4 A TRIP TO MT. PENRISSEN, SARAWAK. 



hat known as " Bok tunibis;" this was cylindrical, narrower at 

 the top than at the bottom, 9 inches in height, made of coloured 

 beads strung- in striking- patterns on five threads of rotan, the 

 whole strengthened with uprights of thicker rotan. The top 

 was open, and through the aperture the wearer — always a 

 woman — pulls her hair, allowing it to stream out on all sides, it 

 is only worn in dances during the annual harvest feast; the men 

 on such occasions sometimes wear a necklet of tiger-cat's teeth 

 alternated with the teeth of bats, squirrels and such like small 

 deer. Besides elegantly-carved wooden handles for their 

 parangs, baskets woven from ivtan, without any distinctive 

 pattern, and small oval wooden boxes for powder and shot, I 

 could discover no other article which these people make. 



That evening we held a great " bichara, " and after over- 

 riding the almost countless objections to carry our baggage 

 raised by one man after another, we en leavoured to get infor- 

 mation concerning the summit of the mountain, its conformation, 

 the water-supply, the animals and birds, and such like matters : 

 many yarns were spun to us, and we received a large amount of 

 information which subsequently proved to be mainly erroneous. 

 Though Penrissen is the hunting ground of these Seunahs, but 

 few had ascended to any considerable altitude, so they compen- 

 sated for their lack of the knowledge we wanted by unlimited 

 romancing. Though we rose early next morning, it was nine 

 o'clock before we could make a start on our march to the 

 mountain ; our thirty to forty coolies wanted to take only the 

 lightest loads, whilst we naturally wanted them to take those 

 things which we needed most, leaving the rest to follow with 

 further detachments of coolies from outlying villages, and the 

 apportioning of weights was a long task. At length we made 

 a move, and after wading across the river began our tramp. 

 The way lay through old deserted padi farms overgrown with 

 a dense but scrubby jungle; the country was undulating' in the 

 extreme, and the path the merest track, a foot or less in breadth, 

 at frequent intervals interrupted by bamboo bridges and ba- 

 tangs, for the most part rotten. As the heat was intense we 

 famd walking very trying and difficult, and were glad at 

 twelve o'clock to rest and discuss a meal. At one o'clock 

 we were on again, and soon reached the lower slopes of the 



