Many Of The Women And
Children Had Never Seen A White Man Before, And Were Very
Sceptical As To My
Being the same colour all over, as my face.
They begged me to show them my arms and body, and
They were so
kind and good-tempered that I felt bound to give them some
satisfaction, so I turned up my trousers and let them see the
colour of my leg, which they examined with great interest.
In the morning early we continued our descent along a fine
valley, with mountains rising 2,000 or 3,000 feet in every
direction. The little river rapidly increased in size until we
reached Serma, when it had become a fine pebbly stream navigable
for small canoes. Here again the upheaved slatey rock appeared,
with the same dip and direction as in the Sadong River. On
inquiring for a boat to take me down the stream, I was told that
the Senna Dyaks, although living on the river-banks, never made
or used boats. They were mountaineers who had only come down into
the valley about twenty years before, and had not yet got into
new habits. They are of the same tribe as the people of Menyerry
and Sodos. They make good paths and bridges, and cultivate much
mountain land, and thus give a more pleasing and civilized aspect
to the country than where the people move about only in boats,
and confine their cultivation to the banks of the streams.
After some trouble I hired a boat from a Malay trader, and found
three Dyaks who had been several times with Malays to Sarawak,
and thought they could manage it very well.
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