Books: The Pagan Tribes of Borneo

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

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Several of the most influential chiefs who had early showed themselves
staunch friends of the government were made PENGHULUS, and have long
continued by their example and influence energetically to support the
Resident, notably the Kayan, Tama Usong, and the Kenyah, Tama Bulan
(see Pls. 49, 27). The latter especially, though not one of the first
to come in, exercised his great influence consistently, wisely, and
energetically, in support of the Resident and in the establishment
of peace and order throughout the district and even beyond its
boundaries. But he was only one of several chiefs who have displayed a
high degree of enlightenment and moral qualities of a very high order.

The hostility of the Kalabits on the north-eastern border, who
persistently raided those villages of their fellow-tribesmen that had
come under the government, had necessitated an expedition against
them in 1893. And Sea Dayak parties of jungle workers had on more
than one occasion stirred up serious trouble. But, in spite of these
difficulties, by the year 1898 all the inhabitants of the district
were paying the regular door-tax, crimes of violence had been almost
abolished, trade was everywhere increasing, and peace was assured,
save for the threat to it from one quarter, namely, the Madangs of Usun
Apo and the neighbouring powerful settlements of Kenyahs across the
water-parting in the head-waters of the Batang Kayan. It had always
been a weakness of the Rajah's government that it could assure to
the Baram people no protection against attack from those regions,
the latter of which, though nominally Dutch territory, was not yet
controlled by the Dutch government. In the year 1897 a numerous band
of Madangs had migrated into the extreme head of the Baram from the
corresponding and closely adjoining part of the Rejang, largely owing
to the pressure put upon them by the ever roving and meddlesome Sea
Dayaks. Neither these Madangs nor the Kenyahs of the Batang Kayan
had entered into friendly relations with the Sarawak government, and
they had preserved a hostile attitude towards the Baram tribes. The
Resident therefore determined to visit the Madangs, and to invite
Kenyah chiefs from the Batang Kayan to meet him on the extreme edge
of the Sarawak territory, in order to open friendly intercourse
with them, and to persuade them if possible to attend a general
peace-meeting at Claudetown, at which the outstanding feuds between
them and the Baram folk might be ceremonially washed out in the blood
of pigs. For, if this attempt could be carried to a successful issue,
it would go far to assure the peace of the whole district, and would
add considerably to the volume of trade descending the Baram River:
An additional feature of the programme was that the Resident should
take with him on his visit a number of the Baram chiefs, and should in
the course of the journey make arrangements with the largest possible
number of chiefs for their attendance at the proposed peace-making.

Accordingly, on the 9th of October 1898, we started from Claudetown
in the Resident's launch with a retinue of half a dozen Sea Dayak
rangers and two policemen, and towing some half a dozen boats,
including one for our own use up-river. After spending a day in
visiting villages in the lower Tinjar, the largest tributary of the
Baram, we resumed the journey up-river and reached the village of
Long Tamala. There we were joined by the chiefs of the two houses Tama
Aping Nipa and Tama Aping Kuleh, and were most hospitably entertained
by the former. On the following morning we again steamed up-river,
having added to our train these two Kenyah chiefs, each with a boat's
crew of fighting men, they having agreed to make the whole journey
with us. After stopping at several villages at which the Resident's
services were in request for the settlement of disputed questions,
in the afternoon we reached Long Tajin, a big Kayan village, and
were welcomed by Juman, the chief, and his wife Sulau, a woman of
strikingly handsome and refined features and graceful aristocratic
manner (Pl. 31). She is the daughter of the late Aban Jau, who was
for many years the most powerful chief of the Tinjar Sebops. He had
long resisted the advances of the Resident, and had submitted to the
Rajah's government only after a long course of patient persuasion. He
had regarded himself as the up-river Rajah, and had never ceased to
regret the old state of affairs. "I'm an old man now," he told the
Resident, "but if I were as salt as I used to be, the Rajah would not
have taken possession of the Baram without a struggle." Another of
his many picturesque sayings seems worth recording: "Your Rajah may
govern the down-river people; they are inside the Sultan's fence and
he had the right to hand them over. But over us he had no authority;
we are the tigers of the jungle and have never been tamed." He had
frequently threatened to attack the fort; and when he had sent to the
Resident a message to that effect in the usual symbolic language,
the latter's only reply had been to go up to his house with two or
three men only, and to spend five days there as Aban Jau's guest,
and to persuade him to come down to Claudetown to meet the Rajah.

The evening was spent in discussing the prospects of the expedition
with Juman and other chiefs, some of whom took a gloomy view. The
following morning the steam-launch was sent downriver, and we took to
the boats and paddled a short stage to Bawang Takun, another large
Kayan village, where we stayed over-night to give the people time
to prepare their boats and the Resident the opportunity for some
judicial inquiries. There was heavy rain throughout the night,
and in the morning the river, which in this part of its course
runs between limestone cliffs, was rushing so rapidly that we
could only make progress by repeatedly crossing the river to seek
the slack-water side of each reach. Failing to reach any village,
we passed the night in rude shelters on the bank. On the following
day the river was still in flood, but we reached Long Lawa, a Kayan
village, and decided to wait there until the river should subside to
a more normal condition. Here a party of Kenyahs met us, sent by Tama
Bulan to conduct us to his house some two or three days' journey up
the Pata tributary. On the morning of the 16th the river had fallen
ten feet, and starting at daybreak we reached the mouth of the Pata,
and camped on a KERANGAN or pebble-bed beautifully situated among
the forest-clad slopes a little way up the Pata. In the course of the
day a boatful of Kayans from the Apoh had joined us. On the 17th we
had an exciting day working up the rapids and waterfalls of the Pata,
and reached Long Lutin, a very large Kayan village of many long houses,
most pleasantly situated and surrounded by hills clothed with the rich
green of the young PADI crop. Here we spent the night in the house of
the principal chief, Laki Lah, a quaint old bachelor, whom we greatly
astonished by eating plum-pudding with burning brandy upon it.

Another day's journey over a long series of rapids brought us to the
house of Tama Bulan, at that time the most influential chief of the
Baram. We found there a number of Kenyah chiefs from the upper reaches
of the Pata awaiting our arrival. Tama Bulan, who was strongly in
favour of carrying through the Resident's plan, eloquently supported it
during the hospitable procedures of the evening, assuring the assembled
chiefs that the journey would finally resolve the troubles of the
Baram. As usual there was no lack of enterprise and "go" among the
Kenyahs, and they were all keen to make the venture; while the Kayans
on the other hand were, as always, more cautious, more inclined to
dwell on the possibilities of failure, and slower to take up the plan
and make it their own. The Kenyahs had not yet completed the taking
of omens for the expedition, and the following days were devoted to
this process (see vol. ii. p. 52), Tama Bulan and his people taking
omens for the whole of the Kenyah contingent, while Juman went on to
prepare the people of the Akar. In the course of the day Tama Bulan
accompanied us on visits to several neighbouring Kenyah villages
situated a little farther up the river. In the evening we had another
convivial meeting with great flow of oratory and rice-spirit. On the
third day, favourable omens having been observed, sacrifices of pigs
and fowls were offered before the altar-posts of the war-god, and the
various rites needful to complete the preparation for a long journey
were performed (see Pl. 157). In the afternoon the Resident inspected
the site for a bungalow or block-house which the Kenyahs proposed to
make (and have since erected) for the use of the government's officers.

On October 23rd we left Tama Bulan's house with a party of about one
hundred all told, in several boats. We were joined at Long Lutin by
Laki Lah and a boatful of his Kayans, made a rapid passage to Long
Pata (the spot where the Pata joins the Baram), and resumed the
toilsome ascent of the main river to reach the Akar. That evening
we reached a Kenyah village at Long Lawan, and as usual we were
hospitably entertained with the fatted pig and brimming cups of
rice-spirit. The weather was now brilliantly fine and the river of
only normal swiftness, and we passed the night in a Kenyah house in
the Akar. Here we spent two days awaiting the arrival of a party
of Kayans from the upper Akar. The Kayans having arrived, another
general discussion of the plan of operations was held; and on the
third day the expedition returned to the Baram, and after surmounting
the difficulties presented by many rapids and a narrow gorge at Batu
Pita, entered the Silat on the 28th. The Silat is the uppermost of the
large tributaries of the Baram (Pl. 200). It descends from the Madang
country, winding round the foot of the Batu Tujoh, a limestone mountain
of 5000 feet. All this country is at a considerable height above
sea-level (1000 feet and more), and the climate is much cooler and more
bracing than that of the lower levels. It is a land of many streams
and hills. All the lower slopes have been cleared and cultivated by
the Kenyahs, so that it presents a more open and smiling aspect than
the lower country, where the clearings are but tiny islands in the
vast ocean of gloomy forest. The river itself is even more beautiful
than the other tributaries of the Baram, lovely as all these are in
their upper reaches. This was not the first exploration of the Silat,
for the Resident had twice before journeyed up its lower reaches;
but on this occasion it was necessary to penetrate to its very head,
in order to reach the villages of the principal Madang chiefs, Saba
Irang and Tama Usun Tasi. So for five days the expedition toiled up
the Silat, and during these days Juman, Laki Lah, and most of the
Kayans turned back, their confidence being shaken by the unfamiliar
aspect of the country, by the neighbourhood of the hitherto hostile
Madangs, and by the bad dream of one of their chiefs and the illness
of another. On the fifth day the diminished fleet of boats entered the
Lata, a tributary coming down from the Mudong Alan and Saat mountains,
from the slopes of which the water runs also to the Rejang River and
the Batang Kayan. Here the boats were left behind and the expedition
went forward on foot, making but slow progress in the rocky river-bed.

Near the mouth of the Lata the expedition was met by a large party of
Kenyahs -- men, women, and children -- the whole population of a Kenyah
village of the Batang Kayan, Lepu Agas by name, who had just arrived
with the intention of making their home in that neighbourhood. These
people had been the greatest enemies of Tama Bulan, and the feud had
only been healed in the previous year.

A curious custom, which seems at the present time to be peculiar to the
Kenyahs and rapidly dying out among them, was observed by the Lepu Aga
people on this occasion. As the Resident's party approached the spot
where they awaited its arrival, they sent out three men to establish
the first contact. It was the function of these three men to make
sure of the friendly intentions of the approaching party (Pls. 201,
202). They wore large wooden masks elaborately carved, and bearing
great lateral projections like horns or antlers, in addition to full
war dress.[215] They advanced down a long pebblebank, keeping step and
making grotesque movements with heads and arms, which seemed to imply
a mixture of caution and curiosity. After dodging about for some time,
they came near and inquired: "Who are you? Whence do you come? What
is your business?" Having obtained satisfactory assurances, they
retreated, stepping backwards with the same grotesque gestures, and
returned to report the results of their investigations to their chief.

Before friendly intercourse between the parties could begin it was
still necessary, in view of the recent feud between them, that
they should engage in a sham fight (JAWA). When this boisterous
ceremony had been accomplished, the Resident presented to the Lepu
Agas a number of presents, calculated to whet their appetite for the
products of civilised industry to be found in the Baram bazaar. Very
soon all suspicion and reserve were overcome, and all the men of the
Resident's party turned to with hearty goodwill to help build a house
for their former enemies. So well did they work that between sunrise
and sunset a house of forty doors was hewn out of the forest, solidly
constructed, and roofed; so that when night fell the new-comers were
able to move in and to invite their helpers to a convivial meeting
in its long gallery. The Resident made a speech in native fashion,
saying that his party had ventured to build a rude hut in order
to provide a night's shelter for their new friends, and hoped that
they would find it sufficient for the moment. Tama Bulan also spoke,
saying how now the old troubles were over, never to come again. Aban
Jalong, the old chief of the Batang Kayan people, was so touched by
these unwonted demonstrations of goodwill, that he wept and could
with difficulty find words in which to express the gratitude of
himself and his people. Through these people messages of goodwill and
invitations to the proposed peace-making at Claudetown were sent to
their former neighbours in the Batang Kayan, and these in due time
bore good fruit. For in the course of the next few years several
communities followed the example of the Lepu Agas, and moved over from
the Batang Kayan to the Baram. It may be of interest to add that the
Lepu Agas still inhabit the house built under these extraordinary
circumstances. After some few more days of travelling up-river, we
were met by a party of Madangs who had been sent down to meet the
Resident; while awaiting his arrival they had hewed out a small boat,
and in this, which served almost as much the purposes of a sledge as
of a boat, they hauled him over rocks and rapids and still pools until,
having outpaced the rest of the party, they brought him, on the eighth
day from leaving the Silat, to their village at the foot of Mudong
Alan. It was a large village comprising nine long houses disposed in
a circle and containing probably not less than 2000 persons. Here he
was received on the bank of the stream by a large body of Madangs
headed by Tama Usun Tasi, who at once offered him the hospitality
of his roof. The incidents of the visit have been described by the
Resident, and passages from his account may here be transcribed: --

My Kenyah friends had not arrived yet, but I thought it best to go
with him (Tama Usun Tasi) at once; afterwards I congratulated myself
on my decision, when I found that, according to custom, Tama Bulan
and his followers (being unable to enter the house until all cases
of blood-money between his people and the Madangs had been settled)
were obliged to camp near the river for one night. The Madangs
assisted in making huts for my followers, gave them several pigs,
and sent down their women laden with baskets full of rice; so no
want of hospitality marred our reception. In the evening I took a
walk round the village, followed by a crowd of women and children,
who appeared greatly pleased to find that the white man was able to
converse with them in the Kenyah tongue. Then, as the crowd increased,
I sat down on a log and produced a few pounds of tobacco, and the
whole party was soon chatting and laughing as if they had known me
for years. I have often noticed that the women of the Kenyah tribe
in the interior are far more genial and less shy than those of other
communities, and I believe that the surest sign of the good faith of
natives such as these is that the women and children come out to greet
one unattended by the men. The sounds of our merriment soon attracted
the attention of the men, and as they strolled over and joined us in
gradually increasing numbers, the possibility of any disturbance taking
place between these people and mine quickly vanished from my mind.

On the following morning several parties of Madangs from other villages
came in, numbering in all about 600, and exchanged presents of weapons
with my people. It was necessary that the gods should be consulted as
to whether the meeting was really in the interests of peace or not. So
a pig was caught and tied by the legs, and when all the Madangs were
assembled in Tama Usun Tasi's house, the pig was brought in and placed
in front of the chiefs. Then one of the head men from a neighbouring
village took a lighted piece of wood and singed a few of the bristles
of the pig, giving it a poke with his hand at the same time, as if
to attract its attention, and calling in a loud voice to the supreme
being, "Bali Penyalong." Then, talking at a great rate and hardly
stopping for a moment to take breath, he asked that, if any one
had evil intentions, the truth might be revealed before the evilly
disposed one was allowed to enter the Madang houses, and that, if any
Madang, whether related to him or not, wished to disturb the peace
which was about to be made with the Baram people, his designs should
be revealed. The old man stood waving his hands as if to sweep within
the circle of his influence the whole of the assembled crowd, and then,
jumping into the air with great violence, brought both feet down on the
plank floor with a resounding thump; then, spinning round on one foot
with his arm extended, he quickly altered the tone of his voice to a
more gentle pitch, and, quivering with excitement, quietly sank down
into his place amid a dead silence. The speech was a stirring one,
and created an impression. Others spoke a few words to the pig, and
it was then taken to one side and stabbed in the throat with a spear,
after which the liver was taken out and examined. I should mention that
a pig intended to serve the same purpose was provided by the Madangs
for our people, who were still waiting to be invited to the house.

Having years before studied the beliefs of the natives with regard to
divination by pigs' livers, and knowing the great importance attached
to it, I was as anxious as any one to see the liver. I saw at a glance
that the omen was good, and seized the opportunity to make the most
of it. I quickly called the chiefs' attention to all the good points
before they had given their own opinion, and at once saw that their
interpretation was the same as my own, and that they were somewhat
surprised to find it so.

Thereupon two messengers were sent backwards and forwards to discuss
the number of people killed on either side from time to time,
and big gongs, shields, and weapons of all kinds changed hands
as blood-money. When all had been settled, notice was given to our
people that the Madangs were ready to receive them into their houses,
and the Baram people sent a message back that they were prepared to
accept the invitation. When Kayans and Kenyahs who have been at feud
desire to meet peaceably, it is necessary to go through a sort of
sham fight, called JAWA, so that both parties can, as it were, blow
off steam. As this ceremony is generally executed with much vigour by
fully armed parties, it often happens that some people are badly hurt;
and I was half afraid that such an accident might check the progress of
our negotiations. But the omens had been favourable, and the implicit
belief in such omens goes far to prevent bad feeling. About midday
Tama Bulan and his followers, in full war costume, announced their
intention of moving by bursting into the war-cry, a tremendous roar
which was immediately answered by the people in the houses. The noise
and excitement increased as the Baram people neared the house of Tama
Usun Tasi, and guns with blank charges were fired. On came the Baram
people, stamping, shouting, and waving their weapons in defiance, the
Madangs in the houses keeping up a continuous roar. When the Baram
people first attempted to enter the house, they were driven back,
and a tremendous clashing of shields and weapons took place; then the
Madangs retreated from the entrance in order to allow their visitors
to come in, stamping and making the most deafening noise. When the
Baram people had all entered, the Madangs once more rushed at them,
and for some two minutes a rough-and-tumble fight continued, in which
many hard blows were given. No one received a cut, however, except
one man who, running against a spear, was wounded in the thigh;
but the affair was quickly settled by the payment of a pig and a
small spear to the wounded person; so the ceremony may be said to
have ended without a mishap. When quiet had been restored, we all sat
down and rice-spirit was produced, healths drunk, and speeches made;
food was brought out and given to the visitors in the long verandah,
as, on first being received, visitors are not allowed to enter the
rooms; and the convivialities were prolonged far into the night.

In the evening of the following day the Madangs prepared a feast for
all present, and afterwards a great deal of rice-spirit was drunk
and some very good speeches made, former troubles and difficulties
being explained and discussed in the most open manner. Each chief
spoke in turn, and concluded his speech by offering drink to another
and singing a few phrases in his praise, the whole assembly joining
in a very impressive chorus after each phrase and ending up with a
tremendous roar as the bamboo cup was emptied.

The following day the Madangs collected a quantity of rubber for their
first payment of tribute to the government, namely, $2.00 per family,
and as we had no means of weighing it except by guesswork, it was
decided that Tama Bulan and two Madang headmen should act as assessors,
and decide whether the piece of rubber brought by each person was
sufficiently large to produce $2.00. It took these men the whole day
to receive it all, and much counting was done on the fingers and toes.

On taking our departure from the Madang country, most of the women
presented us with a small quantity of rice for food on our homeward
journey, but as each little lot was emptied into a large basket, the
giver took back a few grains so as not to offend the omen-birds, who
had bestowed on them a bounteous harvest, by giving the whole away to
strangers. Presents of considerable value were given on both sides,
and all parted the best of friends. The two principal Madang chiefs
accompanied us for a day's journey, their followers carrying the whole
of our baggage. On parting I promised to arrange a similar peace-making
at Claudetown, at which most of the Baram chiefs would be present.

We add an account of the peace-making previously published by one
of us.[216]

The peace-making that I am going to describe was organised in order to
bring together on neutral ground, and in presence of an overwhelming
force of the tribes loyal to the government, all those tribes whose
allegiance was still doubtful, and all those that were still actively
hostile to one another, and to induce them to swear to support the
government in keeping the peace, and to go through the formalities
necessary to put an end to old blood-feuds. At the same time the
Resident had suggested to the tribes that they should all compete
in a grand race of war canoes, as well as in other races on land
and water. For he wisely held that in order to suppress fighting
and head-hunting, hitherto the natural avenues to fame for restless
tribes and ambitious young men, it is necessary to replace them by
some other form of violent competition that may in some degree serve
as a vent for high spirits and superfluous energy; and he hoped
to establish an annual gathering for boat racing and other sports,
in which all the tribes should take part, a gathering on the lines
of the Olympic games in fact. The idea Was taken up eagerly by the
people, and months before the appointed day they were felling the
giants of the forest and carving out from them the great war canoes
that were to be put to this novel use, and reports were passing from
village to village of the many fathoms length of this or that canoe,
and the fineness of the timber and workmanship of another.