i8o THROUGH CENTRAL BORNEO 



complete the man's outfit. On the Busang only ten ipoh 

 (upas) trees are known from which poison may be ob- 

 tained for the blow-pipe darts; to get a new supply a 

 journey of two days down the river is necessary, and six 

 for the return. 



Except for a few cases of malaria, among the Penyah- 

 bongs there is no disease. In 191 1 the cholera epidemic 

 reached them, as well as the Saputans. Of remedies they 

 have none. At the sight of either of the two species of 

 venomous snakes of the king cobra family this native 

 takes to his heels, and if bitten the wound is not treated 

 with ipoh. Until recently they had no blians; there were, 

 at this time, two in Tamaloe, one Saputan and one Ma- 

 lay, and the one in the other kampong learned his art 

 from the Saputans. One man does not kill another, 

 though he may kill a member of the Bukat tribe, neigh- 

 bouring nomads who live in the northeast of the western 

 division, in the mountains toward Sarawak. Suicide is 

 unknown. It was asserted to me that the Penyahbongs 

 do not steal nor lie, though I found the Saputans un- 

 trustworthy in these respects. 



There is no marriage ceremony, but the young man 

 must pay the parents of the bride one gong (f. 30), and if 

 the girl is the daughter of a chief her price is six gongs. 

 About half of the men select very youthful wives, from 

 eight years up. There are boys of ten married to girls 

 of a similar age. One boy of fourteen was married to a 

 girl of twenty. Children of the chief being much sought, 

 one of Pisha's daughters, twenty-three years old, had 

 been disposed of when she was at her mother's breast, 



