Every principal man seems to consider it necessary to give Orang Kaya Upit, and the other illustrious visitors, a meal or a feast, and it is amusing to watch how the invitation is given and received. The host draws near the crowd, and says,--“Come,” the visitors pretend not to hear: he again repeats, “Come,” more impatiently. They look at anything rather than the speaker, and continue their conversation with more earnestness than ever; after innumerable “Comes,” they at last get up and proceed in solemn procession to the host’s room; and this is carried on throughout the day, the visitors becoming redder and redder in the face as evening approaches, the repeated draughts of arrack having their effect. They gave me a little honey; it does not look inviting, but it tastes tolerably well. 8 p.m.--The whole house is in uproar, from the news arriving of a man having been killed last night during a drunken bout in a neighbouring village: nobody knows who did it, so each of the men took an oath it was not he: they hang up a string of tiger-cat’s teeth, and the men pass under, denying the action; a man refusing to undergo this ordeal is considered guilty. The discussion among the assembled chiefs is very energetic, as each man is trying to suggest how the accident could have occurred; it being their custom when intending to spend the night drinking, to lodge all their arms with the women. The most sensible conjecture was that the spear shaken from its place by the boisterous movements of the drinkers, fell without being touched, and striking the man inside the thigh, cut the femoral artery: they could not stop the bleeding, and the man died almost immediately. At first suspicion fell upon the owner of the spear, but he evidently had not thrown it, yet they felt inclined to fine the man for having possessed so unlucky a weapon. The news of the accident threw a slight damp on the party, and though they kept it up till one, much to my discomfort, yet none of the carousers got intoxicated. _24th._--We advanced to-day four hours in a south-east by east direction to the village of Tabari. I thought yesterday I should get a clearer view at early dawn, but a dense fog hid everything from us; it did not lift till nine, and then only partially, but it showed that what appeared as the southern end of the long range is a separate mountain, but as we shall in all likelihood advance two or three days farther, it is useless to speculate on the probable course of the river. Our path to-day reminded me of the Sarawak Dayak ones, being principally composed of trunks of trees generally notched, disagreeable in descending.