xvm] THE TUBAO 



filamentous rootlets hung from the branches to the surface of the 

 water, where they assumed the appearance of enormous floating 

 wigs. There was not a trace of the presence of Man, and Nature 

 asserted herself in all her savage beauty and grandeur. These are 

 the spots which I delight in, and which offer the richest harvest to 

 the collector ; but I could hardly spare the time to examine the 

 vegetation carefully, for I hoped to reach the Kay an village that, 

 evening. Suddenly we heard the distant sound of gongs, which 

 told us that some one was coming down the river, and shortly after, 

 on turning a projecting point, we met Pangerang Rio, a Malay in 

 the Sarawak Government service, on his way back to Bintulu. He 

 had gone up the river by order of the Resident, Mr. Houghton, to 

 acquaint the Tubao Kayans of my coming. 



It was half-past four in the afternoon when we left the Bintulu 

 and entered the Tubao. I had wished to reach the Kayan village 

 before nightfall ; but even in the Tubao the current was strong — on 

 account of the rain of the preceding day — and after an hour's paddling 

 my men were done, and persuaded me to rest for the night at a small 

 isolated hut which we had come to. 



This was a Kayan hut, and, although no one was there, contained 

 the usual furniture and utensils of such habitations. The Kayans 

 are not afraid that their houses will be robbed if left without anyone 

 to guard them, at least, in peaceful times, for they have a plan which 

 effectually prevents this, though it is doubtful whether it would be 

 as successful in our more civilised countries. When the owners of 

 a house are obliged to absent themselves and leave it to take care 

 of itself, they place certain tokens in visible places which cause 

 their property to be respected by anjf casual visitor of their own 

 nationality. Thus, opposite the house which we now entered, a 

 stone was suspended by a strip of rotang to a pole as a warning to 

 any prospective ill-doer that his head would pay for any object 

 taken away and appropriated by him. Apparently the same 

 signification was to be attributed to a piece of wood cut in the 

 shape of a parang, which was also suspended from a pole near some 

 planks of bilian or iron-wood lying outside the hut. 



I believe that it is not so much the fear of material punishment 

 which causes this form of tabu to be so strictly respected as that 

 of the malediction which, on setting up these charms, the pro- 

 prietor pronounces against the transgressor audacious enough to 

 possess himself of objects placed under ftamali, or mattang, as the 

 Malays term it. 



The river here had overflowed its banks and deposited quantities 

 of vegetable detritus around the hut, which I searched through, 

 taking advantage of the remaining daylight. My search was amply 

 rewarded, and I collected quite a number of small land shells and 

 insects, especially micro-Coleoptera, b 1 ' ., unfortunately, all these 



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