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

It will be gathered from what has been said in the foregoing pages that the life after death is regarded as not in any way very different from this life, as neither a very superior nor an inferior condition; although, as we have said, those who die a violent death are believed to have a rather better lot, and suicides a worse fate, than others. Social distinction and consideration, especially such as is achieved by the taking of heads in war, is carried over into the life after death; and men are anxious that outward marks of such distinction should go with them. This is undoubtedly one of the grounds for tatuing the body. Among the Kayans a man's hands are only fully tatued when he has taken a head; while the social status of a woman is marked by the degree of fineness of the tatuing.[124] It follows that death is neither greatly feared nor desired; but an old man will sometimes affirm that he is quite ready or even desirous to die, although he may seem cheerful and fairly vigorous.

The Kayans believe in the reincarnation of the soul, although this belief is not clearly harmonised with the belief in the life in another world. It is generally believed that the soul of a grandfather may pass into one of his grandchildren, and an old man will try to secure the passage of his soul to a favourite grandchild by holding it above his head from time to time. The grandfather usually gives up his name to his eldest grandson, and reassumes the original name of his childhood with the prefix or title LAKI, and the custom seems to be connected with this belief or hope. There is no means of discovering whether the hope is realised. The human soul may also, in the belief of all the peoples, be reincarnated in the body of almost any animal; but opinions in regard to this matter are very vague. Thus the Kayans believe that the objection of the Mohammedan Malays to the eating of pig is due to reincarnation of their souls in animals of that species, which belief naturally causes some vexation to the Malay traders.

Among the Kayans and other peoples sceptics are to be found, and, as no inquisitorial methods are in vogue among them, such persons will on occasion give expression to their doubts about the accepted dogmas, although speech about such topics is generally repressed by some touch of awe. One man, for example, argued in our hearing that he could hardly believe that man continues to exist after death, for, said he, if men and women still lived after death, some of those who have been very fond of their children would surely return to see them, and would be in some way perceived by the living. But all such discussions are usually terminated with the remark, "NUSI JAM?" ("Who knows?")

The Kenyahs' disposal of their dead is very similar in all respects to the Kayan practice. But the burial customs of most of the Klemantan tribes are different. Their usual practice is to keep the coffin containing the corpse in the gallery of the house until the period of mourning is terminated. A bamboo tube carried down through the floor to the ground permits the escape of fluids resulting from decomposition. The coffin itself is sealed closely with wax, and elaborately decorated with carved and painted wood-work. After several months or even years have elapsed a feast is made (the feast of the bones); the coffin is opened and the bones taken out and cleaned. They are then packed into a smaller coffin or a large ovoid jar, which is carried to the village cemetery. There it is placed either in the hollowed upper end of a massive post, or into a large wooden chamber containing, or to contain, the remains of several persons, generally near relatives. These tombs are in many cases very elaborately decorated with painted woodwork.

Since the Klemantans who use the jar to contain the bones are not capable of making such large jars, but procure jars of Indo-Chinese and Chinese manufacture, it seems probable that the jars are comparatively modern substitutes for the smaller wooden coffin or bone-box. Only the richer folk can afford the luxury of a jar.

A rather different procedure is sometimes adopted by the same Klemantans who use the wooden coffins, namely, the corpse is placed in a jar a few days after death. Since the mouth of the jar is generally too small to admit the corpse the jar is broken horizontally into two parts by the following ingenious procedure. The jar is sunk in the water of the river until it is full of water and wholly submerged; it is held horizontally by two men, one at either end, just beneath the surface of the water. A third man strikes a sharp downward blow with an axe upon the widest circumference of the jar; it is then turned over and he strikes a second blow upon the same circumference at a spot opposite to the first. At the second stroke the jar falls in two, sometimes as cleanly and nicely broken as though cut with a saw.[125] The corpse is then packed in with its knees tied closely under the chin; the upper part of the jar is replaced and sealed on with wax. When the time of the feast of the bones arrives, the jar is reopened, the bones cleaned, and replaced in the jar.

This mode of jar burial is commonly practised by the Muruts, and is commoner in the northern parts of the island than elsewhere. It may be added that the jars used are generally valuable old jars, and that the cheap modern copies of them find little favour.

The Klemantans put selected pieces of the property of the deceased within the tomb, but do not generally hang them on it externally as the Kayans and Kenyahs do.

The Sea Dayaks bury their dead in the earth, generally in a village graveyard on the river banks not far from the house. The body, together with personal property, is merely wrapped in mats and laid in a grave some three feet in depth. It is not usual to keep it in the house for some days as the Kayans do, and the burial is effected with comparatively little ceremony. The grave of the common man is not marked with any monument, but that of a chief may be marked by a SUNGKUP; this consists of two pairs of stout posts, at head and feet respectively; each pair is erected in the form of an oblique cross; the upper end of each post is carved in decorative fashion. Two broad planks laid between the lower parts of these crossed posts form a roof to the grave. In the case of a man noted for great success in farming or fighting, a bamboo tube may be sunk through the earth to the spot just above the root of the nose, and through this they speak to him and pour rice spirit in order to strengthen their appeal.

The Land Dayaks of upper Sarawak, as well as some other Klemantan tribes in South Borneo, are peculiar in that they burn the dead, or the bones alone after the flesh has dropped away. The burning of the whole body is in some tribes carried out by the richer families only; the bodies that are not burned are buried in the earth.