The Dyaks are very much at home on the water, and a favourite amusement of the Dyaks at Banting was to “ride the tidal bore.” During the spring-tides, when there was a tidal bore, they would paddle down the river some distance, and wait for the turn of the tide. When the bore came, they would get just in front of it, and the great wave would send the boats up-river at a good pace without any paddling on their part. Of course, a great many boats were often swamped, but that only added to the fun. When I was stationed at Banting, the schoolboys often asked to be allowed to “ride the bore.” The Sea Dyaks seem to acquire naturally the art of swimming. They are taken to the water regularly from infancy, and dipped and floated on the water, and at an early age they are able to swim. They swim hand over hand. They never take “a header” in diving, but jump in feet foremost. The Dyaks are fond of wrestling, and many of them are good wrestlers. At a Dyak feast very often the young men have friendly wrestling matches. They have also other trials of strength. Two young men sit on the ground opposite each other, feet placed against feet, and a stout stick is grasped by both their hands. Each then tries to throw himself back, so as to raise his adversary from the ground either by main strength or sudden effort. Another trial of strength is to put two fingers of one opponent against two fingers of another, the elbows being placed upon a table or log; then each party tries to force the other’s fingers backward. Or else two stand up face to face, and each grasps the two first fingers of his opponent, holding his arm up, so that their hands are the same level as their faces, and they each try by main force to lower the arm of the other. The Dyaks are very fond of jumping, and at Banting, in the cool of the evening, the young men, returning with me from Evening Prayer in church, would often try the long-jump or high-jump near the Mission House. They also play a game called _galangang_, not unlike prisoners’ base. The players divide themselves into parties, and one party is set to watch certain lines which the other party cross. If anyone is touched as he crosses a line, his side loses, and has to do the watching. The evening amusements are listening to some story, either set to verse and sung, or simply told in prose, and the asking each other riddles. These riddles are generally rhyming verses. CHAPTER XVIII SONG AND MUSIC Love of music—Love songs—Boat songs—War songs—Incantations at Dyak feasts—The song of mourning—Musical instruments. The Dyaks are very fond of singing, and it is no unusual thing to hear some solitary boatman singing as he paddles along. Weird beyond words, and yet possessing a quaint rhythm, are most of the songs of the Dyak. They give vent to their feelings in their own way, which is very different from ours, but their plaintive songs are not unpleasant, and show a certain amount of poetical feeling.