I 



GOVERNMENT 287 



five days the expedition toiled up the Silat, and 

 during these days Juman, Laki Lah, and most of the 

 Kayans turned back, their confidence being shaken by 

 the unfamiliar aspect of the country, by the neighbour- 

 hood of the hitherto hostile Madangs, and by the 

 bad dream of one of their chiefs and the illness of 

 another. On the fifth day the diminished fleet of 

 boats entered the Lata, a tributary coming down 

 from the Mudong Alan and Saat mountains, from the 

 slopes of which the water runs also to the Rejang 

 River and the Batang Kayan. Here the boats were 

 left behind and the expedition went forward on foot, 

 making but slow progress in the rocky river-bed. 



Near the mouth of the Lata the expedition was 

 met by a large party of Kenyahs — men, women, and 

 children — the whole population of a Kenyah village 

 of the Batang Kayan, Lepu Agas by name, who had 

 just arrived with the intention of making their home 

 in that neighbourhood. These people had been the 

 greatest enemies of Tama Bulan, and the feud had 

 only been healed in the previous year. 



A curious custom, which seems at the present 

 time to be peculiar to the Kenyahs and rapidly 

 dying out among them, was observed by the Lepu 

 Aga people on this occasion. As the Resident's 

 party approached the spot where they awaited its 

 arrival, they sent out three men to establish the first 

 contact. It was the function of these three men to 

 make sure of the friendly intentions of the approach- 

 ing party (Pis. 201, 202). They wore large wooden 

 masks elaborately carved, and bearing great lateral 

 projections like horns or antlers, in addition to full 

 war dress.^ They advanced down a long pebble- 

 bank, keeping step and making grotesque movements 

 with heads and arms, which seemed to imply a mix- 

 ture of caution and curiosity. After dodging about 



f ^ These three masks were afterwards given to the Resident, and are now in 



1 the British Museum. 



