Part 41 (1/2)

[54] -- A good account, taken mainly from Skertchly, of many traps may be found in Mr. Ling Roth's well-known work, THE NATIVES OF SARAWAK AND BRITISH NORTH BORNEO, London, 1896; and also in McPherson's work on FOWLING.

[55] -- A stick of this kind is used in many rites. It is prepared by whittling shavings from a stick and leaving them attached at one end; so that a series of the shavings projects along one side of the stick.

[56] -- A similar practice prevails in the Malay Peninsula.

[57] -- On one occasion on which a race between twenty-two of these war-boats was rowed at Marudi on the Baram river, we timed the winning-boat over the down-stream course of four and half miles. The time was twenty-two minutes thirteen seconds.

[58] -- There is no reason to suppose that the Kayan augurs have not complete faith in the significance of the omens, and in the reality of the protection afforded by the favourable omen-birds, which they speak of as upholding them. Nevertheless, there can be no doubt that the strong faith of the people in the omen-birds, and the awe inspired by them, is very favourable to the maintenance of discipline and obedience to the chiefs, and that this fact is appreciated by the chiefs. The cult of the omen-birds, which hampers the undertakings of these peoples at almost every turn, and which might seem to be wholly foolish and detrimental, thus brings two great practical advantages: namely, it inspires confidence, and it promotes discipline and a strong sense of collective unity and responsibility. It is not improbable, then, that the advantages of this seemingly senseless cult outweigh its drawbacks, which in the shape of endless delays and changes of plans are by no means small.

[59] -- So far as we know this is the only way in which the bow and arrow is used in Borneo, although the principle of the bow is frequently applied in making traps. It is perhaps worthy of remark that the dense character of the jungle is probably more favourable to use of the blow-pipe than to that of the bow and arrow.

[60] -- It is probable that the observation of this practice by Europeans has given rise to the frequently published statements that the tribes of the interior are cannibals. We affirm with some confidence that none of the peoples of Borneo ever consume human flesh as food. It is true that Kayans, Kenyahs, and Klemantans will occasionally consume on the spot a tiny piece of the flesh of a slain enemy for the purpose of curing disorders, especially chronic cough and dysentery; and that Ibans, men or women, during the mad rejoicings over captured heads will occasionally bite a head, or even bite a piece of flesh from it. A third practice involving the consumption of human flesh was formerly observed among the Jingkangs (Klemantans of Dutch Borneo); when a son was seriously ill and the efforts of the medicine-men proved ineffective, an infant sister of the patient was killed and a small piece of the flesh given to the patient to eat. It would, we think, be grossly unfair to describe any of these peoples as cannibals on account of these practices.

[61] -- At one such feast eighty-five pigs and fifty-six fowls were slaughtered.

[62] -- See footnote, vol. i., p. 76.

[63] -- The Malays of Bruni and the other coast settlements have, of course, used iron, and perhaps to some small extent forged it, since the time when they adopted Arab civilisation; but they have not at any time practised the smelting of iron ore. Between three and five hundred years ago the princ.i.p.al currency of the people of Bruni consisted of small oblong flattened pieces of iron known as SAPANGGAL (about 2 [ERROR: unhandled ×] 1 [ERROR: unhandled ×] 1/4 inches) bearing the Sultan's stamp. This iron was probably obtained from Chinese and other foreign traders, and was worked up into implements.

[64] -- The convenience of thus floating the timber is one reason for the general tendency shown by Kayans to migrate gradually down river.

[65] -- This is an example of a very common type of practice which implies the belief that the attributes of any object will attach themselves to any whole into which the object may be incorporated as a part; thus a hunter who has shot dead a pig or deer with a single bullet will cut out the bullet to melt it down with other lead, and will make a fresh batch of bullets or slugs from the mixture, believing that the lucky bullet will leaven the whole lump, or impart to all of it something of that to which its success was due. Compare also the similar practice in regard to the seed grain (vol. i., p. 112).

[66] -- The pair of centre columns and the main columns supporting the roof back and front should have been drawn thicker than the accessory columns supporting the floor, and the width of the roof-plates is much greater than is indicated in the diagrams.

[67] -- Some Kayans habitually speak of most of the dog-patterns by the term USANG ORANG (which means the prawn's head). This indicates possibly some gradual subst.i.tution of designs of the one origin for those of the other.

[68] -- ”Materials for a Study of Tatu in Borneo,” by Charles Hose and R. Shelford, J.R.A.I. vol. x.x.xvi. Here also we have to thank the Council of the Royal Anthropological Inst.i.tute for permission to republish part of this paper, and to reproduce the plates and figures accompanying it. The reference figures of this section refer to the bibliographical list at the end of this chapter.

[69] -- Since these pages were printed we have had to mourn the loss of our friend and fellow-worker, cut off in the early summer of a life strenuously devoted to scientific research.

[70] -- Nieuwenhuis also notes (9, p. 451) that men in the course of their travels amongst other tribes permit themselves to be tatued with the patterns in vogue with their hosts.

[71] -- These figures refer to the bibliography printed at the end of this chapter, vol. i., p. 280.

[72] -- The Sea Dayaks often employ for the same reason a carpal bone of the mouse-deer (TRAGULUS).

[73] -- See also Haddon (4, Fig. 2), and Nieuwenhuis (8, Pls. XXV. and XXVI.); the designs figured in the latter work are not very easy to interpret, the lower of the two rosette figures looks as if it was derived from four heads of dogs fused together. See also Ling Roth (7, p. 85).

[74] -- In ancient days when a great Kayan or Klemantan chief built a new house, the first post of it was driven through the body of a slave; this sacrifice to a tutelary deity is no longer offered, but a human figure is frequently carved on the post of a house and may be a relic of the old custom; the figure is called TEGULUN. Sea Dayak anthropomorphs are termed ENGKRAMBA and appear in cloths and bead-work designs, also in carvings on boundary marks, witch-doctor's baskets, etc.

[75] -- We apply the term SERIAL to those designs in which the units of the pattern are repeated, or in which the units follow each other in serial order; the UDOH ASU on a Kayan man's thigh is an ISOLATED design, but the design on his hands is a SERIAL design.

[76] -- Cf. Ling Roth (7, p. 34) and Nieuwenhuis (9, Pl. 32).

[77] -- The Sea Dayak word TELINGAI or KELINGAI has the same meaning.

[78] -- The prices in the Baram river are much higher than in the Mendalam, where a gong can only be demanded by an artist of twenty years' experience; less experienced artists have to be content with beads and cloth (9, p. 452).

[79] -- The wooden block is carefully cut square, and the design occupies the whole of one surface; this is characteristic of the blocks of female designs, whereas designs for male tatu are carved on very roughly shaped blocks and do not always occupy the whole of one surface. Since the female designs have to be serially repeated it is important that the blocks should be of the exact required size, otherwise the projecting parts of the uncarved wood would render the exact juxtaposition of the serially repeated impressions very difficult, whilst the isolated male designs can be impressed on the skin in a more or less haphazard way.