The Pagan Tribes of Borneo / A Description of Their Physical Moral and Intellectual Condition, with Some Discussion of Their Ethnic Relations

by Charles Hose; William McDougall

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.

[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.

[139] — Of the Romans it is said: "When a fox, a wolf, a serpent, a horse, a dog, or any other kind of quadruped, ran across a person's path or appeared in an unusual place, it formed an augury."

[140] — JOURN. OF STRAITS ASIATIC SOCIETY, Nos. 8, 10, and 14.

[141] — See Chap. XXII.

[142] — See Chap. XVII.

[143] — In the paper from which the greater part of this chapter is extracted this word was spelt NYARONG. It is now clear to us that it should be spelt as above, with the initial NG, a common initial sound in the Sea Dayak language. The most literal translation of the word is, the thing that is secret, or simply, the secret, or my secret.

[144] — Almost every Iban possesses and constantly carries with him a bundle of such objects; they are regarded as charms and are called PENGAROH; but few probably claim to enjoy the protection of a secret helper.

[145] — INTRODUCTION TO COMPARATIVE PSYCHOLOGY, and elsewhere.

[146] — Now that the sacrifice of human victims is forbidden, Kenyahs and Klemantans sometimes carve a human figure upon the first of the main piles of a new house to be put into the ground.

[147] — See vol. ii., p. 4.

[148] — Quoted in Mr. Frazer's TOTEMISM, 1st ed., 1887, p. 8.

[149] — Aban Jau possessed a large curiously shaped pig's tusk which he wore on his person in the belief that any firearm fired at it would not go off. It is probable that his belief in this charm was connected with his belief in the dream-pig. The belief was very genuine, until in a moment of excessive confidence he hanged the tusk upon a tree and invited one of us to fire at it. The tusk was shattered. Aban Jau said nothing; but presumably a process of disintegration began in his mind; for after some hours he remarked that his charm had lost its power.

[150] — Dr. Boas is of the opinion that the totems of the Indians of British Columbia have been developed from the personal MANITOU, the guardian animals acquired by youths in dreams. Miss A. C. Fletcher is led to a similar conclusion by a study of the totems of the Omaha tribe of Indians (IMPORT OF THE TOTEM, Salem, Mass., 1897). The facts described above in connection with the NGARONG of the Ibans and similar allied institutions among other tribes of Sarawak would seem, then, to support the views of these authors as to the origin of totemism.

[151] — Sixteen different methods, most of which combine the notion of soul-catching with that of exorcism, are enumerated and described by Mr. E. H. Gomes in his recent work, SEVENTEEN YEARS AMONGST THE DAYAKS OF BORNEO.

[152] — In a recent note in the JOURNAL OF THE SARAWAK MUSEUM, Jan. 1911, Mr. W. Howell states that the power of TAU TEPANG is supposed to be transmitted in certain families from generation to generation; that the head of a TAU TEPANG man leaves his body at night and goes about doing harm, especially to the crops; that the power is passed on to a child of a TAU TEPANG family by the mother, who touches the cut edge of the child's tongue with her spittle.

[153] — Cf. BAWANG DAHA, the lake of blood of the Kayan Hades, vol. ii., p. 40.

[154] — The people are naturally reticent about this rite. The facts were brought to our knowledge by a case which is instructive in several ways. A Sebop had murdered a Chinese trader and taken his head. He was ordered to surrender himself for trial at the fort within the space of one month, and informed that he would be taken alive or dead if he failed to present himself. He refused and took to the jungle. Upon which one of the up-country chiefs (Tama Bulan) was commissioned to arrest him. The murderer was found in the jungle and called on to surrender, but refused, and died fighting. At this his brother was enraged against the chief and made the TEGULUN against him; and being at a distance from his victim, the man was at no pains to keep the matter secret, and it came to the ears of the chief. He, although the most enlightened native in the country, felt uneasy under this terrific malediction and complained to the Resident, who insisted on a public taking back or taking off of the curse.

[155] — A free translation runs: —

"O holy DAYONG; thou who lovest mankind,
Bring back thy servant from Leman,
The region between the lands of life and death,
O holy DAYONG."

[156] — See vol. ii., p. 11.

[157] — Although breach of custom and of LALI by any individual may bring misfortune on the whole household, the offending individual is regarded as specially liable to wasting sickness with diarrhoea and spitting of blood.

[158] — We have a wooden image of this being. It is rudely anthropomorphic, and is covered with fish-like scales. Its sex is indeterminate. He is supposed to ascend the river from the sea, kneeling on the back of a sting-ray.

[159] — The sword handle is sometimes made of hard wood, but generally of deer's horn, very elaborately carved (see Pl. 129). It seems possible that this elaborate carving which, in spite of many minor variations, is of only two fundamental types, is or was at one time connected with this myth. But we have not been able to get any statement to this effect.

[160] — The creeper is here regarded as the male partner.

[161] — Cf. an Iban story given in Perham's "Sea-Dayak Gods," J.S.B.R.A. SOC. ix. 236.

[162] — This greeting of the passer-by and the charging him with some commission is very characteristic of the Ibans.

[163] — A form of trial by ordeal occasionally practised by Ibans and other tribes.

[164] — This refers to the difference of colour between the carapace and the plastron.

[165] — Refers to the flat under surface contrasting with the rounded back.

[166] — See vol. i. p. 139.

[167] — This is the only mention of rain-making that has come to our notice among any of the Borneans.

[168] — This notion of an atmosphere or "odour" of virtue attaching to material objects pervades the thought and practice of Kayans. As another illustration of it, we may remark that a Kayan will wear for a long time, and will often refuse to wash, a garment which has been worn and afterwards given to him by a European whom he respects.

[169] — We give the original and translation of one such lullaby: —

"Megiong ujong bayoh
Mansip anak yap — cheep, cheep.
Lematei telayap,
Telayap abing,
Lematei Laki Laying oban,
Lematei Laki Punan oban."

The translation runs: —

"The branches of the bayoh tree are swaying
With the sound of little chicks-cheep, cheep,
The lizards are dead,
There are no lizards any more,
Gray-haired Laki Laying is dead,
The old jungle man is dead."

The reference to the Punan in this lullaby may be explained by saying that the children are frightened sometimes by being told that the jungle man will take them.

[170] — The PENGHULU is the leading chief of a district; cf. Chap. XXII.

[171] — Even when in tatuing blood is drawn, as almost inevitably occurs, beads are given the tatuer to indemnify her and make it clear that the deed was not intended.

[172] — It came into use, no doubt, through the hospitable offering of cigarettes by the women of the household.

[173] — The omen birds are not consulted in the hope of obtaining favourable omens; but rather special events are regarded as of evil omen; such are any outbreak of fire in the house, any fatal accident to any member of the house, the repeated crying of the muntjac (the barking deer) about the house. In one instance known to us the attractive daughter of a Kenyah chief had three times been compelled by series of bad omens to break off the betrothals.

[174] — Some few communities of Punans live in the large caves of the limestone mountains; it seems possible that this is a survival of a very ancient custom that preceded the making of shelters, however rude; but we know of no facts which can be regarded as supporting this view, save that we have found human bones of uncertain age in several caves. Some of these caves have undoubtedly been used as burial-places, possibly during epidemics of cholera or smallpox.

[175] — See Chap. XXI.

[176] — Perhaps the most commonly used is a double-ended spatula. With this the head of the family stirs the boiled sago, and then conveys it to his own mouth on one end and to his wife's mouth on the other.

[177] — Formerly, they say, they cooked in green bamboos; and this is still done occasionally. They also occasionally boil their sago in the large cups of the pitcher-plant (NEPENTHES).

[178] — This occurrence of incest between couples brought up in the same household is, of course, difficult to reconcile with Prof. Westermarck's well-known theory of the ground of the almost universal feeling against incest, namely that it depends upon sexual aversion or indifference engendered by close proximity during childhood. But medical men who have experience of slum practice in European towns can supply similar evidence in large quantity. And the medical psychologists of the school of Freud could cite much evidence against this theory.

We cannot refrain from throwing out here a speculative suggestion towards the explanation of the feeling against incest which seems to find support in certain of the facts of this area. It seems to us that the feeling with which incest is regarded is an example of a feeling or sentiment engendered in each generation by law and tradition, rather than a spontaneous reaction of individuals, based on some special instinct or innate tendency. The occurrence of incest between brothers and sisters, and the strong feeling of the Sea Dayaks against incest between nephew and aunt (who often are members of distinct communities), are facts which seem to us fatal to Prof. Westermarck's theory, as well as to point strongly to the view that the sentiment has a purely conventional or customary source. Now, if we accept some such view of the constitution of primitive society as has been suggested by Messrs. Atkinson and Lang (PRIMAL LAW), namely, that the social group consisted of a single patriarch and a group of wives and daughters, over all of whom he exercised unrestricted power or rights; we shall see that the first step towards the constitution of a higher form of society must have been the strict limitation of his rights over certain of the women, in order that younger males might be incorporated in the society and enjoy the undisputed possession of them. The patriarch, having accepted this limitation of his rights over his daughters for the sake of the greater security and strength of the band given by the inclusion of a certain number of young males, would enforce all the more strictly upon them his prohibition against any tampering with the females of the senior generation. Thus very strict prohibitions and severe penalties against the consorting of the patriarch with the younger generation of females, I.E. his daughters, and against intercourse between the young males admitted to membership of the group and the wives of the patriarch, would be the essential conditions of advance of social organisation. The enforcement of these penalties would engender a traditional sentiment against such unions, and these would be the unions primitively regarded as incestuous. The persistence of the tendency of the patriarch's jealousy to drive his sons out of the family group as they attained puberty would render the extension of this sentiment to brother-and-sister unions easy and almost inevitable. For the young male admitted to the group would be one who came with a price in his hand to offer in return for the bride he sought. Such a price could only be exacted by the patriarch on the condition that he maintained an absolute prohibition on sexual relations between his offspring so long as the young sons remained under his roof.

It is not impossible that a trace of the primitive state of society imagined by Messrs. Atkinson and Lang survives in the fact that a Kayan chief may, if he is so inclined, temporarily possess himself of the wife of any of his men without raising the strong resentment and incurring the penalties which would attend adultery on the part of any other man of the house; but the law against incest with his daughters, whether natural or adopted, would be enforced against him by the co-operation of the chiefs of neighbouring houses and villages.

[179] — A limestone cliff whose foot is washed by the Baram river and which contains a number of caves (known as Batu Gading, or the ivory rock) is said by a Kayan legend to have been formed by a Kayan house being turned into Stone owing to incestuous conduct within it.

[180] — This would not be always true of similar cases among Sea Dayaks.

[181] — See vol. ii. p. 296 for a striking example of self-control displayed by this great man under most trying circumstances.

[182] — Only one evil effect of the success of these efforts for the spread of peace has come under our notice, namely, a tendency in some communities to economise labour by building flimsy houses in place of the massive and roomy structures which were fortresses as well as dwelling-places.

[183] — The desire of the people inhabiting a branch of the river to shut themselves off from all intercourse with the areas in which an epidemic disease is raging, is sometimes disregarded by Malay or Chinese traders; such disregard has sometimes led to trouble.

This desire for seclusion as a safeguard against epidemics is by no means peculiar to the tribes of the interior of Borneo, but seems to be shared by many savage and barbarous peoples. It is one that ought to be strictly respected by all travellers; and we have no doubt that the disregard of this desire by European explorers, ignorant, no doubt, of its existence or of the practical and rational grounds on which it is based, has been the cause in many cases of their hostile reception by native tribes and potentates, and has led to bloodshed and punitive expeditions which might have been wholly avoided if the explorers had been equipped with some general knowledge of, and some respect for, the principles of conduct of savage peoples.

[184] — In view of the valuable properties now attributed to spermin in some scientific quarters, it would be rash to assert that this treatment can have no therapeutic value. It is of interest to note that prolonged working of camphor in the jungle is said to produce impotence and that, in order to avoid this, the workers make frequent breaks and will not prolong a camphor-gathering expedition beyond a limited period. For impotence is regarded by a young Kayan as a very great calamity.

[185] — It seems possible that the Punans acquire some degree of immunity to the effects of the IPOH poison through constantly handling it and applying it in the ways mentioned above. The only evidence in support of this that we can offer is the fact that the Punans handle their poisoned darts much more recklessly than the other peoples.

[186] — There is current among the Klemantans a larger number of such myths than among the Kayans.

[187] — The second occurred during the residence of one of us (C. H.) in the Baram, and the alarm of the people was largely prevented by the issue to all the chiefs of TEBUKU (tallies) foretelling the date of its incidence. Nevertheless one woman, at least, was so much frightened by the spectacle that she ran into her house and dropped down dead.

[188] — See vol. ii. p. 272.

[189] — The horn of the small and rare Bornean rhinoceros is the most highly valued of the various substances out of which the sword hilts are carved.

[190] — Although it is impossible to form any estimate of the numbers of such imported slaves of negroid type, it is, we assert, a fact that some have been imported. We have trustworthy information of the possession of two Abyssinian slaves in recent times by a Malay noble.

[191] — In the course of measuring and observing the physical characters of some 350 individuals of the various tribes, we recorded in each case the eye characters. Of a group of 80 subjects made up of Kenyahs, Klemantans, and Punans (who in this respect do not differ appreciably from one another), we noted a moderately marked Mongolian fold in 14 subjects, the rest having in equal numbers either no fold or but a slight trace of it. As regards obliquity of the aperture, in rather more than half it was recorded as slight, in one quarter as lacking, and in the rest as moderate. As regards the size of palpebral apertures, half were noted as medium, and about one quarter as small, and the remaining quarter as large. In the main, obliquity and smallness of aperture go with the presence of the Mongolian fold. The most common form of eye in this group may therefore be described as very slightly oblique, moderately large, and having a slight trace of the Mongolian fold.

[192] — THE RACES OF MAN, p. 486, London, 1900.

[193] — OP. CIT. p. 392.

[194] — MAN, PAST AND PRESENT, London, 1899, pp. 562 and 143.

[195] — Prof. A. H. Keane (MAN, PAST AND PRESENT, p. 206), after citing the statements of various observers to the effect that persons of almost purely Caucasic or European type are not infrequently encountered among several of the tribes of Upper Burma, Tonking, and Assam, notably the Shans, and the allied peoples known as Chins, Karens, Kyens, and Kakhyens, writes: "Thus is again confirmed by the latest investigations, and by the conclusions of some of the leading members of the French school of anthropology, the view first advanced by me in 1879, that peoples of the Caucasic (here called 'Aryan') division had already spread to the utmost confines of south-east Asia in remote prehistoric times, and had in this region even preceded the first waves of Mongolic migration radiating from their cradleland on the Tibetian plateau." While we accept this view, so ably maintained by Keane, it is only fair to point out that J. R. Logan, in a paper published in 1850, had maintained that a Gangetic people (by WHICH HE meant a people formed in the Gangetic plain by the blending of Caucasic and Mongoloid stocks) bad wandered at a remote epoch into the area that is now Burma, following the shore of the Indo-Malayan sea; and that he recognised the Karens and Kakhyens as the modern representatives of this people of partially Caucasic origin ("The Ethnology of Eastern Asia," THE JOURNAL OF THE INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO, vol. iv. p. 481, 1850).

[196] — Nieuwenhuis publishes a photograph of such carvings found in the Mahakan or Upper Kotei river. They included fragments of a cylindrical column and what seems to be a caparisoned kneeling elephant. QUER DURCH BORNEO, vol. ii. p. 116.

[197] — "The Ethnology of Eastern Asia," JOURN. OF INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO, vol. iv. p. 478.

[198] — We have not been able to find any full and satisfactory description of the Karens, but we have brought together whatever statements about them and the tribes most nearly related to them seem significant for our purpose from the following sources. The figures in brackets in the text refer to this list.

(1) J. R. Logan, "The Ethnology of Eastern Asia," LOC. CIT. (2) Lieut.-Col. James Low on "The Karean Tribes of Martaban and Javai," JOURN. OF INDIAN ARCH., vol. iv. (3) A. R. McMahon, THE KARENS OF THE GOLDEN CHERSONESE, London, 1876. (4) E. B. Cross, "The Karens," JOURN. OF THE AMER. ORIENTAL SOC., 1854. (5) T. Mason, "The Karens," JOURN. OF THE ASIATIC SOC., 1866, part ii. (6) D. M. Smeaton, THE LOYAL KARENS OF BURMA, London, 1887. (7) J. Anderson, FROM MANDALAY TO MOMIEN. (8) Lieut.-Col. Waddell, "Tribes of the Brahmaputra Valley," JOURN. OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOC., 1900. (9) A. R. Colquhoun, AMONG THE SHANS, London, 1885. (10) T. C. Hodson, NAGA TRIBES OF MANIPUR, London, 1911. (11) T.C. Hodson, "The Assam Hills, " a paper read before the Geographical Society of Liverpool in 1905. (12) Sir J. G. Scott, BURMA. (13) A. H. Keane, MAN, PAST AND PRESENT, London, 1899. (14) J. Deniker, THE RACES OF MAN, London, 1900.

[199] — The cross-bow is used as a toy by Kayan boys only.

[200] — Cp. the Kayan APO LEGGAN, vol. ii. p. 40.

[201] — This, however, is a statement which perhaps might loosely be made of the Kayans. Cp. vol. ii. p. 34.

[202] — [The Kuki's are normally not considered Nagas. They live in the same area, but are far more recent immigrants from Burma, and differ considerably from the Nagas. — J.H.]

[203] — It is worthy of note that the Kayans have long used and highly prize for the decoration of their swords the hair of the Tibetan goat dyed a dark red, and have continued to obtain this hair at a great price from Malay and Chinese traders. The wild tribes of the Chin hills, said to be closely akin to the Kukis, adorn their shields with tassels of goat's hair dyed red (see THE CHIN HILLS, by B. S. Carey and H. N. Tuck, Rangoon, 1896). According to the same authorities, these Chins are inveterate head-hunters. They read omens in the livers of pigs and other beasts, and in the cries of birds; they wear a loincloth like the Kayan Bah; they scare pests from their PADI fields by means of an apparatus like that used by Kayans (vol. i. p. 102); they floor their houses with huge planks hewn out with an adze very similar to the Kayan adze.

[204] — Some communities of Malanaus never plant rice, but rely for their principal food supply upon the numerous sago-palms which they have planted round about their villages. It is doubtful whether these have ever cultivated PADI on any considerable scale.

[205] — Deniker (RACES OF MAN, p. 392) describes, under the name MOIS, an aboriginal tribe of Annam in terms which show that they present many points of similarity with the Muruts.

[206] — The Malay does not, like the Iban, make use of the various animal designs, but confines himself to simple geometrical patterns — but this difference is probably a result of the adoption of the Moslem religion.

[207] — Most Ibans now procure the PARANG ILANG of the Kayans and copy their wooden shields.

[208] — The fire-piston is found also in North Borneo, but with this exception is peculiar to the Ibans among the pagan tribes. It has been widely used by the Malays of the peninsula and those of Menangkaban in Sumatra (see H. Balfour, "The Fire Piston," in volume of essays in honour of E. B. Tylor).

[209] — The general use of this mat is common to the Kenyahs, Punans, and most of the Klemantans, but it is comparatively rare among the Kayans; this is a significant fact, for such a mat is more needed by a jungle dweller than by one whose home is a well-built house. We have not met with any mention of such a mat among the tribes of the mainland.

[210] — See the vocabularies of the Kayan, Kenyah, and Kalabit (Murut) languages recently published by Mr. R. S. Douglas, Resident of the Baram district, in the JOURNAL OF THE SARAWAK MUSEUM, Feb. 1911.

[211] — This is clearly shown in the article "BALI" of Monier Williams's SANSKRIT DICTIONARY.

[212] — For a full account of these transactions and for the later history of Sarawak in general the reader may be referred to the recently published SARAWAK UNDER TWO WHITE RAJAHS, by Messrs. Bampfylde and Baring-Gould, London, 1909.

[213] — The principles according to which the government has been conducted cannot be better expressed than in the following words of H. H. Sir Charles Brooke, the present Rajah. Writing in the SARAWAK GAZETTE of September 2, 1872, he observed that a government such as that of Sarawak may "start from things as we find them, putting its veto on what is dangerous or unjust and supporting what is fair and equitable in the usages of the natives, and letting system and legislation wait upon occasion. When new wants are felt it examines and provides for them by measures rather made on the spot than imported from abroad; and, to ensure that these shall not be contrary to native customs, the consent of the people is gained for them before they are put in force. The white man's so-called privilege of class is made little of and the rules of government are framed with greater care for the interests of the majority who are not European than for those of the minority of superior race."

[214] — See pp. 417 — 420 of Messrs. Bampfylde and Baring Gould's TWO WHITE RAJAHS.

[215] — These three masks were afterwards given to the Resident, and are now in the British Museum.

[216] — "A Savage Peace-Conference," by W. McDougall, THE EAGLE, the magazine of St. John's College, Cambridge, 1900.

[217] — The dollar is the Straits Settlements dollar; its value in English money is two shillings and fourpence.

[218] — This Company has enjoyed, for more than half a century, the right to work minerals in Sarawak, paying royalty to the government; it has been and is the principal channel through which the natural products of the country have been brought into the world's markets. It has always worked in harmony with the government, and to the judicious conduct of its affairs the present material prosperity of the country is largely due. An important development of the Company's activity in recent years has been the planting of large areas with the Para rubber-plant.

[219] — The beneficent and active interest taken by the Rajah in the prosperity of the natives, and the paternal character of his government, are well illustrated by a recently issued order. It is within the memory of all that in the years 1910 and 1911 occurred the great rubber "boom" in the markets of Europe. With the hope of vast profits, speculators hurried to every region where rubber was known to grow. The seeds of the Para rubber-plant had been introduced to Sarawak many years before; the suitability of the soil and climate for the production of the best quality of Para rubber had been abundantly demonstrated and the natives had been encouraged to plant for their own profit the seeds and young plants which were distributed to them from the government stations, so that when the boom came many of them possessed small plantations of the trees that "lay the golden eggs." The speculators were everywhere seeking to buy these plantations at prices which, though they seemed handsome to the natives, were low enough to provide a very large profit to the buyers. The Rajah caused warnings to be published and brought to the notice of the natives, and informed them that they were at full liberty to appropriate jungle. land for the formation of rubber plantations, and that their tenure of such lands would be secured to them so long as they cared for the trees and worked the rubber properly. He further ordered that no sales of rubber plantations should be effected without the knowledge and approval of the government.

[220] — The Rajahs of Sarawak have personally chosen and appointed their white officers with the greatest care; and their good judgment has secured for, their country the services of a number of Englishmen of high abilities and sterling moral quality. Of those members of the Sarawak service who have passed away, the following have pre-eminent claims to be gratefully remembered by the people of the country: James Brooke Brooke (nephew of the first Rajah), W. Brereton, A. C. Crookshank, J. B. Cruickshank, C. C. de Crespigny, A. H. Everett, H. Brooke Low, C. S. Pearse, and, above all, F. R. O. Maxwell.

[221] — Crawford, a leading authority on the history of the East Indian Islands, wrote of the Dutch in Borneo of the early times — "Their sole object, according to the commercial principles of the time, was to obtain, through arrangements with the native prince, the staple products of the country at prices below their natural cost, and to sell them above it… . The result of these (arrangements) was the decline of the trade of Banjermasin; its staple product, pepper, which had at one time been considerable, having become nearly extinct" (DICTIONARY OF THE INDIAN ISLANDS, Lond., 1865, p. 65).

[222] — 'QUER DURCH BORNEO,' by A. W. Nieuwenhuis.

[223] — Dr. A. W. Nieuwenhuis, "Anthropometrische Untersuchungen bei den Dajak." Bearbeitet durch Dr. J. H. F. Kohlbrugge, MITT. AUS DEM NIEDERL. REICHSMUS. FUR VOLKERK. ser. ii. No. 5, Haarlem, 1903. Owing to the inaccessibility of this memoir, I have incorporated his more important observations in this essay.

[224] — Swaving, G., NATUURK. TIJDSCHR. V. NED. IND., xxiii., 1861, xxiv., 1862.

Hoeven, J. van der, CATALOGUS CRANIORUM DIVERSARUM GENTIUM.

Virchow, R., Z.F.E., xvii., 1885, p. (270), in which he states that of 47 "Dayak" skulls in the museums of Paris, Amsterdam, and the Royal College of Surgeons, London, 20 were dolichocephalic, 12 mesaticephalic, and 15 brachycephalic. Cf. also Z.F.E., xxiv., 1892, p. (435).

Hagen, B., VERH. D. KON. AKAD. D. WETENSCH. NATUURKUND, xxviii.,
Amsterdam, 1890.

Waldeyer, W., Z.F.E., xxvi., 1894, p. (383).

Zuckerkandl, E., MITT. D. ANTHROP. GESELL. WIEN, xxiv., 1894, p. 254.

Kohlbrugge, J. H. F., L'ANTHROPOLOGIE, ix., 1898, p. 1.

Volz, W., ARCH. F. ANTHROP., xxvi., 1900, p. 719.

Haddon, A. C., ARCHIV. PER L' ANT. E L' ETNOL., xxxi., 1901, p. 341.

[225] — Nieuwenhuis usually speaks of these as Ulu Ajar Dajak. I have more than once deprecated this use of the term "Dayak" as it has simply come to mean a non-Malayan inhabitant of Borneo, for example, we find "Kenjah Dajak" on his map. In Sarawak this term is confined to the Sea Dayaks and Land Dayaks, for the former I have suggested that the native name Iban be adopted, but I have not been able to find a suitable native name for the Land Dayaks of Sarawak who are probably allied to the Ulu Ayars.

[226] — The foregoing statement is taken from Nieuwenhuis, but Dr. Hose sends me the following remarks:

"PARI is the word for PADI in both Kayan and Kenyah language.

"The Uma Timi and Uma Klap of the Upper Rejang are possibly Bahautribes
but the four Kayan tribes of the Upper Rejang, the Uma Bawang, Uma
Naving, Uma Daro and Uma Lesong say that they came from Usun Apo or
Apo Kayan as Nieuwenhuis calls it.

"The Kayans in the Kapuas are the Uma Ging, and the only Kayans that I know of in the Bulungan river are the Uma Lekans: there are no Kayans or Kenyahs in the Limbang river.

"Apo Kayan or Usun Apo is the country from which the Batang Kayan river or Bulungan, the Kotei, and their great tributaries rise on the one side, and the tributaries of the Rejang and Baram on the other. It extends from the Bahau river in the north to the Mahakam in the south. The Kenyahs of the Baram are spoken of by the people of the Batang Kayan as Kenyah Bau."

[227] — In order to make Kohlbrugge's data comparable with ours I have in all cases grouped his youths and girls over 16 with the adults, and have left those younger out of reckoning.

[228] — I.E. having an index of 77.9 and under.

[229] — This was drawn up by Dr. Hose from his general knowledge of the people of Sarawak, and it will be found to agree very closely with the anthropometric data, thus we may regard it as expressing the present state of our knowledge of the affinities of the several tribes.