Books: The Pagan Tribes of Borneo

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

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SKIN: The colour is brown or yellow.

STATURE: Two men are tall, 6 medium and the rest short, 6 being
below 1.5 m., of whom 2 are under 18 years old; the median is 1.572
(5 ft. 2 in.). The women over 23 average 14 cm. shorter than the men;
this is a large difference, as it is usually 10 -- 12 cm., as in our
Sarawak figures.]

VI. Iban (or Sea Dayaks) Group

Fifty-six IBAN men were measured by us.

HEAD-FORM: The cephalic index forms a gradual series, the median
being 83, and therefore shows brachycephaly. The head is usually
hypsicephalic, but 1 is platycephalic as regards breadth-height,
2 are mesocephalic both in length-height and breadth-height, 5 are
mesocephalic in length-height and 3 in breadth-height. Thirteen are
noted as round, 7 as ovoid, 4 as oval, several had broad parietal
and narrow frontal regions producing a pyriform norma verticalis.

FACE: The form is noted as pentagonal in 10, oval in 5, broad oval
in 4, the narrowness of the jaw producing the pentagonal shape. The
majority are chaniaeprosopic, but 1 is leptoprosopic in total facial
and upper facial indices, and 7 are leptoprosopic in upper facial
index. The forehead is generally full or slightly bulging, but may be
straight and vertical; 3 are noted as being sloped. The cheek-bones
are prominent in 20, and moderately so in 24. The lips are moderately
full. The chin is small and moderately prominent. NOSE: Sixteen are
mesorhine, 21 platyrhine, and 19 hyper-platyrhine. The profile is
concave in 23, straight in 18 and nearly so in 4; the root is more
or less high in 19, more or less depressed in 20, in most cases it is
broad or moderately so; the base is straight in 24, reflected in 25,
deflected in 3; the alae are wide in 8, moderate in 6, small in 9;
the nostrils are oval in 10, transversely oval in 8, round in 13,
wide in 9. EYES: The aperture is narrow in 13, medium in 18, wide
in 3; it is straight with no fold in 10 and with a slight fold in
11, slightly oblique with no fold in 10 and with a moderate fold in
21. The majority are normal as regards the eyelashes, but 3 have a
distinct Mongolian character and 5 have it slightly. The colour is
intermediate in 25, dark in 22, light in 5, 4 cases were noted with
a bluish margin to the iris. EARS: Type European in 31, European to
Negroid in 2, Negroid in 2, orang flattened above in 1; angle slightly
prominent in 22, rather more so in 1, prominent in 8, more so in 1,
very prominent in 1; lobule distended in 10 and perforated in 5,
very small in 1, small in 13, being adherent in 4, rather small in
1, medium in 10, 1 being adherent, 2 perforated, and 1 doubtful;
descending helix absent in 2, infolded less than 2 mm. in 23, 2 --
4 mm. in 13; Darwin's point an infolded tip in 1, an inrolled knob
in 2, absent in the rest; tragus under 3 mm. in 11, being double
in 1, slightly larger in 1, 3 -- 5 mm. in 25, being double in 3,
5 -- 7 mm. in 1; anti-tragus absent in 4, under 3 mm. in 24, 3 --
5 mm. in 8, 5 -- 7 mm. in 1; anti-helix below level of helix in 23,
about at the same level in 15.

HAIR: It is straight in 16, wavy in 26, curly in 2, 1 being described
as crisp. The colour is rusty black in 26, black in 17, and dark
brown in 1. Eight men had a slight amount of hair on the face; the
body hair is absent or very scanty, but one had a quantity on his legs.

SKIN: Five are dark warm cinamon, 27 cinamon (6), 5 light cinamon
(14), 11 dull fawn (17), 11 light brown (near 17), 5 various shades of
a light greenish sepia (light 3 1), 3 a still lighter greenish sepia.

STATURE: One man is tall, 11 are of medium stature, and the remainder
short, 2 being under 1.5 In.; the median is 1.585 m. (5 ft. 2 1/2 in.).

Thirteen SIBUYAU men were measured by Mr. Shelford and 1 by us.

HEAD-FORM: All but two are brachycephalic, the median being
83. Mr. Shelford did not measure the radii and so the height indices
cannot be given.

FACE: All are chamaeprosopic with regard to the total facial index
and all except 3 in the upper facial index.

NOSE: Two are leptorhine, 7 mesorhine, and 5 platyrhine.

STATURE: All the men are short, 3 being under 1.5 m.; the median is
1.535 m. (5 ft. 1 in.).

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Plates

Young Kayan Chief with middle-class Companion

Bruni, the pile-built Capital of the Sultans of Bruni

A Jungle Path near Marudi, Baram District

A Limestone Hill at Panga in Upper Sarawak

Old Beads Worn By Kayans

A. LUKUT SEKALA. -- Value formerly one healthy adult male slave
present value, from [pound sterling] 10 to [pound sterling] 15.

B. LABANG PAGANG. -- Value 5s. to 15s. Used chiefly at marriage
ceremony. Kayan value in brass-ware, one gong.

C. JEKOK0K. -- Value 15s. to 25s.; or in brass-ware, a small tawak.

D. KELAM WIT. -- Value 15s. to 30s.; or in brass-ware, a tawak which
measures from the base of the boss to the outer edge a span between
the first finger and the thumb. Also much used in marriage ceremony.

E. KELAM BUANG. -- Value about 15s.; much sought after and worn on
a girdle by Kayan girls. The bear bead.

F. KELAM BUANG BUTIT TELAWA. -- The name means the bear bead with
spider's belly. Value about 15s.

G. KAJA OBING. -- Value 15s. to 25s.

H. KELAM SONG. -- Value from [pound sterling]4 to [pound sterling]6;
or one adult female slave.

L KELAM. -- Kenyah. Value about 15s.

J. LUKUT. -- Kenyah. Value about 10s., or a gong; value about ten to
fifteen ingans of PADI, or about 7 bushels.

K. LUKUT MURIK. -- A bead used by the Murik tribe. Value about 10s.

L. INO KALABIT. -- A Kalabit necklace. Value about [pound sterling]5;
or an adult buffalo.

M. A single blue bead from the necklace "L."

The yellow beads in the necklace are known as LABANG, and the blue
ones as BUNAU. The beads in the necklace are all very old ones. The
beads A to H are chiefly, though not exclusively, found among Kayans;
I and J among Kenyahs; K among Muriks (Klemantans); and the necklace
L among Kalabits (Murut).

NOTES

[1] -- Published in the JOURNAL OF THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE,
vol. xxxi.

[2] -- Within Borneo the distribution of the MAIAS seems to be largely
determined by his incapacity to cross a river, there being several
instances in which he occurs on the one but not on the other bank of
a river.

[3] -- See especially the recently published HISTORY OF SARAWAK
UNDER ITS TWO WHITE RAJAHS, by S. Baring-Gould and C. A. Bampfylde,
London, 1910.

[4] -- Crawfurd, DESCRIPTIVE DICTIONARY, p. 140.

[5] -- Despite Crawfurd's opinion this is now an accepted
fact. Raffles's HISTORY OF JAVA contains much interesting information
on the point, and there is a remarkable statement which has not
obtained the attention that it deserves, showing that the Chinese
recognised the similarity between the Java and Soli (Nagpur)
alphabets. -- Groeneveldt, NOTES ON MALAY ARCHIPELAGO AND MALACCA;
Trubner's ESSAYS RELATING TO INDO-CHINA, vol. i. p. 166.

[6] -- There is a Bruni still alive whose hands have been cut off
for theft.

[7] -- This account is taken from Groeneveldt (LOC. CIT.) who,
however, supposes Poli to be on the north coast of Sumatra. In this
he follows "all Chinese geographers," adding "that its neighbourhood
to the Nicobar Islands is a sufficient proof that they are right." But
Rakshas, which may have been "for a long time the name of the Nicobar
Islands, probably on account of the wildness and bad reputation
of their inhabitants," is merely Rakshasa, a term applied by the
Hindu colonists in Java and the Malay Peninsula to any wild people,
so that the statement that to the east of Poli is situated the land
of the Rakshas is hardly sufficient support for even "all Chinese
geographers." Trusting to "modern Chinese geographers," Groeneveldt
makes Kaling, where an eight-foot gnomon casts a shadow of 2.4
feet at noon on the summer solstice, to be Java, that is to say,
to be nearly 5[degree] south of the equator. Having unwittingly
demonstrated how untrustworthy are the modern geographers, he must
excuse others if they prefer the original authority, who states that
Poli is south-EAST of Camboja, the land of the Rakshas EAST of Poli,
to "all" geographers who state on the contrary that Poli is south-WEST
of Camboja, the Rakshas' country WEST of Poli. The name Poli appears
to be a more accurate form of Polo, the name by which Bruni is said
to have been known to the Chinese in early times.

[8] -- Rajah Charles Brooke, TEN YEARS IN SARAWAK, quoted in Ling
Roth's valuable work, THE NATIVES OF SARAWAK AND BRITISH NORTH BORNEO,
vol. ii. p. 279.

[9] -- E. H. Parker, CHINA, p. 33.

[10] -- Groeneveldt, LOC. CIT.

[11] -- Marsden, HISTORY OF SUMATRA, p. 383.

[12] -- Than camphor, tortoiseshell, ivory, and sandal woods.

[13] -- There is some doubt as to the date of the foundation of
Majapahit.

[14] -- According to a Malay manuscript of some antiquity lent to
us by the late Tuanku Mudah, one of the kings (BATARA) of Majapahit
had a beautiful daughter, Radin Galo Chindra Kirana. This lady was
much admired by Laiang Sitir and Laiang Kemitir, the two sons of one
Pati Legindir. On the death of the king, Pati Legindir ruled the land
and the beautiful princess became his ward. He, to satisfy the rival
claims of his two sons, promised that whoever should kill the raja
of Balambangan (an island off the north coast of Borneo), known by
the nickname of Manok Jingga, should marry the princess. Now at the
court there happened to be Damar Olan, one of the sons of Raja Matarem,
who had disguised his high descent and induced Pati Legindir to adopt
him as his son. This young man found favour in the princess's eyes,
and she tried to persuade her guardian to let her marry him. Pati
Legindir, however, declared that he would keep to his arrangement,
and roughly told the lover to bring Manok Jingga's head before thinking
of marrying the princess. So Damar Olan set out with two followers on
the dangerous mission, which he carried out with complete success. On
his return he met his two rivals, who induced him to part with the
head of the royal victim, and then buried him alive in a deep trap
previously prepared. Pati Legindir, suspecting nothing, ordered his
ward to marry Laiang Sitir, who brought the trophy to the palace; but
the princess had learned of the treachery from one of the spectators,
and asked for a week's delay. Before it was too late, Damar Olan, who
had managed to find a way out of what nearly proved a grave, reached
the court and told his tale, now no longer concealing his rank. He
married the princess and afterwards was entrusted by Pati Legindir
with all the affairs of state. Having obtained supreme power, Damar
Olan sent his treacherous rivals to southern Borneo, with a retinue
of criminals mutilated in their ear-lobes and elsewhere as a penalty
for incest. These transported convicts, the ancestors of the Kayans,
landed near Sikudana and spread into the country between the Kapuas
and Banjermasin. It is interesting to see how this tale agrees with
other traditions. The Kayans state that they came across the sea at no
distant date. Javan history relates that Majapahit was ruled during
the minority of Angka Wijaya by his elder sister, the princess Babu
Kanya Kanchana Wungu. A neighbouring prince, known as Manok Jengga,
took advantage of this arrangement by seizing large portions of the
young king's domains. One, Daram Wulan, however, son of a Buddhist
devotee, overthrew him and was rewarded by the hand of the princess
regent. When Angka Wijaya came of age he entrusted the care of a
large part of his kingdom to his sister and brother-in-law.

[15] -- SEJARAH MALAYA, edited by Shellabear, Singapore, 1896, p. 106.

[16] -- Whose descendants are the Malanaus.

[17] -- Cf. Low, JOURNAL STRAITS BRANCH ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY,
vol. v. p. 1, from whose article we have obtained much interesting
material.

[18] -- This is said to have been accomplished by Alak ber Tata's
brother, Awang Jerambok, the story of whose dealings with the Muruts
is well known both to Brunis and Muruts. He set out one day for
the head of the river Manjilin, but lost his way after crossing the
mountains. After wandering for three days he came upon a Murut village,
whose inhabitants wished to kill him. He naturally told them not to
do so, and they desisted. After some time, which he spent with these
rude folk, then not so far advanced into the interior, he so far won
their affections that they followed him to Bruni, where they were
entertained by the sovereign and generously treated. These Muruts
then induced their friends to submit.

[19] -- Founded after the capture of Malacca by the Portuguese,
1512 A.D. (Crawfurd, DESCRIPTIVE DICTIONARY). Sultan Abdul Krahar,
great-great-grandson of Sultan Mohammed's younger brother, died about
1575 A.D. From this fact and the statement that Mohammed stopped the
Majapahit tribute, we may infer that the latter sat on the throne of
Bruni in the middle of the fifteenth century; if this inference is
correct, the story of his visit to Johore must be unfounded.

[20] -- Some say he was never converted, others that he was summoned
to Johore expressly to be initiated into Islam.

[21] -- He is also alleged to have seized the lady in a drunken
freak. It is stated that the Sultan was so much enraged at this that
he proposed to make war on Bruni. His minister, however, suggested
that enquiries should be made into the strength of that kingdom before
commencing operations. He was accordingly sent to Bruni, where he was
so well received that he married and remained there, with a number
of followers. Word was sent to Johore that the princess was treated
as queen and was quite happy with her husband. This appeased the
Sultan's wrath. An old friend of ours belonging to the Burong Pingai
section of Bruni, that is to say, the old commercial class, says that
his people are all descended from this Pengiran Bandahara of Johore,
and that the name Burong Pingai is derived from the circumstance that
their ancestor bad a pigeon of remarkable tameness.

[22] -- Cf. with Dalrymple's account of the origin of the Sulu
Sultanate, JOURNAL INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO, iii. 545 and 564. See also
Lady Brassey's LAST VOYAGE, p. 165.

[23] -- He puts the longitude 30[degree] too far east; but in his day,
of course, there were no chronometers.

[24] -- Cited in full by Crawfurd, DESCRIPTIVE DICTIONARY OF THE
INDIAN ISLANDS. Article, "Brunai."

[25] -- Much of the following information is extracted from an article
by J. R. Logan on European intercourse with Borneo, JOURNAL INDIAN
ARCHIPELAGO, vol. ii. p. 505.

[26] -- The article in the JOURNAL INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO says 1702.

[27] -- Crawfurd, DESCRIPTIVE DICTIONARY, p. 37.

[28] -- 1811 to 1815.

[29] -- It seems not unreasonable to conjecture that the uniformly
high physical standard of the Punans and their seemingly exceptional
immunity from disease are due to their exposed mode of life, and to the
consequently severe selection exercised upon them by their environment.

[30] -- The Sea Dayak is exceptional in this respect; he wears a coat
of coloured cotton fibre woven in various patterns by the women.

[31] -- See Chap. XII.

[32] -- The turban is a head-dress which is copied from the Malays
and is rapidly spreading inland.

[33] -- This toy cross-bow is found among Kayans. Both it and the
arrow used are very crudely made.

[34] -- The war dress and accoutrements will be more fully described
in Chap. X.

[35] -- Accidental tearing of the lobe inevitably occurs occasionally;
and if this is attributed to the carelessness of any other person a
brass TAWAK or gong must be paid in compensation. Repair of a torn
lobe is sometimes effected by overlapping the raw ends and keeping
them tied in this position for some weeks.

[36] -- Some of the copper coins of Sarawak are perforated at the
centre.

[37] -- By the Kayans the heads are suspended in a single long row
from thelower edge of a long plank, each being attached by a rattan
passed through a hole in the vertex. Many of the Klemantans hang them
in a similar way to a circular framework, and the Sea Dayaks suspend
them in a conical basket hung by its apex from the rafters.

[38] -- The sub-tribes are the following: -- Uma Pliau, Uma Poh, Uma
Semuka, Uma Paku, and Uma Bawang, chiefly in the basin of the Baram;
in the Rejang basin -- the Uma Naving, Uma Lesong, Uma Daro; in the
Bintulu basin -- the Uma Juman; in the Batang Kayan -- the Uma Lekan;
in the Kapuas -- the Uma Ging; the Uma Belun, the Uma Blubo scattered
in several river-basins; and one other group in the Madalam river,
and one in the Koti.

[39] -- All the Kenyahs of the Baram are known as Kenyah Bauh. On
the watershed between the Batang Kayan and the Baram are the Lepu
Payah and the Madang. In the Batang Kayan basin are the Lepu Tau,
the Uma Kulit, Uma Lim, Uma Baka, Uma Jalan, Lepu Tepu. In the Koti
basin are the Peng or Pnihing; in the Rejang the Uma Klap. These are
the principal branches of the pure Kenyahs; each of them comprises a
number of scattered villages, the people of each of which have adopted
some local name. In addition to these there is a number of groups,
such as the Uma Pawa and the Murik in the Baram, and the Lepu Tokong
and the Uma Long in the Batang Kayan, the people of which seem to us to
be intermediate as regards all important characters between the Kenyahs
and the Klemantans. (For discussion of these relations see Chap. XXI.)

[40] -- For the marriage ceremony see Chap. XVIII.

[41] -- We take this opportunity of contradicting in the most emphatic
manner a very misleading statement which of all the many misleading
statements about the peoples of Borneo that are in circulation is
perhaps the most frequently repeated in print. The statement makes
its most recent reappearance in Professor Keane's book THE WORLD'S
PEOPLES (published in 1908). There it is written of the "Borneans"
that "No girl will look at a wooer before he has laid a head or two
at her feet." To us it seems obvious that this state of affairs could
only obtain among a hydra-headed race. The statement is not true of any
one tribe, and as regards most of the "Borneans" has no foundation in
fact. Applied to the Sea Dayaks alone has the statement an element of
truth. Among them to have taken a head does commonly enhance a wooer's
chances of success, and many Sea Dayak girls and their mothers will
taunt a suitor with having taken no head, but few of them will make
the taking of a head an essential condition of the bestowal of their
favour or of marriage. A mother will remark to a youth who is hanging
about her daughter, BISI DALAM, BISI DELUAR BULI DI TANYA ANAK AKU
(When you have the wherewithal to adorn both the interior and the
exterior of a room (I.E. jars within the room and heads without in
the gallery) you can then ask for my child).

[42] -- For the naming ceremony see Chap. XVIII.

[43] -- It is not rare to find that a child does not know the original
names of his parents, and even husbands may be found to have forgotten
the original names of their wives.

[44] -- We append to this chapter a table showing the names and
degrees of kinship of all the inhabitants of one Kenyah long house. At
the suggestion of Dr. W. H. R. Rivers, who has found this method
of great value in disentangling the complicated kinship systems
of some Melanesian and Papuan and other peoples, we have collected
similar information regarding Kayan, Sea Dayak, Klemantan, and Murut
villages. But in no case does the table discover any trace of any
elaborate kinship system.

[45] -- They are skilled woodmen, and know how to cut a tree so as
to ensure its falling in any desired manner; the final strokes cut
away the ends of the narrow portion of the stem remaining between
the upper and lower notches.

[46] -- See Chap. X.

[47] -- See Chap. XVII.

[48] -- The same connection of ideas is illustrated by the practice of
sterile women who desire children sleeping upon the freshly gathered
ears in the huts in the fields.

[49] -- See Chap. XVIII.

[50] -- See Chap. V.

[51] -- See Chap. XVII.

[52] -- See Chap. XV.

[53] -- There are said to be two other less common species of wild pig,
but probably there is only one other.

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