The
climate was not as hot as I expected, nights and mornings being
surprisingly cool. Early in July of the following year the morning
temperature was about 73 F. (23 C). Malaria is rare here, but there are
frequent indications of beri-beri.
Friends invited me to go on an excursion to a small island, Kambang, where
there are a number of monkeys to whom Malays who desire children sacrifice
food. On our arrival the animals came to meet us in a way that was almost
uncanny, running like big rats in the tall grass on the muddy beach. Many
remnants of sacrificial offerings were strewn about.
Two years later I was again in Bandjermasin, when an elderly American and
his wife appeared upon the scene-tourists, by the way, being very unusual
here. At the breakfast table they asked a young Dutchman the whereabouts
of the church and museum, and he replied that he did not think there was
either in the town. As a matter of fact there is a small wooden Dutch
church hidden away in a back street. Moreover, in 1914 the Resident, who
at that time was Mr. L.F.J. Rijckmans, had a house built, in Malay style
of architecture, for the safekeeping of Bornean industrial and
ethnological objects which had been on view at the exhibition at Samarang
in Java, thus forming the nucleus of a museum which at some future time
may be successfully developed. The Kahayan Dayaks, not far away to the
north, make exquisite cigar-cases from rattan, while the Bugis weave
attractive cotton goods, resembling silk, with an original and pleasing
colour combination.
The Europeans have a lawn-tennis court where they usually play every
afternoon. In Bandjermasin is the headquarters of a German missionary
society whose activities are confined mainly to the Kahayan River. They
are Protestants and worked for a great number of years without making any
noteworthy impression on the natives, but of late years they have been
more successful. Catholics, who came later, have a station on the Mahakam
River. The government wisely has separated Protestant and Catholic
missionary activities, restricting the former to the southern part of the
country, the latter to the northern.
There is no difficulty about getting up along the east coast northward as
far as the Bulungan, which was my immediate aim. The Royal Dutch Packet
Boat Company adheres to a schedule of regular fortnightly steamship
connection. On the way a stop is made at Balik Papan, the great
oil-producing centre, with its numerous and well-appointed tanks and modern
equipment, reminding one of a thriving town in America. One of the doctors
in this prosperous place told me that his two children of four and six
years enjoyed excellent health. Dysentery was prevalent among the coolies,
and occasionally cases of malaria occurred, but malaria is found even in
Holland, he added.
