The Boy Travellers in the Far East, Part Third / Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey to Ceylon and India; With Descriptions of Borneo, the Philippine Islands and Burmah

by Thomas Wallace Knox

When they reached the village, whither they were bound, the boat was run to the bank, and the three travellers stepped on shore. The natives came down to meet them, and stood at a respectful distance till the orang-kaya, or head-man, made his appearance. He was dressed in gay-colored robes, and his head was wrapped with at least half a dozen handkerchiefs of silk and bandanna; Fred thought a dozen would not be too large a guess for the brass rings about his arms, and Frank thought they must be a heavy burden to wear all the time. The boys and men were similarly adorned, and Frank thought he had found a partial solution of the question, "What becomes of all the brass pins?" If they were used for making Dyak ornaments, the consumption must be enormous.

The chief led the way to the "head-house," or strangers' lodging, which is in every Dyak village, and the whole population followed to have a look at the visitors. The boys observed that the Dyaks were generally well formed, and had more intelligent expressions on their faces than the majority of the natives of Java or the Malay peninsula, and there was a playful manner among the younger portion that greatly amused them. The Doctor said the Dyak youths had a great number of games and sports that were quite unknown to the rest of the Malay race, and in this particular they resembled the Chinese and Japanese. They have spinning-tops similar to our own, and they have a game very much like "base ball," in which they display a great deal of skill. Many of their sports are of an athletic character, and they are constantly exhibiting their ability to run, jump, throw the spear, toss heavy stones, and perform other feats that require more or less muscle. In this way their strength is developed, and they lay the foundation of the endurance for which they are celebrated.

The head house proved to be a circular building about thirty feet in diameter; it stood on posts, and had a platform running all around it, where persons could sit in the daytime or sleep at night. The head house is not only a lodging-place for strangers, but it serves as the council-chamber for any public business, and is the dormitory of many of the young men, especially in time of war, when they are liable to be summoned at short notice. Sometimes it is the largest building in a village, and the inhabitants take their turns in keeping it in order.

There was no one to act as interpreter between the strangers and the people of the village, and the conversation was conducted by signs. Where neither side could say anything, the talk was necessarily brief: the Doctor made the chief understand that he had brought nothing to sell, and did not wish to buy rice or anything else; and therefore he had no occasion to occupy their time. Then the chief ordered the strangers to be served with boiled rice and tea, and he also commanded some of the young men to exhibit their skill in the various Dyak games. An hour was spent in this sport, and then the conference came to an end; the display on the part of the Dyak youths consisted of the games already mentioned, together with pulling at a rope somewhat after the manner of the well-known "tug of war." The rope was made of bamboo shreds tightly twisted, and its rough surface furnished an excellent hold for the hands of the contestants.

BRIDGE OF BAMBOO IN BORNEO.

When the sports were over, the Doctor and the boys took a stroll among the rice-fields in the neighborhood of the village; and by the time it was ended the sun was setting. Near the village they crossed a bridge of bamboo, the first of the kind the boys had ever seen, and they examined it with a good deal of curiosity. A couple of the longest and strongest bamboos were thrown over the stream and bound together with thongs of bamboo-leaves twisted together, and a third bamboo served as a hand-rail. From an overhanging tree three or four smaller bamboos were attached to steady the bridge and keep it in place, and it was further upheld by bamboo poles fastened into the bank. The Doctor said there were hundreds of these bridges in Borneo, especially among the mountains; and though they were liable to tremble under the feet of those who crossed them, they were quite secure. The Dyaks find the bamboo no less useful than do the inhabitants of other Eastern countries, and it would be a serious calamity to them if they were suddenly deprived of it.

They slept in the head house at night, and were off by dawn on their return to meet the Osprey. The Doctor told the boys that if they had had time they would have visited the diamond-fields of the upper Sarawak, where some very fine stones are occasionally secured. The diamond washings are mostly conducted by Chinese, but they are not said to be very profitable; now and then a rich deposit is found, but for the most part the fields of the Sarawak do not more than pay the expense of working them. In other parts of Borneo they are richer, and some very large diamonds have been discovered.

While descending the river, the Doctor called attention to a climbing plant that completely covered a tree overhanging the water. "It belongs," said he, "to the family of the pitcher-plants, but is not a very good specimen."