Here
grew the largest CRINUM lilies I had ever seen. They literally towered
over me, and the sweet-scented white and pink flowers grew in huge
bunches on stems nearly as thick as my arm.
After the bright sun on the main river, the dark, gloomy depths of this
side-stream were very striking. It was so narrow that sometimes the
vegetation on both sides was forced into the canoes, and the "atap"
(palm-thatched) roof of my canoe came in for severe treatment as it
brushed against prickly PANDANUS and thorny rattans.
The entrance to this stream was completely hidden from view, and no
one but these Malays, who had been up here before, trading with the
Dayaks, could have discovered it. I had told the Malay chief that I
wished to visit a Dayak village where no white man had ever been and
where they were head-hunters. He had smiled slyly and nodded as if he
understood. Thereupon he said, "Baik (good), Tuan," and said he would
help me. Just as darkness was setting in we arrived at a Dayak village,
consisting of one very long house, which I afterwards found to exceed
two hundred feet in length. It was situated about one hundred yards
from the stream. No sooner had we sighted it than the air resounded
with the loud beating of large gongs and plenty of shouting.
