Johannes now thought of finding some means for disposing of the goods which he had procured from Baba Poetjieng, from Bapa Andong and from kotta Baroe, with the view of trading with the Olo Ott. Now that they had amassed a considerable fortune this barter seemed unnecessary, but Johannes was anxious to witness himself and to show his companions the Dayak manner of doing business. He therefore talked the matter over with Harimaoung, who found the plan perfectly feasible. Everything was therefore prepared for the trading expedition and one fine morning our four white friends, accompanied by Dalim, Harimaoung Boekit and Amai Kotong, sailed up soengei Miri in a rangkan chartered for the purpose. The journey was rather a long one. On the third day the travellers reached soengei Danom Pari, where they landed at a gigantic and umbrageous tree near the brink of the river. At the foot of the tree they spread mats, upon which they placed heaps of salt, glass beads, articles of clothing—such as jackets and ewahs made of coarse linen or bark; about twenty mandauws, several pieces of iron, a few dozen rudely manufactured knives and numerous parcels of tobacco made into little bunches. All these were laid out separately on the extemporized stall. Some edibles were added consisting of cakes. The drinkables were represented by a huge jar of toeak. “I should not object to stand sentinel over that jar,” said La Cueille. “For fear of its running away?” asked Johannes, smilingly. “You had much better leave it alone, for the jar would not be able to take care of you and, I assure you, you require to be taken care of in these quarters. We are in the domains of the Otts, of whom I will tell you more by and by.” When the goods had been all displayed, Harimaoung Boekit took a metal gong, suspended it from the branch of a tree and with a piece of wood struck several blows, the echo of which was heard all over the forest. They listened attentively for about ten minutes and hearing no response the Poenan repeated his strokes on the gong. Then from a distance a number of similar sounds were heard; they were muffled as if they had proceeded from a hollow tree. Harimaoung Boekit now bade his companions re-enter their rangkan, struck another blow on the gong and the whole party rowed down the river a mile and a half, where they halted and waited in mid-stream. “I am blessed if I see how we are ever to get our goods back again,” said Schlickeisen. “Don’t be alarmed,” replied Johannes, “only wait.” They had not to wait very long. A couple of hours afterwards the gong sounded and the rangkan obeyed the signal by sailing up the soengei to the original position. They returned to their stall and inspected its condition. La Cueille made the first discovery; he cried out in dismay: “Look here, our toeak jar is empty!”