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

Basket-work, etc.

The weaving of baskets, mats, and caps is one of the most important handicrafts of the Kayans. It is chiefly practised by the women, though the men help in collecting and preparing the materials. The material chiefly used is strips of rattan. A rattan about one-third of an inch in diameter is split into five strips, and the inner surface of each strip is smoothed with a knife; but the stems of several other jungle-plants are also used.

The most important of the baskets (Pl. 43), are the following: The large one used for carrying PADI from the farms to the house; the small basket hung on the back by a pair of shoulderstraps, and always carried by the men on going far from home; the fish-baskets; large baskets provided with lids and kept in the rooms for storing clothing and other personal valuables; the winnowing trays, and the large rough basket used for carrying on the back water-vessels or any other heavy objects (Fig. 41).

Of the mats (see Pl. 43), the principal are the mat worn round the waist for sitting upon; the large mats spread for seating several persons in the gallery or private chambers; those spread on the floor for catching the winnowed rice, or on the platforms outside the gallery for exposing and drying the PADI before pounding it; the mat which every person spreads to sleep upon.

Most of these baskets and mats are made from narrow strips of rattan varying from 1/16 to 1/4 of an inch according to the size and use of the article; the strips are closely woven with great regularity. The commonest arrangement is for two sets of strips to cross one another at right angles, each strip passing over and under two of the opposed set. The basket-work so made is very pliable, tough, and durable. The standard shapes are worked out with great precision. The Kayans are generally content to make strong serviceable basket-ware without ornamentation; but in a large proportion of basket-ware of this kind made by the other peoples, strips of rattan dyed black are combined with those of the natural pale yellow colour, and very effective patterns are thus worked in. The dyeing of the strips is effected by soaking them in a dye obtained by beating out in water the soft stem and leaves of a plant known as TARUM. The dark stain is rendered still blacker by subsequently burying the strips in the mud of the river for some ten days, or by washing them in lime. The dyed strips are then jet black with a fine polished surface, and the dye is quite permanent.

A form of mat-work deserving special notice is the LAMPIT, the mat used largely for sleeping and sitting upon. It is made of stout strips of rattan lying parallel to one another, and held together by strings threaded through the strips at right angles to their length at intervals of four or five inches. This mat has an extremely neat appearance and allows itself to be neatly rolled up. The piercing of the rattan strips at suitable intervals is facilitated by the use of a block of wood grooved for the reception of the strip and pierced with holes opening into the groove at the required intervals.

The most elaborately decorated and finely plaited basket-ware is made by some of the Klemantan sub-tribes, especially the Kanowits and the Tanjongs, and the Kalabits, who use, as well as the black dye, a red dye (Pl. 110). The last is made by boiling the seeds of the rattan in water and evaporating the product until it has the consistency of a thick paste. The Punans also excel in this craft. These adepts barter much of their handiwork in this kind with the people of communities less skilled in it. This affords yet another illustration of the fact that the various specialised handicrafts are traditional in certain tribes and sub-tribes, and are practised hardly at all or in an inferior manner only by the other tribes, who seem to find it impossible to achieve an equal degree of mastery of these crafts.

Hat-making

The large flat circular hat worn by the Kayans for protection against sun and rain is made by the women from the large leaves of a palm. It is the only important handicraft practised by the women only. The hard tough fluted leaves are pressed flat and dried, when the flutes form ribs diverging from the stem. Triangular pieces of the length of the radius of the hat (I.E. from twelve to eighteen inches) are cut and then sewn together in a double layer; those of the upper layer radiate from the centre; those of the under layer are disposed in the reverse direction, so that their ribs diverge from the periphery, crossing those of the upper layer at an acute angle. This arrangement gives great rigidity to the whole structure. The two layers are stitched together by threads carried round the hat in concentric circles at intervals of about one inch. The peripheral edges are sewn to a slender strip of rattan bent to form a circle, the two ends overlapping. The centre is generally finished with a disc of metal or strong cloth on the outer surface (Pl. 45). The hats hung upon the tombs are decorated on the upper surface with bold designs painted in black and red.

Most of the other tribes make similar hats, and the Malanaus and Land Dayaks are especially skilled in this craft. The former make very large hats of similar shape, the upper surface being of strips of rattan dyed red and black, and woven to form elaborate patterns.