xiii.] TRIAL BY WATER 



they chatter for hours, squatting on their heels near the fire with their 

 hands stretched out towards the blaze. 



I noticed but few fruit trees near the village, and not a single 

 cultivated palm except a stray betel here and there. Near the house 

 were only bananas and a little sugar, growing promiscuously. I 

 have observed that only on hills and in positions not easily accessible 

 are fruit-trees abundant around native houses. The scarcity of 

 such trees may be accounted for by the frequency with which 

 Dyaks change their place of residence, abandoning the house in 

 which they have lived for a few years, and constructing a new one 

 in a place they think more convenient. Another reason may be 

 sought in the constant hostilities between the various tribes, during 

 which the more accessible villages are captured and destroyed 

 from time to time, and the fruit-trees growing round them cut 

 down. 



It continued to rain till late in the afternoon. During a cessa- 

 tion of the downpour I sent men to search for my missing boats, 

 but without result. 



In the house where I awaited the return of decent weather, 

 there were, for the time being, only women and children. All the 

 men were away, assembled to witness one of the most singular of 

 Dyak customs. Two young men were rival aspirants to the hand 

 of a girl, and a challenge had in consequence been issued. The 

 victor would be the one who managed to remain longest under 

 water. This singular kind of duel is not peculiar to the Kantu 

 Dyaks, but is also practised by the Batang Lupar, Seribas, and 

 other tribes in Sarawak. 



The method of procedure is as follows. Each champion names 

 his two seconds, and a spot is then chosen in the river where the 

 water is about three or four feet in depth. Here two poles are fixed 

 vertically in the stream a little distance apart. At a given signal 

 the two champions fling themselves together under water, each one 

 keeping his nostrils closed with one hand, while he holds on to his 

 pole with the other, keeping it right over his head in order to prevent 

 himself from rising to the surface. At the first sign one of the two 

 gives of becoming asphyxiated, the seconds, who are close by, take 

 both from the water. Usually neither of the two would come to 

 the surface of his own will, and would drown himself rather than 

 acknowledge his defeat, it being with them a point of honour not to be 

 beaten in a proof of this kind. Thus it is always the seconds and 

 spectators who haul them out when they are half drowned. This 

 they do secundum artem, and, holding them up by the feet, head 

 downwards, endeavour to make them reject the water they have swal- 

 lowed. The one who first comes round is declared the victor, and has 

 the right to demand a recognition of his prowess. This often takes 

 the shape of one of those ancient vases which are so highly prized 



177 N 



