OTHER CHIEFS. 187 



taken, and that the English were ascending the stream. 

 Alarmed by the report, he seized his cooking pot and 

 rushed out of the house, the door of which he reached 

 in time to see his friends and followers scampering off 

 to the jungle for protection ; he lost no time in 

 imitating their example, with his rice-pot in his hand ; 

 and so great was his haste that his chawat, or cloth, 

 having become unfastened and fallen to the ground, 

 he rejoined his companions in a state of perfect nudity, 

 not daring to stop to pick up his fallen covering. He 

 told me that he was not ashamed to confess himself 

 afraid of the English, on account of their fire-arms, 

 but that if swords and spears were their weapons he 

 would not mind them so much. 



Besides these three principal chiefs of the Sakarran 

 Dyaks, each village has its head, who, in the general 

 council of the nation, has an influence proportioned to 

 the individual character of each one. Of these a fine 

 young man named Mata-hari, or the sun, has already 

 distinguished himself in their piratical expeditions, and 

 is a general favourite with their tribes. No other chief 

 is allowed to interfere in the government of these vil- 

 lages, their internal management being left entirely to 

 a council of the old men, by whose advice the orang 

 kaya generally guides his conduct. 



As the interior of the countries of Sakarran and 

 Sarebas has never been visited by Europeans, excepting 

 on hostile occasions, we have no means of judging of 

 the number of villages it contains ; but according to 



