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

248 SOME PERSONAL EXPERIENCES
equal to about three-quarters of a peck.) I asked him
to sell me all the rice he had. He was quite willing to do
so, and said that if I would wait a day, he would have
some paddy pounded, and be able to supply me with more
rice. I said what he had would be sufficient, and I told
my boatmen that whatever the weather was next day, we
must put out to sea.
Very early next morning we started. The sea was very
rough, and to escape the breakers we went farther and
farther away from land. I had my excellent servant, Ah
Choy, with me, and he was steering, and I had a very
good crew of Dyak boatmen. After some time Ah Choy
said to me :
" We are very far out, and can hardly see the land.
Had we not better get nearer shore ?"
The men were rowing as well as they could, but they
were getting very tired, and we were making very little
progress.
I told Ah Choy to bring the boat nearer shore, but as
soon as we got into shallower water the waves were so
great that it was evident the boat could not live through
them.
I asked Ah Choy to steer the boat straight for the
shore, and I told the men to row as hard as they
could, and as soon as they felt their oars touch bottom
to jump out and pull the boat up the shore as fast as
they could. They did exactly as I wished. The boat
was dragged ashore, but several large waves beat
into it, and everything was soaked. It had one or
two hard bumps on the sand, and was split from end
to end.
We were not far from Kabong, a village at the mouth
of the Krian River, and I, accompanied by one of my