322 THROUGH CENTRAL BORNEO 



thought best to camp at the lonely house of a Kahayan, 

 recently immigrated here, whose wife was a Duhoi woman. 

 As usual I had to remove part of the wall to get air, 

 the family sleeping in the next room. In the small hours 

 of the morning, by moonlight, two curious heads ap- 

 peared in the doorway, like silhouettes, to observe me, 

 and as the surveillance became annoyingly persistent I 

 shortened the exercises I usually take. 



At the first kampong prahus and paddlers were 

 changed, and on a rainy day we arrived at a small kam- 

 pong, Kuluk Habuus, where I acquired some unusually 

 interesting carved wooden objects called kapatongs, con- 

 nected with the religious life of the Duhoi and concerning 

 which more will be told presently. As a curious fact may 

 be mentioned that a Kahayan living here had a full, very 

 strong growth of beard. A few more of the Kahayans, 

 one in Kuala Kapuas for instance, are known to be simi- 

 larly endowed by nature although not in the same degree 

 as this one. The families hospitably vacated their rooms 

 in our favour, and a clean new rattan mat was spread on 

 the floor. At Tum6ang Mantike, on this river, there is 

 said to be much iron ore of good quality, from which 

 formerly even distant tribes derived their supplies. 



I had been told that a trip of a few hours would bring 

 us to the next kampong, but the day proved to be a very 

 long one. There were about five kihams to pass, all of 

 considerable length though not high. It soon became 

 evident that our men, good paddlers as they were, did 

 not know how to overcome these, hesitating and making 

 up for their inefficiency by shouting at the top of their 



