xix] . THE BELLAGA HILLS 



both by the eve and the palate, was quite sufficient to content all 

 my patients. 



That evening we retired to sleep in the lanko, taking care to 

 draw up the notched pole which served as its staircase, for we had 

 been told that the country was insecure, and that head-hunting- 

 parties of Dyaks were prowling about. But at the time I was too 

 voung and too thoughtless to bother much about any such danger ; 

 indeed, I may say that an adventure of this kind with Dyaks would 

 rather have pleased me, and as to my Kayans they were quite 

 excited at the idea of the possibility of such a thing, for they had 

 great faith in my rifle, believing that the bullet, once fired, will 

 follow the person aimed at until it has overtaken and killed him. I 

 always slept with a revolver and a parang-ilang in my waistband, 

 and my gun within reach. 



The Kayans are not head-hunters in the true sense of the term. 

 I mean that they do not collect heads or skulls as trophies, and 

 they have not got, as have the Land-Dyaks, special head-houses. 

 However, even with them to obtain a head is a highly appreciated 

 proof of bravery, and, as I have already said, confers the right to 

 certain marks of distinction. 



We had decided to leave early on the 20th in order to reach 

 the landing place where the overland journey was to commence, 

 but the rain during the night had swollen the river, and we found 

 it very hard work paddling against the current. Towards evening 

 we reached a lanko where, as my men were worn out and the current 

 was still very strong, we decided to stay for the night, although the 

 fangkalan, or landing place, was quite near. 



It did not rain in the night, and next morning we found that 

 the waters had greatly decreased. One might almost say that these 

 streams are subject to daily periodical floods, like tides ; for their 

 waters rise and fall at short intervals, in consequence of the violent 

 and sudden rain which falls nearly every day. In Borneo rain is 

 so heavy and the quantity of water which falls is so great thai 

 floods are very sudden, and the levels of the streams vary consider- 

 ably within the space of a few hours. This may be the cause of 

 the special adaptation already mentioned in plants growing on the 

 banks of these torrential rivers (Fig. 51). 



In another half-hour we came to the landing place, and 

 began our march. For some distance our path was simply the 

 bed of the torrent, here no longer navigable. Our direction was 

 generally south-east. We climbed a hill about 600 feet high, and 

 descended the opposite slope in an easterly direction, crossing several 

 torrents which ran into the Sepakko, an affluent of the Bellaga. 

 The hill we crossed was thus the true water-parting between the 

 basins of the Bintulu and the Baloi. 



Our road lay mostly through primeval forest, where I saw many 



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