BANDJERMASIN 25 



Early in July of the following year the morning tempera- 

 ture was about 73° F. (23° C.)- Malaria is rare here, but 

 there are frequent indications of beri-beri. 



Friends invited me to go on an excursion to a small 

 island, Kambang, where there are a number of monkeys to 

 whom Malays who desire children sacrifice food. On our 

 arrival the animals came to meet us in a way that was 

 almost uncanny, running like big rats in the tall grass on 

 the muddy beach. Many remnants of sacrificial offerings 

 were strewn about. 



Two years later I was again in Bandjermasin, when 

 an elderly American and his wife appeared upon the 

 scene — tourists, by the way, being very unusual here. At 

 the breakfast table they asked a young Dutchman the 

 whereabouts of the church and museum, and he replied 

 that he did not think there was either in the town. As a 

 matter of fact there is a small wooden Dutch church hid- 

 den away in a back street. Moreover, in 19 14 the Resi- 

 dent, who at that time was Mr. L. F. J. Rijckmans, had a 

 house built, in Malay style of architecture, for the safe- 

 keeping of Bornean industrial and ethnological objects 

 which had been on view at the exhibition at Samarang in 

 Java, thus forming the nucleus of a museum which at some 

 future time may be successfully developed. The Kaha- 

 yan Dayaks, not far away to the north, make exquisite 

 cigar-cases from rattan, while the Bugis weave attractive 

 cotton goods, resembling silk, with an original and 

 pleasing colour combination. 



The Europeans have a lawn-tennis court where they 

 usually play every afternoon. In Bandjermasin is the 



