CHAPTER IV 



AN EXPFDITION INTO THH JUNGLE — FIRST IMPRKSSIONS — 

 RAPID CHANGE IN THE DENSENESS OF VEGETATION — 

 ANIMAL LIFE — A STUBBORN KI(;HT 



About the mickllc of January, I hcpan an expedition 

 into the utan, as the Mahiys call the great jungles of 

 Borneo, first going up the river half a day nnd from 

 there striking inland toward the north. If circumstances 

 proved favourable, I intended to travel as far as Bengara, 

 about twelve days' trip for a Dayak with a light burden 

 to carry. In case of unfavourable weather and ttxi 

 much delay in getting fresh provisions, I felt that I should 

 be satisfied in penetrating well into a region not before 

 visited by wliitcs, where I might succeed in coming into 

 contact with the shy nomads, called Punans, known to 

 roam there in limited numbers. To this end I had taken 

 along one of the Sultan's petty officials, a so-called raja, 

 who exercised more or less control over the Punans. This 

 man, evidently half Malay and half Dayak, and as nude 

 as the rest, demanded to be waited upon by the other 

 natives, who even had to put up his hair. He was 

 lazy; he would not be a raja if he were not. If he were 

 on the move one day, he would siccj) most of the 

 next. 



Among my twenty-two Kayans was an efficient and 

 reliable man c ailed Banglan, the sub-chief of Kaburau, 

 who was alert antl intelligent. He had only one hand, 



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