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

1. Punan. 2. Maloh. 3. Land Dyak.

B.

4. Malanau.
5. Miri.
6. Dali.
7. Narom.
8. Sigalang (down-river tribes of Ukit stock).
9. Siduan
10. Tutong.
11. Balait.
12. Bekiau (traces of a former practice of tatu occasionally
found).
13. Bisaya.
14. Kadayans.

The patterns once employed by the tribes included in the second section of this list, most of which have adopted Malay dress and to some extent Malay customs, are lost beyond recall. The Land Dayaks display absolute ignorance of tatu, and aver that they never indulged in the practice. Maloh and Punan men ornamented with Kayan tatu designs we have often encountered; but they have no designs of their own, and attach no special significance to their borrowed designs.[70]

We may note here that the ornamentation of the body by means of raised scars and keloids is not known in Borneo. Both men and women of several tribes will test their bravery and indifference to pain by setting fire to a row of small pieces of tinder placed along the forearm, and the scars caused by these burns are often permanent, but should not be mistaken for decorative designs. Carl Bock (2, Pl. 16)[71] figures some Punan women with rows of keloids on the forearms, but states (p. 71) that these are due to a form of vaccination practised by these people.

The Kayans are, with one or two exceptions, the most tatued race in Borneo, and perhaps the best tatued from an artistic point of view; the designs used in the tatu of the men have been widely imitated, and much ceremonial is connected with the tatu of the women, an account of which we give below. Generally speaking, the true Klemantan designs are quite simple, and it is noteworthy that although the Kenyah tribes most nearly akin to Kayans have borrowed the Kayan tatu patterns, the majority of Kenyah and Klemantan tribes employ quite simple designs, whilst the primitive Kenyahs of the Batang Kayan river hardly tatu at all. A remarkable exception to the general simplicity of the Klemantan patterns is furnished by the Ukits, Bakatan, and Biadjau, who tatu very extensively in the most complex designs; the Long Utan, an extinct tribe, probably of Klemantan stock, also used highly decorative and complex designs. Since so many tribes owe much of their knowledge of tatu and the majority of their designs to the Kayans, it will be well to commence with an account of the art of tatu as practised by these people.

Kayan Tatu.

Dr. Nieuwenhuis [9, p. 450] agrees with us in stating that amongst these people the men tatu chiefly for ornament, and that no special significance is attached to the majority of designs employed; nor is there any particular ceremonial or tabu connected with the process of tatuing the male sex. There is no fixed time of life at which a man can be tatued, but in most cases the practice is begun early in boyhood. Nieuwenhuis [9, p. 456] remarks that the chiefs of the Mendalam Kayans scarcely tatu at all.

Amongst the Sarawak Kayans, if a man has taken the head of an enemy he can have the backs of his hands and fingers covered with tatu (Pl. 141, Fig. 1), but, if he has only had a share in the slaughter, one finger only, and that generally the thumb, can be tatued. On the Mendalam river, the Kayan braves are tatued on the left thumb only, not on the carpals and backs of the fingers, and the thigh pattern is also reserved for head-taking heroes [9, p. 456]. Of the origin of tatu the Kayans relate the following story: — Long ago when the plumage of birds was dull and sober, the coucal (CENTROPUS SINENSIS) and the argus pheasant (ARGUSIANUS GRAYI) agreed to tatu each other; the coucal began on the pheasant first, and succeeded admirably, as the plumage of the pheasant bears witness at the present day; the pheasant then tried his hand on the coucal, but being a stupid bird he was soon in difficulties; fearing that he would fail miserably to complete the task, he told the coucal to sit in a bowl of SAMAK tan, and then poured the black dye over him, and flew off, remarking that the country was full of enemies and he could not stop; that is why the coucal to this day has a black head and neck with a tan-coloured body. Nieuwenhuis [9, p. 456] relates substantially the same story, the crow (CORONE MACRORHYNDYUS), however, being substituted for the coucal and the incident of the bowl of SAMAK tan omitted.

Among Kayans isolated designs are found on the following parts of the bodies of the men: — The outside of the wrist, the flexor surface of the forearm, high up on the outside of the thigh, on the breasts and on the points of the shoulders, and, as already stated, in the case of warriors on the backs of the hands and fingers. But not all the men are tatued on all these parts of the body. The design tatued on the wrist (Pl. 139, Figs. 8 — 10) is termed LUKUT, the name of an antique bead much valued by Kayans; the significance of this design is of some interest. When a man is ill, it is supposed that his soul has escaped from his body; and when he recovers it is supposed that his soul has returned to him; to prevent its departure on some future occasion the man will "tie it in" by fastening round his wrist a piece of string on which is threaded a LUKUT[72] or antique bead, some magic apparently being considered to reside in the bead. However, the string can get broken and the bead lost, wherefore it seems safer to tatu a representation of the bead on the part of the wrist which it would cover if actually worn. It is of interest also to note that the LUKUT, from having been a charm to prevent the second escape of the soul, has come to be regarded as a charm to ward off all disease; and the same applies to its tatued representation.