Chapter 7

The wall of water rushed on us, turned us over and over; but fortunately by its force it also threw us all, with the gig, upon the point. It did not, however, throw us our oars, which were performing a _pas de quatre_ in a whirlpool close to us. This was a narrow escape, as, had we remained in the agitated waters, the alligators would soon have dragged us under. For two minutes the river was in a state of ebullition, but gradually subsided. We then launched the boat, regained our oars, and proceeded to join our comrades. Thankful as we were for our lives having been preserved, still as we were wet through and had lost all our provisions and necessaries, we were compelled to admit that it was a very great bore.

Shortly after our leaving this river a fatal accident happened to one of our best men. The wind was blowing a heavy gale from the westward, accompanied by thunder and lightning, such as is only to be seen and heard on the coast of Borneo. The carpenters were on shore felling trees for masts and yards, and as we were anchored some distance from the shore a tent was pitched for their accommodation. They had not been in the tent long when a large iron-wood tree was struck by lightning, and fell, burying one of the carpenters, Miller by name, in the sand underneath it. He was extricated with great difficulty; but before any surgical assistance could be rendered him he was a corpse. On examination most of his bones were found to be crushed.

Soon after our return from the Sakarron the expedition to Loondoo was arranged, and we started in the barge and gig, accompanied by Captain Keppell in his own boat, and Mr. Brooke and Hentig in one of the native boats, called a Tam-bang. The distance was about forty miles, and we should have arrived at four o'clock in the afternoon, but, owing to the narrowness of the channel, and a want of knowledge of the river, we grounded on the flats, where we lay high and dry for the space of four hours. Floating with the following tide, we discovered the proper channel, and found our way up the river, although the night was dark as pitch: when near the town, we anchored for daylight.

I may as well here give a slight description of the scenery on the Borneo rivers, all of which, that we have visited, with the exception of the Bruni, bear a close resemblance to each other. They are far from picturesque or beautiful, for the banks are generally low, and the jungle invariably extends to the water's edge. For the first fifteen or twenty miles the banks are lined with the nepa-palms, which then gradually disappear, leaving the mangrove alone to clothe the sides of the stream. When you enter these rivers, it is rare to see any thing like a human habitation for many miles; reach after reach, the same double line of rich foliage is presented, varying only in the description of trees and bushes as the water becomes more fresh; now and then a small canoe may be seen rounding a point, or you may pass the stakes which denote that formerly there had been a fishing station. At last a hut appears on the bank, probably flanked with one or two Banana trees. You turn into the next reach and suddenly find yourself close to one or more populous and fortified towns. As you ascend higher the scenery becomes much more interesting and varied from the mangroves disappearing. Few of the rivers of Borneo are more than eighty miles in extent. The two rivers of Bruni and Coran are supposed to meet in the centre of the island, although for many miles near their source they are not much wider than a common ditch.

Before day-light of the following morning our slumbers were disturbed by the crowing of a whole army of cocks, which assured us of the proximity of the town we were in search of. We got under weigh, and, rounding the point, Loondoo hove in sight, a fine town, built in a grove of cocoa-nut trees, and by no means despicably fortified. We found our progress arrested by a boom composed of huge trees fastened together by coir cables, and extending the whole width of the river. Had our intentions been hostile, it would have taken some time to have cut the fastenings of this boom, and we should, during the operation, have been exposed to a double line of fire from two forts raised on each side of the river. The Chief of Loondoo had, however, been duly advised of our intended visit, and as soon as our boats were seen from the town, a head-man was sent out in a canoe to usher us in. After a little delay we got the barge within the boom. When within, we found that we had further reason to congratulate ourselves that we came as friends, as the raking fire from the forts would have been most effectual, for we discovered that we had to pass an inner boom equally well secured as the first. The town was surrounded by a strong stockade made of the trunks of the knee-bone palm, a wood superior in durability to any known. This stockade had but one opening of any dimensions. A few strokes of the oars brought us abreast of it, and we let go our anchors. The eldest son of the Chief came to us immediately in a canoe. He was a splendidly formed young man, about twenty-five years old. He wore his hair long and flowing, his countenance was open and ingenuous, his eyes black and knowing. His dress was a light blue velvet jacket without sleeves, and a many-coloured sash wound round his waist. His arms and legs, which were symmetrical to admiration, were naked, but encircled with a profusion of heavy brass rings. He brought a present of fowls, cocoa-nuts, and bananas to Mr. Brooke from his father, and an invitation for us to pay him a visit at his house whenever we should feel inclined.

Preparatory to landing, we began performing our ablutions in the boat, much to the amusement and delight of the naked groups of Dyaks who were assembled at the landing place, and who eyed us in mute astonishment. The application of a hair brush was the signal for a general burst of laughter, but cleaning the teeth with a tooth brush caused a scream of wonder, a perfect yell, I presume at our barbarous customs. There were many women among the groups; they appeared to be well made, and more than tolerably good looking. I need not enter into a very minute description of their attire, for, truth to say, they had advanced very little beyond the costume of our common mother Eve. We were soon in closer contact with them, for one of our party throwing out of the boat a common black bottle, half a dozen of the women plunged into the stream to gain possession of it. They swam to the side of our boat without any reserve, and then a struggle ensued as to who should be the fortunate owner of the prize. It was gained by a fine young girl of about seventeen years of age, and who had a splendid pair of black eyes. She swam like a frog, and with her long hair streaming in the water behind her, came pretty well up to our ideas of a mermaid.

As we had contrived to empty a considerable number of these bottles during our expedition, they were now thrown overboard in every direction. This occasioned a great increase of the floating party, it being joined by all the other women on the beach, and for more than half an hour we amused ourselves with the exertions and contentions of our charming naiads, to obtain what they appeared to prize so much; at last all our empty bottles were gone, and the women swam on shore with them, as much delighted with their spoil as we had been amused with their eagerness and activity.

About 10 o'clock we landed, and proceeded to pay our visit to the Chief. We were ushered into a spacious house, built of wood and thatched with leaves, capable of containing at least 400 people. The Chief was sitting on a mat with his three sons by his side, and attended by all his warriors. The remainder of the space within was occupied by as many of the natives as could find room; those who could not, remained in the court-yard outside. The Chief, who was a fine looking grey-bearded man of about sixty years of age, was dressed in velvet, and wore on his head a turban of embroidered silk. The three sons were dressed in the way I have already described the one to have been who came to us in the canoe. Without exception, those three young men were the most symmetrical in form I have ever seen. The unrestrained state of nature in which these Dyaks live, gives to them a natural grace and an easiness of posture, which is their chief characteristic. After the usual greetings and salutations had been passed through, we all sat down on mats and cushions which had been arranged for us; a short conversation with Mr. Brooke, who speaks the language fluently, then took place between him and the Chief, after which refreshments were set before us. These consisted of various eatables and sweetmeats made of rice, honey, sugar, flour, and oil; and although very simple as a confectionery, they were very palatable. We remained with the Chief about an hour, and before we went away he requested our company in the evening, promising to treat us with a Dyak war dance. We took our leave for the present, and amused ourselves with strolling about the town. I will take this opportunity of making known some information I have at this and at different times obtained relative to this people.

The villages of the Dyaks are always built high up, near the source of the rivers, or, should the river below be occupied by the piratical tribes, on the hills adjoining to the source. Their houses are very large, capable of containing two hundred people, and are built of palm leaves. A village or town may consist of fifteen or twenty houses. Several families reside in one house, divided from each other by only a slight partition of mats. Here they take their meals, and employ themselves, without interfering with each other. Their furniture and property are very simple, consisting of a few cooking utensils, the paddles of their canoes, their arms, and a few mats.

In all the Dyak villages every precaution is taken to guard against surprise. I have already described the strength and fortifications of Loondoo, and a similar principle is every where adopted. The town being built on the banks of the river, the boom I have described is invariably laid across the stream to prevent the ascent of boats. Commanding the barriers, one or more forts are built on an eminence, mounting within them five or six of the native guns, called leilas. The forts are surrounded by a strong stockade, which is surmounted by a cheveaux-de-frise of split bamboos. These stockaded forts are, with the houses and cocoa nuts adjoining, again surrounded by a strong stockade, which effectually secures them from any night attack.

Great respect is paid to the laws and to the mandates of their Chiefs, although it but too often happens that, stimulated by revenge, or other passions, they take the law into their own hands; but if crimes are committed, they are not committed without punishment following them, and some of their punishments are very barbarous and cruel: I have seen a woman with both her hands half-severed at the wrists, and a man with both his ears cut off.

The religious ideas of the Dyaks resemble those of the North American Indians: they acknowledge a Supreme Being, or "Great Spirit;" they have also some conception of an hereafter. Many of the tribes imagine that the great mountain Keney Balloo is a place of punishment for guilty departed souls. They are very scrupulous regarding their cemeteries, paying the greatest respect to the graves of their ancestors. When a tribe quits one place to reside at another, they exhume the bones of their relations, and take them with them.

I could not discover if they had any marriage ceremony, but they are very jealous of their wives, and visit with great severity any indiscretion on their parts.

The Dyaks live principally upon rice, fish, and fruit, and they are very moderate in their living. They extract shamshoo from the palm, but seldom drink it Their principal luxury consists in the chewing the betel-nut and chunam; a habit in which, like all the other inhabitants of these regions, from Arracan down to the island of New Guinea, they indulge to excess. This habit is any thing but becoming, as it renders the teeth quite black, and the lips of a high vermilion, neither of which alterations is any improvement to a copper-coloured face.

They both chew and smoke tobacco, but they do not use pipes for smoking; they roll up the tobacco in a strip of dried leaf, take three or four whiffs, emitting the smoke through their nostrils, and then they extinguish it. They are fond of placing a small roll of tobacco between the upper lip and gums, and allow it to remain there for hours. Opium is never used by them, and I doubt if they are acquainted with its properties.

They seldom cultivate more land than is requisite for the rice, yams, and sago for their own consumption, their time being chiefly employed in hunting and fishing. They appear to me to be far from an industrious race of people, and I have often observed hundreds of fine-looking fellows lolling and sauntering about, seeming to have no cares beyond the present. Some tribes that I visited preferred obtaining their rice in exchange from others, to the labour of planting it themselves. They are, in fact, not agriculturally inclined, but always ready for barter.

They are middle-sized, averaging five feet five inches, but very strong-built and well-conditioned, and with limbs beautifully proportioned. In features they differ very much from the piratical inhabitants of these rivers. The head is finely formed, the hair, slightly shaven in front, is all thrown to the back of the head; their cheek-bones are high, eyes small, black and piercing, nose not exactly flat--indeed in some cases I have seen it rather aquiline; the mouth is large, and lips rather thick, and there is a total absence of hair on the face and eyebrows. Now the above description is not very much unlike that of an African; and yet they are very unlike, arising, I believe, from the very pleasing and frank expression of their countenances, which is their only beauty. This description, however, must not be considered as applicable to the whole of these tribes,--those on the S. E. coast of the island being by no means so well-favoured.

The different tribes are more distinguishable by their costumes than by their manners. The Dyaks of Loondoo are quite naked, and cover the arms and legs with brass rings. Those of Serebis and Linga are remarkable for wearing as many as ten to fifteen large rings in their ears. The Dusums, a tribe of Dyaks on the north coast, wear immense rings of solid tin or copper round their hips and shoulders, while the Saghai Dyaks of the S. E. are dressed in tigers' skins and rich cloth, with splendid head-dresses, made out of monkeys' skins and the feathers of the Argus pheasant.

The invariable custom of filing the teeth sharp, combined with the use of the betel-nut turning them quite black, gives their profile a very strange appearance. Sometimes they render their teeth concave by filing.

Their arms consist of the blow-pipe (sum-pi-tan), from which they eject small arrows, poisoned with the juice of the upas; a long sharp knife, termed pa-rang; a spear, and a shield. They are seldom without their arms, for the spear is used in hunting, the knife for cutting leaves, and the sum-pi-tan for shooting small birds. Their warfare is carried on more by treachery and stratagem than open fighting--they are all warriors, and seldom at peace. The powerful tribes which reside on the banks of the river generally possess several war prahus, capable of holding from twenty to thirty men, and mounting a brass gun (leila) on her bows, carrying a ball of one to two pounds weight. These prahus, when an expedition is to be made against a neighbouring tribe, are manned by the warriors, one or two of the most consequential men being stationed in each prahu. Before they start upon an expedition, like the North American Indians, they perform their war dance.

Should their enemies have gained intelligence of the meditated attack, they take the precaution of sending away their women, children, and furniture, into the jungle, and place men in ambush on the banks of the river, who attack the assailants as they advance. The Dyaks are all very brave, and fight desperately, yelling during the combat like the American Indians. The great object in their combats is to obtain as many of the heads of the party opposed as possible; and if they succeed in their surprise of the town or village, the heads of the women and children are equally carried off as trophies. But there is great difficulty in obtaining a head, for the moment that a man falls every effort is made by his own party to carry off the body, and prevent the enemy from obtaining such a trophy. If the attacking party are completely victorious, they finish their work of destruction by setting fire to all the houses, and cutting down all the cocoa-nut trees; after which they return home in triumph with their spoil. As soon as they arrive another war dance is performed; and after making very merry, they deposit the heads which they have obtained in the head-house. Now, putting scalps for heads, the reader will perceive that their customs are nearly those of the American Indians.

Every Dyak village has its head-house: it is generally the hall of audience as well. The interior is decorated with heads piled up in pyramids to the roof: of course the greater the number of heads the more celebrated they are as warriors.

The women of the north-east coast are by no means bad-looking, but very inferior to the mountain Dyaks before described. I have seen one or two faces which might be considered as pretty. With the exception of a cloth, which is secured above the hips with a hoop of rattan, and descends down to the knees, they expose every other portion of their bodies. Their hair, which is fine and black, generally falls down behind. Their feet are bare. Like the American squaws, they do all the drudgery, carry the water, and paddle the canoes. They generally fled at our approach, if we came unexpectedly. The best looking I ever saw was one we captured on the river Sakarron. She was in a dreadful fright, expecting every moment to be killed, probably taking it for granted that we had our head-houses to decorate as well as their husbands. While lying off the town of Baloongan, expecting hostilities to ensue, we observed that the women who came down to fill their bamboos with water were all armed.

And now to resume the narrative of our proceedings:--

I stated that after our interview with the old chief, and promising to return in the evening to witness a war dance, we proceeded on a stroll, accompanied by the chiefs eldest son, who acted as our guide, and followed by a large party of the natives. We first examined the forts: these were in a tolerable state of efficiency, but their gunpowder was coarse and bad. We next went over the naval arsenal, for being then at peace with every body, their prahus were hauled up under cover of sheds. One of them was a fine boat, about forty feet long, mounting a gun, and capable of containing forty or fifty men. She was very gaily decorated with paint and feathers, and had done good service on the Sakarron river in a late war. These war prahus have a flat strong roof, from which they fight, although they are wholly exposed to the spears and arrows of the enemy.

We then invaded their domestic privacy, by entering the houses, and proceeded to an inspection of the blacksmith's shop, where we found the chiefs youngest son, with his velvet jacket thrown aside, working away at a piece of iron, which he was fashioning into a pa-rang, or Dyak knife. The Dyak pa-rang has been confounded with the Malay kris, but they differ materially. The Dyaks, I believe, seldom use the kris, and the Malays never use the knife; and I observed, when we visited the south coast of Borneo, that the knife and other arms of the tribes inhabiting this portion, were precisely similar to those of the Dyaks on the northern coast. Customs so universal and so strictly adhered to proves not only individuality, but antiquity. Having examined every thing and every body, we were pretty well tired, and were not sorry that the hour had now arrived at which we were again to repair to the house of the rajah.

On our arrival we found the rajah where we left him, and all the chief men and warriors assembled. Refreshments had been prepared for us, and we again swallowed various mysterious confections, which, as I before observed, would have been very good if we had been hungry. As soon as the eatables had been despatched, we lighted our cheroots, and having, by a dexterous and unperceived application out of a brandy bottle, succeeded in changing the rajah's lemonade into excellent punch, we smoked and drank until the rajah requested to know if we were ready to witness the promised war dance. Having expressed our wishes in the affirmative, the music struck up; it consisted of gongs and tom-toms. The Malay gong, which the Dyaks also make use of, is like the Javanese, thick with a broad rim, and very different from the gong of the Chinese. Instead of the clanging noise of the latter, it gives out a muffled sound of a deep tone. The gong and tom-tom are used by the Dyaks and Malays in war, and for signals at night, and the Dyaks procure them from the Malays. I said that the music struck up, for, rude as the instruments were, they modulate the sound, and keep time so admirably, that it was any thing but inharmonious.

A space was now cleared in the centre of the house, and two of the oldest warriors stepped into it. They were dressed in turbans, long loose jackets, sashes round their waists descending to their feet, and small bells were attached to their ankles. They commenced by first shaking hands with the rajah, and then with all the Europeans present, thereby giving us to understand, as was explained to us, that the dance was to be considered only as a spectacle, and not to be taken in its literal sense, as preparatory to an attack upon us, a view of the case in which we fully coincided with them.