72 THROUGH CENTRAL BORNEO 



moved on to a ladang a little higher up, where we found a 

 camping-site. 



Next day we stopped to photograph a beautiful funeral 

 house on the bank of the river, in which rest the remains of 

 a dead chief and his wife. This operation finished, the 

 Dayaks prepared their midday meal consisting of rice 

 alone, which they had brought in wicker bottles. A 

 number of bamboo sticks were procured, which were 

 filled with rice and water and placed in a row against a 

 horizontal pole and a fire was kindled underneath. As 

 soon as this cooking was finished the bamboos were handed 

 to the chief, Amban Klesau, who in the usual way split one 

 open with his parang to get at the contents. Having 

 eaten, he distributed the rest of the bamboos. I was 

 given one, and upon breaking it open a delicious smell 

 met my olfactory sense. The rice, having been cooked 

 with little water, clung together in a gelatinous mass 

 which had a fine sweet taste, entirely lacking when 

 cooked in the white man's way. 



During my travels in Borneo I often procured such 

 rice from the Dayaks. It is a very clean and convenient 

 way of carrying one's lunch, inside of a bamboo, the open 

 end closed with a bunch of leaves. Fish and meat are 

 prepared in the same manner. With fish no water is 

 used, nevertheless, when cooked it yields much juice, 

 with no suggestion of the usual mud-flavoured varieties of 

 Borneo. It will remain wholesome three days, and 

 whenever necessary the bamboo is heated at the bottom. 

 One who has tasted meat or cereals cooked between hot 

 stones in earth mounds knows that, as regards palatable 



