surprise. I have already described the strength and fortifications of
Loondoo, and a similar principle is every where adopted. The town being
built on the banks of the river, the boom I have described is invariably
laid across the stream to prevent the ascent of boats. Commanding the
barriers, one or more forts are built on an eminence, mounting within
them five or six of the native guns, called leilas. The forts are
surrounded by a strong stockade, which is surmounted by a
cheveaux-de-frise of split bamboos. These stockaded forts are, with the
houses and cocoa nuts adjoining, again surrounded by a strong stockade,
which effectually secures them from any night attack.
Great respect is paid to the laws and to the mandates of their Chiefs,
although it but too often happens that, stimulated by revenge, or other
passions, they take the law into their own hands; but if crimes are
committed, they are not committed without punishment following them, and
some of their punishments are very barbarous and cruel: I have seen a
woman with both her hands half-severed at the wrists, and a man with
both his ears cut off.
The religious ideas of the Dyaks resemble those of the North American
Indians: they acknowledge a Supreme Being, or "Great Spirit;" they have
also some conception of an hereafter. Many of the tribes imagine that
the great mountain Keney Balloo is a place of punishment for guilty
departed souls. They are very scrupulous regarding their cemeteries,
paying the greatest respect to the graves of their ancestors. When a
tribe quits one place to reside at another, they exhume the bones of
their relations, and take them with them.
I could not discover if they had any marriage ceremony, but they are
very jealous of their wives, and visit with great severity any
indiscretion on their parts.
The Dyaks live principally upon rice, fish, and fruit, and they are very
moderate in their living. They extract shamshoo from the palm, but
seldom drink it Their principal luxury consists in the chewing the
betel-nut and chunam; a habit in which, like all the other inhabitants
of these regions, from Arracan down to the island of New Guinea, they
indulge to excess. This habit is any thing but becoming, as it renders
the teeth quite black, and the lips of a high vermilion, neither of
which alterations is any improvement to a copper-coloured face.
They both chew and smoke tobacco, but they do not use pipes for smoking;
they roll up the tobacco in a strip of dried leaf, take three or four
whiffs, emitting the smoke through their nostrils, and then they
extinguish it. They are fond of placing a small roll of tobacco between
the upper lip and gums, and allow it to remain there for hours. Opium is
never used by them, and I doubt if they are acquainted with its
properties.
They seldom cultivate more land than is requisite for the rice, yams,
and sago for their own consumption, their time being chiefly employed in
hunting and fishing. They appear to me to be far from an industrious
race of people, and I have often observed hundreds of fine-looking
fellows lolling and sauntering about, seeming to have no cares beyond
the present. Some tribes that I visited preferred obtaining their rice
in exchange from others, to the labour of planting it themselves. They
are, in fact, not agriculturally inclined, but always ready for barter.
They are middle-sized, averaging five feet five inches, but very
strong-built and well-conditioned, and with limbs beautifully
proportioned. In features they differ very much from the piratical
inhabitants of these rivers. The head is finely formed, the hair,
slightly shaven in front, is all thrown to the back of the head; their
cheek-bones are high, eyes small, black and piercing, nose not exactly
flat--indeed in some cases I have seen it rather aquiline; the mouth is
large, and lips rather thick, and there is a total absence of hair on
the face and eyebrows. Now the above description is not very much unlike
that of an African; and yet they are very unlike, arising, I believe,
from the very pleasing and frank expression of their countenances, which
is their only beauty. This description, however, must not be considered
as applicable to the whole of these tribes,--those on the S. E. coast of
the island being by no means so well-favoured.
[Illustration: SEREBIS DYAK.
(N. W. COAST OF BORNEO.)
F. M. DELT.
M. N. HANHART LITH. PRINTERS
LONDON; LONGMAN & CO. 1848]
The different tribes are more distinguishable by their costumes than by
their manners. The Dyaks of Loondoo are quite naked, and cover the arms
and legs with brass rings. Those of Serebis and Linga are remarkable for
wearing as many as ten to fifteen large rings in their ears. The Dusums,
a tribe of Dyaks on the north coast, wear immense rings of solid tin or
copper round their hips and shoulders, while the Saghai Dyaks of the S.
E. are dressed in tigers' skins and rich cloth, with splendid
head-dresses, made out of monkeys' skins and the feathers of the Argus
pheasant.
[Illustration: TEETH OF DYAKS.]
The invariable custom of filing the teeth sharp, combined with the use
of the betel-nut turning them quite black, gives their profile a very
strange appearance. Sometimes they render their teeth concave by
filing.
[Illustration: COSTUMES OF DYAK WOMEN.]
[Illustration: SUM-PI-TAN--BLOW-PIPE WITH POISONED ARROWS.]
Their arms consist of the blow-pipe (sum-pi-tan), from which they eject
small arrows, poisoned with the juice of the upas; a long sharp knife,
termed pa-rang; a spear, and a shield. They are seldom without their
arms, for the spear is used in hunting, the knife for cutting leaves,
and the sum-pi-tan for shooting small birds. Their warfare is carried on
more by treachery and stratagem than open fighting--they are all
warriors, and seldom at peace. The powerful tribes which reside on the
banks of the river generally possess several war prahus, capable of
holding from twenty to thirty men, and mounting a brass gun (leila) on
her bows, carrying a ball of one to two pounds weight. These prahus,
when an expedition is to be made against a neighbouring tribe, are
manned by the warriors, one or two of the most consequential men being
stationed in each prahu. Before they start upon an expedition, like the
North American Indians, they perform their war dance.
[Illustration: SAGHAI DYAK.
(S. E. COAST OF BORNEO.)
F. M. DELT.
M. N. HANHART LITH. PRINTERS
LONDON; LONGMAN & CO. 1848]
Should their enemies have gained intelligence of the meditated attack,
they take the precaution of sending away their women, children, and
furniture, into the jungle, and place men in ambush on the banks of the
river, who attack the assailants as they advance. The Dyaks are all very
brave, and fight desperately, yelling during the combat like the
American Indians. The great object in their combats is to obtain as many
of the heads of the party opposed as possible; and if they succeed in
their surprise of the town or village, the heads of the women and
children are equally carried off as trophies. But there is great
difficulty in obtaining a head, for the moment that a man falls every
effort is made by his own party to carry off the body, and prevent the
enemy from obtaining such a trophy. If the attacking party are
completely victorious, they finish their work of destruction by setting
fire to all the houses, and cutting down all the cocoa-nut trees; after
which they return home in triumph with their spoil. As soon as they
arrive another war dance is performed; and after making very merry, they
deposit the heads which they have obtained in the head-house. Now,
putting scalps for heads, the reader will perceive that their customs
are nearly those of the American Indians.
Every Dyak village has its head-house: it is generally the hall of
audience as well. The interior is decorated with heads piled up in
pyramids to the roof: of course the greater the number of heads the more
celebrated they are as warriors.
[Illustration: DYAK VILLAGE.]
The women of the north-east coast are by no means bad-looking, but very
inferior to the mountain Dyaks before described. I have seen one or two
faces which might be considered as pretty. With the exception of a
cloth, which is secured above the hips with a hoop of rattan, and
descends down to the knees, they expose every other portion of their
bodies. Their hair, which is fine and black, generally falls down
behind. Their feet are bare. Like the American squaws, they do all the
drudgery, carry the water, and paddle the canoes. They generally fled at
our approach, if we came unexpectedly. The best looking I ever saw was
one we captured on the river Sakarron. She was in a dreadful fright,
expecting every moment to be killed, probably taking it for granted that
we had our head-houses to decorate as well as their husbands. While
lying off the town of Baloongan, expecting hostilities to ensue, we
observed that the women who came down to fill their bamboos with water
were all armed.
And now to resume the narrative of our proceedings:--
I stated that after our interview with the old chief, and promising to
return in the evening to witness a war dance, we proceeded on a stroll,
accompanied by the chiefs eldest son, who acted as our guide, and
followed by a large party of the natives. We first examined the forts:
these were in a tolerable state of efficiency, but their gunpowder was
coarse and bad. We next went over the naval arsenal, for being then at
peace with every body, their prahus were hauled up under cover of sheds.
One of them was a fine boat, about forty feet long, mounting a gun, and
capable of containing forty or fifty men. She was very gaily decorated
with paint and feathers, and had done good service on the Sakarron river
in a late war. These war prahus have a flat strong roof, from which they
fight, although they are wholly exposed to the spears and arrows of the
enemy.
We then invaded their domestic privacy, by entering the houses, and
proceeded to an inspection of the blacksmith's shop, where we found the
chiefs youngest son, with his velvet jacket thrown aside, working away
at a piece of iron, which he was fashioning into a pa-rang, or Dyak
knife. The Dyak pa-rang has been confounded with the Malay kris, but
they differ materially. The Dyaks, I believe, seldom use the kris, and
the Malays never use the knife; and I observed, when we visited the
south coast of Borneo, that the knife and other arms of the tribes
inhabiting this portion, were precisely similar to those of the Dyaks on
the northern coast. Customs so universal and so strictly adhered to
proves not only individuality, but antiquity. Having examined every
thing and every body, we were pretty well tired, and were not sorry that
the hour had now arrived at which we were again to repair to the house
of the rajah.
On our arrival we found the rajah where we left him, and all the chief
men and warriors assembled. Refreshments had been prepared for us, and
we again swallowed various mysterious confections, which, as I before
observed, would have been very good if we had been hungry. As soon as
the eatables had been despatched, we lighted our cheroots, and having,
by a dexterous and unperceived application out of a brandy bottle,
succeeded in changing the rajah's lemonade into excellent punch, we
smoked and drank until the rajah requested to know if we were ready to
witness the promised war dance. Having expressed our wishes in the
affirmative, the music struck up; it consisted of gongs and tom-toms.
The Malay gong, which the Dyaks also make use of, is like the Javanese,
thick with a broad rim, and very different from the gong of the Chinese.
Instead of the clanging noise of the latter, it gives out a muffled
sound of a deep tone. The gong and tom-tom are used by the Dyaks and
Malays in war, and for signals at night, and the Dyaks procure them from
the Malays. I said that the music struck up, for, rude as the
instruments were, they modulate the sound, and keep time so admirably,
that it was any thing but inharmonious.
A space was now cleared in the centre of the house, and two of the
oldest warriors stepped into it. They were dressed in turbans, long
loose jackets, sashes round their waists descending to their feet, and
small bells were attached to their ankles. They commenced by first
shaking hands with the rajah, and then with all the Europeans present,
thereby giving us to understand, as was explained to us, that the dance
was to be considered only as a spectacle, and not to be taken in its
literal sense, as preparatory to an attack upon us, a view of the case
in which we fully coincided with them.
[Illustration: WAR DANCE OF THE DYAKS.
F. M. DELT.
M. N. HANHART LITH. PRINTERS]
This ceremony being over, they rushed into the centre and gave a most
unearthly scream, then poising themselves on one foot they described a
circle with the other, at the same time extending their arms like the
wings of a bird, and then meeting their hands, clapping them and keeping
time with the music. After a little while the music became louder, and
suddenly our ears were pierced with the whole of the natives present
joining in the hideous war cry. Then the motions and the screams of the
dancers became more violent, and every thing was working up to a state
of excitement by which even we were influenced. Suddenly a very
unpleasant odour pervaded the room, already too warm from the numbers it
contained. Involuntarily we held our noses, wondering what might be the
cause, when we perceived that one of the warriors had stepped into the
centre and suspended round the shoulders of each dancer a human head in
a wide meshed basket of rattan. These heads had been taken in the late
Sakarron business, and were therefore but a fortnight old. They were
encased in a wide net work of rattan, and were ornamented with beads.
Their stench was intolerable, although, as we discovered upon after
examination, when they were suspended against the wall, they had been
partially baked and were quite black. The teeth and hair were quite
perfect, the features somewhat shrunk, and they were altogether very
fair specimens of pickled heads; but our worthy friends required a
lesson from the New Zealanders in the art of preserving. The appearance
of the heads was the signal for the music to play louder, for the war
cry of the natives to be more energetic, and for the screams of the
dancers to be more piercing. Their motions now became more rapid, and
the excitement in proportion. Their eyes glistened with unwonted
brightness. The perspiration dropped down their faces, and thus did
yelling, dancing, gongs, and tom-toms become more rapid and more violent
every minute, till the dancing warriors were ready to drop. A farewell
yell, with emphasis, was given by the surrounding warriors; immediately
the music ceased, the dancers disappeared, and the tumultuous excitement
and noise was succeeded by a dead silence. Such was the excitement
communicated, that when it was all over we ourselves remained for some
time panting to recover our breath. Again we lighted our cheroots and
smoked for a while the pipe of peace.
A quarter of an hour elapsed and the preparations were made for another
martial dance. This was performed by two of the rajah's sons, the same
young men I have previously made mention of. They came forward each
having on his arm one of the large Dyak shields, and in the centre of
the cleared space were two long swords lying on the floor. The ceremony
of shaking hands, as described preparatory to the former dance, was
first gone through; the music then struck up and they entered the arena.
At first they confined themselves to evolutions of defence, springing
from one side to the other with wonderful quickness, keeping their
shields in front of them, falling on one knee and performing various
feats of agility. After a short time, they each seized a sword, and then
the display was very remarkable, and proved what ugly customers they
must be in single conflict. Blows in every direction, feints of every
description, were made by both, but invariably received upon the
shields. Cumbrous as these shields were, no opening was ever left,
retreating, pursuing, dodging, and striking, the body was never exposed.
Occasionally, during this performance, the war cry was given by the
surrounding warriors, but the combatants held their peace; in fact they
could not afford to open their mouths, lest an opening should be made.
It was a most masterly performance, and we were delighted with it.
As the evening advanced into night, we had a sort of extemporary drama,
reminding us of one of the dances, as they are called, of the American
Indians, in which the warriors tell their deeds of prowess. This was
performed by two of the principal and oldest warriors, who appeared in
long white robes, with long staves in their hands. They paraded up and
down the centre, alternately haranguing each other; the subject was the
praise of their own rulers, a relation of their own exploits, and an
exhortation to the young warriors to emulate their deeds. This
performance was most tedious; it lasted for about three hours, and, as
we could not understand a word that was said, it was not peculiarly
interesting. It, however, had one good effect: it sent us all asleep. I
fell asleep before the others, I am told; very possible. I certainly
woke up the first, and on waking, found that all the lights were out,
and that the rajah and the whole company had disappeared, with the
exception of my European friends, who were all lying around me. My
cheroot was still in my mouth, so I re-lighted it and smoked it, and
then again lay down by the side of my companions. Such was the wind-up
of our visit to the rajah, who first excited us by his melodramas, and
then sent us to sleep with his recitations.
The next morning, at daylight, we repaired to our boats, and when all
was ready took leave of the old rajah. The rajah's eldest son had
promised to accompany us to the mouth of the river, and show us how the
natives hunted the wild pigs, which are very numerous in all the jungles
of Borneo.
We got under weigh and proceeded down the river accompanied by a large
canoe, which was occupied by the rajah's son, six or seven hunters, and
a pack of the dogs used in hunting the wild boar on this island. These
dogs were small, but very wiry, with muzzles like foxes, and curling
tails. Their hair was short, and of a tan colour. Small as they are,
they are very bold, and one of them will keep a wild pig at bay till the
hunters come up to him.
[Illustration: OBTAINING FIRE.]
We arrived at the hunting ground at the mouth of the river in good time,
before the scent was off, and landed in the _Tam-bang_. Our captain
having a survey to make of an island at the mouth of the river, to our
great delight took away the barge and gig, leaving Mr. Brooke, Hentig,
Captain Keppell, Adams, and myself, to accompany the rajah's son. Having
arranged that the native boat should pull along the coast in the
direction that we were to walk, and having put on board the little that
we had collected for our dinners, we shouldered our guns and followed
the hunters and dogs. The natives who accompanied us were naked, and
armed only with a spear. They entered the jungle with the dogs, rather
too fatiguing an exercise for us, and we contented ourselves with
walking along the beach abreast of them, waiting very patiently for the
game to be started. In a very few minutes the dogs gave tongue, and as
the noise continued we presumed that a boar was on foot; nor were we
wrong in our conjecture; the barking of the dogs ceased, and one of the
hunters came out of the jungle to us with a fine pig on his back, which
he had transfixed with his spear. Nor were we long without our share of
the sport, for we suddenly came upon a whole herd which had been driven
out of the jungle, and our bullets did execution. We afterwards had more
shots, and with what we killed on the beach, and the natives secured in
the jungle, as the evening advanced we found ourselves in possession of
eight fine grown animals. These the rajah's son and his hunters very
politely requested our acceptance of. We now had quite sufficient
materials for our dinner, and as we were literally as hungry as
hunters, we were most anxious to fall to, and looked upon our pigs with
very cannibal eyes. The first thing necessary was to light a fire, and
for the first time I had an opportunity of seeing the Dyak way of
obtaining it. It differs slightly from the usual manner, and is best
explained by a sketch. Captain Keppell, who was always the life and soul
of every thing, whether it was a fight or a pic nic, was unanimously
elected caterer, and in that capacity he was most brilliant. I must
digress a little to bestow upon that officer the meed of universal
opinion; for his kindness, mirth, and goodness of heart, have rendered
him a favourite wherever he has been known, not only a favourite with
the officers, but even more so, if possible, with the men. In the
expeditions in which Keppell has been commanding officer, where the men
were worn out with continued exertion at the oar, and with the many
obstacles to be overcome, Keppell's voice would be heard, and when
heard, the men were encouraged and renewed their endeavours. Keppell's
stock, when provisions were running short, and with small hopes of a
fresh supply, was freely shared among those about him, while our gallant
captain, with a boat half filled with his own hampers, would see, and
appeared pleased to see, those in his company longing for a mouthful
which never would be offered. If any of the youngsters belonging to
other ships were, from carelessness or ignorance, in trouble with the
commanding officers, it was to Keppell that they applied, and it was
Keppell who was the intercessor. In fact, every occasion in which
kindness, generosity, or consideration for others could be shown, such
an opportunity was never lost by Keppell, who, to sum up, was a beloved
friend, a delightful companion, and a respected commander. As soon as
our fire was lighted, we set to, under Keppell's directions, and, as may
be supposed, as we had little or nothing else, pork was our principal
dish. In fact, we had pig at the top, pig at the bottom, pig in the
centre, and pig at the sides. A Jew would have made but a sorry repast,
but we, emancipated Christians, made a most ravenous one, defying Moses
and all his Deuteronomy. We had plenty of wine and segars, and soon
found ourselves very comfortably seated on the sand, still warm from the
rays of the burning mid-day sun. Towards the end of a long repast we
felt a little chilly, and we therefore rose and indulged in the games of
leap-frog, fly-the-garter, and other venturous amusements. We certainly
had in our party one or two who were as well fitted to grace the senate
as to play at leap-frog, but I have always observed that the cleverest
men are the most like children when an opportunity is offered for
relaxation. I don't know what the natives thought of the European Rajah
Brooke playing at leap-frog, but it is certain that the rajah did not
care what they thought. I have said little of Mr. Brooke, but I will now
say that a more mild, amiable, and celebrated person I never knew. Every
one loved him, and he deserved it.