Diñgun came on board to hear more particular news of his family, and was shocked on being informed of the death of his brother: he told me he should return home in about five months. Two years ago, he and a party of thirty started from Kanowit, and proceeded up the Rejang, amusing themselves with the Kayans; they then pushed on and crossed over to Baram, where they had remained guests of the principal chiefs. He and his companions were easily distinguished from their neighbours by their profuse tatooing. I was enabled to give him some information about his father, his brothers, and his four children; about his wife, I do not remember that he inquired.
The Baram is said to abound in alligators, but they are evidently not very dangerous, as the women and children bathed daily opposite the ship. Strength of current, two knots per hour.
Next morning, the chiefs came on board. I will give their names as a curiosity:—Tamawan, Siñgauding, Kum Lia, the hero of the Blait surprise, Si Matau, Longapan, and Longkiput, with some hundreds of followers. They were charmed to be allowed freely to inspect the vessel. Tamawan looks a savage, and doubtless is one: he had on but little dress—a waistcloth of about two fathoms of gray shirting, a handkerchief tossed over his shoulder, and a head-dress of dark cloth. He is but slightly tatooed, having a couple of angles on his breast, a few stars on his arms, his hands as far as the joints of his fingers, and a few fanciful touches about his elbows; his ears were bored and then drawn down by leaden weights, as is the fashion among the Kanowits; the tops of his ears were also bored, and the long teeth of the tiger-cat stuck through them like a pair of turn-down horns. And such was the dress and appearance of nearly all but a few young men, who wore jackets of a variety of colours, with an equal variety of trimmings. Tamawan was a small man, but Simatau and Siñgauding were hulking fellows; they were all strong or wiry-looking men, capable of much fatigue; their countenances, on the whole, were pleasant. I took them down to inspect the machinery, and my Bornean followers were their guides to show them all the other wonders on board, particularly the large thirty-two pounder gun, which greatly excited their respect. Kum Lia, who is the son-in-law of Kum Nipa, of Rejang, whom I have mentioned as the chief we intended to visit, when we were stopped by the small-pox having broken out in his country, stayed after the others to inquire about his family. He remembered the name of Niblett, who commanded the Phlegethon when it called at Bintulu in 1847.
In the evening I visited Siñgauding at his house. I should like to have taken up my residence on shore, but they were desirous to make so many preparations that I gave up the idea, as our stay would necessarily be short, although I was anxious to observe them more closely.
Our talk was at first about steamers, balloons, and rockets, of which they had heard much from the Borneans. They particularly wished to know if we had a telescope that could discover the hidden treasures of the earth, as they had heard we possessed one that showed mountains in the moon.
I was unfortunate in the medium through which I obtained my information. The Bornean interpreters are only anxious on the subject of trade; and being Mahomedans always laugh at the superstitions of the wild tribes. I therefore give, with some hesitation, what they told me concerning their religion. They said the name of their god was Totaduñgan, and he was the supreme ruler who created, and now reigned over all; that he had a wife, but no children; beneath him were many other inferior powers. They believed in a future life, with separate places for the souls of the good and of the bad; that their heaven and hell were divided into many distinct residences; that those who died from wounds, from sickness, or were drowned, went each to separate places. If a woman died before her husband, she went to the other world and married. On the death of her husband, if he came to the same world, she repudiated her ghostly partner and returned to him who had possessed her on earth.
Siñgauding’s house was of a similar construction to those of the Sea Dayaks, very long, with a broad, covered verandah, as a public room, and a sleeping-place for the bachelors, while off it were separate apartments for the married people, the young girls, and children. The roof was of shingle, the posts of heavy wood, the flooring of long and broad rough planks, the partitions of the same material, with small doors about two feet above the floor, leading into the inner rooms.
Every Kayan chief of consideration possesses a kind of seat formed from the Tapang tree. It is, in fact, a huge slab, cut out of the buttress of that lofty tree; and this seat descends from father to son, till it is polished and black with age. Siñgauding gave me one, measuring ten feet six inches by six feet six inches. It was made into a very handsome dining-table, but was unfortunately burnt during the Chinese insurrection of 1857. When Siñgauding heard of this, he determined to send me another that should throw the former into the shade; and I heard that the one selected was fifteen feet by nine. Up to August, 1861, it had not reached me, as all the Malay traders declared their boats were too small to receive it.
Near the spot where we sat conversing were open baskets, hung near the fire-places, containing the human heads they had captured. The house certainly did not look cheerful; but I saw it under unfavourable circumstances—a dark evening with constant drizzling rain.
As yet, I have seen but the few women who bathe opposite to the ship. They are generally tatooed from the knee to the waist, and wear but a cloth like a handkerchief hung round the body, and tucked in at one side above the hip, leaving a portion of the thigh visible. When bathing, their tatooing makes them look as if they were all wearing black breeches. They are tolerable-looking women; and I saw a few pleasant countenances.