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

Of these people, as of so many others, the melancholy tale of disappearance of tatu amongst the present generation and replacement of indigenous by Kayan designs was told, and it seems only too likely that within the next decade or two none will be left to illustrate a once flourishing and beautiful art.

Schwaner can add nothing to the facts that we have collected, except the statement that "the BILIANS (priestesses) have brought the art of tatuing to the present degree of perfection through learning the description of the pretty tatued bodies of the [mythical] Sangsangs."

(H) KAHAYAN. — Our figure (Pl. 141, Fig. 3), and Pl. 81 of Dr. Nieuwenhuis' book [9], is the extent of our knowledge of the tatu of the inhabitants of the Kahayan river. The latter illustration shows a man tatued with a characteristic check pattern over the torso, stomach, and arms, but there is no reference to the plate in the text. Our figure is copied from a drawing by Dr. H. Hiller, of Philadelphia.

(I) BAKATAN AND UKIT. — As Nieuwenhuis has pointed out [9, p. 451], the tatu of these tribes is distinctive, inasmuch as most of the designs are left in the natural colour of the skin against a background of tatu; that is to say in the phraseology of the photographer, whilst the tatu designs of Kayans, Kenyahs, etc., are POSITIVES, those of the Bakatans are NEGATIVES. The men were formerly most extensively tatued, and we figure the principal designs (Pl. 143), most of which were drawn from a Bakatan of the Rejang river. The chest is covered with a bold scroll design known as GEROWIT, hooks (Kayan, KOWIT) (Figs. 1, 2); across the back and shoulder blades stretches a double row of circles, KANAK, with small hooks interposed (Fig. 9); on the side of the shoulder a pattern known as AKIH, the lizard, PLYCHOZOON HOMALOCEPHALUM (Fam. Geckonidae), is tatued (Figs. 3, 4); this lizard is used as a haruspex by the Bakatan. Circles are tatued on the biceps, on the back of the thigh, and on the calf of the leg; a modification of the scroll design of the chest occurs on the flexor surface of the forearm. Another form of pattern for the calf of the leg is shown in Fig. 73, it is termed SELONG BOWANG, the horse-mango, MANGIFERA SP., the same fruit as that termed by Kayans IPA OLIM, and of which a representation forms the chief element in the Long Utan tatu. A series of short lines is tatued on the jaw, and is termed JA, lines, or KILANG, sword-pattern, and a GEROWIT design occurs under the jaw; the pattern on the throat is known also as GEROWIT (Fig. 10). On the forehead is sometimes tatued a star or rosette pattern called LUKUT, antique bead, and it appears that this is of the nature of a recognition mark. In jungle warfare, where a stealthy descent on an unprepared enemy constitutes the main principle of tactics, it not unfrequently happens that one body of the attacking force unwittingly stalks another, and the results might be disastrous if there was not some means of distinguishing friend from foe when at close quarters.[85] Kenyahs when on the warpath frequently tie a band of plaited palm fibre round the wrist for the same object. The tatu of the backs of the hands is avowedly copied from the Kayans, but has a different name applied to it — KUKUM. The metatarsus is tatued with broad bars, IWA, very like the foot tatu of Kayan women of the slave or of the middle class; lines known as JANGO encircle the ankle.

Tatuing is forbidden in the house; it can only be performed on the warpath, and consequently men only are the tatu artists. The covering of the body with designs is a gradual process, and it is only the most seasoned and experienced warriors who exhibit on their persons all the different designs that we have just detailed. The tatu of the legs and feet is the last to be completed, and the lines round the ankles are denied to all but the bravest veterans.

All that has been written above applies equally well to the Ukits, or at least once did apply, for now the Ukits have to a great extent adopted the tatu of the Kayan, and it is only occasionally that an old man tatued in the original, Ukit manner is met. We give a figure of a design on the back of the thigh of such a relic of better days. (Pl. 143, Fig. 5).

The Bakatan and Ukit women tatu very little, only the forearm, on the metacarpals, and on the back of the wrist; characteristic designs for these parts are shown in Fig. 74, and Pl. 143, Figs. 7, 8. The central part of the forearm design is an anthropomorphic derivative, judging by the name TEGULUN; the lines are termed KILANG, and KANAK and GEROWIT are also conspicuous; GEROWIT IS also the name of the design for the metacarpals; the two stars joined by a line on the wrist are termed LUKUT, and it is possible that their significance is the same as that of the Kayan LUKUT tatued in the same place by men, but we have no evidence that this is the case.

Nieuwenhuis figures [9, Pl. 80] a Bakatan tatued on the chest in the typical manner.

The only other designs, apparently of Kalamantan origin, are those figured by Ling Roth [7, p. 87]. Three of these are after drawings by Rev. W. Crossland, and are labelled "tatu marks on arm of Kapuas Kayan captive woman." The designs are certainly not of Kayan origin; the woman had in all probability been brought captive to Sarawak, where Mr. Crossland saw her, and it is unfortunate that exact information concerning the tribe to which she belonged was not obtained. The designs, if accurately copied, are so extremely unlike all that are known to us that we are not able to hazard even a guess at their provenance or meaning. The other design figured on the same page is copied from Carl Bock; it occurred on the shoulder of a Punan, and is said by Mr. Crossland to be commonly used by the Sea Dayaks of the Undup. We met with a similar example of it (Pl. 138, Fig. 7) on an Ukit tatued in the Kayan manner, but could get no information concerning it, and suppose that it is not an Ukit design. Hein [6, Fig. 90] figures the same design, and Nieuwenhuis [8, p. 240] alludes to a similar. We may note here that the designs figured on page 89 of Ling Roth's book [7] as tatu designs are in our opinion very probably not tatu designs. They were collected by Dr. Wienecke in Dutch Borneo, and appear to be nothing but drawings by a native artist of such objects in daily use as hats, seat-mats, baby-slings, and so on. We communicated with Dr. J. D. E. Schmeltz of the Leyden Museum, where these "tatu" marks are deposited, and learnt from him that they are indeed actual drawings on paper; there are ninety-two of them, apparently all are different isolated designs, and they are evidently the work of one artist.[86] There is not a tribe in Borneo which can show such a variety of tatu design, and indeed we doubt if ninety-two distinct isolated tatu designs could be found throughout all the length and breadth of the island. Moreover, as can be seen by reference to the cited work, the designs are of a most complicated nature, not figures with the outlines merely filled in, as in all tatu designs known to us, but with the details drawn in fine lines and cross-hatching, which in tatu would be utterly lost unless executed on a very large scale.

Sea Dayak Tatu.