GOVERNMENT 289 



several communities followed the example of the 

 Lepu Agas, and moved over from the Batang Kayan 

 to the Baram. It may be of interest to add that the 

 Lepu Agas still inhabit the house built under these 

 extraordinary circumstances. After some few more 

 days of travelling up-river, we were met by a party 

 of Madangs who had been sent down to meet the 

 Resident ; while awaiting his arrival they had 

 hewed out a small boat, and in this, which served 

 almost as much the purposes of a sledge as of a boat, 

 they hauled him over rocks and rapids and still 

 pools until, having outpaced the rest of the party, 

 they brought him, on the eighth day from leaving the 

 Silat, to their village at the foot of Mudong Alan. 

 It was a large village comprising nine long houses 

 disposed in a circle and containing probably not less 

 than 2000 persons. Here he was received on the 

 bank of the stream by a large body of Madangs 

 headed by Tama Usun Tasi, who at once offered 

 him the hospitality of his roof. The incidents of 

 the visit have been described by the Resident, and 

 passages from his account may here be transcribed : — 



My Kenyah friends had not arrived yet, but I thought 

 it best to go with him (Tama Usun Tasi) at once ; afterwards 

 I congratulated myself on my decision, when I found 

 that, according to custom, Tama Bulan and his followers 

 (being unable to enter the house until all cases of blood- 

 money between his people and the Madangs had been 

 settled) were obliged to camp near the river for one night. 

 The Madangs assisted in making huts for my followers, 

 gave them several pigs, and sent down their women laden 

 with baskets full of rice ; so no want of hospitality marred 

 our reception. In the evening I took a walk round the 

 village, followed by a crowd of women and children, 

 who appeared greatly pleased to find that the white man 

 was able to converse with them in the Kenyah tongue. 

 Then, as the crowd increased, I sat down on a log and 

 produced a few pounds of tobacco, and the whole party 

 was soon chatting and laughing as if they had known 

 me for years. I have often noticed that the women of the 



