cHAP.xr HANDICRAFTS 199 



piston, which closely fits the bore, bears a rounded 

 knob ; it is driven down the cylinder by a sharp 

 blow of the palm upon the knob and is quickly 

 withdrawn. The heat generated by the compres- 

 sion of the air ignites a bit of tinder (made by scrap- 

 ing the fibrous surface of the leaf stem of the 

 Arenga palm) at the bottom of the cylinder. The 

 cylinder is cast by pouring the molten metal into a 

 section of bamboo, while a polished iron rod is held 

 vertically in the centre to form the bore. When 

 the cylinder is cold the iron rod is extracted, and 

 the outer surface is trimmed and shaped with knife 

 or file. 



BOAT-BUILDING 



The Kayans make much use of boats, as 

 described in Chapter VIII., and are skilful boat- 

 makers. The forest offers them an abundant variety 

 of timbers suitable for the different types of boat 

 used by them. 



The most ambitious efforts of this kind are 

 devoted to the construction of the great war-boats, 

 fine specimens of which are as much as 100 feet 

 in length, or even, in exceptional instances, nearly 

 150 feet. The foundation of every boat is a single 

 piece of timber shaped and hollowed by fire and 

 adze. Several kinds of timber are used, the best 

 being the kinds known as^ aroh {Skorea) and ngelai 

 {Afzeliapalambanica). Sometimes a suitable stem 

 is found floating down river and brought to the 

 bank before the house. But such good fortune is 

 exceptional, and commonly a tree is selected in the 

 forest as near as possible to the river bank. The 

 tree is felled in the way described in Chapter VL 

 (PI. 55), its branches are hewed away, and the 

 stem is cut to the required length and roughly 

 hewn into shape. About one-fourth of the circum- 

 ference of the stem is cut away along the whole 



