404 TRIP UP THE SOUTHERN BRANCH 



of persons afflicted with a kind of leprosy which has 

 been described previously. In this village, while waiting 

 for the Tumma chiefs, I collected a good deal of infor- 

 mation respecting the customs of the Dyaks (see chapter 

 on Hill Dyaks). They say that after a person deceased 

 has been burnt, his spirit haunts the house in which he 

 lived for four days, during which period rice is spread 

 daily on the floor, from the door across the house to the 

 window; at the expiration of that time, a basin is 

 broken outside the door, and the rice swept away ; after 

 which, the spirit departs to the mountains. They also 

 said, that on a person's decease they burnt a portion of 

 his property with his body. 



Dec. 9th. In the evening, the chiefs of Tumma and 

 of Sinangkan, and of other neighbouring tribes who had 

 heard of my arrival, came to visit me, and brought fowls, 

 rice and fruit in great quantities. I gave each of 

 the chiefs a battik handkerchief and some beads, brass 

 wire, and tobacco, as well as similar things to their 

 numerous attendants, none of whom had come empty- 

 handed. I laid the business I was charged with before 

 Bye Ringate, the chief of Sennah who had broken 

 through the Pamali to attend this gathering and the 

 Tumma men. They allowed the claim, and agreed to 

 pay the rice, forty pasus at once, with the exception of 

 ten, which they wished to remain till next season. 

 This I had no doubt the Tuanku would do, so I settled 

 the arrangements to the satisfaction of all parties con- 

 cerned. The original debt was the price of a slave 

 which belonged to the Tumma tribe, and having been 



