ver taken in. The failure was attributed, of
course, to some minute divergence from the pattern. Manufacturers tried
again, still more carefully. They sent jars to be copied in China, whence
the originals came, evidently, at an unknown period. But it was no use;
the Dyaks only looked somewhat more respectfully at these forgeries before
rejecting them. For many years the attempt was made occasionally. Rich
Chinamen tried their skill. But at length everybody got to understand,
though no one is able to explain, that those savages possess some means of
distinguishing a jar of their own from a copy absolutely identical in our
eyes.

Mr. Williams had tried elsewhere without success, I fancy, before visiting
Brunei, the capital. But he had good reason to feel confidence there. The
Malay nobles would buy his jars without question, and compel their Dyak
subjects to accept them at their own price; such was the established means
of collecting subsidies. In fact, the nobles were overjoyed. But the
Sultan heard what was afoot. He possesses several of these mystic objects,
and he makes no inconsiderable portion of his revenue by selling water
drawn from them to sprinkle over the crops, to take as medicine, and so
forth. For his are the finest and holiest of all--beyond price. One speaks
upon occasion, giving him warning when grave troubles impend. Sir Spencer
St. John says he asked the Sultan a few years afterwards 'whether he would
take L2000 for it; he answered he did not think any offer in the world
would tempt him.'

The Brunei monarch was shrewd enough to see that passing off false jars
could not be to his interest. The Pangarans argued in vain. There's no
telling where it would end, he said, if the idolaters once began to feel
suspicious. 'Let your Englishman take his wares among the Kayan dogs. He
may swindle them to his heart's content.' The Kayans were not only
independent but ruthless and conquering foes of Brunei.

There was no other hope of selling the confounded jars. After assuring
himself that the enterprise was not too hazardous, Williams sought a
merchant familiar with the Kayan trade. He chose Nakodah Rahim, a
sanctimonious and unprepossessing individual, but one whose riches made a
guarantee of good faith. This man contracted to transport him and his
goods to Langusan, the nearest town of the Kayans on the Baram, and to
bring him back.

Williams was the first European perhaps to reach that secluded but
charming