Part 11 (1/2)
CHAPTER 11
Handicrafts
In any account of the arts and crafts of the Kayans, the working of iron claims the first place by reason of its high importance to them and of the skill and knowledge displayed by them in the difficult operations by which they produce their fine swords. The origin of their knowledge of iron and of the processes of smelting and forging remains hidden in mystery; but there can be little doubt that the Kayans were familiar with these processes before they entered Borneo, and it is probable that the Kayans were the first ironworkers in Borneo, and that from them the other tribes have learnt the craft with various measures of success.[63] However this may be, the Kayans remain the most skilful ironworkers of the country, rivalled only in the production of serviceable sword-blades by the Kenyahs.
At the present day the Kayans, like all the other peoples, obtain their iron in the form of bars of iron and steel imported from Europe and distributed by the Chinese and Malay traders. But thirty years ago nearly all the iron worked by the tribes of the interior was from ore found in the river-beds, and possibly from ma.s.ses of meteoric iron; and even at the present day the native ore is still smelted in the far interior, and swords made from it by the Kenyahs are still valued above all others.
Smelting and forging demand a specialised skill which is attained by relatively few. But in each Kayan village are to be found two or three or more skilled smiths, who work up for a small fee the metal brought them by their friends, the finis.h.i.+ng touches being generally given by the owner of the implement according to his own fancy.
The smelting is performed by mixing the ore with charcoal in a clay crucible, which is embedded in a pile of charcoal. The charcoal being ignited is blown to a white heat by the aid of four piston-bellows. Each of the bellows consists of a wooden cylinder (generally made from the stem of a wild sago palm) about four feet in length and six inches in diameter, fixed vertically in a framework carrying a platform, on which two men sit to work the pistons (see Pl. 107). The lower end of each cylinder is embedded in clay, and into it near its lower end is inserted a tube of bamboo, which, lying horizontally on the ground, converges upon and joins with a similar tube of a second cylinder. The common tube formed by this junction in turn converges with the tube common to the other pair of cylinders, and with it opens by a clay junction into a final common tube of clay, which leads to the base of the fire. The piston consists of a stout stick bearing at its lower end a bunch of feathers large enough to fill the bore of the cylinder. When the piston is thrust downwards, it drives the air before it to the furnace; as it is drawn upwards, the feathers collapsing allow the entrance of air from above. The upper extremity of each of the piston-rods is attached by a cord to one end of a stout pliable stick, which is firmly fixed at its other end in a horizontal position, the cord being of such a length that the piston-head is supported by it near the upper end of the cylinder. Two men squat upon the platform and each works one pair of the cylinders, grasping a piston-rod in each hand, thrusting them down alternately, and allowing the elastic reaction of the supporting rods above to draw them up again. The crucible, having been brought to white heat in the furnace, is allowed to cool, when a ma.s.s of metallic iron or steel is found within it.
The forging of implements from the metal obtained is effected by the aid of a charcoal furnace to which a blast is supplied by the bellows described above, or sometimes by one consisting of two cylinders only. Stone anvils and hammers were formerly used, and may still be seen in use in the far interior (Fig. 31); but the Kayans make iron hammers and an anvil consisting of a short thick bar of iron, the lower end of which is fixed vertically in a large block of wood.
The peculiarly shaped and finely tempered sword-blade, MALAT, is the highest product of the Kayan blacksmith. The smith begins his operations on a bar of steel some eight inches in length. One end is either grasped with pincers, or thrust firmly into a block of wood that serves for a handle. The other end is heated in the furnace and gradually beaten out until the peculiar shape of the blade is achieved, with the characteristic hollow on the one side and convexity on the other. If the blade is to be a simple and unadorned weapon, there follow only the tempering, grinding, and polis.h.i.+ng. But many blades are ornamented with curled ridges projecting from the back edge. These are cut and turned up with an iron chisel while the metal is hot and before tempering.
Two methods of tempering are in use. One is to heat the blade in the fire and to plunge it at a dull heat into water. The other is to lay the cold blade upon a flat bar of red-hot iron. This has the advantage that the degree of the effect upon the blade can be judged from the change of its colour as it absorbs the heat. The Kayan smiths are expert in judging by the colours of the surface the degree and kind of temper produced. They aim at producing a very tough steel, for the MALAT has to serve not only in battle, but also for hacking a path through the jungle, and for many other purposes.
Many sword-blades are elaborately decorated with scroll designs along the posterior border and inlaid with bra.s.s. The inlaid bra.s.s commonly takes the form of a number of small discs let into the metal near the thick edge; small holes are punched through the hot metal, and bra.s.s wire is pa.s.sed through each hole, cut off flush with the surface and hammered flat. The designs are chased on the cold metal with a chisel and hammer supplemented by a file. The polis.h.i.+ng and sharpening are done in several stages: the first stage usually by rubbing the blade upon a block of sandstone; the second stage by the use of a hone of finer grain; and the highest polish is attained by rubbing with a leaf whose surface is hard and probably contains silicious particles. At the present time imported files are much used.
Other implements fas.h.i.+oned by the smiths are the small knives, spear-heads, hoes, small adzes, rods for boring the sumpitan, the anvil, and the various hammers, and chisels, and rough files used by the smiths.
Bra.s.s-work
Although bra.s.s-ware is so highly valued by all the peoples of the interior, the only brazen articles made by them (with one exception presently to be noticed) are the heavy ear-rings of the women. The common form is a simple ring of solid metal interrupted at one point by a gap about an eighth of an inch wide, through which is pulled the thin band of skin formed by stretching the lobule of the ear. Other rings form about one and a half turns of a corkscrew spiral. These rings are cast in moulds of clay, or in some cases in moulds hollowed in two blocks of stone which are nicely opposed.
The Malohs, a Klemantan sub-tribe in the upper basin of the Kapuas river, are well known as bra.s.s-workers; their wares are bartered throughout the country, and a few Maloh bra.s.s-workers may be found temporarily settled in many of the larger villages of all tribes. They make the bra.s.s corsets of the Iban women, tweezers for pulling out the hair of the face, bra.s.s ear-rings, and a variety of small articles, and they make use of the larger bra.s.s-ware of Malay and Chinese origin as the source of their material.
Fire Piston
This very ingenious instrument for the making of fire is cast in metal by the Ibans. (See Fig. 36 and Pl. 108.) It consists of a hollow bra.s.s or leaden cylinder about five inches in length and one inch in diameter, the bore being about one-quarter of an inch in diameter and closed at one end. A wooden piston, which closely fits the bore, bears a rounded k.n.o.b; it is driven down the cylinder by a sharp blow of the palm upon the k.n.o.b and is quickly withdrawn. The heat generated by the compression of the air ignites a bit of tinder (made by sc.r.a.ping the fibrous surface of the leaf stem of the Arenga palm) at the bottom of the cylinder. The cylinder is cast by pouring the molten metal into a section of bamboo, while a polished iron rod is held vertically in the centre to form the bore. When the cylinder is cold the iron rod is extracted, and the outer surface is trimmed and shaped with knife or file.
Boat-building
The Kayans make much use of boats, as described in Chapter VIII., and are skilful boat-makers. The forest offers them an abundant variety of timbers suitable for the different types of boat used by them.
The most ambitious efforts of this kind are devoted to the construction of the great war-boats, fine specimens of which are as much as 100 feet in length, or even, in exceptional instances, nearly 150 feet. The foundation of every boat is a single piece of timber shaped and hollowed by fire and adze. Several kinds of timber are used, the best being the kinds known as AROH (Sh.o.r.eA) and NGELAI (AFZELIA PALAMBANICA). Sometimes a suitable stem is found floating down river and brought to the bank before the house. But such good fortune is exceptional, and commonly a tree is selected in the forest as near as possible to the river bank. The tree is felled in the way described in Chapter VI. (Pl. 55), its branches are hewed away, and the stem is cut to the required length and roughly hewn into shape. About one-fourth of the circ.u.mference of the stem is cut away along the whole length, and from this side the stem is hollowed. When, by chopping out the centre, the thickness of this sh.e.l.l has been reduced to a thickness of some five inches, it is brought down to the river. This is effected by laying through the jungle a track consisting of smooth poles laid across the direction of progress; the hollowed stem is pulled endwise over this track with the aid of rattans, perhaps a hundred or more men combining their strength. If the stem proves too heavy to be moved at any part of the journey by their direct pull and push, a rough windla.s.s is constructed by fixing the stem of a small tree across two standing trees and winding the rattans upon this, the trimmed branches of the tree serving as the arms of the windla.s.s. The Kayans are skilled in this kind of transport of heavy timber; for the building of their houses and of the larger tombs involves similar difficulties, though the timbers required for these purposes are not so huge as those used for the war-boats. Arrived at the river bank, the hollowed stem is launched upon the water and towed down stream to the village at a time when the water is high. It is made fast to the bank before the village at as high a point as the water will allow, so that when the river subsides it is left high and dry. A leaf shelter is then built over it to protect it and the workers from the sun. The sh.e.l.l is then further hollowed, partly by firing it with shavings inside and out, and by sc.r.a.ping away the charred surfaces. The inside is fired first; then the hollow is filled with water, and the outside is fired.
When in this way the sh.e.l.l has been reduced to a thickness of a few inches, it is opened out, while hot from firing and still filled with water, by wedging stout sticks some six to seven feet in length between the lateral walls, so that the hollow stem (which hitherto has had the form of a hollow cylinder some three to four feet in diameter, lacking along its whole length a strip about the fourth of its circ.u.mference) becomes a shallow trough some six to seven feet wide in the middle of its length. During the hollowing, small b.u.t.tresses are left along each side at intervals of about two feet to form supports for benches. After the opening, the sh.e.l.l is left lying covered with branches for some days, while the wood sets in its new form. The outer surface is then shaved approximately to the required degree, all irregularities are removed, and holes about half-an-inch in diameter are bored through all parts of the sh.e.l.l at intervals of some twenty inches. Wooden pegs are then hammered into these holes, each peg bearing two marks or grooves at an interval equal to the thickness of the sh.e.l.l desired at each part; the peg is driven in from the outside until the outer groove is flush with the outer surface of the sh.e.l.l, and the projecting part is cut away; the inner surface is then further chipped and sc.r.a.ped in each area until it becomes level with the inner groove on the peg. In this way the workers are enabled to give to each part its appropriate thickness. The outer surface is then finally smoothed to form about one-third of a cylinder, and the foundation is complete. It only remains to lash the cross-benches to their supports, to raise the sides by las.h.i.+ng on a gunwale, and to fit in wedge-shaped blocks at bow and stern. The gunwale consists of a tough plank some ten inches wide overlapping the outer edge of the sh.e.l.l, and lashed firmly to it by rattan strips piercing both sh.e.l.l and planks at intervals of about six inches. In some cases the gunwale is further raised in its middle part by las.h.i.+ng on a second smaller plank to the upper edge of the first. The block fitted in at the prow presents to the water a flat surface inclined at a low angle; and a similar block completes the sh.e.l.l at the stern. The prow is often ornamented with the head of a crocodile or the conventional dog's head carved in hard wood and painted in red and black.
The whole operation, like every other important undertaking, is preceded by the finding of omens, and it is liable to be postponed by the observation of ill omens, by bad dreams, or by any misfortune such as a death in the house. In each house are certain men who are specially skilled in boat-making, and by them the work is directed and all the finer part of the work executed. In the case of a war-boat which is to be the property of the household, these special workers are paid a fee out of the store of valuables acc.u.mulated under the care of the chief by way of fines and confiscations.
The smaller boats, ranging from a small canoe suitable for one or two paddlers only, to one capable of carrying a score or more, are generally private property. These, like the war-boats, are made from a single stem. The larger ones are made in just the same way as the war-boats. In the smaller ones the bow is shaped from the solid block and is not opened out, as is the rest of the boat. The craftsman who makes a boat for another is helped by his customer, and is paid by him a fee in bra.s.s-ware or dollars, the usual fee being a TAWAK varying in size according to the size of the boat.
If Kayans find themselves for any reason in immediate need of a boat when none is at hand, they sometimes fas.h.i.+on one very rapidly by stripping the bark from a big tree. The two ends of the sheet of bark are folded and lashed with rattan to form bow and stern; the middle part is wedged open with cross-pieces which serve as benches, and the sh.e.l.l is strengthened with transverse ribs and longitudinal strips. A serviceable boat capable of carrying several men and their baggage may be completed in the course of two hours. Such a makes.h.i.+ft boat is more commonly made by Sea Dayaks.
Of all the interior tribes the Kayans are probably the best boat-makers; but most of them make their own boats in the same way as the Kayans. There are, however, a few of the Klemantan sub-tribes who never attempt to make anything more than a very rough small canoe of soft wood, and who buy from others what boats they need. This is a curious instance of the persistent lack of the tradition of a specialised craft among communities that might have been expected to acquire it easily from their neighbours.