IN BORNEAN FORESTS [chap. 



serious matter. A tree growing in a suitable position and of proper 

 size was selected, and it was soon cut down in such a manner as to 

 fall across the stream. This took us about an hour, and we were 

 soon across, I was going to say, dry shod, but the traveller in Borneo 

 seldoms find himself in this condition. Farther on we had again 

 to cross the Kantu in order to avoid a long round ; but here the 

 water was less deep, and by holding on together in a chain we 

 managed to ford it in safety. The current, however, was very 

 rapid, and I certainly should have lost my footing had I not been 

 supported by my Dyaks. After this crossing we followed the 

 right bank of the stream, our path being smooth and well shaded 

 by old forest, which only ceased when we approached the village 

 of Kantu, where we arrived early in the afternoon. 



The Dyak house-village of Kantu was the finest which I had yet 

 seen in Borneo ; finer than Ruma Unggam, but built in the same 

 style. Its length was ioo paces, it was on very high piles, and the 

 covered front divisions were so lofty that one could walk beneath 

 without having to stoop, as is usually the case in Dyak houses. 



The women here were engaged in preparing cotton and to- 

 bacco. The leaves of the latter while still green are laid together 

 in bundles and cut up in very fine shreds previous to being dried 

 in the sun. They undergo no preliminary preparation and are not 

 fermented, so that the Dyak tobacco is very mild and has little 

 fragrance. 



The Dyak women separate the cotton from the seed with an 

 apparatus they call " Pennigi." This consists of two wooden cylin- 

 ders fixed close together in a frame so as to revolve on their own 

 axes, one one way, the other the other, like a laminator. Each is 

 turned by a separate handle. One woman takes a handful of the 

 cotton which is to be cleaned and puts it between the cylinders, at 

 the same time turning one handle, whilst another woman turns the 

 other in the opposite direction. The cotton passes through, but 

 the seeds fall to the ground. The Malays have a somewhat similar 

 apparatus, which they call " Putaran," but it is constructed on a 

 different principle. 



After it has been freed from the seeds the Dyak women spin the 

 cotton, the instrument employed being a large wheel which, turned 

 by a handle, sets in rapid motion a very small one, the two being 

 connected by an endless cord. In the centre of the little wheel is fixed 

 a horizontal spindle, on which the cotton is spun and twisted. 

 This form of instrument is found throughout all Asia, from Palestine 

 to Japan, and has probably been the origin of all the modern 

 systems of cotton-spinning. 



On the tenth of May, not having been able to get any boats at 

 Kantu, we continued our journey on foot, following the stream down 

 its course, and finding its banks rather thickly populated. 



174 



