304 THROUGH CENTRAL BORNEO 



the height of a man. Formerly the corpse was placed 

 in a small bamboo house which rested on six upright poles, 

 and on the floor a mat was spread. 



I was pleasantly surprised one day when a Dayak ar- 

 rived at our kampong bringing a number of attractive 

 new bamboo baskets which he had bought on the Tap- 

 pin River, near by to the west. He was going to finish 

 them off by doing additional work on the rims and then 

 carry them to Kandangan, where they would fetch about 

 one guilder each. All were of the same shape, but had 

 different designs, and he knew the meaning of these — 

 there was no doubt about it — so I bought his entire stock, 

 thirteen in number. I learned that most of the people 

 were able to interpret the basket designs, but the art of 

 basket-making is limited, most of them being made by 

 one or two women on the Tappin. A very good one, 

 large and with a cover, came from the neighbouring 

 lower kampong. An old blian sold it to me, and his 

 wife softly reproved him for so doing, but when I gave 

 her ten cents as a present she seemed very well satisfied. 



For the interpretation of these designs I found an 

 excellent teacher in a gentlewoman from the lower kam- 

 pong. She had extensive knowledge concerning this 

 matter, an impression later confirmed by submission of the 

 baskets to another woman expert from the Tappin, of 

 repute as a maker and for knowledge of the designs. I 

 hope that in due time my informant will receive the photo- 

 graph of herself and her boys which I shall send to her 

 in grateful recognition of her valuable assistance. Her 

 name was Dongiyak, while her good husband was called 



