In some respects, the Kayans differ in their customs from the other aboriginal tribes of Borneo. At the birth of a chief’s child there are great rejoicings; a feast is given, pigs, and fowls, and goats being freely sacrificed. Jars of arrack are brought forward, and all the neighbours are called upon to rejoice with their leader. They say that on this occasion a name is given if the omen be good. A feather is inserted up the child’s nostril, to tickle it; if it sneeze it is a good sign, but if not, the ceremony is put off to another day. I may mention one inhuman custom, which is, that women who appear to be dying in childbirth, are taken to the woods and placed in a hastily-constructed hut; they are looked upon as interdicted, and none but the meanest slaves may approach them, either to give them food or to attend to them. Marriages are celebrated with great pomp; many men have ruined themselves by their extravagance on this occasion. Tamading, with princely munificence, gave away or spent the whole of his property on his wedding-day. As among the Sea Dayaks, the young people have almost unrestrained intercourse; but if the girl prove with child, a marriage immediately takes place, the bridegroom making the richest presents he can to her relatives. The men, even the greatest chief, take but one wife, and, it is said, consider it shameful to mix their blood, and never, therefore, have any intercourse with the inferior women or slaves. I have already mentioned the coffins elevated on posts; this, doubtless, extends only to the rich, the poor being simply buried. There is another practice of the Kayans, which was mentioned by Dalton[2] as existing among those he met on the Koti river; it was disbelieved by many at the time, but it is undoubtedly true: the rich men using gold, the poorer silver, bones of birds, and even hard wood. The doctor of the _Semiramis_ steamer carefully examined a great number of Kayans, and expressed his astonishment that no injury resulted from this extraordinary practice. A German missionary has accused the Southern Kayans of certain gross usages; but I heard nothing of them, and do not credit his account--his mistakes arising, most probably, from his want of knowledge of the language. I procured to-day a packet of the iron they use in smelting; it appeared like a mass of rough, twisted ropes, and is, I think, called meteoric iron-stone. They use, also, two other kinds, of which I did not obtain specimens. We found a little coal in the black shale on which the town is built, and they spoke of golden pebbles, most likely iron pyrites. We had heavy rain every night; the current became stronger, and the river rapidly rose.