After the "bitchara" was over and the old chiefs gone, I asked the young men
to play or dance, or amuse themselves in their accustomed way; and after some
little hesitation they agreed to do so. They first had a trial of strength, two boys
sitting opposite each other, foot being placed against foot, and a stout stick
grasped by both their hands. Each then tried to throw himself back, so as to raise
his adversary up from the ground, either by main strength or by a sudden effort.
Then one of the men would try his strength against two or three of the boys; and
afterwards they each grasped their own ankle with a hand, and while one stood
as firm as he could, the other swung himself around on one leg, so as to strike
the other's free leg, and try to overthrow him. When these games had been
played all around with varying success, we had a novel kind of concert. Some
placed a leg across the knee, and struck the fingers sharply on the ankle, others
beat their arms against their sides like a cock when he is going to crow, this
making a great variety of clapping sounds, while another with his hand under his
armpit produced a deep trumpet note; and, as they all kept time very well, the
effect was by no means unpleasing. This seemed quite a favourite amusement
with them, and they kept it up with much spirit.
The next morning we started in a boat about thirty feet long, and only twenty-
eight inches wide. The stream here suddenly changes its character. Hitherto,
though swift, it had been deep and smooth, and confined by steep banks. Now it
rushed and rippled over a pebbly, sandy, or rocky bed, occasionally forming
miniature cascades and rapids, and throwing up on one side or the other broad
banks of finely coloured pebbles. 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 standing
up and exerting all their force. It was a brilliant day, and the cheerful exertions
of the men, the rushing of the sparkling waters, with the bright and varied
foliage, which from either bank stretched over our heads, produced an
exhilarating sensation which recalled my canoe voyages on the grander waters of
South America.
Early in the afternoon we reached the village of Borotói, and, though it would
have been easy to reach the next one before night, I was obliged to stay, as my
men wanted to return and others could not possibly go on with me without the
preliminary talking. Besides, a white man was too great a rarity to be 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 which I was invited, a crowd of sixty or
seventy men, women, and children gathered around me, and I sat for half an