THE SEA DYAKS. 469 



Le Tiac was the fiddler of the crowd, but, while his instrument 

 was by long odds the most elaborate and pretentious, the sounds 

 it produced were by no means so pleasing as the clarionet-like 

 notes of the numerous reeds, made like a shepherd's pipe, which 

 the men, women, and childi-en were so fond of playing upon in 

 concert. The women had still another instrument, made of a piece 

 of bamboo like a large organ-reed, the tongue of which was made 

 to vibrate shai*ply by jerking a string attached to one end. The 

 instniment was held all the while firmly against the teeth and the 

 operator breathed forcibly upon the vibrating tongue of the in- 

 strument, thereby producing a few harjD-like notes. It was a diffi- 

 cult instilment to play upon, but one evening, during the course 

 of a very merry concert given by several of the women in my apart- 

 ment, I wrestled with ye Dyak harp until I threw it, and succeeded 

 in playing upon it as well as the others, to their great satisfaction 

 and amusement. After that the greatest difficulty was to keep 

 from laughing while we all played together. 



Dyak Harp. 



Upon great occasions, such as the gathering of the harvest, the 

 mamage of a person of note in the tiibe, or the visit of some 

 European of distinction, the Rajah for instance, the Dyaks gather 

 for a grand feast. Pigs are killed and cooked, rice, fniits, and 

 vegetables are provided and also a hberal supply of tuak, or palm 

 toddy, upon which all the men are expected to get drunk. The 

 company feeds to the fullest possible extent and then the dancing 

 and drinking begin. It is upon these occasions only that the 

 Dyaks drink liquor and get drunk, and after the women take from 

 the men all their weapons to prevent accidents they go to work de- 

 liberately to make their husbands, lovers, and fx-iends of the male 

 sex roaiing drunk. A Dyak girl considers it the gz'andest fun in 

 the world to coax a redoubtable wamor into drinking until he is 

 vmable to stand. 



I never saw a Dyak feast, nor an intoxicated Dyak, nor even a 

 drop of the tuak which lays the warriors low at their feasts. 

 In this connection, I feel in duty bound to quote Mr. Frederick 

 Boyle's observations and reflections upon a feast in which he par- 

 ticipated among the Seribas Dyaks. 



