New-York tribune., 1903-02-28


Henry Furness Sd, NJ d, F. r oi,,Is. e, +, j. B.
trated. Octave. PIP. xl. ls' fhliaue'pN "
Lippincott Company
DR. Furness in his sympathetic description VI
a primitive people. passes over the payahs' VI
Ibans and the other coast tribes OF borheo'
which have been repeatedly studied and "ri''e'i
of from the seventeenth century to the pfeSeh'
dav of German inquiry, and devotes his attentloii
almost entirely to the tribes OF the ihleiio''
especially the Kayans and Kenyahs Oh 'ie
Farar, district of Sarawak That his approach
is tempered with the desire to find the man ur-
der the skin of the savage is plain throughout
and adds to the sense of his having, IN a meas
ure unusual at such great remove from ciV'i-
zation really comprehended a strange race
What with browless and lashless eyes inhy
teeth brass plugs, looped ears and biue iese:
I am afraid j have given but sorry picture VI
those whom ] would fain have my reaaeas aF,or,,
gard with as much kin1liness as my memory
now holds for the originals These freaks Oh
fashion are. however, merely eXternaI' ~uiiuel ~
Meath I found honesty. hospitality, sehIeheess
and a childlike simplicity. The kayans anu anu
Kenyahs harmonic with their SURROUNDINGS.
The very word Jungle" possesses an ln9tiIanle ~.
charu1-it is full of gay, exuberant Il1s III II
sect and flower: but in its depth. side py sue
with these turks swift death. Deep seated III
the heart of the Joyous childlike Borneans
there reigns in their bosoms. true to their Jun
gle home, an inextinguishable yearnng 1or Ihe
head not their own. Nevertheless, ike theii
For better protection the Borneans arrange
their houses in one long continuous ilne the
entire village constituting one Tong house, the
individual rooms giving on common Veranoa
as city houses front on the street. the oaHS
work of preparing food, mainly rice. and draw
ing water from the river is done for the most
part by the women while the men hunt. or
smoke long cigarettes of Java tobacco rolled IN
a dried banana leaf and lounge about. rum1-
mating on war expedition against a neighbor-
ing tribe. 1t was DR.. .Furness's fortune 10
accounany such an expedition actuated by a
desire to revenge the death of a single memper-
But It was brought to naught by the ef1orts Oh
the English official, DR.. Hose HIS lnrerpreta-
@tions of the auguries saved the DAY seVeral
times When it becomes necessary to discover
how matters really stand the Borneans XIII q
pig and examine the liver. Twice the MYERS
would have turned out disastrously for the
English Government had not DR.. Hose inter-
nreted the 'nalforrnations in its favor and fndf-
Gated that the trouble lay with the treasonaple
heart of some unknown person of importance
whose death might be expected. The old chel
darklv hinted at Aban Liah. was so impressed
with tbe dire portents that he actually took to
his bed and died
While the guest of Tama Bulan, at the cere-
mony of naming the chiefs son, the author mao
some of his most characteristic experiences
The Dayong or priest, had to Kill pig on 'hls
occasion to discover whether the name. whlch
was kept deep secret until the last moment
would prove fortunate
All the evil spirits having now been effectually
| dispelled. the Dayong squatted down oy the pig,
and taking from the fire small tick of wood
with A glowing end he touched 1t to the pig
side by way of calling the poor oeasts atlen-
ton to what he was about to say. When the
pig's struggles Nad Gained down, the ol0 man
laid his hands its sides and sooth1ngly ao-
dressed it as "Balli Boin Akan, Bali BON
Akan." and begged it to intercede with fenylohS
and Perbungan and TO tell unerringly whether
or not the name now about to be given TO the
child had been ausplciously CHOSEN
The considerate liver of this sacred pig, we
learn later, politely proclaimed that the young
ster's life would be all that the heart oS a Ken
yah parent could desire. Later. custom allowed
the women to amuse themselves by feeding to
the assembled men successive cubes of raw pork
and spoonfuls of awful drink.
My turn came at last. Well, II was a ghastly
dose and no mistake. 1t was lukeWar.n, II was
fiery hot with peppers, 1t was SALT 1t was pun
gent it was sweet, it fiat, it was sour. and
it tasted strongly of brass bowl al this was
administered from a spoon, that without wash
ing or wiping had been already in the mouths
of thirty or forty black toOthed predecessors.
Our uncomfortable and inneaSurable disgust
created infinite amusement and prolonged laugh
ter. and when Bulan. full of miscnleVous merrl-
ment followed with the pork cubes. knowing
that she had the Tuans at her mercy. she did
not leave the fraction of an inch OF our faces
that was not bedaubed with grease. And then
how she laughed
The author has brought back from his cxcur
sion into little known corner Of Borneo de-
lightful and Illuminating set of photographs
which are given effective reproduction as illus
trations of the text A map might well have
beeen Included as good detailed maps of Borneo
are not be found in many private Libraries.