268 THROUGH CENTRAL BORNEO 



orange from New-South-Wales, and ever since I have dis- 

 dained the more acid kind. 



My firmness in refusing to pay the men for more time 

 than was necessary produced a salutary effect upon Raja 

 Besar. He fixed fair prices on things I wanted to buy, 

 which before he had not done, and I made him tie 

 labels on the specimens I bought. As he was truthful, 

 he finally served as well as Lidju. On the last day of 

 our stay he helped me to repress the eagerness of the 

 Dayaks to "turn an honest penny." The prahus, be- 

 sides being defective, were not large enough for many 

 men, and I was determined not to have more than three 

 in each, a quite sufficient number when going down- 

 stream. I have a suspicion that he objected to four for 

 reasons of personal safety. 



Owing to the rapid current, we made the return voyage 

 in two hours, and when we got to the Mahakam River 

 we found it very much swollen, with logs floating down- 

 stream beside us. Our low-lying prahus were leaking 

 and the situation was not agreeable, though I should have 

 felt more anxious had I not been with Dayaks, who are 

 extremely able boatmen. At Long Pahangei the cap- 

 tain from Long Iram, who is also the controleur of that 

 district, had arrived and was waiting on account of the 

 overflow of the river. I had an hour's talk with this 

 pleasant man, who thinks that the Dayaks on the Upper 

 Mahakam ultimately must die out because they do not 

 have enough children to perpetuate the tribe. He said 

 that in 1909, when he was stationed at Puruk Tjahu, 

 nothing was known about the country where we then were. 



