The Malay archipelago : the land of the orang-utan ... - Wallace Online

I52 THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [chap.The next morning we started in a boat about thirty feet long,and only twenty-eight inches wide. The stream liere suddenlychanges its character. Hitherto, though swift, it had been deepand smooth, and confined by steep banks. Now it rushed andrippled over a pebbly, sandy, or rocky bed, occasionally formingminiature cascades and rapids, and throwing up on one side orthe other broad banks of finely coloured pebbles. No paddlingcould make way here, but the Dyaks with bamboo poles propelledus along with great dextei^ity and swiftness, never losingtheir balance in sucli a narrow and unsteady vessel, thoughstanding up and exerting all their force. It was a brilliant day,and the clieerful exertions of the men, tlie rushing of thesparkling waters, witli the bright and varied foliage which fromeither bank stretched over our heads, produced an exhilaratingsensation whicli recalled my canoe voyages on the grander watersof South America.Early in the afternoon we reached the \'illage of Borotdi, and,though it would have been easy to reach the next one beforenight, I was obliged to stay, as my men wanted to return andothers could not possibly go on with me without the preliminarytalking. Besides, a white man was too great a rarity to beallowed to escape them, and their wives would never haveforgiven them if, when they returned from the fields, theyfound that such a curiosity had not been kept for them to see.On entering the house to which I was invited, a crowd of sixtyor seventy men, women, and children gathered round me, and Isat for half an hour like some strange animal submitted for thefirst time to the gaze of an inquiring public. Brass rings werehere in the greatest profusion, many of the women having theirarms completely covered with them, as well as their legs fromthe ankle to the knee. Bound the waist they wear a dozen ormore coils of fine rattan stained red, to which the petticoat isattached. Below this are generally a number of coils of brasswire, a girdle of small silver coins, and sometimes a broad beltof brass ring armour. On their heads they wear a conical hatwithout a crown, formed of variously coloured beads, kept inshape by rings of rattan, and forming a fantastic but not unpicturesquehead-dress.Walking out to a small hill near the village, cultivated as arice-field, I had a fine view of the country, which was becomingcjuite hilly, and towards the south, mountainous. I took bearingsand sketches of all that was visible, an operation whichcaused much astonishment to the Dyaks who accompanied me,and produced a request to exhibit the compass when I returned.I was then surrounded by a larger crowd than before, and whenI took my evening meal in the midst of a circle of about ahundred spectators anxiously observing every movement andcriticising eveiy mouthful, my thouglits involuntarily recurredto the lions at feeding time. Like those noble animals, I toowas used to it, and it did not aftect my appetite. The children