Four Young Explorers; Or, Sight-Seeing in the Tropics by Oliver Optic (best romantic novels to read .TXT) 📗

northern part of the island, in attacking foreign vessels, it could only be when the strangers were caught within a short distance of the shores.

Mr. Eng came on board of the yacht when his sampans were taken in tow, and was seated with the cabin party on the forward seats. He spoke English perfectly, and explained everything that needed it as the boat proceeded. The explorers had seen Dyaks enough, but had not before taken the trouble to study them; for they seemed not to be in touch with the civilization of Sarawak, and were "hewers of wood and drawers of water," and not proper specimens of the race.

"The men here, Mr. Eng, do not appear to be very powerful physically," said Louis, as they passed several laborers at work in a paddy.

"They are not as strong as Englishmen and Americans," replied the agent, glancing at the seamen in the waist. "The tallest man I have seen among the Sea Dyaks was not more than five and a half feet in height. Five feet three inches is a more common figure, though the average is less than that. They are not men of great strength; but they are active, of great endurance, and in running they exhibit great speed."

"These people are not ruined by their tailors' bills," said Scott.

"They do not need much clothing in this climate; and a piece of bark-cloth a yard wide is full dress[79] here. The chawat, as they call this garment, is about five feet long, and is wound around the waist tightly, and drawn between the legs, one end hanging down in front, and the other behind. They wear a sort of turban on the head; and some of them have as many as four rings, large and small, hanging from their ears, through which they pass. Some of them use white cotton instead of bark-cloth, like the Hindoos in India."

The yacht was now approaching the landing-place pointed out by the agent. A crowd of women and children were hurrying to the riverside. They appeared to be lighter in complexion than the men. As a rule they were not handsome, though a few of them were rather pretty. The American visitors were not likely to fall in love with any of the young women on the shore. They were all in "full dress," which means simply a petticoat, reaching from the waist to the knees, made of bark-cloth embroidered with various figures.

A few of the females wore a sort of red jacket and the conical Malay hat; but those are used only on "state occasions." The single garment was secured at the waist by being drawn into a belt of rattans, colored black. Above this was worn a coil of many rings of large brass wire; and all of them seemed to be provided with this appendage. There was some variety in the use of this ornament; for some wore it tightly wound around the body, while others had it quite loose.[80]

In addition to this some of the young girls had a dozen rings of various sizes hanging loosely around their necks, and falling upon the chest, which had no other covering. Their eyes were black, as was also their hair, which was very luxuriant, and generally well cared for, being tied up in a cue behind.

The village did not consist of a great number of small buildings, but from the landing-place could be seen the end of an immense structure with a forest of palms behind it. The rear of it was not perpendicular, but slanted outward, like many of the walls of corn-houses in New England, doubtless to keep the rain from the roof from penetrating. All the party, including the sailors, landed; for Mr. Eng declared that the Dyaks were honest, and even in Sarawak were never known to steal anything, though the Malays and Chinamen were given to pilfering.

The crowd of men, women, and children gathered on the shore had looked the Blanchita over with the closest attention while the Americans were looking them over. The party landed under the escort of the agent, and took up the line of march for the big house. The entire crowd of Dyaks followed them, though they did not intrude upon them; on the contrary, they treated all of the visitors with a respect and deference bordering on homage.

"That 'long-house,' as we call it here, is nearly two hundred feet in length," said Mr. Eng. "It is thirty feet wide. Now you can see more of it; and you notice that it is set upon a multitude of posts,[81] like all Malay and Dyak houses. These posts are firmly set in the ground; and being about six inches in diameter, you can readily see that the house rests on a solid foundation. It is not likely to be blown down in any ordinary gale, though a hurricane might sweep it away. Not a nail, not a wooden pin or peg, is used in the construction of such buildings."

"Then, I should think any ordinary gale would level them to the ground," suggested Louis.

"But the Dyaks have a substitute for nails or pins," replied the guide. "All the poles and sticks and boards are tightly bound together with rattans; and I believe they hold together better than if they were nailed."

"I observed in England and France that the stagings used in the erection of buildings were made partly of round poles, tied together with ropes. I talked with a man who told me they were stronger than if put together with nails," said Morris.

"I think he was right. I can't tell you how the Malays and Dyaks manage the rattan to render it so flexible, but it seems to me they make better work than ropes. On the back of this house, there is not a single window or other opening," continued Mr. Eng, as the party stood at the end of the structure, near the rear corner. "The disagreeable feature of the building, or rather of the habits of the occupants, is that the space under it, ten feet between the ground and the floor, is a catch-all for all refuse matter, and you notice that an unpleasant odor comes from it."[82]

"Is this the only entrance to it?" asked Scott, pointing to a door, which was reached by a log notched like a flight of stairs.

"There is a door at the other end also; and there may be ways of mounting the platform, or veranda, which forms the front of the building, as climbing a post, or dropping from a tree. Some of the posts, of which you see a multitude under the house, are cut off at the first floor, while many of them reach up to the roof, and support it. We will go in now, if you like; and, being sailors, I suppose you can climb the log."

"No doubt of that," replied Scott, who was the first to ascend. "Are all that crowd coming up?"

"Certainly; they are the occupants of the long-house, and they must be at home in order to do the honors of the occasion," laughed the guide.

The villagers followed the party, and immediately manifested their politeness in various ways. The prettiest girl in the crowd spoke to Louis; though he did not understand a word she said, but replied to her in English, when she was as much at sea as he had been.

"What does she say, Achang?" he asked of the Bornean.

"Tabet, tuan," replied the native.

"I heard her say that; but what does it mean?"

"It means, 'Good-day, sir,'" answered the Bornean; and he proceeded to tell her that Louis was the "head man," very rich, and owned a big ship.[83]

She made a very graceful obeisance to him, and then rushed away through a door on the side of the grand hall, as it may well be called. But she returned immediately, bringing a very elaborately worked mat, which she spread on the floor at the feet of the "head man." Then she spread out her hands, and bowed low, saying something which was Greek to him.

"She invites you to take a seat on the mat," Achang explained.

As a matter of politeness Louis seated himself, and looked at the maiden who treated him with so much consideration. By this time the other women were bringing mats for the rest of the party, making no distinction between the seamen and the cabin party. The latter followed the example of the young millionaire, and seated themselves. The foremast hands declined the proffered courtesy; and Achang explained to the ladies that only the four young men who were seated were the magnates of the company, while the others were inferior personages, for the Bornean was not strictly democratic in his ideas.

"We will look at the house now, if you please," said Mr. Eng, after the "Big Four" had been seated a few minutes; and all of them rose to their feet, bowing low to the young ladies who had treated them with so much distinction.

About forty or fifty of the posts extended from the ground, for the visitors had not time to count them; and most of them had suspended upon them various trophies of the hunt, including the antlers[84] of deer, crocodiles' heads, weapons, paddles, and spears. In the middle of the long hall a fire was burning on a foundation of soil, enclosed by a border of wood. In the roof was a sort of scuttle, which was fastened open to admit the air, and to allow some of the smoke to escape, though there was plenty of it remaining in the apartment.

"What is that overhead, Mr. Eng?" asked Louis, pointing to a black mass suspended near the fire, though he had a suspicion of its nature.

"That is a collection of human skulls, relics of the days of head-hunting; for they are generally kept in a building erected for the purpose, though appropriated at the present time partly to other uses. There are about twenty of them, which is not a large number for a village like this. Not one of them is less than twenty years old; for Rajah Brooke put an end to head-hunting long ago, though some of it has been done in spite of his edicts. A lady beckons to you, Mr. Belgrave."

The pretty girl—by comparison—stood by his side, pointing to one of the numerous doors at the closed side of the house. Louis followed her, and she conducted him into a room. A portion of the floor was covered with mats on which the occupants sleep, with an earth section for a fire. There was no furniture of any kind. The roof of the building was covered with square pieces of palm like those used on the sampans, and these could be raised in each room when necessary for air.[85]

"This apartment is occupied by one family, or by a married couple, and unmarried men and boys sleep in the attic overhead," said Mr. Eng. "It has but one door, the one opening into the main hall. This is a house of sixteen doors; and by this enumeration the size of the village is stated, and this number gauges the taxes to be paid."

"Citizens cannot dodge their taxes here, then, as some of them do in the United States," said Scott.

The party walked the entire length of the hall, and then passed out upon the platform, which was not covered, and was used for various purposes, such as drying rice or other articles. The floors were composed of strips of palm, not more than an inch and a half wide, and placed an inch apart. They were lashed to the floor joists, or poles, with rattan.

"Those doors, which indicate the taxable rate of the village, look as though they were cut out of single planks," said Scott.

"And so they are," replied the agent.

"I have seen no saw-mills here, and I suppose they bring the lumber from England or India."

"Not at all, though some may be obtained in that manner. They are made from the buttress of the tapang-tree, which you must have seen."

"I have not noticed any such thing, though perhaps none of us could identify it," replied the captain.

"It is found growing out in triangular form from just above the roots of the tree. In a large one it is[86] twelve or fifteen feet long. It makes a natural plank two inches thick, which may be trimmed into any shape with the biliong."

The party were ready to depart; and they made all sorts of courteous gestures to their hosts, especially the ladies. The women asked them for tobacco, as Achang interpreted the requests. They had none, but some of the seamen supplied them with all they had about them.[87]

CHAPTER X. THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE DYAKS.

After seeing the sleeping accommodations of the Dyaks, consisting of a mat on a rather uneven floor, the Americans concluded to pass the night on board of the yacht. They invited Mr. Eng to supper on board, and he passed the evening with them in the cabin.

"You have seen