their personal qualities, and the deference paid to their opinion. To an assembly of chiefs, all disputes are referred, and their decisions are given in accordance with their own customs, which, besides guiding the verdict, generally settle the penalty which shall be inflicted on the aggressor. Cases which, from want of evidence or from uncertainty of any kind, cannot be thus decided, are settled by an appeal to superior powers in an ordeal by diving.

poles are thrust firmly into the mud; and the champions, each on his own grating, grasping his pole, and surrounded by his friends, plunge their heads simultaneously under water. Immediately the spectators chant aloud at the top of their voices the mystic, and perhaps once intelligible word lobon-lobon, which they continue repeating during the whole contest. When at length one of the champions shows signs of yielding, his friends, with the laudable desire of preventing his being worsted, hold his head forcibly under water. The excitement is now great; lobon-lobon increases in intensity, and redoubles in rapidity; the shouts become yells, and the struggles of the unhappy victim, who is fast becoming asphyxied, are painful to witness. At length nature can endure no more; he drops senseless in the water, and is drag

When both parties in a dispute have agreed that it should be referred to the diving ordeal, preliminary meetings are held to determine the time, place, and circumstances of the match. On the evening of the day previous to that on which it is to be decided, each party stakes in the following manner a certain amount of property, which, in case of defeat, shall come into the possession of the victor.ged ashore, apparently lifeless, by his comThe various articles of the stake are brought out of the litigant's room, placed in the verandah of the house in which he lives, and are there covered up and secured. One man who acts as a kind of herald then rises, and in a long speech, asks the litigant whether he is conscious he is in the right, and trusts in the justice of his cause; to which the latter replies at equal length in the affirmative, and refers the matter to the decision of the spirits. Several more speeches and replies follow, and the ceremony concludes by an invocation of justice. In the meantime, the respondent deposits and secures his stake with like ceremonial in the verandah of his own house; and early in the morning, both parties, accompanied by their respective friends, repair to the bank of the river to decide the contest. Either party may appear by deputy, a privilege which is always taken advantage of by women, and often even by men, for there are many professional divers who, for a trifling sum, are willing to undergo the stifling contest.

Preparations are now made; the articles staked are brought down and placed on the bank; each party lights a fire, at which to recover their champion, should he be nearly drowned; and each provides a roughly constructed grating for him to stand on, and a pole to be thrust into the mud for him to hold by. The gratings are then placed in the river within a few yards of each other, where the water is deep enough to reach to the middle; the

panions, while the friends of his opponent, raising one loud and prolonged note of triumph, hurry to the bank, and seize and carry off the stakes. All this, however, is unknown to the unhappy vanquished, who, pallid and senseless, hangs in the arms of his friends, by whom his face is plastered with mud, in order to restore animation. In a few minutes, respiration returns; he opens his eyes, gazes wildly around, and in a short time is, perhaps, able to walk home. Next day, he is in a high state of fever, and has all the other symptoms of a man recovering from apparent death by drowning. The result of the trial, whatever it be, is regarded as the verdict of a higher power, and is never questioned. Even in cases where the loser knows he is right; when, for example, a man is unjustly accused of theft, and, conscious of innocence, appeals to the ordeal, and loses his cause, he never thinks of blaming the decision, but attributes his defeat to some sin, for which the superior powers are now inflicting punishment.

I may here mention a method of divination employed by the malos, or tinkers, of Borneo, a race who, from their skill in working metals, travel and are welcomed almost everywhere, and by whom (for they are the most superstitious race with whom we have come in contact) are told stories wild as any in the Arabian Nights. In a case of theft which happened at Banting, suspicion was divided among three persons, and the principal malo man of the place, by name Ramba, undertook to

to congratulate the successful warriors. Siri and pinang, the never-failing accompaniments of a Dyak meeting, are produced in great quantities; the gongs and drums are beaten throughout the whole night; and the victors, amid scenes of gayety and sport, rejoice in the admiring envy of the youths, and bask in the smiles of the fair. During the few succeeding days, feasting proceeds to a certain extent, and a basket of offerings to the spirits is suspended on the top of the house; but the grand entertainment is delayed till an abundant harvest should enable them to celebrate the head-feast in a manner suited to the dignity of the occasion.

foray. The din is redoubled as they approach their own house. The shouts are taken up and repeated on shore. The excitement spreads: the shrill yells of the women mingle with the hoarser cries of the men, the gongs in the house respond to those in the boat, and all hurry to the wharf to greet the victors. Then there is the buzz of meeting, the eager question, the boastful answer, the shout, the laugh, the pride of triumph; and the gallant warriors become the cynosure of every eye; the envy of their equals, the admiration of the fair. When the excitement has in some degree subsided, the crew, leaving some of their number in the boat, go up to the house, where a plentiful sup- For this important event, which freply of siri, pinang, and tobacco are pro- quently does not take place for two or duced, and over these Dyak cheerers of three years after the head has been taken, the social hour, the event is related and preparations are made some weeks prediscussed in all its breadth and bearings. viously. Large stores of cakes and sweetAt length they prepare to bring the trophy meats are provided, and many jars of tuak, to the house. A long bamboo is procured, or native beer, are prepared; much siri, and its lower joint split into several pieces, pinang, and tobacco collected, and every which are then opened out and wrought | preparation made for an extensive display by means of ratans into a sort of basket. of hospitality. On the morning of the Into this basket the head is put, and is appointed day, the guests, dressed in their carried to the chief man in the boat from best, and ornamented with all their barthe wharf to the house, in the doorway of baric finery, begin to assemble, and rarely, which, at the head of the ladder, the except on such occasions as these, are principal woman of the house stands to their savage ornaments seen. Such, at receive it. The bearer, standing below, least, is the case among the Balos, a tribe presents it to her, and as she endeavors to who are in a sort of transition state betake it, withdraws it; he again presents, tween ancient barbarism and modern civand again withdraws it, till, at the seventh ilization, and whose young men would now time, he allows her to obtain it. Thence on ordinary occasions be ashamed to appear she carries it to the bundle of skulls which in those fantastic ornaments, which a few hang in the open gallery, and it is there years ago were the delight of their hearts. deposited along with the rest. As night I cannot say they have gained much in approaches, preparations are made for appearance by the change. A handsome drying, or rather roasting it. A fire is savage, in his embroidered chawat, and lighted in a little shed outside the house; pure white armlets shining on his dusky the head is suspended close above the arms, with his brass-wire bracelets, his flames; and when it has been dried to variegated head-dress of blue, white, and satisfaction—that is, well smoked and par-red, hung with shells, or adorned with the tially scorched-it is taken back and redeposited in the bundle, to remain there till it is feasted. "And what becomes of the flesh ?" I asked of an old warrior, who was displaying to me a recently captured head, to which the scorched and shriveled integuments still adhered, while from the earlier skulls all trace of flesh had long since disappeared. With the utmost nonchalance the savage replied, "The rats eat it."

In the meantime, friends, chiefly the young of both sexes, resort to the house

crimsoned hair of his enemies, and surmounted by the feathers of the argus pheasant, or by some artificial plume of his own invention, girt with his ornamented sword, and bearing in his hand a tall spear, as with free step he treads his native wilds, is a sight worthy of a painter. The same individual, clothed in a pair of dirty ragged trowsers, with perhaps a ven. erable and well-worn shooting-jacket, the gift of some liberal European, suggests ideas of anything but the picturesque or the beautiful. Many of them, however,

have adopted the Malay costume, which is when first offered, the young ladies have both civilized and becoming. it very much in their own power as to whom shall be helped, and to what extent; a privilege which, I have been told, they are inclined to exercise with great partiality.

But whatever custom they adopt, whether Dyak, Malay, or pseudo-European, all are clothed in the best garments they can procure; and they come in troops from the neighboring houses to that in which the feast is to be held. As they arrive, eight or ten young men, each with a cup and a vessel of tuak, place themselves in a line inward from the doorway, and as the company enter, they are presented by each of the luak-bearers with a cup of the liquid. To drink is compulsory, and thus they all run the gauntlet of all the cups. As tuak is not a pleasant liquor to take in excess-the headache from it is tremendous it is to the majority of them a penance rather than a pleasure, and many attempt, but in vain, to escape the infliction. In this manner the male guests assemble and seat themselves in the gallery, the chiefs being conducted to the place of honor in the middle of the building, and beneath the bundle of skulls. All the rooms are at the same time thrown open, and each family keeps free house for the entertainment of the female guests. These, as they arrive, enter and partake of the dainties that are provided for them; and many of the men being likewise invited to join them, the feast of reason and the flow of soul proceed as triumphantly as in similar cases in Europe. Cakes, sweetmeats, eggs, and fruit are produced, discussed, and washed down with tuak, and occasionally with a little arrack; while siri, pinang, gambier, and tobacco serve the purpose of deviled biscuits, to give zest and pungency to the substantial dessert. Conversation never for an instant flags; the laugh, the joke, the endless chatter, the broad banter, and the quick reply, pass unceasingly round the circle, and a glorious Babel of tongues astounds the visitor.

Outside, in the gallery, the same scene is enacted, but with less animation than in the rooms, for, as there the ladies form no part of the company, the assembly wants all its soul, and much of its life. The girls of the house, however, dressed in their gayest, and looking their best "beautiful as stars," a Dyak once told me-have formed themselves into a corps of waitresses, and hand round the viands to the assembled guests. As it is not according to Dyak etiquette to take a thing

The mannangs, male and female, next take part in the ceremony. They congregate in the gallery, and seating themselves in a circle, one of them begins his dreary and monotonous chant, while the rest at stated intervals join in the chorus. They occasionally intermit their rhyme in order to take a little refreshment; after which, another of the brotherhood takes the lead, and they continue their dismal monotone as before. After some time, each of them is furnished with a small plate of raw rice, dyed a bright saffron color, holding which in their hands, they perambulate the crowded gallery, and, still continuing their chant, scatter the yellow grains over the seated multitude" for luck."

In the meantime, the object of all this rejoicing, the captured head, hangs along with its fellows in the bundle almost unnoticed. In the morning, before any of the guests have assembled, some one has stuffed a half-rotten plantain into one eye, and fastened a piece of cake and a little siri and pinang near (not into) its mouth. It is then replaced in the bundle, and no more notice taken of it throughout the whole feast, unless a few boys, warriors in embryo, occasionally advance to inspect it. It has been said by former writers that it is stuck upon a pole, and its mouth filled with choice morsels of food, but I never saw this done, nor did any Dyak whom I have questioned know anything of such a custom. As to the opinion that they endeavor to propitiate the souls of the slain, and get them to persuade their relatives to be killed also, or that the courage of the slain is transferred to the slayer, I am inclined to think that these are ideas devised by Malays, for the satisfaction of inquiring whites, who, as they would not be satisfied till they had reasons for everything they saw, got them specially invented for their own use.

Offerings, however, are made to the superior powers. A pig has been killed early in the morning, and its entrails inspected to furnish omens, while its carcass afterward serves as materials for a feast. Baskets of food and siri are hung up as offerings to the spirits and to the birds of