The Village Or House Of Menus Seemed To Contain
About One Hundred Inhabitants, Not Counting Small Children.
Upon my
arrival I was soon surrounded by a most curious throng, many of whom
gazed at me with
Open mouths, in astonishment at the sight of an
"orang puteh" (white man), as of course no white man had ever been
here before and but very few of the people had ever seen one. One old
woman remembered having seen a white man, and some of the older men
had from time to time seen government officials on the Rejang River,
but except to these few I was a complete novelty. Considering this,
I was greatly astonished at their friendliness, as not only the men,
but the women and children squatted around me in the most amicable
fashion, and sometimes even became a decided nuisance. My first evening
among them, however, I found extremely amusing, and as my Chinese cook
placed the food he had cooked before me, and as I ate it with knife,
fork and spoon, they watched every mouthful I took amid a loud buzz
of comments and exclamations of delight.
Though by no means the first time I have had to endure this sort of
popularity, or rather notoriety, in various countries of the world,
I do not think I have ever come across a people so full of friendly
curiosity as were these Dayaks. About midnight I began to feel a bit
sleepy, but the admiring multitude did not seem inclined to move,
so I told Dubi to tell them that I wanted to change my clothes and
go to sleep.
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