AMONG THE DUHOI 333 



foreheads shaved in a manner similar to the Chinese, a 

 straight line from ear to ear forming the hair limit. I 

 observed the same fashion with the Upper Katingans, 

 and in rare cases also with the Kayans and Kenyahs. 

 They make fire by drilling one upright stick into another 

 lying on the ground. Seven is their sacred number. 

 Formerly the kampongs elected a kapala for an indefinite 

 period. If he was satisfactory he might remain a long 

 time. At present the native kapala of the district makes 

 the appointment. 



Among my friends here were the kapala of the kam- 

 pong and his wife. She was an interesting woman, very 

 intelligent, with a slender but splendid figure, and her 

 face was curiously Mongolian. She had lost an eye by 

 smallpox, but there was so much light and vivacity in 

 the brown one she had left that the missing organ was 

 forgotten. At first sternly refusing to face the camera, 

 after receiving chocolate like the rest both she and her 

 husband wanted to be photographed. 



More than once I have seen the Dayak father here 

 and elsewhere take the youngest baby to the river to 

 bathe. As soon as the navel is healed, about eight days 

 after birth, the infant is immersed, usually twice a day, 

 before seven o'clock in the morning and at sunset. The 

 temperature of the river water here in the morning was 

 72° F. It is astonishing how the helpless little nude 

 being, who can neither walk nor talk, remains absolutely 

 quiet while being dipped under the cold water again and 

 again. The father holds it in a horizontal position for im- 

 mersion, which lasts only a few moments, but which un- 



