This is a vintage headlamp used by rubber tappers in the early years of rubber industry in Sarawak which started in the 1910 when James Hoover introduced the crop when the Foochows failed in growing rice well in the Rajang Valley.
Rev Wong King Huo and Kuo (a Minnang man) started the first rubber gardens in the Rajang Basin.
Rubber trees were tapped five years after the first ones were grown and it was a good time for every Foochow who had rubber trees. More and more Foochows cut down the jungles in the 1910's and the Rajah was particularly happy to grant titles to them.
Lau Kah Tii, my grand uncle had relatives to help him and it was said by the end of 1924, he had more than 400 acres of rubber land, which he shared with his sons and daughters and relatives. He was a very far sighted man. My own maternal grandfather, with his band of friends shared 200 acres. But life was not easy in this land exploitation because every thing was done by hand.
When the Foochows started clearing land and tapping rubber, life was hard because there were still a lot of wild animals and snakes in the forest. Many were actually bitten by poisonous snakes and they died. Some died from heat stroke too. Others died from over work.
The headlamps used carbide to light up. Some women actually got burnt and they had scars on their face, and hands. Wounds from burns were not easy to heal when they had no ointment in those days.
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