At the first one, a forlorn and desolate looking place, the
kapala, who had an unusually large goitre, told me that eighteen men had
been engaged by the captain for his journey northward from there, which
definitely precluded any prospect of ours for an overland expedition, even
if under other conditions it would have been possible. As for the Malays,
I found them rather distant, and was glad to return to Tumbang Marowei.
Here a singular sight met us in a sculptured representation of a
rhinoceros with a man on his back, entirely composed of red rubber,
standing on a float and surrounded by a number of blocks made of the same
material. White and red pieces of cloth tied to upright saplings on the
float added a certain gaiety to the scene. Some of the kampong people had
just returned from a rubber expedition, and part of the output had been
cleverly turned into plastics in this way.
The rhino was about seventy-five centimetres high, strong and burly
looking, and the posture of the young man on his back conveyed a vivid
suggestion of action. They were now on their way to sell this to some
Chinaman. The image was said to be worth from two to three hundred
florins, and as there was considerable additional rubber, perhaps all of
it approached a value of a thousand florins. Bringing this rubber from up
country had occupied eighteen days, and it was the result of ten men's
work for two or three months. Twice before during the last two years
rubber had been brought here in the same manner.
First they considered it essential to make a feast for the badak (the
Malay name for rhinoceros). When going out on their expedition they had
promised to make a badak effigy if they found much rubber. As the man on
its back represented the owner, there was the risk that one of the souls
of the latter might enter his image, resulting in illness for the owner,
to avoid which a pig would have to be killed and various ceremonies
performed.
The festival was scheduled to take place in three days, but it had to be
postponed one day on account of difficulties in procuring the pig. I
presented them with three tins of rice and another half full of sugar,
which they wanted to mix with water to serve as drink because there was no
rice brandy. It required some exertion to bring the heavy image from the
float up to the open space in front of the house where the rubber
gatherers lived, but this had been done a day or two before the feast, the
statue in the meantime having been covered with white cotton cloth.
Several metres of the same material had also been raised on poles to form
a half enclosure around the main object.
