176 THROUGH CENTRAL BORNEO 



was then engaged in photographing and taking anthropo- 

 metric measurements of the gently protesting natives, to 

 whose primitive minds these operations appear weirdly 

 mysterious. At first the kapala positively declined to 

 take any part in this work, but finally reached the con- 

 clusion that he would be measured, but photographed he 

 could not be, because his wife was pregnant. For that 

 reason he also declined a glass of gin which the lieutenant 

 offered him. 



The valiant man who had tried to catch the yellow 

 snake on our ri\er voyage called on me with his wife, 

 who knew how to embroider well, and I bought some 

 shirts embellished with realistic representations of an- 

 imals, etc. The husband had that unsightly skin disease 

 {tinra imhricata) that made his body appear to be covered 

 with half-loose fish scales. Next day, to my amazement, 

 he had shed the scales. The previous night he had ap- 

 plied a remedy which made it possible to peel the dead 

 skin off, and his face, chest, and stomach were clean, as 

 were also his legs and arms. His back was still faulty 

 because he had not had enough of the remedy, but he was 

 going to tackle the back tliat evening. The remedy, 

 which had been taught them by the Saputans, consists 

 of two kinds of bark and the large leaves of a jungle 

 plant with red flowers, one of which was growing near 

 my tent. 



All the tribes visited by mc suffer more or less from 

 various kinds of skin diseases caused by micro-parasitic 

 animals, the Kenyahs and Oma-Suiings in a nnuli less 

 degree. The most repulsive form, just described, does 



