SOCIAL LIFE OF THE LAND DAYAKS--_Continued._
Religion--Belief in Supreme Being--Traces of
Hinduism--Sacrifices--Pamali or Interdict--Mr. Chalmers’s
Account of the Dayak Religion--A Future State--Spirits by
Nature--Ghosts of Departed Men--Transformations--Catching the
Soul--Conversion of the Priest to Christianity--Story--Other
Ghosts--Custom of Pamali, or Taboo--Sacrifices--Things and
Actions Interdicted--Not to Eat Horned Animals--Reasons
for not Eating Venison--Of Snakes--The Living
Principle--Causes of Sickness--Spirits Blinding the Eyes
of Men--Incantations to Propitiate or Foil the Spirits
of Evil--Catching the Soul--Feasts and Incantations
connected with Farming Operations--The Blessing of the
Seed--The Feast of First Fruits--Securing the Soul of the
Rice--Exciting Night Scene--The Harvest Home--Singular
Ceremony--Head Feasts--Offering the Drinking Cup--Minor
Ceremonies--Images--Dreams--Love--Journeys of the Soul--Warnings
in Sleep--Magic Stones--Anecdote--Ordeals--Omens--Birds of
Omen--Method of Consulting them--Beneficial Effects of the Head
Feasts--Languages of the Land Dayaks--Deer--The Sibuyaus free
from Prejudice--Story of the Cobra De Capella--Names--Change
of Name--Prohibited Degrees of Affinity--Heights--Medical
Knowledge--Priests and Priestesses--Origin of the latter--Their
Practices--Manufactures--Agriculture--Story of the Origin of
Rice--The Pleiades.
_Religion._--This principally consists of a number of superstitious
observances. They are given up to the fear of ghosts; and in the
propitiation of these by small offerings and certain ceremonies
consists the principal part of their worship. But though this is the
case, I am quite convinced that they have a firm, though not clear
belief in the existence of one Supreme Being, who is above all, and
over all; and in this lies the best hope of the missionary. If we could
trace back the origin of their superstitions, we should probably find
that many of their inferior spirits are simply heroes of old who have
assumed the form of demigods; in fact, all my inquiries among the wild
tribes confirm me in the opinion that they believe in a Supreme Being.
I have mentioned in my _Limbang Journal_ old Japer saying,--“When I
speak of the God of the Pakatan tribe, I mean Him who made the heavens,
the earth, and man.” I have always thought that the three inferior
spirits mentioned by Mr. Chalmers in the extract I will give, Tenabi,
Iang, and Jirong are merely agents of Tapa, and occasionally their
subordinate position is overlooked by the Dayak narrators. It reminds
one of the three powers in the Hindu religion, “Brahma,” “Vishnu,” and
“Siva,” issuing from the Godhead Bram--and, in the Dayak religion,
“Tenabi,” the maker of the material world; Iang, the Instructor, and
Jirong, the Renovator and Destroyer, emanating from the Godhead Tapa,
the great Creator and Preserver. Before proceeding, I will give the
substance of Mr. Chalmers’s account of the religion of the Land Dayaks;
I may also premise by saying, that the Sarawak Land Dayaks call their
God “Tapa,” the Silakaus and Laras “Jewata,” and the Sibuyaus, “Batara.”
In common with many other barbarous tribes, their religious system
relates principally to this life. They are like the rest of mankind,
continually liable to physical evils, poverty, misfortune, sickness,
and these they try to avert from themselves by the practice of ancient
customs which are supposed to be effectual for the purpose. This system
may be classed as follows:--
The killing of pigs and fowls, the flesh of which is eaten, small
portions being set aside with rice for the spiritual powers; and from
the blood mixed with spittle, turmeric, and cocoa-nut water, a filthy
mess is concocted, and called physic, with which the people attending
the feast are anointed on the head and face. Dancing by the elders
and the priestesses about a kind of bamboo altar, erected on these
occasions either in the long room or on the exterior platform of one of
the houses, round which the offerings are placed, always accompanied by
the beating of all the gongs and drums of the tribe by the young lads,
and singing, or rather chanting, by the priestesses. The “pamali,” or
taboo of an apartment, house, or village for one, two, four, eight, and
even sixteen days, during which in the case of a village, no stranger
can enter it, in the case of a house, no one beside the families
residing therein, and in the case of an apartment no one out of the
family.
It cannot be denied that they have some belief in the Supreme God who
is called “Tapa,” the Creator or Maker, though their idea of Him as
a moral governor is very hazy and confused. They possess also some
glimmerings of a future existence, though scarcely any idea of a future
state of rewards and punishments. The following are a few particulars
of the Dayak theology.
There are four chief spirits: “Tapa,” who created men and women, and
preserves them in life; “Tenabi,” who made the earth, and, except the
human race, all things therein, and still causes it to flourish;
“Iang,” or “Iing,” who first instructed the Dayaks in the mysteries of
their religion, and who superintends its performance; “Jirong,” who
looks after the propagation of the human species, and also causes them
to die of sickness or accident. “Iang” is frequently associated with
“Tapa,” and “Tapa Iang” often stands for the Supreme Being.
An intelligent man of the tribe Setang, gave another account. He says
that “Tapa” and “Tenabi” are but different names for the same Great
Being, and that with Him is associated “Jirong,” the Lord of birth and
death. That when Tapa made the world, he first created “Iang,” then the
spirits “Triu” and “Komang,” and then man. That man and the spirits
were at first equal, and fought on fair terms, but that on one woful
occasion, the spirits got the better of man, and rubbed charcoal in his
eyes, which made him no longer able to see his spirit foes, except in
the case of certain gifted persons, as the priest, and so placed him at
their mercy.
With respect to a future state, the common Dayak story is that when a
man dies, he becomes a spirit, and lives in the jungle, or (this Mr.
Chalmers heard in one of the dead body burning tribes) that as the
smoke of the funeral pile of a good man rises, the soul ascends with it
to the sky, and that the smoke from the pile of a wicked man descends,
and his soul with it is borne down to the earth, and through it to
the regions below. Another version is, that when a man dies a natural
death, his soul on leaving the body becomes a spirit, and haunts the
place of burial or burning. When a spirit dies, for spirits too, it
would seem, are subject unto death, it enters the hole of Hades,
and coming out thence again becomes a Bejawi. In course of time the
“Bejawi” dies, and lives once more as a “Begutur;” but when a “Begutur”
dies, the spiritual essence of which it consists, enters the trunks of
trees, and may be seen there damp and blood-like in appearance, and has
a personal and sentient existence no longer.
I have introduced this account, and it is curious to trace in it a
similarity to the Budhist religion professed in Siam. There, they
believe that after passing through many and various transmigrations,
they will, as the last and best existence, sink into “neiban” and be
lost to all sense, and fade away without retaining personality any
longer.
With regard to a future state, the Dayaks point to the highest mountain
in sight as the abode of their departed friends.
The spirits are divided into two classes, “Umot,” spirits by nature,
and “Mino,” as I understood it to be, ghosts of departed men.
Umot.--The “Trui” and “Komang” live amid the noble old forest on the
tops of lofty hills. They delight in war and bloodshed, and always come
down to be present at the Dayak “head feasts.” They are described as
of a fierce and wild appearance, being covered with coarse red hair
like an orang-utan. By some the “Komang” are said to be the spirits
of departed heroes, associated after death for their valour with the
war-loving “Trui.” “Umot Sisi” is a harmless kind of spirit which
follows the Dayak, to look for the fragments of food which have fallen
through the open flooring of their houses, and who is heard at night
munching away below. “Umot Perubak” cause scarcity among the Dayaks,
by coming invisibly and eating the rice from the pot at mealtime; their
appetite is insatiable. “Umot Perusong” and “Tibong” come slily and
devour the rice which is stored within a receptacle made of the bark
of some gigantic tree, and is in the form of a vat. It is kept in the
garrets of the houses, and a large one will contain a hundred and fifty
bushels, and the family live in constant fear that these voracious
spirits will visit their store and entirely consume it.
“Mino Buau” are the ghosts of those who have been killed in war.
These are very vicious and inimical to the living;--they dwell in the
jungle, and have the power of assuming the form of beasts or headless
men. A Quop Dayak declared he met with one. He was walking through the
jungle, and saw what he thought was a squirrel sitting on the large
roots of a tree which overhung a small stream. He had a spear in his
hand, this he threw at the squirrel, and thought he had struck it; he
ran towards the spot at which it had apparently fallen, when to his
horror it faced him, rose up, and was transformed into a dog. The dog
walked on a few paces, and then turning into a human shape, sat slowly
down on the trunk of a fallen tree--head there was none. The spectre
body was parti-coloured, and at the top drawn up to a point. The Dayak
was smitten with a great fear, and away he rushed home and fell into
a violent fever; the priest was called, and he pronounced that the
patient’s soul had been summoned away from its corporeal abiding place
by the spirit; so he went to seek it, armed with his magic charms.
Midway between the village and place where the “Buau” had appeared,
the fugitive soul was overtaken and induced to pause, and having been
captured by the priest, was brought back to its body, and poked into
its place through an invisible hole in the head: the next day the fever
was gone.
This shows how the priests practise on the ignorance and superstition
of the people. Mr. Gomez, aware of it, used his utmost efforts to
convert the principal “Manang” or priest of the Lundu branch of the
“Sibuyaus,” and succeeded; since then there have been many baptized.
This, however, is not the principal effect; he has enlisted the learned
man on his side instead of against him, and I have little doubt of his
ultimately winning over the whole tribe of that section of Sea Dayaks.
Some accuse the Buau of being occasionally guilty of running off with
women. In former times, a wife named Temunyan was, in her husband’s
absence, carried off. On his return he searched for, and found the
spirit, slew him by a trick and recovered his wife; not, however, until
she had suffered violation. She was pregnant by the Buau, and in due
time she brought forth a son--a horrible monster, which her enraged
husband chopped up into small pieces; and these immediately turned into
leeches, with which the jungles are to this day unpleasantly infested.
“Mino Pajabun.”--These are the ghosts of those who meet with an
accidental death. Their name seems to be derived from a Dayak word
meaning “To long for,” because it is said they pass their time in
useless wailings over their hard fate.
“Mino Kok Anak.”--The spirits of women who have died in childbed. They
delight to mount high trees, and to startle belated Dayaks by horrible
noises as they are hurrying home in the twilight. There is also a ghost
or spirit--whether “Mino” or “Umot,” I have not ascertained--known to
the “Peninjaus,” which lives amid the holes of the rocks on the hills;
it is called “Sedying,” and on a rainy day may be heard in its cave
shivering and bemoaning as if suffering from the ague.
I have already mentioned that the custom “pamali,” called by the
Land Dayak “porikh,” obtains among all the tribes, and is constantly
practised. To propitiate the superior spirits, they shut themselves
up in their houses a certain number of days, and by that, among other
means, hope to avert sickness, to cure a favourite child, or to
restore their own health. They also have recourse to it when the cry
of the gazelle is heard behind them, or when their omen birds utter
unfavourable warnings. They likewise place themselves under this
interdict at the planting of rice, at harvest home, and upon many other
occasions. During this time, they appear to remain in their houses, in
order to eat, drink, and sleep; but their eating must be moderate, and
often consists of nothing but rice and salt. These interdicts are of
very different durations and importance. Sometimes, as at the harvest
home, the whole tribe is compelled to observe it, and then no one
must leave the village; at other times it only extends to a family,
or to a single individual. It is also considered important that no
stranger should break the taboo by entering the village, the house,
or the apartment, placed under interdict. If any one should do so
intentionally, he would subject himself to a fine.
The taboo lasts from one to sixteen days, according to the importance
attached to the event. The animals used in the sacrifice are fowls and
pigs, and I hear also that even dogs in certain tribes are occasionally
employed. The fowls and pigs are eaten, but the dogs not, the blood
only being required in their incantations. When a fowl is killed a
taboo may last one, two, or four days; when a pig--and then it is
usually a very important occasion--the ceremony may last four, eight,
or sixteen days.
People under interdict may not bathe, touch fire, or employ themselves
about their ordinary occupations. In conversation you continually
hear even the Malays say, “It is pamali,” or interdicted by their
superstitions, but if contrary to their religion they say “haram.”
I will notice a few things which the Dayaks consider must not be done
by them; for instance, most are not allowed to eat the flesh of horned
animals, as cattle and goats, and many tribes extend the prohibition to
the wild deer. In their refusal to touch the flesh of cows and bulls
they add another illustration of the theory that their religion is
indirectly derived from the Hindu, or if not actually derived, greatly
influenced by their intercourse with its disciples. They say that some
of their ancestors, in the transmigration of souls, were formerly
metamorphosed into these animals; and they slily, or innocently add,
that the reason why the Mahomedan Malays will not touch pork is, that
they are afraid to eat their forefathers, who were changed into the
unclean animal. It has often struck me that the origin of many of
their superstitions arose from the greediness of the elders; as in some
of the tribes they, together with the women and children, but not the
sturdy young men, may eat eggs. In other instances the very old men
and the women may eat of the flesh of the deer, while the young men
and warriors of the tribe are debarred from venison for fear it should
render them as timid as the graceful hind.
The taboo which prevents certain families from consuming the flesh
of snakes and other kinds of reptiles, most probably arose from some
incident in the life of one of their ancestors, in which the rejected
beast played a prominent part. It is religiously forbidden to all those
intending to engage in a pig-hunt from meddling with oil before the
chase, for fear the game should thus slip through their fingers. I may
add, if a certain kind of bird flies through a house the inhabitants
desert it; as they likewise do if a drop of blood be seen sprinkled on
the floor, unless they can prove whence it came.
In addition to the incantations (Beruri) which accompany every feast
(Gawei), there are special ones on occasions of sickness both in men
and rice. The Dayak idea of life is this, that in mankind, animals, and
rice there is a living principle called “semungat” or “semungi;” that
sickness is caused by the temporary absence, and death by the total
departure of this principle from the body. Hence the object of their
ceremonies is to bring back the departed souls; and some of the feasts
are held to secure the soul of the rice, which, if not so detained,
the produce of their farms would speedily rot and decay. At sowing
time, a little of the principle of life of the rice, which at every
harvest is secured by their priests, is planted with their other seeds,
and is thus propagated and communicated.
Sickness among mankind is occasionally caused by spirits inflicting on
people invisible wounds with invisible spears; indeed, they themselves
sometimes enter men’s bodies and drive out the soul. As a rule, to be
ill is to have been smitten by a spirit,[8] for it is these implacable
foes of mankind who under all circumstances entice forth and endeavour
to carry away the souls of men. If any one in his wanderings through
the jungle is wounded or killed by the spring traps[9] set near the
farms to destroy pigs who may attempt to break through into the fields,
it is because the spirit of the trap has caused darkness to pass
over his eyes, so that he should not see the regular warning mark,
consisting of two bamboos crossed, which tells of the neighbourhood of
danger.
To return, however, to the incantations by which the inimical spirits
are propitiated or foiled in their machinations. They are three:
“Nyibaiyan,” or the ceremony for restoring health. At this only one
fowl is killed; two priestesses are the actors, and they spend their
time chanting monotonously; the taboo lasts two nights. The invalid
and the person who prepares the magic ointment (a near relative of the
patient) are the only persons subject to its restraints.
“Berobat Pinya” is also for sickness. At this one priest and four or
five priestesses attend, the interdict lasts four days, and one pig and
one fowl are killed. Outside the door of the family apartment in which
the incantation is held are gathered together, in a winnowing basket,
an offering of fowls, yams, and pork, fowl and pig’s blood in a cup,
boiled rice and sirih-leaf, and areca-nut: these are for the various
spirits. On the first day of the incantation two priestesses pretend
to fight with each other with drawn swords, which they wave and slash
about in so furious a manner, as at once to put to flight the trembling
ghost. After this display of valour, chanting begins, accompanied by
the music of a small gong and a drum, the latter beaten by the priest;
this continues for a day and night. Towards midnight he proceeds to get
the soul of the patient. Carefully wrapping up a small cup in a white
cloth, he places it amidst the offerings before mentioned, then, with
a torch in one hand and a circlet of beads and tinkling hawk bells in
the other, he stalks about shaking his charms. After a little time he
orders one of the admiring spectators to look in the cup previously
wrapped up in white cloth, and sure enough there the soul always is,
in the form of a bunch of hair to vulgar eyes, but to the initiated in
shape and appearance like a miniature human being. This is supposed to
be thrust into a hole in the top of the patient’s head, invisible to
all but the learned man. He has thus recovered the man’s soul, or, as
it may be called, the principle of life that was departing from him.
The Land Dayaks of Sarawak say they have only one soul; the “Sibuyaus”
talk of several; but their souls, as shown by the priest to the friends
of the patient, bear a suspicious resemblance to the seeds of the
cotton plant.
“Berobat Sisab” has a similar aim to the above. At this, one priest,
but no priestess, is present. The priest first makes a bamboo altar[10]
in the common verandah outside the door of the patient’s room, round
which are placed offerings, and a pig and a fowl are killed. The
interdict lasts for eight days. For two there is beating of gongs
and drums, and dancing by the man who makes the charm, usually some
relation of the sick person. On the first night the soul is recovered,
and the patient washed in the milk of the cocoa-nut. I have often
been present when these ceremonies were going on; it is astonishing
that any patient should recover, stunned as he must be by the beating
and clanging of these ear-splitting instruments close to him. It has
effectually prevented my closing my eyes; and the melancholy wail of
the priestesses is sufficient, one would imagine, to drive hope itself
from the bedside of the sufferer.
The feasts and incantations connected with farming operations are as
follows:--First, in the midst of cutting down the jungle; second, when
it is set on fire. These are small affairs, the interdict lasting but
one day, and only a fowl being killed. They are called “Mekapau,” only
one gong and one drum are beaten; and also “nyirañgan,” because a
bamboo altar is built by the roadside, and upon it a small offering of
rice and blood is placed for the spirit. The second feast is to drive
away all evil influences from the earth, when ready for the seed.
The third feast[11] is the blessing of the seed before planting. It is
brought out, and the priestesses wave over it their flat brush-like
wands, which consist of the undeveloped fruit of the areca palm,
stripped of its sheath, and is in itself one of the prettiest objects
in the world, and in its natural bursting spreads around the parent
stem a delicious perfume that scents a whole grove. They thus expel all
malign influences; the interdict lasts two nights, one fowl is killed,
and there is music and dancing.
During the growth of the rice, if the rats be making havoc among it,
or the pale green leaf appear blighted, there are similar ceremonies
to awe the vermin, and charm back the colour to the plant. But the
harvest feasts are the great days; there are three:--The feast of first
fruits,[12] when the priestesses, accompanied by a gong and a drum, go
in procession to the farms and gather several bunches of the ripe padi.
These are brought back to the village, washed in cocoa-nut water, and
laid round a bamboo altar, which at the harvest feasts is erected in
the common room of the largest house, and decorated with white cloth
and red streamers, so as to present a very gay appearance, and is
hung around with the sweet-smelling blossom of the areca palm. This
feast and interdict last two days; only fowls are killed; dancing and
gong-beating go on night and day; and when it is over, the Dayaks may
set themselves to repair their bamboo platforms outside the houses, on
which the rice is trodden out from the ear, and then dried in the sun.
They may now also gather in their crops.
The second feast[13] is a more important affair: it is held about the
middle of harvest, and lasts four days; fowls and a pig are killed,
and dancing and beating of gongs go on almost continually. The first
part of this feast is celebrated, not in the village, but in a shed at
some distance from it, frequently built by the roadside, and sometimes
on the very summits of the hills on which the villages are situated.
Although strangers are forbidden to approach the place during these
ceremonies, yet at Sirambau I have often been invited to be present
during this and the other feasts. They choose a lovely spot for the
erection of their shed, which is tastefully decorated with green boughs
and climbing plants, and situated under the loftiest fruit-trees I have
ever seen; and here as in other villages, around the spot where the
shed was erected were planted yellow bamboos, and their golden tapering
stems and graceful feathery tufts are a charming and pleasing contrast
to the rude leaf walls and roof of the neighbouring building.
At this, and at the third and last harvest feast, the soul of the rice
is secured. The way of obtaining it varies in different tribes. In the
Quop district it is done by the chief-priest alone; first, in the long
and broad verandah where the altar is erected, and afterwards in each
separate family apartment. Sometimes it is performed by day, sometimes
by night; and the process is this: the priest, fixing his eyes on some
object visible only to him, takes in one hand his bundle of charms and
in the other a second composed of pigs’ and bears’ and dogs’ tusks
and teeth, and large opaque-coloured beads; a little gold dust is also
necessary in this ceremony, during which he calls aloud for white
cloth; when it is brought and spread before him, he waves his charms
towards the invisible object in the air, and then shakes it over the
white cloth, into which there fall a few grains of rice, which Tapa, in
reward for their offerings and invocations, sends down to them. This
is the soul, and it is immediately wrapped up with great care and laid
among the offerings around the altar.
The gold dust and white cloth are generally furnished at their
earnest request by the government, as the Dayaks think it exercises a
beneficial effect to receive it from white men. It used to be supplied
by the Malay rulers.
In some tribes it is a far more exciting spectacle, especially when
done at night. A large shed is erected outside the village, and
lighted by huge fires inside and out, which cast a ruddy glow over the
dense mass of palms surrounding the houses; while gongs and drums are
crashing around a high and spacious altar near the shed, where a number
of gaily-dressed men and women are dancing with slow and stately step
and solemn countenances, some bearing in their hands lighted tapers,
some brass salvers on which are offerings of rice, and others closely
covered baskets, the contents of which are hidden from all but the
initiated. The corner-posts of the altar are lofty bamboos, whose leafy
summits are yet green and rustic in the wind; and from one of these
hangs down a long, narrow streamer of white cloth. Suddenly elders and
priests rush to it, seize hold of its extremity, and amid the crashing
sound of drums and gongs and the yells of spectators, begin dancing and
swaying themselves backwards and forwards, and to and fro. An elder
springs on the altar, and begins violently to shake the tall bamboos,
uttering as he does so shouts of triumph, which are responded to by
the swaying bodies of those below; and amid all this excitement, small
stones, bunches of hair and grains of rice, fall at the feet of the
dancers, and are carefully picked up by watchful attendants. The rice
is the soul sought for, and the ceremony ends by several of the oldest
priestesses falling, or pretending to fall, to the earth senseless;
where, till they recover, their heads are supported and their faces
fanned by their younger sisters.
The third feast[14] is held after the end of the harvest, when the
year’s crop has been carefully stowed away. A pig and fowls are killed,
for four days gong-beating and dancing are kept up, and the taboo
lasts for eight days. Sometimes no stranger may approach the village
for sixteen days. At this period also the soul of the rice is likewise
secured, which is to ensure the non-rotting of the crop. At this
feast there is a general physicking of the children. They are washed
with cocoa-nut water, and then laid down in a row in the common room
where the feast is held, and scarcely suffered to move about for four
days. At this time also the elder priestesses physic their younger
sisters, and children of a tender age are entered among the number
of this learned and accomplished body; partly because admission into
it is supposed to secure them against violent sickness. For each one
who is now to be initiated, a young cocoa-nut is obtained, and their
elder sisters cause those on whom they are to exercise their power
to lie down in a line along the room, and to cover themselves with
long sleeping sheets. The cocoa-nuts belonging to the patients are
then taken into the hands of the priestesses, and with them they run
violently about the long room, tossing them up and down and to and
fro. In some villages they are rolled in soot and oil, and then kicked
furiously about from one priestess to the other. During this part of
the process the room presents a curious scene. Here some six or seven
gaily-dressed women are rushing frantically up and down, tossing in
their hands the heavy young cocoa-nuts; there a dozen old women are
moving to and fro on a rude swing suspended from the rafters, and
howling dolefully round the altar. A number of others are shrieking
and dancing; while from the farther end of the room beyond the line of
prostrate patients resounds a clatter of gongs and drums, beaten as
vigorously as twenty pair of young hands can apply themselves to the
work.
One by one the old priestesses cease their wild running backwards and
forwards, and each in succession presents herself before an elder of
the tribe, who stands, chopper in hand, over a mortar, into the hollow
of which each in turn places her cocoa-nut. With one blow the old man
splits the nut, and out gushes the water. If it simply fall into the
mortar, the prospect is good, but if it shoot up towards the roof, then
evil is the lot of the patient whose cocoa-nut it may be, for there is
sickness before her in the coming year. When a cocoa-nut is split, she
to whom it belongs is raised from her recumbent position and the water
is poured over her; she is then laid down again and carefully wrapped
up in her sheet. When all have been so treated a lighted taper is waved
over the prostrate, motionless patients, and a form of words chanted,
and then the ceremony is concluded by the head priestess going round
and blowing into the face of each of the patients; after which they are
allowed to chatter and amuse themselves, but are confined to the long
room, in company with the elders and such of the children as had been
previously subjected to the ceremony, until the close of the interdict.
_Head Feasts._--These are held only after some new heads have been
added to the ghastly trophies of the bachelor’s house; consequently
among the Dayaks of Sarawak there has not been a feast for many years,
except those celebrated over the heads of the rebellious Chinese killed
in 1857, who, confident in their fire-arms, attempted to capture the
villages on the mountain, their chief object being to burn down Sir
James Brooke’s cottage. They offered to cease their attack if the
Dayaks would put fire to it themselves; but they refused, and defended
their steep paths by the aid of barricades. The Chinese were foiled and
driven back to the plain, and were pursued by the mountaineers, who
inflicted heavy loss upon them. Chinese heads, however, are esteemed
of little value in comparison with those of their ancient enemies. The
head feast is the great day of the young bachelors. The head-house and
village are decorated with green boughs, and the heads to be feasted
are brought out from their very airy position, being hung from one of
the beams, where they rattle together at every breath of wind, and
are put into a rice measure in some very prominent place. The whole
population are robed in their best, the young men in red jackets,
yellow and red head-dresses, and gay waist-cloths or trousers.
For four days and four nights an almost incessant beating of gongs and
drums is kept up, and dances are performed by the young men only. The
priestesses are decked out in their usual style, but upon this occasion
their occupation is gone. Strong drinks, made from rice or the fruit of
the tampui-tree, and also from the gomuti palm, flow freely; shrieks,
yells, laughter, and shoutings, are heard in all directions, and the
whole village seems given up to riot and dissipation. The interdict
lasts eight days, two pigs are killed, and as many fowls as they can
afford. An offering of food is made to the heads, and their spirits,
being thus appeased, cease to entertain malice against, or to seek to
inflict injury upon, those who have got possession of the skull which
formerly adorned the now forsaken body.
A curious custom prevails among the young men at this feast. They cut a
cocoa-nut shell into the form of a cup, and adorn it with red and black
dye. Into one side of it they fasten a rudely carved likeness of a
bird’s head, and into the other the representation of its tail. The cup
is filled with arrack, and the possessor performs a short wild dance
with it in his hands, and then with a yell leaps before some chosen
companion, and presents it to him to drink. Thus the “loving cup” is
passed around among them, and it need not be said that the result is in
many cases partial, though seldom excessive, intoxication.
Before leaving the subject of feasts and incantations, I will mention
some of their occasional ceremonies. They perform some on account
of a bad dream, any threatening evil, or because of actual sickness;
sometimes also by way of precaution, but this is only after harvest
when they have nothing better to do. The theory of their ceremonies
appears to be this: that the offering of food made to the spirits
assuages their malice and secures their departure, these spirits being
considered the proximate cause of nearly all the evils to which they
are subjected.
The minor ceremonies are called “nyirañgan,” because a bamboo altar[15]
is erected by the roadside, and a fowl killed near it, part of which,
with rice and betel-nut, is offered upon it: the taboo is only for
a day. If any one meets with an accidental death in the jungle, a
ceremony is gone through near the spot; at this a pig is occasionally
killed, but in all such cases the taboo lasts only one day. If during
farming time a tree fall across the path, a ceremony is held, and all
whose farms are in that direction are tabooed. If during harvest the
basket into which the ears of rice are cut be upset, a fowl is killed,
and the family to whom the basket belongs is tabooed. Again, when the
Government rice-tax is paid, there is a ceremony. On this occasion a
shed is erected just at the entrance to the village, and in addition
to the offerings of food, it is hung with a number of split cocoa-nut
shells, which the spirits are supposed to appropriate as gongs.
_Images._--Although the Dayaks adhere with great strictness to the
command not to make any graven image for purposes of worship, yet in
some tribes they are in the habit of forming a rude figure of a naked
man and woman, which they place opposite to each other on the path to
the farms. On their heads are head-dresses of bark, by their sides is
the betel-nut basket, and in their hands a short wooden spear. These
figures are said to be inhabited each by a spirit who prevents inimical
influences from passing on to the farms, and likewise from the farms
to the village, and evil betide the profane wretch who lifts his hand
against them,--violent fever and sickness are sure to follow.
Among the tribes of Western Sarawak the priestesses have made for them
rude figures of birds. At the great harvest feasts they are hung up
in bunches of ten or twenty in the long common room, carefully veiled
with coloured handkerchiefs. They are supposed to become inhabited by
spirits, and it is forbidden for any one to touch them, except the
priestesses.
_Dreams._--The Dayaks regard dreams as actual occurrences. They
think that in sleep the soul sometimes remains in the body, and
sometimes leaves it and travels far away, and that both when in and
out of the body it sees, and hears, and talks, and altogether has a
prescience given it, which, when the body is in its natural state,
it does not enjoy. Fainting fits, or a state of coma, are thought to
be caused by the departure or absence of the soul on some distant
expedition of its own. When any one dreams of a distant land, as we
exiles often do, the Dayaks think that our souls have annihilated
space, and paid a flying visit to Europe during the night. Elders and
priestesses often assert that in their dreams they have visited the
mansion of Tapa, and seen the Creator dwelling in a house like that of
a Malay, the interior of which was adorned with guns and gongs and
jars innumerable, Himself being clothed like a Dayak.
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.
My own experience has led me to the conviction that it is very
difficult to draw any safe conclusion from the vocabularies generally
collected, because the best are usually made through the medium of the
Malay, and the worst by merely showing articles and guessing that the
response is the name of the thing shown. I made a list of Bisaya words
on the Limbang, another among the Idaán at the foot of “Kina Balu.”
I was certain of a great affinity between the languages, as men from
one tribe could freely converse with those of the other, though their
dwellings were a hundred and fifty miles apart; but on comparing the
written vocabularies, I found a surprising difference. Just before I
left Borneo, I spoke to a Bisaya on the subject: he said, “Repeat me a
few words of the Idaán that are different.” I did so. He answered, “I
understand those words, but we don’t often use them,” and he instantly
gave their meaning in Malay, to show that he did understand them.
My sudden and unexpected return to this country prevented my pursuing
the investigation. I mention this circumstance to show that differences
are often more apparent than real. Mr. Chalmers’s vocabularies are
trustworthy, as he can speak the Land Dayak freely.
_Deer._--The Dayaks of the Quop district do not refuse to eat
deer. The custom of doing so, however, obtains in Western Sarawak, but
chiefly in the Singgi tribe, and then only among the young men.
As will be found mentioned in my account of Samarahan, they do so
because deer’s flesh produces in those who eat it faint hearts; and
as I have elsewhere observed, the interdict on certain kinds of food
to the young people is merely selfishness on the part of the elders
to secure to themselves a greater share of articles that are not
plentiful. The Silakau and Lara Dayaks who have emigrated from Sambas
into Lundu, do not eat the flesh of the deer, from an opinion that they
descended from Dayak ancestors, but Mr. Chalmers, in his experience
of the Sarawak Land Dayak, never heard of any prejudice existing
against killing or even eating any animals except the faint-heartedness
supposed to be produced by venison; nor did he notice that the serpent
had any sacred character. Many people eat it; some, however, refuse,
considering it foul-feeding.
The Sibuyau Dayaks of Lundu, from their greater intercourse with Malays
and Chinese, and from the advantages they have derived from local
self-government, and freely trading with the surrounding districts,
have lost most of their old superstitions, as I have noticed in my
account of the Sea Dayaks: nor must I omit to mention that their
intercourse with a succession of able European officers, and the
constant presence among them of Mr. Gomez, a missionary of singular
tact, have had a remarkable effect upon their characters, and rendered
them a very superior tribe. They kill the cobra and other reptiles, but
the Land Dayaks of Lundu, as well as the Silakaus, consider it wrong to
destroy it. They say that in former times one of their female ancestors
was pregnant for seven years, and ultimately brought forth twins, one a
human being and the other a cobra de capella. They lived together for
some time, the snake always keeping his head well out of the way for
fear of hurting his brother with his venomous teeth, but allowing him
to amuse himself with his tail. When they grew up the cobra left the
house to dwell in the forest, but before leaving he told his mother to
warn her children, that should, unfortunately, one of them be bitten by
the hooded snake, not to run away, but remain a whole day at the spot
where the injury was received, and the venom would have no poisonous
effect. Not long after he was met in the forest by his brother, who,
under the effect of surprise, drew his sword and smote off his tail,
which accounts for that blunted appearance observable in all his
brethren. The superstition of the snake curing the bite is believed;
the wounded person being still allowed to remain twenty-four hours in
the jungle. During my fourteen years’ residence in Borneo, I have only
heard of two persons dying from the effects of snake bites.
_Names_:--
Names of Men.
Mobon.
Doden.
Magè.
Nyait.
Rinyang.
Si Ngais.
Marik.
Si Neg.
Si Ngaruk.
Si Gindai.
Si Raru.
Si Rugi.
Si Kangon.
Sonyam.
Si Mara.
Sanyung.
Names of Women.
Si Kudon.
Si Risi.
Si Tuk.
Si Ngada.
Si Risok.
Si Kûdi.
Si Bior.
Sanut.
Tika.
Si Nyat.
Monog.
Sakot.
Si Rawang.
Sopop.
Si Nuag.
The above are personal names; when young the parents often change
them, especially if the child be sickly, there being an idea that
they will deceive the inimical spirits by following this practice. As
the children grow up they are dignified further by a change of name:
thus, “Si Mara” becomes “Ma Kari,” _i.e._ the father of Kari,
being the name of a child of his father’s or mother’s younger brother
or sister. If this younger brother or sister have no children, whose
names are to spare, “Si Mara” must wait until he gets a child of his
own, and then he takes his child’s name with “Ma” prefixed. The same
custom holds good with women;--“Si Risi,” a personal name, being
changed into “Nu Sangut,” _i.e._ the mother of Sangut. So, again,
if the younger brother or sister (and this is a most comprehensive
relationship) of a person’s father or mother have grandchildren, then
the “Ma” and “Nu” are abandoned for “Bai” and “Muk,” the grandfather or
grandmother: thus, “Ma Kari” might become “Bai Kinyum,” and “Nu Sangut”
be metamorphosed into “Muk Weit.”
_Marriage._--The prohibited degrees seem to be the same as adopted
among ourselves: marriage with a deceased wife’s sister, it is said, is
prohibited, as well as that between first cousins; and second cousins
are only permitted after the exchange of a fine of a jar, the woman
paying it to the relation of her lover, and he to her relations. Among
the Sibuyaus, however, I have known an uncle marry his niece.
_Heights._--MALE ADULTS: 4 ft. 10 in. (short); 5 ft. 1 in.; 5 ft. 3
in.; 5 ft. 4 in.; 5 ft. 5½ in.; 5 ft. 7 in. FEMALE ADULTS: 4 ft. 6 in.
(short); 4 ft. 8 in.; 4ft. 9 in.; 4ft. 10½ in.; 5 ft.; 5 ft. 2 in.
(tall).
They have little or no knowledge of medicine, though they sometimes
collect pepper and onions with which to make physic, a kind of
stomachic. The grated flesh of old cocoa-nut is occasionally applied
to wounds and bruises, but there is no general knowledge even of the
powers of rice poultices. Blue-stone they eagerly inquire for, and they
have learnt its properties. Their most common physic is to get a friend
to chew up a mass of sirih-leaves, areca and lime, until it is reduced
to a thick red juice, which is then squirted from the mouth over the
part affected. If this physic be thus administered by a regular doctor
it will be more efficacious, but any one may do it. This mess is used
indiscriminately for all diseases: stomach ache, sore eyes, ulcers,
wounds, boils, rheumatism, as well as fever. When it is squirted on
to the forehead it is supposed to be efficacious in relieving the
accompanying headache. This is very much practised by the Malays, who
thus render their sick, objects of disgust. I have often thought it
necessary to insist upon the patient being washed carefully before
administering European medicines.
I have already spoken of a mixture of blood and turmeric being
plastered on the head at the regular ceremonies. On these occasions
also the cheek and forehead of those who take part in them are marked
with blood. I have also spoken of bathing the patient in cocoa-nut
water, and these comprise all the medical applications of which I am
aware.
In most tribes, there are five or six priests, and in some districts
half the female population are included under the denomination of
priestesses.
In Western Sarawak they are not so numerous. The power of these
women consists chiefly in their chanting, which is supposed to be
most effectual in driving away spirits. Strange to say, some of the
sentences they chant are not in their own language, but in Malay.
These women are not necessarily impostors; they but practise the ways
and recite the songs which they received from their predecessors, and
the dignity and importance of the office enable them to enjoy some
intervals of pleasurable excitement during their laborious lives. Their
dress is very gay; over their heads they throw a red cloth, on the top
of which they place a cylindrical cap, worked in red, white, and black
beads, and their short petticoats are fringed with hundreds of small,
tinkling hawk-bells. Around their neck is hung a heavy bead necklace,
consisting of five or six rows of black, red, and white opaque beads
strongly bound together. In addition, they hang over their shoulders,
belt-fashion, a string of teeth, large hawk-bells and opaque beads.
There are several stories concerning the origin of the priestesses.
That which is current in the Quop district is as follows:--
Long ago, when the Dayaks were quite ignorant of religion, a certain
man and his wife had two daughters. Both of them fell ill; the parents
knew of no remedy, so they took a pig’s trough, placed the children
within it, and sent them floating down the river towards the sea. The
great “Iang,” from his lofty seat, saw them in this pitiful situation
and crying helplessly, he had compassion on them and took them to his
dwelling on the mountain of Santubong.
There he cured them himself, and then taught them the mysteries of
religion, the formulas they were to chant, the taboo they were to
observe, and the rites and ceremonies they were to perform. This done,
he transported them back to their own village, where they were welcomed
and reverenced, and it was they who founded the sacred order of
priestesses, as it now exists throughout these countries.
The priests must in many respects be regarded as impostors, though, of
course, even with their deceitful practices is mixed much superstitious
credulity. They pretend to meet and to converse with spirits, to
receive warnings, and sometimes presents from them, to have the power
of seeing and capturing the departed soul of a sick man, and to be able
to find and secure for the Dayaks that vital principle of the rice
which “Tapa” sends down from above at their two chief harvest feasts.
To increase their authority, they do not hesitate to declare that
they have predicted every event. No accident happens to man or goods
of which they do not say that they had previous warning; and a sick
man scarcely ever calls upon them for their aid when they do not tell
him that for some time previously they had known he was going to have
an attack. One of their commonest practices is to pretend to extract
from a sick man’s body, stones and splinters, which they declare are
spirits; they wave charms over the part affected, and jingle them upon
it for a moment, then bring them to the floor with a crash, and out of
them falls a stone, or piece of wood, or small roll of rag. At least
half a dozen of these evil spirits are occasionally brought out of a
man’s stomach, one after the other, and great is the influence, and
not small the profit, of a successful priest. For getting back a man’s
soul he receives six gallons of uncleaned rice; for extracting a spirit
from a man’s body, the same fee, and for getting the soul of the rice
at harvest feasts he receives three cups from every family in whose
apartment he obtains it. The value of six gallons of uncleaned rice is
not very great, but it is the sixtieth part of the amount obtained by
an able-bodied man for his annual farm labour.
The priestesses have their fees, but they do not make so much from the
superstition of their countrymen as the male professors.
_Manufactures._--Among these are baskets of fine rattan and coarse
rattan mats. In each village there is generally a blacksmith who can
make, as well as repair, their spears and choppers; each man, moreover,
is his own carpenter, gardener, and farmer; in fact, does almost
everything necessary for the welfare of his family.
_Agriculture._--They plant rice, Indian corn, cucumbers, bananas,
sweet potatoes, sugar-cane, kiladis, yams, beans in their farms and
gardens, and all kinds of fruit-trees around their villages and on
neighbouring hills.
I will add a story which was kindly communicated to me by Mr. Chalmers
as to the introduction of rice among the Dayak tribes.
Once upon a time, when mankind had nothing to eat but a species of
edible fungus that grows upon rotting trees, and there were no cereals
to gladden and strengthen man’s heart, a party of Dayaks, among whom
was a man named Si Jura, whose descendants live to this day in the
Dayak village of Simpok, went forth to sea. They sailed on for some
time, until they came to a place at which they heard the distant roar
of a large whirlpool, and, to their amazement, saw before them a huge
fruit-tree rooted in the sky, and thence hanging down with its branches
touching the waves. At the request of his companions, Si Jura climbed
among its boughs to collect the fruit which was in abundance, and
when he was there he found himself tempted to ascend the trunk and
find out how the tree grew in that position. He did so, and at length
got so high that his companions in the boat lost sight of him, and
after waiting a certain time coolly sailed away loaded with fruit.
Looking down from his lofty position, Si Jura saw his friends making
off, so he had no other resource but to go on climbing in hopes of
reaching some resting-place. He therefore persevered climbing higher
and higher, till he reached the roots of the tree, and there he
found himself in a new country--that of the Pleiades. There he met a
being in form of a man, named Si Kira, who took him to his house and
hospitably entertained him. The food offered was a mess of soft white
grains--boiled rice. “Eat,” said Si Kira. “What! those little maggots?”
replied Si Jura. “They are not maggots, but boiled rice;” and Si Kira
forthwith explained the process of planting, weeding, and reaping, and
of pounding and boiling rice. Before eating, Si Kira’s wife went to get
some water, and during her absence Si Jura looked into a large jar near
where he was sitting, and there, as in a telescope, he saw his father’s
house, and his parents and brothers and sisters all assembled and
talking. His spirits were much depressed at the remembrance of a home
he perhaps might not see again, and instead of eating he began to weep.
Si Kira, who perceived at once what was the matter, bade him cheer up
and eat away, for he would arrange everything for him satisfactorily.
So Si Jura made a hearty meal, and after eating, Si Kira gave him seed
of three kinds of rice, instructed him how to cut down the forest,
burn, plant, weed, and reap, take omens from birds, and celebrate
harvest feasts; and then, by a long rope, let him down to earth again
near his father’s house.
Si Jura it was who taught the Dayaks to farm, and to this day they
follow the instruction he received from Si Kira--nay, more, the
Pleiades themselves tell them when to farm; and according to their
position in the heavens morning and evening, do they cut down the
forest, burn, plant, and reap. The Malays are obliged to follow their
example, or their lunar year would soon render their farming operations
unprofitable.