Some Of These Fruit-Trees, Such As The
"Durian," "Rambutan," Mango, Mangosteen, "Tamadac" Or Jackfruit,
"Lansat" And Bananas, Were Familiar To Me, But There Were A Great
Number Of Fruits That I Had Never Heard Of Before, And I Got Their
Names From My Dayak Friends.[13]
Needless to say, I never before tasted so many fruits that were
entirely new to me, and most of them were ripe at the time of my
visit.
The "durian" comes easily first. It is without doubt the
king of all fruit in both the tropic and temperate zones, and is
popular alike with man and beast, the orang-utan being a great
culprit in robbing the Dayaks of their "durians." I never saw the
"good" "durian" growing wild in Sarawak, but I tasted here a small
wild kind with an orange centre which made me violently sick. No
description of the "durian" taste can do it justice. But its smell
is also past description. It is so bad that many people refuse to
taste it. It is a very large and heavy fruit, covered with strong,
sharp spines, and as it grows on a very tall tree, it is dangerous
to walk underneath in the fruiting season when they are falling,
accidents being common among the Dayaks through this cause. I myself
had a narrow escape one windy day. I was sitting at the foot of one
of these trees eating some of the fallen fruit, when a large "durian"
fell from above and buried itself in the mud not half a yard from me.
Danna, the second chief, would always leave one or two of the fruit
for me on a box close by my head where I slept, before he went off
to his "padi "-planting early in the morning, so that I got quite
used to the bad smell.
The Dayak house was surrounded on three sides by a horrible swamp,
the roads through which consisted of fallen trees laid end to end,
or else of two or three thick poles, laid side by side, and kept in
place by being lashed here and there to two upright stakes, so that
I had to balance myself well or come to grief in the thick mud. The
Dayak bridges, made chiefly of poles and bamboos, were in many cases
awkward things to negotiate, and I had one or two rather nasty falls
from them. While the Dayak women and children never showed any fear
of me in the house, whenever I met them out in the woods or jungle
they would run from me as if I were some kind of wild animal.
I saw several Dayak dances. The men put on their war-plumes and with
shield and "parang" (mentioned above) twirl round and round and cut
with their "parangs" at an imaginary foe, the women all the time
accompanying them with the beating of gongs. Dubi one night showed
them a Malay dance, which consisted of a sort of gliding motion
and a graceful waving of the hands, quite the reverse of the Dayak
dance. One night I noticed a general bustle in the house. The women
seemed greatly excited, and the men passed to and fro with their
"parangs" and "sumpitans" (blowpipes), and cast anxious looks in my
direction as they passed me. They told Dubi they were going fishing;
but it seemed strange that they should go fishing with these warlike
weapons, and I told Dubi so. He himself thought they were going
head-hunting, and I felt sure of it, as they left only the old men,
youths, women and children behind. I did not see them again till the
following evening, nor did I then see signs of any fish. I told Dubi
that I thought it best that he should not ask them any questions, as it
might be awkward if they thought we suspected them. At the same time,
I am bound to admit that there was no direct proof to show that they
had been headhunting; and for this I was glad, as there was no cause
for me to say anything to the Government about it, and so get my kind
hosts into trouble. Some months later I read in a Singapore paper that
"the Dayaks in this district," between Sibu and Kuching, were restless
and inclined to join form with the Dayaks at Kapit, who had sent
Dr. Hose a spear, signifying their defiance of the Sarawak Government.
One evening, when out looking for birds, Dubi and I came across two
Dayaks, who were perched up in trees, waiting for wild pigs that
came to feed on the fallen fruit, when they would spear them from
above. They seemed rather annoyed with us for coming and frightening
the pigs away, and that evening they told everyone that we were the
cause of their not getting a pig. I rather scored them off, by telling
Dubi in an angry voice to ask them what "the dickens" they meant by
getting up in trees and frightening all my birds away. This highly
amused all the other Dayaks, who laughed loud and long, and my two
pig-hunting friends retired into the background discomfited. I myself
went out one evening with a party of Dayaks after wild pig, and stayed
for two hours upon a platform in a tree while they climbed other
trees close by. However, no pigs turned up, although two "plandok"
(mouse-deer) did, though I did not shoot them for fear of frightening
the pigs away. I took my revolver with me, to the great amusement of
the Dayaks, who, of course, had not seen one before, and ridiculed the
idea of so small a weapon being able to kill a pig. The Dayaks told
me that there were plenty of bears here, but I never saw any myself in
this part of Borneo. They told me the bears were very fierce, and had
often nearly killed some of their friends.
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