PAGES
CHAPTER I
SARAWAK—SIR JAMES BROOKE
Bornean jungles—A picture from the past—Unsettled life—Sudden attacks—Head-hunting—Pirates—Malay pirates—Dyak pirates—Sir James Brooke—the Royalist—Rajah Muda Hassim—Rajah of Sarawak—Suppression of piracy and head-hunting—Captain Keppel—Visit to England, 1847—Introduction of Christian mission—Sir Charles Brooke[21-32]
CHAPTER II
THE DYAKS
The word “Dyak”—Other native races in Sarawak—Milanaus—Kayans—Kinyehs—Cruelty—Ukits—Bukitans—Punans—Seru—Sea Dyaks—Land Dyaks—The appearance of the Sea Dyak—Men’s dress—Tattooing—Women’s dress—Rawai, or corset—The teeth—Depilation—Language[33-41]
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[42-60]
CHAPTER IV
THE DYAK CHARACTER
General remarks—Kind to children—Industrious—Frugal—Honest—Two cases of theft—Curses—Honesty of children—Truthful—Curious custom—Tugong Bula—Hospitable—Morals—Desire for children—Divorce—Adultery—Dyak law concerning adultery—Dyak view of marriage—Unselfishness—Domestic affection—Example[61-71]
CHAPTER V
HEAD-HUNTING
Head-hunting—Women an incentive—Gruesome story—Marriage of Dyak Chiefs—Legend—Some customs necessitating a human head—A successful head-hunter not necessarily a hero—A dastardly crime—War expeditions—The spear token—My experience at a village in Krian—Dyak war costume—Weapons—The Sumpit—Poison for darts—Consulting omen birds—War-boats—Camping—War Council—Defences—War alarm—Ambushes—Decapitation and treatment of head—Return from a successful expedition—Women dancing—Two Christian Dyak Chiefs—Their views on the matter of head-taking[72-85]
CHAPTER VI
SOCIAL LIFE
Social position of the women—Dyak food—Meals—Cooking food in bamboo—Laws with regard to leaving a Dyak house—Rule of the headman—A Dyak trial—Power of the headman in old days—Dyak wealth—Valuable jars—Gusi—Naga—Rusa—A convenient dream—Trading incident at Sebetan—Land tenure—Laws about fruit-trees—Slavery—Captives in war—Slaves for debt[86-95]
CHAPTER VII
CHILD-BIRTH AND CHILDREN
The couvade among the Dyaks—Harm to the child—Ways of evading these restrictions—A Christian woman’s ideas on the subject—Witch-doctors and their methods—The waving of a fowl—Treatment of the mother and child—Infanticide—Bathing the child—Ceremony for insuring happiness to the child—Naming the child—Change of name—Children—Toys—Smallness of families—Reason[96-104]
CHAPTER VIII
MY SCHOOL IN THE JUNGLE
Up-country mission schools—Education—The Saribas Dyaks eager to learn—School programme—What the boys were taught—Some schoolboy reminiscences—A youthful Dyak manang—The story of Buda—The opening of the Krian Mission and the Saribas Mission[105-119]
CHAPTER IX
MARRIAGE
Courtship—Discussion where the married couple are to live—The fetching of the bride—The wedding ceremony—Mlah Pinang—Visit of the bride to her mother-in-law—Bride’s dress—Bridegroom—Old bachelors among the Dyaks—Age of marriage—Monogamy—Prohibitive degrees—Dyak view of marriage—Conjugal affection—Mischief-making mothers-in-law—Separation and reconciliation—Divorce—Adultery[120-132]
CHAPTER X
BURIAL RITES
Life beyond the grave—Wailings—Rice strewn on the dead man’s chest—The professional wailer—Feeding the dead—Carrying the dead—The grave—Articles buried with the dead—Baiya—Fire lit at sunset—The ulit, or mourning—Pana, or offering to the dead—The wailer’s song—Sumping—Periodical Sabak—Feast in honour of the dead—Gawai Antu—The dead not forgotten—Other methods of disposing of the dead besides burial—Dyak ideas of a future life[133-144]
CHAPTER XI
TRAVELLING IN SARAWAK
Travelling by boat—Paddles v. oars—Dangers—Tidal bores—Sand-banks-Langan—Up-river travelling—Poling—Camping out at night—Travelling on foot—Jungle paths—Scenery—Wild animals—The Orang-utan—Vegetation[145-151]
CHAPTER XII
OMENS AND DREAMS
Seven omen birds—Other omen animals—Omens sought before beginning rice-farming—House-building omens—Substitutions for omens—Good and bad omens in farming—A dead animal—Means of avoiding bad effects—Omens obeyed at all times—Bird flying through a house—A drop of blood—Killing an omen bird or insect—Origin of the system of omens—Augury—Dreams[152-162]
CHAPTER XIII
THE “MANANG,” OR WITCH-DOCTOR
Manangs supposed to possess mysterious powers over evil spirits—Dyak theory of disease—Treatment of disease—Lupong, or box of charms—Batu Ilau—Manang performances—Pagar Api—Catching the soul—Sixteen different manang ceremonies—Killing the demon Buyu—Saut—Salampandai—Deceit of manangs—Story of a schoolboy—Smallpox and cholera—Three ceremonies of initiation—Different ranks of manangs[163-181]
CHAPTER XIV
NATIVE REMEDIES AND DYAK CHARMS
Native remedies—Cupping—Charms—A Dyak medicine chest—Smallpox and cholera—My experience at Temudok[182-193]
CHAPTER XV
DYAK RELIGION
Certain religious observances—Petara, or gods—Singalang Burong, the god of war—Pulang Gana, the god of the soil—Salampandai, the maker of men—Mali, or taboo—Spirits—Girgasi, the chief of evil spirits—The dogs of the spirits—Stories—Customs connected with the belief in spirits—Sacrifices—Piring and ginselan—The victim of the sacrifice generally eaten, but not always—Material benefits expected by the Dyaks by their religious ceremonies—Nampok, a means of communicating with spirits—Batu kudi, “stones of wrath”—Belief in a future life—Conclusion[194-208]
CHAPTER XVI
DYAK FEASTS
Four classes of feasts—Preparations—Feasts connected with: 1, Head-taking; 2, Farming; 3, The dead; 4, Dreams, etc.—House-warming—Social feasts[209-219]
CHAPTER XVII
SPORTS AND AMUSEMENTS
Dyak games—Football—War Dance—Sword Dance—Dyak music—Cock-fighting—Tops-“Riding the tidal bore”—Swimming—Trials of strength[220-224]
CHAPTER XVIII
SONG AND MUSIC
Love of music—Love songs—Boat songs—War songs—Incantations at Dyak feasts—The song of mourning—Musical instruments[225-232]
CHAPTER XIX
THE DYAK ABROAD
Love of travel—“The innocents abroad”—Gutta-hunting—Collecting canes—Hunting for edible birds’-nests—Camphor-working[233-239]
CHAPTER XX
SOME PERSONAL EXPERIENCES
The itinerant missionary—Visit to a Dyak house—Reception—Cooking—Servants—The meal—Teaching the Dyaks—Christians—Services—Prayer-houses—Offertory—Reception of the missionary—Dangers of sea travelling during the north-east monsoon—My boat swamped—In the jungle—Losing my way—A Dyak’s experience[240-251]
CHAPTER XXI
DYAK FOLKLORE
Sea Dyak stories—Ensera—Kana—The mouse-deer and the tortoise—Klieng—Kumang—Apai Saloi—The cunning of the mouse-deer—The mouse-deer and other animals who went out fishing—The mouse-deer, the deer and the pig—Sea Dyak proverbs[252-263]
CHAPTER XXII
THREE DYAK LEGENDS
Dyak fairy tales and legends—I. Danjai and the Were-Tiger’s Sister—II. The Story of Siu, who first taught the Dyaks to observe the omens of birds—III. Pulang Gana, and how he came to be worshipped as the god of the earth[264-315]
CHAPTER XXIII
SOME CURIOUS CUSTOMS
Trial by ordeal—Diving contests—A diving contest at Krian—A Dyak superstition—Names—Fruit found by the pathway—Circumcision—Fishing and hunting superstition—Madness—Leprosy—Time—Form of greeting[316-323]
CHAPTER XXIV
THE FUTURE OF THE SEA DYAK IN SARAWAK
The Sea Dyak—Work—Bad times—Cheerfulness—The view from within—The Sea Dyak’s future—Mission work among them—Government—Development in the immediate future[324-331]
Glossary[332-337]
Index[338-343]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE
A Dyak Girl dressed in all her Finery to attend a Feast[Frontispiece]
A Sea Dyak with Shield[22]
Sir Charles Brooke, G.C.M.G., the Present Rajah of Sarawak[30]
Three Typical Dyaks[36]
Dyak Village House in Course of Construction[44]
Dyak making a Blowpipe[44]
Dyak Girls pounding Rice[46]
A Husking Mill[46]
Drying Paddy[46]
Sea Dyaks making a Canoe[50]
Girls Weaving[52]
Dyaks returning from Tuba-fishing[56]
A Dyak Woman making a Mat with Split Cane[62]
Five Dyaks in War Dress, with Spears and Shields[74]
A Dyak in War Dress[78]
Human Heads[78]
Dyak Warfare[82]
Dyak Houses[88]
Dyak Children[102]
A Dyak Youth[114]
A Dyak Lad[114]
A Dyak Wedding[124]
Dyak Girl Spinning[128]
A Dyak Bride[130]
A Dyak Girl[130]
A Dyak Cemetery by the River-side[136]
A Dyak Dancing the War Dance[136]
Boat-travelling[146]
A Dyak Youth holding a Spear[160]
A River Scene[206]
Cock-fighting[210]
Three Dyak Girls dressed in their Finery to attend a Feast[212]
Cock-fighting[222]
A Long Dyak Village House[242]
A Dyak Woman in Everyday Costume[268]
A Dyak using a Wooden Blowpipe[280]
A Dyak Girl[290]
Scraping Palm-Leaves for Fibre[290]
Dyaks making a Dam for Tuba-fishing[296]
A Dyak in Gala Costume[326]

SEVENTEEN YEARS AMONG THE SEA DYAKS OF BORNEO

CHAPTER I
SARAWAK—SIR JAMES BROOKE

Bornean jungles—A picture from the past—Unsettled life—Sudden attacks—Head-hunting—Pirates—Malay pirates—Dyak pirates—Sir James Brooke—The Royalist—Rajah Muda Hassim—Rajah of Sarawak—Suppression of piracy and head-hunting—Captain Keppel—Visit to England, 1847—Introduction of Christian mission—Sir Charles Brooke.