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

The precautions described in the foregoing paragraph illustrate very well the power for harm attributed to the TOH of the heads and the fear with which they are regarded. Nevertheless these beings are not wholly malevolent. it is held that in some way their presence in the house brings prosperity to it, especially in the form of good crops; and so essential to the welfare of the house are the heads held to be that, if through fire a house has lost its heads and has no occasion for war, the people will beg a head, or even a fragment of one, from some friendly house, and will instal it in their own with the usual ceremonies.

The TOH of the heads are but a few among many that are conceived as surrounding the houses and infesting the tombs, the rivers, the forests, the mountains, the caves, and, by those who live near the coast, the sea; in fact every locality has its TOH, and, since they are easily offended and roused to bring harm, the people are careful to avoid offence and to practise every rite by which it is thought possible to propitiate them. Death and sickness, especially madness, accidental bodily injuries, failure of crops, in fact almost any trouble may be ascribed to the malevolent action of Toh. Examples of the way conduct is influenced by this belief are the following: —

In clearing a patch of jungle in preparation for sowing PADI, it is usual to leave a few trees standing on some high point of the ground in order not to offend the TOH of the locality by depriving them of all the trees, which they are vaguely supposed to make use of as resting-places. Such trees are sometimes stripped of all their branches save a few at the top; and sometimes a pole is lashed across the stem at a height from the ground and bunches of palm leaves hung upon it; a "bull-roarer," which is used by boys as a toy, is sometimes hung upon such a cross-piece to dangle and flicker in the breeze.[104]

Again, young children are held to be peculiarly subject to the malevolent influence of the TOH. We have already mentioned that no name is given to a child until it is two or three years of age, in order to avoid attracting to it the attention of the TOH. For the same reason the parents dislike any prominent person to touch an infant; and if for any reason such contact has taken place, it is usual to give the mother a few beads, which she ties about the wrist or ankle of the child, "to preserve its homely smell" as they say, and so, it would seem, avoid the risk of the TOH being attracted by the unusual odour of the child. Parents who have lost several young children will give to a child, when the time comes for naming it, some such name as TAI (dung), or TAI MANOK (birds' dung), or JAAT (bad), in order that it may have a better chance of escaping the unwelcome attention of the TOH. If for any reason it is suspected that the attention of some evil-disposed TOH has been drawn to a child (and the same practice is sometimes observed by adults under similar circumstances), a sooty mark is made upon the forehead, consisting of a vertical median line and a horizontal band just above the eyebrows. This is thought to render it difficult for the TOH to recognise his victim. Such a black mark is worn more especially on going away from the house. Sea Dayaks sometimes go farther under such circumstances. They place the new-born child in a small boat and allow it to float down river, and standing upon the bank call upon all the evil spirits to take the child at once, if they mean to take it, in order that the parents may be spared the greater bereavement of losing it some years later. If, after floating some distance down stream, the child is found unhurt, it is carried home, the parents feeling some confidence that it will be "spared" to grow up

Again, on going to the territory of people who have recently come to friendly terms with their village, men will make a black mark across the forehead with soot in order to disguise themselves from the TOH of this region. In the main, although all regions are infested with TOH those of the locality in which a man dwells are regarded by him as less dangerous than those of other parts; for experience has shown him that in the neighbourhood of his own village he may behave in certain ways with impunity, whereas in distant regions all is uncertain. It is for this reason that, when boys enter any river or branch of the river for the first time, a special rite is performed. An old man will take them apart from the company to some spot on the bank of the river, and, calling all the spirits of the place, will ask them to favour the boys and to give them vigorous life. An egg (which on this occasion is spoken of only by the name OVE = sweet potato) is offered to the spirits on behalf of each boy (or sometimes merely a fowl's feather) by placing it in the split end of a bamboo stick thrust into the ground. Not until this rite has been performed are the boys considered to be safe in the strange region.

The more remote and inaccessible the region, the more are the TOH of it feared; rugged hill tops and especially mountain tops are the abodes of especially dangerous TOH, and it was only with difficulty that parties of men could be induced to accompany us to the summits of any of the mountains.

The influence of the TOH is not always pernicious; certain spots become credited with the presence of TOH of benign influence. Thus, tradition relates of a streamlet (Telang Ading) falling over the rocky bank of the Baram river some little distance below the mouth of the AKAR, that a wild pig recently killed with spears fell into it and was allowed to lie there, and that after a little while it jumped up and made off Through this event the streamlet has acquired a great reputation, and passing boats generally stop in order that the crews may splash some of the water on their heads and faces, and so be cured of any ailments they may happen to have at the time. These therapeutic effects are attributed to the TOH of the stream.

The TOH play a considerable part in regulating conduct; for they are the powers that bring misfortunes upon a whole house or village when any member of it ignores tabus or otherwise breaks customs, without performing the propitiatory rites demanded by the occasion. Thus on them, rather than on the gods, are founded the effective sanctions of prohibitive rules of conduct. For the propitiation of offended TOH fowls' eggs and the blood of fowls and of young pigs are used, the explanations and apologies being offered generally by the chief or some other influential person, while the blood is sprinkled on the culprit or other source of offence.

The beliefs and practices of the Kenyahs and Klemantans in regard to spirits of this class are very similar to those of the Kayans. They designate them by the same general name, TOH.

We are doubtful whether the Sea Dayaks can properly be said to have any religion. They believe in a number of mythical and legendary heroes in whose honour they indulge in heavy feasting; but none of these seem to be credited with the attributes of a god, or to evoke on the part of the people the specifically religious emotions and attitudes — awe, reverence, supplication, trust, gratitude, and hope. Their cult of the PETARA seems to show traces of Javanese and Hindu influence or origin. They believe in a multitude of ill-defined spirits which they speak of as ANTU, and towards which their attitude is very similar to that of the Kayans towards the TOH. Some further account of Iban superstitions will be found in Chapter XV.