xix] A PRIMITIVE BOAT 



touch it, for the " Antus," or spirits, to whom the Mellanao had 

 dedicated the little house to obtain some favour would be irritated 

 by my profanation and seek revenge. Another time I think I shall 

 abstain from meddling with any such object, and pretend to believe 

 in what the natives tell me, but on this occasion I was determined 

 to get hold of the thing and examine it, in spite of the protests of 

 my men, and, as it turned out, I had a smart attack of fever that 

 very evening. This made me reflect that fever is easily caught in 

 Bintulu, and that the spirits must find it an easy matter to revenge 

 themselves on unbelievers. Anyhow I was sorry that, through my 

 want of faith, I had involuntarily contributed to intensify that of 

 my men in their superstitions. 



From the time I arrived at Bintulu we had heavy showers of 

 rain each day, and even on the morning of the 6th, on which I had 

 arranged to start for the Tinjar, it deluged. At Bintulu I did not 

 succeed in rinding a sampan adapted for my journey, but I was 

 told that I should certainly get one without difficulty at Pandan ; 

 so having found a boat to take me and my belongings as far as this 

 latter place, and the weather having cleared up, I finally got off 

 an hour after noon. 



When I got to Pandan, a difficulty arose with my men, who 

 now declared that they did not want to proceed to the Barram, as 

 they had just learnt that the country was no longer safe, war having 

 broken out between Tummuson and Kam Lia, two influential Kayan 

 chiefs. I thought it probable, however, that this was only a canard , 

 and later it turned out that the news had been brought by a Buketan, 

 who was evidently insane. This individual had recently arrived at 

 Pandan in a boat made of a sheet of bark. I did not see him, 

 but I saw his canoe, which was, indeed, a most primitive concern- 

 Its construction had merely required a middle-sized tree with smooth 

 tough bark devoid of cracks and easily detached from the wood, 

 and such trees abound in the forests of Borneo. The tree being- 

 selected, it is ringed with two circular incisions at the distance 

 required by the length of the canoe ; the bark between the two 

 cuts is then carefully detached for two-thirds of the entire circum- 

 ference, and has naturally the required shape. The extremities 

 are sewn up with strips of rotang, the gunwales are kept apart with 

 a couple of transverse sticks, and the canoe is ready. Should any 

 cracks appear they are closed with clay. 



I sent my guide in search of a boat, but the Orang-Kaya Laghin, 

 who was not anxious to let me have it, used every possible argument 

 to dissuade me from going to Tinjar. After much palaver I was, 

 however, able to get a decent sampan ; but when it was ready, 

 covered with the kadjans, and loaded with our supplies and luggage, 

 I found to my dismay that it would not hold us without capsizing. 

 I was thus obliged to waste more time to find a second boat in order 



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