With regard to the thigh patterns, it is usual to find the back of the thigh occupied with two strips of an intersecting line design, or some modification thereof; the simplest form is shown on Pl. 138, Fig. 1; it is known as IDA TELO, the three-line pattern, and is used by slaves; a more elaborate example from the Rejang river is shown in Fig. 3, and is used both by slaves and free-women. Pl. 138, Fig. 2, and Pl. 139, Fig. 6, are termed IDA PAT, the four-line pattern, and are for free-women, not for slaves. The latter figure is a combination of IDA PAT and IDA TELO. The wives and daughters of chiefs would employ similar designs with the addition of another line, when they are termed IDA LIMA, the five-line pattern, or else a design, known as IDA TUANG, the underside pattern, two examples of which are given on Pl. 139, Figs. 1 and 2. If these two latter designs are compared with the hornbill design of the Long Glat, a figure of which, taken from Nieuwenhuis [9, Pl. 86] is given (Pl. 139, Fig. 3) a certain similarity in the MOTIF of the designs can be recognised. It must be remembered that the Long Glat design is tatued in rows down the front and sides of the thigh, whilst these Kayan designs have been modified to form more or less of a sinuous line design for the back of the thigh; or, in other words, the hornbill elements in the Long Glat design, though they are serially repeated, are quite separate and distinct one from the other, whilst in the Kayan designs the hornbill elements are fused and modified to produce the sinuous line pattern that in one form or another is generally employed for the decoration of the back of the thigh. In this connection Pl. 139, Fig. 5, is instructive; it is taken from a tatu block which, together with those from which Figs. 1 and 2 are taken, was collected many years ago by Mr. Brooke Low, amongst the Kayans of the Upper Rejang; it also appears to be a doc, derivative, and no doubt was used for the tatu of the front of a woman's thigh,[79] being serially repeated in three or four rows as with the Long Glat. Yet it was unknown as a tatu design to some Kayans of the Baram river to whom it was shown recently; they informed us that the name of the design was TUANG BUVONG ASU, pattern of dog without tail, and they stated that a somewhat similar design was engraved by them on sword blades. Pl. 139, Fig. 4, is taken from a tatu-block of uncertain origin, and the same name was also applied to this by the Baram Kayans, though with some hesitation and uncertainty; the hornbill MOTIF is here quite obvious.
We have stated that an interlacing line design is generally employed for the back of the thigh; we figure, however, a remarkable exception from the Baloi river (Pl. 140, Fig. 5); this is known as KALONG KOWIT, hook pattern; A is a representation of an antique bead, BALALAT LUKUT, B is known as KOWIT, hooks. Between the two strips of line design at the back of the thigh runs a narrow line of untatued skin, the supposed object of which has been described above. The front and sides of the thigh in highclass women will be covered with three or more strips of pattern such as are shown on Pl. 138, Figs. 4 and 5; in the latter TUSHUN TUVA, DULANG HAROK, ULU TINGGANG and BELILING BULAN can again be recognised; the ULU TINGGANG in this example are less conventionalised than in the spirals of the forearm pattern, and a spiral form of TUSHUN TUVA IS shown in addition to the angular form. The other example exhibits IDA LIMA, TUSHUN TUVA JALAUT, KOWIT (the interlocking spirals) and ULU TINGGANG. All these strips of pattern are separated by the IKOR. The knee-cap is the last part of the leg to be tatued, and the design covering it is called the KALONG NANG, the important pattern, good examples of which are shown in Figs. 70, 71; Fig. 72 represents the design on the front and sides of the thigh of an Uma Semuka Kayan of the slave class, which also is termed TUSHUN TUVA.
The admirable Uma Lekan patterns (Pl. 140, Fig. 2) represent on the back of the thigh (AA) BELILING BULAN, on the front and sides (BB) SILONG, faces or SILONG LEJAU, tigers' faces; the latter is evidently an anthropomorph; the knee-cap design is particularly worthy of notice.[80] Nieuwenhuis [9, Pl. 83, and 8, Pl. XXVII.] figures the thigh tatu of a Mendalam woman of the PANJIN or free-woman class; the back of the thigh is occupied by two strips of the four line pattern, here termed KETONG PAT, and a somewhat crude anthropomorphic design, known as KOHONG KELUNAN, human head, covers the front and sides of the thigh (text Fig. 69); the centre of the knee-cap is occupied by a very similar anthropomorph, known however as NANG KLINGE, the important design, and extending in a semicircle round the upper part of it is a design made up of intersecting zigzags and known as KALANG NGIPA, the snake design; below the knee-cap is a transverse band of hour-glass shaped figures termed PEDJAKO. Nieuwenhuis also figures [9, Pl. 841 the thigh pattern of a chiefs daughter from the same river; this only differs from the preceding example in the greater elaboration of the KOHONG KELUNAN; the back of the thigh is covered by a form of the IDA PAT pattern not by the IDA LIMA pattern. Some of the tatu-blocks employed by the Mendalam Kayan women are figured in the same works [9, Pl. 82, and 8, Pl. XXVIII.].
A comparison of the figures here given lends strong support to the supposition that the tuba-root pattern is merely a degraded anthropomorph. Fig. 69 is a recognisable anthropomorph such as is tatued in rows on the thigh, and some such name as TEGULUN, SILONG, or KOHONG is applied to it. Fig. 70 is a knee-cap design, evidently anthropomorphic in nature, but termed NANG KLINGE, the important design, since it is the last part of all to be tatued. Fig.71 is termed TUSHUN TUVA, but a distinct face is visible in the centre of the pattern; the general similarity between this last design and the examples of TUSHUN TUVA shown in the designs on Pl. 138, Figs. 4 and 5, is quite obvious; the lower of the two TUSHUN TUVA designs in Fig. 5, Pl. 138, is Cornposed of angular lines, thus reverting to the angularity of the lines in text, Fig. 69; at E, Fig. 3, Pl. 140, the lines are partly angular, partly curved, and the bilateral symmetry is entirely lost; finally, in Fig. 72, the relationship of the TUSHUN TUVA design to an anthropomorph is entirely lost.
A typical form of tatu on the foot of a low-class woman is shown on Pl. 138, Fig. 6; a chiefs daughter would have some modification of the principal element of the thigh design tatued on this part.
Kenyah Tatu.
The culture of the Sarawak Kenyahs is closely allied to that of the
Kayans, and their tatu may be considered separately from that of the
Kenyah-Klemantan tribes whose tatu is much more original in design.
The men of such Kenyah tribes as the Lepu Jalan, Lepu Tau, Lepu Apong, etc., if tatued at all, are tatued in the Kayan manner, that is, with some form of dog design on the forearms and thighs, and with rosettes or stars on the shoulders and breasts. The dog design is usually known as USANG ORANG, the prawn pattern; the teeth of the dog are held to represent the notched border of the prominent rostrum characteristic of the prawns of the genus PALAEMAN, that occur so plentifully in the fresh-water streams of Borneo. An extreme modification of the dog design to form a prawn is shown in Pl. 137, Fig. 9; Pl. 136, Fig. 4, is a dog design, and is so termed. Pl. 136, Fig. 10, is known as TOYU, a crab; A is the mouth, BA; B the claw, KATIP; C the back, LIKUT; D the tail, IKONG. Pl. 136, Fig. 9, is termed LIPAN KATIP, jaws of the centipede. All these are tatued on the flexor surface of the forearm or on the outside of the thigh.[81] An example of a star design termed USONG DIAN, durian pattern, is shown in Pl. 141, Fig. 7. The women of these tribes tatu in the same way, and employ the same designs as the Kayans, except that they never tatu on the thighs. Amongst the Baram Kenyahs there appears to be very little ceremonial connected with the process of tatuing.
Kenyah-Klemantan[82] Tatu.
Amongst this rather heterogeneous assemblage of tribes considerable diversity of tatu design is found. The men are seldom tatued, but when they are it is in the Kayan manner. The Peng or Pnihing of the Koti basin have an elaborate system of male tatu, but it seems to be dying out; the only examples that we have met are shown on Pl. 141, Figs. 2 and 3. These represent the arms of Peng men; unfortunately we have no information as to the significance of the designs. The only other Peng design that we are acquainted with is a large disc tatued on the calf of the leg. Dr. Nieuwenhuis states that Peng women are tatued with isolated dog designs on the arms and legs like the men of Kayan tribes [9, p. 461].