Part 7 (1/2)
Padan.
(19) Tama Bulan's Door.
Laki Ludop = BUNGAN (see Door 18).
Tama Bulan w.a.n.g = (1st wife) PENG = (2nd wife) PAYAH WAN (Uma Poh Kayan).
BULAN = Luja (Uma Plian Kayan).
Balari and Livang (1st cousins of Tama Bulan, adopted by him as sons).
OBONG = Wan (son of Aban Tingan her 1st cousin).
LEVAN.
Linjau.
CHAPTER 6
Agriculture
For all the peoples of the interior of Borneo, the Punans and Malanaus excepted, the rice grown by themselves is the princ.i.p.al food-stuff. Throughout the year, except during the few weeks when the jungle fruit is most abundant, rice forms the bulk of every meal. In years of bad harvests, when the supply is deficient, the place of rice has to be filled as well as may be with wild sago, cultivated maize, tapioca, and sweet potatoes. All these are used, and the last three, as well as pumpkins, bananas, cuc.u.mbers, millet, pineapples, chilis, are regularly grown in small quant.i.ties by most of the peoples. But all these together are regarded as making but a poor subst.i.tute for rice. The cultivator has to contend with many difficulties, for in the moist hot climate weeds grow apace, and the fields, being closely surrounded by virgin forest, are liable to the attacks of pests of many kinds. Hence the processes by which the annual crop of PADI is obtained demand the best efforts and care of all the people of each village. The plough is unknown save to the Dusuns, a branch of the Murut people in North Borneo, who have learnt its use from Chinese immigrants. The Kalabits and some of the coastwise Klemantans who live in alluvial areas have learnt, probably through intercourse with the Philippine Islanders or the inhabitants of Indo-China, to prepare the land for the PADI seed by leading buffaloes to and fro across it while it lies covered with water. The Kalabits lead the water into their fields from the streams descending from the hills.
With these exceptions the preparation of the land is everywhere very crude, consisting in the felling of the timber and undergrowth, and in burning it as completely as possible, so that its ashes enrich the soil. After a single crop has been grown and gathered on land so cleared, the weeds grow up very thickly, and there is, of course, in the following year no possibility of repeating the dressing of wood ashes in the same way. Hence it is the universal practice to allow the land to lie fallow for at least two years, after a single crop has been raised, while crops are raised from other lands. During the fallow period the jungle grows up so rapidly and thickly that by the third year the weeds have almost died out, choked by the larger growths. The same land is then prepared again by felling the young jungle and burning it as before, and a crop is again raised from it. When a piece of land has been prepared and cropped in this way some three or four times, at intervals of two, three, or four years, the crop obtainable from it is so inferior in quant.i.ty that the people usually undertake the severe labour of felling and burning a patch of virgin forest, rather than continue to make use of the old areas. In this way a large village uses up in the course of some twelve or fifteen years all the land suitable for cultivation within a convenient distance, I.E. within a radius of some three miles. When this state of affairs results, the, village is moved to a new site, chosen chiefly with an eye to the abundance of land suitable for the cultivation of the PADI crop. After ten or more years the villagers will return, and the house or houses will be reconstructed on the old site or one adjacent to it, if no circ.u.mstances arise to tempt them to migrate to a more distant country, and if the course of their life on the old site has run smoothly, without misfortunes such as much sickness, conflagrations, or serious attacks by other villages. After this interval the land is regarded as being almost as good as the virgin forest land, and has the advantage that the jungle on it can be more easily felled. But since no crop equals that obtainable from virgin soil, it is customary to include at least a small area of it in the operations of each year.
Each family cultivates its own patch of land, selecting it by arrangement with other families, and works as large an area as the strength and number of the roomhold permits. A hillside sloping down to the bank of a river or navigable stream is considered the choicest area for cultivation, partly because of the efficient drainage, partly because the felling is easier on the slope, and because the stream affords easy access to the field.
When an area has been chosen, the men of the roomhold first cut down the undergrowth of a V-shaped area, whose apex points up the hill, and whose base lies on the river bank. This done, they call in the help of other men of the house, usually relatives who are engaged in preparing adjacent areas, and all set to work to fell the large trees. In the clearing of virgin forest, when very large trees, many of which have at their bases immense b.u.t.tresses, have to be felled, a platform of light poles is built around each of these giants to the height of about 15 feet. Two men standing upon this rude platform on opposite sides of the stem attack it with their small springy-hafted axes (Fig. 11) above the level of the b.u.t.tresses (Pl. 55). One man cuts a deep notch on the side facing up the hill, the other cuts a similar notch about a foot lower down on the opposite side, each cutting almost to the centre of the stem. This operation is accomplished in a surprisingly short time, perhaps thirty minutes in the case of a stem two to three feet in diameter. When all the large trees within the V-shaped area have been cut in this way, all the workers and any women, children, or dogs who may be present are called out of the patch, and one or two big trees, carefully selected to form the apex of the phalanx, are then cut so as to fall down the hill.[45] In their fall these giants throw down the trees standing immediately below them on the hillside; these, falling in turn against their neighbours, bring them down. And so, like an avalanche of widening sweep, the huge disturbance propagates itself with a thunderous roar and increasing momentum downwards over the whole of the prepared area; while puny man looks on at the awful work of his hand and brain not unmoved, but dancing and shouting in wild triumphant delight.
The fallen timber must now lie some weeks before it can be burnt. This period is mainly devoted to making and repairing the implements to be used in cultivating, harvesting, and storing the crop, and also in sowing at the earliest possible moment small patches of early or rapidly growing PADI together with a little maize, sugar-cane, some Sweet potatoes, and tapioca. The patches thus sown generally lie adjacent to one another. If the weather is fine, the fallen timber becomes dry enough to burn well after one month. If much rain falls it is necessary to wait longer in the hope of drier weather. Choosing a windy day, they set fire to all the adjacent patches after shouting out warnings to all persons in the fields. While the burning goes on, the men ”whistle for the wind,” or rather blow for it, rattling their tongues in their mouths. Some of the older men make lengthy orations shouted into the air, adjuring the wind to blow strongly and so fan the fire. The fire, if successful, burns furiously for a few hours and then smoulders for some days, after which little of the timber remains but ashes and the charred stumps of the bigger trees. If the burning is very incomplete, it is necessary to make stacks of the lighter timbers that remain, and to fire these again. As soon as the ashes are cool, sowing begins. Men and women work together; the men go in front making holes with wooden dibbles about six inches apart; the women follow, carrying hung round the neck small baskets of PADI seed (Fig. 12), which they throw into the holes, three or four seeds to each hole. No care is taken to fill in the holes with earth. By this time the relatively dry season, which lasts only some two months, is at an end, and copious rains cause the seed to shoot above the ground a few days after the sowing. Several varieties of PADI are in common use, some more suitable for the hillsides, some for the marshy lands. On any one patch three or four kinds are usually sown according to the elevation and slope of the part of the area. Since the rates of growth of the several kinds are different, the sowings are so timed that the whole area ripens as nearly as possible at the same moment, in order that the birds and other pests may not have the opportunity of turning their whole force upon the several parts in turn. The men now build on each patch a small hut, which is occupied by most of the able-bodied members of the roomhold until harvest is completed, some fourteen to twenty weeks after the sowing of the PADI, according to the variety of grain sown. They erect contrivances for scaring away the birds; they stick bamboos about eight feet in length upright in the ground every 20 to 30 yards. Between the upper ends of these, rattans are tied, connecting together all the bamboos on each area of about one acre. The field of one roomhold is generally about four acres in extent; there will thus be four groups of bamboos, each of which can be agitated by pulling on a single rattan. From each such group a rattan pa.s.ses to the hut, and some person, generally a woman or child, is told off to tug at these rattans in turn at short intervals. Upon the rattans between the bamboos are hung various articles calculated to make a noise or to flap to and fro when the system is set in motion. Sometimes the rattan by which the system of poles is set in movement is tied to the upper end of a tall sapling, one end of which is thrust deeply into the mud of the floor of the river. The current then keeps the sapling and with it the system of bamboos swaying and jerking to and fro. The Kayans admit that they have learnt this last ”dodge” from the Klemantans. The watcher remains in the hut all day long, while his companions are at work in the field; he varies the monotony of his task by shouting and beating with a pair of mallets on a hollow wooden cylinder. The watcher is relieved from time to time, but the watch is maintained continuously day and night from the time that the corn is about two feet above the ground until it is all gathered in. In this way they strive with partial success to keep off the wild pigs, monkeys, deer, and, as the corn ripens, the rice-sparrow (MUNIA).
When the hut and the pest-scaring system have been erected, the men proceed to provide further protection against wild pig and deer by running a rude fence round a number of closely adjacent patches of growing corn. The fence, some three to four feet high, is made by las.h.i.+ng to poles thrust vertically into the ground and to convenient trees and stumps, bamboos or saplings as horizontal bars, five or six in vertical row. When this is completed the men take no further part until the harvest, except perhaps to lend a hand occasionally with the weeding. This is the time generally chosen by them for long excursions into the jungle in search of rattans, rubber, camphor, and for warlike expeditions or the paying of distant visits.
It is the duty of the women to prevent the PADI being choked by weeds. The women of each room will go over each patch completely at least twice, at an interval of about one month, hoeing down the weeds with a short-handled hoe; the hoe consists of a flat blade projecting at right angles from the iron haft (Fig. 13). The latter is bent downwards at a right angle just above the blade, in a plane perpendicular to that of the blade, and its other end is prolonged by a short wooden handle, into the end of which it is thrust. The woman stoops to the work, hoeing carefully round each PADI plant, by holding the hoe in the right hand and striking the blade downwards and towards her toes with a dragging action. In working over the patch in this careful fas.h.i.+on some three weeks are consumed. In the intervals the women gather the small crops of early PADI, pumpkin, cuc.u.mbers, and so forth, spending several weeks together on the farm, sleeping in the hut. In a good season this is the happiest time of the year; both men and women take the keenest interest and pleasure in the growth of the crop.
During the time when the grain is formed but not yet ripe, the people live upon the green corn, which they prepare by gathering the heads and beating them flat. These are not cooked, but merely dried in the sun, and though they need much mastication they are considered a delicacy.
During the time of the ripening of the corn a spirit of gaiety and joyful antic.i.p.ation prevails. It is a favourite time for courts.h.i.+p, and many marriages are arranged.
The harvest is the most important event of the year. Men, women, and children, all take part. The rice-sparrows congregate in thousands as the grain begins to ripen, and the noisy efforts of the people fail to keep them at a distance. Therefore the people walk through the crop gathering all ripe ears. The operation is performed with a small rude knife-blade mounted in a wooden handle along its whole length (Figs. 14, 15). This is held in the hollow of the right hand, the ends of a short cross bar projecting between the first and second fingers and between thumb and first finger. The thumb seizes and presses the head of each blade of corn against the edge of the knife. The cars thus cropped are thrown into a basket slung round the neck. As soon as a large basket has been filled by the reapers, its contents are spread out on mats on a platform before the hut. After an exposure of two or three days, the grain is separated from the ears by stamping upon them with bare feet. The separated grain pa.s.ses through the meshes of the coa.r.s.e mat on to a finer mat beneath. The grain is then further dried by exposure to the sun. When the whole crop has been gathered, threshed, and dried in this way, it is transported in the large shoulder baskets amid much rejoicing and merry-making to the PADI barns adjoining the house, and the harvest festival begins.
The elaborate operations on the BADI FARM that we have described might seem to a materialist to be sufficient to secure a good harvest; but this is not the view taken by the Kayans, or any other of the cultivators of Borneo. In their opinion all these material labours would be of little avail if not supplemented at every stage by the minute observance of a variety of rites. The PADI has life or soul, or vitality, and is subject to sickness and to many vaguely conceived influences, both good and bad.
Determination of the Seasons
The determination of the time for sowing the seed is a matter of so great importance that in each village this duty is entrusted to a man who makes it his profession to observe the signs of the seasons. This work is so exacting that he is not expected to cultivate a crop of PADI for himself and family, but is furnished with all the PADI he needs by contributions from all the other members of the village.
It is essential to determine the approach of the short dry season, in order that in the course of it the timber may be felled and burned. In Borneo, lying as it does upon the equator, the revolution of the year is marked by no very striking changes of weather, temperature, or of vegetation. In fact, the only constant and striking evidences of the pa.s.sage of the months are the alternations of the north-east and the south-west monsoons. The former blows from October to March, the latter from April to September, the transitions being marked by variable winds. The relatively dry season sets in with the south-west monsoon, and lasts about two months; but in some years the rainfall during this season is hardly less abundant than during the rest of the year.