Head-hunters, black, white, and brown

by Alfred C. Haddon

I have elsewhere[5] alluded to this barbarous custom which has been widely spread over the “Old World,” and which has left its mark in modern Greek folk-song, and can still be traced in the singing-game of “London Bridge” played by village children in the British Isles.

Sir Spenser St. John writes in his recent book Rajah Brooke: “Another intelligent native remarked that the English must have been a barbarous race, as formerly they sacrificed a human victim every time they prepared to take the Sacrament, but that in more modern days they had become more civilised, as now they only sacrificed dogs, a reference to the periodical destruction in British settlements of all stray animals. What a perverse interpretation of missionary teaching!”

Many Sarawak natives went so far as to assert that they had met with the head-hunters among the villages. Great anxiety was caused amongst all classes; at one time numbers of people left their plantations, refusing to do any outdoor work except in large parties; even Chinese padi planters in some instances left their isolated houses and crowded into the bazaars.

Other equally absurd stories were circulated and believed in. About fifty Ulu Simunjan Land Dayaks came down in September the same year to the station at Sadong and stated that their district was infested with spirits and ghouls. They asked for leave to hunt down the hantus (spirits) in the jungle, as these came by night into the kampongs and shoved sticks and weapons through the walls of their houses, much to their alarm and fright. The Land Dayaks were warned against making this an excuse for molesting anyone without just cause, for it was by no means improbable that mischief would ensue if they were allowed to hunt down hantus indiscriminately. Thousands of people living many miles apart were panic-stricken simultaneously, and believed it was unsafe to walk about at night unless armed, and that death would result if a hantu caught a man. One result of this particular scare was that coolies refused to do any sort of work unless they could be safely back in their houses before nightfall, and married couples who lived by themselves crowded into the larger houses, which were already full.

Evilly disposed persons were not slack in utilising this panyamun, or “robber,” scare for their own nefarious purposes, and numerous murders were perpetrated, the murderers pleading that they thought the victims were prowling round for heads.

It can be readily understood that the whole country was in an excited and unsettled state, and this feeling was more or less answerable for various crimes and tragedies. One example of each must suffice.

At the close of the year a man named Newa with four followers was killed at Long Balukun on the Apoh River. A Kenyah named Mawa Obat asked Newa, when sitting in his canoe, to give him some tobacco, and murdered him whilst he was in the act of complying with his request. The Resident believes that one Remau, a worthless Undup Iban, who had married a Kenyah woman residing in the Long Balukun house, was to a great extent the cause of the death of these five men. Remau made up a story about the spear being thrust through the floor of his room, which spear he said belonged to Newa, and afterwards, when it was proved that the spear could not reach the floor of the house, as it was built very high off the ground, he said it was through the wall that the spear was thrust. The Long Balukun people were very short of food at the time, and there is very little doubt that Newa and his party were murdered for the eight bags of rice and fifteen katties of tobacco they had.

In January, 1895, Kempieng, an Iban, and his wife, were visiting Radin, who had married Jerieng, the sister of Kempieng’s wife, and who lived on the Beradong, an affluent of the Rejang River. One night, about 9 p.m., Jerieng left her room to go out on the tanju, or outside platform, her husband, who accompanied her, going first. Kempieng and his wife were sleeping in the ruai (verandah), and as Jerieng passed them he sprang up and speared her. Kempieng admitted the facts at his trial, but pleaded that the people in Radin’s house were in a disturbed state, and kept their weapons handy owing to a scare of panyamuns, or hantus (robbers or spirits). On the night in question, hearing someone moving near him, he arose and took his spear down; whilst doing so he accidentally kicked the lamp over and it went out. He did not thrust with his spear, but held it before him, and the deceased ran against it. It is, however, more probable that he got up in a state of alarm, and, without calling out, blindly lunged with his spear, and thus killed his sister-in-law. For this he was sentenced by the Rajah to three years’ imprisonment with hard labour.

I was informed that some Brunei Malays, who had grudges against people who owed them money, or who would not pay any longer the repeated calls which these piratical traders made for fictitious debts, stirred up the Kenyahs of the Baram against the Iban (Sea Dayaks). They said the Rajah had sent out Iban to kill people for the purpose stated above, and they pointed to the Iban who worked gutta near their villages, knowing full well that this had long been a grievance of the Kenyahs against the Iban. The Brunei Malays reminded the Kenyahs of one or two cases of assassination of their people by Iban, and even went below Kenyah houses at night and thrust spears through the flooring in order to make their report appear more real.

At last the Kenyahs were roused, and killed twelve Iban. The Sĕbops of the Tinjar followed suit and murdered two Chinamen, and the Long Patas, seeing the Kenyahs had commenced, took the opportunity to go over into the Limbang, and, as I have already narrated, killed three innocent Kadayans.