Abstract
HERR CARL BOCK has successfully accomplished his journey across Borneo—from Koetei to Bandjermassing—arriving at the latter place on the last day of 1879. The journey was commenced on November 21, from Tangeroeng, the residence of the Sultan of Koetei, who promised to accompany Herr Bock, but did all in his power to dissuade him from going. From hence the route was up the Mahakkan River, to the village of Moara-Kaman, where the mosquitoes were so troublesome that a retreat was almost determined on. On the 24th the largest Malay village in the interior was reached—Kotta Bangoen, containing more than a thousand inhabitants. The whole of the lower part of the Mahakkan is occupied by the Malays, the Dyaks dwelling only on the smaller tributaries, or towards the source of the main river. In this neighbourhood there is abundance of rattang gutta, or edible birds’ nests, and bees’ wax, to obtain which the Malays go in parties of twenty or thirty into the forests for fear of the Dyaks. Owing to the great drought of last year in this district, the whole forest is leafless, a very unaccustomed sight in the tropics, and as a result the birds had all deserted it, or at least none were to be seen. At this village, as well as at Tangaroeng and Moara Kaman, Herr Bock has found traces of a former Hindoo race, and a Dyak had lately dug up a beautifully formed bronze Hindoo goddess. From this point Herr Bock diverged from the Mahakkan, in order to visit the lake district and observe the Dyak inhabitants. He has made a number of sketches of these savages, many of whom are cannibals. The most dreaded tribe are the Tring Dyaks, whose chief, by name Sibau Mobang, Herr Bock summoned to meet him in the name of the Sultan. This man is most villanous in looks, and told our traveller that he frequently cut off the heads of oeither sex for the sake of eating the brain, which was sweet, as were also the palms of the hands, but the shoulder was bitter; and he presented him with his shield, covered all over with tufts of human hair. At the last village in the Malay part of his dominions, Moara Pahou, the Sultan summoned a large number of the Dyaks to accompany him and accumulated a body of some 600 in all, of whom 75 accompanied Herr Bock one or two days' journey in advance. The Dyak tribes are constantly at war with each other in order to obtain heads, and the Malays look down on them as savages, and by this means the terror of their name is increased. The upper part of the Moara Pahou branch of the Mahakkan is broken by rapids, over which the praus had to be dragged by rattang ropes. The last village on this river, Moara Anar, was reached on December 20, and then the march through the forest over the water-shed commenced. One of the advanced party was here killed, but no further loss was sustained. A Dyak road has been made through the forest with narrow bamboo bridges over the numerous small streams; these, however, were at the time mostly under water, owing to the recent floods. The journey on foot occupied four days of twelve hours, during two of which Herr Bock had to feed on the wild fruits, his provisions having been left behind. Perfect silence here reigns, broken only by the occasional note of a bird, though none are to foe seen. No attempt at molestation appears to have been made by the more savage tribes of the Dyaks, although at one village the chief pressed his visitors to partake of rice and fruit, which they had been forewarned was poisoned, and therefore declined. The end of this march brought our traveller to the river Benangau, a tributary of the Tewé, down which he passed till he arrived on Dutch territory, where the Dyaks are altogether comparatively civilised, and very different to those of Koetei.
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Exploration in Borneo . Nature 21, 468–469 (1880). https://doi.org/10.1038/021468e0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/021468e0