The corpse in
its box is kept two to seven days in the house at the kampong; the body of
a chief, which is honoured with a double box, remains ten days. According
to an otherwise trustworthy Penihing informant, funeral customs vary in
the different kampongs of the tribe, and generally the box is placed on a
crude platform a metre above the ground.
As for the orchid, I, as well as the Dayaks, who were shown an
illustration of it, searched in vain for three days. There is no doubt
that I was at the place which had been described to me, but the plant must
be extremely rare and probably was discovered accidentally "near the
water," as the native collector said, perhaps when he was resting.
CHAPTER XXIII
A PROFITABLE STAY - MAGNIFICENT FRUITS OF BORNEO - OMEN BIRDS - THE PENIHINGS
IN DAILY LIFE - TOP PLAYING - RELIGIOUS IDEAS - CURING DISEASE
On my return to camp a pleasant surprise awaited me in the arrival of
mail, the first in six months. The days that followed were laborious:
buying, arranging, and cataloguing collections. From early morning
Penihings came to my tent, desiring to sell something, and did not quit
until late at night. Some were content to stand quietly looking at the
stranger for ten or fifteen minutes, and then to go away, their places
being taken by others. But after all it was a happy time, much being
accomplished every day by adding to my collections and gaining much
interesting information.
Over my tent grew a couple of rambutan trees, and close by were two trees
bearing a still more delicate fruit called lansat (lansium domesticum).
It is mildly acid, like the best kind of orange, but with more flavour,
and In appearance resembles a small plum without a stone, and when ripe is
almost white in colour. Every morning, at my request, the chief climbed
one of these trees, on Which the fruit hung by the bushel, and sold me a
basketful for a trifle. The lansat is so easily digested that one can eat
it freely in the evening without inconvenience; in fact it is a decided
aid to digestion. According to the natives these trees are plentiful in
the utan, but in the kampong they, as well as the famous durian and the
rambutan, have been raised from seed. Borneo certainly possesses fine wild
fruits, but as the jungle is laborious to pass through it would be most
difficult to find the trees. I have hitherto directed attention to the
superior quality attained by the fruits of the island which are grown from
imported stock, as the pineapple, pomelo, etc.
The usual nuisance of crowing cocks is not to be avoided in a Dayak
kampong, though here they were few.
