Through Central Borneo An Account Of Two Years' Travel In The Land Of The Head-Hunters Between The Years 1913 And 1917 By Carl Lumholtz
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At Five O'clock We Had To
Stop To Give The Men Opportunity To Prepare Their Rice, And In The Evening
We Arrived At Rongkang.
The gongs were being beaten lustily in the
darkness; we thought it must be on account of a death, which proved to be
the case, a woman having died some days before.
The house which was placed
at my disposal was more nearly airtight than usual.
The kapala said it was difficult to get men, but he would do his best. A
strange epidemic had lately appeared, and some deaths had occurred in the
kampongs of this region. In the room I occupied a woman had recently
recovered from an attack of a week's duration. The disease, which probably
is a variety of cholera, was described to me as being a severe diarrhoea
accompanied by vomiting, paralysis, and fever, the crisis occurring in
three to five days. The disorder appears to rise from the feet, and if it
settles between the liver and heart may prove fatal in half a day. As I
learned later, this illness, which the Malays call men-tjo-tjok, is
usually present in the inland region of the Sampit River, and is also
found on the upper parts of the Kahayan and Pembuang Rivers.
People in this neighbourhood were lappar (hungry), having no rice, and the
men were absent in the utan looking for rattan, white damar, and rubber,
which they exchange for rice from Chinese traders. Under such
circumstances, chiefly women and children are left in the kampongs.
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