AN EXPEDITION TO PENRISEN 255 



his soul as his own, when he groaned under the in- 

 tolerable burden of taxation heaped on him by corrupt 

 and avaricious Malay princelings. He painted in vivid 

 colours the uncertainty of life in Upper Sarawak in the 

 early days of its history, when the country was cease- 

 lessly harried by Malays and Sea-Dayaks, when no Land- 

 Dayak could go forth to his labour and be confident 

 that on his return his home would be intact, his wife 

 and children ready to welcome him. Then he contrasted 

 all this misery and wretchedness with the present state 

 of peace and security, and as a proof of their apprecia- 

 tion of these blessings he asked the men to give two 

 days of their labour to forwarding the business of two 

 officials of the Government to which they owed their 

 well-being. 



This most eloquent and well-timed speech had an 

 immediate effect ; it was punctuated with approving 

 grunts, and concluded amidst a chorus of acquiescence. 

 The main difficulty of our journey being thus success- 

 fully surmounted and only those who have travelled 

 in uncivilized lands know what a constant source of 

 anxiety and worry transport can be we distributed 

 some handfuls of tobacco and two bottles of gin, and 

 retired with light hearts inside our mosquito curtains. 



The crowing of cocks, the grunting of pigs, and the 

 snarling of dogs under the house render late morning 

 slumbers impossible in a Dayak house, and the day 

 was yet young when we began the business of divid- 

 ing our baggage into suitable loads for the carriers. 

 Everything had to be made up into one-man loads, 

 for these people object to carrying anything between 

 two. All goods are carried in a sort of creel on the 

 back, the creel being supported by a band of strong 



