A dream of sickness to any member of a family always ensures a ceremony; and no one presumes to enter the priesthood, or to learn the art of a blacksmith, without being, or pretending to be, warned in a dream that he should undertake to learn it. I have known a man with only two children give his younger child to another who was no relation, because he dreamed that he must give it to him or the child would die.
In dreams also “Tapa” and the spirits bestow gifts on men in the shape of magic stones, which, being washed in cocoa-nut milk, the water forms one of the ingredients in the mass of blood and turmeric which is considered sacred, and is used to anoint the people at the harvest feasts. They are ordinary black pebbles, and there is nothing in their appearance to give an idea of their magic power and value. The ones in the Quop village were procured in a dream by the late “Orang Kaya Bai Malam,” in order to replace those lost in the civil wars which desolated the country before Sir James Brooke’s arrival. He dreamt that a spirit came unto him and gave him a number of these sacred stones; and lo! when he awoke, they were in his hand. In some villages they are kept in a rude kind of wooden bowl covered and fastened down, then fixed to the top of an iron-wood post in the middle of the outside platform. In others they are deposited in a small house built in the jungle, at some distance from the village, and all around it is sacred. I will relate an anecdote Mr. Chalmers told me:—
A Quop woman who had turned Malay was staying at her village when the clergyman was there; he had a number of coloured-glass marbles, and one of these this woman got hold of, and no doubt thought it very strange and wonderful. Next morning, when she awoke, she called loudly for white cloth, declaring at the same time that the late Orang Kaya had appeared to her in the night and given her a sacred stone, at the same time producing the marble, and expected, no doubt, a good price for it from the Dayaks. But they are wiser now than of yore, and would have nothing to do with it; and the young fellows, hearing how she had procured the marble, teased her on the subject until her departure.
Ordeals.—One of the ordeals practised among them is the following: When a quarrel takes place which the elders find it impossible to settle, from conflicting evidence, the disputants are taken to a deep pool in a neighbouring stream, and both standing up to their necks in the water, at given signals plunge their heads below the surface: the first that rises to take breath, loses the case. Among the Land Dayaks, these ceremonies are not often practised. Another is by listening to the night-birds: if their cry be such as to be considered a favourable omen, the accused is declared not guilty; if a bad omen, he is pronounced guilty and must pay the fine demanded of him. The most common ordeal, however, is this: two wax tapers of equal size and length are prepared, they are lighted, and the owner of the one that is first extinguished, or burnt out, loses his case.
Omens.—If a man be going on a war expedition, and has a slip during his first day’s journey, he must return to his village, especially if by the accident blood be drawn, for then, should he proceed, he has no prospect but wounds or death. If the accident occur during a long expedition, he must return to his last night’s resting-place. In some tribes, if a deer cry near a party who are setting out on a journey they will return. When going at night to the jungle, if the scream of a hawk, or an owl, or of a small kind of frog be heard, it is a sign that sickness will follow if the design be pursued; and, again, if the screech of the two former be heard in front of a party on the warpath, it is an evil sign, and they must return. Omens derived from the cry of birds are always sought previously to setting out on a journey, and before fixing on a spot to build new houses, or to prepare their farms.
The birds which give the omen for a journey are three, the “Kushah,” “Kariak,” and “Katupung.” The traveller goes to a spot near the village where the feast sheds are usually erected, and sometimes a stage of bambu is also made ready for the purpose. There he waits till he hears the ofttimes long-awaited cries. When the “Kushah” or “Katupung” are heard on the right or the left only, or in front, no success will attend the journey; but if their cry be heard on the left and then answered on the right, the traveller may start in peace. The “Kariak’s” omen, however, is more important still. If heard on the right hand, the omen is good; if on the left, some slight inconvenience may follow; if behind, sickness or death awaits him in the place to which he is bound. How common is the saying used, “I had a bad bird,” to excuse every breach of engagement!
In house-building and farm-making all the birds of night are consulted. During the day, a place in the forest, which appears suitable, is fixed upon, and a small shed erected near. Some boiled rice, stained yellow with turmeric, and other offerings, are prepared, and at night a party takes them to the hut already built. This they enter, and an elder having invoked the spiritual powers, and cast the yellow rice in all directions, they await the omen. If a bird cry and twitter in front, and if it then fly past the hut towards the village, it is a good omen; but if the birds fly and alight near the hut, and there cry and twitter, evil and sickness await those who build or farm there, for many spirits have made that their dwelling-place.
The reason assigned for using these bird omens is that they are half Dayaks. Long ago, a spirit married a Dayak woman, and the result of the intercourse was the production of birds. These were tenderly cared for and cherished by the Dayaks, and, in return, from that time to this, they have ever warned their former protectors of impending evil, if duly consulted according to the customs which have descended to the tribes from their ancestors.
Having thus given a brief account of Dayak ceremonies, and feastings, and omens, I may conclude with a remark, that, of all the feasts and ceremonies, the most beneficial in its influence is the “Head Feast.” The object of them all is to make their rice grow well, to cause the forest to abound with wild animals, to enable their dogs and snares to be successful in securing game, to have the streams swarm with fish, to give health and activity to the people themselves, and to ensure fertility to their women. All these blessings, the possessing and feasting of a fresh head are supposed to be the most efficient means of securing. The very ground itself is believed to be benefited and rendered fertile, more fertile even than when the water in which fragments of gold, presented by the Rajah, have been washed, has been sprinkled over it; this latter charm, especially when mixed with the water which has been poured over the sacred stones, being, next to the possession of a newly acquired head, the greatest and the most powerful which the wisdom of the “men of old time” has devised for the benefit of their descendants. It may, therefore, be understood what importance Orang Kaya Mita attached to his request that permission should be given to him to seek another victim, and what influence he would have gained with the tribe had they secured these blessings by his means.
Language.—The vocabularies printed in the Appendix will, as Mr. Chalmers observes, show that there is a great affinity betwixt the Dayaks of Sarawak, Sadong, and some Sambas tribes. This connection is not so visible in the dialects of others, as, for instance, the Silakau tribe, who formerly lived on a stream of the same name between the Sambas and Pontianak. In the dialects of the Sea Dayaks, there are perhaps a few words radically the same as their correspondents in Land Dayak, but only a few which are not derived in common from Malay. In the dialect of the Dayaks of Banjermasin, I have also noticed words the same in form and meaning, but they are not very frequent.