Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: May 16, 2025
It was the worst weather he had experienced in the two years he had been at Sampit. According to him, conditions in this part of Borneo may be even more stormy from August to November. In the Malay kampong, Pembuang, I procured a large pomelo, in Borneo called limao, a delicious juicy fruit of the citrus order, but light-pink inside and with little or no acidity.
It was a large kampong with many houses, and grass was growing everywhere. Semang said to himself, "I am rich. Here is all that I need." And he lay down to sleep. He ascended the ladder and lay down near the cooking place. Semang heard him, but was afraid to move, and slept no more.
Next to it is the Kampong Perambat, from the casting net which its inhabitants use in fishing. Another parish is called Membakut and its houses are built on firm ground, being principally the shops of Chinese and Klings. The last kampong on this side is that of Burong Pingé, formerly a very important one, where dwelt the principal and richest Malay traders.
Scarcely any kampong is so small as not to have a mosque. The Malays are bigoted, and for the most part ignorant and fanatical Mohammedans, and I firmly believe that the Englishman whom they respect most is only a little removed from being "a dog of an infidel." In fact, Mohammedan law and custom rule in civil cases, and the Imaum of the mosque assists the judge with his advice.
They evidently enjoyed the unusual sight of the steamer, and followed us attentively. In the afternoon we arrived at Poru, a small, oppressively warm kampong, deserted but for an old man and one family, the others having gone to gather rattan in the utan.
The number seldom exceeds twenty in one kampong; but opposite to each is a kind of open building that serves for sitting in during the day, and as a sleepingplace for the unmarried men at night. These together form a sort of street.
When the people of the kampong need rice or have any other wish, a fowl or pig is killed; the blood is smeared on the raja and on the slaves, and some of the meat is deposited in a jar standing next to him. When advised of what is wanted the raja gives the slaves orders to see that the people are supplied.
It was a beautiful view at that point, with the lovely river in its windings, and on the top of the steep bank a kampong of largish houses under palms and durions.
Leaving this large kampong we traveled by a much-grown-up elephant track, needing the constant use of the parang and the strength and wisdom of the elephant to make it passable, saw several lairs and some recent tiger tracks, crossed a very steep hill, and, after some hours of hard riding, came down upon the lovely Perak, which we crossed in a "dugout" so nearly level with the water that at every stroke of the paddle of the native who crouched in the bow the water ran in over the edge.
One night as we walked alone under the moonlight the Englishman opened his heart to me and said, "You are going to visit the Head-Hunting Dyaks to-morrow. You will see their abject squalor and filth. You will be surprised when I tell you that my wife was a Dyak girl and that I took her out of a Kampong fifteen years ago and took her to England." "That's a lie!" I exclaimed.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking