Ran away from the Dutch

by M. T. H. Perelaer

This contract concluded, work commenced. The raft being fastened by a second rope, the cable was loosened from the tree and carried by a djoekoeng up the stream as far as it would reach, when it was attached to another tree. The capstan was again manned and the raft thus worked further up stream against the tide. This manœuvre was repeated again and again with success. One can imagine the difficulty of the task, especially to the Europeans, who were quite unused to that kind of work; but it gave them a clear insight into the activity of the people among whom they found themselves, and exhibited the fertility of resource possessed by the children of nature.

The raft on which they now stood consisted of two hundred logs of timber of excellent quality tied firmly together by rattan cables. A floor was laid over these logs and in the centre of the raft a roomy hut was constructed. Under a roof extending from the sides of this hut the products were safely housed. The raft carried nearly four thousand trusses of rattan, a couple of thousand gantangs of rosin, a hundred pikols of bees-wax, twenty pikols of India rubber and a small parcel of birds’ nests. The last two Bapa Andong had exchanged for bees-wax with some traders from the upper country. The other goods were the products of his own labor. The rattan had been cut in the surrounding [[115]]soengeis, the rosin was partly gathered from the trees and partly collected along the banks of the river.

It was quite evening when the raft shot the last projection and the entrance of the channel which forms the junction between the lake and the river became visible. The crew was exhausted with fatigue, rest was accordingly absolutely necessary. As there was no earthly possibility of steering the raft through the narrow canal in the darkness they moored it to the shore, after which part of the crew landed to clear the ground for some distance, so as to command an unobstructed view of the surrounding country. The shrubs and trees thus cut down were formed into a kind of entrenchment at the edge of the clearing to prevent the possibility of a surprise. They further divided their men into two watches, who would alternately take duty and keep a lookout, Johannes taking care that he and La Cueille should remain with one party while the two Swiss would join the other division.

As soon as daylight appeared our travellers resumed their labors, and after an hour’s hard toil the raft was steered into the channel. The sun had nearly risen above the horizon when they had their craft safely moored against the landing-stage to receive the rest of its cargo. The lading was executed so rapidly that by the afternoon everything was ready on board for the resumption of their journey.

But a considerable task had yet to be accomplished. Since Bapa Andong had originally begun collecting his forest products, a work which had occupied him about six months, hundreds of swarms of bees had made their nests in the trees growing on the western [[116]]bank of the lake. The trees chosen by these little insects are high, with straight and smooth trunks and far spreading branches. The Dayaks call these wood-giants “tanggirang,” and in favorable seasons from two to three hundred bees’ nests may be found in a single tree. From the moment Bapa Andong first observed these industrious insects commencing their labor he had begun to make his preparations for collecting their produce at the proper time. He had daily driven spikes of hard wood into each tree at a distance of about a foot and a half, until these primitive ladders reached the lower branches. The task took him a long time to complete, but it could not be hastened as the continuous hammering at the spikes would undoubtedly have disturbed the bees and rendered an attack from them certain.

His hirelings now cleared the ground around the trees of every shrub and weed; and all being ready for action they awaited a favorable opportunity to commence operations. This soon came.

It was a boisterous night and the wind blew as if determined to uproot every tree; the sky was covered with thick clouds and the darkness was so great that everything seemed as if enveloped in black. They were now seventeen men in all, including Bapa Andong’s son and the six hirelings found on the borders of the lake. By means of the canoe belonging to our adventurers and of the two additional djoekoengs, they crossed the foaming waters of the lake to the other side where the bee trees stood. Arrived there they stepped ashore and spread large linen sheets on four posts in such a manner that the corners being raised up they formed monster sacks. When these were ready they set fire to some previously prepared torches of green resinous wood, [[117]]of which each Dayak took one and rapidly mounted the ladders. Only one man climbed each tree, while Bapa Andong with the four Europeans kept watch in the dark beneath rifles in hand.

The hirelings mounted rapidly and began to beat the numerous nests. The bees, as if determined to drown the noise of the raging storm, came out buzzing loudly to attack the intruders, but blinded by the light of the torches and suffocated by the smoke they were driven rapidly away by the violent storm and fell by hundreds of thousands on the other side of the lake. As soon as the swarms had disappeared the men, armed with bamboo knives, eagerly commenced to free the nests from the branches and to drop them into the sacks beneath. All this took but little time to accomplish and the men had already descended ere the Europeans recovered from their astonishment. The sight of those naked brown figures with flowing locks rapidly mounting the trees under the faint glimmer of their torches, their bodies bending over the branches high up in the air, the torches moving to and fro and enveloping everything in a dark smoke; the noise of the storm and the hum of the millions of bees—all these seemed so surprising, so weird, that they could fancy themselves to be dreaming but for the numerous nests dripping with honey which lay at their feet.

“They are brave fellows!” La Cueille burst forth.

“With quickness and dexterity, combined with cool calculation,” remarked Schlickeisen, “not a single accident has happened to mar the undertaking.”