SOCIAL LIFE OF THE SEA DAYAKS.
Ceremonies at the Birth of a Child--Infanticide--Desire
for Children--A Talkative and Sociable People--Great
Concord in Families--Method of Settling Disputes--Marriage
Ceremonies--Pride of Birth--Chastity--Punishment
of Indiscreet Lovers--Bundling and
Company-keeping--Love--Anecdotes--Separations--Division of
Household Duties--Flirting--Divorce--Burials--Religion--Belief
in a Supreme Being--Good and Evil Spirits--The
Small-pox--Priests--Some Dress as
Women--Mourning--Sacrifices--Human Sacrifices--Unlucky
Omens--Reconciliation--Belief in a Future State--The other
World--Dayaks Litigious--Head-feast--Head-hunting--Its
Origin--Horrible Revenge--Small Inland
Expeditions--Cat-like Warfare--Atrocious Case--Large
Inland Expeditions--War-boats--Edible Clay--Necessity
for a Head--Dayaks very Intelligent--Slaves--Objections
to Eating certain Animals, or Killing others--Change of
Names--Degrees of Affinity within which Marriages may take
place--Sickness--Cholera--Manufactures--Agriculture--Method of
taking Bees’ Nests--Lying Heaps--Passports--Ordeals--Language.
_At the Birth of Children._--The Sea Dayaks naturally look upon
this as a very ordinary event; occasionally guns are fired to celebrate
it, but even that practice has almost fallen into disuse. However, a
few months after the birth of the infant, the Sakarang Dayaks give a
feast in its honour, which generally takes place before they commence
preparing their land for the rice crop, and another after the harvest
to “launch the child” on the world. During these feasts the manang, or
priest, waves the odoriferous areca-blossom over the babe, and moves
about the house chanting monotonous tunes. The festival lasts a day and
a night. The Dayak women suffer very little at their confinements, and
seldom remain quiet beyond a few days. They are very anxious to have
children, but if they have a preference, it is for boys; and when the
only child is a daughter, they often make a vow to fire guns and give a
feast, should the next prove a son.
It is very singular, that though these Dayaks are exceedingly fond of
their offspring, yet infanticide sometimes occurs among the Batang
Lupars; arising, it is said, from a selfish feeling of affection.
One man confessed to Mr. Johnson that he had put an infant to death,
because all the children born to him previously had died just as they
arrived at an age when he could fondly love them. He said he could
not endure to think that it should occur to him again. But this must
have been a rare instance, since they feel acutely the loss of their
children, and wander about inconsolable, and mope, and often refuse to
work for months. They do not bear misfortunes well; even the loss of
houses by fire, or their crops from bad seasons, disheartens them to an
extent that is surprising to those who have watched the conduct of the
Seribas Dayaks. The piratical pursuits in which these latter delighted
have certainly given great energy to their character; and they recover
immediately from the effects of the destruction of their villages and
of their property, and set to work to create more wealth.
The Sea Dayaks, as I have observed, generally prefer male children; and
the more mischievous and boisterous they are when young the greater
the delight they afford their parents. The observation, “He is very
wicked,” is the greatest praise. They indulge them in everything,
and at home give way to their caprices in an extraordinary manner.
If the parents are affectionate to their children, the latter warmly
return it. Instances have even occurred when, oppressed by sorrow at
the reproaches of a father, a child has privately taken poison and
destroyed himself.
Like other tribes in the same state of civilization, the Dayaks are
fond of oratory; and while the elders are discoursing or delivering
long speeches, the young lads look gravely on, never indulging in a
laugh, which would be regarded as a serious offence.
The Dayaks are a very sociable people, and love to have their families
around them; grandfathers spoil their grandchildren; and during the
heavy work of the harvest, the very old ones stay at home surrounded by
merry groups of young ones.
Strangers are generally very welcome; and it would be an annoying idea
to enter into their heads that they were considered either mean or
inhospitable. So the wayfarer is presented on his arrival with the best
food in the house. Occasionally it is not very welcome to a European,
as it too often consists of fish that emits a very high scent, or eggs
of a very ancient date; but there is generally some fruit, or a little
clean boiled rice. I was once presented with some preserved durian
fruit, which stank so fearfully as to drive my friends completely out
of the house. But the greatest luxury that can be presented to a native
is always forthcoming, and that is the box of areca nuts, and the other
chewing condiments.
Parents and children, brothers and sisters, very seldom quarrel;
when they do so, it is from having married into a family with whom
afterwards they may have disputes about land. One would imagine that
was a subject not likely to create dissensions in a country like
Borneo; but there are favourite farming grounds and boundaries are not
very settled. It used to be the practice not to have recourse to arms
on those occasions, but the two parties collecting their relatives and
friends would fight with sticks for the coveted spot. Now, however,
their disputes are brought to their chiefs, or the nearest English
officer.
_Marriage._--Among the Sibuyau Dayaks of Lundu, no ceremony
attends a betrothment, but when the consent of the parents of the
bride has been obtained, an early day is appointed for the marriage.
As a general rule, the husband follows the wife, that is, lives with
and works for the parents of the latter. On the wedding day, the bride
and bridegroom are brought from opposite ends of the village to the
spot where the ceremony is to be performed. They are made to sit on two
bars of iron, that blessings as lasting, and health as vigorous, as the
metal may attend the pair. A cigar and betel leaf prepared with the
areca nut are next put into the hands of the bride and bridegroom. One
of the priests then waves two fowls over the heads of the couple, and
in a long address to the Supreme Being, calls down blessings upon the
pair, and implores that peace and happiness may attend the union. After
the heads of the affianced have been knocked against each other three
or four times, the bridegroom puts the prepared siri leaf and the cigar
into the mouth of the bride, while she does the same to him, whom she
thus acknowledges as her husband. The fowls are then killed, and the
blood caught in two cups, and from its colour the priest foretells the
future happiness or misery of the newly married. The ceremony is closed
by a feast, with dancing and noisy music.
It is worthy of remark that the respect paid by a son-in-law to the
father of his wife is greater than that paid to his own father. He
treats him with much ceremony, must never pronounce his name, nor must
he take the liberty of eating off the same plate, or drinking out of
the same cup, or even of lying down on the same mat.
Among the Balaus, or Sea Dayaks of Lingga, there is also no ceremony at
a betrothment; in fact, Mr. Chambers informs me that the word is not
known in their language. Indeed their manners preclude the necessity of
any such formal arrangement.
Marriage itself is a very simple affair, and is not accompanied by any
long rite. However, as it is different from that practised in Lundu, I
will enter into particulars.
Two or three days previous to the ceremony, the mother of the
bridegroom usually gives the bride’s relations a plate or a basin.
The wedding takes place at the house of the girl, and the rite is
called blah pinang, or the splitting of the prepared areca nut. It is
divided into three portions, and the mother, after placing them in a
little basket, and covering them over with a red cloth, sets them on
a raised altar in front of the bride’s house. The respective friends
of the families then meet in conclave and enjoy the native luxury of
prepared areca nut; and it is now determined what shall be the fine
paid in case the husband should separate from his wife after she shall
be declared pregnant, or after she has borne a child. This is a very
necessary precaution, as I shall have presently to show.
I may notice that among these Dayaks there is great pride of birth, and
that parents will seldom consent to their daughter’s marrying a man of
very inferior condition. Many lamentable occurrences have arisen from
this, among other causes, which I will mention when treating of love.
As a general rule, if the bride be an only daughter, or of higher rank,
the husband joins her family--if he be of higher rank, or an only son,
she follows him, and then she is conducted under a canopy of red cloth
to the house of his parents. If they should be of equal condition and
similarly circumstanced, they divide their time among their respective
families, until they set up housekeeping on their own account.
There are three subjects of which I must now treat,--and they are
the chastity of the women, love, and divorce. I find it difficult to
reconcile the statements that I have to make; they are modest, and
yet unchaste, love warmly and yet divorce easily, but are generally
faithful to their husbands when married.
In looking over the notes I have collected, both of my own and
those that I have received from my friends, I find them apparently
irreconcilable; but I will endeavour to make them intelligible.
The Sibuyaus, though they do not consider the sexual intercourse of
their young people as a positive crime, yet are careful of the honour
of their daughters, as they attach an idea of great indecency to
promiscuous connection. They are far advanced beyond their brethren in
this respect, and are of opinion that an unmarried girl proving with
child must be offensive to the superior powers, who, instead of always
chastising the individual, punish the tribe by misfortunes happening to
its members. They, therefore, on the discovery of the pregnancy fine
the lovers, and sacrifice a pig to propitiate offended Heaven, and to
avert that sickness or those misfortunes that might otherwise follow;
and they inflict heavy mulcts for every one who may have suffered from
any severe accident, or who may have been drowned within a month before
the religious atonement was made; lighter fines are levied if a person
be simply wounded.
As these pecuniary demands fall upon the families of both parties,
great care is taken of the young girls, and seldom is it found
necessary to sacrifice the pig. After marriage the women also are
generally chaste, though cases of adultery are occasionally brought
before the Orang Kayas.
Among the Dayaks on the Batang Lupar, however, unchastity is more
common; but the favours of the women are generally confined to their
own countrymen, and usually to one lover. Should the girl prove with
child, it is an understanding between them that they marry, and men
seldom, by denying, refuse to fulfil their engagements. Should,
however, the girl be unable to name the father, she is exposed to the
reproaches of her relatives, and many to escape them have taken poison.
In respectable families they sacrifice a pig, and sprinkle the doors
with its blood, to wash away the sin; and the erring maiden’s position
is rendered so uncomfortable that she generally tries to get away from
home.
In the account of the Land Dayaks, I will mention the manner in which
the young lover approaches the curtains of his mistress. As this seldom
ends in immorality, it may be likened to the Welch and Afghan bundling.
The Sea Dayaks have the same practice of seeking the girls at night;
and as the favoured lover is seldom refused entrance to the curtains,
it may be compared to the system of company-keeping which obtains in
many of our agricultural counties, where the brides have children a
couple of months after marriage. The morality of the Sea Dayaks is,
perhaps, superior to the Malays, but inferior to that of the Land
Dayaks.
During one of my visits to the Sakarang I heard a story which is
rather French in its termination. A young man proposed to a girl and
was accepted by her, but her parents refused to give their consent, as
he was of very inferior birth. Every means was tried to soften their
hearts, but they were obstinate, and endeavoured to induce her to give
up her lover and marry another. In their despair the lovers retired to
the jungle, and swallowed the poisonous juice of the tuba plant: next
morning they were found dead, with their cold and stiff arms entwined
round each other. Cases are not of very rare occurrence among the
Sakarang Dayaks, where disappointed love has sought solace in the grave.
Of the warmth of married affection, I have never heard a more striking
instance than the following:--the story has been told before, but it is
worth repeating. Ijau, a Balau chief, was bathing with his wife in the
Lingga river, a place notorious for man-eating alligators, when Indra
Lela, a Malay, passing in a boat remarked,--“I have just seen a very
large animal swimming up the stream.” Upon hearing this, Ijau told his
wife to go up the steps and he would follow; she got safely up, but he,
stopping to wash his feet, was seized by the alligator, dragged into
the middle of the stream, and disappeared from view. His wife hearing a
cry turned round, and seeing her husband’s fate sprang into the river,
shrieking,--“Take me also,” and dived down at the spot where she had
seen the alligator sink with his prey. No persuasion could induce her
to come out of the water: she swam about, diving in all the places most
dreaded from being a resort of ferocious reptiles, seeking to die with
her husband; at last her friends came down and forcibly removed her to
their house.
About two miles below the town of Kuching, is a place called Tanah
Putih. Here a man and his wife were working in a small canoe, when
an alligator seized the latter by the thigh and bore her along the
surface of the water, calling for that help, which her husband swimming
after, in vain endeavoured to afford. The bold fellow with a kris in
his mouth neared the reptile, but as soon as he was heard, the beast
sank with his shrieking prey and ended a scene almost too painful
for description. Two days afterwards the body, unmangled, was found
hidden in some bushes, which partly confirms my previous remark, that
alligators do not immediately swallow their prey.
Husbands and wives appear to pass their lives very agreeably together,
which may partly be caused by the facility of divorce. Many men and
women have been married seven or eight times before they find the
partner with whom they desire to spend the rest of their lives. I saw
a young girl of seventeen who had already had three husbands. These
divorces take place at varied times, from a few days after marriage,
to one or two years. However, after the birth of a child, they seldom
seek to separate, and if they do the husband is fined, but not the
wife. The work of the family is divided, though perhaps the female has
most continued labour. The man builds and repairs the houses and boats,
fells all the heavy timber at the farm, brings home the firewood, and
very often nurses the baby. The wives are very domestic, and in their
way carefully attend to household duties; they cook, clean the rice,
feed the pigs and poultry, spin the yarn, weave the cloth, and make the
clothes. A wife is also expected to be polite to visitors, to bring out
her finest mats, and offer the interminable areca nut to her guests.
As the wife works hard, she is generally very strong and capable of
taking her own part. She is very jealous of her husband, much more so
than he is of her. If he be found flirting with another woman, the wife
may inflict a severe thrashing on her, but only with sticks, while if
the offending woman have a husband, he may do the same to the man. To
escape these domestic broils, he generally starts off into the jungle,
and pretends to or really does go head-hunting.
The causes of divorce are innumerable, but incompatibility of temper
is perhaps the most common; when they are tired of each other they
do not say so, but put the fault upon an unfavourable omen or a bad
dream, either of which is allowed to be a legitimate cause of divorce.
Should they, however, be still fond of each other, the sacrifice of
a pig will effectually prevent any misfortune happening to them from
neglecting to separate. Partners often divorce from pique, or from a
petty quarrel, and are then allowed to come together again without any
fresh marriage ceremony. Among the Balau Dayaks, it is necessary for
the offended husband to send a ring to his wife, before the marriage
can be considered as finally dissolved, without which, should they
marry again, they would be liable to be punished for infidelity.
I may add, that as the wife does an equal share of work with her
husband, at a divorce she is entitled to half the wealth created by
their mutual labours.
_Burials._--Among the Sea Dayaks, corpses are usually buried;
although, should a man express a wish to share the privilege of the
priests and be, like them, exposed on a raised platform, the relations
are bound to comply with this request.
Immediately the breath has left the body, the female relations commence
loud and melancholy laments; they wash the corpse, and dress it in
its finest garments, and often, if a man, fully armed, and bear it
forth to the great common hall, where it is surrounded by its friends
to be mourned over. In some villages a hireling leads the lament,
which is continued till the corpse leaves the house. Before this takes
place, however, the body is rolled up in cloths and fine mats, kept
together by pieces of bamboo tied on with rattans, and taken to the
burial-ground. A fowl is then killed as a sacrifice to the spirit who
guards the earth, and they commence digging the grave from two and a
half to four and a half feet deep, according to the person’s rank;
deeper than five feet would be unlawful. Whilst this operation is going
on, others fell a large tree, and cutting off about six feet, split it
in two, and then hollow them out with an adze. One part serves as the
coffin, the other as the lid; the body is placed within, and the two
are secured together by means of strips of pliable canes bound round
them.
After the coffin is lowered into the grave, many things belonging to
the deceased are cast in, together with rice, tobacco, and betel nut,
as they believe they may prove useful in the other world, or as it is
called by them Sabayan.
It was an old custom, but now perhaps falling somewhat into disuse,
to place money, gold and silver ornaments, clothes, and various china
and brass utensils in the grave; but these treasures were too great
temptations to those Malays who were addicted to gambling; and the
rifling of the place of interment has often given great and deserved
offence to the relations. As it is almost impossible to discover the
offenders, it is now the practice to break in pieces all the utensils
placed in the grave, and to conceal as carefully as possible the
valuable ornaments. The whole tribe of the Lundu Sibuyaus was thrown
into a great state of excited indignation on finding that some Malays
had opened the place of interment of the old Orang Kaya Tumanggong of
Lundu, and stolen the valuable property. This was the chief who was so
firm a friend of the Europeans, and whose name is so often mentioned
in former works on Borneo.
The relatives and bearers of the corpse must return direct to the house
from which they started before entering another, as it is unlawful or
unlucky to stop, whatever may be the distance to be traversed.
They are often very particular about the dress in which they are to
be buried. Many of the old Sakarang women have asked Mr. Johnson for
handsome jackets to be used after their death for this purpose, saying
that when they arrived in the other world, they would mention his name
with respect and gratitude on account of the kindness shown to them in
this.
The Dayaks who have fallen in battle are seldom interred, but a paling
is put round them to keep away the pigs, and they are left there. Those
who commit suicide are buried in different places from others, as it
is supposed that they will not be allowed to mix in the seven-storied
Sabayan with such of their fellow-countrymen as come by their death in
a natural manner or from the influences of the spirits.
It is very satisfactory to be able to state that the Sea Dayaks have a
clear idea of one Omnipotent Being who created and now rules over the
world. They call him Batara; beneath him are many good and innumerable
bad spirits, and the fear of the latter causes them to make greater
offerings to them than to the good spirits. The awe with which many
of them are named has induced a few, among others, Mr. Chambers, to
imagine that their religion is a species of polytheism. But that is,
I think, clearly a mistake: as well might a Mahomedan declare that
Christians were Polytheists, because Roman Catholics believe in the
interposition of the Virgin and of the saints, and because members of
all sects fear the wiles of Satan. It is a common saying among the
Dayaks, “With God’s blessing we shall have a good harvest next year.”
Mr. Gomez, who has lived nine years among the Sibuyaus, and Mr.
Johnson, who has mixed with all sections of the Sea Dayaks still
longer, take my view. There are evil spirits of various kinds who
reside in the jungles, or the mountains, or the earth: all sicknesses,
misfortunes, or death, proceed from them, while to Batara is attributed
every blessing.
But when they make offerings, both are propitiated, and, as usual,
the wicked have the larger share. The priests offer a long prayer,
and supplicate them to depart from the afflicted house, or from the
sick man. Of the seven platefuls of food, four are given to the evil
spirits, and cast forth or exposed in the forests, while the others
are offered to the good spirits, who are implored to protect and
bless them. The food offered to the latter is not considered to be
interdicted, but may be, and is always, eaten.
The Lingga Dayaks, besides Batara, have various good spirits--as
Stampandei, who superintends the propagation of mankind; Pulang Ganah,
who inhabits the earth and gives fertility to it, and to him are
addressed the offerings at the feasts given whilst preparing the rice
cultivation; Singallong Burong, the god of war, excites their utmost
reverence, and to him are offered the head feasts. On those occasions,
he comes down and hovers in the form of a kite over the house, and guns
are fired and gongs are beaten in his honour: his brave followers
married to his daughters appear in the form of their omen birds.
No wonder he is honoured: he gives success in war, and delights in
their acquisition of the heads of their enemies. Nattiang inhabits
the summits of the hills, and is one of their demigods. The Linggas
tell many stories of his exploits: the most famous was his expedition
to the skies to recover his wife, who had been caught in a noose and
hoisted up there by his old enemy, Apei Sabit Berkait. To dream of
him is to receive the gift of bravery. Mr. Chambers would add much to
our knowledge of these people if he would make a collection of their
stories and ballads.
Among the Sakarangs the belief in one Supreme Being is clear, and
they do not appear to have any inferior deities who approach him in
attributes: they have demigods, good and bad spirits, but no sharer of
God’s throne. They believe that the good and bad spirits have the power
to prevent, or to enable them to succeed in any object they may have in
view. They, therefore, make offerings to them, particularly when any of
their family are suffering from illness.
When the small-pox was committing sad havoc among those villagers
who would not allow themselves to be inoculated, they ran into the
jungle in every direction, caring for no one but themselves, leaving
the houses empty, and dwelling far away in the most silent spots, in
parties of two and three, and sheltered only by a few leaves. When
these calamities come upon them, they utterly lose all command over
themselves, and become as most timid children. Those seized with the
complaint are abandoned: all they do is to take care that a bundle of
firewood, a cooking-pot, and some rice, are placed within their reach.
On account of this practice, few recover, as in the delirium they roll
on the ground and die.
When the fugitives become short of provisions, a few of the old men
who have already had the complaint creep back to the houses at night
and take a supply of rice. In the daytime they do not dare to stir or
to speak above a whisper for fear the spirits should see or hear them.
They do not call the small-pox by its name, but are in the habit of
saying, “Has he yet left you?” at other times, they call it jungle
leaves or fruit; and at other places the datu or the chief. Those
tribes who inoculate suffer very little.
Their priests frequently use the names of the invisible spirits, and
are supposed to be able to interpret their language, as well as to
hold communion with them; and in ordinary times they pretend to work
the cure of the sick by means of incantations, and after blinding the
patient’s eyes, pretend by the aid of the spirits to draw the bones of
fish or fowls out of their flesh. When the Dayaks are questioned as
to their belief in these easily-exposed deceits, they say no; but the
custom has descended to them from their ancestors, and they still pay
these priests heavy sums to perform the ancient rites.
Though these priests are of course men, yet some pretend to be women,
or rather dress as such, and like to be treated as females. In Lingga,
however, out of thirty, only one has given up man’s attire. Many of
the priests are the blind and maimed for life, who by following this
profession are enabled to earn a livelihood.
If a Dayak lose his wife, he gives a feast, which is really an offering
to the departed spirit. After the death of relatives, they seek for the
heads of enemies, and until one is brought in they consider themselves
to be in mourning, wearing no fine clothes, striking no gongs, nor is
laughing or merry-making in the house allowed; but they have a steady
desire to grieve for the one lost to them, and to seek a head of an
enemy, as a means of consoling themselves for the death of the departed.
At the launching of a new boat, preparatory to head-hunting, the
spirits presiding over it are appeased and fed, and the women collect
in and about it, and chant monotonous tunes; invoking the heavenly
spirits to grant their lovers and husbands success in finding heads, by
which they may remove their mourning and obtain a plentiful supply of
the luxuries and necessaries of life.
The principal sacrifice of the Sakarang Dayaks is killing a pig and
examining its heart, which is supposed to foretell events with the
utmost certainty. As an instance: should they find a dead animal on
land prepared for a farm, according to their established custom,
they should give it up, and commence a new one; but if the season
for burning the jungle be passed, they endeavour to avert this loss
by consulting the heart of a pig. The animal is sacrificed, and the
greatest attention is given to the signs discovered upon his heart:
if they be satisfactory, the farm land may be used; if not, it is
completely abandoned.
After their great head feasts, they also examine the hearts of pigs,
and their gray-headed leaders surround and look extremely grave over
the bleeding spectacle which they one by one turn over with the point
of a stick to examine the run and position of the veins; each as he
does it offers some sapient remark; and the result generally is, that
there are still numerous enemies, but far away: but however powerful
these may be, they themselves are more powerful, and in the end will
overcome them.
Not many years ago, Rentap, the pirate chief, who formerly resided in
a stronghold on the summit of the Sadok mountain, took a Sakarang lad
prisoner. Although one of his own race, he determined on putting him
to death, remarking--“It has been our custom heretofore to examine the
heart of a pig, but now we will examine a human one.” The unfortunate
boy was dragged about for some time by the hair of his head, and then
put to death and his heart examined.
It is reported that many years ago a Sibuyau chief sacrificed
some prisoners on the graves of two of his sons, who, in the same
expedition, had been killed by his enemies.
To hear the cry of a deer is at all times considered unlucky; and to
prevent the sound reaching their ears during a marriage procession
gongs and drums are loudly beaten. On the way to their farms, should
the unlucky omen be heard, they will return home and do no work for a
day.
It is a very curious custom also, that if two men who have been at
deadly feud, meet in a house, they refuse to cast their eyes upon each
other till a fowl has been killed and the blood sprinkled over them;
and, as already fully described, when two tribes make peace, after
solemn engagements are concluded, a pig is killed, the blood of which
is supposed to cement the bond of friendship.
They believe in a future state--considering that the Simañgat, or
spiritual part of man, lives for ever, that they awake shortly after
death in Sabayan or the future abode, and that there they find those of
their relatives and friends who have departed before them. The Sibuyaus
divide their Sabayan into seven distinct stories, which are occupied by
the souls of the departed according to their rank and position in life.
The really wicked occupy the lowest; but, whether happy or miserable,
they acknowledge ignorance.
The Dayaks are very litigious, and few would have the patience to
investigate one of their cases. The amateur lawyers of a tribe are
acute in inquiry, quick in making retorts, and gifted with wonderful
memories, generally referring to precedents of the customs of their
forefathers in the settlement of fresh cases.
A head feast consists in a general meeting of the tribe in the man’s
house who gives the entertainment. He prepares for it two or three
months before it takes place, collecting fish, fowls, eggs, plantains,
and other fruits, and in manufacturing an intoxicating drink from rice.
When all these things are ready, poles are cut of various lengths, one
for each of the heads that may be there to be rejoiced over; there
are also fantastically-shaped wooden birds, which undergo various
evolutions in the house; and, after the feast is over, are placed on
the top of the before-mentioned poles, with their heads turned in
the direction of the enemies’ country. The people, dressed in their
best clothes, collect in the house, and commence the feast by all the
youthful portion of the community engaging in cock-fighting--real
cock-fights, too often with very formidable steel spurs. They are very
partial to this amusement, and will go far and pay much for a good
bird, and will bet heavily on a well-known cock.
After some hours engaged in this amusement, they commence drinking
and eating, a part of the ceremony which does not entice the European
stranger, nor can the peculiar smell increase his appetite. It is an
extraordinary accumulation of food: fowls roasted with their feathers
on, and then torn joint from joint; eggs black from age, decayed fruit,
rice of all colours and kinds, strong-smelling fish, almost approaching
a state of rottenness; and their drink having the appearance and the
thickness of curds, in which they mix pepper and other ingredients. It
has a sickening effect upon them, and they swallow it more as a duty
than because they relish it. Before they have added any extraneous
matter it is not unpleasant, having something of the taste of spruce
beer.
They have then several processions, each headed by chiefs marching with
grave countenances, and followed by a youthful crowd. Their movements
are not graceful while parading about a house, as they put their bodies
into the stiffest postures. The women also, adorned with trappings
and beads of every colour, walk up and down, scattering yellow rice
about the house and on the heads of the men. The feast lasts three
days and nights, and winds up by their becoming amicably intoxicated,
always excepting the women, who do not drink, but take care of their
drunken husbands and relatives. This feast is intended as an offering
to Batara, on account of their success against enemies, and as a
thanksgiving for a plentiful harvest. To fail in this testimony of
gratitude would be grievous in their eyes. The Sea Dayaks follow the
custom of Pamali, or taboo, and believe in omens.[1]
_Head-hunting._--This practice has no doubt obtained among the
Dayaks from the earliest times, and when carried on by the interior
tribes very few lives were lost; but it much retarded the progress of
the country, as it rendered life and property insecure. The Sakarang
and Seribas, within the memory of living men, were a quiet, inoffensive
people, paying taxes to their Malay chiefs, and suffering much from
their oppressive practices,--even their children being seized and sold
into slavery. When the Malay communities quarrelled they summoned
their Dayak followers around them, and led them on expeditions against
each other. This accustomed the aborigines to the sea; and being found
hard-working and willing men, the Malays and Lanun pirates took them
out in their marauding expeditions, dividing the plunder--the heads of
the killed for the Dayaks, the goods and captives for themselves.
Gradually they began to feel their own strength and superiority of
numbers. In their later expeditions the Malays have followed rather
than led. The longing these Dayaks have acquired for head-hunting is
surprising. They say, “The white men read books, we hunt for heads
instead.” Until the Sarawak Government curbed their proceedings they
were known to coast down as far as Pontianak, and occasionally they
had been met forty miles out at sea in their rattan-tied boats, some
of them seventy feet in length. In rough weather most of the crew jump
overboard and hold on to the sides while the rest bale the boat out.
They say, when this occurs in places suspected to be frequented by
sharks, they each tie a bundle of the tuba plant round their ancles to
drive the devouring fish away. The juice of the tuba is the one used to
intoxicate fish.
About thirteen years ago, I heard the Natuna people give an account of
a horrible transaction that took place in one of their islands. A party
of Seribas Dayaks were cruising about among the little isles near,
and had destroyed several women and many fishermen, when they were
observed, towards evening, creeping into a deep and narrow inlet to
remain during the night. The islanders quietly assembled and surprised
their enemies, killing all but seven, who were taken prisoners--six
men and one lad. The former they roasted over a slow fire, and they
declared that the bold fellows died without uttering a cry of pain, but
defying them to the last; the lad, who stood trembling by, uncertain of
his fate, was sent back to the coast with a message to his countrymen,
that if they ever came there again, they would be all treated in the
same way. This fearful warning was sufficient to deter their seeking
heads again in that direction.
Parties of two and three sometimes went away for months on an inland
incursion, taking nothing with them but salt wrapped up in their
waist-cloths, with which they seasoned the young shoots, and leaves,
and palm cabbages, found in the forests; and when they returned home,
they were as thin as scarecrows. It is this kind of cat-like warfare
which causes them to be formidable enemies both to the Chinese and the
Malays, who never feel themselves safe from a Dayak enemy. They have
been known to keep watch in a well up to their chins in water, with a
covering of a few leaves over their heads to endeavour to cut off the
first person who might come to draw water. At night they would drift
down on a log, and cut the rattan cable of trading prahus, while others
of their party would keep watch on the bank, knowing well where the
stream would take the boat ashore; and when aground they kill the men
and plunder the goods.
An atrocious case happened many years ago up the Batang Lupar, where a
young man started on an expedition by himself to seek for a head from a
neighbouring tribe. In a few days he came back with the desired prize.
His relatives questioned him how it was he had been away so few days,
as they had never been able to do the same journey in double the time.
He replied gravely that the spirits of the woods had assisted him.
About a month afterwards a headless trunk was discovered near one of
their farms, and on inquiry being made, it was found to be the body
of an old woman of their own tribe, not very distantly related to the
young fellow himself. He was only fined by the chief of the tribe, and
the head taken from him and buried.
If a large party intended starting under a leader of any note, they
waited till he had first built a hut not far from the village, and
listened for an omen from the cry of the birds. As soon as a good
one was heard, they started; and when a certain distance from home,
stopped and held a consultation, in which they decided on the mode of
attack, and how the heads, captives, and plunder should be divided.
Large rivers intervening did not deter them, as they could always build
boats, tying them together with rattans, each being capable of holding
about thirty men. On their return they hid the planks in the jungle, to
be used on a future occasion.
Their war boats are well constructed and good models, and very fast;
some will hold as many as sixty or seventy men, with two months’
provisions. The keel is flat, with a curve or sheer of hard wood. A
long one does not exceed six fathoms, and upon it they will build a
boat of eleven fathoms over all. The extra length of planks, which
overlap, is brought up with a sheer. They caulk the seams with a bark
which is plentiful in the jungle. No other fastenings but rattans are
used.
They paint their boats red and white,--the former is generally an
ochre, but occasionally they use a kind of red seed pounded; the white
is simply lime, made from sea shells. In their boat expeditions they
always take a supply of red ochre to eat, in case of becoming short of
other provisions; and we once found in some deserted Seribas’ prahus
many packets of a white oleaginous clay used for the same purpose. The
bark they employ for caulking is very tough, and beaten out, serves
to make useful and comfortable coverlets, as well as waist-cloths and
head-dresses.
I have mentioned that the possession of a head is necessary to enable
the Dayaks to leave off mourning. I once met the Orang Kaya Pamancha of
Seribas, the most influential chief in the country. He was dressed in
nothing but a dirty rag round his loins, and thus he intended to remain
until the mourning for his wife ceased by securing a head. Until this
happens they cannot marry again, or appease the spirit of the departed,
which continues to haunt the house and make its presence known by
certain ghostly rappings. They endeavour to mollify its anger by the
nearest relative throwing a packet of rice to it under the house every
day, until the spirit is laid to rest by their being able to celebrate
a head feast: then the Dayaks forget their dead, and the ghosts of the
dead forget them. When passing a burial-ground, however, they throw on
it something they consider acceptable to the departed.
In writing about head-hunting, I should more frequently employ the past
tense, as all those portions of these tribes, which have been brought
under English influence, are rapidly losing these customs; and could
any profitable agricultural industry be introduced among them, they
would soon expend their energies in money-making.
The Dayaks are exceedingly quick in commercial transactions; and most
of them who did not know the value of a piece of money six years ago
are now active traders. They are said to be more acute than Malays, so
that even the Chinese find they cannot cheat them after the first year.
They are hoarding, though liberal according to custom; but generally
they are much disposed to be avaricious and closefisted. The Malays
sometimes make good bargains with them by using soft and flattering
language, but the Dayaks often repent of being so wheedled, and will
claim justice before the courts.
The Sea Dayaks, contrary to ancient custom, have the habit of keeping a
few slaves, and are generally kind masters; but the system has been a
very bad one, as many unfortunate people have become so in consequence
of the debts or the crimes of their parents or grand-parents. It is
scarcely right to give the name of slaves to these people, as on the
payment of the original debt or fine they become free.
They have no graven images, nor do they practise any outward or visible
signs of idolatry, nor have they any mode of religious worship further
than a solemn attention to superstitious practices and observances.
Several Dayaks have an objection to eating the flesh of pigs, deer, and
other animals; but it is because they are afraid of getting certain
complaints, as skin diseases, and the custom becomes hereditary, as
many families are subject to them; or it arises from the fear of going
mad; or as some married women tremble to touch deer’s flesh previously
to the birth of their firstborn; or because they have received warning
in dreams not to touch a particular kind of food. Their religious
opinions do not forbid them to eat any kind of animals.
The Sea Dayaks, however, would not intentionally kill a cobra, one
species of the lizard, or owls, or any of their birds of omen. There
are, also, certain animals and other birds which many families abstain
from injuring; in some cases, owing to a dream; in others, to help
traditionally received from them by an ancestor. In others, it is
forbidden to kill a civet cat, an orang-utan, or an alligator; and
they give such reasons as the following:--“One of my ancestors, a
clever man, cured a sick alligator, and then they made an agreement
that neither should injure the other.” Another said, when his
great-grandfather first settled at the hill of Banting, the orang-utan
abounded there. Their enemies once came to attack the place, but were
repulsed by the assistance of the orang-utans, who crowded to the
edge of the fruit groves to glare on the strangers, and were probably
mistaken for men. As a reason for not destroying the cobra, they say,
“It has always been forbidden, those who dream of them are lucky, and
often do the great spirits put on the forms of snakes.”
They sometimes change their names after severe sickness, when their
priests recommend it on the restoration of health. And, also, in the
event of a slave becoming free, his late master gives a feast upon the
occasion of manumitting him, and proclaims his freedom in public. They
often present a spear upon the occasion, the meaning of which is that,
if he be again claimed as a slave, the spear may be used to put to
death his former master.
It is contrary to custom for a man to marry a first cousin, as they
look upon them as sisters. No marriage is allowed with aunt or niece,
and some objection is made in a few of the communities to a man
marrying a deceased wife’s sister, or a woman taking her husband’s
brother; but these customs are not always followed, and I have heard of
uncles marrying nieces, and a marriage with a deceased wife’s sister
is also permitted, provided her parents approve of the man; and it is
then often encouraged by them in order to bring up the children as one
family.
Their priests have little or no knowledge of medicine, but trust,
in most cases, to their occult sciences. In ordinary sickness the
relatives are attentive, but not so, as I have said, when there is a
sweeping epidemic, as small-pox; in such cases they think it to be
useless striving against so formidable a spirit. When cholera was in
the country, the Dayaks lost comparatively few, as they healed those
taken with it by rubbing and warmth; but the Malays appeared to have
done everything they should not have done--drinking, when in health,
nothing but hot water, taking no exercise, and only eating a little
rice; the consequence was they were too weak to strive against the
complaint when seized. The most successful system practised by the
natives appears to be to rub the stomach and limbs with cajput oil
(kayu putih oil), and administer a strong dose of spirits immediately
the first symptoms are perceived. It is said a few drops of the oil
are also given with success. When the cholera, after committing great
ravages in the capital, appeared among the Muruts and Bisayas of
Limbang, they all fled from their villages, retiring to the hills and
the depths of the forest; their loss was very slight.
The women manufacture a coarse cloth; making and dyeing their own
yarn, beating out the cotton with small sticks, and, by means of a
spinning-wheel, running it off very quickly. The yarn is not so fine
as what they can buy of English manufacture, but it is stronger, and
keeps its colour remarkably well; and no cloth wears better than Dayak
cloth.
Their agricultural pursuits are limited in number, and with little
labour the soil yields sufficient crops to supply their wants. They
plant rice once a year; those who live on dry and high land have also
cotton and tobacco. They grow enough sugar-cane for their own eating,
not for making sugar; and they are so eager for gain, that it would
not be difficult to induce them to plant crops requiring only ordinary
superintendence. They sow the cotton-seed after the rice harvest. Their
agricultural instruments are strong swords, made by themselves from
imported iron, used for cutting grass or young jungle; and a kind of
small axe and adze in one, by turning the iron in its socket. This
instrument they use in shaping out planks for boats, and for felling
the larger trees; and, in their hands, it brings down the timber as
fast as an English axe would in the hands of a backwoodsman. One method
they adopt for getting rid of old jungle is this:--first of all, they
clear away the underwood and the branches near the ground, then with
their axes they cut the larger trees more than half through; at last,
choosing some giant of the forest, they fell it completely: in its
fall it drags all the others after it, as they are connected together
by twining creepers of great size and strength. It is a dangerous
practice, and requires care to avoid the wide-spread fall, that comes
to the earth with an awful crash.
They obtain bees’-wax from the nests built on the tapang tree, and
climb the loftiest heights in search of it, upon small sticks, which
they drive as they advance up the noble stem that rises above a
hundred feet free of branches, and whose girth varies from fifteen to
five-and-twenty feet. Once these pegs are driven in, their outer ends
are connected by a stout rattan, which, with the tree, forms a kind of
ladder.
It requires cool and deliberate courage to take a bee-hive at so great
an elevation, where, in case of being attacked by the bees, the almost
naked man would fall and be dashed to atoms. They depend upon the
flambeaux they carry up with them, as, when the man disturbs the hive,
the sparks falling from it cause, it is said, the bees to fly down in
chase of them, instead of attacking their real enemy, who then takes
the hive and lowers it down by a rattan string. The bees escape unhurt.
This plan does not appear to be as safe as that pursued by the Pakatan
Dayaks, who kindle a large fire under the trees, and, throwing green
branches upon it, raise so stifling a smoke that the bees rush forth,
and the man ascending takes their nest in safety. Both these operations
are generally conducted at night, although the second might be, I
imagine, practised in safety during the day.
There is a custom existing among the Dayaks of the Batang Lupar which
I have not heard of elsewhere. Beside one of the paths in the Undup
district there are several heaps of sticks; and in other places,
of stones, called “tambun bula,” or lying heaps. Each heap is in
remembrance of some man who has told a stupendous lie, or disgracefully
failed in carrying out an engagement; and every passer-by takes a stick
or a stone to add to the accumulation, saying, at the time he does it,
“For So-and-so’s lying heap.” It goes on for generations, until they
sometimes forget who it was that told the lie; but, notwithstanding
that, they continue throwing the stone.
At another place, near many cross roads, there is a tree on which are
hung innumerable pieces of rag; each person passing tears a little bit
of cloth from his costume and sticks it there. They have forgotten the
origin of this practice, but fear for their health if they neglect it.
One Dayak observed, “It is like that custom of some European nations
giving passports to those who enter or leave their country.” If this be
a true explanation, it is, perhaps, to give the spirits of the woods
notice who have passed that way, and the Dayak’s observation shows how
quick they are, and how well they remember what they have heard.
They practise various ordeals; among others, two pieces of native
salt, of equal weight, are placed in water; that appertaining to the
guilty party melts immediately; the other, they affirm, keeps its
form; but, in fact, the one that disappears first proves the owner to
be in the wrong. Another is with two land shells, which are put on a
plate and lime-juice squeezed upon them, and the one that moves first
shows the guilt or innocence of the owner, according as they have
settled previously whether motion or rest is to prove the case. They
talk of another, where the hand is dipped into boiling water or oil,
and innocence is proved by no injury resulting. The favourite ordeal,
however, is the dipping the head under water, and the first who puts up
his face to breathe loses the case.
I need only observe, concerning their language, that the Sibuyaus,
the Balaus, the Undups, the Batang Lupars, the Sakarangs, Seribas,
and those inhabitants of the Rejang living on the Kanowit and Katibas
branches, all speak the same language, with no greater modifications
than exist between the English spoken in London and Somersetshire. They
are, in fact, but divisions of the same tribe; and the differences that
are gradually growing up between them principally arise from those
who frequent the towns and engage in trade, using much Malay in their
conversations, and allowing their own words to fall into disuse. The
agricultural inhabitants of the farther interior are much more slowly
influenced.