time, and have never seen anything that could be called
a violent quarrel between two members of the household, nor have I seen
the Orang Tuah or the Penghulu submit any of the members to what might
be considered harsh treatment. I have also been with them when they were
out on the warpath, to use a North-American Indian term, when every
nerve was at high tension on the look-out for enemies and every thought
was turned to slaughter, but I have never seen the counsel of the Chief
disregarded. Of course, some Chiefs are weak and fail to give commands
because they are afraid to act, but a command once given is carried out,
or at least not disregarded, and I could never detect any means which
were taken to enforce an authority thus implicitly obeyed.

As a people, they are not active-minded nor industrious, but yield to
the influence of climate, and, following the example offered to them by
the vast, dense jungle on every side, accept life as easily as it comes.
They are no exception to the rule that all untutored minds, living in
constant communion with any awful aspect of Nature, be it gigantic
mountains, a waste of waters, or an illimitable jungle, are saturated
with superstitions; every pool, every tree, every rock is the home of an
evil spirit, and all mysterious noises in the forest are ghostly
whisperings. Everywhere are signs and omens to warn man of danger or
direct his course; theirs is a life where no schooling is so vital as
the ability to read aright the "sermons in stones, books in the running
brooks." For them the world is the patch of jungle covering the few
square miles that they know, and bounded by the hills in the distance;
seldom do they get an extended view of the surrounding country; trees
hem them in on all sides and the mountains are so difficult of ascent,
and furthermore so infested with demons or "antu," that the summits can
be gained only at the risk of body, and, still worse, of soul.

Many natives of the interior live and die with never a glimpse of the
sea, and the tales which the Malay and Chinese traders tell of lands
beyond the horizon where white men live, are as incomprehensible to them
as are to us the conjectural accounts which astronomers give of the
canals on the planet Mars.

Naturally enough, of course, creation began on the island of Borneo, or
Kalamantan, as they call it, and the first people were Borneans and
spoke the language of the tribe that tells the story. Every tribe has