IN BORNEAN FORESTS [chap. 



remarkable on account of its great size and the strange expansions 

 which widen its face. It appeared also to be much scarcer than the 

 Mayas Kassa, and I offered a reward of six dollars for every speci- 

 men brought to me in good condition. I also gave special instruc- 

 tions to the village hunters as to eviscerating the animal, and re- 

 moving the larger muscular masses in order to lessen the weight and 

 prevent decomposition, so rapid in this climate ; and this without 

 injuring the skin. 



This morning one of my Malays escaped to Simanggan, for some 

 reason unknown to me ; but the Malays are a strange people, and even 

 their ideas appear to be nomadic, just like the life they best like. 

 I at once engaged a Dyak in his stead, a youth named Pagni, who 

 proved also useful in aiding me to compile a small Sea-Dyak dic- 

 tionary for my own use — a language much more distinct from the 

 Malay than is that of the Land-Dyaks. 



The Dyaks of this part of the country are now quiet, and their 

 devotion to the Tuan Muda may be said to be unbounded. They 

 are at present also on good terms with the Chinese, but I believe 

 not from any love for them, and were it not for fear of the Rajah, 

 many a Chinaman's head would even now be added to the grim 

 trophies hanging over the fireplaces of the Dyak houses. More 

 than once, jokingly of course, when on a visit to me at the Kunsi's 

 house, they asked my permission to cut off the heads of the China- 

 men, but I am pretty sure that the joke concealed a covert hope 

 that I might grant them leave. 



I had no reason to complain of the Chinese, but they had been 

 grumbling and expressing the wish that I should cease preparing 

 Mayas skins in their house. And, indeed, I must confess that they 

 were not entirely without excuse, for the odour of the skins and 

 skeletons, done in the rough, was not too pleasing, although I 

 sprinkled them abundantly with carbolic acid. The Chinese soon 

 learnt to appreciate the antiseptic virtue of the latter, and every 

 morning one or the other would come and beg me to dress some sore 

 or old wound with carbolic solution. 



My orang skins caused me much trouble and anxiety, for the 

 damp, combined with the heat, made it most difficult to dry them 

 properly, and to prevent the cuticle from peeling off and the hair 

 from falling. To add to these difficulties the specimens were all 

 very fat, and it was indeed by no means an easy task to clean the 

 skins thoroughly. 



Marop is an excellent station for a zoologist, but a poor one for 

 a botanist. Wherever the Dyaks had not made rice fields, the 

 forest had been long devastated in search of rotangs, bark, and 

 timber for building houses, etc. ; and this had rendered the more 

 useful natural products scarce. I can easily understand how edible 

 wild fruits or plants of economic value can disappear, with 



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