_AMONG THE MALAYS: THE SLAMATAN BROMOK; THE DYAKS; THE PAPUAN TRIBES; THE
AHETAS._
THE SLAMATAN BROMOK.
A religious ceremony exists in Java which has an obvious affinity to the
old Nature-Worship, and finds its excuse in the dread with which the
uncivilised races regarded the mysterious forces of Nature, unseen in
themselves, but palpable in their results. About three miles from the town
of Tosari, rises the barren cone of the Bromok, a still active volcano,
which is strangely situated in the bosom of green wooded hills and
mountains,--a significant blur upon the landscape. The traveller who
desires to accomplish its ascent climbs up the rough and almost
precipitous slope by a path winding through immense breadths of a tall
yellow grass called the alang-alang. When he has attained to the brink of
the Monegal, an enormous extinct crater, reputed to be the largest in the
world, he will do well to pause, and survey the landscape before him. Of
the knot of mountains on which his eye rests, the foremost is called the
Batok, or Butak, that is, the Bald; in allusion, probably, to its barren
summit, for its sides are well clothed with herbage. It is shaped like a
cone, with deep grooves down its declivities, indicating the course taken
by the lava-streams formerly ejected from its interior. To its right, a
little in the rear, stretches the sharp pointed chain of the Dedari and
Widadarea, or “abode of fairies;” while, on the left, shrouded in smoke
clouds, which partially conceal its bulk, is situated the mass of the
dreary Bromok.
Descending into the crater, we cross its sandy floor, the Dasar,--or, as
it is appropriately called, the Sandy Sea,--where grows not tree nor
shrub, and the only signs of vegetation are a few scattered patches of
dried and scrubby grass. The surface is strangely corrugated or ridged,
like the sea-sand at ebb of tide; and the whole landscape is as full of
gloom as the waste of the African Sahara.
Like many other volcanoes, the Bromok is a truncated cone. From one of its
sides project numerous irregular masses, or mounds of mud and sand,
incrusted in a baked clay like red lava. Some of these have been largely
reduced in size by the heavy tropical rains, which have ploughed deep
broad fissures in the Sandy Sea; while others, still supplied with liquid
matter from the volcano, are encroaching on the Dasar, and covering so
much of it as lies within the more immediate neighbourhood of the crater.
Large blocks of lime and limestone lie embedded in these mounds; also huge
black stones veined like marble and glittering like granite. These, as
well as the scoriæ which abound in every direction, were products, it is
supposed, of the last eruption of the Bromok.
Climbing to the summit of the ridge, and looking down into the abyss of
the crater, the traveller at first is tempted to suppose that before him
lies one of the “circles” of Dante’s mediæval Inferno. A yawning pit in
the centre belches dense volumes of sulphureous smoke, accompanied by
terrific sounds, like groans and shrieks and yells. The inner crater forms
a large basin, about 350 feet in diameter, with irregular broken sides,
descending to a depth of fully 250 feet. The sides, as well as the bottom,
are encrusted with deposits of yellow sulphureous matter.
The ceremony of the benediction of this dread volcano takes place two or
three times a year; it is not without its picturesque details. Groups of
pilgrims are scattered about the Sandy Sea; some eating, others praying;
some singing, others laughing, talking, chaffering. Men are selling, and
finding a ready market for, amulets, charms, and volcanic stones, which,
in language as extravagant as that of the European proprietor of a patent
pill, they declare to be sovereign remedies for every human malady.
Provisions of all kinds are on sale, and lie exposed upon roughly
constructed stands, resembling those which are seen at English fairs; a
plank or two, supported on a couple of stone trestles. “Wodonos and
Mantries”--the Javanese nobles--parade up and down in gay attire, their
burnished krisses glittering amidst the folds of their sarong. Old men and
old women, who have come to pay their last homage to the shrine, totter
along feebly; watching with delight, however, the frolics of their
grandchildren as they scamper about in unchecked glee.
At one part of the Sandy Sea twenty mats are ranged in a row, and upon
each a young priest kneels, having before him a box of myrrh,
frankincense, aloes, and other spices, which are sold for offerings. At
right angles runs another row, with the same number of priests, all
kneeling in the Arab fashion, their bodies partly resting on the calves of
their legs. These are older than the former group, and may be regarded as
the patriarchs of their respective villages. Behind each stands a
payong-bearer, shading his master from the sun with a large umbrella.
Their dress consists of a white gown worn over the sarong, which is tied
to the waist by a broad red belt. Over the shoulders hang two bands of
yellow silk, bound with scarlet, and their ends ornamented with tassels
and gold coins. The head-dress consists of a large turban, adorned with
gay silken scarfs. In front of each priest are spread small packets made
of plantain leaves, containing incense, sandal-wood chips, and other
preparations; wooden censers, throwing forth jets of fragrant smoke; and a
vessel, made of plaited ratan, for holding water.
At a short distance from the priests a motley crowd is assembled, waiting
for the various offerings they have deposited upon specially prepared
bamboo stands, to be consecrated. These offerings consist of cocoa-nuts,
plantains, pine-apples, mangoes, and other fruits; of baskets of young
chickens; of trays loaded with all kinds of cakes; of strips of silk and
calico; of gold, silver, and copper coins.
After spending a few minutes in prayer, the priest dips his goupillon or
cup into the vessel of water before him, mutters a few unintelligible
words, and sprinkles the oblations as they are successively presented.
Then all the holy men bow their heads, and repeat loudly and distinctly a
ritual prayer.
The oldest rises up, followed in succession by his sacerdotal companions,
uttering a phrase which sounds like “Ayo, ayo, Bromok!” and probably
means, “Forward, forward to the Bromok!” At this signal all the crowd rush
to the Bromok, impressed with a belief that he who first gains the ridge
will be the favourite of fortune, and presently meet with some exceptional
stroke of good luck. At intervals some of the older priests come to a
halt, spread their mats, and prostrate themselves in prayer for five or
ten minutes, thus securing an interval of rest at the same time that they
win a reputation for special devoutness.
On reaching the summit of the volcano, the various families and
individuals again present their offerings to the priests, who mumble over
them a few additional words: they are then thrown into the crater, each
person eagerly repeating some prayer or wish. And thus concludes the
strange ceremony by which the spirits of the Bromok are supposed to be
propitiated. The crowd descend from the volcano to join in various games
and pastimes; towards evening they begin to disperse, and as the night
spreads its cloud of darkness over the scene, the Sea of Sand resumes its
ordinary aspect of loneliness and desolation.
THE DYAKS OF BORNEO.
It is not certain that the Dyaks possess any religion. Temminck asserts
that they _have_, and that it bears a close resemblance to “fetichism.”
The god Djath, he says, rules the sublunar world, and the god Sangjang
presides over hell. These gods wear the human form, but are invisible; the
Dyaks invoke them by sprinkling rice on the ground, and offering various
sacrifices. In the houses of the Dyaks, adds Temminck, wooden idols are
frequently met with.
Other travellers are of opinion that they profess a kind of Pantheism, and
represent them as believing, like the ancient Greeks, in a multitude of
gods, gods above and gods below the world, as well as innumerable good and
evil spirits, of whom Budjang-Brani is undoubtedly the most wicked. All
diseases are caused by the agency of evil demons, and all misfortunes; and
therefore the Dyaks make vigorous efforts to drive them away by shouts,
and shrieks, and the discordant gong. So in some of the West Indian
islands the natives, during an eclipse, would seek, by a horrible clamour,
to frighten away the monster they supposed to be devouring the moon.
Some authorities go so far as to represent the Dyaks as cherishing vague
ideas of the Unity of the Godhead and the immortality of the soul.
Madame Ida Pfeiffer was by no means a philosophical traveller, but she was
an honest observer; and as the result of her explorations in Borneo, she
positively affirms that among the tribes she visited are neither temples
nor idols, priests nor sacrifices. On the occasions of their births,
marriages and funerals they perform certain ceremonies, but these appear
to be devoid of all religious character. Usually on such occasions they
kill fowls as well as hogs. When concluding treaties of peace they always
slaughter swine, but they do not eat them, and in this custom we may trace
perhaps the propitiatory idea. A few tribes burn their dead, and preserve
the ashes in hollow trees; others inter them in the least accessible
localities, such as the summits of lofty mountains; others bind the corpse
to the trunk of a tree in the position in which S. Peter was crucified,
that is, with the feet upwards and the head downwards.
IN BOURU.
The inhabitants of Bouru, one of the islands of the Malay Archipelago,
profess a creed which was taught them by one called Nabiata. From some of
its articles he would seem to have been a Mohammedan, or acquainted with
Mohammedanism; but whence he came, or how, or when he made his way to
Bouru, it is impossible to ascertain. The natives say that there is one
Supreme Being, Who created all things, and is the source of both good and
evil. He permits the existence of evil spirits. Those who pray to Him He
rewards with prosperity; those who neglect this duty He never fails to
punish. It was owing to His infinite love for man that He sent him this
inspired teacher Nabiata, who resided among the mountains, and delivered
his Master’s will in seven commandments:--
1. Thou shalt not kill nor wound.
2. Thou shalt not steal.
3. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
4. Thou shalt not set thyself up against thy _fenna_ (priest.)
5. A man shall not set himself up against the chief of his tribe.
6. A chief shall not set himself up against him who is over his or
other tribes.
7. The chief over more than one tribe shall not set himself up against
him who is placed over all the tribes.
Nabiata also taught that though the body perishes, the soul will live for
ever; that those who keep the foregoing commandments, (and all the acts of
men are duly recorded by the Supreme Being,) shall dwell in His presence
far above the firmament; while those who have lived wickedly shall never
rise to the abode of the happy, nor shall they remain upon earth, but for
ever and ever, lonely and in sorrow, wander among the clouds, yearning
with a desire that can never be fulfilled, to join their brethren in the
heaven above or on the earth beneath.
Nabiata also introduced the rite of circumcision, and ordained that it
should be performed on children of both sexes when they attained the age
of eight or ten years.
THE PAPUAN TRIBES.
Among the Dorians, or the inhabitants of the north coast of New Guinea,
near Port Dory, an almost childish superstition prevails. Always and
everywhere they carry about with them a variety of charms and talismans,
such as bits of bone, or quartz, or carved wood, to which, for some reason
or other, an artificial value has come to be attached. Those among them
who have acquired a slight knowledge of Mohammedanism use verses of the
Koran written upon narrow strips of paper by the Mohammedan priests of
Ceram and Tidore. But most of the Dorians are pagans, and worship an idol
called “Karwar,” a clumsy figure of which, carved in wood, holding a
shield, and distinguished by an exceptionally large head, with a sharp
nose and a wide mouth, is kept in every house, and plays the part of a
dumb oracle. Its owner, when involved in any difficulty or danger, hastens
to crouch before it, bowing or salaaming repeatedly, with his hands
clasped upon his forehead. If while thus engaged he experiences an emotion
of doubt or despondency, it is considered an evil sign, and he proceeds to
abandon whatever may have been his wish or object. It will thus be seen
that everything depends upon the votary’s temperament or natural
disposition,--if he be a sanguine and resolute man, it is not likely that
he will be conscious of any untoward sensation; and, in such a case, he of
course concludes that he has the sanction of his “Karwar.” In other words,
his will fortifies him to carry out his wishes. But even among civilised
nations a similar method of “consulting the oracle,”--of soliciting the
advice of another with the intention of following it only if it coincides
with one’s own desires,--is sometimes heard of!
The Dorians appear to maintain a priestly caste; but its functions are
confined to the interpretation of dreams and omens; besides which its
members act as “medicine men.” There are no religious rites, no
sacrifices. The two notable events of marriage and death pass with little
show. In the former, the intending bride and bridegroom sit down before
the Karwar, the woman offers the man homage in the shape of tobacco and
betel-leaf; then they join hands, rise up, and are recognised as man and
wife. When a death occurs, the corpse is wrapped in a white calico shroud,
and interred in a pit about five feet deep. There it lies upon its side in
the midst of its weapons and ornaments, and a porcelain dish under its
ear. The grave is afterwards filled up with earth, roofed over with dried
grass, and crowned with the Karwar of the departed.
The Aruans, like the Papuans, belong to the Australo-Malay division of the
Archipelago, and their religious system is but a little more developed.
And here we may note that as we recede from Asia and advance through the
great chain of the Eastern islands to Australia, we observe a gradual
religious decadence, until the depth of barbarism is reached in the
wretched aboriginal tribes of the great “island continent.” The Aruans
have no idea of a heaven or a hell; no sense of any “world beyond the
grave,” but their funeral rites are conducted on an extensive scale.
When an Aruan dies, his kinsmen at once assemble and destroy all the goods
and chattels he has accumulated during his lifetime; breaking even the
gongs in pieces, which are carefully thrown away. The body is next laid
out on a small mat, and propped up against a ladder for three or four
days; after which the relatives again assemble, and apparently to prevent
further decay, cover the exposed parts with lime. Meanwhile the hut is
filled with the fumes of burning dammar or resin, and the guests sit in
the perfumed atmosphere drinking large draughts of arrack, and of a spirit
which they contrive to distil from the juice of some indigenous fruit. The
stimulant soon does its work; they give vent to their feelings in violent
shouts, which mingle with the howls and wails of the women and the hoarse
discord of the gongs. Food is offered to the deceased, and the mouth
crammed with various kinds of edibles, rice, and arrack.
By this time all the friends and relatives of the departed have
assembled--as at a Scotch funeral; the body is placed on a kind of bier,
which is strewn with numerous pieces of cloth according to the wealth of
the deceased; while large dishes of China porcelain are set beneath to
catch any moisture that may fall from it. A high value is afterwards set
upon these dishes. Being taken out of the house, the body is supported
against a post, and another effort made to induce it to eat. The hollow
jaws are again stuffed with lighted cigars, rice, fruit, and arrack; and
the mourners join in a loud chant, inquiring whether the sleeper will not
awake at the sight of so many friends and fellow-villagers. Alas, the long
slumber continues! The body is again placed upon its bier, which is
carried into the forest, and it is hoisted upon the summit of four posts.
A tree, usually the _Pavetta Indica_, is then planted near it; and at this
final ceremony none, it is said, but naked women are allowed to be
present. This is called the _sudah buang_, and signifies that the body is
thenceforth abandoned to the silence of the wilderness as unable any
longer to see, hear, think, or feel.
* * * * *
The religion of savage or uncivilised men is, necessarily, coloured and
determined by the natural influences that surround them, and according as
they live in the African desert or the American forest, among the snows of
Siberia or on the table-land of Tibet, will bear its distinctive and
appropriate character. We do not doubt, therefore, but that Sherard Osborn
is right in the explanation he offers of the superstitious credulity of
the Malays, that the wonderful phenomena peculiar to the seas and islands
of the great Eastern Archipelago could never be intelligible to an
uneducated and highly imaginative race except on the supposition of
supernatural agency. Of course, this superstitious temperament is not
confined to the Malayan race. It is found, as we have said, in all savage
peoples, and springs from that profound though often vague and undefinable
sense of an overruling and mysterious Power which the influence of Nature
impresses on the heart of man.
There were proofs by the thousand among the Malays with whom Admiral
Sherard Osborn came in contact, of that connection with the Unseen World
which men in every stage of civilisation seem to accept and to be desirous
of developing. And he relates a striking instance of their great
credulity, which we may quote here as not wholly without illustrative
value.
Sherard Osborn’s gunboat was lying one night close to the southern point
of the Quedah river, where it flows into the Strait of Malacca. The air
was chill and damp, and the sky obscured with clouds, through which a
young moon sped occasional shafts of silver light.
About eleven o’clock his attention was directed to his look-out man, a
Malay, who, seated upon the fore-deck gun, was spitting violently, and
giving rapid utterance to expressions apparently of reproof or defiance.
Another Malay quickly joined him; pointed towards the jungle-loaded shore;
and then he too began the spitting and ejaculatory process. After awhile,
with an evident air of relief, the second Malay went down below. Unable
any longer to restrain his curiosity, Sherard Osborn walked forward. The
look-out man had turned his back to the jungle, but ever and anon threw a
furtive glance over his shoulder, and uttered sentences in which the name
of “Allah” frequently occurred. He seemed delighted at the coming of his
captain, and, springing to his feet, saluted him.
“Anything new?” said Osborn; “any prahus in sight?”
“Teda, Touhan--no, sir,” was the reply; and then observing that his
officer was looking in the direction of the jungle, he made signs that it
was better to look anywhere but there.
Calling Jamboo, his interpreter, Osborn desired him to ask the Malay what
he saw in the jungle. Judge his astonishment at the reply:
“He says he saw a spirit, sir.”
“Nonsense. Ask him how or where? It may be some Malay scouts.”
Again came the answer: that the man had distinctly seen an _untoo_, or
spirit, moving about among the trees close to the margin of the water; and
that he had been assiduously praying and expectorating, in order to
prevent it from approaching the gunboat, as it was evidently a very bad
spirit, very dangerous, and clothed in a long dress.
Sherard Osborn reprimanded his interpreter for repeating so ridiculous a
fancy, and ordered him to explain to the man that there were no such
things as “spirits,” and that if he had seen anything, it must have been
an animal or a man. But he was earnestly assured by Jamboo, the
interpreter, that Malays frequently saw untoos; that some were dangerous,
and some harmless; and that as for the untoo he had just seen, the captain
would see it too, if he looked carefully.
Accordingly, the English captain sat down by the side of the Malay sailor,
and looked in the same direction. The gunboat lay at anchor about one
hundred and fifty yards from the jungle; the water flowed up to its very
margin; among the spreading roots of the mangrove trees lay small ridges
of white shingle and broken shells, which receded into darkness or shone
out into distinct relief as the moonlight fell upon them. When these white
gleams became visible, Osborn immediately pointed to them, and hinted that
these were the Malay’s “spirit.”
“No, no!” he answered vehemently, and Jamboo added, “He says he will warn
you immediately he sees _it_.”
Suddenly he touched his officer, and pointing earnestly, exclaimed, “Look,
look!”
Sherard Osborn _did_ look, and for a moment yielded to the delusion as he
caught sight of what appeared to be, and probably was, the figure of a
female with drapery thrown around her. Gliding out of the dark forest
shadows, it halted at a hillock of white sand not more than three hundred
yards distant. Osborn rubbed his eyes; the interpreter called vigorously
on a Romish saint, and the Malay spat energetically, as if some unclean
animal had crossed his path. Again the captain looked, and again he saw
the form, which had passed a dense clump of trees, and was slowly crossing
another avenue in the forest.
“Feeling the folly,” says Sherard Osborn, “of yielding to the impression
of reality which the illusion was certainly creating in my mind, I walked
away, and kept the Malay employed in different ways until midnight; he,
however, every now and then spat vehemently, and cursed all evil spirits
with true Mohammedan fervour.”
THE ORANG-LAUTS.
Of this singular race of Malays, the Orang-Lauts, “Men of the Seas,” or
“Sea-Gipsies,” it is said that they do not seem to know anything of a
Creator. “A fact so difficult to believe,” says Mr. Thomson, “when we find
that the most degraded of the human race, in other quarters of the globe,
have an intuitive idea of this unerring and primary truth imprinted on
their minds, that I took the greatest care to find a slight image of the
Deity within the chaos of their thoughts, however degraded such might be,
but was disappointed. They knew neither the God nor the Devil of the
Christians or Mohammedans, although they confessed they had been told of
such; nor any of the demi-gods of Hindu mythology, many of whom were
recounted to them.”
The three great epochs of individual life, birth, marriage, death, pass
unnoticed by them. At birth, the mother’s joy is the only welcome to a
world it is not likely to find very bright or happy. At marriage, the sole
solemnity is the exchange between the male and the female of a mouthful of
tobacco and a cheepah, or gallon, of water. At death, the body of the
deceased is wrapped in his rags and tatters, and with, perhaps, a few
tears from the attendant women, committed to the earth. They have none of
that exquisite enjoyment of life which is felt by a cultured race; and
neither the entrance upon it nor the passage from it seems to them an
event calculated to awaken any emotion of interest. And as they are
absolutely without religion, so are they wholly free from superstition;
the solemn influences of Nature seem to produce no effect upon their
stolid dispositions. Of the pârus, and dewas, and nambangs, and other
phantom forms which, in the quick imagination of the Malay, haunt each
mountain, rock, and tree, they nothing know; and knowing nothing, they do
not fear. Terror is as often the result of knowledge as of ignorance. The
mind that has no conception of an unseen world or a supernatural force,
must necessarily be free from all apprehension of it.
* * * * *
Passing on to the Philippine Islands, we meet there with the Ahetas, who,
like the Orang-Lauts, have no religious system, but, unlike the
Orang-Lauts, cherish at least a religious sentiment. It appears that they
have learned from--or have taught--the Tanguianes, a brave race dwelling
in the vicinity, the practice of worshipping--for a day--the trunk of a
distorted tree, or a fragment of rock, in which they trace some fancied
resemblance to an animal. Then they turn away from it, and think no more
about gods until they encounter another strange and fantastical form, for
the existence of which they are unable to account: this, in turn, they
make the object of a fugitive devotion. For the dead their reverence is
pathetic. Year after year they visit their graves, with as much fidelity
as a Christian mourner, though without the Christian’s faith in a future
reunion, and place there a modest offering of tobacco and betel. The bows
and arrows of the departed are suspended above his grave on the day of
interment, and the Ahetas fondly believe that every night he rises from
his resting-place to pursue the shadowy hunt in the haunted glades of the
forest.
In the case of an aged person afflicted with a mortal illness, they adopt
too often a summary procedure, not waiting for him to die before they bury
him. But no sooner has the body been deposited in the grave, than it
becomes imperative, according to their traditions, that his death
should be avenged; and, accordingly, the warriors of the tribe sally
forth, with lance and arrow, to slay the first living creature they
encounter,--whether man, or stag, or wild hog, or buffalo. When thus in
quest of an expiatory victim, they take the precaution of breaking off the
young shoots of the shrubs as they pass by, and leave the broken ends
hanging in the direction of their roots, as a warning to travellers or
neighbours to shun the path they are taking; for were one of their own
people to be the first to come across the avengers, they dare not suffer
him to escape any more than Agamemnon could spare his daughter Iphigenia.
As she suffered for her father’s vow, so must the ill-fated Aheta suffer
for the custom of his tribe.
Their superiority to many savage races is attested by their faithfulness
in marriage; they practise monogamy. When a young man has chosen his
future partner, his friends or relatives ask the consent of their parents,
which is never refused. The marriage day is fixed, and in the morning,
before sunrise, the maiden is despatched into the forest, where she
conceals herself or not, according to her inclinations towards her suitor.
An hour’s grace is allowed, and the young man then goes in search of her:
if he succeed in finding her, and bringing her back to her friends before
sunset, she becomes his wife; but if he fail, he is required to abandon
all further claim to the damsel. A strange custom! But there is this much
at least to be said for it, that it allows the maiden more liberty of
choice than she always enjoys in civilised society!
Whether the Ahetas (or Negritos) sprang from a mixture of Malay and Papuan
blood, or are of purely Papuan origin, our ethnologists do not seem to
have determined. But in their present development they are certainly
superior to the Papuan races.[36]