XI] 



A STRANGE CURE 



house. The Dyaks present grinned, and whispered to me not to 

 bother, and that if I only said the word they would soon have the 

 heads of all those Chinese pigs. 



From what I could make out the diabolic influence of my deeds 

 was considered already to be at work, having prostrated an old 

 Chinaman by severe illness ; but I believe that the poor fellow was 



Fig. 30. ADULT MALE MAYAS TJAPING. 



already ailing, and suffering from an attack of typhoid fever when I 

 arrived at Marop. The Chinamen, however, had got it into their 

 heads that my orangs had reduced him to a dying condition. I 

 witnessed the singular treatment to which they subjected the poor 

 sufferer. They made him swallow two pills as big as cherries, 

 of a composition unknown to me, poking them down his throat 

 with their fingers. He was then obliged to smoke opium several 



151 



