A MONTH WITH THE DYAKS. 439 



after getting into his dry clothes ? He built a fire and made a nice 

 cup of tea for me ! Thnt act describes his whole character. 



" November SOfh. — This morning Gumbong and another Dyak 

 brought in the little bear which escaped us the day we killed the 

 other. It was only about haK grown, and they captured it alive. 

 How it did bawl and struggle as it lay on the floor, bound hand 

 and foot. It was a very pretty Httle specimen, a foot high and 

 twenty-two inches long, with a coat of smooth, fine, inky-black 

 hail'. The Dyaks had the good sense to seU him to me, body and 

 soul, for a reasonable price, and his skin was soon added to my 

 collection. Better that, a thousand times, than a life of miserable 

 captivity among the Dyaks. 



" True to his engagement of a month previous, Blou arrived to- 

 day with the large prau and two other Malays to take me back to 

 the Sadong. He also brought a large packet of letters, which I 

 received most gladly. After all, the greatest pleasure of jungle Hfe 

 is getting letters from home. Sent eight loads down to the boats, 

 and Dobah slept there. 



" The model D^-ak house, prau, and the fiddle Le Tiac made 

 and loved, not wisely but too well, were all delivered to-day, to- 

 gether with more bark-cloth, body ornaments, and musical (!) in- 

 struments. The three articles first mentioned were very well made 

 and showed that Dyak mechanical skill is of no mean order when 

 encouraged a little. 



*' December Isf. — At peep of day, we were up and oflf, bag and 

 baggage. Of course the Dyaks assisted us in getting away with 

 our plunder. The men went with us to the river, and the women 

 who remained at the house, were loud in their protestations of re- 

 gret at our departure. They said they would be very lonesome 

 when we were gone. I think each of the women said good-by 

 about fifty times, and as we left the clearing they stood on the 

 ladder and in the door, calling Malay good-by s to 'Tuan,' 'Ah 

 Kee,' and ' Pleira,' one after another as fast as we would answer 

 them, and then begin again. They kept it up until their voices 

 were lost in the jungle behind us, and then a dog at the house set 

 up a dismal howling, as though he, too, were afiected by the univer- 

 sal sorrow. It was awful work getting across the grass swamp, 

 and afterward over the wretched 'batangs,' for the remainder of 

 the distance. The batangs were small smooth sapling stems laid 

 end to end over the mud, wet and slippery, so that we occasionally 

 took a sudden slip into the mud and water two feet deep. There 



