46 A TRIP TO A SOURCE OF THE SARAWAK RIVER 
repeatedly telling them that now I had come so far, if I could not 
set from this place, I would from another, they withdrew. I was 
much annoyed at this, and of course the coolies were much up- 
set, half inclined to believe that the Antus had already started some 
mischief—they spent a very restless night, hardly any of them 
sleeping. In the morning I interviewed the Orang Kayah, he in- 
formed me that this information was in part correct, as the Dyaks 
here did not extend their excursions as far as this mountain ; 
but from the next village I could most likely get directions and he 
would send a coolie to take me there. After waiting for some time 
for the promised coolie, I decided to apply to my Malay friend who 
immediately directed a Dyak to act as my guide. 
We commenced the journey by wading for some distance 
down the river and then began an extremely trying and severe 
ascent of Gonong Trebong: the road although good was exposed to 
a glaring sun at a very steep incline, it was nearly two hours 
before we gained the top of the ridge on which the house is situa- 
ted, immediately below it is a spring of deliciously cold water issuing 
from a crack in the sandstone; the Dyaks told me that however dry 
the season this springnever fails. This house Lawang is extremely 
dirty and erected on the top of a very narrow ridge, the rocky sides 
of which are so steep that the only possible ascent is by ladders for 
the last fifty feet. We were greeted by a few women and children 
who directed us to the head house, which was barely large enough 
to accommodate all the coolies ; it was annoying to find that all 
the men, or any who could direct us, were away in the jungle 
and not returning till sundown, so that this necessitated a wait 
until the following day; the view from this house is impos- 
ing; on one side of the ridge Mount Bengkarum stands out 
clearly against the sky, on the other a fine stretch of country as far 
as the eye could see looking towards Sarawak with ranges of hills 
in succession. The Dyaks here area most unhealthy crowd, it was 
difficult to find a man, woman, or child, who was not affected with 
some form of skin disease or festering sores, despite the fine healthy 
situation of the house (which I found to be about two thousand 
feet above the sea level;) my Malay Mandor told me that he 
considered it due to the fact that their hill paddy is poor stuff and 
that they consume the entrails of any animal they kill. 
There were a few heads hung in the apex of the roof of 
the head house and immediately below was constructed a broad 
shelf on which any youth sleeps who may wish to shew his 
courage; a conspicuous object in all head houses of this district 
is the “sekardoo,” this is a large hollow wooden cylinder formed 
from the trunk of the Lune or other fairly light wood, varying from 
fifteen to twenty feet in length and about two feet six inches in 
diameter: over one end is tightly stretched a green hide from 
which the hair has been removed, they are slung at an angle below 
the floor of the head house, above which the hide covered end pro- 
jects a few feet the one in this particular house was certainly over 
Jour, Straits Branch 
—————— ee ee ee ee ee oe 
