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
Continuing our journey, we successfully engineered a rapid where a
Buginese trader two weeks previously had lost his life while trying to
pass in a prahu which was upset. Afterward we had a swift and beautiful
passage in a canyon through the mountain ridge between almost
perpendicular sides, where long rows of sago-palms were the main feature,
small cascades on either side adding to the picturesqueness. At the foot
of the rapids we made camp in order to enable me to visit a small
salt-water accumulation in the jungle a couple of kilometres farther down
the river. As we landed near the place, we saw over a hundred pigeons
leaving. There were two kinds of these birds at the pool, most of them of a
very common large variety, with white head and green wings, and all were
shy; according to the opinion of the Dayaks, owing to the prevalence of
rain.
Next morning we started shortly after six o'clock, and early in the
afternoon reached the kampong Omamahak, which is inhabited by Busangs,
with a sprinkling of Malays. Two hours later twenty-one prahus arrived
from Apo Kayan with one hundred and seventy-nine Kenyahs on their way to
Long Iram to carry provisions to the garrison. Soon afterward the captain
of Long Iram overtook us here, returning from his tour of inspection
above, so the place became very populous. The next night we stopped at
Hoang Tshirao, inhabited by a tribe of the same name, also called Busang,
apparently quite primitive people. The kampong was neat and clean; there
were many new wooden kapatongs, as well as small wooden cages on poles,
evidently serving for sacrificial offerings. The following day we arrived
at Long Iram.
Of comparatively recent origin, the town lies on level land, and its
inhabitants outside the garrison are Malays, Chinese, and Dayaks. The
street is long, extremely well kept, and everything looks orderly and
clean, while before the captain's house were many beautiful flowers. The
pasang-grahan, which is in a very quiet locality, is attractive and has
two rooms. One was occupied by an Austrian doctor in the Dutch military
service, who was on his way to Long Nawang, while I appropriated the
other. He was enthusiastic over the superb muscles of the Kenyahs who had
just arrived and were camping in a house built for such occasions on top
of a small hill a short distance away. Cows, brown in colour, were grazing
in a large field near by, and I enjoyed the unusual luxury of fresh
milk--five small bottles a day. After I had bathed and put on clean
garments, even though my linen-mesh underclothing was full of holes, I felt
content in the peaceful atmosphere.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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