When long accustomed to the enclosing walls of
the dark jungle a change is grateful to the eye. Against the sky rose a
bold chalk cliff over 200 metres high with wooded summit, the edge fringed
with sago palms in a very decorative manner. This is one of the two ridges
we had seen at a distance; the other is higher and was passed further up
the river. From the foot of the cliff the jungle sloped steeply down
toward the water. The blue sky, a few drifting white clouds, the beautiful
light of the fresh, glorious morning, afforded moments of delight that
made one forget all the trouble encountered in getting here. It seems as
if the places least visited by men are the most attractive.
Four hornbills were flying about. They settled on the branches of a tall
dead tree that towered high above the jungle and deported themselves in
strange ways, moving busily about on the branch; after a few minutes three
of them flew away, the other remaining quietly behind. There are several
kinds of hornbills; they are peculiar birds in that the male is said to
close with mud the entrance to the nest in the hollow stem of the tree,
thus confining the female while she is sitting on her eggs. Only a small
hole is left through which he feeds her.
The great hornbill (rhinoflax vigil) flies high over the jungle in a
straight line and usually is heard before it is seen, so loud is the noise
made by the beating of the wings. Its clamorous call is never to be
forgotten, more startling than the laughter of the laughing jackass of
Australia. The sound inspires the Dayak with courage and fire. When he
takes the young out of the nest, later to serve him as food, the parent
bird darts at the intruder. The hornbill is an embodiment of force that
may be either beneficent or harmful, and has been appropriated by the
Dayaks to serve various purposes. Wooden images of this bird are put up as
guardians, and few designs in textile or basket work are as common as that
of the tingang. The handsome tail feathers of the rhinoceros hornbill,
with transverse bands of alternate white and black, are highly valued; the
warriors attach them to their rattan caps, and from the solid casque with
which the beak of the giant species is provided, are carved the large red
ear ornaments. Aided by the sumpitan the Dayaks and Punans are expert in
bringing down the rather shy birds of the tall trees.
Three hours later we had managed to carry all our goods above the kiham
Duyan, which is only one hundred metres long, but with a fall of at least
four metres; consequently in its lower part it rushes like a disorderly
waterfall.
