parched, but I got through a portion; and oh, how
delicious were the bananas! No sooner had I got them into my mouth than
they seemed to melt away. They were of the colour of the finest yellow
butter, and of an exquisite flavour. I felt as I ate that I could never
take enough of them. I saw in the open space behind the house a
plantation of them, showing that they were carefully cultivated. The
Dyaks showed me a corner of a room where I might rest, for they
perceived that I was sleepy and weary, and I believe most of the men
went out either to cultivate the ground or on a hunting expedition.
What became of Ali I could not tell; but as, after a little time,
notwithstanding his cool reception, he seemed to be at home with the
people, I concluded he would take care of himself.

CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR.

WALTER'S ADVENTURES IN BORNEO.

My Dyak hosts seemed well-disposed towards me; yet, I confess, I was not
altogether comfortable in their society. The first morning after my
arrival, just as I left my sleeping-corner, I saw a large basket
standing in the chief's room. Supposing it to contain provisions, I
looked into it, when, what was my horror to see it filled with a number
of dried Imuran heads grinning horribly up at me! I turned away in
disgust, when I saw the chief looking at me with a glance of triumph in
his eye, just as a civilised person would have been pleased at
exhibiting a collection of his orders of merit for gallantry in battle
or sagacity in the council. They were trophies, I found, taken by the
chief in his wars with neighbouring tribes. Probably it was the
possession of these which had raised him to his position in his tribe.

Soon afterwards I saw a number of young men coming along. They were
singing and shouting. I saw that one of them had a head, yet gory and
fresh, on the top of a spear. A light brown girl, really a pretty
creature, ran out to welcome him; and I afterwards discovered that she
was his bride-elect, and that he had gone with his companions on a foray
in order to obtain this human head, to make himself worthy of her
affection. These people were, however, very gentle and mild in their
manners to each other, and had I not witnessed this, and similar sights,
I could scarcely have supposed they were the savages they have been
described. A party soon afterwards assembled, apparently to go out on a
hunting expedition. Each man had a wooden tube about five feet long.
This was