Books: The Pagan Tribes of Borneo

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[80] -- The drawing is taken from a rubbing of a model carved by an
Uma Lekan; this will account for the asymmetry noticeable every here
and there throughout the design. A print from an actual tatu-block is
shown in Pl. 139, Fig. 7; this would be repeated serially in rows down
the front and sides of the thigh, so that absolute uniformity would be
attained; the carver of the model, which was about one-sixth life size,
has not been able to keep the elements of his design quite uniform.

[81] -- For other examples of modified ASU designs employed by Kenyah
tribes, see E. B. Haddon (4, pp. 117, 118).

[82] -- By this name we denote those Kenyah tribes which stand
nearest to the Klemantans and furthest from the Kayans in respect of
customs. Cf. Chap. XXI.

[83] -- The names of the designs are given in Kayan.

[84] -- The same author states that "a sometime headman of Senendan
had two square tattoo marks on his back. This was because he ran away
in a fight, and showed his back to the enemy." This explanation seems
to us most improbable.

[85] -- As an instance of a quite opposite effect produced by a mark
on the forehead, we may note here, that some Madangs who had crossed
over from the Baram to the Rejang on a visit, appeared each with a
cross marked in charcoal on his forehead; they supposed that by this
means they were disguised beyond all recognition by evil spirits. The
belief that such a trivial alteration of appearance is sufficient
disguise is probably held by most tribes; Tama Bulan, a Kenyah chief,
when on a visit to Kuching, discarded the leopard's teeth, which when
at home he wore through the upper part of his ears, and the reason
that he alleged was the same as that given by the Madang. These people
believe not only that evil spirits may do them harm whilst they are on
their travels, but also that, being encountered far from their homes,
the spirits will take advantage of their absence to work some harm
to their wives, children, or property.

[86] -- Dr. Schmeltz has kindly furnished us with an advance sheet
of his forthcoming catalogue of the Borneo collection in the Leyden
Museum; he catalogues these drawings as tatu marks, but in a footnote
records our opinion of them made by letter. Dr. Nieuwenhuis apparently
adheres to the belief that they really are tatu marks.

[87] -- Mr. E. B. Haddon (4, p. 124) writes: "The tattoo design used by
the Kayans and Kenyahs ... has been copied and adopted by the Ibans in
the same way as the Kalamantans have done, the main difference being,
that the Ibans call the design a scorpion. FOR THIS REASON THE PATTERN
TENDS TO BECOME MORE AND MORE LIKE THE SCORPION ... ." The italics are
ours. Is not this "putting the cart before the horse"? It is only when
the design resembles a scorpion that the term SCORPION is applied to
it; all other modifications, even though tending towards the scorpion,
are called DOG; PRAWN, or CRAB.

[88] -- The following statement, which was written by us of the Kenyahs
in a former publication, holds good also of the Kayans: "They may
be said to attribute a soul or spirit to almost every natural agent
and to all living things, and they pay especial regard those that
seem most capable of affecting their welfare for good or ill. They
feel themselves to be surrounded on every hand y spiritual powers,
which appear to them to be concentrated in those objects to which their
attention is directed by practical needs; adopting a mode of expression
familiar to psychologists, we may say that they have differentiated
from a 'continuum' of spiritual powers a number of spiritual agents
with very various degrees of definiteness. Of these the less important
are very vaguely conceived, but are regarded as being able to bring
harm to men, who must therefore avoid giving offence to them, and must
propitiate them if they should by ill-change have been offended. The
more important, assuming individualised and anthromorphic forms and
definite functions, receive proper names, are in some cases represented
by rude images, and become the recipients of prayer and sacrifice"
(JOURN. OF ANTHROP. INSTITUTE, vol. xxxi. p. 174).

[89] -- If the dead man possessed no sufficiently presentable
garments, these may be supplied by friends. This last act of respect
and friendship has not infrequently been permitted to one of us.

[90] -- See vol. ii. p. 29.

[91] -- See vol. ii. p. 61.

[92] -- See vol. ii., p. 137.

[93] -- For the views of an individual Kayan on Laki Tenangan, see
vol. ii., p. 74.

[94] -- See vol. ii., p. 53.

[95] -- See Chap. X.

[96] -- The idea of giving up a valued possession to the god or
spirit in order to appease or propitiate him seems to underlie
a curious rite formerly practised by the JINGKANGS, a Klemantan
sub-tribe living on the great Kapuas river. These people, like most
of the peoples of Borneo, value their male children more highly than
their female children. If a boy seems to be at the point of death,
and if all other efforts to restore him have proved unavailing, the
relatives would kill an infant sister of the boy, and would cause the
boy to eat a small bit of the roasted flesh. The intention seems to
be to appease some malevolent spirit that is causing the sickness;
and the eating of the flesh seems to be considered necessary in order
to connect the sacrifice clearly with the sick child.

[97] -- Cf. vol. ii., p. 75, for the statement of a Kayan on this
question.

[98] -- See vol. ii., p. 138.

[99] -- See vol. ii., p. 29, for usage of this word.

[100] -- This relation is illustrated by the fact that among the
charms and objects of virtue which the Kenyahs hang beside the heads
in the galleries of their houses, or over the fireplaces in their
rooms, are to be found in many houses one or two specimens of stone
axe-heads. The original use of these objects is not known to the
great majority of their possessors, who regard them as teeth dropped
from the jaw of the thunder-god, BALINGO. It is generally claimed
that some ancestor found these stones and added them to the family
treasures. A man who possesses such "teeth," carries them with him
when he goes to war. The Madang chief TAMA KAJAN ODOH, mentioned in
the following note as claiming descent from Balingo, possessed the
unusual number of ten such teeth. The credit of having first obtained
specimens of these stones from the houses belongs to Dr. A. C. Haddon,
who discovered a specimen in a Klemantan house of the Baram basin
in the year 1899. The existence of such Stones in native houses in
Dutch Borneo had been reported by Schwaner many years before that date.

[101] -- When questioned as to this claim, he gave us at once without
hesitation the names in order of the ancestors of nineteen generations
through whom he traces his descent from Balingo. It is perhaps
worth while to transcribe the list as taken down from his lips in
ascending order: -- KAJAN, TAMA KAJAN ODOH, SIGO, APOI, BAUM ([ERROR:
unhandled ♀]), ODOH SINAN ([female]), ALONG,
APOI, LAKING, LAKING GILING, GILING SINJAN, SINJAN PUTOH, PUTOH ATI,
ATI AIAI JALONG, BALARI, UMBONG DOH ([female]),
KUSUN PATU BALINGO. This succession of names, it will be noticed,
is consistent with the custom, common to the Kenyahs and Kayans,
of naming the father after his eldest child.

[102] -- There are four words used by the Kayans to express the notion
of the forbidden act, MALAN, LALI, PARIT, and TULAH. All these are
used as adjectives qualifying actions rather than things; but they
are not strictly synonymous terms. MALAN and PARIT seem to be true
Kayan words; LALI and TULAH to have been taken from the Malay, and to
be used generally by Kayans in speaking with Kenyahs or men of other
tribes to whom these words are more familiar than the Kayan terms.

MALAN applies rather to acts involving risks to the whole community,
PARIT to those involving risk to the individual committing the
forbidden act: thus, during harvest it is MALAN for any stranger to
enter the house, and the whole house or village is said to be MALAN;
but it is PARIT for a child to touch one of the images. Again, it is
not MALAN for the proper persons to touch the dried heads on certain
occasions, but it is always in some degree PARIT for the individual,
and for this reason the task is generally assigned to an elderly
man. LALI and TULAH seem to be the LINGUA FRANCA equivalents of MALAN
and of PARIT respectively.

[103] -- "The Relations between Men and Animals in Sarawak,"
J. ANTH. INST. vol. xxxi.

[104] -- We are not aware that the "bull-roarer" is put to any other
uses than this by any of the tribes.

[105] -- See Chap. XIII.

[106] -- Vol. ii., p. 120.

[107] -- The word BALI is used on a great variety of occasions,
generally as a form of address, being prefixed to the proper name
or designation of the being addressed or spoken of. The being thus
addressed is always one having special powers of the sort that
we should call supernatural, and the prefix serves to mark this
possession of power. It may be said to be an adjectival equivalent
of the MANA of the Melanesians or of the WAKANDA or ORENDA of North
American tribes, words which seem to connote all power other than
the Purely mechanical. It seems not improbable that the word BALI has
entered the Kayan language from a Sanskrit source; for in Sanskrit it
was prefixed to the names of priests and heroes. The word is even more
extensively used by the Kenyahs, who prefix it to the names of several
of their gods; and the Klemantans use the word VALI in the same way.

[108] -- This procedure seems to be one of the many varieties of
"crystal gazing" that are practised among many peoples; and it
seems probable that the DAYONG, in some cases at least, experiences
hallucinatory visions of the scenes that he so vividly describes as
he gazes on the polished metal. The sword so used becomes the property
of the DAYANG.

[109] -- These beads seem to be designed for use by the ghost in
paying for its passage across the river of death.

[110] -- Among some of the peoples it is customary to beat a big gong
while this operation is in progress, or, in the case of a woman, a
drum, in order to announce to the inhabitants of the other world the
coming of the recently deceased. The beating of gongs is in general
use for signalling from house to house.

[111] -- Small articles specially valued by the deceased are enclosed
in the coffin; thus, OYANG LUHAT, a Kayan PENGHULU (see Chap. XXII.),
who bled slowly to death from an accidentally inflicted wound, gave
strict instructions as he lay dying that his certificate of office
bearing the Rajah's signature and his Sarawak flag, the public badge
of his office, should be put in his coffin with his body; and there
can be no reasonable doubt that he hoped to display them, or rather
their ghostly replicas, in the other world. As a clear instance of
such belief it seems worth while to mention the following case. One
of us had given some coloured prints to a Kayan boy, an only son to
whom his parents were much attached. On a subsequent visit he was
told by the bereaved mother that the child had been very fond of the
pictures, and that she had put them in his coffin because she knew
that he would like to look at them in the other world.

[112] -- Among Klemantans it is usual to spoil all articles hung upon
a tomb; and they give the reason that in the other world everything
is the opposite of what it is here: the spoilt shall be perfect, the
new and unspoilt shall be old and damaged, and so on. It is probable
that the real or original motive for this practice is the desire to
avoid placing temptations to theft in the way of strangers.

[113] -- Among some of the Klemantan tribes the opposite practice of
shaving the whole scalp is observed in mourning.

[114] -- In some of the remoter forts of the Sarawak government old
heads that have been confiscated are kept, and are occasionally lent
for the purpose of enabling a village to go out of mourning without
shedding human blood.

[115] -- When pressed in private after a ceremony of this kind,
a certain DAYONG admitted to us that perhaps, if we should look
into the house, we should see the food apparently untouched; but he
maintained that nevertheless all the strength or essence of the food
would have been consumed, the husks merely being left.

[116] -- Apparently it is not that the DAYONG claims to be "possessed"
by the soul of the dead man; for from time to time he inclines his ear
again to the soul-house to catch the faint voice of the ghost. We know
of no cases in which it is claimed that the body of a living man is
"possessed" by a departed soul.

[117] -- Cases occur among the Kayans, though but rarely. The method
most employed is to stab a knife into the throat.

[118] -- In one such case the body was laid out in the gallery of the
house and preparations for the funeral were far advanced, when one of
us (C. H.) arrived. On glancing at the alleged corpse he suspected that
life was not extinct, and succeeded, by the application of ammonia
to the nostrils, in restoring the entranced Kayan to animation,
and shortly to a normal condition of health.

[119] -- The man mentioned in the foregoing footnote had given to a
DAYONG (no doubt in response to leading questions) a circumstantial
account of adventures of this kind, before we had an opportunity of
questioning him after an interval of some ten days. He then admitted
that he could remember nothing clearly.

[120] -- The cry of this species is peculiar; it terminates with an
interrupted series of cries that sound like mocking laughter.

[121] -- See below, vol. ii. p. 130.

[122] -- The incident was reported by Dr. Hose to the British Consul
at Bruni, who entered an effective warning against repetitions of
such acts.

[123] -- A dangerous madman is generally kept shut up in a large
strong cage in the gallery of the house.

[124] -- It is believed that the tatuing on the woman's hands and
forearms illuminates for the ghost dark places traversed on the
journey to the other world.

[125] -- Coco-nuts are commonly opened by two blows with a sword
struck upon opposite sides, and it seems probable that the method of
splitting the jar was suggested by this practice.

[126] -- In this chapter we have departed from our rule of describing
first and most fully the facts and beliefs of the Kayan people, because
before planning this book we had paid special attention to this topic,
and had obtained fuller information in regard to the Kenyahs than to
other peoples, and had published this in the form of a paper in the
JOURNAL OF THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE ("The Relations between
Men and Animals in Sarawak," J. ANTH. INSTIT. vol. xxxi.). This
paper, modified and corrected in detail, forms the substance of this
chapter. We wish to epxress our thanks to the Council of the Royal
Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland for permission
to make use of this paper.

[127] -- We find that the practices of these people in connection with
omens or auspices so closely resemble those of the early Romans that
it seems worth while to draw attention to these resemblances, and we
therefore quote in footnotes some passages from Dr. Smith's DICTIONARY
OF CLASSICAL ANTIQUITIES, referring to the practice of the Romans:
"In the most ancient times no transaction, whether private or public,
was performed without consulting the auspices, and hence arose the
distinction of AUSPICIA PRIVATA and AUSPICIA PUBLICA."

[128] -- See Chap. XXII.

[129] -- "No one but a patrician could take the auspices."

[130] -- "Romulus is represented to have been the best of augurs,
and from him all succeeding augurs received the chief mark of their
office."

[131] -- "Hence devices were adopted so that no ill-omened sound
should be heard, such as blowing a trumpet during the sacrifice."

[132] -- "The person who has to take them (the auspices) first marked
out with a wand ... a division of the heavens called 'templum,'
... within which he intended to make his observations."

[133] -- "It was from Jupiter mainly that the future was learnt,
and the birds were regarded as his messengers."

[134] -- "The Roman auspices were essentially of a practical nature;
they gave no information respecting the course of future events, they
did not inform men what was to happen, but simply taught them whether
they were to do or not to do the matter purposed; they assigned no
reason for the decision of Jupiter, they simply announced -- Yes
or No."

[135] -- "It was only a few birds which could give auguries among
the Romans. They were divided into two classes: Oscines, those which
gave auguries by singing or their voice; and Alites, those which
gave auguries by their flight." "There were considerable varieties
of omen according to the note of the Oscines or the place from which
they uttered the note; and similarly among the Alites, according to
the nature of their flight."

[136] -- "They endeavoured to learn the future, especially in war,
by consulting the entrails of victims."

[137] -- This phrase as commonly used implies the exchange of
greetings.

[138] -- See Chap. XII.