Through Central Borneo; an Account of Two Years' Travel in the Land of Head-Hunters Between the Years 1913 and 1917Lumholtz, Carl
History
Through Central Borneo; an Account of Two Years' Travel in the Land of Head-Hunters Between the Years 1913 and 1917
Lumholtz, Carl
Borneo -- Description and travel; Ethnology -- Borneo; Natural history -- Borneo
Wild pigs and deer continued plentiful, but the monkeys seemed gradually
to disappear. Fish there were in plenty, but they were now of smaller
kinds, not agreeable to eat, having an oily taste and mostly very bony. At
all our camping places ants of various kinds were numerous, also inside of
the tent, but they did not seem to be obnoxious. Just before sunset the
loud voices of the cicadas began, and after dark lovely moths were
attracted by my lamp, while during the night bats flew in and out of my
tent. The humidity of the atmosphere was great. Safety matches would not
strike fire unless kept in an airtight box. My cameras were inside of
solid steel boxes, provided with rubber bands against the covers, making
them water-tight. Nevertheless, upon opening one that had been closed for
three weeks the camera inside was found to be white with mould.
It was rough and hard travelling on account of incessant low kihams to be
passed, or banks of small stones over which the prahus had to be dragged.
The Penyahbongs had not yet learned to be good boatmen, often nearly
upsetting the prahu when getting in or out. Occasionally long quiet pools
occurred, and the scenery here was grand and thrilling. Graceful trees of
infinite variety bent over the water, bearing orchids of various colours,
while creepers hung down everywhere, all reflected in a calm surface which
seldom is disturbed by the splashing of fish. The orchids were more
numerous than I had ever seen before. A delicate yellow one, growing in
spikes, had a most unusual aromatic fragrance, as if coming from another
world.
In the morning a curtain of fog lies over the landscape, but about nine
o'clock it begins to lift, and creeping up over the tree-tops gradually
dissolves in the sun-light, while between the trees that border the river
the deep-blue sky appears, with beautiful small cumulus clouds suspended
in the atmosphere. With the exception, perhaps, of a large blue kingfisher
sitting in solitary state on a branch extending over the water, or a
distant hornbill with its cheerful grandiose laugh, there are no evidences
of animal life, nevertheless the exquisite scenery seems to lure the
beholder on and on. To pass through this superb and silent realm was like
a pleasant dream. There are no mosquitoes and consequently no malaria.
We were progressing through a country of which little is known accurately
beyond its somewhat hilly character, and the fact that it is uninhabited
except for small transient parties of Malays searching for rattan or
rubber. The upper part of our route to the divide, a comparatively short
distance, had not, to my knowledge, been traversed by white men before.
Errors were corrected on the map of the watershed region.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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