s now carried
away to be cooked: and when brought back, placed with the rest of the
feast, and the dancing commenced. The chief, coming forward, uttered
a loud yell ending in 'ish,' which was oftentimes repeated during
the dance. He raised his hands to his forehead, and taking a dish,
commenced dancing to lively music. Three other old chief men followed
his example; each uttering the yell and making the salute, but without
taking the dish. They danced with arms extended, turning the body
frequently, taking very small steps, and little more than lifting
their feet from the ground. Thus they turned backward and forward,
passed in and out of the inner rooms, and frequently repeating the
yell, and making the salutation to me. The dish, in the mean time,
was changed from one to the other: there was little variety, no
gesticulation, no violence; and, though not deficient in native
grace, yet the movements were by no means interesting. The dance
over, the feast commenced; and everything was carried on with great
gravity and propriety. I left them shortly after they began to eat,
and retired, very fagged, to my bed, or rather, to my board; for
sitting cross-legged for several hours is surely a great infliction.

"I may add to this account that, while writing it, the Dyak land-tribes
of Siquong, Sibaduh, and Goon, sent their deputies to me. These people
are not under any Malay government, and it is now for the first
time they have trusted themselves as far as Sarawak. They have an
objection to drinking the river-water, and expressed great surprise
at the flood-tide. Their confidence is cheering to me, and will,
I trust, be advantageous to themselves. Their trade in rice is very
considerable: and toward Sambas they exchange eight or ten pasus of
rice for one of salt.

"Our conference was pleasing. They desired protection, they desired
trade. 'They had all heard, _the whole world had heard_, that _a
son of Europe_ was a friend to the Dyaks.' My visitors drank Batavia
arrack with great gusto, declaring all the time it was not half so
good as their own; however, at a pinch anything will do. Some other
Dyaks met these strangers; they were not adversaries, and so they
chewed sirih, and drank grog in company; but among enemies this may
not be: they can neither eat nor drink in company without desiring
a reconciliation. I may add, that the Siquong tribe consists of at
least four hundred families, with forty public halls, or baleis,
f