OTHER EXPEDITIONS 285 



secondary jungle over a very bad path. As I was 

 suffering from rheumatism I was carried part of the 

 way by two men in turns, in a sling-basket (" galaos "), 

 the basket resting on the bearer's back and suspended 

 by bands of bark-cloth from his forehead. The pos- 

 ture in which I was compelled to huddle in this sling 

 was so uncomfortable that I could not endure it very 

 long, and had every now and again to get down and 

 walk. Dayaks, like other savages, are unable to express 

 with any accuracy terms of time or distance. At one 

 point in our march I asked one of the train of 

 Lanchang men how far we then were from his village ; 

 he made the usual vague reply that it was not very 

 far. When I suggested ten minutes' walk as the distance 

 he assented readily, but when after walking for a 

 good half-hour I suggested that the village was still 

 an hour's walk distant, he again agreed that that was 

 probably the distance : as a matter of fact we arrived in 

 a few minutes. As no savages reckon time in minutes 

 or hours, it is not surprising that such an expression 

 as "ten minutes' walk" conveys no sort of idea to 

 their minds ; if pressed to give some measure of the 

 time it takes to traverse a certain distance, they will 

 say that if they start at sun-rise they will arrive when 

 the sun is at a certain height, which they will indicate 

 by pointing to the sky. The following are some of 

 the expressions used by Sea-Dayaks to denote short 

 periods of time : " Enti mandi ditu bok agi basah 

 datai din," if one bathes here one's hair is still wet 

 when one arrives there ; " sakali niawa," one rest ; 

 " sakali niawa ngema," one rest [after] carrying a 

 burden ; " salumpong tenggau," one length of fire- 

 wood, i.e. the time it takes to burn. Some of the 



