FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137  
138   139   >>  
lay. The village or house of Menus seemed to contain about one hundred inhabitants, not counting small children. Upon my arrival I was soon surrounded by a most curious throng, many of whom gazed at me with open mouths, in astonishment at the sight of an "orang puteh" (white man), as of course no white man had ever been here before and but very few of the people had ever seen one. One old woman remembered having seen a white man, and some of the older men had from time to time seen government officials on the Rejang River, but except to these few I was a complete novelty. Considering this, I was greatly astonished at their friendliness, as not only the men, but the women and children squatted around me in the most amicable fashion, and sometimes even became a decided nuisance. My first evening among them, however, I found extremely amusing, and as my Chinese cook placed the food he had cooked before me, and as I ate it with knife, fork and spoon, they watched every mouthful I took amid a loud buzz of comments and exclamations of delight. Though by no means the first time I have had to endure this sort of popularity, or rather notoriety, in various countries of the world, I do not think I have ever come across a people so full of friendly curiosity as were these Dayaks. About midnight I began to feel a bit sleepy, but the admiring multitude did not seem inclined to move, so I told Dubi to tell them that I wanted to change my clothes and go to sleep. No one moved. "Tell the ladies to go, Dubi," I said, but on his translating my message a woman in the background called out something that met with loud cries of approval. "What does she say, Dubi?" I asked. "She says, Tuan," replied Dubi, "they like see your skin, if white the same all over." This was rather embarrassing, and I told Dubi to insist upon their going; but Dubi, whose advice I generally took, replied, "I think, Tuan (master), more better you show to them your skin." I therefore submitted with as good a grace as possible, and took my shirt off, while some of them, especially the women, pinched and patted the skin on my back amid cries of approval and delight. They asked if the skin of the Tuan Muda (the Rajah) was as white, and, on being told that it was, a long and serious conversation took place among them, during which the name of the Tuan Muda kept constantly cropping up. The great naturalist, Wallace, met with much the same experience among the
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137  
138   139   >>  



Top keywords:
people
 

delight

 

approval

 

replied

 

children

 

hundred

 

inhabitants

 

village

 

called

 
message

wanted

 
change
 

multitude

 
inclined
 

clothes

 

counting

 
translating
 

ladies

 

background

 
conversation

patted
 

naturalist

 
Wallace
 

experience

 

constantly

 
cropping
 

pinched

 

advice

 

generally

 

master


admiring
 
embarrassing
 

insist

 

submitted

 

fashion

 

amicable

 

friendliness

 

astonishment

 
squatted
 

decided


nuisance

 
extremely
 

amusing

 

mouths

 

evening

 
astonished
 

government

 

remembered

 

officials

 

novelty