PENYAHBONGS
(Notes from the Upper Busang River, Central Borneo)
The Dutch officials give this tribe the name of Punan-Penyahbongs; the Malays call them Punans, seldom Penyahbongs. The Saputans, a neighbouring tribe, told me that the Penyahbongs and the Punans make themselves mutually understood. Whether they really are Punans or have been called so because of their recent nomadic habits is difficult to determine. However, since they declare themselves to be Punans, in view of all related circumstances it is safe to conclude that they are allied to that great nomadic tribe.
According to the Penihing chief in Long Kai the name Penyahbong was applied formerly not only to the people, but also to the mountain range in which they were living, the Müller mountains, around the headwaters of the Kapuas River in the Western Division. The western sides of the Müller mountains seem to have been their headquarters, and most of them still live west of the mountains. To one of the tributaries of this river the tribe owes the name by which they are known among Punans, Saputans, and Bukats, who call the Penyahbongs simply Kreho.
They are not numerous and so far as my information goes they are limited to a few hundred. Gompul, the most reliable of my Malays in that region, and one of the first to arrive in those parts, told me that his mother had been captured by the Penyahbongs and kept by them for thirty-five years, until her death. According to his estimate there were over two hundred of them in the Müller mountains, and they had killed many Malays, taking their heads. Three chiefs were famous for being very tall.
Fishing with tuba is known to them, also to the nomadic Punans and Bukats, Saputans, and Penihings. The Penyahbongs believe they were placed in this world by an antoh. Omens are taken from nine birds and from dreams. When a house is finished there are two or three hours' dancing in the night by men and women, one man playing the sapi (native guitar).
The child is born outside of the house. One or two women stand by to take it, wrapped in cloth, into the dwelling, where for three days it remains unbathed. Although death at childbirth is known to occur, usually within fifteen minutes the mother rises and repairs to the house. The umbilical cord is cut with a sharp bamboo and the afterbirth is not taken care of, dogs generally being permitted to eat it. When the child can walk the father and mother give it a name. No abortion is practised, there are no puberty ceremonies, and sexual intercourse is not practised during menstruation.