Seventeen years among the Sea Dyaks of Borneo; a ... - Sabrizain.org

CHAPTER XIX
THE DYAK ABROAD
Love of travel— " The innocents abroad "— Gutta-hunting — Collecting
canes— Hunting for edible birds' -nests— Camphor- working.
THE Dyak is fond of travel, and, like other people,
loves to visit foreign countries and to return and
relate his adventures to his stay-at-home friends.
He is always at home in the jungle, and in whatever
country he may be collecting jungle produce, he is in his
element. But this is by no means the case when he is
in any foreign town. I have sometimes seen Dyaks in
Singapore walking aimlessly about, quite out of touch
with their surroundings. I think they are looked upon
as fair game by the Chinese shopkeepers in Singapore,
who have no scruples in taking advantage of their inno-
cence, as the following incident will show.
Some years ago I took some Dyaks from Banting on a
visit to Singapore. I told them not to wander too far
away from the house by themselves, as they might lose
their way, and advised them to let me send someone with
them when they wanted to buy anything, because they
had no idea of the price of things, and would probably
be swindled by the Chinese shopkeepers. For the first
few days they were very careful to do as I told them,
but afterwards, they considered themselves experienced
travellers who could well manage to bu3' things for
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