(Notes from kampong Long Kai on the Mahakam River)
The formidable king cobra (naia bungarus) is feared by the Punans, who have no remedy for the bite of this or any other venomous snake. The Bukats are said to know a cure which they share with the Penihings; the bark is scraped from a certain tree and the juice is applied to the wound. Death from lightning is unknown to any of these three tribes.
The Punans apparently do not attribute disease to the adverse influence of an antoh, although their remedy is the same, consisting of singing in the night and removing small stones from the abdomen or other parts that may be affected.
The Bukats whom I met were beautifully tatued. The kapala whom I saw at Long Kai had the mark of a ripe durian on each shoulder in front and an immature one above each nipple. On the lower part of the upper arm was a tatu of an edible root, in Penihing called rayong. Over the back of his right hand, toward the knuckles, he had a zigzag mark representing the excrescences of the durian fruit. In regard to the presence of spirits, number of souls, blians, disease, and its cure, restrictions for pregnant women, the child's cradle—the ideas of the Bukats are identical with those of the Penihings, and possibly are derived from them.
PENIHINGS
(Notes from the Mahakam River)
The Penihings get their supply of ipoh, the poison for the sumpitan darts, from Punans who live at the sources of the rivers of the Western Division. According to native report the trees which furnish the juice do not grow along the Mahakam and the nearest country where they are found is to the south of Tamaloë. As is the case with the Punans and Bukats, cutting the teeth is optional.
Restrictions imposed during pregnancy do not differ from those of other tribes described. At childbirth no man is permitted to be present. For three days the mother eats boiled rice, red pepper, and barks of certain trees, and she may work on the third day. Twins are known to occur. As soon as the navel is healed a name is given to the child. Both Penihing and Saputan, if asked, are allowed to give their own names. Marriages are contracted while the woman is still a child. There are no marriage ceremonies and divorces are easily obtained. If a married woman is at fault with another man the two must pay the injured husband one gong, as well as one gong for each child. In case the husband is at fault, the same payment is exacted by the injured wife.
The Penihings have a game called ot-tjin which I also observed in other Bornean tribes, and which to some extent is practised by the Malays. This game, generally known among scientific men by the name mancala, is of the widest distribution. Every country that the Arabs have touched has it, and it is found practically in every African tribe. It is very common in the coffee houses of Jerusalem and Damascus. A comprehensive account of the game mancala is given by Mr. Stewart Culin, the eminent authority on games, in the Report of the U.S. National Museum for 1894, pages 595-607.
With the Penihings the complete name is aw-li on-nam ot-tjin, meaning: playon-nam fish. An essential of the game is an oblong block of heavy wood which on its upper surface is provided with two rows of shallow holes, ten in each row, also a larger one at each end. The implement is called tu-tung ot-tjin, as is also both of the large single holes at the ends. There are two players who sit opposite each other, each controlling ten holes. The stake may be ten or twenty wristlets, or perhaps a fowl, or the black rings that are tied about the upper part of the calf of the leg, but not money, because usually there is none about. The game is played in the evenings.