— 107 — 



have a jacket with short sleeves, Avhich they put on over their heads; the 

 lower part of their body is surrounded with a pieee of cloth. Formerly they 

 used plantain-leaves as plates, but since they trade with the Chinese, they 

 have gradually begun to use earthenware. They also like very rnuch earthen 

 jars with dragons outside; when they die they are put into such a jar and 

 buried in this way. 



They detest adultery and he who commits it , is punished with death ; 

 when a Chinese has intercourse with one of their girls , they cut off his hair 

 and give him the girl as a wife , never allowing him to return to his country. 



Far in the interior there is a village called Wu-lung-li-tan (*), where 

 the people all have tails ; when they see other men, they cover their face with 

 their hands and run away ; their country is rich in gold-dust and when nier- 

 chants carry goods there to trade with them, they give a sign by beating 

 a small copper drum (gong), lay their goods down upon the ground and 

 step back about ten feet. These people then come forward and when they 

 see something which suits their fancy , they put some gold at the side of it ; 

 if the owner tells them from his distance that he is prepared to sell it at 

 that price, they take up the article and go away, if not, they collect their 

 gold again and go home, without talking any further with each other. 



The products of the country are rhinoceros-horns , peacocks, parrots, 

 gold-dust, crane-crests , wax, rattan-mats, chillies, dragons-blood , nutmegs, 

 deer-hides and so on. 



In the neighbourhood are the Beadjoos ( 2 ), who are of a ferocious dis- 

 position and go out in the middle of the night to cut off people's heads, 

 which they carry away and adorn with gold ; therefore the traders fear them 

 very much and at night carefully mount guard to await them. 



The last king of Bandjermasin was a good man, who treated the 

 merchants very favourably ; he had thirty one sons and fearing that they 

 might molest the merchant-vessels , he did not allow them to go out. His 

 wife was the daughter of a Beadjoo chieftain and a son of her succeeded his 

 father; this man listened to the words of his mother's relatives, began to 

 oppress the trade and owed much money to the traders , which he did never 

 pay. After this the number of those who visited the country gradually di" 

 minished. 



( x ) & §P Eff \wj O-lang-li-tan, according to the Pukien pronunciation. 



(■*) W P EJ^ 3i Be-oa-dziu , according to the I\ikien pronunciation. A large tribe of 

 Dayaks (aborigines) in the interior. 



