The Pagan Tribes of Borneo
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Title: The Pagan Tribes of Borneo
Author: Charles Hose
William McDougall
Contributor: Alfred C. Haddon
Release date: July 1, 2002 [eBook #3307]
Most recently updated: January 8, 2021
Language: English
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3307
Credits: This Etext Created by Jeroen Hellingman
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This Etext Created by Jeroen Hellingman <jehe@kabelfoon.nl>
The Pagan Tribes of Borneo
A Description of Their Physical Moral and Intellectual Condition
With Some Discussion of their Ethnic Relations
by Charles Hose and William McDougall
With an Appendix on the Physical Characters of the Races of Borneo
by A. C. Haddon
In Two Volumes
Preface
In writing this book we have aimed at presenting a clear picture of the
pagan tribes of Borneo as they existed at the close of the nineteenth
century. We have not attempted to embody in it the observations
recorded by other writers, although we have profited by them and have
been guided and aided by them in making our own observations. We have
rather been content to put on record as much information as we have
been able to obtain at first hand, both by direct observation of the
people and of their possessions, customs, and manners, and by means
of innumerable conversations with men and women of many tribes.
The reader has a right to be informed as to the nature of the
opportunities we have enjoyed for collecting our material, and we
therefore make the following personal statement. One of us (C. H.) has
spent twenty-four years as a Civil Officer in the service of the Rajah
of Sarawak; and of this time twenty-one years were spent actually in
Sarawak, while periods of some months were spent from time to time
in visiting neighbouring lands -- Celebes, Sulu Islands, Ternate,
Malay Peninsula, British North Borneo, and Dutch Borneo. Of the
twenty-one years spent in Sarawak, about eighteen were passed in the
Baram district, and the remainder mostly in the Rejang district. In
both these districts, but especially in the Baram, settlements and
representatives of nearly all the principal peoples are to be found;
and the nature of his duties as Resident Magistrate necessitated a
constant and intimate intercourse with all the tribes of the districts,
and many long and leisurely journeys into the far interior, often
into regions which had not previously been explored. Such journeys,
during which the tribesmen are the magistrate's only companions
for many weeks or months, and during which his nights and many of
his days are spent in the houses of the people, afford unequalled
opportunities for obtaining intimate knowledge of them and their
ways. These opportunities have not been neglected; notes have been
written, special questions followed up, photographs taken, and sketches
made, throughout all this period.
In the years 1898 -- 9 the second collaborator (W. McD.) spent the
greater part of a year in the Baram district as a member of the
Cambridge Anthropological Expedition, which, under the leadership
of Dr. A. C. Haddon, went out to the Torres Straits in the year
1897. During this visit we co-operated in collecting material for a
joint paper on the animal cults of Sarawak;[1] and this co-operation,
having proved itself profitable, suggested to us an extension of
our joint program to the form of a book embodying all the information
already to hand and whatever additional information might be obtainable
during the years that one of us was still to spend in Borneo. The
book therefore may be said to have been begun in the year 1898 and
to have been in progress since that time; but it has been put into
shape only during the last few years, when we have been able to come
together for the actual writing of it.
During the year 1899 Dr. A. C. Haddon spent some months in the Baram
district, together with other members of the Cambridge Expedition
(Drs. C. G. Seligmann, C. S. Myers, and Mr. S. Ray); and we wish to
express our obligation to him for the friendly encouragement in, and
stimulating example of, anthropological field work which he afforded
us during that time, as well as for later encouragement and help
which he has given us, especially in reading the proofs of the book
and in making many helpful suggestions. We are indebted to him also
for the Appendix to this book, in which he has stated and discussed
the results of the extensive series of physical measurements of the
natives that he made, with our assistance, during his visit to Sarawak.
We have pleasure in expressing here our thanks to several other
gentlemen to whom we are indebted for help of various kinds -- for
permission to reproduce several photographs, to Dr. A. W. Nieuwenhuis,
the intrepid explorer of the interior of Dutch Borneo, who in his
two fine volumes (QUER DURCH BORNEO) has embodied the observations
recorded during two long journeys in the interior; to Mr. H. Ling Roth
for the gift of the blocks used in the preparation of his well-known
work, THE NATIVES OF SARAWAK AND BRITISH NORTH BORNEO, many of which
we have made use of; to Dr. W. H. Furness, author of THE HOME LIFE
OF BORNEO HEAD-HUNTERS (1902), for several photographic plates made
by him during his visits to the Baram in the years 1897 and 1898;
to Drs. C. G. Seligmann and C. S. Myers for permission to reproduce
several photographs; to Mr. R. Shelford, formerly Curator of the
Sarawak Museum, for his permission to incorporate a large part of
a paper published jointly with one of us (C. H.) on tatu in Borneo,
and for measurements of Land Dayaks made by him; to Mr. R. S. Douglas,
formerly Assistant Officer in the Baram district and now Resident of
the Fourth Division of Sarawak, for practical help genially afforded
on many occasions.
Finally, it is our agreeable duty to acknowledge our obligation to
H.H. the Rajah of Sarawak, who welcomed to his country the members of
the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition, and without whose enlightened
encouragement of scientific work on the part of his officers this
book would never have been written.
C. H.
W. McD.
JULY 1912.
Supplementary Preface by one of the Authors
I feel that it is necessary to supplement our joint-preface with some
few words of apology for, and explanation of, the appearance of my
name on the title-page of this book. For the book is essentially an
attempt to set forth in condensed form the mass of knowledge of the
tribes of Borneo acquired by Dr. Hose in the course of a quarter of
a century's intimate study of, and sympathetic companionship with,
the people of the interior. My own part in its production has been
merely that of a midwife, though I may perhaps claim to have helped
in the washing and dressing of the infant as well as in its delivery,
and even to have offered some useful advice during the long years of
pregnancy. And, since it is more difficult to present a brief and
popular account of any complex subject the more intimate is one's
knowledge of it, I may fairly hope that my superficial acquaintance
with the pagan tribes of Borneo has been a useful ally to Dr. Hose's
profound and extensive knowledge of them; I have therefore gladly
accepted my friend's generous invitation to place my name beside his
as joint-author of this work.
W. McD.
Contents
Chapter I
Geography of Borneo
1
Chapter II
History of Borneo
8
Chapter III
General Sketch of the Peoples of Borneo
28
Chapter IV
Material Conditions of the Pagan Tribes of Borneo
43
Chapter V
The Social System
63
Chapter VI
Agriculture
97
Chapter VII
The Daily Life of a Kayan Long House
116
Chapter VIII
Life on the Rivers
131
Chapter IX
Life in the Jungle
143
Chapter X
War
158
Chapter XI
Handicrafts
193
Chapter XII
Decorative Art
224
Chapter XIII
Ideas of Spiritual Existences and the Practices Arising from Them
1
Chapter XIV
Ideas of the Soul Illustrated by Burial Customs, Soul-Catching,
and Exorcism
28
Chapter XV
Animistic Beliefs Connected with Animals and Plants
51
Chapter XVI
Magic, Spells, and Charms
115
Chapter XVII
Myths, Legends, and Stories
136
Chapter XVIII
Childhood and Youth of a Kayan
153
Chapter XIX
The Nomad Hunters
177
Chapter XX
Moral and Intellectual Peculiarities
194
Chapter XXI
Ethnology of Borneo
223
Chapter XXII
Government
257
Appendix
The Physical Characters of the Races of Borneo. By A. C. Haddon
311
Index
343
List of Plates
1. Young Kayan Chief with middle-class Companion (in Colour).
FRONTISPIECE
2. Bruni, the pile-built Capital of the Sultans of Bruni 2
3. A Jungle Path near Marudi, Baram District 4
4. A Limestone Hill at Panga in Upper Sarawak 6
5. Mount Dulit from the Tinjar River 8
6. (A) Keltie Falls, Mount Dulit, Sarawak. (B) Kenyahs stopping
to camp for the Night on the Baram River 10
7. The Rejang River emerging from the central mountain Region
12
8. Gorge in the Rejang River above the entrance of Baloi
Peh 14
9. The Rejang River winding through the Hill Country 16
10. The Rejang River about 300 Miles above its Mouth 16
11. Jungle enveloped in thick Moss on Summit of Mount Dulit 18
12. Head of the Rejang River 20
13. In the Headwaters of the Baram River 22
14. Lioh Matu (the Place of a Hundred Islands), at the Head of
the Baram River 24
15. Fanny Rapid in the Pata River, Baram District 26
16. A Sea Dayak or Iban 28
17. Profile of Sea Dayak of Plate 16 28
18. A Sea Dayak Woman 30
19. Kayan Family of the Upper Rejang 32
20. An Uma Pliau (Kayan) Girl of the Baram District 32
21. Buling, the Son of a Kenyah Chief of the Baram District 34
22. (A) A curly-haired Kayan of the Baram. (B) Aban Tingan,
a famous Kenyah Warrior, younger Brother of Tama Bulan 36
23. Klemantans of the Tinjar District, and one old Kayan Chief
of Baloi, Laki Bo, wearing black Head-dress (back row, second figure,
left) 38
24. Long Pokuns (Klemantans) of Tinjar River 38
25. Kalabit (Murut) Chief (in centre) with Followers, from the
Source of the Baram River 40
26. Punans of Tinjar River 40
27. Tama Bulan Wang, the Kenyah Penghulu of the Baram District
42
28. Kayan Girl from the Upper Kotei District 44
29. Youthful Sea Dayaks in gala Dress 44
30. Sea Dayak Woman wearing Coat and Petticoat ornamented with
Shells 46
31. Sulau, the Wife of a Kayan Chief, displaying her Collection
of valuable old Beads 46
32. A Barawan Woman (Klemantan) of the Tinjar 48
33. Malanau Infant wearing Apparatus for moulding of the
Head 48
34. A Long House in the Baram District 50
35. Murik Village of Long Tamala, Baram District 50
36. Gallery of a Kayan House at Long Lama, Baram District 52
37. Interior of a Kayan Dwelling-room 52
38. Heads hanging in the Gallery of a Kayan House 54
39. Beneath a Kayan House. To the left the Altar-posts for
Offerings can be seen 54
40. Large Barn in which PADI is stored 56
41. Iban House 56
42. Gallery of Iban House 56
43. Iban Seat-mats. Iban Seed-baskets 58
44. (B) Tobacco-boxes; (C) Wooden Plate for rolling Cigarettes;
(G) Gourd for Pith-heads of Darts; (P) Tobacco-pipes; (FP) Fire-piston;
(F) Nose-flute 58
45. Kenyah Woman's Hat. Kayan Tawak and Gongs 60
46. Ningka, a valuable old Sea Dayak Jar 60
47. Old earthenware Vessels much prized by all the Tribes 62
48. Ibans bargaining over old Jars 62
49. Tama Usong, leading Kayan Chief of the Baram District 64
50. Aban Deng, the Chief of the Long Wats (Klemantan) of the
Baram District 66
51. Sebop (Klemantan) Chief haranguing his Followers 70
52. Kenyahs of the Pata River. The Men wearing Caps and the one
squatting on the left are of the upper Class the others are of the
middle Class 74
53. A Kayan making Fire by Friction with a PUSA 78
54. A Corpse in a Barawan (Klemantan) House. Party in the
unfinished House of Jangan, Chief of the Sebops, on the occasion of
the naming of his Child 82
55. Ibans felling a Tree 98
56. A Lirong Farm in the Tinjar River 100
57. Kayans of Baloi in the PADI-field. The Tatu on the Thighs is
perceptible 102
58. Kenyah Women resting from Weeding in the PADI-field 104
59. Kenyah Women at their Farm 106
60. Kenyahs measuring the Length of the Shadow of the ASO DO at
Noon to determine the Time for sowing PADI 108
61. Klemantan Women dressed as Men at the harvest Festival 114
62. The Garden of a Kayan House, I.E. the Area between the House
and the River, with Fruit-trees and PADI Barns 116
63. Elderly Kayan Woman ascending the House-ladder with Basketful
of Water-vessels 118
64. The Gallery of a Klemantan (Sebop) House, Tinjar District
120
65. Jungle Fruits 122
66. A Klemantan Village, showing the Balawing Pole 124
67. Kayans splitting Rattans for Mat-making 126
68. A Kayan Party sitting in the Gallery of a Long House 126
69. Entertaining Guests in the Gallery of a Klemantan (Barawan)
House 128
70. Lepu Pohuns (Klemantans) of the Tinjar River 130
71. (A) Ibans preparing a Boat for a long Journey. (B) Kayan
War-boat on the Lower Baram 132
72. A Halt at Batu Pita on the Baram 132
73. Cooking the mid-day Meal on a gravel Bed, Baram River 134
74. Boat proceeding up the Rejang River below the Palagus
Falls 134
75. Poling up the Palagus Falls, Rejang River 136
76. (A) Kenyahs hauling a Boat over Rapids. (B) Hut built on
River-bank for a night's Shelter 136
77. A Boat about to descend the Falls at Long Bukau, Rejang
River 138
78. Boat roofed with Leaf-mats on the Dapoi River, Baram
District 138
79. Kayans fishing with Cast-net in the Upper Baram River 140
80. Fishing with Rod and Line at the Tipang Falls of the Baram
140
81. Typical Scene in the uppermost Reaches of a River 142
82. Kenyah Hunters at Work with the Blow-pipe 144
83. Kenyah Hunter returning Home with young Pig 146
84. Kayan Hunting-party camping for the Night 146
85. Ibans setting Traps for Pheasants and small Mammals. Punans
at Home 148
86. Kayans working Gutta-percha 150
87. (A) Gathering the IPOH Dart-poison. (B) Usong, a Kayan Youth
of upper Class, Son of Tama Usong (Plate 49) 152
88. Kenyah collecting IPOH Poison 152
89. Klemantans making Fire in the Jungle by sawing one Piece of
Bamboo across another 154
90. Instructing Kayan Youths in the jungle 156
91. Kenyah and Kayan Swords and Sheaths 158
92. Spears and Paddles (Kayan and Klemantan) 160
93. Kayan and Kenyah War-caps 162
94. Coat and Cap, Sword, Knife, and Shield of Kenyah Warrior
(in Colour) 164
95. A Murik (Klemantan) Youth in War-dress 166
96. Klemantan War-boat ascending a Reach of the Baram near
Marudi 168
97. Pole set up in River by Kayans to mark the Spot where a
favourable Omen was observed 170
98. Scouts watching a Boat in Trouble at the Mouth of the Akar
River, Baram District 172
99. Iban War-party in the Jungle 174
100. Kayan House fenced in for Protection against Enemies 176
101. Kenyah Mode of Attack 178
102. Kayan Woman dancing, and carrying in right Hand a Head dressed
in Leaves 180
103. Iban War-boats on the Rejang River 182
104. Iban Scouts on the alert 184
105. Punan Heads taken by Ibans 186
106. Iban Women dancing with human Heads 188
107. Kalabit Smiths using stone Hammers. The Bellows are simpler
than those described in text 194
108. Iban making Fire-pistons 196
109. Iban House in course of Construction 198
110. Kanowit (Klemantan) Baskets and Beadwork 200
111. Kayan Knife and Axes 202
112. Kenyah hewing out Shaft of Blow-pipe before boring it 204
113. Kenyahs drilling a Blow-pipe 206
114. Kenyah lashing Spear-blade to Blow-pipe 208
115. Kenyah making Dart for Blow-pipe 210
116. Kenyah making Dart-poison 212
117. Kenyahs making Bark-cloth 214
118. Iban Woman extracting Cotton-seeds 216
119. Iban Woman with Spinning-wheel 218
120. Iban Woman preparing the Web for dyeing 220
121. Iban Woman weaving 222
122. Carved Door to the Room of Aban Jau, a Chief of the Sebops
(Klemantans), Tinjar River 226
123. Door of Room in Sebop (Klemantan) House. The two Figures near
the Top probably represent Gibbons 228
124. Carvings on the Wall of the Gallery in a Long Ulai (Klemantan)
House, Baram District 230
125. Prow of Klemantan War-boat (the Man is an Iban) 232
126. A Kenyah Pattern carved on a bamboo Tobacco-box 234
127. Annular Design worked on bamboo Tobacco-box (Kenyah) 236
128. Charcoal Drawings. The first depicts Women at Work on PADI
Mortars; the second the feeding of Pigs and Fowls; the third the
laying of a Corpse in the Tomb 238
129. Kenyah Sword-handle carved from a Deer's Horn 242
130. Old Beads worn by Kayans (in Colour) 244
131. Blanket (Pua) woven by Iban Woman 246
132. Blanket (Pua) woven by Iban Woman 248
133. Tatu Patterns on Thighs of Kayan Women 250
134. Tatu Patterns on a Kalabit Woman 252
135. Kalabit Tatu (Woman) 254
136. Tatu designs 258
137. ,, 260
138. ,, 262
139. ,, 264
140. ,, 266
141. ,, 268
142. ,, 270
143. ,, 274
Kenyah Women husking PADI (in Colour) FRONTISPIECE
144. Kenyah Altar showing large round Stones known as BATU
TULOI. Eggs offered to the Omen-birds in the Jungle 2
145. A Klemantan (Barawan) making Offerings of Eggs to the
Gods 4
146. Balawing Pole on the left; Altar-post of Bali Penyalong on the
right and in the middle a Post to which Pieces of the Flesh of slain
Enemies have been skewered as Thank-offerings after successful War,
set up before House of Long Pokuns (Klemantan) 8
147. Wooden Images set up before a Kenyah House at the Approach
of an Epidemic of Cholera 12
148. Wooden Image of Bali Atap, a Kenyah God 16
149. Altar-posts set up before Klemantan House on return from
War 20
150. (A) Temporary Shelter for Heads. (B) Gallery of a Kayan Long
House 24
151. Kenyah Dayongs wearing Masks 30
152. Tomb of the Wife of a Chief of the Long Patas (Klemantan). The
white Discs were formerly made of Shell, but nowadays European Crockery
is used, and a German Firm supplies Dinner-plates provided with two
Perforations which facilitate the attachment of the Plates 34
153. Tomb of a Sekapan (Klemantan) Chief 36
154. The Grave of Kuling, Daughter of Boi Jalong, the principal
Kenyah Chief of the Batang Kayan River 40
155. Malanau Graves near Rejang Village 44
156. Peng Coffins deposited on Ledges of overhanging Cliff on the
Mahakam. River 46
157. (A) Tama Bulan sacrificing a Pig to Bali Penyalong. (B)
Balari, a Kenyah, sacrificing a Fowl to Bali Penyalong 58
158. A Kayan charging a Pig with a Message to the Gods 68
159. Kayans discussing the Liver of a Pig 80
160. Image of a Hornbill made by Ibans for use at Ceremonies 94
161. Group of Kenyahs. On the Top of the Pole can be seen an Image
of the Hawk, Bali Flaki 106
162. An Enemy's Head decorated by Kayans with various Charms 120
163. Image of Crocodile, and House provided for the Spirit whose
Aid is invoked by Malanaus at the Bayoh Ceremony 126
164. A wooden Figure of Crocodile, and Decorations used at the
Bayoh Ceremony by Malanaus 132
165. Mixed Group of Kenyah and Klemantan Boys 154
166. A Sekapan (Klemantan) Woman carrying Child in a Cradle 156
167. Iban Boys bathing. The Fence is for Protection against
Crocodiles 158
168. (1) Fire-piston. (2) PUSA, used to make Fire at the naming
of a Kayan Child. The Figure represents Laki Pesong 160
169. Kayans wrestling 164
170. A Dance which nearly resembles some recent European
Developments of the Art 166
171. A Kayan dancing 168
172. A Lesson in Wood-carving (Kenyahs) 172
173. An Iban Wedding 174
174. Punans of the Baram 178
175. Elderly Punan Headman 180
176. A Punan Headman of the Tinjar 180
177. Punans of Bok (Baram) 182
178. Tatued Ukit of Rejang District 184
179. A Punan Camp in the Dapoi River 186
180. Punans working wild Sago 188
181. Punans working Camphor 190
182. Punan Mother and Child 192
183. Creeper hung across Mouth of tributary Stream to prohibit
All-comers from ascending the Stream. 206
184. Brass Hooks and Sword-handles sent by Tama Kuling to the
Resident of the Baram as Symbols of Peace 220
185. A Kayan of the Mahakam River
186. A Kayan Woman of the Mahakam River, East Borneo 226
187. An Orang Bukit (Klemantan) Woman, Baram District 228
188. Profile of Woman in Plate 187 230
189. Long Pokuns (Klemantans) of Dapoi River, Baram District 234
190. Lirong (Klemantan) Youths of Tinjar River 238
191. A Lirong Woman (Klemantan) of the Tinjar River 240
192. A Kajaman (Klemantan) Woman of the Upper Class 244
193. Land Dayak Men (Klemantans) from Upper Sarawak 250
194. (A) Land Dayak Girls of the Sadong District. (B) Land Dayaks
of Upper Sarawak 252
195. Iban Women, Rejang District 254
196. A small Fort at Kanowit, Rejang District 260
197. The Fort at Claudetown (Marudi), with Squad of Rangers who
form the Garrison 264
198. Entrance of the new Fort at Marudi, Baram District 268
199. Court-room in Baram Fort 272
200. The Silat River descending from Usun Apo to join the Baram,
the High Road between East and West Borneo. 276
201. Kenyah masked Men going to meet former Enemies with Overtures
of Peace 280
202. Klemantan Mask 284
203. Tama Kuling (ALIAS Boi Jalong), principal Kenyah Chief of
the Batang Kayan District 288
204. Tama Kuling's (Kenyah) Village at Tana Puti, Batang Kayan
District 292
205. Madangs (Kenyahs) at the Peace-making at Marudi (1899) 296
206. The great Peace-making at Marudi (1899), Baram District,
between the Kayan, Kenyah, and Klemantan Tribes of East and West
Borneo 298
207. Racing of War-boats at Marudi during the Peace-meeting
(1899) 300
208. Party of Kenyah Chiefs from the Batang Kayan on the Way to
visit the Rajah of Sarawak at Kuching, before the Peace-making in
the Baram in 1901 302
209. Final Instructions from the Resident of the Third Division
of Sarawak to a Kayan Party about to attack Stronghold of Iban
Rebels 304
210. Peace-making with Kana and the Iban Rebels at Kanowit 306
211. Madangs of Pliran with two Children newly restored to their
Parents by the Government from Captivity with Ibans 308
N.B. -- The following names are those of the gentlemen to whom we
are indebted for permission to reproduce their photographs. After
each name stands a list of the plates thus reproduced.
Dr. W. H. Furness. (Nos. 11, 32, 33, 40, 42, 44, 45, 48, 51, 52, 55,
62, 63, 82, 85, 87 (B), 93, 96, 99, 104, 147, 149, 152, 162, 165,
175, 179, 180, 181, 182.)
Dr. A. W. Nieuwenhuis. (Nos. 28, 37, 61, 67, 81, 151, 154, 165, 172,
183, 185, 186, 201, 204.)
Dr. A. C. Haddon. (Nos. 6, 22 (A), 43, 54, 76, 144, 150.)
Dr. C. S. Myers. (No. 157.)
Dr. C. G. Seligmann. (Nos. 87 (A), 207.)
Dr. Harrison W. Smith. (No. 194 (A).)
Mr. A. Moor. (No. 208.)
Mr. R. Shelford. (Nos. 193, 194 (B).)
The rest of the plates are from photographs taken by C. H.
Maps
The Eastern Archipelago.
Borneo.
Sketch Map of the Baram District, Sarawak.
Sketch Map of Sarawak.
CHAPTER 1
Geography of Borneo
Borneo is one of the largest islands of the world. Its area is
roughly 290,000 square miles, or about five times that of England
and Wales. Its greatest length from north-east to south-west is 830
miles, and its greatest breadth is about 600 miles. It is crossed
by the equator a little below its centre, so that about two-thirds
of its area lie in the northern and one-third lies in the southern
hemisphere. Although surrounded on all sides by islands of volcanic
origin, Borneo differs from them in presenting but small traces of
volcanic activity, and in consisting of ancient masses of igneous
rock and of sedimentary strata.
The highest mountain is Kinabalu, an isolated mass of granite in the
extreme north, nearly 14,000 feet in height. With this exception the
principal mountains are grouped in several massive chains, which
rise here and there to peaks about 10,000 feet above the sea. The
principal of these chains, the Tibang-Iran range, runs south-westward
through the midst of the northern half of the island and is prolonged
south of the equator by the Schwaner chain. This median south-westerly
trending range forms the backbone of the island. A second much-broken
chain runs across the island from east to west about 1[degree]
north of the equator. Besides these two principal mountain chains
which determine the main features of the river-system, there are
several isolated peaks of considerable height, and a minor ridge of
hills runs from the centre towards the south-cast corner. With the
exception of the northern extremity, which geographically as well
as politically stands apart from the rest of the island, the whole
of Borneo may be described as divided by the two principal mountain
chains into four large watersheds. Of these, the north-western basin,
the territory of Sarawak, is drained by the Rejang and Baram, as well
as by numerous smaller rivers. Of the other three, which constitute
Dutch Borneo, the north-eastern is drained by the Batang Kayan or
Balungan river; the south-eastern by the Kotei and Banjermasin rivers;
and the south-western by the Kapuas, the largest of all the rivers,
whose course from the centre of the island to its south-west corner
is estimated at 700 miles. Although the point of intersection of the
two principal mountain chains lies almost exactly midway between the
northern and southern and the eastern and western extremities of the
island, the greater width of the southern half of the island gives a
longer course to the rivers of that part, in spite of the fact that
all the six principal rivers mentioned above have their sources not
far from this central point. The principal rivers thus radiate from
a common centre, the Batang Kayan flowing east-north-east, the Kotei
south-east by east, the Banjermasin south, the Kapuas a little south
of west, the Rejang west, and the Baram north-west. This radiation of
the rivers from a common centre is a fact of great importance for the
understanding of the ethnography of the island, since the rivers are
the great highways which movements of the population chiefly follow.
In almost all parts of the island, the land adjoining the coast is
a low-lying swampy belt consisting of the alluvium brought down by
the many rivers from the central highlands. This belt of alluvium
extends inland in many parts for fifty miles or more, and is especially
extensive in the south and south-east of the island.
Between the swampy coast belt and the mountains intervenes a zone of
very irregular hill country, of which the average height above the
sea-level is about one thousand feet, with occasional peaks rising
to five or six thousand feet or more.
There seems good reason to believe that at a comparatively recent
date Borneo was continuous with the mainland of Asia, forming its
south-eastern extremity. Together with Sumatra and Java it stands
upon a submarine bank, which is nowhere more than one hundred fathoms
below the surface, but which plunges down to a much greater depth
along a line a little east of Borneo (Wallace's line). The abundance
of volcanic activity in the archipelago marks it as a part of the
earth's crust liable to changes of elevation, and the accumulation of
volcanic matter would tend to make it an area of subsidence; while
the north-east monsoon, which blows with considerable violence down
the China Sea for about four months of each year, may have hastened
the separation of Borneo from the mainland. That this separation was
effected in a very recent geological period is shown by the presence in
Borneo of many species of Asiatic mammals both large and small, notably
the rhinoceros (R. BORNIENSIS, closely allied to R. SUMATRANUS);
the elephant (E. INDICUS, which, however, may have been imported by
man); the wild cattle (BOS SONDIACUS, which occurs also in Sumatra);
several species of deer and pig (some of which are found in Sumatra
and the mainland); several species of the cat tribe, of which the
tiger-cat (FELIS NEBULOSA) is the largest; the civet-cat (VIVERRA)
and its congeners HEMIGALE, PARADOXURUS, and ARCTOGALE; the small
black bear (URSUS MALAYANUS); the clawless otter (LUTRA CINEREA); the
bear-cat (ARCTICTIS BINTURONG); the scaly ant-eater (MANIS JAVANICUS);
the lemurs (TARSIUS SPECTRUM and NYCTICEBUS TARDIGRADUS); the flying
lemur (GALEOPITHECUS VOLANS); the porcupine (HYSTRIX CRASSISPINIS);
numerous bats, squirrels, rats and mice; the big shrew (GYMNURA);
several species of monkeys, and two of the anthropoid apes. The last
are of peculiar significance, since they are incapable of crossing
even narrow channels of water, and must be regarded as products of
a very late stage of biological evolution. Of these two anthropoid
species, the gibbon (HYLOBATES MULLERI) is closely allied to species
found in the mainland and in Sumatra, while the MAIAS or orang-utan
(SIMIA SALYRUS) is found also in Sumatra and, though not now surviving
on the continent, must be regarded as related to anthropoids whose
fossil remains have been discovered there.[2]
The zoological evidence thus indicates a recent separation of Borneo
and Sumatra from the continent, and a still more recent separation
between the two islands.
The climate of the whole island is warm and moist and very equable. The
rainfall is copious at all times of the year, but is rather heavier
during the prevalence of the north-east monsoon in the months from
October to February, and least during the months of April and May. At
Kuching, during the last thirty years, the average yearly rainfall
has been 160 inches, the maximum 225, and the minimum 102 inches;
the maximum monthly fall recorded was 69 inches, and the minimum
.66, and the greatest rainfall recorded
in one day was 15 inches. The temperature hardly, if ever, reaches
100[degree] F.; it ranges normally between 70[degree] and 90[degree]
F.; the highest reading of one year (1906) at Kuching was 94[degree],
the lowest 69[degree]. Snow and frost are unknown, except occasionally
on the summits of the highest mountains. Thunder-storms are frequent
and severe, but wind-storms are not commonly of any great violence.
The abundant rainfall maintains a copious flow of water down the many
rivers at all times of the year; but the rivers are liable to rise
rapidly many feet above their normal level during days of exceptionally
heavy rain. In their lower reaches, where they traverse the alluvial
plains and swamps, the rivers wind slowly to the sea with many great
bends, and all the larger ones are navigable by small steamers for
many miles above their mouths: thus a large steam launch can ascend the
Rejang for 160 miles, the Baram for 120, and some of the rivers on the
Dutch side for still greater distances. The limit of such navigation
is set by beds of rock over which the rivers run shallow, and which
mark the beginnings of the middle reaches. In these middle reaches,
where the rivers wind between the feet of the hills, long stretches of
deep smooth water alternate with others in which the water runs with
greater violence between confining walls of rock, or spreads out in
wide rapids over stony bottoms. The upper reaches of the rivers, where
they descend rapidly from the slopes of the mountains, are composed
of long series of shallow rapids and low waterfalls, alternating at
short intervals with still pools and calm shallows, bounded by rock
walls and great beds of waterworn stones, which during the frequent
freshets are submerged by a boiling flood. The whole river in these
upper reaches is for the most part roofed in by the overarching forest.
Practically the whole of Borneo, from the seacoast to the summits of
the highest mountains, is covered with a dense forest. On the summits
this consists of comparatively stunted trees, of which every part is
thickly coated with moss. In all other parts the forest consists of
great trees rising to a height of 150 feet, and even 200 feet, and of a
dense undergrowth of younger and smaller trees, and of a great variety
of creepers, palms, and ferns. Trees of many species (nearly 500)
yield excellent timber, ranging from the hardest ironwood or BILIAN,
and other hard woods (many of them so close-grained that they will not
float in water), to soft, easily worked kinds. A considerable number
bear edible fruits, notably the mango (from which the island derives
its Malay name, PULU KLEMANTAN), the durian, mangosteen, rambutan,
jack fruit, trap, lansat, banana of many varieties, both wild and
cultivated, and numerous sour less nutritious kinds. Wild sago is
abundant in some localities. Various palms supply in their unfolding
leaves a cabbage-like edible. Among edible roots the caladium
is the chief. Rubber is obtained as the sap of a wild creeper;
gutta-percha from trees of several varieties; camphor from pockets
in the stem of the camphor tree (DRYOBALANOPS AROMATICA). But of all
the jungle plants those which play the most important parts in the
life of the people are the many species of the rattan and the bamboo;
without them more than half the crafts and most of the more important
material possessions of the natives would be impossible, and their
lives would perhaps nearly conform to the conventional notion of
savage existence as something 'nasty, dull, and brutish.' The jungle
of Borneo is, of course, famous for its wealth of orchids, and can
claim the distinction of producing the largest flower of the world
(RAFFLESIA), and many beautiful varieties of the pitcher plant.
The forests of Borneo harbour more than 450 species of birds, many
of them being of gorgeous colouring or strange and beautiful forms;
especially noteworthy are many hawks, owls, and eagles, fly-catchers,
spider-hunters, sun-birds, broad-bills, nightjars, orioles, miners,
pigeons, kingfishers, hornbills, trojans, magpies, jays, crows,
partridges, pheasants, herons, bitterns, snipes, plovers, Curlews,
and sandpipers. Amongst these are many species peculiar to Borneo;
while on the mountains above the 4000-feet level are found several
species which outside Borneo are known only in the Himalayas.
Besides the mammals mentioned above, Borneo claims several species
of mammal peculiar to itself, notably the long-nosed monkey (NASALIS
LARVATUS); two species of ape (SEMNOPITHECUS HOSEI and S. CRUCIGER);
many shrews and squirrels, including several flying species; a
civet-cat (HEMIGALE HOSEI); a deer (CERVUS BROOKII); the bearded pig
(SUS HARBATUS); the curious feather-tailed shrew (PTYLOCERCUS LOWII).
Reptiles are well represented by the crocodile, which abounds in all
the rivers, a long-snouted gavial, numerous tortoises and lizards
with several flying species, and more than seventy species of snakes,
of which some are poisonous, while the biggest, the python, attains
a length of thirty feet. The rivers abound in edible fish of many
species; insects are of course numerous and varied, and, aided by the
multitude of frogs, they fill the island each evening at sunset with
one vast chorus of sound.
CHAPTER 2
History of Borneo
The Pagan tribes of Borneo have no written records of their history
and only very vague traditions concerning events in the lives of their
ancestors of more than five or six generations ago. But the written
records of more cultured peoples of the Far East contain references to
Borneo which throw some small rays of light upon the past history and
present condition of its population. It has seemed to us worth while
to bring together in these pages these few historical notes. The later
history of Borneo, which is in the main the story of its occupation
by and division between the Dutch and English, and especially the
romantic history of the acquisition of the raj of Sarawak by its
first English rajah, Sir James Brooke, has often been told,[3] and
for this reason may be dismissed by us in a very few words.
The coasts of Borneo have long been occupied by a Mohammedan population
of Malay culture; this population is partly descended from Malay
and Arab immigrants, and partly from indigenous individuals and
communities that have adopted the Malay faith and culture in recent
centuries. When Europeans first visited the island, this population,
dwelling for the most part, as it still does, in villages and small
towns upon the coast and in or near the mouths of the rivers, owed
allegiance to several Malay sultans and a number of subordinate rulers,
the local rajahs and pangirans. The principal sultans had as their
capitals, from which they took their titles, Bruni on the north-west,
Sambas in the west, Pontianak at the mouth of the Kapuas river,
Banjermasin in the south at the mouth of the river of the same name,
Pasir at the south-east corner, Kotei and Balungan on the east at the
mouths of the rivers of those names; while the Sultan of Jolo, the
capital of the Sulu islands, which lie off the north coast, claimed
sovereignty over the northern end of Borneo. But these Malay sultans
were not the first representatives in the island of culture and of
civilised or semi-civilised rule; for history preserves some faint
records of still earlier times, of which some slight confirmation is
afforded by surviving traces of the culture then introduced.
In spite of all the work done on the history of the East Indies,
most of what occurred before and much that followed the arrival of
Europeans remains obscure. There are several Asiatic nations whose
records might be expected to contain valuable information, but all
are disappointing. The Klings, still the principal Hindu traders
in the Far East, visited the Malay Archipelago in the first or at
any rate the second century after Christ,[4] and introduced their
writing[5] and chronology. But their early histories are meagre
and unsatisfactory in the extreme. The Arab culture of the Malays,
which took root in Sumatra in the twelfth century, is of course of
no assistance in regard to events of earlier date, and does not give
trustworthy and detailed accounts until the fifteenth century. The
Chinese, on the other hand, always a literary people, carefully
preserved in their archives all that could be gathered with regard
to the "southern seas." But China was far away, and many local events
would possess no interest for her subjects. Under the circumstances,
the official historians deserve our gratitude for their geographical
descriptions and for the particulars of tribute-bearing missions to
the Son of Heaven, though they have little else to tell.
The first account we have been able to find referring to Borneo is
a description of the kingdom of Poli from the Chinese annals of the
sixth century. Poli was said to be on an island in the sea south-east
of Camboja, and two months south-east of Canton. The journey thither
was made by way of the Malay Peninsula, a devious route still followed
by Chinese junks. Envoys were sent to the Imperial court in A.D. 518,
523, and 616. "The people of this country," our authority says,
"are skilled in throwing a discus-knife, and the edge is like a saw;
when they throw it at a man, they never fail to hit him. Their other
arms are about the same as in China. Their customs resemble those
of Camboja, and the productions of the country are the same as of
Siam. When one commits a murder or theft they cut off his hands,[6]
and when adultery has been committed, the culprit has his legs chained
for the period of a year. For their sacrifice they choose the time when
there is no moon; they fill a bowl with wine and eatables and let it
float away on the surface of the water; in the eleventh month they have
a great sacrifice. They get corals from the sea, and they have a bird
called s'ari, which can talk." A later reference to the same place
says: "They carry the teeth of wild beasts in their ears, and wrap
a piece of cotton round their loins; cotton is a plant of which they
collect the flowers to make cloth of them; the coarser kind is called
KUPA, and the finer cloth T'IEH. They hold their markets at night,
and cover their faces.... At the east of this country is situated
the land of the Rakshas, which has the same customs as Poli."[7]
This is an interesting account in many ways, and tallies very
closely with what other evidence would lead one to suspect. For
there is reason to think that Bruni, before it became Mohammedan,
was a Bisaya kingdom under Buddhist sovereigns and Hindu influence;
and nearly all the particulars given with regard to the people of
Borneo are true of one or other of the races allied to Bisayas and
living near Bruni to-day. The discus-knife, a wooden weapon, is
not now in use, but is known to have been used formerly. The wild
Kadayans sacrifice after every new moon, and are forbidden to eat
a number of things until they have done so. The Malanaus set laden
rafts afloat on the rivers to propitiate the spirits of the sea. The
very names of the two kinds of cotton, then evidently a novelty to
the Chinese, are found in Borneo: KAPOK is a well-known Malay word;
but TAYA is the common name for cotton among the Sea Dayaks, though it
is doubtful whether it is found in Sumatra at all, and is not given
in Marsden's great Dictionary. The use of teeth as ear-ornaments
may refer to Kenyahs. If these identities are sufficient to show
that Poli was old Bruni, we have an almost unique illustration here
of the antiquity of savage customs. That an experience of fourteen
hundred years should have failed to convince people of the futility
of feeding salt waves is a striking demonstration of the widespread
fallacy, that what is old must needs be good.
Poli had already attained a certain measure of civilisation, and
even of luxury. The kingly dignity was hereditary, and the Buddhist
monarch was served with much ceremony. He was clad in flowered silk
or cotton, adorned with pearls, and sat on a golden throne attended
by servants with white dusters and fans of peacock feathers. When
he went out of his palace, his chariot, canopied with feathers and
embroidered curtains, was drawn by elephants, whilst gongs, drums,
and conches made inspiriting music. As Hindu ornaments have been found
at Santubong together with Chinese coins of great antiquity, as the
names of many offices of state in Bruni are derived from Sanskrit,
and the people of Sarawak have only lately ceased to speak of "the
days of the Hindus,"[8] there is nothing startling in the statement
that the kings of Poli were Buddhist.
Whatever Poli may or may not have been, there is little question
that Puni, 45 days from Java, 40 from Palembang, 30 from Champa,
in each case taking the wind to be fair, was Bruni. The Chinese, who
have neither B nor double consonants in their impoverished language,
still call the Bornean capital Puni. Groeneveldt says that the Chinese
consider Puni to have been on the west coast of Borneo. This state
is mentioned several times in the annals of the Sung dynasty, which,
though only ruling over Southern China, had a complete monopoly[9]
of the ocean trade for three centuries (960 to 1279 A.D.). Puni
was at that time a town of some 10,000 inhabitants, protected by
a stockade of timber. The king's palace, like the houses of modern
Bruni, was thatched with palm leaves, the cottages of the people with
grass. Warriors carried spears and protected themselves with copper
armour. When any native died, his corpse was exposed in the jungle,
and once a year for seven years sacrifices were made to the departed
spirit. Bamboos and palm leaves, thrown away after every meal, sufficed
for crockery. The products of the country, or at least such as were
sent as tribute, were camphor, tortoiseshell, and ivory.[10]
In the year 977, we are told, Hianzta, king of Puni, sent envoys
to China, who presented tribute with the following words: "May the
emperor live thousands and tens of thousands of years, and may he not
disapprove of the poor civilities of my little country." The envoys
presented a letter from the king. This was written on' what looked like
the very thin bark of a tree; it was glossy, slightly green, several
feet long, and somewhat broader than one inch; the characters in which
it was written were small, and had to be read horizontally. In all
these particulars the letter resembled the books of magic which are
still written by the Battas of inland Sumatra.[11] The message ran:
"The king of Puni, called Hianzta, prostrates himself before the most
august emperor, and hopes that the emperor may live ten thousands of
years. I have now sent envoys to carry tribute; I knew before that
there was an emperor, but I had no means of communication. Recently
there was a merchant called Pu Lu, whose ship arrived at the mouth
of my river; I sent a man to invite him to my place, and he told me
that he came from China. The people of my country were much delighted
at this, and preparing a ship, asked this stranger to guide them to
the court. The envoys I have sent only wish to see Your Majesty in
peace, and I intend to send people with tribute every year. But when
I do so I fear that my ships may occasionally be blown to Champa,
and I therefore hope Your Majesty will send an edict to that country
with orders that, if a ship of Hianzta arrives there, it must not
be detained. My country has no other articles,[12] and I pray Your
Majesty not to be angry with me." The envoys were entertained and
sent home with presents. In 1082 A.D., a hundred years later, Sri
Maja, king of Puni, sent tribute again, but the promise of yearly
homage was not kept. Gradually the Sung dynasty declined in power,
and East Indian potentates became less humble.
In the thirteenth and the early part of the fourteenth centuries
Bruni owed allegiance alternately to two powers much younger than
herself, Majapahit in Java, and Malacca on the west coast of the
Malay Peninsula. Both these states were founded in the thirteenth
century.[13] Majapahit, originally only one of several Javan kingdoms,
rapidly acquired strength and subjugated her neighbours and the nearest
portions of the islands around. Malacca, formed when the Malay colony
of Singapore was overwhelmed by Javanese, became the great commercial
depot of the Straits and the chief centre of Mohammedanism in the
Archipelago. The two powers therefore stood for two faiths and two
cultures: Majapahit for Brahminism and Hindu influence, Malacca for
Islam and the more practical civilisation of Arabia.
In the earliest years of the fourteenth century Bruni was a dependency
of Majapahit, but seems to have recovered its independence during the
minority of the Javan king. It is to this time that the tradition of
the Kapuas Malays ascribes the arrival of the Kayans in Borneo.[14]
Then Angka Wijaya extended the power of Majapahit over Palembang
in Sumatra, Timor, Ternate, Luzon, and the coasts of Borneo. Over
Banjermasin he set his natural son. In 1368 Javanese soldiers drove
from Bruni the Sulu marauders who had sacked the town. A few years
later the ungrateful king transferred his allegiance to China, and
not long afterwards, with calculating humility, paid tribute[15]
to Mansur Shah, who had succeeded to the throne of Malacca in 1374 A.D.
An extraordinary incident occurred at the beginning of the fifteenth
century, which again -- and for the last time -- draws our attention
to the Chinese court. The great Mongol conquerors, Genghis and Kublai
Khan, had little to do with the Malay Archipelago, though the latter
sent an unsuccessful expedition against Java in 1292. But the Ming
emperors, who were of Chinese blood, came to power in 1368 and soon
developed the maritime influence of the empire. For a few years there
was a continual stream of East Indian embassies. During the last
twenty years of the century, however, these became more rare, and in
1405 the Chinese emperor found it necessary to send a trusted eunuch,
by name Cheng Ho, to visit the vassal states in the south. This man
made several journeys, travelling as far as the shores of Africa,
and his mission bore immediate fruit. Among others, Maraja Kali,
king of Puni, although Cheng Ho does not appear to have called on
him in person, sent tribute in 1405; and so pleased was he with
the embroidered silk presented to him and his wife in return, that
he visited the Son of Heaven three years later. Landing in Fukien,
he was escorted by a eunuch to the Chinese capital amid scenes of
great rejoicing. The emperor received him in audience, allowing
him the honours of a noble of the first rank, and loaded him with
gifts. The same year, having accomplished his one great ambition of
"seeing the face of the Son of Heaven," this humbled monarch died in
the imperial city, leaving his son Hiawang to succeed to the throne of
Puni. Having induced the emperor to stop the yearly tribute of forty
katties of camphor paid by Puni to Java, and having agreed to send
tribute to China every three years, Hiawang returned home to take up
the reins of government. Between 1410 and 1425 he paid tribute six
times, besides revisiting the Chinese Court; but afterwards little
Puni seems to have again ignored her powerful suzerain.
It is probable that the Chinese colony in North Borneo which gave
its name to the lofty mountain Kina Balu (Chinese widow) and to
the Kina Batangan, the chief river which flows from it, was founded
about this time. Several old writers seem to refer to this event,
and local traditions of the settlement still survive. The Brunis and
Idaans (a people in the north not unlike the Bisayas) have legends
differing in detail to the effect that the Chinese came to seize the
great jewel of the Kina Balu dragon, but afterwards quarrelled about
the booty and separated, some remaining behind. The Idaans consider
themselves the descendants of these settlers, but that can only
be true in a very limited sense. Both country and people, however,
show traces of Chinese influence.
There is good evidence that the Chinese influence and immigration
were not confined to Bruni and the northern end of the island. In
south-west Borneo there are traces of very extensive washings of
alluvial gravels for gold and diamonds. These operations were being
conducted by Chinese when Europeans first came to the country; and
the extent of the old workings implies that they had been continued
through many centuries. Hindu-Javan influence also was not confined
to the court of Bruni, for in many parts of the southern half of
Borneo traces of it survive in the custom of burning the dead, in low
relief carvings of bulls on stone, and in various gold ornaments of
Hindu character.
The faith of Islam and the arrival of Europeans have profoundly
affected the manners and politics of the East Indies, and now it is
difficult to picture the state of affairs when King Hiawang revisited
China to pay homage to the Emperor. In 1521, within a hundred years
of that event, Pigafetta, the chronicler of Magellan's great exploit,
was calling on the "Moorish" king of Bruni, in the course of the
first voyage round the world. The change had come. Of the two new
influences, so potent for good and evil, Mohammedanism made its
appearance first. The struggle for religious supremacy ended in the
complete victory of the Prophet's followers in 1478, when Majapahit
was utterly destroyed, thirty years before the capture of Malacca by
the Portuguese.
How early the Arab doctrines were taught in Bruni is impossible
to state with any precision. Local tradition ascribes their
introduction to the renowned Alak ber Tata, afterwards known as Sultan
Mohammed. Like most of his subjects this warrior was a Bisaya, and in
early life he was not a Mohammedan, not indeed a civilised potentate
at all, to judge by conventional standards; for the chief mark of
his royal dignity was an immense chawat, or loin-cloth, carried as
he walked by eighty men, forty in front and forty behind. He is the
earliest monarch of whom the present Brunis have any knowledge, a fact
to be accounted for partly by the brilliance of his exploits, partly
by the introduction about that time of Arabic writing. After much
fighting he subdued the people of Igan,[16] Kalaka, Seribas, Sadong,
Semarahan, and Sarawak,[17] and compelled them to pay tribute. He
stopped the annual payment to Majapahit of one jar of pinang juice,
a useless commodity though troublesome to collect. During his reign
the Muruts were brought under Bruni rule by peaceful measures,[18]
and the Chinese colony was kept in good humour by the marriage of
the Bruni king's brother and successor to the daughter of one of the
principal Chinamen.
Alak ber Tata is said to have gone to Johore,[19] where he was
converted[20] to Islam, given[21] the daughter of Sultan Bakhei and
the title of Sultan, and was confirmed in his claim to rule over
Sarawak and his other conquests.[22]
Sultan Mohammed was succeeded by his brother Akhmad, son-in-law of
the Chinese chief, and he was in turn succeeded by an Arab from Taif
who had married his daughter. Thus the present royal house of Bruni is
derived from three sources -- Arab, Bisaya, and Chinese. The coronation
ceremony as still maintained affords an interesting confirmation of
this account. On that occasion the principal minister wears a turban
and Haji outfit, the two next in rank are dressed in Chinese and Hindu
fashion, while the fourth wears a chawat over his trousers to represent
the Bisayas; and each of these ministers declares the Sultan to be
divinely appointed. Then after the demonstration of loyalty the two
gongs -- one from Menangkabau, the other from Johore -- are beaten,
and the Moslem high priest proclaims the Sultan and preaches a sermon,
declaring him to be a descendant of Sri Turi Buana, the Palembang
chief who founded the early kingdom of Singapore in 1160 A.D., who
reigned in that island for forty-eight years, and whose descendants
became the royal family of Malacca.
The Arab Sultan who succeeded Akhmed assumed the name Berkat and ruled
the country with vigour. He built a mosque and converted many of his
subjects, so that from his reign Bruni may be considered a Mohammedan
town. To defend the capital he sank forty junks filled with stone
in the river, and thus formed the breakwater which still bars the
entrance to large ships. This work rose above the water level, and
in former times bristled with cannon. Sultan Berkat was succeeded by
his son Suleiman, whose reign was of little consequence.
Neglecting Suleiman, we come now to the most heroic figure in Bruni
history, Sultan Bulkiah, better known by his earlier name, Nakoda
Ragam. The prowess of this prince has been celebrated in prose and
verse. He journeyed to distant lands, and conquered the Sulu islands
and eastern Borneo. Over the throne of Sambas he set a weak-minded
brother of his own. He even sent an expedition to Manila, and on the
second attempt seized that place. Tribute poured into his coffers from
all sides. His wife was a Javanese princess, who brought many people
to Bruni. These intermarried with the Bisayas, and from them it is
said are sprung the Kadayans, a quiet agricultural folk, skilled
in various arts, but rendered timid by continual oppression. Some
have settled recently in the British colony of Labuan, and others in
Sarawak round the river Sibuti, where they have become loyal subjects
of the Rajah of Sarawak.
Nakoda Ragam's capital at Buang Tawa was on dry land, but when he died,
killed accidentally by his wife's bodkin, the nobles quarrelled among
themselves, and some of them founded the present pile-built town of
Bruni. It was to this Malay capital and court that Pigafetta paid
his visit in 1521 with the surviving companions of Magellan. His is
the first good account from European sources of the place which he
called Bornei, and whose latitude he estimated with an error of less
than ten miles.[23]
It is easy to see from Pigafetta's narrative[24] that at the
date of his visit the effects of Nakoda Ragam's exploits had not
evaporated. The splendour of the Court and the large population the
city is said to have contained were presumably the result of the
conquests he had made in neighbouring islands. The king, like the
princes of Malacca before the conquest, had his elephants, and he and
his courtiers were clothed in Chinese satins and Indian brocades. He
was in possession of artillery, and the appearance and ceremonial of
his court was imposing.
From this time onwards the power of Bruni has continuously
declined. Recurrent civil wars invited the occasional interventions
of the Portuguese and of the Spanish governors of the Philippines,
which, although they did not result in the subjugation of the Malay
power, nevertheless sapped its strength.
The interest of the later history of Borneo lies in the successive
attempts,[25] many of them fruitless, made by Dutch and English to
gain a footing on the island. The Dutch arrived off Bruni in the year
1600, and ten days afterwards were glad to leave with what pepper
they had obtained in the interval, the commander judging the place
nothing better than a nest of rogues. The Dutch did not press the
acquaintance, but started factories at Sambas, where they monopolised
the trade. In 1685 an English captain named Cowley arrived in Bruni;
but the English showed as little inclination as the Dutch to take up
the commerce which the Portuguese had abandoned.
At Banjermasin, on the southern coast, more progress was made. The
Dutch arrived there before their English rivals, but were soon
compelled by intrigues to withdraw. In 1704[26] the English factors
on the Chinese island of Chusan, expelled by the imperial authorities
and subsequently driven from Pulo Condar off the Cochin China coast
by a mutiny, arrived at Banjermasin. They had every reason to be
gratified with the prospects at that port; for they could sell the
native pepper to the Chinese at three times the cost price. But their
bitter experiences in the China seas had not taught them wisdom; they
soon fell out with the Javanese Sultan, whose hospitality they were
enjoying, and after some bloody struggles were obliged to withdraw
from this part of the island.
In 1747 the Dutch East India Company, which in 1705 had obtained a firm
footing in Java, and in 1745 had established its authority over all
the north-eastern coast of that island, extorted a monopoly of trade
at Banjermasin and set up a factory. Nearly forty years later[27]
(1785), the reigning prince having rendered himself odious to his
subjects, the country was invaded by 3000 natives of Celebes. These
were expelled by the Dutch, who dethroned the Sultan, placing his
younger brother on the throne; and he, in reward for their services,
ceded to them his entire dominions, consenting to hold them as a
vassal. This is the treaty under which the Dutch claim the sovereignty
of Banjermasin and whatever was once dependent on it. In this way
the Dutch got a hold on the country which they have never relaxed;
and, after the interval during which their possessions in the East
Indies were administered by England,[28] they strengthened that hold
gradually, year by year, till now two-thirds or more of the island
is under their flag and feels the benefits of their rule. If there
are still any districts of this large area where Dutch influence has
even now barely made itself felt, they will not long remain in their
isolation; for the Controleurs are extending their influence even
into the most remote corners of the territory.
To turn again to the north-western coast and the doings of Englishmen,
in 1763 the Sultan of Sulu ceded to the East India Company the
territory in Borneo which had been given him when he killed the usurper
Abdul Mubin in Bruni. In 1773 a small settlement was formed on the
island of Balambangan, north of Bruni; and in the following year
the Sultan of Bruni agreed to give this settlement a monopoly of the
pepper trade in return for protection from piracy. In the next year,
however, Balambangan was surprised and captured by the Sulus. It was
reoccupied for a few months in 1803, and then finally forsaken.
Towards the end of the eighteenth century the Malays of Bruni,
Sulu, and Mindanao, with native followers and allies, inspired
we may suppose by the example of their European visitors, took to
piracy -- not that they had not engaged in such business before, but
that they now prosecuted an old trade with renewed vigour. English
traders still tried to pay occasional visits, but after the loss
of the MAY in 1788, the SUSANNA in 1803, and the COMMERCE in 1806,
with the murder of the crews, the Admiralty warned merchants that it
was CERTAIN DESTRUCTION to go up river to Bruni. For forty years this
intimation was left on British charts, and British seamen followed the
humiliating counsel. Not until the early forties was peace restored,
after an event of the most romantic and improbable kind, the accession
of an English gentleman to the throne of Sarawak.
Of this incident, so fateful for the future of the western side
of Borneo, it must suffice to say here that James Brooke, a young
Englishman, having resigned his commission in the army of the British
East India Company, invested his fortune in a yacht of 140 tons,
with which he set sail in 1838 for the eastern Archipelago. His
bold but vague design was to establish peace, prosperity, and just
government in some part of that troubled area, whose beauties he had
admired and whose misfortunes he had deplored on the occasion of an
earlier voyage to the China seas. When at Singapore, he heard that
the Malays of Sarawak, a district forming the southern extremity
of the Sultanate of Bruni, had rebelled against the Bruni nobles,
and had in vain appealed to the Dutch Governor-general at Batavia for
deliverance from their oppressors. Under the nominal authority of the
Sultan, these Bruni nobles, many of whom were of Arab descent, had
brought all the north-western part of Borneo to a state of chronic
rebellion. They had taught the Sea Dayaks of the Batang Lupar and
neighbouring rivers to join them in their piratical excursions, and,
being to some extent dependent upon their aid, were compelled to
treat them with some consideration; but all other communities were
treated by them with a rapacity and cruelty which was causing a rapid
depopulation and the return to jungle of much cultivated land.
Brooke sailed for Sarawak in August 1839, and found the country torn
by internal conflicts. The Sultan had recently sent Muda Hasim, his
uncle and heir-presumptive to the throne of Bruni, to restore order;
but this weak though amiable noble had found himself quite incapable
of coping with the situation. Brooke spent some time surveying the
coast and studying the people and country, and gained the confidence of
Muda Hasim. After an excursion to Celebes, Brooke sailed for a second
visit to Sarawak just a year after the first, and found the state of
the country going from bad to worse. Muda Hasim besought him to take
command of his forces and to suppress the rebellion. Brooke consented,
and soon secured the submission of the rebel leaders on the condition
that he (Brooke), and not any Bruni noble, should be the governor and
Rajah of Sarawak. Muda Hasim had offered to secure his appointment
to this office as an inducement to him to undertake the operations
against the rebels; Brooke therefore felt himself justified in granting
these terms. And when later Muda Hasim, no longer threatened with
disgrace and failure, showed himself disinclined to carry out this
arrangement, Brooke, feeling himself bound by his agreement with
the rebel leaders, whose lives he had with difficulty preserved from
the vengeance of the Bruni nobles, insisted upon it with some show
of force; and on September 24, 1841, he was proclaimed Rajah and
governor of Sarawak amid the rejoicings of the populace. Muda Hasim,
as representative of the Sultan, signed the document which conferred
this title and authority; but since he was not in any proper sense
Rajah of Sarawak, which in fact was not a raj, but a district hitherto
ruled or misruled by Bruni governors not bearing the title of Rajah,
this transaction cannot properly be described as an abdication by
Muda Hasim in favour of Brooke. Brooke accordingly felt that it was
desirable to secure from the Sultan himself a formal recognition of
his authority and title. To this end he visited the Sultan in the year
1842, and obtained from him the desired confirmation of the action of
his agent Muda Hasim. The way in which the raj of Sarawak has since
been extended, until it now comprises a territory of nearly 60,000
square miles (approximately equal to the area of England and Wales),
will be briefly described in a later chapter (XXII.).
The northern end of Borneo had long been a hunting-ground for slaves
for the nobles of Bruni and Sulu, whose Sultans claimed but did
not exercise the right to rule over it. In 1877 Mr. Alfred Dent,
a Shanghai merchant, induced the two Sultans to resign to him their
sovereign rights over this territory in return for a money payment. The
British North Borneo Company, which was formed for the commercial
development of it, necessarily undertook the task of pacification
and administration. In 1881 the company was granted a royal charter
by the British Government; and it now administers with success and a
fair prospect of continued commercial profit a territory which, with
the exception of a small area about the town of Bruni, includes all
of the island that had not been brought under the Dutch or Sarawak
flag. In 1888 Sarawak and British North Borneo were formally brought
under the protection of the British Government; but the territories
remained under the rule of the Rajah and of the company respectively,
except in regard to their foreign relations. In the year 1906 the
Sultan of Bruni placed himself and his capital, together with the
small territory over which he still retained undivided authority,
under the protection of the British Government; and thus was completed
the passing of the island of Borneo under European control.
CHAPTER 3
General Sketch of the Peoples of Borneo
It is not improbable that at one time Borneo was inhabited by people
of the negrito race, small remnants of which race are still to be
found in islands adjacent to all the coasts of Borneo as well as in
the Malay Peninsula. No communities of this race exist in the island
at the present time; but among the people of the northern districts
individuals may be occasionally met with whose hair and facial
characters strongly suggest an infusion of negrito or negroid blood.
It is probable that the mixed race of Hindu-Javanese invaders, who
occupied the southern coasts of Borneo some centuries ago, became
blended with the indigenous population, and that a considerable
proportion of their blood still runs in the veins of some of the
tribes of the southern districts (E.G. the Land Dayaks and Malohs).
There can be no doubt that of the Chinese traders who have been
attracted to Borneo by its camphor, edible birds' nests, and spices,
some have settled in the island and have become blended with and
absorbed by the tribes of the north-west (E.G. the Dusuns); and
it seems probable that some of the elements of their culture have
spread widely and been adopted throughout a large part of Borneo. For
several centuries also Chinese settlers have been attracted to the
south-western district by the gold which they found in the river
gravel and alluvium. These also have intermarried with the people of
the country; but they have retained their national characteristics,
and have been continually recruited by considerable numbers of their
fellow countrymen. Since the establishment of peace and order and
security for life and property by the European administrations, and
with the consequent development of trade during the last half-century,
the influx of Chinese has been very rapid; until at the present time
they form large communities in and about all the chief centres of
trade. A certain number of Chinese traders continue to penetrate far
into the interior, and some of these take wives of the people of the
country; in many cases their children become members of their mothers'
tribes and so are blended with the native stocks.
Among the Mohammedans, who are found in all the coast regions of
Borneo, there is a considerable number of persons who claim Arab
forefathers; and there can be no doubt that the introduction of the
Mohammedan religion was largely due to Arab traders, and that many
Arabs and their half-bred descendants have held official positions
under the Sultans of Bruni.
During the last half-century, natives of India, most of whom are Klings
from Madras, have established themselves in the small trades of the
towns; and of others who came as coolies, some have settled in the
towns with their wives and families. These people do not penetrate
into the interior or intermarry with the natives.
With the exception of the above-mentioned immigrants and their
descendants, the population of Borneo may be described as falling
naturally into two great classes; namely, on the one hand those
who have accepted, nominally at least, the Mohammedan religion and
civilisation, and on the other hand the pagan peoples. In Bruni and in
all the coast regions the majority of the people are Mohammedan, have
no tribal organisation, and call themselves Malays (Orang Malayu). This
name has usually been accorded them by European authors; but when
so used the name denotes a social, political, and religious status
rather than membership in an ethnic group. With the exception of these
partially civilised "Malays" of the coast regions and the imported
elements mentioned above, all the natives of Borneo live under tribal
organisation, their cultures ranging from the extreme simplicity of the
nomadic Punans to a moderately developed barbarism. All these pagan
tribes have often been classed together indiscriminately under the
name Dyaks or Dayaks, though many groups may be clearly distinguished
from one another by differences of culture, belief, and custom,
and peculiarities of their physical and mental constitutions.
The Mohammedan population, being of very heterogeneous ethnic
composition, and having adopted a culture of foreign origin, which
may be better studied in other regions of the earth where the Malay
type and culture is more truly indigenous, seems to us to be of
secondary interest to the anthropologist as compared with the less
cultured pagan tribes. We shall therefore confine our attention to
the less known pagan tribes of the interior; and when we speak of
the people of Borneo in general terms it is to the latter only that
we refer (except where the "Malays" are specifically mentioned). Of
these we distinguish six principal groups: (1) Sea Dayaks or Ibans,
(2) the Kayans, (3) Kenyahs, (4) Klemantans, (5) Muruts, (6) Punans.
A census of the population has been made in most of the principal
districts of Sarawak and of Dutch Borneo; but as no census of the
whole country has hitherto been made, it is impossible to state
with any pretence to accuracy the number of the inhabitants of the
island. Basing our estimate on such partial and local enumerations
as have been made, we believe the total population to be about
3,000,000. Of these the Chinese immigrants and their descendants, who
are rapidly increasing in number, probably exceed 100,000. The Malays
and the native converts to Islam, who constitute with the Chinese the
population of the towns and settled villages of the coast districts,
probably number between three and four hundred thousand; the Indian
immigrants are probably not more than 10,000; the Europeans number
perhaps 3000; the rest of the population is made up of the six groups
of barbarians named in the foregoing paragraph.
Any estimate of the numbers of the people of each of these six
divisions is necessarily a very rough one, but it is perhaps worth
while to state our opinion on this question as follows: Klemantans,
rather more than 1,000,000; Kenyahs, about 300,000; Muruts, 250,000;
Sea Dayaks, 200,000; Kayans, 150,000; Punans and other peoples of
similar nomadic habits, 100,000 -- I.E. a total of 2,000,000.
(1) Of all these six peoples the Sea Dayaks have become best known
to Europeans, largely owing to their restless truculent disposition,
and to the fact that they are more numerous in Sarawak than any of
the others. They have spread northwards over Sarawak during the latter
half of the last century, chiefly from the region of the Batang Lupar,
where they are still numerous. They are still spreading northward,
encroaching upon the more peaceful Klemantan tribes. They are
most densely distributed in the lower reaches of the main rivers
of Sarawak, especially the Batang Lupar and Saribas rivers, which
are now exclusively occupied by them; but they are found also in
scattered communities throughout almost all parts of Sarawak, and
even in British North Borneo, and they extend from their centre in
Sarawak into the adjacent regions of Dutch Borneo, which are drained
by the northern tributaries of the Great Kapuas River.
The Sea Dayak is of a well-marked and fairly uniform physical
type. His skin is distinctly darker than that of the other peoples
of the interior, though not quite so dark as that of most of the
true Malays. The hair of his head is more abundant and longer than
that of other peoples. His figure is well proportioned, neat, and
generally somewhat boyish. His expression is bright and mobile, his
lips and teeth are generally distorted and discoloured by the constant
chewing of betel nut. They are a vain, dressy, boastful, excitable,
not to say frivolous people -- cheerful, talkative, sociable, fond
of fun and jokes and lively stories; though given to exaggeration,
their statements can generally be accepted as founded on fact; they
are industrious and energetic, and are great wanderers; to the last
peculiarity they owe the name of Iban, which has been given them by
the Kayans, and which has now been generally adopted even by the Sea
Dayaks themselves.
The good qualities enumerated above render the Iban an agreeable
companion and a useful servant. But there is another side to the
picture: they have little respect for their chiefs, a peculiarity which
renders their social organisation very defective and chaotic; they
are quarrelsome, treacherous, and litigious, and the most inveterate
head-hunters of the country; unlike most of the other peoples, they
will take heads for the sake of the glory the act brings them and for
the enjoyment of the killing; in the pursuit of human victims they
become possessed by a furious excitement that drives them on to acts
of the most heartless treachery and the most brutal ferocity.
All the Sea Dayaks speak one language, with but slight local
diversities of dialect. It is extremely simple, being almost devoid
of inflections, and of very simple grammatical structure, relying
largely on intonation. It is closely allied to Malay.
(2) The Kayans are widely distributed throughout central Borneo, and
are to be found in large villages situated on the middle reaches of
all the principal rivers with the exception of those that run to the
north coast. They occupy in the main a zone dividing the districts
of the lower reaches of the rivers from the central highlands from
which all the rivers flow.
They are a warlike people, but less truculent than the Sea Dayaks,
more staid and conservative and religious, and less sociable. They
do not wantonly enter into quarrels; they respect and obey their
chiefs. They are equally industrious with the Sea Dayaks, and though
somewhat slow and heavy in both mind and body, they are more skilled
in the handicrafts than any of the other peoples. They also speak
one language, which presents even less local diversity than the Sea
Dayak language.
(3) The Kenyahs predominate greatly in the highlands a little north of
the centre of Borneo where all the large rivers have their sources;
but they are found also in widely scattered villages throughout the
Kayan areas. In all respects they show closer affinities with the
Kayans than with the Sea Dayaks; as regards custom and mode of life
they closely resemble the Kayans, with whom they are generally on
friendly terms; but they are easily distinguished from the Kayans by
well-marked differences of bodily and mental characters, as well as
by language. Physically they are without question the finest people
of the country. Their skin-colour is decidedly fairer than that of
Sea Dayaks or Kayans. They are of medium stature, with long backs
and short, muscular, well-rounded limbs; a little stumpy in build,
but of graceful and vigorous bearing. They are perhaps the most
courageous and intelligent of the peoples; pugnacious, but less
quarrelsome than the Sea Dayak; more energetic and excitable than the
Kayan; hospitable and somewhat improvident, sociable and of pleasant
manners; less reserved and of more buoyant temperament than the Kayan;
very loyal and obedient to their chiefs; more truthful and more to be
depended upon under all circumstances than any of the other peoples,
except possibly the Kayans.
The Kenyahs speak a number of dialects of the same language, and
these differ so widely that Kenyahs of widely separated districts
cannot converse freely with one another; but, as with all the peoples,
except the Sea Dayaks, nearly every man has the command of several
dialects as well as of the Kayan language.
(4) The Klemantans. Under this name we group together a number
of tribes which, though in our opinion closely allied, are widely
scattered in all parts of Borneo, and present considerable diversities
of language and custom. In physical and mental characters they show
affinities to the Kenyahs on the one hand and to the Muruts on the
other. They are less bellicose than the peoples mentioned above,
and have suffered much at their hands. They are careful, intelligent,
and sociable, though somewhat timid, people; skilful in handicrafts,
but less energetic than the Kayans and Kenyahs, and inferior to them
in metal work and the making of swords and spears and boats. The
blow-pipe is their characteristic weapon, and they are more devoted
to hunting than any others, except the Punans.
Klemantans are to be found in every part of the island, but most of
their villages are situated on the lower reaches of the rivers. They
are most abundant in the south, constituting the greater part of the
population of Dutch Borneo; in the north they are few, their place
being filled by their near relatives, the Muruts. The latter constitute
the principal part of the population of the northern end of the island,
predominating over all the other peoples in British North Borneo,
and in the northern extremities of Sarawak and of Dutch Borneo.
(5) The Muruts are confined to the northern part of Borneo. They
resemble the Klemantans more closely than the other peoples. They
are comparatively tall and slender, have less regular and pleasing
features than the Klemantans, and their skin is generally darker
and more ruddy in colour. Their agriculture is superior to that
of the other peoples, but they are addicted to much drinking of
rice-spirit. Their social organisation is very loose, their chiefs
having but little authority. Besides those who call themselves Muruts,
we class under the same general name several tribes which we regard as
closely allied to them; namely, the Adangs in the head of the Limbang;
the Kalabits about the head of the Baram; the Sabans and Kerayans at
the head of the Kerayan river; the Libuns; the Lepu Asings at the
head of the Bahau; Tagals and Dusuns in the most northerly part;
the Trings of the Barau and Balungan rivers on the east.
(6) The Punans, among whom we include, beside the Punans proper, the
Ukits and a few other closely allied but widely scattered small groups,
are the only people who do not dwell in villages established on the
banks of the rivers. They live in small groups of twenty or thirty
persons, which wander in the jungle. Each such group is generally
made up of a chief and his descendants. The group will spend a few
weeks or months at a time in one spot (to which generally they are
attracted by the presence of wild sago), dwelling in rude shelters of
sticks and leaves, and then moving on, but generally remaining within
some one area, such as the basin of one of the upper tributaries
of a large river. They are found throughout the interior of Borneo,
but are difficult to meet with, as they remain hidden in the depths
of the forests. Unlike all the other peoples, they cultivate no PADI
(rice), and they do not make boats or travel on the rivers. They
support themselves by hunting with the blow-pipe, by gathering
the wild jungle fruits, and by collecting the jungle products and
bartering them with the more settled peoples. In physical characters
they closely resemble the Kenyahs, being well-built and vigorous;
their skin is of very light yellow colour, and their features are
regular and well shaped. Mentally they are characterised by extreme
shyness and timidity and reserve. They are quite inoffensive and never
engage in open warfare; though they will avenge injuries by stealthy
attacks on individuals with the blow-pipe and poisoned darts. Their
only handicrafts are the making of baskets, mats, blow-pipes, and the
implements used for working the wild sago; but in these and in the use
of the blow-pipe they are very expert. All other manufactured articles
used by them -- cloths, swords, spears -- are obtained by barter from
the other peoples. Unlike all the other peoples, they have no form of
sepulture, but simply leave the corpse of a comrade in the rude shelter
in which he died. They sing and declaim rude melancholy songs or dirges
with peculiar skill and striking effect. Their language is distinctive,
but is apparently allied to the Kenyah and Klemantan tongues.
We propose to deal with the topics of each of our descriptive chapters
by giving as full as possible an account of the Kayans, and adding to
this some observations as to the principal diversities of custom and
culture presented by the other peoples. For, if we should attempt
to describe in detail each of these peoples with all their local
diversities, this book would attain an inordinate length. The Kayans
are in most respects the most homogeneous of these peoples, the
most conservative and distinctive, and present perhaps the richest
and most interesting body of belief and custom and art; while many
of their customs and arts have been adopted by their neighbours,
or are indigenous with them.
We may conclude this chapter by describing briefly in general terms
the physical characters, and the habits and customs that are common
to all or most of these pagan tribes.
These peoples present no very great differences of physical
character. All are of medium height; their skin-colour ranges from
a rich medium brown to a very pale CAFE-AU-LAIT, hardly deeper than
the colour of cream. Their hair is nearly black or very dark brown,
and generally quite lank, but in some cases wavy or even almost
curly. Their faces show in nearly all cases, though in very diverse
degrees, some of the well-known mongoloid characters, the wide
cheek-bones, the small oblique eyes, the peculiar fold of the upper
eyelid at its nasal end, and the scanty beard. In some individuals
these traces are very slight and in fact not certainly perceptible. The
nose varies greatly in shape, but is usually rather wide at the
nostrils, and in very many cases the plane of the nostrils is tilted
a little upwards and forwards. On the other hand some individuals,
especially among the Kenyahs, have distinctly aquiline and well-formed
noses. Amongst all these peoples, especially the Kenyahs, Punans,
and Klemantans, there are to be seen a few individuals of very regular
well-shaped features of European type.
Although as regards physical characters all these peoples have much in
common, yet each of them presents peculiarities which are obvious to
the eye of an experienced observer, and enable him without hesitation
to assign to their proper groups the majority of individuals; and
such recognition on mere inspection is of course rendered easier by
the relatively slight peculiarities of dress and ornament proper to
each group.
The pure-bred Kenyah presents, perhaps, the most clearly marked as
well as the finest physical type. His skin, is the colour of rich
cream with a very small dash of coffee. The hair of his head varies
from slightly wavy to curly, and is never very abundant or long in the
men. The rest of his body is almost free from hair, and what little
grows upon the face is carefully plucked out (not, leaving even the
eyebrows and eyelashes). This practice is common to all the peoples of
the interior except the Sea Dayaks. His stature is about 1600 mm.; his
weight about 136 pounds. His limbs are distinctly short in proportion
to his body; his trunk is well developed and square, and both limbs
and trunk are well covered with rounded muscles. His movements are
quick and vigorous, and he is hardy and capable of sustaining prolonged
toil and hardship. His head is moderately round (Index 79), his face
broad but well shaped. The expression of his face is bold and open.
The Kayan has a rather darker skin of a redder tone. His legs are not
so disproportionately short, but in all other respects his body is less
well proportioned, graceful, and active than the Kenyah's. His features
are less regular and rather coarser and heavier; his expression is
serious, reserved, and cautious.
The Murut is nearly as fair skinned as the Kenyah, perhaps a little
ruddier in tone. His most characteristic feature is the length of his
leg and lack of calf, in both of which respects he contrasts strongly
with the Kenyah. The length of his leg raises his stature above the
average. His intonation is characteristic, namely, somewhat whining;
whereas the Kenyah's speech is crisp and staccato.
The Klemantans present a greater variety of physical types, being
a less homogeneous group. Roughly they may be said to present all
transitions from the Kenyah to the Murut type. In the main they are
less muscular and active than the Kenyah. It is amongst them that
the upward and forward direction of the plane of the nostrils is
most marked.
The Punan presents, again, a well-marked type. His skin is even fairer
than the Kenyah's, and is distinguished by a distinctly greenish
tinge. He is well proportioned, graceful, and muscular, and his
features are in many cases very regular and pleasing. His expression
is habitually melancholy and strikingly wary and timid. In spite of
his homeless nomadic life he generally appears well nourished and
clean, and he seems less subject to sores and to the skin diseases
which so often disfigure the other peoples, especially the Muruts,
Kayans, and Sea Dayaks.[29]
All these peoples, with the exception of the Punans and similar nomads,
live in village communities situated with few exceptions on the banks
of the rivers. The populations of these villages vary from 20 or 30
persons only in the smallest, to 1500 or even more in a few of the
largest; while the average village comprises about 30 families which,
with a few slaves and dependants, make a community of some 200 to 300
persons. Each such community is presided over by a chief. A number of
villages of one people are commonly grouped within easy reach of one
another on the banks of a river. But no people exclusively occupies
or claims exclusive possession of any one territory or waterway. With
the exception of the Sea Dayaks, all these different peoples may here
and there be found in closely adjoining villages; and in some rivers
the villages of the different peoples are freely intermingled over
considerable areas. The segregation of the Sea Dayak villages seems
to be due to the truculent treacherous nature of the Sea Dayak,
which renders him obnoxious as a neighbour to the other peoples,
and leads him to feel the need of the support of his own people in
large numbers. All find their principal support and occupation in the
cultivation of PADI (rice), and all supplement this with the breeding
of a few pigs and fowls and, in the north of the island, buffalo,
with hunting and fishing, and with the collection of jungle produce
-- gutta-percha, rubber, rattan canes, camphor, sago. These jungle
products they barter or sell for cash to the Malay and Chinese traders.
They have no written records, and but vague traditions of their
past history and migrations. There is no political organisation
beyond a loose coherence and alliance for defence and offence of the
village communities of any one people in neighbouring parts of the
country -- a coherence which at times is greatly strengthened by the
personal ascendency of the chief of some one village over neighbouring
chiefs. One of the most notable examples of such personal ascendency
exercised in recent times was that of Tama Bulan (Pl. 27), a Kenyah
chief whose village was situated on one of the tributaries of the
Baram river, and who by his loyal co-operation with the government
of the Rajah of Sarawak greatly facilitated the rapid establishment
of law and order in this district.
Except for these informal alliances obtaining between neighbouring
villages of the people of any one stock, each village forms an
independent community, ruled by its chief, making war and peace
and alliances, and selecting patches of land for cultivation at its
own pleasure. No village community remains on the same spot for any
long period; but after fifteen, ten, or even fewer years, a new site
is sought, often at a considerable distance, and a new village is
built. The principal reasons for this habit of frequent migration,
which has produced the intimate mingling throughout large areas of the
peoples of different stocks, are two: first, the necessity of finding
virgin soil for cultivation; secondly, the occurrence of epidemics
or other calamities; these lead them to believe that the place of
their abode supplies in insufficient degree the favouring spiritual
influences which they regard as essential to their welfare. For among
all these peoples animistic beliefs abound; they hold themselves to be
surrounded on every hand by spiritual forces both good and bad, some
of which are embodied in the wild creatures, especially the birds,
while some are manifested in such natural processes as the growth of
the corn, the rising of the river in flood, the rolling of thunder,
the incidence of disease. And they are constantly concerned to keep
at a distance, by the observance of many rigidly prescribed customs,
the evil influences, and, to a less degree, to secure by propitiatory
acts the protection and the friendly warnings of the beneficent powers.
One of the most peculiar features of the people of Borneo is the great
diversity of language obtaining among them. The migratory habits of
the people and the consequent mingling of communities of different
stocks within the same areas, far from having resulted in the genesis
by fusion of a common language, have resulted in the formation of
a great number of very distinct dialects; so that in following the
course of a river, one may sometimes find in a day's journey of a
score of miles half a dozen or more villages, the people of each of
which speak a dialect almost, or in some cases quite, unintelligible
to their neighbours. A necessary consequence of this state of affairs
is that, with the exception of the Sea Dayaks, almost all adults
speak or at least understand two or more dialects or languages,
while most of the chiefs and leading men speak several dialects
fluently and partially understand a larger number. The language most
widely understood by those to whom it is not native is the Kayan;
but since the recent spread of trade through large areas under the
protection of the European governments, a simplified form of the Malay
language has been rapidly establishing itself as the LINGUA FRANCA of
the whole country. In Sarawak, where, during the last fifty years,
the Sea Dayaks have spread from the Batang Lupar district and have
established villages on all the principal rivers, their language,
which seems to be a bastard and very simple branch of the Malay tongue,
is very widely understood and is largely used as a common medium.
Note on the use of the term KLEMANTAN. The Malay name for Borneo is
Pulu Klemantan, and we have adopted this name to denote the large
group of allied tribes which in our opinion have the best claim to
be regarded as representing the indigenous population of the island.
CHAPTER 4
Material Conditions of the Pagan Tribes of Borneo
With few exceptions, the main features of the dress, adornment,
and weapons of all the peoples are similar, showing only minor
differences from tribe to tribe and from place to place. The essential
and universal article of male attire is the waist-cloth, a strip of
cloth about one yard wide and four to eight yards in length (see
Frontispiece). Formerly this was made of bark-cloth; but now the
cotton-cloth obtained from the Chinese and Malay traders has largely
superseded the native bark-cloth, except in the remoter regions; and
here and there a well-to-do man may be seen wearing a cloth of more
expensive stuff, sometimes even of silk. One end of such a cloth is
passed between the legs from behind forwards, about eighteen inches
being left dependent; the rest of it is then passed several times round
the waist, over the end brought up on to the belly, and the other end
is tucked in at the back. The man wears in addition when out of doors
a coat of bark-cloth or white cotton stuff,[30] and a wide sun-hat
of palm leaves, in shape like a mushroom-top or an inverted and very
shallow basin, which shelters him from both sun and rain; many wear
also a small oblong mat plaited of rattan-strips hanging behind from
a cord passed round the waist, and serving as a seat when the wearer
sits down. At home the man wears nothing more than the waist-cloth,
save some narrow plaited bands of palm fibre below the knee, and, in
most cases, some adornment in the ears or about the neck and on the
arms.[31] The man's hair is allowed to grow long on the crown of the
scalp, and to hang freely over the back of the neck, in some cases
reaching as far as the middle of the back. This long hair is never
plaited, but is sometimes screwed up in a knot on the top of the head
and fastened with a skewer. The latter mode of wearing the hair is
the rule among the Muruts, who use elaborately carved and decorated
hairpins of bone (the shin bone of the deer, Fig. 1). That part of
the hair of the crown which naturally falls forwards is cut to form
a straight fringe across the forehead. All the rest of the head is
kept shaven, except at times of mourning for the death of relatives.
When in the house the man commonly wears on his head a band of plaited
rattan, which varies from a mere band around the brows to a completed
skull-cap. The free ends of the rattan strips are generally allowed to
project, forming a dependent tassel or fringe (Pl. 21). A well-to-do
Kayan man usually wears a necklace consisting of a single string of
beads, which in many cases are old and of considerable value (Pls. 19
and 28). Every Kayan has the shell of the ear perforated, and when
fully dressed wears, thrust forward through the hole in each shell,
the big upper canine tooth of the tiger-cat; but he is not entitled
to wear these until he has been on the warpath. Those who have taken
a head or otherwise distinguished themselves in war may wear, instead
of the teeth, pieces of similar shape carved from the solid beak of
the helmeted hornbill. The youths who have not qualified themselves
for these adornments, and warriors during mourning, usually wear a
disc of wood or wax in their places (Pls. 19 and 21).
The lobe of the ear is perforated and distended to a loop some two
inches in length, in which a brass ring is worn. Just above this loop
a small hole through the shell is usually made, and from this a small
skein of beads depends. Similar ear ornaments are worn by Kenyahs and
some of the Klemantans, but not by Muruts, and by few individuals
only among Punans and Sea Dayaks. Many of the latter wear a row of
small brass rings inserted round the margin of the shell of each ear
(Fig. 2).
Many of the men wear also bracelets of shell or hard wood.
Although the dress of the men is so uniform in essentials throughout
the country, it gives considerable scope for the display of personal
tastes, and the Sea Dayak especially delights in winding many yards
of brilliantly coloured cloth about his waist, in brilliant coats
and gorgeous turbans[32] and feathers, and other ornaments; by means
of these he manages to make himself appear as a very dressy person
in comparison with the sober Kayan and with most of the people of
the remoter inland regions, who have little but scanty strips of
bark-cloth about the loins.
The universal weapons of the country are sword and spear, and
no man travels far from home without these and his oblong wooden
shield. Some of the peoples are expert in the use of the blowpipe
and poisoned dart. The blow-pipe and the recently introduced firearms
are the only missile weapons; the bow is unknown save as a plaything
for children,[33] and possibly in a few localities in the extreme
north.[34]
The dress of the women is less uniform than that of the men. The Sea
Dayak woman (Pls. 29 and 30) wears a short skirt of cotton thread
woven in curious patterns of several colours, reaching from the waist
almost to the knee; a long-sleeved jacket of the same material, and a
corset consisting of many rings of rattan built up one above another
to enclose the body from breast to thigh. Each rattan ring is sheathed
in small rings of beaten brass. The corset is made to open partially
or completely down the front, but is often worn continuously for long
periods. She wears her hair tied in a knot at the back of her head.
The principal garment of the women of all the other peoples is a
skirt of bark or cotton cloth, which is tied by a string a little
below the level of the crest of the hip bone; it reaches almost to
the ankle, but is open at the left side along its whole depth. It is
thus a large apron rather than a skirt. When the woman is at work in
the house or elsewhere, she tucks up the apron by drawing the front
flap backwards between her legs, and tucking it tightly into the band
behind, thus reducing it to the proportions and appearance of a small
pair of bathing-drawers. Each woman possesses also a long-sleeved,
long-bodied jacket of white cotton similar to that worn by the men;
this coat is generally worn by both sexes when working in the fields
or travelling in boats, chiefly as a protection against the rays of
the sun. The women wear also a large mushroom-shaped hat similar to
that worn by the men. With few exceptions all the women allow the hair
to grow uncut and to fall naturally from the ridge of the cranium,
confined only by a circular band of rattan or beadwork passing over
the occiput and just above the eyebrows.
The principal ornaments of the women are necklaces and girdles of
beads, earrings, and bracelets. A well-to-do Kayan woman may wear a
large number of valuable beads (see Pls. 28 and 31). The bracelets
are of ivory, and both forearms are sometimes completely sheathed
in series of such bracelets. The ear-rings are the most distinctive
feature of the Kayan woman's adornment. The perforated lobes of the
ears are gradually drawn down during childhood and youth, until
each lobe forms a slender loop which reaches to the collar-bone,
or lower. Each loop bears several massive rings of copper (Pl. 20),
whose combined weight is in some cases as much as two pounds.[35] Most
of the Kenyah women also wear similar earrings, but these are usually
lighter and more numerous, and the lobe is not so much distended. The
women of many of the Klemantan tribes wear a large wooden disc in the
distended lobe of each ear, and those of other Klemantan tribes wear
a smaller wooden plug with a boss (Pl. 32). The children run naked
up to the age of six or seven years, when they are dressed in the
fashion of their parents.
On festive occasions both men and women put on as many of their
ornaments as can be conveniently worn.
Deformation of the Head
Some of the Malanaus, a partially Mohammedan tribe of Klemantans,
seated about the mouths of the Muka, Oya, and Bintulu rivers of
Sarawak, have the curious custom of flattening the heads of the
infants, chiefly the females. The flattening is effected at an
early age, the process beginning generally within the first month
after birth. It consists in applying pressure to the head by means
of a simple apparatus for some fifteen minutes, more or less, on
successive days, or at rather longer intervals. The application of
the pressure for this brief space of time, on some ten to twenty
occasions, seems to suffice to bring about the desired effect. The
pressure is applied while the child sleeps, and is at once relaxed if
the child wakes or cries. The apparatus, known as TADAL (see Fig. 3),
consists of a stout flat bar of wood, some nine inches in length
and three wide in its middle part. This wider middle part bears on
one surface a soft pad for application to the infant's forehead. A
[inverted T] strap of soft cloth is attached by its upper
extremity to the middle of the upper edge of the wooden bar; and each
end of its horizontal strip is continued by a pair of strings which
pass through holes in the ends of the bar. The strings are brought
together on the front of the bar at its middle and passed through the
centre of a copper coin[36] or other hard disc. The bar is applied
transversely to the forehead of the infant; the vertical strap runs
back over the sagittal suture; the transverse strap is drawn tightly
across the occiput, and the required degree of pressure is gradually
applied by twisting the coin round and round on the front of the bar,
and so pulling upon the strings which connect the ends of the bar on
the forehead with the ends of the strap across the occiput (Pl. 33).
The effect produced is of course a flattening of brow and occiput and
a broadening of the whole head. The motive seems to be the desire to
enhance the beauty of the child by ensuring to it a moon-like face,
which is the most admired form. The Malanaus seem to be by nature
peculiarly round-headed; the question whether this is due to the
effects of head-flattening practised for many generations, must be
left to the investigations of the Neo-Lamarckians. They are also a
peculiarly handsome people, and it seems more likely that, taking a
pride in their good looks, they have, like so many other peoples,
sought to enhance the beauty of their children by accentuating a
racial peculiarity.
Houses
All the tribes except the Punans build houses of one type; but the size
and proportions, the strength of the materials used, and the skill and
care displayed in the work of construction, show wide differences. The
houses of the Kayans are perhaps better and more solidly built than any
others and may be taken as the type. Each house is built to accommodate
many families; an average house may contain some forty to fifty,
making up with children and slaves some two or three hundred persons;
while some of the larger houses are built for as many as a hundred
and twenty families, or some five to six hundred persons. The house
is always close to a river, and it usually stands on the bank at a
distance of 20 to 50 yards from the water, its length lying parallel
to the course of the river. The plan of the house is a rectangle,
of which the length generally much exceeds the width (Pl. 34).
Its roof is always a simple ridge extending the whole length of the
house, and is made of shingles of BILIAN (ironwood) or other hard
and durable kind of wood. The framework of the roof is supported at
a height of some 25 to 30 feet from the ground on massive piles of
ironwood, and the floor is supported by the same piles at a level some
7 or 8 feet below the cross-beams of the roof. The floor consists
of cross-beams morticed to the piles, and of very large planks of
hard wood laid upon them parallel to the length of the house. The
projecting eaves of the roof come down to a level midway between
that of the roof-beams and that of the floor, and the interval of
some 4 to 5 feet between the eaves and the floor remains open along
the whole length of the front of the house (I.E. the side facing the
river), save for a low parapet which bounds the floor along its outer
edge. This space serves to admit both light and air, and affords an
easy view over the river to those sitting in the house. The length
of the house is in some cases as much as 400 yards, but the average
length is probably about 200 yards. The width of the floor varies
from about 30 to 60 feet; the whole space between roof and floor is
divided into two parts by a longitudinal wall of vertical planks,
which runs the whole length of the house. This wall lies not quite
in the middle line, but a little to the river side of it. Of the two
longitudinal divisions of the house, that which adjoins the river
is thus somewhat narrower than the other; it remains undivided in
its whole length. The other and wider part is divided by transverse
walls at intervals of some 25 or 30 feet, so as to form a single row
of spacious chambers of approximately equal size. Each such chamber is
the private apartment of one family; in it father, mother, daughters,
young sons and female slaves, sleep and eat (Pl. 37). Within each
chamber are usually several sleeping-places or alcoves more or less
completely screened or walled off from the central space. The chamber
contains a fireplace, generally merely a slab of clay in a wooden
framework placed near the centre. The outside wall of this side of
the house is carried up to meet the roof. The entrance of light and
air and the egress of smoke are provided for by the elevation on a
prop of one corner of a square section of the roof, marked out by a
right-angled cut, of which one limb runs parallel to the outer wall,
the other upwards from one extremity of the former. This aperture
can be easily closed, E.G. during heavy rain, by removing the prop
and allowing the flap to fall into its original position.
The front part of the house, which remains undivided, forms a single
long gallery serving as a common antechamber to all the private rooms,
each of which opens to it by a wooden door (Pls. 36, 38). It is in
a sense, though roofed and raised some 20 feet above the ground, the
village street, as well as a common living and reception room. Along
the outer border of the floor runs a low platform on which the inmates
sit on mats. One part of this, usually that opposite the chief's
apartment in the middle of the house, is formed of several large
slabs of hardwood (TAPANG or Koompassia), and is specially reserved
for the reception of guests and for formal meetings. The platform
is interrupted here and there by smaller platforms raised some 3 or
4 feet from the floor, which are the sleeping quarters assigned to
the bachelors and male visitors. At intervals of some 30 or 40 feet
throughout the gallery are fireplaces similar to those in the private
chambers; on some of these fire constantly smoulders.
Over one of these fireplaces, generally one near the middle of
the great gallery, is hung a row of human heads (Pl. 38), trophies
obtained in war, together with a number of charms and objects used
in various rites.[37]
Alongside the inner wall of the gallery stand the large wooden mortars
used by the women in husking the PADI. Above these hang the winnowing
trays and mats, and on this wall hang also various implements of
common use -- hats, paddles, fish-traps, and so forth.
The gallery is reached from the ground by several ladders, each
of which consists of a notched beam sloping at an angle of about
45[degree], and furnished with a slender hand-rail. The more carefully
made ladder is fashioned from a single log, but the wood is so cut as
to leave a hand-rail projecting forwards a few inches on either side
of the notched gully or trough in which the feet are placed. From
the foot of each ladder a row of logs, notched and roughly squared,
and laid end to end, forms a foot-way to the water's edge. In wet
weather such a foot-way is a necessity, because pigs, fowls, and dogs,
and in some cases goats, run freely beneath and around the house, and
churn the surface of the ground into a thick layer of slippery mire.
Here and there along the front of the house are open platforms raised
to the level of the floor, on which the PADI is exposed to the sun
to be dried before being husked.
Under the house, among the piles on which it is raised, such
boats as are not in daily use are stored. Round about the house,
and especially on the space between it and the brink of the river,
are numerous PADI barns (Pl. 40). Each of these, the storehouse of
the grain harvested by one family, is a large wooden bin about 10
feet square, raised on piles some 7 feet from the ground. Each pile
carries just below the level of the floor of the bin a large disc of
wood horizontally disposed, and perforated at its centre by the pile;
this serves to prevent rats and mice gaining access to the bin. The
shingle roof of the bin is like that of the house, but the two ends
are filled by sloping surfaces running up under the gables. There
are generally also a few fruit trees and tobacco plants in the space
cleared round about the house; and in the space between it and the
river are usually some rudely carved wooden figures, around which
rites and ceremonies are performed from time to time.
Kayan villages generally consist of several, in some cases as many
as seven or eight, such houses of various lengths, grouped closely
together. The favourite situation for such a village is a peninsula
formed by a sharp bend of the river.
Of the houses built by the other peoples, those of the Kenyahs very
closely resemble those of the Kayans. The Kenyah village frequently
consists of a single long house (and with the Sea Dayaks this is
invariably the case), and it is in many cases perched on a high
steep bank immediately above the river. Some of the Klemantans also
build houses little if at all inferior to those of the Kayans, and
very similar to them in general plan. But in this as in all other
respects the Klemantans exhibit great diversities, some of their
houses being built in a comparatively flimsy manner, light timber
and even bamboos being used, and the roof being made of leaves. The
houses of the Muruts are small and low, and of poor construction.
The Sea Dayak's house differs from that of the Kayan more than any
of the others. The general plan is the same; but the place of the
few massive piles is taken by a much larger number of slender piles,
which pass up to the roof through the gallery and chambers. Of the
gallery only a narrow passageway alongside the main partition-wall
is kept clear of piles and other obstructions. The floor is of split
bamboo covered with coarse mats. An open platform at the level of the
floor runs along the whole length of the open side of the house. There
are no PADI barns about the house, the PADI being kept in bins in the
roofs. The roof itself is low, giving little head space. The gallery
of the house makes an impression of lack of space, very different to
that made by the long wide gallery of a Kayan or Kenyah house.
Although the more solidly built houses, such as those of the Kayans,
would be habitable for many generations, few of them are inhabited for
more than fifteen or twenty years, and some are used for much shorter
periods only. For one reason or another the village community decides
to build itself a new house on a different and sometimes distant site,
though the new site is usually in the same tributary river, or, if on
the main river, within a few miles of the old one. The most frequent
causes of removal are, first, using up of the soil in the immediate
neighbourhood of the village, for they do not cultivate the same
patch more than three or four times at intervals of several years;
secondly, the occurrence of a fatal epidemic; thirdly, any run of bad
luck or succession of evil omens; fourthly, the burning of the house,
whether accidentally or in the course of an attack by enemies.
On removing to a new site the planks and the best of the timber of a
well-built house are usually towed along the river to the spot chosen,
and used in the construction of the new house.
After the houses the most important of the material possessions of the
people are their boats. Each family possesses at least one small boat
capable of carrying seven or eight persons, and used chiefly for going
to and from the PADI fields, but also for fishing and short journeys
of all kinds. In addition to these the community possesses several
larger boats used for longer journeys, and generally at least one long
war-boat, capable of carrying 50 to 100 men. Each boat, even one of
the largest size, is hollowed from a single log, the freeboard being
raised by lashing narrow planks to the edge of the hollowed log. In
the middle of a large boat is a section, the freeboard of which is
raised still higher, and which is covered by an arched roof of palm
leaves. The boat is crossed at intervals of some three feet by seats
formed of short planks, each supported at both ends by projections of
the main timber, to which they are lashed with rattan. In travelling
on the lower reaches of the rivers, the rowers sit two on each bench,
side by side and facing the bow. On the upper reaches, where rapids
abound, a deck is made by laying split bamboos along the length of the
boat upon the benches, and the crew sits upon this deck in paddling,
or stands upon it when poling the boat over rapids.
In addition to the clothes, houses, and boats, and the domestic
animals mentioned above, and to the personal ornaments and weapons
to be described in later chapters, the material possessions of the
Kayans consist chiefly of baskets and mats.
The baskets are of various shapes and sizes, adapted to a variety
of uses. The largest size holds about two bushels of PADI, and is
chiefly used for transporting grain from the fields to the house
(Fig. 4). It is almost cylindrical in shape, but rather wider at
the upper end. Four strips of wood running down from near the upper
edge project slightly below, forming short legs on which the basket
stands. The upper end is closed by a detachable cap, which fits inside
the upper lip of the basket. It is provided with a pair of shoulder
straps, and a strap which is passed over the crown of the head. These
straps are made of a single strip of tough beaten bark. One end of it
is attached to the foot of the basket; a second attachment is made
at the middle of the height, forming a loop for the one shoulder;
the strip is then looped over to the corresponding point on the other
side, forming the loop for the head, and then carried down to the foot
of the basket on that side to form the loop for the other shoulder.
A smaller cylindrical basket, very neatly plaited of thin and very
pliable strips of rattan, is used for carrying the few articles which
a man takes with him in travelling -- a little rice and tobacco,
a spare waist cloth, a sleeping mat, perhaps a second mat of palm
leaves used as a protection against rain, a roll of dried banana
leaves for making cigarettes, perhaps a cap for wear in the house, and,
not infrequently nowadays, a bright coloured handkerchief of Chinese
silk. The lip of the basket is surrounded by a close set row of eyes
through which a cord is passed. To this cord a net is attached,
and is drawn together in the centre of the opening of the basket
by a second cord, in order to confine its contents. This basket is
provided with shoulder straps only.
In addition to these two principal baskets, each family has a number
of smaller baskets of various shapes for storing their personal
belongings, and for containing food in course of preparation (Fig. 5).
The mats are of many shapes and sizes. The largest are spread on
the raised part of the floor, both of the gallery and of the private
chambers, when a party sits down to eat or converse. Each individual
has his own sleeping mat, and each family has a number of mats used
for drying, husking, winnowing, and sieving the PADI.
The bamboo water-vessel consists of a section of the stem of the
bamboo, closed at the lower end by the natural septum, the upper end
having a lip or spout formed at the level of the succeeding septum. A
short length of a branch remains projecting downwards to form a handle,
by means of which the vessel can be conveniently suspended. These
vessels are used also for carrying rice-spirit or BORAK; but this
is stored in large jars of earthenware or china. The native jar of
earthenware is ovoid in shape and holds about one gallon, but these
are now largely superseded by jars made by the Chinese.
Each family possesses some dishes and platters of hardwood (Figs. 6
and 7), and generally a few china plates bought from traders; but a
large leaf is the plate most commonly used.
Rice, the principal food, which forms the bulk of every meal, is
boiled in an iron or brass pot with lip, handle, and lid, not unlike
the old English cauldron; it has no legs, and is placed on a tripod of
stones or suspended over the fire. This metal pot, which is obtained
from the Chinese traders, has superseded the home-made pot of clay
(Fig. 8) and the bamboo vessels in which the rice was cooked in former
times. A larger wide stewpan is also used for cooking pork, vegetables,
and fish. The Kayans smoke tobacco, which they cultivate in small
quantities. It is generally smoked in the form of large cigarettes,
the finely cut leaf being rolled in sheets of dried banana leaf. But
it is also smoked in pipes, which are made in a variety of shapes, the
bowl of hardwood, the stem of slender bamboo (Fig. 9). Sea Dayaks chew
tobacco, but smoke little, being devoted to the chewing of betel nut.
In every house is a number of large brass gongs (TAWAK), which are
used in various ceremonies and for signalling, and constitute also
one of the best recognised standards of value and the most important
form of currency. Besides these largest gongs, smaller ones of various
shapes and sizes are kept and used on festive occasions (Pl. 45). All
these gongs are obtained through traders from Bruni, China, and Java.
Beside the gongs a Kayan house generally contains, as the
common property of the whole household, several long narrow drums
(Fig. 10). Each is a hollow cylinder of wood, constricted about its
middle, open at one end, and closed at the other with a sheet of
deer-skin. This is stretched by means of slips of rattan attached to
its edges, and carried back to a stout rattan ring woven about the
constricted middle of the drum; the skin is tightened by inserting
wedges under this ring.
In most houses two or three small brass swivel guns may be seen
in the gallery, and a small stock of powder for their service is
usually kept by the chief. They are sometimes discharged to salute a
distinguished visitor, and formerly played some small part in repelling
attacks. The domestic animals of the Kayans are fowls, goats, pigs,
and dogs. The latter live in the house, the others run free beneath
and around the house.
The material possessions of the other peoples differ little from those
of the Kayans. Almost every Sea Dayak possesses, and keeps stored at
the back of his private chamber, one or more large vases. These were
formerly imported from China, but are now made by the Chinese of the
towns in Borneo. The commonest of the highly prized jars are of plain
brown brightly glazed earthenware, standing about three feet in height
on a flat bottom (Pl. 48); each is ornamented with a Chinese dragon
moulded in relief (BENAGA), or some scroll designs which, though very
varied, go by the name of RUSA (=deer) and NINGKA. A Dayak will give
from 200 to 400 dollars for such a jar. Rarer and still more highly
prized is a jar similar to these, but wider, very highly glazed, and
bare of all ornament save some obscure markings. Eight perforated
"ears" project just below the lip, and serve for the attachment of
a wooden or cloth cover. This jar occurs in two varieties, a dark
green and a very dark brown, which are known respectively as GUSI
and BERGIAU, the latter being the more valuable. Other smaller and
less valued jars are the PANTAR and the ALAS. The jars of the kinds
mentioned above are valued largely on account of their age; probably
all of them were imported from China and Siam, some of them no doubt
centuries ago. Besides these old jars there are now to be found in
most of the Sea Dayak houses many jars of modern Chinese manufacture,
some of which are very skilful imitations of the old types; and
though the Dayak is a connoisseur in these matters, and can usually
distinguish the new from the old, he purchases willingly the cheap
modern imitations of the old, because they are readily mistaken by
the casual observer for the more valuable varieties (Pl. 47).
A few large vases of Chinese porcelain, usually covered with elaborate
designs in colour, are to be found in most of the houses of the other
peoples (Pl. 47).
CHAPTER 5
The Social System
The Kayans constitute a well-defined and homogeneous tribe or
people. Although their villages are scattered over a wide area,
the Kayan people everywhere speak the same language and follow
the same customs, have the same traditions, beliefs, rites, and
ceremonies. Such small differences as they present from place to
place are hardly greater than those obtaining between the villagers
of adjoining English counties. Although communication between the
widely separated branches of the people is very slight and infrequent,
yet all are bound together by a common sentiment for the tribal name,
reputation, tradition, and customs. The chiefs keep in mind and hand
down from generation to generation the history of the migrations of
the principal branches of the tribe, the names and genealogies of the
principal chiefs, and important incidents affecting any one branch. At
least fifteen sub-tribes of Kayans, each bearing a distinctive name,
are recognised.[38] The word UMA, which appears in the names of each
group, means village or settlement, and it seems probable that these
fifteen sub-tribes represent fifteen original Kayan villages which
at some remote period, before the tribe became so widely scattered,
may have contained the whole Kayan population. At the present time
the people of each sub-tribe occupy several villages, which in most
cases, but not in all, are within the basin of one river.
In spite of the community of tribal sentiment, which leads Kayans
always to take the part of Kayans, and prevents the outbreak of
any serious quarrels between Kayan villages, there exist no formal
bonds between the various sub-tribes and villages. Each village is
absolutely independent of all others, save in so far as custom and
caution prescribe that, before undertaking any important affair (such
as a removal of the village or a warlike expedition), the chief will
seek the advice, and, if necessary, the co-operation of the chiefs
of neighbouring Kayan villages. The people of neighbouring villages,
especially the families of the chiefs, are also bound together by
many ties of kinship; for intermarriage is frequent.
As was said above, a Kayan village almost invariably consists of
several long houses. Each house is ruled by a chief; but one such
chief is recognised as the head-chief of the village.
The minor and purely domestic affairs of each house are settled
by the house-chief, but all important matters of general interest
are brought before the village-chief. In the former category fall
disputes as to ownership of domestic animals and plants, questions
of compensation for injury or loss of borrowed boats, nets, or other
articles, of marriage and divorce, and minor personal injuries, moral
or physical. The matters to be settled by the head-chief sitting in
council with the subordinate chiefs are those affecting the whole
village, questions of war and peace and of removal, disputes between
houses, trials for murder or serious personal injuries.
The degree of authority of the chiefs and the nature and degree of
the penalties imposed by them are prescribed in a general way by
custom, though as regards the former much depends upon the personal
qualities of each chief, and as regards the latter much is left to his
discretion. The punishments imposed are generally fines, so many TAWAKS
(gongs), PARANGS (swords) or spears, or other articles of personal
property. On the whole the chief plays the part of an arbitrator and
mediator, awarding compensation to the injured party, rather than that
of a judge. In the case of offences against the whole house, a fine
is imposed; and the articles of the required value are placed under
the charge of the chief, who holds them on behalf of the community,
and uses them in the making of payments or presents in return for
services rendered to the whole community.
The chief also is responsible for the proper observation of the omens
and for the regulation of MALAN (tabu) affecting the whole house; and,
as we shall see, he takes the leading part in social ceremonies and in
most of the religious rites collectively performed by the village. He
is regarded by other chiefs as responsible for the behaviour of his
people, and above all, in war he is responsible for both strategy
and tactics and the general conduct of operations.
For the maintenance of his authority and the enforcement of his
commands the chief relies upon the force of public opinion, which,
so long as he is capable and just, will always support him, and will
bring severe moral pressure to bear upon any member of the household
who hesitates to submit.
In return for his labours on behalf of the household or village the
Kayan chief gains little or nothing in the shape of material reward. He
may receive a little voluntary assistance in the cultivation of his
field; in travelling by boat he is accorded the place of honour and
ease in the middle of the boat, and he is not expected to help in
its propulsion. His principal rewards are the social precedence and
deference accorded him and the satisfaction found in the exercise
of authority.
If the people of a house or village are gravely dissatisfied with
the conduct of their chief, they will retire to their PADI-fields,
building temporary houses there. If many take this course, a new
long house will be built and a new chief elected to rule over it,
while the old chief remains in the old house with a reduced following,
sometimes consisting only of his near relatives.
The office of chief is rather elective than hereditary, but the
operation of the elective principle is affected by a strong bias in
favour of the most capable son of the late chief; so in practice a
chief is generally succeeded by one of his sons. An elderly chief will
sometimes voluntarily abdicate in favour of a son. If a chief dies,
leaving no son of mature age, some elderly man of good standing and
capacity will be elected to the chieftainship, generally by agreement
arrived at by many informal discussions during the weeks following
the death. If thereafter a son of the old chief showed himself a
capable man as he grew up, he would be held to have a strong claim on
the chieftainship at the next vacancy. If the new chief at his death
left also a mature and capable son, there might be two claimants, each
supported by a strong party; the issue of such a state of affairs would
probably be the division of the house or village, by the departure of
one claimant with his party to build a new village. In such a case
the seceding party would carry away with them their share of the
timbers of the old house, together with all their personal property.
The Kenyahs form a less homogeneous and clearly defined tribe than
the Kayans; yet in the main their social organisation is very similar
to that of the Kayans, although, as regards physical characters and
language as well as some customs, they present closer affinities with
other peoples than with the Kayans, especially with the Klemantans. The
Kenyah tribe also comprises a number of named branches, though these
are less clearly defined than the sub-tribes of the Kayan people. Each
branch is generally named after the river on the banks of which its
villages are situated, or were situated at some comparatively recent
time of which the memory is preserved. In many cases a single village
adopts the name of some tributary stream near the mouth of which it
is situated, and the people speak of themselves by this name. Thus it
seems clear that the named branches of the Kenyah tribe are nothing
more than local groups formed in the course of the periodical
migrations, and named after the localities they have occupied.[39]
The foregoing description of the relations of a Kayan chief to
his people applies in the main to the Kenyah chief. But among the
Kenyahs the position of the chief is one of greater authority and
consideration than among the Kayans. The people voluntarily work for
their chief both in his private and public capacities, obeying his
commands cheerfully, and accepting his decisions with more deference
than is accorded by the Kayans. The chief in return shows himself
more generous and paternal towards his people, interesting himself
more intimately in their individual affairs. Hence the Kenyah chief
stands out more prominently as leader and representative of his people,
and the cohesion of the whole community is stronger. The chief owes his
great influence over his people in large measure to his training, for,
while still a youth, the son or the nephew of a chief is accustomed
to responsibility by being sent in charge of small bodies of followers
upon missions to distant villages, to gather or convey information, or
to investigate disturbing rumours. He is also frequently called upon to
speak on public occasions, and thus early becomes a practised orator.
Among Klemantans, Muruts, and Sea Dayaks each house recognises a
headman or chief; but he has little authority (more perhaps among the
first of these peoples than among the other two). He acts as arbitrator
in household disputes, but in too many cases his impartiality is not
above suspicion, save where custom rigidly limits his preference.
Among both Kayans and Kenyahs three social strata are clearly
distinguishable and are recognised by the people themselves in each
village. The upper class is constituted by the family of the chief
and his near relatives, his aunts and uncles, brothers, sisters, and
cousins, and their children. These upper-class families are generally
in easier circumstances than the others, thanks to the possession
of property such as brass ware, valuable beads, caves in which the
swift builds its edible nest, slaves, and a supply of all the other
material possessions larger in quantity and superior in quality to
those of the middle- and lower-class families.
The man of the upper class can generally be distinguished at a glance
by his superior bearing and manners, by the neatness and cleanliness
of his person, his more valuable weapons, and personal ornaments,
as well as by greater regularity of features. The woman of the
upper class also exhibits to the eye similar marks of her superior
birth and breeding. The tatuing of her skin is more finely executed,
greater care is taken with the elongation of the lobe of the ear,
so that the social status of the woman is indicated by the length
of the lobe. Her dress and person are cleaner, and generally better
cared for, and her skin is fairer than that of other women, owing no
doubt to her having been less exposed to the sun.
The men of the upper class work in the PADI-fields and bear their share
of all the labours of the village; but they are able to cultivate
larger areas than others owing to their possession of slaves, who,
although they are expected to grow a supply of PADI for their own
use, assist in the cultivation of their master's fields. For the
upper-class women, also, the labours of the field and the house are
rendered less severe by the assistance of female slaves, although
they bear a part both in the weeding of the fields, in the harvesting,
and in the preparation of food in the house.
The chief's room, which is usually about twice as long as others, is
usually in the middle of the house; and those of the other upper-class
families, which also may be larger than the other rooms, adjoin it
on either side.
In all social gatherings, and in the performance of public rites and
ceremonies, the men of the upper class are accorded leading parts,
and they usually group themselves about the chief. Social intercourse
is freer and more intimate among the people of the upper class than
between them and the rest of the household.
The upper class is relatively more numerous in the Kenyah than in the
Kayan houses, and more clearly distinguishable by address and bearing.
The middle class comprises the majority of the people of a house in
most cases. They may enjoy all the forms of property, though generally
their possessions are of smaller extent and value, and they seldom
possess slaves. Their voices carry less weight in public affairs;
but among this class are generally a few men of exceptional capacity
or experience whose advice and co-operation are specially valued
by the chief. Among this class, too, are usually a few men in each
house on whom devolve, often hereditarily, special duties implying
special skill or knowledge, E.G. the working of iron at the forge,
the making of boats, the catching of souls, the finding of camphor,
the observation and determination of the seasons. All such special
occupations are sources of profit, though only the last of these
enables a man to dispense with the cultivation of PADI.
The lower class is made up of slaves captured in war and of their
descendants, and for this reason its members are of very varied
physical type. An unmarried slave of either sex lives with, and is
treated almost as a member of, the family of his or her master,
eating and in some cases sleeping in the family room. Slaves are
allowed to marry, their children becoming the property of their
masters. Some slave-families are allowed to acquire a room in the
house, and they then begin to acquire a less dependent position; and
though they still retain the status of slaves, and are spoken of as
"slaves-outside-the-room," the master generally finds it impossible
to command their services beyond a very limited extent, and in some
cases will voluntarily resign his rights over the family. But in this
case the family continues to belong to the lower class.
The members of each of these classes marry in nearly all cases within
their own class. The marriages of the young people of the upper
class are carefully regulated. Although they are allowed to choose
their partners according to the inscrutable dictates of personal
affinities, their choice is limited by their elders and the authority
of the chief. Many of them marry members of neighbouring villages,
while the other classes marry within their own village.
A youth of the upper class, becoming fond of some girl of the
middle class, and not being allowed to marry her (although this is
occasionally permitted), will live with her for a year or two. Then,
when the time for his marriage arrives (it having perhaps been
postponed for some years after being arranged, owing to evil omens,
or to lack of means or of house accommodation), he may separate from
his mistress, leaving in her care any children born of their union,
and perhaps making over to her some property -- as public opinion
demands in such cases. She may and usually will marry subsequently
a man of her own class, but the children born of her irregular
union may claim and may be accorded some of the privileges of their
father's class. In this way there is formed in most villages a class
of persons of ambiguous status, debarred from full membership in the
upper class by the bar-sinister. Such persons tend to become wholly
identified with the upper or middle class according to the degrees
of their personal merits.
Marriages are sometimes contracted between persons of the middle and
slave classes. In the case of a young man marrying a slave woman,
the owners of the woman will endeavour to persuade him to live with
her in their room, when he becomes a subordinate member of their
household. If they succeed in this they will claim as their property
half the children born to the couple. On the other hand, if the man
insists on establishing himself in possession of a room, he may succeed
in practically emancipating his wife, perhaps making some compensation
to her owners in the shape of personal services or brass ware. In this
case the children of the couple would be regarded as freeborn. It is
generally possible for an energetic slave to buy his freedom.
Less frequent is the marriage of a slave man with a free woman of the
middle class. In this case the man will generally manage to secure
his emancipation and to establish himself as master of a room, and to
merge himself in the middle class. In the case of marriage between two
slaves, they continue to live in the rooms of their owners, spending
by arrangement periods of two or three years alternately as members
of the two households. The children born of such a slave-couple are
divided as they grow up between the owners of their parents.
On the whole the slaves are treated with so much kindness and
consideration that they have little to complain of, and most of them
seem to have little desire to be freed. A capable slave may become
the confidant and companion of his master, and in this way may attain
a position of considerable influence in the village. A young slave is
commonly addressed by his master and mistress as "My Child." A slave
is seldom beaten or subjected to any punishment save scolding, and
he bears his part freely in the life of the family, sharing in its
labours and its recreations, its ill or its good fortunes. Nothing
in the dress or appearance of the slave distinguishes him from the
other members of the village.
The Family
Very few men have more than one wife. Occasionally a chief whose wife
has borne him no children during some years of married life, or has
found the labours of entertaining his guests beyond her strength,
will with her consent, or even at her request, take a second younger
wife. In such a case each wife has her own sleeping apartment within
the chief's large chamber, and the younger wife is expected to defer
to the older one, and to help her in the work of the house and of
the field. The second wife would be chosen of rather lower social
standing than the first wife, who in virtue of this fact maintains
her ascendancy more easily. A third wife is probably unknown; public
opinion does not easily condone a second wife, and would hardly
tolerate a third. In spite of the presence of slave women in the
houses, concubinage is not recognised or tolerated.
The choice of a wife is not restricted by the existence of any law
or custom prescribing marriage without or within any defined group;
that is to say, exogamous and endogamous groups do not exist. Incest
is regarded very seriously, and the forbidden degrees of kinship are
clearly defined. They are very similar to those recognised among
ourselves. A man may under no circumstances marry or have sexual
relations with his sister, mother, daughter, father's or mother's
sister or half sister, his brother's or sister's daughter; and in
the case of those women who stand to him in any of these relations
in virtue of adoption, the prohibitions and severe penalties are
if possible even more strictly enforced. First cousins may marry,
but such marriages are not regarded with favour, and certain special
ceremonies are necessitated; and it seems to be the general opinion
that such marriages are not likely to prove happy. Many young men of
the upper class marry girls of the same class belonging to neighbouring
villages of their own people, aid in some cases this choice falls
on a girl of a village of some other tribe. A marriage of the latter
kind is often encouraged by the chiefs and elder people, in order to
strengthen or to restore friendly relations between the villages.
The initiative is taken in nearly all cases by the youth. He begins
by paying attentions somewhat furtively to the girl who attracts his
fancy. He will often be found passing the evening in her company
in her parents' room. There he will display his skill with the
KELURI, or the Jew's harp, or sing the favourite love-song of the
people, varying the words to suit the occasion. If the girl looks
with favour on his advances, she manages to make the fact known to
him. Politeness demands that in any case he shall be supplied by the
women with lighted cigarettes. If the girl wishes him to stay, she
gives him a cigarette tied in a peculiar manner, namely by winding
the strip which confines its sheath of dried banana leaf close to
the narrow mouth-piece; whereas on all other occasions this strip is
wound about the middle of the cigarette. The young man thus encouraged
will repeat his visits. If his suit makes progress, he may hope that
the fair one will draw out with a pair of brass tweezers the hairs
of his eyebrows and lashes, while he reclines on his back with his
head in her lap. If these hairs are very few, the girl will remark
that some one else has been pulling them out, an imputation which
he repudiates. Or he complains of a headache, and she administers
scalp-massage by winding tufts of hair about her knuckles and sharply
tugging them. When the courtship has advanced to this stage, the girl
may attract her suitor to the room by playing on the Jew's harp,
with which she claims to be able to speak to him -- presumably the
language of the heart. The youth thus encouraged may presume to remain
beside his sweetheart till early morning, or to return to her side
when the old people have retired. When the affair has reached this
stage, it becomes necessary to secure the public recognition which
constitutes the relation a formal betrothal. The man charges some
elderly friend of either sex, in many cases his father or mother,
to inform the chief of his desire. The latter expresses a surprise
which is not always genuine; and, if the match is a suitable one,
he contents himself with giving a little friendly advice. But if
he is aware of any objections to the match he will point them out,
and though he will seldom forbid it in direct terms, he will know
how to cause the marriage to be postponed.
If the chief and parents favour the match, the young man presents
a brass gong or a valuable bead to the girl's family as pledge of
his sincerity. This is returned to him if for any reason beyond his
control the match is broken off. The marriage may take place with
very little delay; but during the interval between betrothal and
marriage the omens are anxiously observed and consulted. All accidents
affecting any members of the village are regarded as of evil omen,
the more so the more nearly the betrothed parties are concerned in
them. The cries of birds and deer are important; those heard about the
house are likely to be bad omens, and it is sought to compensate for
these by sending a man skilled in augury to seek good omens in the
jungle, such as the whistle of the Trogan and of the spider-hunter,
and the flight of the hawk from right to left high up in the sky. If
the omens are persistently and predominantly bad, the marriage is put
off for a year, and after the next harvest fresh omens are sought. The
man is encouraged in the meantime to absent himself from the village,
in the hope that he may form some other attachment. But if he remains
true and favourable omens are obtained, the marriage is celebrated if
possible at the close of the harvest. If the marriage takes place at
any other time, the feast will be postponed to the end of the following
harvest.[40] After the marriage the man lives with his wife in the room
of his father-in-law for one, two, or at most three years. During this
time he works in the fields of his father-in-law and generally helps
in the support of the household, showing great deference towards
his wife's parents. Before the end of the third year of marriage,
the young couple will acquire for themselves a room in the house and
village of the husband, in which they set up housekeeping on their
own account. In addition to these personal services rendered to the
parents of the bride, the man or his father and other relatives give
to the girl's parents at the time of the marriage various articles
which are valuable in proportion to the social standing of the parties,
and which are generally appropriated by the girl's parents.[41]
Divorce is rare but not unknown among the Kayans. The principal grounds
of divorce are misconduct, desertion, incompatibility of temper and
family quarrels; or a couple may terminate their state of wedlock
by mutual consent on payment of a moderate fine to the chief. Such
separation by mutual consent is occasioned not infrequently by the
sterility of the marriage, especially if the couple fails to obtain a
child for adoption; the parties hope to procure offspring by taking
new partners; for the desire for children and pride and joy in the
possession of them are strongly felt by all. The husband of a sterile
wife may leave the house for a long period, living in the jungle and
visiting other houses, in the hope that his wife may divorce him on
the ground of desertion, or give him ground for divorcing her. On
discovery of misconduct on the woman's part the husband will usually
divorce her; the man then retains all property accumulated since
the marriage, and the children are divided between the parents. The
co-respondent and respondent are fined by the chief, and half the
amount of the fine goes to the injured husband. Misconduct on the
part of the man must be flagrant before it constitutes a sufficient
ground for his divorce by his wife. In this case the same rules are
followed. Among the Kayans the divorce is not infrequently followed
by a reconciliation brought about by the intervention of friends;
the parties then come together again without further ceremony. There
is little formality about the divorce procedure. In the main it takes
the form of separation by mutual consent and the condonation of the
irregularity by the community on the payment of a fine to the chief.
Adoption
Adoption is by no means uncommon. The desire for children, especially
male children, is general and strong; but sterile marriages seem to be
known among all the peoples and are common among the Kenyahs. When a
woman has remained infertile for some years after her marriage, the
couple usually seek to adopt one or more children. They generally
prefer the child of a relative, but may take any child, even a
captive or a slave child, whose parents are willing to resign all
rights in it. A child is often taken over from parents oppressed
by poverty, in many cases some article of value or a supply of PADI
being given in exchange. Not infrequently the parents wish to have
the child returned to them when their affairs take a turn for the
better, owing to a good harvest or some stroke of luck, and this is
a frequent cause of dissensions. Usually the adopted child takes in
every way the position of a child born to the parents.
Some of the Klemantans (Barawans and Lelaks in the Baram) practise a
curious symbolic ceremony on the adoption of a child. When a couple has
arranged to adopt a child, both man and wife observe for some weeks
before the ceremony all the prohibitions usually observed during
the later months of pregnancy. Many of these prohibitions may be
described in general terms by saying that they imply abstention from
every action that may suggest difficulty or delay in delivery; E.G. the
hand must not be thrust into any narrow hole to pull anything out of
it; no fixing of things with wooden pegs must be done; there must be
no lingering on the threshold on entering or leaving a room. When the
appointed day arrives, the woman sits in her room propped up and with a
cloth round her, in the attitude commonly adopted during delivery. The
child is pushed forward from behind between the woman's legs, and,
if it is a young child, it is put to the breast and encouraged to
suck. Later it receives a new name.
It is very difficult to obtain admission that a particular child
has been adopted and is not the actual offspring of the parents;
and this seems to be due, not so much to any desire to conceal the
facts as to the completeness of the adoption, the parents coming to
regard the child as so entirely their own that it is difficult to find
words which will express the difference between the adopted child and
the offspring. This is especially the case if the woman has actually
suckled the child.
Proper Names
The child remains nameless during the first few years, and is spoken
of as UKAT if a boy, OWING if a girl, both of which seem to be best
translated as Thingumybob; among the Sea Dayaks ULAT (the little grub)
is the name commonly used. It is felt that to give the child a name
while its hold of life is still feeble is undesirable, because the
name would tend to draw the attention of evil spirits to it. During
its third or fourth year it is given a name at the same time as a
number of other children of the house.[42] The name is chosen with
much deliberation, the eldest son and daughter usually receiving
the names of a grandfather and grandmother respectively. Male and
female names are distinct. The name first given to any person is
rarely carried through life; it is usually changed after any severe
illness or serious accident, in order that the evil influences that
have pursued him may fail to recognise him under the new name; thus
the first or infant name of Tama Bulan was Lujah. After bearing it a
few years he went through a serious illness, on account of which his
name was changed to Wang. Among the Klemantans it is usual under these
circumstances to name the child after some offensive object, E.G. TAI
(dung), in order to render it inconspicuous, and thus withdraw it from
the attention of malign powers. After the naming of a couple's first
child, the parents are always addressed as father and mother of the
child; E.G. if the child's name is OBONG, her father becomes known as
TAMA OBONG, her mother as INAI OBONG, and their original names are
disused and almost forgotten,[43] unless needed to distinguish the
parents from other persons of the same name, when the old names are
appended to the new; thus, Tama Obong Jau, if Jau was the original
name of Tama Obong; and thus Tama Bulan received this name on the
naming of his first child, Bulan (the moon), and when it is wished to
distinguish him in conversation from other fathers of the moon he is
called Tama Bulan Wang. If the eldest child OBONG dies, the father,
Tama Obong Jau, becomes OYONG JAU; if one of his younger children
dies, he becomes AKAM JAU; if his wife dies, he becomes ABAN JAU;
if his brother died, he would be called YAT JAU; and if his sister,
HAWAN JAU; and if two of these relatives are dead, these titles are
used indifferently; but the deaths of wife and children are predominant
over other occasions for the change of name. An elderly man who has
no children receives the title LINGO, and a woman, the title APA
prefixed to his or her former name. A widow is called BALU. The names
of father and mother are never assumed by the children, and their
deaths do not occasion any change of name, except the adoption of
the title OYAU on the loss of the father, and ILUN on the loss of
the mother. These titles would be used only until the man became a
father. When a man becomes a grandfather his title is LAKI (E.G. LAKI
JAU), and this title supersedes all others. A child addresses, and
speaks of, his father as TAMAN, and his mother as INAI or TINAN,
and all four grandparents as POI. The parent commonly addresses the
child, even when adult, as ANAK, or uses his proper name. A father's
brother is addressed as AMAI, but this title is used also as a term
of respect in addressing any older man not related in any degree,
even though he be of a different tribe or race. They use the word
INAI for aunt as well as for mother, and some have adopted the Malay
term MA MANAKAN for aunt proper. The same is true of the words for
nephew and niece -- the Malay term ANAK MANAKAN being used for both.
The terms used to denote degrees of kinship are few, and are used
in a very elastic manner. The term of widest connotation is PARIN
IGAT, which is equivalent to our cousin used in the wider or Scotch
sense; it is applied to all blood relatives of the same generation,
and is sometimes used in a metaphorical sense much as we use the
term brother. There are no words corresponding to our words son and
daughter, ANAK meaning merely child of either sex. There are no words
corresponding to brother and sister; both are spoken of as PARIN,
but this word is often used as a title of endearment in addressing or
speaking of a friend of either sex of the same social standing and age
as the speaker. The children of the same parents speak of themselves
collectively as PANAK; this term also is sometimes used loosely and
metaphorically. A step-father is TAMAN DONG; father-in-law is TAMAN
DIVAN; forefather is SIPUN, a term used of any male or female ancestor
more remote than the grandparents; but these are merely descriptive
and not terms of address. A man of the upper class not uncommonly
has a favourite companion of the middle class, who accompanies him
everywhere and renders him assistance and service, and shares his
fortunes (FIDUS ACHATES in short); him he addresses as BAKIS, and the
title is used reciprocally. A title reciprocally used by those who are
very dear friends, especially by those who have enjoyed the favours
of the same fair one, is TOYONG (or among the Sea Dayaks -- IMPRIAN).
This list includes all the important Kayan terms used to denote
personal relations and kinship, so far as we know; and we think it
very improbable that any have escaped us. There seem to be no secret
names, except in so far as names discarded on account of misfortune are
not willingly recalled or communicated; but a child's name is seldom
used, and adults also seem to avoid calling on one another by their
proper names, especially when in the jungle, the title alone, such as
OYONG, or ABAN being commonly used; apparently owing to some vaguely
conceived risk of directing to the individual named the attentions
of malevolent powers.[44]
The foregoing account of the social organisation of the Kayans applies
equally well to the Kenyahs, except that some of the titles used
are different. The Klemantans and Muruts, too, present few important
differences except that the power of the chiefs is decidedly less,
and the distinction of the social strata less clearly marked, and
slaves are less numerous. The Sea Dayak social organisation is also
similar in most of its features. The most important of the differences
presented by it are the following: -- Polygamy is not allowed, and
occurs only illicitly. Both parties are fined when the facts are
discovered. Divorce is very common and easily obtained; the marriage
relation, being surrounded with much less solemnity, is more easily
entered into and dissolved. Infidelity and mutual agreement are the
common occasions of divorce. Either party can readily secure his or
her freedom by payment of a small fine. There are both men and women
who have married many times; a tenth husband or wife is not unknown;
and a marriage may be dissolved within a week of its consummation.
The Sea Dayak, like all the other peoples, regards incest very
seriously, and the forbidden degrees of kinship are well understood
and very similar to those of Kayans.
A Sea Dayak village consists in almost every case of a single house,
but such houses are generally grouped within easy reach of one
another. Very few slaves are to be found in their houses, since the
Ibans usually take the heads of all their conquered enemies rather
than make slaves of them.
Inheritance of Property
At a man's death his property is divided between his widow and
children. But in order to prevent the disputes, which often arise
over the division of inheritance, an old man may divide his property
before his death. The widow becomes the head of the room, though a
married son or daughter or several unmarried children may share it
with her. She inherits all or most of the household utensils. Such
things as gongs and other brass ware, weapons, war-coats, and boats,
are divided equally among the sons, the eldest perhaps getting a
little more than the others. The girls divide the old beads, cloth,
bead-boxes, and various trifles. The male slaves go to the sons,
the female slaves to the daughters. Bird's nest caves and bee trees
might be divided or shared among all the children.
It happens not infrequently that one son or daughter, remaining
unmarried, continues to live in the household of the parents and to
look after them in their old age. To such a one some valuable article,
such as a string of old beads or costly jar, is usually bequeathed.
Among the Sea Dayaks the old jars, which constitute the chief part
of a man's wealth, are distributed among both sons and daughters;
if the jars are too few for equal distribution, they are jointly
owned until one can buy out the shares of his co-owners.
The members of a Kayan household are bound together, not merely by
their material circumstances, such as their shelter under a common
roof and their participation in common labours, and not merely by
the moral bonds such as kinship and their allegiance to one chief and
loyalty to one another, but also by more subtle ties, of which the most
important is their sharing in the protection and warning afforded to
the whole house by the omen-birds or by the higher powers served by
these. For omens are observed for the whole household, and hold good
only for those who live under the one roof, This spiritual unity of
the household is jealously guarded. Occasionally one family may wish
for some reason, such as bad dreams or much sickness, to withdraw
from the house. If the rest of the household is unwilling to remove
to a new house, they will oppose such withdrawal, and, if the man
insists on separating, a fine is imposed on him, and he is compelled to
leave undisturbed the roof and all the main structure of his section
of the house; though the room would be left unoccupied. Conversely
Kayans are very unwilling to admit any family to become members of
the household. They never or seldom add sections to a house which
has once been completed; and young married couples must live in
their parents' rooms, until the whole household removes and builds
a new house. Occasionally a remnant of a household which has been
broken up by the attack of enemies is sheltered by a friendly house;
but the newcomers are lodged in the gallery only until the time comes
for building a new house, when they may be allowed to build rooms for
themselves, and to become incorporated in the household. Another plan
sometimes adopted is to build a small house for the newcomers closely
adjoining the main house, but joined to it only by an open platform.
Appendix to Chapter V
Tables showing Kinship of the Kenyahs of Long Tikan (Tama
Bulan's house) in the Baram District of Sarawak.
We have made out tables showing the kinship of the inhabitants of
several Kenyah long houses and of one Sea Dayak house, following
the example and method of Dr. W. H. R. Rivers. These tables have
not revealed to us indications of any peculiar system of kinship;
but we think it worth while to reproduce one of them as an appendix
to the foregoing chapter. The table includes all the inhabitants of
the house living in the year 1899, as well as those deceased members
of whom we are able to obtain trustworthy information. The arrangement
is by door or room, but since on marriage some shifting from one room
to another takes place, some individuals appear under two doors.
In these tables the names of males are printed in ordinary type,
those of females in italics; and the following signs are used: --
= for married to.
= indicates the children of a married couple.
implies that the individual below whose name it occurs reached adult
life, but died without issue.
implies a child dead at early age, sex and name unknown.
[male] implies male child not yet named.
[female] implies female child not yet named
? individual of unknown name.
(1) Sidi Karang's Door.
Sidi Karang = SIDI PENG (A Long Paku Kenyah).
Baiai Gau = ULAU.
x
Other Members of the Room.
Tama Aping Layong = BALU BUON.
Lutang (nephew of Sidi Karang).
SUKUN.
Mang = BORU TELLUN.
Luat = ?
Lim.
o
Ukang.
o
Lesun = BALU ULAN.
Usun.
Luyok = OYONG TURING. (See Door 6.)
Linjau.
o
ITANG WING = Lara Wan.
(2) Ajong's Door.
Mawa Ontong (Long Belukun Kenyah) = ? (Long Belukun Kenyah woman).
BALU LARA.
Anjong = NGINO (Long Tikan).
[male]
[female]
x
x
(3) Mawa Jungan's Door.
Mawa Hungan (see Imoh's door) = MAWA UJONG.
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
Weak-minded.
Kading.
[female]
(4) Imoh's Door.
Jilo = ?
Imoh = TINA APING POYONG, (sister of NGINO, see Door 2)
formerly = Tama Aping Lalo. (see Door 5).
Lirim.
(5) Pallavo's Door.
Maga = ?
PALLAVO (unmarried at 60).
Tugan (weak-minded slave).
o
Tama Aping Lalo = (1st wife) TINA APING POYONG (see Door 4) = (2nd
wife) USUN (Likan Kenyah).
Anie Tapa (weak-minded) = ?
Tigiling (weak-minded).
(6) Oyong Turing's Door.
Seling = ?
Sidi Ontong = ?
OYONG LUJOK = Oyong Turing.
x
Maga.
BALU ATING = ?
Laro Libo (Long Palutan Kenyah) = LARA ULAU.
ASONG.
Sapo.
Lalo.
LUNGA.
USUN.
SINGIM.
x
x
x
x
(7) Balu Kran's Door.
Lingan (a Likan Kenyah) = ?
Tama Aping Mawa = BALU KRAN (see Door 8).
LAUONG.
Siggau.
Oyu Apa.
[female] weak-minded.
(8) Balu Uding's Door.
Sawa Taja = ?
BALU KRAN.
BALU UDING = Mawa Imang.
Oyu Suo.
Luat.
o
KENING (unmarried sister of Mawa Imang).
(9) Aban Moun's Door.
Kamang.
Aban Moun = TELUN.
Tama Sook Bilong = TINA SOOK BUNGAN.
Sook (weak-minded).
x unnamed.
x unnamed.
Tama Aping Salo = ? (Long Belukun Kenyah).
x unnamed.
x unnamed.
TINA APING ODING.
(10) Aban Magi's Door.
Aban Magi (see Door 13) = TINA APING KRAN.
Anie Liran.
(11) Lara Wan's Door.
Mawa Liva = (1st wife) TINA WAN = (2nd wife) UTAN URING
Lara Wan = LARA LANAN (Long Paku).
Jalong.
Katan.
JULUT.
Jawing.
Kuleh.
Balu Mening.
o
(12) Tama An Lahing's Door.
Batan = TINA LAHING.
Tama an Lahing = TINA AN PIKA.
ODING = Balari.
x
x
ULAU.
SILALANG.
x
BALU TATAN = Wan Tula (son of Balaban).
Tago.
Ballan.
x
KENING.
Tama Owing Laang = NOWING UBONG (daughter of Aban Imang,
an Uma Poh Kayan).
MENING.
MUJAN.
x
(13) Oyu Irang's Door.
Sorang (Long Tikan) = SINJAI (Long Tikan) (sister of Aban Magi,
see Door 10; and Lara Libo, see Door 6).
x
x
Oyu Irang.
Pakat.
Kupit.
Other members in the Room.
BALU TUBONG (sister of Sorang) = ? (a Long Tikan man).
ABING URAI (sister of Balu Tubong) = Aban Madan (Long Paku).
(14) Balu Usan's Door.
BALU USAN (Long Palutan) = Aban Siliwa (Long Palutan).
x
Oyu Sijau.
BALU MENO (niece of Balu Usan) = Aban Meggang (Long Peku).
Lirong.
o
ULAN.
[female]
(15) Balu Buah's Door.
Tegging = BALU MUJAN.
BALU BUAH = Lara Lalu (Long Belukun Kenyah).
x
x
x
x
UTAN URING.
Abing Liran = LOONG LAKING.
UTAI USUN.
BAYIN.
Apa.
Baja.
[female]
[female]
(16) Oyong Kalang's Door.
Oyong Kalang (Long Palutan Kenyah) = OYONG NONG (Long Palutan Kenyah).
x
x
Sago = ?
INO.
Angin.
Ngau.
Uya.
(17) Sidi Jau's Door.
Tama Owing Lawai (Lepu Tau) = TINA OWING KLING (sister of Tama
Bulan Wang).
Sidi Jau = PAYAH LAH (Uma Poh Kayan).
Kuleh.
Libut.
Balari = UDING.
x
x
Other People in the Room.
TINA APING UDING (Long Palutan) = Tama Aping Toloi (Long Tikan).
POYONG.
ULAU.
LOGAN.
BALA KEYONG = Aban Batu.
Oyu Baung.
Oyu Lalu = ?
LUJOK.
Aban Jok (Murut x Kayan).
KANGIN (sister to Mang, see Door 1).
Aban Oyu (Murut) = BALU MONG.
(18) Aban Tingan's Door.
Aban Langat (Punan) = TINA OYU (Punan).
Aban Tingan = BELVIUN (2nd wife).
Kalang.
Paran.
MUJAN.
x
Brothers.
Tama Lim Balari = ?
Balari.
Livang.
Laki Ludop (see Door 19) = OAN BUNGAN (Long Belukun).
Tama Bulan (see Door 19).
Aban Tingan = PAYA (1st wife, daughter of Paran Libut,
his 1st cousin).
Wan.
LAN = Balan (Long Belukun Kenyah)
Aping.
o
JULAN.
Madang.
Tina Owing Kling (see Door 17).
Slaves.
Aban Muda (Murut) = NUING LABAI
Nawam.
URAI.
SUAI.
Nurang.
Abo = BALU VANG.
Oyu Biti.
Jipong.
[female]
Oan Igan, child of Mapit (Long Palutan), brother of Jilo (see Imoh's
room).
Apoi
Lujah } brothers.
ULAU (Kalabit).
Padan.
(19) Tama Bulan's Door.
Laki Ludop = BUNGAN (see Door 18).
Tama Bulan Wang = (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 principal
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, cucumbers, millet, pineapples, chilis,
are regularly grown in small quantities by most of the peoples. But
all these together are regarded as making but a poor substitute 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 quantity 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 circumstances 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 buttresses, 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 buttresses (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 passes 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
lashing 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 fashion some three weeks are consumed. In the intervals
the women gather the small crops of early PADI, pumpkin, cucumbers,
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 anticipation prevails. It is a favourite time for courtship,
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 passes through the
meshes of the coarse 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 passage 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.
The "clerk of the weather" (he has no official title, though the
great importance of his function secures him general respect) has
no knowledge of the number of days in the year, and does not count
their passage. He is aware that the lunar month has twenty-eight
days, but he knows that the dry season does not recur after any
given number of completed months, and therefore keeps no record of
the lunar months. He relies almost entirely upon observation of the
slight changes of the sun's altitude. His observations are made by
the help of an instrument closely resembling the ancient Greek gnomon,
known as TUKAR DO or ASO DO (Pl. 60).
A straight cylindrical pole of hardwood is fixed vertically in the
ground; it is carefully adjusted with the aid of plumb lines, and
the possibility of its sinking deeper into the earth is prevented by
passing its lower end through a hole in a board laid horizontally on
the ground, its surface flush with the surface of the ground which
is carefully smoothed. The pole is provided with a shoulder which
rests upon this board. The upper end of the pole is generally carved
in the form of a human figure. The carving may be very elaborate,
or the figure may be indicated only by a few notches. The length of
the pole from the collar to its upper extremity is made equal to
the span from tip to tip of outstretched arms of its maker, plus
the length of his span from tip of the thumb to that of the first
finger. This pole (ASO DO) stands on a cleared space before or behind
the house, and is surrounded by a strong fence; the area within the
fence, some three or four yards in diameter, being made as level and
smooth as possible. The clerk of the weather has a neatly worked flat
stick, on which lengths are marked off by notches; these lengths are
measured by laying the stick along the radial side of the left arm,
the butt end against the anterior fold of the armpit. A notch is
then cut at each of the following positions: one notch about one
inch from the butt end, a second opposite the middle of the upper
arm, one opposite the elbow, one opposite the bend of the wrist,
one at the first interphalangeal joint, one at the finger-tip. The
other side of the rod bears a larger number of notches, of which the
most distal marks the greatest length of the mid-day shadow, the next
one the length of the mid-day shadow three days after it has begun
to shorten, the next the length of the shadow after three more days'
shortening, and so on. The mid-day shadow is, of course, the minimal
length reached in the course of the day, and the marks denoting the
changes in length of the shadow are arrived at, purely empirically,
by marking off the length of the mid-day shadow every three days.
The clerk of the weather measures the shadow of the pole at mid-day
whenever the sun is unclouded. As the shadow grows shorter after
reaching its maximal length, he observes it with special care, and
announces to the village that the time for preparing the land is near
at hand. When the shadow reaches the notch made opposite the middle
of the arm, the best time for sowing the grain is considered to have
arrived; the land is therefore cleared, and made ready before this time
arrives. Sowing at times when the shadow reaches other notches is held
to involve various disadvantages, such as liability to more than the
usual number of pests -- monkeys, insects, rats, or sparrows. In the
case of each successful harvest, the date of the sowing is recorded
by driving a peg of ironwood into the ground at the point denoting
the length of the mid-day shadow at that date. The weather prophet
has other marks and notches whose meaning is known only to himself;
his procedures are surrounded with mystery and kept something of
a secret, even from the chief as well as from all the rest of the
village, and his advice is always followed.
The method of observing the sun described above is universal among the
Kenyahs, but some of the Kayans practise a different method. A hole is
made in the roof of the weather-prophet's chamber in the long-house,
and the altitude of the mid-day sun and its direction, north or south
of the meridian, are observed by measuring along a plank fixed on
the floor the distance of the patch of sunlight (falling through the
hole on to the plank) from the point vertically below the hole. The
horizontal position of the plank is secured by placing upon it smooth
spherical stones and noting any inclination to roll. The sunbeam which
enters this hole is called KLEPUT TOH (=the blow-pipe of the spirit).
Some of the Klemantans practise a third method to determine when
the time for sowing is at hand, using a bamboo some feet in length
which bears a mark at a level which is empirically determined. The
bamboo is filled with water while in the vertical position. It is
then tilted till it points towards a certain star, when of course
some water escapes. After it has been restored to the vertical, the
level of the surface of the remaining water is noted. The coincidence
of this level with the mark mentioned above indicates that the time
for sowing is come.
The Sea Dayaks are guided by the observation of the position of
the Pleiades.
The appropriate season having been determined, it is necessary to
secure good omens before the preparation of the land can be begun. A
pig and a fowl having been sacrificed in the usual way, and their
blood sprinkled upon the wooden figures before the house,[46] two
men are sent out in a boat, and where they first see a spider-hunter
they land on the bank and go through the customary procedures. The
calls and appearances of various birds and of the MUNTJAC are of chief
importance. Some of these are good, some bad in various degrees. When
a preponderance of favourable omens has been observed, the men return
to the house to announce their success. They will wait two whole days
if necessary to secure a favourable result. During their absence
a strict MALAN or LALI (tabu) lies upon the house; no stranger may
enter it, and the people sit quietly in the house performing only
the most necessary tasks. The announcement of the nature of the omens
observed is made to the chief in the presence of a deeply interested
throng of both sexes. If the omens observed are considered to be bad,
or of doubtful import, the men go out for a second period; but if they
are favourable, the women of each room perform the private rites over
their stores of seed PADI, which are kept in their rooms. After the
pros and cons have been fully discussed, the chief names the day for
the beginning of the clearing operations.
At the beginning of the sowing the house is again subject to MALAN for
one day. During the growth of the PADI various charms and superstitious
practices are brought into use to promote its growth and health,
and to keep the pests from it. The PADI charms are a miscellaneous
collection or bundle of small articles, such as curious pebbles and
bits of wood, pigs' tusks of unusual size or shape, beads, feathers,
crystals of quartz. Kayans as a rule object to pebbles and stones
as charms. Such charms are generally acquired in the first instance
through indications afforded by dreams, and are handed down from
mother to daughter. Such charms contained in a basket are usually
kept in a PADI barn, from which they are taken to the field by the
woman and waved over it, usually with a live fowl in the hand, while
she addresses the PADI seed in some such terms as the following:
"May you have a good stem and a good top, let all parts of you grow
in harmony, etc. etc." Then she rapidly repeats a long customary
formula of exhortation to the pests, saying, "O rats, run away down
river, don't trouble us; O sparrows and noxious insects, go feed on
the PADI of the people down river." If the pests are very persistent,
the woman may kill a fowl and scatter its blood over the growing PADI,
while she charges the pests to disappear, and calls upon LAKI IVONG
(the god of harvests) to drive them out.
Women alone will gather the first ears of the crop. If they encounter
on their way to the fields any one of the following creatures,
they must at once return home, and stay there a day and a night, on
pain of illness or early death: certain snakes, spiders, centipedes,
millipedes, and birds of two species, JERUIT and BUBUT (a cuckoo). Or
again, if the shoulder straps of their large baskets should break
on the way, if a stump should fall against them, or the note of the
spider-hunter be heard, or if a woman strikes her foot by accident
against any object, the party must return as before.
It will be clear from the foregoing account that the women play the
principal part in the rites and actual operations of the PADI culture;
the men only being called in to clear the ground and to assist in
some of the later stages. The women select and keep the seed grain,
and they are the repositories of most of the lore connected with
it. It seems to be felt that they have a natural affinity to the
fruitful grain, which they speak of as becoming pregnant. Women
sometimes sleep out in the PADI fields while the crop is growing,
probably for the purpose of increasing their own fertility or that
of the PADI; but they are very reticent on this matter.
The Harvest Festival
When the crop is all gathered in, the house is MALAN to all outsiders
for some ten days, during which the grain is transported from the
fields to the village and stored in the PADI barns. When this process
is completed or well advanced, the festival begins with the preparation
of the seed grain for the following season. Some of the best of the
new grain is carefully selected by the women of each room, enough for
the sowing of the next season. This is mixed with a small quantity
of the seed grain of the foregoing seasons which has been carefully
preserved for this purpose in a special basket. The basket contains
grains of PADI from good harvests of many previous years. This is
supposed to have been done from the earliest time of PADI planting,
so that the basket contains some of the original stock of seed, or
at least the virtue of it leavening the whole. This basket is never
emptied, but a pinch of the old PADI is mixed in with the new, and
then a handful of the mixture added to the old stock. The idea here
seems to be that the old grain, preserving continuity generation after
generation with the original seed PADI of mythical origin,[47] ensures
the presence in the grain of the soul or spirit or vital principle of
PADI. While mixing the old with the new seed grain, the woman calls
on the soul of the PADI to cause the seed to be fruitful and to grow
vigorously, and to favour her own fertility. For the whole festival
is a celebration or cult of the principle of fertility and vitality --
that of the women no less than that of the PADI.[48]
The women who have been delivered of children during the past year
will make a number of toys, consisting of plaited work, in the shapes
of various animals filled with boiled rice (Fig. 16). These they
throw to the children of the house, who scramble for them in the
gallery. This seems to be of the nature of a thank-offering.
At this time also another curious custom is observed. Four water
beetles, of the kind that skates on the surface of the still water, are
caught on the river and placed on water in a large gong. Some old man
specially wise in this matter watches the beetles, calling to them to
direct their movements. The people crowd round deeply interested, while
the old man interprets the movements of the beetles as forecasting
good or ill luck with the crops of the following season, and invokes
the good-will of Laki Ivong. Laki Ivong is asked to bring the soul
of the PADI to their homes. Juice from a sugarcane is poured upon the
water, and the women drink the water, while the beetles are carefully
returned to the river. The beetles carry the messages to Laki Ivong.
When these observances have been duly honoured, there begins a
scene of boisterous fun. The women make pads of the boiled sticky
new rice, and cover it with soot from their cooking vessels. With
these they approach the men and dab the pads upon their faces and
bodies, leaving sooty marks that are not easily removed. The men
thus challenged give chase, and attempt to get possession of the rice
pads and to return the polite attention. For a short space of time a
certain license prevails among the young people; and irregularities,
even on the part of married people, which would be gravely reprobated
at all other times, are looked upon very much less seriously. It is,
in fact, the annual carnival. Each roomhold has prepared a stock of
BURAK from the new rice, and this now circulates freely among both men
and women, and large meals of rice and pork are usually eaten. All
join in dancing, some of the women dressed like men, some carrying
PADI-pestles; at one moment all form a long line marching up and
down the gallery in step to the strains of the KELURI; some young
men dance in realistic imitation of monkeys (DOK), or hornbills, or
other animals, singly or in couples. Others mimic the peculiarities
of their acquaintances. The women also dance together in a long line,
each resting her hands on the shoulders of the one going before her,
and all keeping time to the music of the KELURIES as they dance up
and down the long gallery. All this is kept up with good humour the
whole day long. In the evening more BURAK is drunk and songs are sung,
the women mingling with the men, instead of remaining in their rooms
as on other festive occasions. Before midnight a good many of the men
are more or less intoxicated, some deeply so; but most are able to
find their way to bed about midnight, and few or none become offensive
or quarrelsome, even though the men indulge in wrestling and rough
horseplay with one another. After an exceptionally good harvest the
boisterous merry-making is renewed on a second or even a third day.
The harvest festival is the time at which dancing is most
practised. The dances fall into two chief classes, namely, solo dances
and those in which many persons take part. Most of the solo dances take
the form of comic imitations of the movements of animals, especially
the big macaque monkey (DOK), the hornbill, and big fish. These dances
.seem to have no connection with magic or religion, but to be purely
aesthetic entertainments. The animals that are regarded with most awe
are never mimicked in this way. There are at least four distinct group
dances popular among the Kayans. Both men and women take part, the
women often dressing themselves as men for the occasion (Pl. 61). The
movements and evolutions are very simple. The LUPA resembles the dance
on return from war described in Chap. X. In the KAYO, a similar dance,
the dancers are led by a woman holding one of the dried heads which is
taken down for the purpose; the women, dressed in war-coats, pretending
to take the head from an enemy. The LAKEKUT Is a musical drill in which
the dancers stamp on the planks of the floor in time to the music. The
LUPAK is a kind of slow polka. In none of these do the dancers fall
into couples. A fifth dance, the dance of the departure of the spirit,
is a dramatic representation by three persons of the death of one of
them, and of his restoration to life by means of the water of life
(this is supposed to be brought from the country which is traversed
on the journey to the land of shades). This dance is sometimes given
with so much dramatic effect as to move the onlookers to tears.
CHAPTER 7
The Daily Life of a Kayan Long House
A little before dawn the cocks roosting beneath the house awaken the
household by their crowing and the flapping of their wings. The pigs
begin to grunt and squeal, and the dogs begin to trot to and fro in
the gallery. Before the first streaks of daylight appear, the women
light the fires in the private rooms or blow up the smouldering embers;
then most of them descend from the house, each carrying in a basket
slung on her back several bamboo water-vessels to be filled from the
river. Many of them bathe at this time in the shallow water beside
the bank, while the toilet of others consists in dashing water over
their faces, washing their mouths with water, and rubbing their teeth
with the forefinger. Returning to the house with their loads of water
(Pl. 63), they boil rice for the household breakfasts and for the
dinner of those who are to spend the day in the PADI field or the
jungle. The boiled rice intended for the latter use is made up in
packets wrapped in green leaves, each containing sufficient for a meal
for one person. About half-past six, when the daylight is fully come,
the pigs expectant of their meal are clamouring loudly for it. The
women descend to them by ladders leading from the private rooms, and
each gives to the pigs of her household the leavings of the meals
of the previous day. About the same time the men begin to bestir
themselves sluggishly; some descend to bathe, while others smoke
the fag ends of the cigarettes that were unfinished when they fell
asleep. Then the men breakfast in their rooms, and not until they are
satisfied do the women and children sit down to their meal. During all
this time the chronically hungry dogs, attracted by the odours of food,
make persistent efforts to get into their owner's rooms. Success in
this manoeuvre is almostly always followed by their sudden and noisy
reappearance in the gallery, caused by a smart blow with a stick. In
the busy farming season parties of men, women, and children will set
off in boats for the PADI fields taking their breakfasts with them.
After breakfast the men disperse to their various tasks. During some
three or four months of the year all able-bodied persons repair
daily to the PADI fields, but during the rest of the year their
employments are more varied. The old women and invalids remain all
day long in the rooms; the old men lounge all day in the gallery,
smoking many home-made cigarettes, and perhaps doing a bit of carving
or other light work and keeping an eye on the children
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