An article by Major Richard Neve called 'Iban Dadop' talks about the water divining skill of their tracker, an Iban from Borneo known as Pte. Dadop.
The major's platoon was camped 500 feet from the summit of a 3,000 foot ridge in the Malaysian jungle for the night, with dwindling water supplies and no water sources nearby. When asked if he could find water, Pte. Dadop replied in the affirmative...
Certainly an interesting method of water divining, and one that I haven't come across before. I've heard of two sticks being laid balanced between the outstretched index fingers, but not this. Has anyone heard of this method before, or tried it?While the water bottles were being collected Dadop had walked round the base area looking at various bushes. Spotting what he wanted he cut off two pencil width pieces of branch, each about three inches long.
Dadop leading, I gave the order to move off. He immediately placed the two pieces of wood in the palm of his hand so they formed a V with the base pointing towards his fingers(italics added). He then set off at a fast pace down the side of the ridge... It suddenly dawned on me I was watching the Iban equivalent of water divining. After descending no more than 100 feet he veered off into a slight hollow about 30 feet across.
"Dig here, Tuan".
We quickly dug down two feet with an entrenching tool and our parangs. The resulting hole soon filled with slightly muddy but drinkable water deep enough to submerge each water bottle in turn until it was full. In half an hour we had finished and were on our way back.