BY R. S. DOUGLAS. 
23 
Government to retaliate and obtain satisfaction for 
them. 
A large pig was then produced and laid down in 
front of the seat where all the chiefs were collected, 
and one chief after another, taking a firebrand and 
slightly singing the pig’s bristles, with a loud shout 
of “ Oh Bali Boin,” meaning “ Oh spirit of the pig,” 
asked the pig to show by signs on its liver as to whether 
this proposed peace was in reality a peace and likely 
to last, or was it a temporary arrangement and only 
entered into to pacify the Government, if the latter,, 
then would Bali Boin show who were the people, 
the Kalabit under Sarawak Government or the stranger 
Ivalabit now within his gates, who were deceiving in 
this matter. If on the other hand it was a real peace 
and entered into by the different tribes with intention 
of keeping, then, if at any future date any of them 
broke this peace by murder or sudden attack, might 
the gods blast that tribe, and might they and their 
women and children die the rottenest and most igno¬ 
minious of deaths. Having thus cursed one another 
all round and having pledged one another in flowing 
bowls of rice beer, the pig was slain and the liver 
cut out and examined by experts, who said that Bali 
Boin showed that peace was to be a real and a lasting 
one, and that it would be no fault of the Government 
if it was broken. This statement produced a cheer,, 
and after certain blood-money and compensation had 
been paid over to settle up long-standing feuds between 
the various tribes, erstwhile foes fell into each others’ 
arms and entered on a drinking bout which lasted until 
the early hours of the morning. This was interspersed 
with snatches of song, as a Kayan or Kenyah chief 
toasted a Kalabit chief to the tune of the magnificent 
Kayan drinking song, and the Kalabits retaliated in 
that extraordinary rhythm of theirs: “ An do kan, do do 
kan,” the opening lines of which sound like the internal 
rumblings of a volcano, so deep down goes the singer’s 
voice. The now friendly chief, Ballang Tawi, came 
up to me at midnight and exclaimed that the omens must 
have been very good when I started on this expedition, 
and on my asking the reason why, said, on account 
of all these hitherto hostile people meeting together 
and no quarrel or fight having taken place. Hitherto 
