Soon after our arrival in Borneo, we made all the preparations and began our journey to the forest early one morning. After miles of travel through the forest, we arrived at an open space. As it was already late in the evening, we decided to erect our tent and spend the night there. night soon fell on this place and we lighted our oil lamp.
Feeling tired, we had our meal early and went to bed. There was silence all around; but soon, creatures that love the night world became active. The forest was now full of frightful noise. Breaking through this noise, came another noise, more frightening; the noise of native drums. And as the minutes slipped by, it seemed to come nearer and nearer. We all froze into deadly silence. The tension mounted rapidly, but still nothing happened. Then, as suddenly as it began, the noise stopped. We were alarmed. We were now sure that some natives have seen us and we would be attacked. In such a situation, we could not sleep. Death might come at any time.
Minutes lengthened to hours; but in our anxiety to preserve our lives, we hardly noticed the coming of day. Then, all of a sudden, we found ourselves surrounded by half-naked natives with spears in their hands. Surprised and terrified, we remained speechless for some time. Then, one of them, presumably their leader, uttered a word. He seemed eager to talk, but there was no language in which we could understand each other.
Our teacher, who is always full of ideas, then offered a cigarette to the man who uttered the word. The man, however, seemed to suspect our teacher’s intentions. He refused to accept the cigarette. Our teacher then put it between his own lips and after lighting it, began to puff at it. The man now made a sign which showed that he would not mind having a cigarette after all. At once our teacher gave him one and helped him to light it. As he was puffing at it, we observed signs of satisfaction. Realizing that in this way we could become friends, our teacher gave him a few more cigarettes. The man was so delighted at this demonstration of friendship that he uttered some words, and soon all those who came with him, began to dance and sing.
After they had stopped singing, they made several gestures which showed that they had enjoyed our company. They left us after about an hour with smiles on their faces. Our journey into the interior of Borneo was indeed an adventure.
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