As the possession of a head is the height of a Dyak’s ambition, it is not extraordinary that the natives should use all their powers of force or craft to secure the trophy. One example of treachery is narrated by Mr. Brooke (the present Rajah).
“Five years ago the Saribas Malays were living at the mouth of their river, and, with very few exceptions, were hostile to us. Still they were on friendly terms so far as gaining trade, and making use of the merchandise they could only get by communication with Sarawak. A party of five people, three men and two women, left Sakarrang to go to Saribas for the purpose of meeting some of their relatives. After they had been absent a considerable time, the news was brought back that they had been beheaded by Dyaks in the river.
“It happened thus: They met a boat’s crew of Dyaks while in Saribas, and spoke together, saying they were traders, and were also seeking for fish. When the Malays were leaving Saribas to return, the Dyak boat followed in their wake, entered this river together, and on the following day proceeded to carry out their sly and murderous design.
“In the morning they offered their swords for sale, and sold or exchanged one, suffering the Malays to make an exceedingly profitable bargain. They then proposed fishing with a hand net on the mud bank, and persuaded a Malay named Limin (who was well known, and considered a brave man) to separate from the others and cast the net. This was done, and for some time they were successful in bagging fish, and were going further and further from the boats.
“At length the net fouled on a stump at the bottom, and one of the Dyaks immediately took off his sword and dived down, as poor Limin thought, to clear it, but, instead of doing so, the wily rascal twisted it firmly round and round, came up to take breath, and then again dived, and again twisted it in various ways round the stumps; he then rose, and said he could not clear it, but asked Limin to try. Limin unsuspectingly took off his sword, dived, and, on approaching the surface breathless, the two Dyaks struck and decapitated him without a sound. They then took his head and returned to their boat.
“A third Malay was persuaded to administer some cure to a Dyak’s foot, which was bleeding slightly. While the Malay was leaning over and looking to the wound, one of them chopped off his head from behind. After this, the woman was decapitated. They lost one head, which tumbled into the water, but the other four, with all the property belonging to the Malay party, were taken and carried away to Sadok.”
On another occasion, a party of Dyaks in a canoe met a boat containing a man, his wife, and their young daughter. They stopped the boat, and offered betel-nut for sale. As soon as they came within reach, they drew their swords, struck off the woman’s head, and took the girl prisoner, but the father had just time to jump overboard and swim ashore.
This occurred in the Saribas River, and, strangely enough, the murderer, whose name was Sadji, nearly came in contact with Mr. Brooke, who had gone out expressly to check his head hunting propensities. Mr. Brooke passed him on the river, but, not being acquainted with him, did not arrest him. This, as was afterward learned, was fortunate for Sadji sat in the boat with his sword drawn, and if the captive girl had called for help, or if the English had shown any signs of arresting him, he would have struck off her head, jumped with it into the river, swum ashore, and escaped together with his followers through the jungle.
The same author gives another example of head hunting, which is a curious mixture of the terrible and the ludicrous. A young man named Achang was brought before Mr. Brooke in irons. He was only nineteen years of age, and yet he had gray hair, the natural color having vanished in consequence of his troubles. Some time previously, he had fallen in love with a young Dyak girl, who spurned all his advances because he had never taken a head, and so proved himself to be a warrior. She was evidently a girl of energy, for she proposed that he should go to the Saribas fort, and take the head of Bakir, the Dyak chief, or of the Tuan Hassan, i. e. Mr. Watson.
Being thus pressed, Achang, with another lad of his own age, set off for the fort, and on the way suffered the usual drawbacks of bad birds, bad dreams, and missing the path, so that when they came within sight of the fort they thought they had better change their plans. They determined on going to a Chinaman’s house under pretext of purchasing his goods, and taking his head while he was off his guard. When well cooked and dried, one head would do as well as another, and they thought that they would have no difficulty in passing off the Chinaman’s head for that of the white man.