ch. viii.] Native Jewelry. 165 



a large gash in the lobe of each ear, and in these holes 

 are inserted gold or silver ornaments, as large as a wine 

 cork. If of gold, they are mostly made of beaten work ; 

 the highly decorated convex ends, however, are generally 

 cast in little moulds formed of clay and wax, or dammar. 

 The crucibles used for melting the metal are of the size 

 and shape of half a hen's egg, being formed of fine 

 porous clay. These are heated over tiny charcoal fires, 

 the heat being augmented with a blow-pipe. 



In some of the ornaments we observed rudely cut rock 

 crystals, or Bornean diamonds ; and part of a waist-belt 

 contained a dozen fine pearls, but most of their beauty 

 was lost by bad setting. The stock in trade of a gold- 

 worker here is of the most simple description. A rough 

 block of hard wood serves as a bench or anvil, and is 

 perforated with large and small holes, into which iron 

 pins of various sizes are inserted for various uses. Ham- 

 mers of iron and wood, a chisel or two, a pair of shears, 

 wax and clay for models, or matrices and earthen cru- 

 cibles for melting up the Spanish gold pieces, are all the 

 plant he deems necessary. 



There is not much originality in the designs used. 

 Some of the Brunei ladies must have fingers of the most 

 delicate proportions to be able to wear some of the rings 

 I saw here for repair. Smiths' shops are pretty much 

 the same all over the world. We visited one here, and 

 except that iron and tools were less plentiful, it was 

 pretty much like a village smithy in England. Sheffield 

 tiles and rasps are used even in this out-of-the-way part 

 of the East. Most other tools were of Brunei make. 

 Choppers, knives, parongs, and krisses represent the 

 manufactures. A Bornean bellows is peculiar, being 

 made of two upright wooden cylinders four or five feet 

 high, and connected at the bottom with the iron pipe 



