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They were all Kenyahs, Oma Bakkah, who came in seven prahus, and proved so interesting that I postponed my journey one day. The government has put up a kind of lodging-house for visiting Dayaks, and the many fine implements and utensils which these men had brought with them made the interior look like a museum.
He said that in 1909, when he was stationed at Puruk Tjahu, nothing was known about the country where we then were. The Oma-Sulings, according to their traditions, came from Apo Kayan nearly two hundred years ago. Oma means place of abode; Suling is the name of a small river in Apo Kayan.
She refused to eat; neither would she retire to rest. As the day was ending she walked into the room where I sat with my numerous guests. She said, "Do you love Sylifa?" "Yes," was my answer. "Then give me back my Oma. Without him I die; already I droop; to-morrow I shall be no more." When asked to amuse us, she said she could not; her heart was too heavy.
Shortly after my arrival in Tandjong Selor, fifty Dayaks, mostly Kenyahs, Oma Bakkah, and some Kayans, arrived from distant Apo Kayan on a trading expedition, and I considered this rather fortunate, as it would largely solve the difficult question of prahus and men for my journey up the river.
The country we had entered was a fertile farm country, where great plantations of the Rint, and vineyards of the Oma grapes were established, and where great flocks of the Imilta dove, almost the only meat eaten by the Martians, are raised. The enormous flocks of this snow-white bird were strangely beautiful.
We tried to console her, but it was useless; she wept, and her long hair was wet with her tears. After two days, we were obliged to restore Oma to the devoted Sylifa. Sylifa was enthusiastic in her love of flowers. It was she who suggested that, at the fête of which I have spoken, the camelopards should be united by wreaths of flowers.
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