68 



BORNEO. 



[CHAJP. V. 



bed, occasionally forming raiiiiature cascades and rapids, 

 and throwing up on ono .side or the other broad banks of 

 finely coloured pebUes, No paddling could make way 

 here, but the Dyaks with bamboo poles propelled us along 

 with great dexterity and swiftness, never losing their 

 balance in such a narrow and unsteady vessel, though 

 Bt^tnding up aud exerting all their force. It was a brilliant 

 day, and the cheerful exertions of tlie men, the mshing oi 

 the spiirkling waters, with the bright and varied foHagtf 

 which from either bank sti-etclted over our heads, produced 

 an exhilaratintj; sensation which recalled my canoe voyages 

 on the gi-ander watei-s of Souiii America. 



Early in the aftemoon we readied the village of 

 Borot6i, and, though it would have been easy to reach tlie 

 next one befoie night, I was obliged to stay, as iny m<;n 

 wanted to return and otbei's could not possibly go on with 

 me without the preliminary talking. Besides, a white man 

 was too gi'eat a rarity to lie allowed to escape them, and 

 their wives would never have forgiven them if, when they 

 returned from the fields, they found that such a curiosity 

 had not been kept for them to see. On entering the house 

 to wliich I was invited, a crowd of sixty or seventy men, 

 women, and children gathered round me, and I sat for half 

 an hour like some strajige animal submitted for the first 

 time to the gaze of an iuquii-ing public. Brass rings were 

 here in the greatest profusion, niany t>f the women having 

 their arms completely covered with them, as w ell as their 

 legs from the ankle to the knee. liound the waist they 

 wear a dozen or more coils of fine rattan stained red, to 

 wliich the petticoat is attached. Below this are generally 

 a number of coils of brass wire, a girdle of small silver 

 coins, and sometimes a broad belt of brass ring armour. 

 On their heads they wear a conical hat without a crown, 

 formed of variously coloured beads, kept in 3hai>e by rings 

 of rattan, and forming a fantastic biit not unpicturest^uo 

 head-dress. 



Walking out to a small hill near the village, cultivated 

 as a rice-field, I had a fine view of tlie country, which was 

 becoming quite hiUy, and towards the south, mountainous. 

 I took bearings and sketches of all that was visible, an 

 operation which caused much astonishment to the Dyaks 



