A MONTH WITH THE DYAKS. 429 



his line will let liim go. By standing as nearly erect as he can, 

 stretching his neck to the utmost, he can just see the dishes on the 

 box, and watch for the plates of food. As the crisis approaches, 

 he grows more and more excited, whining, coaxing, and jolead- 

 ing "with his eyes for the food which is just beyond his anxious 

 fingers. If I sit down and begin to eat without feeding him, he 

 looks at me reproachfully, his nether lip drops disconsolately, and 

 he whines in an aQ:srieved tone. If I still refuse to serve him, his 

 whine rises to a shrill, child-like scream, and he throws himself 

 flat upon the floor, kicking and shrieking like a spoiled child. 

 This was the most human action I ever saw in ape or monkey. 

 More than once I attempted to discipline the little brute with a 

 small switch to see if I could make him stop screaming, but, time 

 to the impulses of nature, he only screamed the louder. 



" The Old Man evinces a decided liking for me, and also for Ah 

 Kee ; but is shy of strangers. Whenever a dog makes his appeai*- 

 ance in our room, or it thunders hard, the little fellow^ makes straight 

 for me, as fast as he can come, climbs quickly up my legs and nes- 

 tles in my arms for protection. The Dyaks consider him unusually 

 bright, even for an orang, and several have travelled miles on pur- 

 pose to see him. 



'^November 20th. — Two argus pheasants and a civet cat (Viverra 

 tangalunga) were brought in yesterday, and to-day we prepared their 

 skins. Le Tiac finished making a fiddle for me, and when he de- 

 livered it I paid him sixty cents as per agreement. After looking 

 at the money a quarter of an hoiu', he came to me and said he 

 would rather keep the fiddle, so I gave it back to him, and he re- 

 turned the money. Foolish fellow\ He can make a fiddle any time 

 in a day and a half, but he cannot find a market for another in 

 ten years, I venture to say. But I shall have that fiddle yet, all 

 the same. 



" ^Mien we arrived here, Ah Kee assured me there was not a cent 

 of money nor a measure of rice in the house. Since that, they havj 

 earned enough in various ways in my sendee to enable them to send 

 off twice, to buy rice ; but now they are getting stomach-proud, 

 and are prepared to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. For 

 example : the old man, Gumbong, who has hunted with me during 

 the past week, made up his mind last night that thirty cents per 

 day is not enough wages, and he has therefore struck for fifty. Ah 

 Kee lectured him roundly, and I told him to go to the blazes ; but 

 he declared that he would not for less than fifty cents a day. To my 



