Head-hunters, black, white, and brown

by Alfred C. Haddon

Many Land Dayaks, on the contrary, keep bees in their houses, and among most of the peoples of Borneo, including the Iban, it is most lucky in planting time to dream of an abundance of bees.

There are other creatures whose appearance, cry, or movements may signify good or bad luck, which are not omen animals (i.e. burong or aman) in the strict sense of the term. For example, the hawk owl (Ninox scutulata) makes a melancholy cry at night, on account of which it is very much disliked by the natives, who regard it as a foreteller of death. Its native name is pongok.

If the Malay bear (Heliarctos malayanus) climbs into an Iban’s house it is a bad sign, and the house would have to be pulled down.

According to Perham, in answer to the question of the origin of this system of “birding,” some Dayaks [Iban] have given the following. In early times the ancestor of the Malays and the ancestor of the Dayaks had, on a certain occasion, to swim across a river. Both had books. The Malay tied his firmly in his turban, kept his head well out of water, and reached the opposite bank with his book intact and dry. The Dayak, less wise, fastened his to the end of his waist cloth, and the current washed it away. But the fates intervened to supply the loss, and gave the Dayak this system of omens as a substitute for the book.

Another story relates the following. Some Dayaks [Iban] in the Batang Lupar made a great feast, and invited many guests. When everything was ready and arrivals expected, a tramp and hum, as of a great company of people, was heard close to the village. The hosts, thinking it to be the invited friends, went forth to meet them with meat and drink, but found with some surprise they were all utter strangers. However, without any questioning, they received them with due honour, and gave them all the hospitalities of the occasion. When the time of departing came, they asked the strange visitors who they were and from whence, and received something like the following reply from their chief: “I am Sengalong Burong, and these are my sons-in-law and other friends. When you hear the voices of the birds (giving their names), know that you hear us, for they are our deputies in this lower world. Thereupon the Dayaks discovered they had been entertaining spirits unawares, and received as reward of their hospitality the knowledge of the omen system.”

Archdeacon Perham is perfectly right in his statement that “the sacredness of the omen birds is thus explained: they are forms of animal life possessed with the spirit of certain invisible beings above, and bearing their names; so that when a Dayak [Iban] hears a beragai, for instance, it is really the voice of Beragai the son-in-law of Sengalong Burong; nay, more, the assenting nod or dissenting frown of the great spirit himself. ‘These birds,’ says Sengalong Burong, ‘possess my mind and spirit, and represent me in the lower world. When you hear them, remember it is I who speak for encouragement or for warning.’ The object of the bird-cultus is like that of all other rites: to secure good crops, freedom from accidents and falls and diseases, victory in war, profit in exchange and trade, skill in discourse, and cleverness in all native craft.”

We know that such very distinct peoples in Sarawak alone as the Iban, Land Dayaks, Muruts, Punans, Kayans, and Kenyahs pay attention to omen animals, and in most cases to the same animals. This points to a common origin of the cult, for in some cases there is no specially obvious reason why that particular species of animal should have been selected. In the three last-mentioned peoples the names of the omen animals are practically similar, but many of the Iban names are different.

There is no doubt that this cult is indigenous to Borneo; it is probable that it formed part of the fundamental religious equipment of the Iban, but it is also probable that the Iban have borrowed somewhat from neighbouring indigenous tribes. Much more information must be obtained before a satisfactory history of this interesting cult can be written.

The question may be asked whether the cult of omen animals in Borneo is connected with totemism. Personally I do not think this is the case, as there is in the omen cult no direct relationship between a species of animal and a group of men or a single individual. Neither does it enter at all into social organisation nor marriage restrictions. It is extremely probable that totemism, in the true sense of the term, is only one of several cults of animals; but this is not the place to enter into a discussion of these difficult and polemical problems.