IN BORNEAN FORESTS [chap. 



uses his chopsticks. I preferred to have my knife and fork and 

 spoon brought, and did my best to do honour to my hosts, though 

 at the same time I took good care to choose only the least suspicious 

 of the dishes. 



On this occasion I was able to note the complete democracy 

 that obtains in these Chinese societies. Even the head-man is 

 elected by a majority of votes ; he may be a mere workman, but 

 he must have proved himself to be a keen and able business man. 

 But in the case of my friend the Kunsi at Marop, however, I did not 

 remark that he was the most laborious of the community, though 

 he certainly smoked the most opium. This, nevertheless, did not 

 deprive him of the requisite qualities for holding his post. He 

 looked intelligent, and was certainly treated with respect by all 

 his dependants, who, however, were on a footing of the most perfect 

 equality. 



Apart from all that is undoubtedly true regarding the use, or 

 rather abuse, of opium, I have observed generally throughout my 

 wanderings that the principal Chinese merchants, the richest, 

 most influential, and most successful in business, are all great smokers 

 of opium. The vice appears to show its pernicious effects more on 

 the physique than on the intelligence. The state of torpidity it 

 induces may, I think, be compared to a kind of somnambulism 

 attended with fantastic visions, during which ideas manifest them- 

 selves in multiform aspects, and disconnected, as it were, from the 

 material world. It might truly be said, quoting our great poet, 

 that during that peculiar lethargic condition caused by opium — 



... la mente nostra pellegrina 

 Men dalla carne, e piu dai pensier presa 

 Nelle sue vision quasi e divina. 



I never personally experimented on the effects of opium smoking, 

 but a rich Bugis at Makassar used to tell me that he appreciated 

 the habit because it " exalted his intelligence " — " naik kira-kira", 

 as he expressed it. 



To me it does not appear utterly impossible that the nerve 

 stimulants which have been used by Man in a remote past may 

 have exercised an important influence on the development of his 

 intelligence. I do not, therefore, think it unlikely that opium, just 

 as wine, may have contributed to the evolution of new and original 

 ideas in those ancient inhabitants of Central Asia, and that some 

 of the many useful inventions which have come to us from the Far 

 East may have had their first rudiments of existence in the dreamy 

 visions of some opium eater. 



For several days I had no more specimens of Mayas, and I suspect 

 that the Kunsi had forbidden the Chinese hunters to get me any 

 more, hoping thus to induce me to leave. But if that was his inten- 



154 



