Books: The Pagan Tribes of Borneo

C >> Charles Hose and William McDougall >> The Pagan Tribes of Borneo

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The Iban culture presents also certain features not common to other
peoples of Borneo and not found among the Malays; and all or most
are such as must have been exterminated among the Malays on their
conversion to Islam, if they had formed part of their culture in
their pre-Islamic period. Such are the religious beliefs and customs
of the Ibans with the cult of the PETARA; the NGARONG; the rite with
the clay crocodile for getting rid of farm pests (vol. ii. p. 88);
the use in weaving of a number of designs of animal origin; the
adornment of the edge of the ear with many brass rings; the lack of
any strict avoidance of killing dogs.

Thirdly, of the features of Iban culture which are common to them and
to the other tribes of Borneo, many seem to have been borrowed by them
from their neighbours, and often in an incomplete or imperfect manner;
such are the system of omenreading, the ritual slaughter of fowls and
pigs, much of their dancing and tatuing, the PARANG ILANG and wooden
shield, the feathered war-coat of skin, the KELURI or small bag-pipe,
and the fashion of wearing their hair, -- all these seem to have been
borrowed from the Kayans; the woman's corset of brassbound hoops,
from the Malohs; the mat worn posteriorly for sitting upon, from
the Kenyahs.[209]

Besides the three great invasions of foreign blood and foreign culture,
those borne by the Kayans, the Muruts, and the Ibans respectively,
there have been numerous minor invasions on all sides. In the following
paragraphs we make mention of those that seem to have been of most
importance in modifying the population and the culture of Borneo.

In the south there are traces of Javanese culture with its Hindu
elements among many of the tribes, but especially among the Land Dayaks
who occupy the southern extremity of Sarawak. These cremate their
dead; they set apart a separate round house for the trophies of human
heads, and in this the bachelors are expected to pass the nights. The
Malawis of South-East Borneo seem to be similar in many respects to
the Land Dayaks of Sarawak. The Land Dayaks have a reputation in
Upper Sarawak for quicker intelligence and more adaptability than
the other tribes, and hence are in much request for services of the
most various kinds. It is an interesting question whether this may be
due to a dash of Hindu blood; the facial type and the more abundant
growth of hair on the face would support an affirmative answer.

The Malohs are a well-marked tribe found on the Kalis and Mandai
rivers, tributaries of the Kapuas River. Physically they are marked
by exceptionally long narrow heads (index about 76). They speak
a language very different from those of the central and northern
parts of the island, but speak also the Iban language with a peculiar
accent. The Malohs alone of all the peoples of Borneo eat the flesh of
the crocodile. The most distinctive feature of their culture is their
skill and industry in brass working. Malohs supply a large proportion
of all the brass-ware to be found in the interior. This addiction to
brass-working suggests that they represent an immigration from Java,
which has long enjoyed a great reputation for its brass-ware and an
extensive market throughout the islands.

On the east coast are many communities of Bugis, who are mostly
Mohammedans and seem to have come from Celebes, where they are a
numerous people.

In the north and extreme north-west the Dusuns seem to be of Murut
stock with an infusion of Chinese blood and culture. They use a
plough drawn by buffalo in the PADI fields, which they irrigate
systematically.

Round about the northern coasts are to be found many small bands
of Lanuns and Bajaus, living largely in boats. They are mostly
Mohammedans, and descend from the notorious piratical communities
whose headquarters were in the Sulu Islands and other islands off
the north-east coast.

In the foregoing pages we have said very little about the languages
spoken by the tribes of Borneo. Although one of us has a practical
command of the Kayan, Kenyah, Sea Dayak, and Malay languages,
and a tolerably intimate acquaintance with a number of the
Klemantan dialects, we do not venture upon the task of discussing
their systematic positions and relations to languages of other
areas. For this would be a task of extreme difficulty and complexity
which only an accomplished linguistic scholar could profitably
undertake. Nevertheless, we think it worth while to add a few words
regarding the bearing of the languages on the foregoing ethnological
discussion. It seems clear that in the main the differences and
affinities between the many languages and dialects spoken by the
pagan tribes bear out, so far as they are known to us, the principal
conclusions of our argument. The Sea Dayak or Iban tongue stands
distinctly apart from all the rest, and is indisputably very closely
allied to the Malay. The Kenyahs, Klemantans, and Punans speak a great
variety of tongues, which are, however, so closely similar, and the
extreme members of which are connected by so many intermediate forms,
that it would seem they may properly be regarded as but dialects of
one language. The Kayan language, on the other hand, stands apart from
both the Iban and the Klemantan languages, but is much nearer to the
latter than the former. The Kenyah dialects especially contain many
words or roots that appear also in the Kayan, and seem to be more
closely allied to it than is any of the Klemantan tongues. This may
well be due to the more intimate contact with the Kayans enjoyed by the
Kenyahs, who, as we have seen, have assimilated the Kayan culture more
completely than any other of the indigenous tribes, and who may well
have taken up many Kayan words together with other culture elements.

The Murut languages again seem to stand apart from the Iban, Kayan,
and Kenyah-Klemantan, as a distinct group whose vocabulary has little
in common with those others.[210]

In conclusion, we venture to make a suggestion which we admit to be
widely speculative and by which we wish only to draw attention to a
remote possibility which, if further evidence in its favour should
be discovered, would be one of great interest. We have throughout
maintained the view, now adopted by many others, of which Professor
Keane has been the principal exponent, namely, the view that the
Indonesian stock was largely, probably predominantly, of Caucasic
origin. In our chapter on animistic beliefs concerning animals and
plants, and in the chapter on religion, we have shown that the Kayans
believe in a multiplicity of anthropomorphic deities which, with Lake
Tenangan at the head of a galaxy of subordinate gods and goddesses
presiding over special departments of nature, strangely resembles
the group of divine beings who, in the imagination of the fathers
of European culture, dwelt in Olympus. And we have shown that the
system of divination practised by the Kayans (the taking of omens
from the flight and cries of birds, and the system of augury by the
entrails of sacrificial victims) strangely resembles, even in many
details, the corresponding system practised by the early Romans. Our
suggestion is, then, that these two systems may have had a common
root; that, while the Aryans carried the system westward into Europe,
the Indonesians, or some Caucasic people which has been merged in the
Indonesian stock, carried it eastward; and that the Kayans, with their
strongly conservative tendencies, their serious religious temperament,
and strong tribal organisation, have, of all the Indonesians, preserved
most faithfully this ancient religious system and have imparted it in
a more or less partial manner to the tribes to whom they have given
so much else of culture, custom, and belief.

It is perhaps not without significance in this connection that the
Karens, whom we regard as the nearest relatives of the Kayans, were
found to worship a Supreme Being, and have proved peculiarly apt
pupils of the Christian missionaries who have long laboured among them.

By way of crowning the indiscretion of the foregoing paragraphs,
we point out that there are certain faint indications of linguistic
support for this speculative suggestion. BALI, which, as we have
explained, is used by Kayans and Kenyahs to denote whatever is
sacred or is connected with religious practices, is undoubtedly a
word of Sanskrit derivation.[211] FLAKI, the name of the bird of
most importance in augury, bears a suggestive resemblance to the
German FALKE and the Latin FALCO. The Kayan word for omen is AMAN,
the resemblance of which to the Latin word is striking. Are these
resemblances merely accidental? If more of the words connected with
the religious beliefs and practices could be shown to exhibit equally
close resemblances, we should be justified in saying -- No.

CHAPTER 22

Government

In an earlier chapter we have sketched the history of government in
Borneo from the earliest times of which any record remains, up to the
time at which the whole island was brought under European control. In
this chapter we propose to describe the way in which the European
governments have extended their spheres of influence and have secured
the co-operation of the natives in the maintenance of peace and order
and freedom.

For some years after Mr. James Brooke became Rajah of Sarawak (1841),
his rule was confined to the territory then known as Sarawak. This
area, still known as Sarawak proper, is some 7000 square miles in
extent and comprises the basins of the following rivers: the Sarawak,
the Samarahan, the Sadong, and the Lundu. The Batang Lupar and Saribas
rivers, which enter the sea to the north of this area, were infested
by pirate bands under the leadership of Malay Serifs who, though
they professed allegiance to the Sultan of Bruni, were but little
controlled by him. The depredations of these unruly neighbours led Sir
James Brooke to undertake several expeditions against them. In the year
1849, Captain Sir Harry Keppel of H.M.S. DIDO lent his aid (not for the
first time), and the combined forces finally swept out those hornets'
nests and put an end to piracy in those regions. With the approval of
the Sultan of Bruni, Rajah Brooke established stations in the lower
waters of the Saribas and Skarang rivers, and a little later at Kanowit
on the Rejang River. This was the first of a series of similar steps
by which the area of the Raj has been successively extended, until
now it comprises about 60,000 square miles, more than eight times
its original extent. In each of these out-stations one or two English
officers were appointed to represent the Rajah's government. In each
station a small wooden fort was built, and in some cases the fort was
surrounded with a stockade. This served as residence for the officer,
or officers, and their small band of native police, generally some
ten or twelve Malays armed with rifles and a small cannon. The prime
duty of these officers, entitled Governors (or later, Residents), was
to protect the local population from the oppression and depredations
of the Serifs, and generally to discourage and punish bloodshed and
disorder. The general policy followed in all these new districts was
to elicit the co-operation of the local chiefs and headmen, and, when
the people had begun to appreciate the benefits of peace, including
the opening of the rivers to Malay and Chinese traders, to impose
a small poll-tax to defray the expenses of administration. The area
of control was then gradually extended farther into the interior by
securing the voluntary adhesion of communities and tribes settled in
the tributaries and higher waters of each river. This policy, steadily
pursued in one district after another, has invariably succeeded,
although the time required for complete pacification has, of course,
varied considerably; and it was only during the early years of this
century that the process seemed to reach its final stage among the
Sea Dayaks in the interiors of the Batang Lupar and Rejang districts.

The stability of the Rajah's government was seriously threatened in
1857 by the insurrection of Chinese gold-workers at Bau in Sarawak
proper. But this rebellion, in the course of which Sir James Brooke
narrowly escaped death at the hands of the rebels, was soon suppressed,
largely by the energy of the Tuan Muda (the present Rajah), who came
to the aid of Sir James with a strong force of Sea Dayaks and Malays.

The process of establishing order and good government in the new
territory was complicated by the intrigues of the Bruni nobles or
PANGIRANS and of the independent Malay chiefs, who, seeing their
power to oppress and misrule the coast districts seriously curtailed,
and indeed threatened with extinction, by the growing influence of
the Europeans in Borneo, conspired with others of similar status in
Dutch Borneo to rid the island of these unwelcome innovators. In the
year 1859 two English officers of the Sarawak government at Kanowit
on the lower Rejang (Messrs. Fox and Steele) were murdered by a gang
of Malanaus. There was good reason to believe that this incident,
together with several murders of Europeans in Dutch Borneo, was the
result of a loosely concerted action of the Malay chiefs, and that
the Kanowit murders were directly instigated by Serif Masahor and
Pangiran Dipa; the latter a Bruni noble who misruled Muka and the
surrounding area. Rajah Brooke visited the Sultan of Bruni and secured
his authorisation for the punishment of these and others concerned
in the murders; and in 1860 an expedition, led by his two nephews,
captured Muka and would have expelled the Serif and the Pangiran but
for the untimely interference of the British Consul at Bruni, who
seems to have been misinformed of the nature of the situation.[212]
In the following year the Rajah, visiting the Sultan at Bruni, found
him willing to cede Muka and the basins of the adjoining rivers,
the Oya, Tatau, and Bintulu, in return for a perpetual annual payment
of 16,000 dollars, an arrangement which was accepted and which still
holds good. Thus the intrigues of the Malay nobles, which for a time
had seriously threatened the stability of the Rajah's government,
resulted in the addition of an area of some 7000 square miles to the
Sarawak territory.

The basin of the Rejang, the largest river of Sarawak, was the next
region to be added to the Raj. Here Sir James Brooke's government
first came into contact with the Kayans (in the year 1863). The
reputation of the Kayans as a dominant tribe of warriors, whose
raids were feared even as far as Bruni, had rendered them proud
and self. confident- and unready to appreciate the benefits of the
Rajah's government. Their continued hostility rendered advisable a
demonstration of force. Accordingly in the year 1863 the Tuan Muda
(the present Rajah, H. H. Sir Charles Brooke) led an expedition of
some 10,000 or more native levies, consisting chiefly of Sea Dayaks and
Malays, up the Rejang as far as the mouth of the Baloi Peh, a spot some
250 miles from the mouth of the Rejang and in the edge of the Kayan
country. The Kayans could not withstand so large a force and retreated
farther up river after but little show of resistance. Several of their
long houses were destroyed, and a message demanding their submission to
the Rajah's government was sent by a captive to Oyong Hang, the most
influential of the Kayan chiefs. The messenger carried a cannon-ball
and the Sarawak flag, and was instructed to ask Oyang Hang which he
would choose; to which question the chief is said to have returned
the answer that he wanted neither. Although the expedition failed to
secure the submission of any large number of the Kayans and Kenyahs,
it established the Rajah's authority as far as it had penetrated;
for a number of Klemantan villages settled in the middle reaches of
the Rejang accepted the offer of peace, and a number of their chiefs
brought the Sarawak flag down river and celebrated the traditional
peace-making rites with the Rajah's representative. The Kayans have
never since attempted to raid the lower reaches of the river; but it
was not until the early eighties, during the Residency of the late
Mr. H. B. Low, that the bulk of the Kayans of the Rejang acknowledged
the Rajah's authority and began to co-operate in his administration,
a result achieved without any repetition of the large expedition of
1863. From that time (about 1885) the Baloi or Upper Rejang may be
regarded as having formed part of Sarawak.

In the year 1882 the northern boundary of Sarawak was again pushed
forward by the cession to the Rajah by the Sultan of Bruni of the
basin of the Baram, an area of some 10,000 square miles, on condition
of a perpetual annual payment of 6000 dollars. This was an area in
which, except along the coast, the Sultan's authority had never been
exercised, and which had been kept closed to trade and the depredations
of the Malays, by the fear of the Kayans. For the Kayans, who dominated
all the middle waters of the Baram, had in the past threatened even
Bruni. The Sultan was no doubt glad to see the Rajah undertake the task
of controlling his formidable neighbours, who, dwelling within striking
distance of his capital, were a perpetual menace to his power and even
to his personal safety. The Baram district has been brought completely
under the Rajah's rule without the introduction of any armed force from
outside; and as the process of establishing peace and order has there
followed a normal and undisturbed course, and is familiarly known to
us, we propose to describe it in some detail on a later page. Since
the date of the inclusion of the Baram, the Raj of Sarawak has been
again extended towards the north on three. occasions. The first of
these additions was the basin of the Trusan River. In this case the
Sultan offered to sell the territory for a lump sum, and his offer
was accepted by the Rajah, whose officers occupied it in the year
1885. In 1890, the people living on the Limbang River, whose basin
adjoins that of the Baram on its northern border, were in a state of
rebellion against the Sultan, and the region had for several years
been in a very disturbed state. The present Rajah therefore proposed
to annex the country in return for an annual payment. The British
Government was asked to approve this step and to fix the amount of the
sum to be paid to the Sultan. A favourable reply having been given
by the Foreign Office, and the annual sum of 6000 dollars having
been awarded as a fair return for the cession, the administration
of the country was peacefully entered upon by the Rajah's officers,
who where warmly welcomed by the greater part of the inhabitants.

The latest and presumably the final extension of the boundaries of
Sarawak was effected in 1905, when the basin of the small river Lawas
was bought from the British North Borneo Company.

In the opening year of this century a small part of Borneo still
remained under purely native control, namely, the town of Bruni and
an area about it of 1700 square miles, comprising the basins of the
small rivers Balait and Tutong. By agreement with the Sultan this
area was placed under the administration of a Resident representing
the British Government in the year 1906. Thus the European occupation
of Borneo was completed.

The history of the establishment of Dutch rule throughout the larger
part of Borneo has been similar to that of the acquisition of Sarawak
by its two English Rajahs. Dutch trading stations were established in
the south-west corner of Borneo as early as 1604. In the seventeenth
century stations were established in southern Borneo by both British
and Dutch traders; but the Dutch traders extended their influence more
rapidly than their rivals, and by the middle of the eighteenth century
had secured a practically exclusive influence in those parts. The
British held possession of all the Dutch East Indies during the
brief period (1811 -- 1816) which was terminated by the Congress of
Vienna. On the retirement of the British, the Dutch Government took
over all the rights acquired by the Dutch traders; and since that
time it has continued to consolidate its control and to extend the
area of its administration farther into the interior along the courses
of the great rivers. There were in the area that is now Dutch Borneo
several independent Malay Sultans, of which the principal had their
capitals at Pontianak, Banjermasin, and Kotei. In 1823 the Sultan
of Banjermasin ceded a large part of his territory to the Dutch
government; in 1844 the Sultan of Kotei accepted its protection;
and by similar steps by far the larger part of the island has been
marked out as the Dutch sphere of influence. The water parting from
which the principal rivers flow east and west has been agreed upon by
the Dutch and the Sarawak governments as the boundary between their
territories; and though the upper waters of the great rivers which
flow west and south through Dutch Borneo have up to the present
time hardly been explored, the authority of the Dutch Government
is well established over all the tribes of the coastal regions and,
especially in the south, extends far into the interior, but is still
little more than nominal in the head waters of the rivers. The system
of administration now practised by the Dutch closely resembles in most
essential respects that obtaining in Sarawak, and it has brought to the
natives of the greater part of Dutch Borneo the same great benefits,
peace, freedom, justice, and trade.

The northern extremity of Borneo, an area comprising some 31,000 square
miles and 200,000 inhabitants, is now administered by the British
North Borneo Company (chartered by the British Government in 1892),
which acquired it by purchase in successive instalments from the
Sultans of Bruni and Sulu. The Company has followed in the main an
administrative policy similar to that of Sarawak, and has appointed
as governors officers of large East Indian experience placed at
their disposal by the British Government. The Company has attempted
to achieve in a brief period a degree of commercial development
which in Sarawak and Dutch Borneo has been reached only gradually
in the course of several generations; and to this circumstance must
be attributed many of the difficulties which for a time caused it
"to get into the newspapers." But these difficulties have now been
overcome, and the whole territory placed in a condition of prosperity
and orderly progress.

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It has been widely recognised that Sarawak provides a most notable
example of beneficent administration of the affairs of a population
in a lowly state of culture by representatives of our Western
civilisation. Among all such administrative systems that of Sarawak
has been distinguished not only by the rapid establishment of peace,
order, and a modest prosperity, with a minimum output of armed force,
but especially by reason of the careful way in which the interests
of the native population have constantly been made the prime object
of the government's solicitude. The story of the success of the two
white Rajahs of Sarawak has several times been told in whole or in
part. But we think it is worth while to try to give some intimate
glimpses of the working of the system as it affects the daily lives of
the pagan tribes, taking our illustrations in the main from incidents
in which one of us has been personally concerned.

From the very inception of his rule, Sir James Brooke laid down
and strictly adhered to the principle of associating the natives
with himself and his European assistants in the government of
the country, and of respecting and maintaining whatever was not
positively objectionable in the laws and customs of the people. And
this policy has been as faithfully followed by the present Rajah.[213]
The Raj of which Sir James Brooke became the absolute ruler in the
way described in Chapter II. was a country in which the supreme
authority had been exercised for many generations by Malay rulers,
and in which the only generally recognised system of law was the
Mohammedan law administered by them. The two white Rajahs, instead
of imposing any system of European-made laws upon the people, as in
their Position of benevolent despot they might have been tempted
to do, have accepted the Mohammedan law and custom in all matters
affecting the population of the Mohammedan religion; and they have
gradually introduced improvements when and where the defects and
injustices of the system revealed themselves. In the work both of
administration and legislation the Rajahs have always sought and
enjoyed the advice and co-operation of Malays. They have maintained
the principal ministries of State, and have continued the tenure of
those offices by the Malay nobles who occupied them at the time of
Sir James Brooke's accession to power; and, as these have died or
retired in the natural course, they have chosen leading Malays of
the aristocratic class to fill the vacancies. Three of these Malay
officers, namely, the Datu Bandar, Datu Imaum, and the Datu Hakim,
have been members of the Supreme Council since its institution in
1855. The first of these offices may be best defined by likening it
to that of a Lord Mayor; or better, perhaps, to that of the salaried
Burgomaster of a German city; its occupant is understood to be the
leading citizen of the Malay community of Kuching, the capital town
of Sarawak. The Datu Imaum is the religious head of the Mohammedan
community, and the Datu Hakim the principal of the Malay judges.