Evening star., 1923-09-09

in a sailors orog shop, run by emma
mar he tooksIp once more mse, the sinssIfm sUsn
the task OF finSine and dealing with the
more or less Talented italian bard VINO
had bIltheIy. appropriated the authors
clothes and funds for his own money;
moon. Airea6y the author had tolIoweo
him. by foot, sampan, flat car and tniro-
class coaches from Indo China to slam
and on TO singapore.
RY HARRY L. FOSTER.
NCE again. set out in pur-
suit of the poet. Although
there was no steamer leav-
~ Immediately for Manila 1
discovered that the Kajang. a black
ened freighter with accommodations
for a few passengers, was sailing for
Borneo, whence 1t was possible that
I might catch a second steamer to
the Philippines.
Having drawn my savings from
Kwongs shop drawer, washed my
one suit Of clothes. redeemed my al
ready much-redeemed camera, and
purchased a first-class ticket, l
seated myself Upon the small, portion
o.. the Kajangs deck which\was not
Mttrede with derricks and donkey
engines and miscellaneous freight
and watched Singapore fade into the
distance with its memories Of inquiry
and general rough-house. Once more
for the time being, I had become a
respectable gentleman.
For three days the little steamer
numbered eastward through the China
SEA-
On the third day Borneo loomed
upon the horizon.
Not a habitation or a lighthouse
or another ship was to be seem
only an unending stretch of white
beach beyond the blue water, and
behind 1t q tangle Of vines or a
grove of trees that might have been
the tropical relatives OF fr or pine,
backed by verdant mountains that
rose into the feecy clouds.
There was scarcely D. ripple upon
the sea, and the waves that rolled
shoreward turned over SO gently at
the beach that they showed not a
speck of foam. Not a tree moved.
Not living creature was to be seen.
1t was difncult to believe, as I sat
perspiration from my brow. that these
forests were the haunt of rhinoceros.
orsng-utans, poisonous reptiles. and
head-hunting savages. or that this
island-the second largest island in
the world, with 10000 square miles
or wilderness more impenetrable and
dangerous than any wilderness in
darkest Africa-was any different
from any other island.
X
CTILL. at each of the nondescript
~ ports where we stopped. I watch
ed for the head-hunters. According
70 all my conceptions of Borneo, they
should have swarmed about the ship
In whole fleets of war canoes, but
they didn't. The hodge-podges Of tin
roofs, thatched roofs, shingled roofs
and tiled roofs bordering the shore
were populated not by ad-hunting
DyakB but by Malay fishermen and
Chinese laborers imported by the
English overseers, who had built
their bungalows and clubs and golf
courses and cricket grounds and race
tracks, as Englishmen. always do
The Dyaks are nots the only saw
ages in Borneo, but 1t fs the Dyaks
Of whom one hears most and whom
one expects to see in Borneo, yet to
see them one must venture into the
interior.
did, however, see three Dyaks
They were young boys. of magnificent
physique, short in height, but SYM
af-ir~
and absolutely naked save for 1oin
cloth, so small and tight that at a
first glance 1t was not noticeable
Their earlobes were distended to hold
black wooden ornaments that resem-
bled spools: their skin was golden
brown; their bodies were tattooed
from neck to ankle with blue trac-
fngs; their foreheads appeared to be
partially shaved, but behind the fore
head the hair rose in a high, black
pompadour. which suggested the name
of horse. They carried themselves
with conscious pride-and strode past
the Chinese and Malays with an air
of superiority unsurpassed even by
that of the English.
When I unslung my camera they
paused. 1t was their native super
stition, was later informed, that In
taking their picture the photographer
was stealing their souls for some
diabolical purpose which they did not
understand, but which they did not
welcome. The boys were too proud,
however, to run away, and, after
pausing a moment in indecision, they
strode manfully past my lens. their
heads very erect, their eyes straight
to the front as though they did not
see me. 1t made a. beautiful picture
except for the fact that, as 1 later
discovered, I had no film in the cam
era. And before I could insert roll
and take a second snapshot, they had
disappeared.
The Selangor, which picked me up
In Sandaken, was even smaller than
the Kajang, but It's boards were spot
less. it's rails cleaned as though the
crew consisted of Dutch housewives
instead of Cinnamon. and rumor sug-
gested that its skipper would put in
irons any passenger who dared to
defiIe its decks by dropping a cigar
cite butt.
The voyage northward through the
age ina ginable. At night the full
moon, now low upon tho horizon,
traced a wide, golden path across the
water, through which the tiny waves
crept toward US in succession Of
little black streaks. BY day avery
white cloud in the bluest Of skies waS