"What the
sex was I do not know, but people say it was a male infant. She had
another child, a female, also with a tail."
In the ladang the woman thought the crying of her children sounded very
strange. "It is not like that of other infants," she said. "Other people
have no tails and you have; you look like the children of a dog." Their
father replied: "In truth I am a dog," and immediately he resumed his
natural form, ran away, and after an interval arrived in the Upper
Kahayan, where his owner welcomed him, and the dog lived to old age and
died.
In due time the two children married and had large families, all of whom
had tails, but since the Malays came and married Sembulo women the tails
have become shorter and shorter. At present most of the people have none,
and those that remain are not often seen because clothes are now worn;
however, many travellers to Sembulo have beheld them.
The rendering from Rongkal is similar, with this difference: The man from
Upper Kahayan followed his dog - which at sight of his master resumed
canine form - and killed it. According to a Malay version, a raja of
Bandjermasin was much disliked and the people made him leave the country.
He took a female dog with him in the prahu and went to Sembulo, where he
had children all of whom had tails.
CHAPTER XXXV
A VISIT TO KUALA KAPUAS - A BREED OF STUMP-TAILED DOGS - THE SHORT-TAILED
CATS OF BORNEO - A SECOND EXPEDITION TO LAKE SEMBULO-NATIVES UNDISMAYED BY
BERI-BERI - THE TAMOANS - THE PRACTICE OF INCISION
The second trip to Sembulo had to be postponed until the return of the
controleur of Sampit from an extended tour, when the steam-launch
Selatan would again be placed at my service. During the weeks of waiting
I made a trip to Kuala Kapuas, northwest of Bandjermasin. The Kapuas River
is broad here, I should say at least 600 metres; if there is any wind one
cannot cross because the prahus are all made of iron-wood and sink easily,
owing to the fact that they are heavy and do not accommodate themselves to
the waves. A German missionary and family had been here ten years. The
children looked a little pale but strong, and had never had malaria nor
children's diseases.
I soon became convinced that there was little here for me to learn. The
Dayaks have been too long exposed to Malay and European influences, though
still able to make splendid mats, for which this place is well known.
Malay ascendancy is strong on the lower courses of the two great rivers
that meet here, on the Kapuas as far as Djangkang, on the Kahayan as far
as Pahandut. I carried away mud for future zoological examination from the
bottom of a pool, ten minutes walk from the shore.
