200 PAGAN TRIBES OF BORNEO chap. 



length, and from this side the stem is hollowed. 

 When, by chopping out the centre, the thickness 

 of this shell has been reduced to a thickness 

 of some five inches, it is brought down to the 

 river. This is effected by laying through the jungle 

 a track consisting of smooth poles laid across the 

 direction of progress ; the hollowed stem is pulled 

 endwise over this track with the aid of rattans, 

 perhaps a hundred or more men combining their 

 strength. If the stem proves too heavy to be 

 moved at any part of the journey by their direct 

 pull and push, a rough windlass is constructed by 

 fixing the stem of a small tree across two standing 

 trees and winding the rattans upon this, the trimmed 

 branches of the tree serving as the arms of the 

 windlass. The Kayans are skilled in this kind of 

 transport of heavy timber ; for the building of their 

 houses and of the larger tombs involves similar 

 difficulties, though the timbers required for these 

 purposes are not so huge as those used for the 

 war-boats. Arrived at the river bank, the hollowed 

 stem is launched upon the water and towed down 

 stream to the village at a time when the water is 

 high. It is made fast to the bank before the village 

 at as high a point as the water will allow, so that 

 when the river subsides it is left high and dry. A 

 leaf shelter is then built over it to protect it and 

 the workers from the sun. The shell is then further 

 hollowed, partly by firing it with shavings inside 

 and out, and by scraping away the charred surfaces. 

 The inside is fired first ; then the hollow is filled 

 with water, and the outside is fired. 



When in this way the shell has been reduced to 

 a thickness of a few inches, it is opened out, while 

 hot from firing and still filled with water, by wedg- 

 ing stout sticks some six to seven feet in length 

 between the lateral walls, so that the hollow stem 

 (which hitherto has had the form of a hollow cylinder 



