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H. Wilfrid Walker - Wanderings Among South Sea Savages
mud banks - a dismal scene.
At nightfall we anchored a short way up the river, as the government will not allow their boats to travel
up the river by night, it being unsafe. We were off again at daylight the next morning, the scenery
improving as the interminable mangroves gave place to the forest. Sixty miles up the river found us at
Sibu, where I put up with Dr. Hose, the Resident, the celebrated Bornean explorer and naturalist. The
only other Europeans here were two junior officials, Messrs. Johnson and Bolt. And yet there is a club at
Sibu, a club for three, and here these three officials meet every evening and play pool.
There is a fort in Sibu, as indeed there is at most of the river places in Sarawak. It is generally a
square-shaped wooden building, perforated all round with small holes for rifles, while just below the roof
is a slanting grill-work through which it is easy to shoot, though, as it is on the slant, it is hard for spears
to enter from the outside. There are one or two cannons in most of these forts. The fort at Sibu was close
to Dr. Hose's house and was attacked by Dayaks only a few years ago. Johnson, one of Dr. Hose's
assistants, showed me a very long Dayak canoe capable of seating over one hundred men. It was made
out of one tree, but large as it was, it did not equal some of the Kayan canoes on this river, one of which
was one hundred and forty-five feet in length. This Dayak canoe was literally riddled with bullets, and
Johnson told me that a few weeks' ago he was fighting some Dayaks on the Kanawit, a branch river near
here, when he was attacked by some Dayaks in this very canoe. As they came up throwing spears he told
his men to fire, with the result that eighteen Dayaks were killed. The river at Sibu was of great width,
over a mile across, in fact, and close to the bank is a Malay village, and a bazaar where the wily
Chinaman does a thriving trade in the wild produce of the country, and makes huge profits out of the
Dayaks and other natives on this river. But the Dayaks often have their revenge and attack the Chinamen
with great slaughter, the result being that they take home with them plenty of yellow-skinned heads with
nice long pig-tails to hang them up by. During my stay on this river there were two or three cases of
Chinamen being slaughtered by the Dayaks, and if it were not for the forts on these rivers, every
Chinaman would be wiped out of existence.
My first real acquaintance with the Sea Dayak was in the long bazaar at Sibu, and I was by no means
disappointed in my first impressions, as I found him a most picturesque and interesting individual. The
men usually have long black hair hanging down their backs, often with a long fringe on their foreheads.
Their skin is brown, they have snub noses but resolute eyes, and they are of fine proportions, though they
rarely exceed five feet five inches in height. Beyond the "jawat," a long piece of cloth which hangs down
between their legs, they wear nothing, if I except their many and varied ornaments. They wear a great
variety of earrings. These are often composed of heavy bits of brass, which draw the lobes of the ears
down below the shoulder. When they go on the war-path they generally wear war-coats made from the
skins of various wild animals, and these are often padded as a protection against the small poisonous
darts of the "sumpitan" or blow-pipe which, together with the "parang" (a kind of sword) and long spears
with broad steel points constitute their chief weapons. They also have large shields of light wood; often
fantastically painted in curious patterns, or ornamented with human hair.
I had been at Sibu only three or four days, when word was brought down to Dr. Hose that the Ulu Ai
Dayaks, near Fort Kapit, about one hundred miles up the river, had attacked and killed a party of Punans
for the sake of their heads. These Punans are a nomadic tribe who wander about through the great forests
with no settled dwelling-places, but build themselves rough huts and hunt the wild game of the forest and
feed on the many wild fruits that are found in these forests. Hose at once decided to go up to Fort Kapit
and punish these Dayaks, and gave me leave to accompany him and Shelford. So one morning at six
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