THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



143 



pests, the sand-fly, 

 like our minges, were 

 lacking. 



It rained all night, 

 the river rising about 

 three feet; but the 

 dawn came clear, en- 

 abling us to get break- 

 fast and proceed in 

 comfort. Less than 

 a n hour's paddling 

 brought us to the large 

 Kayan house of Tama 

 Ding — a quiet, pleas- 

 ant old man, who, I 

 was sorry to learn, 

 died a few months 

 after my visit. 



MINISTERING TO TAT- 

 TOO VICTIMS 



I found several peo- 

 ple ill of fever, doubt- 

 less following the end 

 of the rainy season, 

 and I dispensed quan- 

 tities of quinine pills, 

 of which one must al- 

 ways take a large sup- 

 ply for the natives. 



Many of the young 

 girls had recently had 

 their legs tattooed in 

 a fine lace design, 

 which gives the ap- 

 pearance at a distance 

 of dark stockings ; the 

 Kayans are skillful in 

 this art, but the flesh 

 had swollen and my 

 store of vaseline was 

 much in demand. 



One girl came to 

 me with an arm badly swollen to the 

 shoulder, clearly the result of infection. 

 To my question if she had cut her finger, 

 she first denied it, thinking it not worth 

 mentioning, but finally acknowledged that 

 she had done so, when I asked the reason 

 for the piece of rag tied about it. She 

 showed great amazement at my unac- 

 countable knowledge, when I remarked 

 that she had probably been cleaning a 

 fish when she cut her finger. 



As there was nothing, of course, that I 

 could do, I contented myself with putting 



MIGI, A HANDSOME DA YAK YOUTH, WHO WAS ONE OP THE 

 PARTY OF SEVEN ON THE TRIP TO MT. MULU 



"Migi was a companionable, good-natured little fellow, with velvety 

 brown skin, a laughing face, and boyish figure — a constant stimulus 

 to the good spirits of the party" (see text, page 142). 



a little vaseline on the tiny cut, express- 

 ing the belief that the arm would prob- 

 ably be well in ten days or so. It was a 

 very safe guess, for it is surprising from 

 what wounds and infections these people 

 can recover with no treatment whatever, 

 while, on the other hand, a white man 

 will find that insect bites and cuts become 

 infected and make bad sores unless anti- 

 septic precautions are continually em- 

 ployed. 



When, a week later, I called at Tama 

 Ding's house on my way down river, I 



