that day seemed so painful that I was obliged to submit. I therefore walked out
over the rice-fields, which are here very extensive, covering a number of the
little hills and valleys into which the whole country seems broken up, and
obtained a fine view of hills and mountains in every direction.
In the evening the Orang Kaya came in full dress (a spangled velvet jacket,
but no trousers), and invited me over to his house, where he gave me a seat of
honour under a canopy of white calico and coloured handkerchiefs. The great
verandah was crowded with people, and large plates of rice with cooked and
fresh eggs were placed on the ground as presents for me. A very old man then
dressed himself in bright-coloured cloths and many ornaments, and sitting at the
door, murmured a long prayer or invocation, sprinkling rice from a basin he held
in his hand, while several large gongs were loudly beaten and a salute of
muskets fired off. A large jar of rice wine, very sour but with an agreeable
flavour, was then handed around, and I asked to see some of their dances. These
were, like most savage performances, very dull and ungraceful affairs; the men
dressing themselves absurdly like women, and the girls making themselves as
stiff and ridiculous as possible. All the time six or eight large Chinese gongs
were being beaten by the vigorous arms of as many young men, producing such
a deafening discord that I was glad to escape to the round house, where I slept
very comfortably with half a dozen smoke-dried human skulls suspended over
my head.
The river was now so shallow that boats could hardly get along. I therefore
preferred walking to the next village, expecting to see something of the country,
but was much disappointed, as the path lay almost entirely through dense
bamboo thickets. The Dyaks get two crops off the ground in succession; one of
rice, and the other of sugar-cane, maize, and vegetables. The ground then lies
fallow eight or ten years, and becomes covered with bamboos and shrubs, which
often completely arch over the path and shut out everything from the view.
Three hours' walking brought us to the village of Senankan, where I was again
obliged to remain the whole day, which I agreed to do on the promise of the
Orang Kaya that his men should next day take me through two other villages
across to Senna, at the head of the Sarawak River. I amused myself as I best
could till evening, by walking about the high ground near, to get views of the
country and bearings of the chief mountains. There was then another public
audience, with gifts of rice and eggs, and drinking of rice wine. These Dyaks
cultivate a great extent of ground, and supply a good deal of rice to Sarawak.
They are rich in gongs, brass trays, wire, silver coins, and other articles in which
a Dyak's wealth consists; and their women and children are all highly