I at once informed the manager, who gave the boy a
dose of cholera essence, and an hour later he was better. The next morning
he was still improving, and on the following day I saw him waiting at
table.
The resident, Mr. L.F.J. Rijckmans, was kind enough to order the
government's good river steamer Otto to take us up the Barito River to
Puruk Tjahu, a distant township, where boats and men might be secured and
where the garrison would supply me with a small escort. Toward the end of
August we departed. On account of the shallow water the Otto has a flat
bottom and is propelled by a large wheel at the stern. We had 5,000
kilograms of provisions on board, chiefly rice and dried fish, all stored
in tin cans carefully closed with solder. There were also numerous
packages containing various necessary articles, the assorting of which
would be more conveniently done in Puruk Tjahu. We also brought furniture
for a new pasang-grahan in Muara Tewe, but the steamer could have taken
much more.
The evening of our departure was delightful, and a full moon shed its
light over the utan and the river. I occupied a large round room on the
upper deck, and felt both comfortable and happy at being "on the move"
again. Anchoring at night, there are about five days' travel on the
majestic river, passing now and then peaceful-looking kampongs where
people live in touch with nature. A feeling of peace and contentment
possessed me. "I do not think I shall miss even the newspapers," I find
written in my diary.
On approaching Muara Tewe we saw low mountains for the first time, and
here the river becomes narrower and deeper, though even at the last-named
place it is 350 metres wide. The water assumed a deeper reddish colour and
was speckled with foam, indicating a certain amount of flood caused by
rains higher up the river. We passed a family of wild pigs grubbing up the
muddy beach in search of roots. There was a large dark one and a huge
yellowish-white one, besides four young pigs dark in colour. At Muara
Tewe, where we had to make a stay of two days, the doctor of the garrison
said that in the case of the common species of wild pigs the full-grown
ones are always light in hue. Doctor Tjon Akieh, who came here from
Surinam, had some amusing monkeys, a native bear, tamer than most cats,
and a very quiet deer. In a steam-launch he had gone four days up the Ajo
River, a tributary to the Barito from the east, which passes between
limestone cliffs. In that locality the Dayaks are rarely visited by Malays
and therefore have retained their excellent tribal characteristics. The
men are inclined to obesity.
After leaving Muara Tewe we passed many small kampongs which were less
attractive than those at the lower part of the river. The farther one
proceeds the more inhabited are the banks. In this vicinity, eleven years
previously, a violent Malay revolution which had lasted two years was
finally suppressed. As usual, the revolt was headed by a pretender to the
sultanate. The steamer in which we travelled was a reminder of those days,
for it had two gun-mountings on its deck and my cabin, round in shape, was
lightly armoured.
Puruk Tjahu (puruk = small hill; tjahu = running out into the water) lies
at a bend of the river in a somewhat hilly and quite attractive country,
which is blessed with an agreeable climate and an apparent absence of
mosquitoes. The captain in charge of the garrison told me that he,
accompanied by the native kapala of the district, was going on a two
months' journey northward, and at his invitation I decided to follow him
as far as Sungei Paroi. I hoped that on my return a supply of films and
plates, ordered from London and already overdue, might have arrived. It
was, however, a very difficult proposition to have everything ready in
three days, because it was necessary first to take out of my baggage what
was needed for the journey. It meant the opening of 171 boxes and
packages. Convicts were assigned to assist in opening and closing these,
which afterward were taken to a storehouse, but as I had no mandur I alone
had to do the fatiguing work of going through the contents. The doctor of
the garrison kindly furnished me with knives and pincers for the
taxidermist, as the collector's outfit was missing from the boxes that had
been returned from Macassar.
The Otto needed only one and a half hours to run down stream to the Muara
Laong, a Malay kampong at the mouth of the river Laong, which we intended
to ascend by boats to the kampong Batu Boa, where the overland journey was
to begin. As soon as we arrived in the afternoon the kapala was sent for to
help in procuring a sufficient number of prahus for the next day. I brought
twenty-nine coolies from Puruk Tjahu to serve as paddlers. The kapala was
unable to find enough prahus, but it had grown dark, so we waited, hoping
for better luck next day.
In the morning search was continued, but no great results were obtained.
The Malays evidently disliked to rent their boats, which were coming in
but slowly. In the meantime our luggage was being unloaded to the
landing-float. Mr. Demmini was able to secure some large prahus, among them
a specially good one belonging to a Chinaman, and the goods were placed in
them. At 11 A.M. all the baggage had been unloaded from the steamer, and
having worked like a dog for the last few days I felt that I had earned
twenty minutes for my usual bath, applying tepid water from a tin can,
with rough mittens.
