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, thus 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 fbet
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 k
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
Borotoi, 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 round me,>and I sat for half
an hour like some strange animal submitted for the first
time to the gaze of an inquiring public. Brass rings were
here in the greatest profusion, many of the women having
their arms completely covered with them, as well as their
legs from the ankle to the knee. Bound the waist they
wear a dozen or more coils of fine rattan stained red, to
which the petticoat is attached. Below this are generally
a number of coils of brass wire, a girdle of small silver
coins, and sometimes a broad belt of brass ring armour.
On their heads they wear a conical hat without a crown,
formed of variously coloured beads, kept in shape by rings
of rattan, and forming a fantastic but not unpicturesque
head-dress.
Walking out to a small hill near the village, cultivated
as a rice-field, I had a fine view of the country, which was