialities the behaviour of the Kenjas 

 is noisier, coarser, braver and less sensitive than that of the Bahaus, 

 it is interesting to see wiiat iidluence tliis has had on their society. 

 Among the Bahaus oji the Mahakam we lijid a number of perfectly 

 uncomiected tril)es, in which every indi\i(bial considers himself quite 

 inde[)endent of all the others, and perfectly free to look u|)on his 

 own interest as of chiefimportance, which renders the chiefs powerless 

 to exert any intluence over tiieir subjects for more general interests 

 and enteri)rises. Everybody entertains the greatest fear for unexpected 

 sudden attacks from far or near, aiul while in the day-time the men 

 always go to their riee-tields strongly armed, in tlie evening they 

 dare Jiot even be undei- their houses without a naked sword. Of 

 course women and chiklren are still more afraid. 



Among the Kenjas, on the contrary, we tind a somewhat loosely 

 constructed, but yet connected Avhole of all the tribes under the 



