UVAKS OF BAVJARMASSIVG 
H 
stones, of which he wears large and long pieces on his neck,—and 
Gold, with which he ornaments his teeth and wooden ear pins,—■ 
sometimes as large as a piaster,—and of which large plates are 
likewise worn by the wealthy on the breast. They are also fond 
of copper rings, which are worn in great abundance on the arms, 
principally by the women. 
In these things their whole riches generally consist, save that 
persons of consideration sometimes also possess one or more of 
those large far famed pots, of which the finest, called blanga, has 
not unfrequently a value of 2000 Guilders. But, poor or rich, 
the Dyak is generally good humoured; and if he can possibly 
manage it, and though he, with his wife and children, should re¬ 
main in debt, he must sometimes in the year kill a hog, which he, 
along with a numerous gathering of his friends, joyously devours, 
qualified with a large quantity of tuak or arrack. 
Although there are no drunkards properly so called amongst 
the Dyaks, a single person seldom remains sober at such feasts. 
The tuak is passed round in large cups, and that till the larger 
pots are emptied, or their heads are so full and giddy that they 
hardly know each other, when they become very noisy, declare 
themselves all rich ( tatau ) frolicsomely embrace each other, and 
then, talking or singing, tumble to their huts. The principal feasts 
are those named tiwa (death-feasts) which last at least seven 
days. On such occasions ten buffaloes, and about the same num¬ 
bers of pigs, are often killed. Nearly a thousand men are ga¬ 
thered, and by the time the seven days are ended, all the buffa¬ 
loes, pigs, and 20 or 25 piculs of rice, part of which is made into 
tuak, are wholly consumed. 
A chief part is played at such feasts by the blians (dancing girls): 
who, day and night, sing improvising, with all their might: and 
the olo maga liah (the conductor of the soul) who brings the 
dead, likewise singing, and, as he declares, in an iron ship, past 
hell to a good place, for which service he receives, besides his 
share of the feast, from 20 to 30 bottles. The cost of such a 
tiiva sometimes runs as high as 400 to 500 bottles, and brings 
the givers into such debt that they have speedily to become 
pawns. 
Their great superstition also costs them many sacrifices. If tbc 
