I50 PAGAN TRIBES OF BORNEO chap. 



One day Saleh and his father set out in their 

 boat for their farm. '* Look out for logs " (i.e, 

 floating timber), said Sale/is father. They had not 

 gone very far when Salek sings out, ** I see some 

 timber." " Where ? " says his father. " Why, there 

 on the bank," says Salek, pointing to the jungle. 

 " Oh ! you silly," says his father, " go on." So they 

 went on and landed, and the father, leaving Salek 

 to cook some rice in the large pot, began to cut 

 down some trees. Presently he came back and 

 found Salek with the pot upside down over the fire, 

 and nothing cooked. " What are you at ? " cries 

 the father. '* Well," says Salek, " I put the pot over 

 the fire as you told me to do, but when I poured 

 the water on it, it all ran into the fire and put it 

 out." '* You stupid boy, you should have put the 

 pot on the other way up." " But you didn't tell me 

 so," says Salek, 



The father had chipped his axe, so he sends 

 Salek home to fetch another. Salek sets out gaily 

 singing, the blade of the axe lying in the bow of the 

 boat. Soon the boat strikes a snag and overboard 

 goes the axe -blade. ** Oh, bother ! " says Salek, 

 " but never mind. Til mark the place," and he whips 

 out his knife and cuts a notch in the gunwale of the 

 boat at the spot where the axe fell in. Arriving at 

 the landing stage before his father's house, he 

 begins to dive into the water to find the lost 

 axe-head, and continues vainly seeking it till his 

 mother comes out to ask what he is doing. "I'm 

 looking for the axe that fell into the water just 

 at this notch, as I was coming down river," says 

 Salek. "Oh! you are a stupid," says his mother, 

 and fetches him a new axe. Salek goes back to 

 his father, who has found a fruit tree. He tells 

 Salek to gather the fruit in his basket while he goes 

 on felling trees. Presently the father comes back 

 and finds Salek fastened with his back to the tree 



