IN BORNE AN FORESTS [chap. 



tion or form of any part of the body, except those of pathological 

 origin, I take to be the result of hereditary influences, for I have 

 little or no faith in the acquisition of new characters in the present 

 period of evolution. 



Perhaps albinos and fair-haired persons in tropical countries 

 serve to show how, from little-known but climatic influences, a dark 

 race may assume the complexion of Northern races ; or possibly 

 the phenomenon is merely a case of a return to a character possessed 

 by a remote ancestor, traces, in short, of interbreeding with a race 

 different from that which now occupies the country. The girls at 

 Aboi were the handsomest I had seen amongst the Dyaks ; fair 

 in complexion, with full, rounded forms and busts, and none of 

 the usual angularities. 



Hitherto we had been going through flat country under the 

 usual Dyak cultivation, which consists in not replanting rice in a 

 field before an interval of six or seven years after its first sowing. 

 Now hills reappeared, and the river was more broken and torrent - 

 like, the water was shallower and the banks more picturesque. 

 We passed the night of the 23rd at the mouth of the Sungei Matto, 

 one of the branches of the Kanowit, and next day continued 

 our ascent of the latter river. The country was populous. We 

 passed numerous Dyak house- villages, partly hidden by areca 

 palms and big fruit-trees. At each house, or village, as it may 

 aptly be called, they invited us to stay ; indeed, at each they wished 

 me to pass the night, which would have pleased my Dyaks greatly, 

 but I was too anxious to get on with my journey to accede. 



The bright complexions of the Kanowit Dyaks are no doubt 

 the effect of their prosperous condition, the abundance of food they 

 have, and the salubrity of the country ; but not a little must 

 also be owing to their frequent ablutions. Indeed, we never passed 

 one of these houses without seeing a lot of women and children 

 bathing in the river. After the bath the women rub their bodies 

 all over with the root of a Zingiber or of a Curcuma, which gives a 

 yellow tint to the skin, and to my eyes was far from adding to their 

 beauty, making them look as if they were suffering from a severe 

 attack of jaundice. The colour is, however, easily removed by a 

 wash. I do not know whether this part of the toilette of the 

 Kanowit ladies has a hygienic object, or whether it is adopted from 

 aesthetic reasons. 



That morning we saw on a branch projecting over the river 

 a beautiful bird, called burong paftu by the natives. The feathers 

 are thick and peculiarly soft, black on the breast, brilliant carmine 

 on the abdomen, and light brown on the back. It is the Pyrotrogon 

 kasumba, and one of the birds whose appearance is considered a 

 good omen by the Dyaks, especially if they are starting for a 

 munsu," or head-hunting expedition. But to meet it is always 



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