CHAPTER III
MANNER OF LIFE
Dyak village house—Tanju—Ruai—Bilik—Sadau—Human heads—Valuable jars—Paddy-planting—Men’s work—Women’s work—House-building—Boat-building—Kadjangs—Dyak tools—Bliong—Duku—Weaving—Plaiting mats and basket-making—Hunting—Traps—Fishing—Spoon-bait—Casting-net—Tuba-fishing—Crocodile-catching.
Among the Dyaks a whole village, consisting of some twenty or thirty families, or even more, live together under one roof. This village house is built on piles made of hard wood, which raise the floor from six to twelve feet above the ground. The ascent is made by a notched trunk or log, which serves as a ladder; one is fixed at each end of the house. The length of this house varies according to the number of families inhabiting it; but as the rooms occupied by the different families are built on the same plan and by a combination of labour, the whole presents a uniform and regular appearance.
The roof and outside walls are thatched with the leaves of the nipa palm, which are first made into attap. These are made by doubling the leaves over a stick about six feet long, each leaf overlapping the other, and sewn down with split cane or reeds. These attap are arranged in rows, each attap overlapping the one beneath it, and thus forming a roof which keeps off the rain and sun, and lasts for three or four years.
The long Dyak village house is built in a straight line, and consists of a long uncovered veranda, which is called the tanju. The paddy is put on the tanju to be dried by the sun before it is pounded to get rid of its husk and convert it into rice. Here also the clothes and a variety of other things are hung out to dry. The family whetstone and dye vat are kept under the eaves of the roof, and the men sharpen their tools and the women do their dyeing on the tanju. The flooring of this part of the house is generally made of bilian, or iron-wood, so as to stand exposure to the weather.
Next to the tanju comes the covered veranda, or ruai. This also stretches the whole length of the house, and the floor is made of bamboo, or nibong (a kind of palm), split into laths and tied down with rattan or cane.
This ruai, or public hall, is generally about twenty feet wide, and as it stretches the whole length of the house without any partition, it is a cool and pleasant place, and is much frequented by men and women for conversation and indoor pursuits. Here the women often do their work—the weaving of cloth or the plaiting of mats. Here, too, the men chop up the firewood, or even make boats, if not of too great a size. This long ruai is a public place open to all comers, and used as a road by travellers, who climb up the ladder at one end, walk through the whole length of the house, and go down the ladder at the other end. The floor is carpeted with thick and heavy mats, made of cane interlaced with narrow strips of beaten bark. Over these are spread other mats of finer texture for visitors to sit upon.
The length of this covered veranda depends upon the number of families living in the house, and these range from three or four to forty or fifty.