“Oh, Amai,” said Johannes, smiling, “fever has no hold on me. When it comes I will pass it on to you.”
The Poenan was by no means pleased at this joke, the intention of passing on the fever to him was just a little too much. He however proceeded to tell his friends that in his country, the soengei Miri, gold was much more common than here. He promised to assist them in seeking it, provided they would agree to conform strictly to the usages of the craft.
This promise set them all talking about gold; they were already attacked by the fever—gold fever. [[247]]
CHAPTER XIV.
A DAYAK IRON-FOUNDRY—A PAIR OF NATIVE BELLOWS—HARIMAOUNG BOEKIT DOWN WITH FEVER—WIENERSDORF BECOMES A PHYSICIAN—JOHANNES A MAGICIAN—NEWS FROM KWALA KAPOEAS—ONCE MORE EN ROUTE—THE WIDOW’S STONE—KIHAM HOERAS AND ITS PASSAGE—HALAMANTEK.
The four friends continued sitting together till a late hour, their discourse dwelling upon the subject of gold seeking. La Cueille not feeling particularly sleepy reminded Johannes of a promise to narrate his experience of a Dayak iron-foundry.
“I am quite willing to kill another hour or so and shall be glad of the opportunity to interrupt our conversation about gold seeking, as that is a subject which only causes unnecessary excitement.
“But don’t expect to hear of processes and machinery as found in the West. A Dayak foundry is of a very primitive nature, as you will soon understand. This is what I personally saw in one of my expeditions:
“Near the spot where the ore had been originally dug and under cover of a lofty roof, the Dayak iron-founders constructed on some small natural or artificial mound a trough of plastic clay measuring about a yard in diameter. The walls of this trough——” [[248]]