ang-utan" and the "Man of the Jungle"--Voyage to
Sarawak--The Borneo Company, Limited--Kuching, a Picturesque
Capital--Independence of Sarawak--I meet the Rajah and the Chief
Officials--Etiquette of the Sarawak Court--The "Club"--The
"Rangers" of Sarawak and their Trophies--Execution by means
of the Long Kris--Degeneracy of the Land Dayaks--Ascent of the
Rejang River--Mud Banks and Crocodiles--Dr. Hose at his Sarawak
Home--The Fort at Sibu--Enormous length of Dayak Canoes--A Brush
with Head-Hunters--Dayak Vengeance on Chinamen--First Impressions
of the Sea Dayak, "picturesque and interesting"--A Head-Hunting
raid, Dayaks attack the Punans--I accompany the Punitive
Expedition--Voyage Upstream--A Clever "Bird Scare"--Houses on the
top of Tree-stumps--The Kelamantans--Kanawit Village--The Fort at
Kapit--Capture of a notorious Head-Hunting Chief--I inspect the
"Heads" of the Victims--Cause of Head-Hunting--Savage Revenge of
a Dayak Lover and its Sequel--Hose's stem Ultimatum--Accepted by
the Head-Hunters--I return to Sibu--A Fatal Misconception.

I had spent about seven months in the forests of British North
Borneo, going many days' journey into the heart of the country, had
made fine natural-history collections and had come across a great
deal of game, including elephant, rhinoceros, bear, and "tembadu" or
wild cattle, huge wild pig and deer of three species being especially
plentiful. But above all I had come across a great many "orang-utan"
(Malay for "jungle-man") and had been able to study their habits. One
of these great apes has the strength of eight men and possesses an
extraordinary amount of vitality. One that I shot lived for nearly
three hours with five soft-nosed Mauser bullets in its body.

But I had not yet seen the _real_ jungle-man in his native haunts--the
head-hunting Dayak, as the Dayaks are rarely to be found in North
Borneo, whereas the people on the Kinabatangan River (where I spent
most of my time) were a sort of Malay termed "Orang Sungei" (River
People). So, as I was anxious to see the real head-hunting Dayak,
I determined to go to Sarawak, which is in quite a different part of
Borneo. To do this, I had to return to Singapore, and thence, after a
two days' voyage, I arrived at Kuching, the capital of Sarawak. Except
for a Chinese towkay, I was the only saloon passenger, as strangers
rarely visit this country.

Kuching is about twe