CHAPTEE XXX. 



AMONG THE ORANG-UTANS. 



Start up the Simujan. — Boat-roofs. — Among the Head-hunters. — A Dyak Long- 

 house — Monkeys. — Fire-flies. — A Night on a Tropical River. — Mias' Nests. 

 — " Mias, Tuan."— Death of the First Mias —Another Killed.— Screw 

 Pines. — " Three Mias in one Day ! " — Laborious Work. — Swamp Wading. 

 — Padang Lake. — Cordial Reception at a Dyak House. 



JnsT twenty-four hours after our interview with the Dyaks fi-om 

 Padang Lake we started on an expedition up the Simujan, solely on 

 the strength of the information given us by two semi-savages. 

 What if they were lying to me, as so many white, black, yellow, 

 and red men had done before, and sent me on fool's errands ? The 

 stock of provisions, ammunition, and preservatives I carried in my 

 boat showed that I fully believed every word told me by those sim- 

 ple-minded children of the jungle. 



Mr. Eng Quee had business up the river, and accompanied me 

 in his own boat, with two stout Malays, Blou and Lamudin. My 

 boat was manned by a quiet and obedient little Malay named 

 Dobah, whom I had engaged by the month, Perara, my Portuguese 

 haK-caste, Ah Kee, my servant and best man, and myself. Both 

 boats were amply roofed with kadjangs, which make a roof at once 

 water-proof, very light, easily adjusted, and so flexible that, when 

 desired, each section can be rolled up and stowed away in the bot- 

 tom of the boat. 



These kadjangs are made of the long, blade-like leaves of the 

 nipa palm, on the same principle as a tile roof. The leaves are each 

 six or seven feet long by two inches wide. They are sewn together 

 with strips of rattan, each alternate leaf overlapping its neighbor 

 on either side, and so on until a section of roof is formed about six 

 and a half feet square. This section is then made to bend in the 

 middle cross-wise, at a sharp angle, so that it can be folded once 



