212 



THROUGH CENTRAL HORNEO 



stead of with the feet, as is the custom of the Kenyahs and 

 Kayans. All day there were brought for sale objects 

 of ethnography, also beetles, animals, and birds. Two 

 attractive young girls sold me their primitive necklaces, 

 consisting of small pieces of the stalks of different plants, 

 some of them odoriferous, threaded on a string. One 

 girl insisted that I put hers on and wear it, the idea that 

 it might serve any purpose other than to adorn the neck 

 never occurring to them. Two men arrived from No- 

 hacilat, a neighbouring kampong, to sell two pieces of 

 aboriginal wearing apparel, a tunic and a skirt. Such 

 articles are very plentiful down there, they said, and of- 

 fered them at an astonishingly reasonable price. 



Malay is not spoken here, and we got on as best we 

 could — nevertheless the want of an interpreter was seri- 

 ously felt. The chief himself spoke some and might have 

 served fairly well, but he studiously remained away from 

 me, and even took most of the men from the kampong to 

 make prahus at another place. I was told that he was 

 afraid of me, and certainly his behaviour was puzzling. 

 Three months later I was enlightened on this point by 

 the information that he had been arrested on account of 

 the murder by spear of a woman and two men, a most 

 unusual occurrence among Dayaks, who, as a rule, never 

 kill any one in their own tribe. With the kampong well- 

 nigh deserted, it soon became evident that nothing was 

 to be gained by remaining and that I would better change 

 the scene of my activities to Long Kai, another Penihing 

 kampong further down the river. 



A small garrison had been established there, and by 



