The Sea Dyaks, as their name implies, are a maritime set of tribes, and fight chiefly in canoes. They have some ideas of tactics, and can arrange their canoes in regular array when they meet with an enemy. One of their favorite tactics is to conceal some of their larger boats, and then to send some small and badly-manned canoes forward to attack the enemy. They are, of course, soon repulsed, and obliged to retreat. The enemy, thinking himself victorious, follows them exultingly, and, as soon as he passes the spot where the larger canoes are hidden, he is attacked by them in the rear, while the smaller canoes, which have acted as decoys, turn and join in the onslaught. The rivers are almost invariably chosen for this kind of attack, the overhanging branches of trees and the dense foliage of the bank affording excellent hiding-places for the canoes. An illustration of a “[Canoe fight]” is given on page 1139.
When peace is declared, or when people desire to renew friendship to each other, they declare themselves friends by a ceremony which is identical in principle with that which is practised in many parts of Africa, each of the contracting parties partaking of the blood of the other. Sometimes the blood is actually drunk, but generally it is taken by mixing it with tobacco and smoking it. Mr. St. John, in his “Forests of the Far East,” describes this ceremony with much force:—
“Siñganding sent on board to request me to become his brother by going through the sacred custom of imbibing each other’s blood. I say imbibing, because it is either mixed with water and drunk, or else it is placed within a native cigar, and drawn in with the smoke. I agreed to do so, and the following day was fixed for the ceremony, which is called Berbiang by the Kayans, Bersabibah by the Borneans.
“I landed with our party of Malays, and after a preliminary talk, to give time for the population to assemble, the affair commenced. We sat in the broad veranda of a long house, surrounded by hundreds of men, women, and children, all looking eagerly at the white stranger who was about to enter their tribe. Stripping my left arm, Kum-Lia took a small piece of wood shaped like a knife-blade, and, slightly piercing the skin, brought the blood to the surface; this he carefully scraped off. Then one of my Malays drew blood in the same way from Siñganding, and a small cigarette being produced, the blood on the wooden blade was spread on the tobacco.
“A chief then arose, and, walking to an open place, looked forth upon the river, and invoked their god and all the spirits of good and evil to be witness of this tie of brotherhood. The cigarette was then lighted, and each of us took several puffs, and the ceremony was concluded. I was glad to find that they had chosen the form of inhaling the blood in smoke, as to have swallowed even a drop would have been unpleasant, though the disgust would only arise from the imagination.
“They sometimes vary the custom, though the variation may be confined to the Kiniahs, who live further up the river, and are intermarried with the Kayans. There a pig is brought and placed between the two who are to be joined in brotherhood. A chief offers an invocation to the gods, and marks with a lighted brand the pig’s shoulder. The beast is then killed, and, after an exchange of jackets, a sword is thrust into the wound, and the two are marked with the blood of the pig.”
The stranger thus admitted into membership with the Kayans is called Niau, or friend, and in some cases the experiment proves to be successful. Generally, however, the honor, such as it is, is greater than the profit, the Kayans assuming that their newly-admitted member ought to make plenty of rich presents to his tribe, in order to show his sense of the privileges that have been conferred upon him.
CHAPTER CXVII.
BORNEO—Continued.
SOCIAL LIFE.
MARRIAGE AMONG THE DYAKS — COURTSHIP, ACCEPTANCE OR REJECTION — A SIBUYAN WEDDING — CURIOUS DOMESTIC ARRANGEMENTS — PRIDE OF BIRTH — STATE OF MORALITY — FACILITIES OF DIVORCE — JEALOUSY, AND ITS RESULTS — HOW TO TREAT A RIVAL — FORBIDDEN DEGREES — SPORTS AND GAMES — BEE HUNTING — THE BORNEAN SWING — TRIALS OF STRENGTH AND EQUILIBRIUM — TRICKS WITH STRING — COCK FIGHTING — THE SWORD DANCE — A DYAK WAR DANCE WITH HEADS — THE CAT-O’-NINE TAILS — DYAK FESTIVALS — STRANGE COOKERY — THE DURIAN FRUIT — THE NATIONAL DRINK, ITS ODOR AND TASTE — HABIT OF INTOXICATION — A DYAK CIRCE — STOUT DRINKERS AND STRONG HEADS — THE FORCE OF RIDICULE.
Passing from war to peace, we will begin with marriage as practised among the Dyaks.