A BANQUET 379 



food, and they soon recovered. He then replaced the 

 ironwood floor with other material, and after that 

 nobody who slept in the room was affected in a similar 

 way. 



I met in Sampit three Dayaks from the upper country 

 of the Katingan on whom the operation of incision had 

 been performed. According to reliable reports this custom 

 extends over a wide area of the inland, from the upper 

 regions of the Kapuas, Kahayan, and Barito Rivers in 

 the east, stretching westward as far as and including the 

 tribes of the Kotawaringin. Also, in the Western Divi- 

 sion on the Upper Kapuas and Melawi Rivers, the same 

 usage obtains. In Bandjermasin prominent Mohamme- 

 dans, one of them a Malay Hadji, told me that the 

 Malays also practise incision instead of circumcision. 

 The Malays, moreover, perform an operation on small 

 girls, which the Dayaks do not. 



The controleur invited me to take part in a banquet 

 which he gave to celebrate the completion of a road. 

 There were present Malay officials, also Chinamen, and 

 one Japanese. The latter, who arrived at Sampit one 

 and a half years before with forty florins, had since in- 

 creased his capital to a thousand through the sale of 

 medicines to natives whom he reached by going up the 

 rivers. We were seated at three tables, twenty-eight 

 guests. The natives were given viands in addition to 

 the menu provided, because they must have rice. Their 

 women had helped to cook — no small undertaking for 

 so many in an out-of-the-way place like Sampit. It was 



