CHAPTER VIII 



THE JOURNEY CONTINUED UP THI- KAYAN RIVER — FIRST 

 EXPERIENCE OF KIHAMS, OR RAPIDS — WITH KEN- 

 YAH BOATMEN — ADVANTAGE OF NATIVE COOKING — 



LONG PELABAN — THE ATTRACTIVE KENYAHS SOCIAL 



STRATA — CUSTOMS AND HABITS — VALUABLE BEADS 



At Long Pangian several clays were spent in vain 

 efforts to secure men and prahus to continue the journey 

 up the Kayan River. The few Malays about, as usual, 

 did not believe in work, but the posthouder finally suc- 

 ceeded in calling Kenyahs from the river above, and on 

 the 1st of May we started with five prahus and twenty- 

 four men. It was quite refreshing to hear again the 

 joyous shouts of the paddlers, who worked eagerly and 

 quickly against the strong current. A little over an hour 

 brought us to some well-known rapids, or "kihams," as 

 they usually are called in Borneo. Formerly this Kiham 

 Raja had a bad reputation, Dayaks being killed here 

 occasionally every year, but of late the government has 

 blasted out rocks and made it more passable. How- 

 ever, even now it is no triHe to negotiate these rapids. 

 Below them we halted and threw explosive Favier into 

 the water in the hope of getting fish, and as soon as the 

 upheaval of the water began the Kenyahs, as if by a given 

 signal, hurried all the prahus out to the scene. With 

 other natives than Dayaks this w{jul(l have given nic 

 some anxiety, as the boats were heavily l.idcn and con- 

 tained valuable cameras and instruments. We secured 



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