ARRIVAL ON THE MAHAKAM RIVER 215 



The Penihings of Long Kai are good-natured and 

 pleasant, and it was refreshing to be among real, natural 

 people to whom it never occurs that nudity is cause for 

 shame; whom the teaching of the Mohammedan Malays, 

 of covering the upper body, has not yet reached. This 

 unconsciousness of evil made even the old, hard-working 

 women attractive. They were eager to sell me their 

 wares and implements, and hardly left me time to eat. 

 Their houses had good galleries and were more spacious 

 than one would suppose from a casual glance. 



One morning I entered the rooms of one of the prin- 

 cipal blians, from whom I wanted to buy his shield, used 

 as a musical instrument to accompany his song. The 

 shield looks like the ordinary variety used by all the 

 tribes of the Mahakam and also in Southern Borneo, 

 but has from four to ten rattan strings tied lengthwise 

 on the back. In singing to call good spirits, antohs, es- 

 pecially in case somebody is ill, he constantly beats with 

 a stick on one of the strings in a monotonous way without 

 any change of time. Among the Penihings this shield 

 is specially made for the blian's use, and unless it be new 

 and unused he will not sell it, because the blood of 

 sacrificial animals has been smeared on its surface and 

 the patient would die. The only way I could secure one 

 was by having it made for me, which a blian is quite will- 

 ing to do. 



This man paid little attention to my suggestion of 

 buying, but suddenly, of his own accord, he seized the 

 shield and played on it to show me how it was done. 

 While he sings he keeps his head down behind the shield. 



