A SEA-DYAK TRADITXOI OE THE 

 DELUGE AID CONSEQUENT . 

 EVENTS. 



By the Eevd. J. Peeham. 



Once upon a time some Dyak women went to gather young 

 bamboo shoots to eat. Having got the shoots, they went along 

 the jungle, and came upon what they took to be a large tree fallen 

 to the ground ; upon this they sat, and began to pare the bamboo 

 shoots, when, to their utter amazement, the tree began to bleed. 

 At this point some men came upon the scene, and at once saw that 

 what the women were sitting upon was not a tree, but a huge boa- 

 constrictor in a state of stupor. The men killed the beast, cut it 

 up, aud took the flesh home to eat. As they were frying the pieces 

 of snake, strange noises came from the pan, and, at the same time, 

 it began to rain furiously. The rain continued until all hills, 

 except the highest, were covered, and the world was drowned 

 because the men killed and fried the snake. All mankind perished, 

 except one woman, who fled to a very high mountain. There she 

 found a dog lying at the foot of a jungle creeper, and feeling the 

 root of the creeper to be warm she thought perhaps fire might be 

 got out of it, so she took two pieces of its wood and rubbed them 

 together and obtained fire ; and thus arose the fire-drill, and the 

 first production of fire after the great flood. 



This woman and the fire-drill, to which they attribute the 

 qualities of a living being, gave birth to Simpang-impang ; who, 

 as the name implies, had only half a body, one eye, one ear, half 

 a nose, one cheek, one arm, one leg. It appears that many of the 

 animal creation found refuge in the highest mountains during the 

 flood. A certain rat, more thoughtful than the rest of his friends, 

 had contrived to preserve a handful of padi, but by some means 

 not told, Simpang got knowledge of this, and stole it from the rat ; 



