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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/30233-0.txt b/30233-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..916b954 --- /dev/null +++ b/30233-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,810 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30233 *** + +FOLK-LORE IN BORNEO + +A SKETCH + +BY + +WILLIAM HENRY FURNESS 3D, M.D., F.R.G.S. + +MEMBRE DE LA SOCIÉTÉ DE GÉOGRAPHIE À PARIS +MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY +MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN ORIENTAL SOCIETY + +[_PRIVATELY PRINTED_] + +WALLINGFORD +DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA +1899 + + +[Illustration: A KAYAN CHIEF.] + + + + +A SKETCH OF THE FOLK-LORE OF BORNEO. + + +In this short monograph I do not pretend to give anything more than a +Sketch of the Folk-lore to be found among the Borneans. The island is +large, and the people, scattered and isolated by constant inter-tribal +warfare, differ one tribe from another, in language, customs and +appearance almost more than do Germans, French, or English; to say that +any tradition or custom is common to all the tribes, or even to all of +one tribe, of Borneans, would be far too sweeping. A still greater +drawback to any universality, in legend or custom, is that there is no +written language, not even so much as picture-drawings on rocks to give +us a clue to ancient myths or traditions. The natives of Borneo are in a +certain sense savages, but yet they are savages of a high order, +possessed of a civilization far above what is usually implied by the +term; they live together in what almost might be called coöperative +communities, they practise the art of weaving, they forge rough +implements of iron, they cultivate rice and esculent plants, and in all +their work, such as house-building, boat-building, manufacture of cloth +and weapons of warfare, they show an ambitious desire, and a skilful +ability, to ornament their work and add, to its usefulness, pleasure to +the eye. One of their gravest faults, however, is their embarrassing +tenacity to the _fad_ of head-hunting, and a strict adherence to the +principle of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. This keeps the +different households, even of the same tribe, at constant war and makes +inevitable an uncomfortable yet pleasing interchange of heads during the +tedious months of the rainy season, when time hangs heavy on the +warriors' hands, and disused swords might get rusty. + +So little is known of the social and anthropological position of these +people, to others than those who make Malaysia and the South Sea islands +their study, that it may not be out of place to give a short description +of the people themselves before entering on the subject of their +Folk-lore. + +The remote origin of the Borneans, as well as of the greater part of all +of the inhabitants of the Polynesian islands, is an ethnological +problem; they are not Malay, neither are they Mongolian nor Negrito; +they bear resemblances here and there to all of these races, but not +marked enough to claim any one as the parent stock. Furthermore, there +is some evidence in favor of the theory that they are the result of +successive migrations of tribes from northern India and from Anam. + +[Illustration: A KAYAN LONG-HOUSE.] + +The inland tribes of Borneo, by which I include all the natives except +the Malays settled along the coast, are without any definite forms of +religious worship; they make idols of wood, but I have never seen any +offering made to them, nor do they regard them apparently as anything +more than as scarecrows to frighten off evil spirits. They are the +children of Dame Nature and as such have inherited their mother's +disregard for life, and this feature of their temperament has kept them +in a constant turmoil of warfare, which in turn compels them for mutual +protection to band together in communities of several families and build +for themselves a common house wherein to live, ever ready to turn out in +force and resist the attacks of hostile tribes. In not a few instances +these houses are as much as a quarter of a mile in length and shelter as +many as four hundred people. Every household is presided over by a +head-man known as the elder, or _Orang Tuah_, and he in turn is governed +in a measure by the chief of the tribe, known as the _Penghulu_. The +government of the household seems to be conducted in the quietest +manner; I have lived on several occasions in these houses for three or +four weeks at a time, and have never seen anything that could be called +a violent quarrel between two members of the household, nor have I seen +the Orang Tuah or the Penghulu submit any of the members to what might +be considered harsh treatment. I have also been with them when they were +out on the warpath, to use a North-American Indian term, when every +nerve was at high tension on the look-out for enemies and every thought +was turned to slaughter, but I have never seen the counsel of the Chief +disregarded. Of course, some Chiefs are weak and fail to give commands +because they are afraid to act, but a command once given is carried out, +or at least not disregarded, and I could never detect any means which +were taken to enforce an authority thus implicitly obeyed. + +As a people, they are not active-minded nor industrious, but yield to +the influence of climate, and, following the example offered to them by +the vast, dense jungle on every side, accept life as easily as it comes. +They are no exception to the rule that all untutored minds, living in +constant communion with any awful aspect of Nature, be it gigantic +mountains, a waste of waters, or an illimitable jungle, are saturated +with superstitions; every pool, every tree, every rock is the home of an +evil spirit, and all mysterious noises in the forest are ghostly +whisperings. Everywhere are signs and omens to warn man of danger or +direct his course; theirs is a life where no schooling is so vital as +the ability to read aright the "sermons in stones, books in the running +brooks." For them the world is the patch of jungle covering the few +square miles that they know, and bounded by the hills in the distance; +seldom do they get an extended view of the surrounding country; trees +hem them in on all sides and the mountains are so difficult of ascent, +and furthermore so infested with demons or "antu," that the summits can +be gained only at the risk of body, and, still worse, of soul. + +Many natives of the interior live and die with never a glimpse of the +sea, and the tales which the Malay and Chinese traders tell of lands +beyond the horizon where white men live, are as incomprehensible to them +as are to us the conjectural accounts which astronomers give of the +canals on the planet Mars. + +Naturally enough, of course, creation began on the island of Borneo, or +Kalamantan, as they call it, and the first people were Borneans and +spoke the language of the tribe that tells the story. Every tribe has a +different account of creation, and claims that its people sprang from +the first created mortals. The following account is the story of Genesis +according to the Kayans of Northwestern Borneo:-- + +In the old, old days, when there was nothing but water and sky, there +fell from the heavens an enormous rock; that part of it which protruded +from the water was hard, slippery, and quite bare, with no soil nor +plants upon it of any kind. After a long time, however, the rains +produced slime upon the rock, and little worms, called _halang_, were +bred in this slime, and they bored into the rock and left fine sand +outside of their burrows; this sand eventually became soil and covered +the rock. Again years passed and the rock remained barren of all other +life until suddenly there dropped from the Sun a huge wooden handle of a +_Parang_ (or sword) known as _Haup Malat_. This parang-handle sank deep +into the rock and taking root in the soil it sprouted and grew into a +great tree, named _Batang Utar Tatei_, whose branches stretched out over +the new land in every direction. When this tree was fully grown, there +dropped from the Moon a long rope-like vine known as the _Jikwan Tali_. +This vine quickly clung to the tree and took root in the rock. Now the +vine, Jikwan Tali, from the Moon became the husband of the tree, Batang +Utar Tatei, from the Sun, and Batang Utar Tatei gave birth to twins, a +male and a female, not of the nature of a tree, but more or less like +human beings. The male child was called _Klobeh Angei_, and the female +was called _Klubangei_. These two children married and then gave birth +to two more children, who were named _Pengok N'gai_, and _Katirah +Murai_. Katirah Murai was married to old man _Ajai Avai_, who comes +without pedigree into the narration. From Katirah Murai and Ajai Avai +are descended many of the chiefs who were founders of the various tribes +inhabiting the land of Kalamantan; their names are Sejau Laho, Oding +Lahang, from whom the Kayans spring, Tabalan, Pliban, and, finally, +Tokong, the father of head-hunting. + +As time went on, that which formerly had been merely slime on the rock, +became moss, and little by little small plants were produced. The twigs +and leaf-like appendages of the tree, evidently the female principle in +nature, as they fell to the ground, became birds, beasts, and fishes. +(Let me mention here that the endowment of leaves with life and +locomotion is no more than natural; while in the jungle I have +repeatedly seen what, in every respect, appeared to be a leaf fall to +the ground and then miraculously put out legs and walk away; it was one +of those remarkable insects of the _Mantis_ family, or "walking +leaves.") The inhabitants of the rock had no need of fire in those days, +for the sun beat down on them strongly, and there was no night; it was +not until many, many years had elapsed that an old man named _Laki Oi_ +invented a method of obtaining fire by means of friction produced by +pulling a strip of rattan rapidly back and forth beneath a piece of dry +wood. This process of making fire he called _Musa_, and it is still the +only method used in obtaining fire for ceremonials, such as the naming +of a child, or when communicating with the omen-birds. Laki Oi also +taught them the use of the fire-drill, which he called the _Nalika_. + +On the main trunk of Batang Utar Tatei was a large excrescence, from +which exuded a resinous gum called _Lutong_, which, as it dropped to the +ground beneath, was immediately transformed into chickens and swine; and +it is because they were thus formed out of the very heart and substance +of the tree that they are always used in the reading of auguries. From +this same cause, there was innate in them an insight into the innermost +workings of Nature and a knowledge of the future. + +The first beings with any resemblance to man had neither legs, nor +breasts, and consisted merely of a head, chest, arms, and a fragment of +a body which hung down in shreds and rags, having the appearance of +twisted snakes. When they moved they dragged themselves along the ground +by their arms. (From this description and from native carvings, I am +inclined to believe that a large cuttle-fish or octopus must have +suggested this idea to the original narrator of this tradition.) Little +by little, the body was brought into more compact form, and, in a later +generation, legs appeared, but it was a long time before they became +accustomed to legs and able to use them in moving about. A survival of +this awkwardness, so say the Kayans, is still noticeable in the way in +which children crawl about the floor, and in their clumsy walk when +first they learn to stand upright. The heads of these first people were, +furthermore, much larger than the heads of the present generation, and, +since it was the first part formed, it is the oldest part of the body, +and on this account the most important member, and valued accordingly +whether dead or alive. + +This account is, as far as I know, purely Bornean, inasmuch as had there +been any admixture from a foreign source (as we shall see further on was +probably the case with the Dyaks) there would have been possibly some +reference to a Supreme Creator rather than to this union of a vine and a +tree as the original source of life. The Kayans from whom I obtained +this account have had exceedingly little communication with the outside +world, except through occasional Malay or Chinese traders. There is just +a possibility that the idea of the wooden sword-handle being the +ultimate _fons et origo_ of all life comes from the fact that the word +for chief--"penghulu"--is derived from "hulu," meaning a sword-handle, +and the prefix "peng" denoting agency, so that the whole word means +literally "the master of the sword," and thus the ruler or chief. From +association of ideas, the sword-handle, without which the blade is +ineffective and useless, may have been suggested to them as the chief +of all beings. The sudden appearance of Ajai Avai on the scene as the +husband of Katirah Murai, is not at all at variance with the accounts +from many other sources of the populating of the world. In Laki Oi, we +recognize the Kayan "Prometheus," whose memory is revered by sanctifying +the fire procured after his manner of teaching, and from this tradition +it is probable that the procuring of fire by means of the "fire-saw" is +the aboriginal method. Should all of the fires in a Kayan house become +extinguished and no spark be left, new fires may be started by this +method, and by this method alone; even the fire-drill, and flint and +steel, which are not unknown to them, are tabooed. + +The Dayaks, who are closely akin in every respect to the Malays, and no +doubt adopted the traditions which were rife among the Malays both +before and after the latter became converted to Mohammedanism, give an +account of the creation of the world differing in every particular from +the foregoing Kayan story. + +One of the Dayak versions of the creation which I heard from the people +of that tribe, living in the Baram district of Sarawak, is that in the +beginning there were two large birds,--the _Burong Iri_ and the _Burong +Ringgong_ (Burong meaning _bird_), who made all the rivers, the great +sea, the earth, and the sky. The first things to have life were plants +and trees. When trees were first made, the winds blew them down, and +again and again the Iri and the Ringgong had to set them up, until in +their great wisdom they realized the necessity of props and stays, so +they fashioned the strong vines and creepers. Then these two creators +saw what pleasant places the boughs and branches of these trees would +make for other beings; whereupon they created birds and all flying +animals, like bats and flying squirrels. Then for a long while they +consulted together, and, finally, decided that they would make a man who +should walk about on the earth; at first, they made him of clay, but +when he was dried he could neither speak nor move, which provoked them, +and they ran at him angrily; so frightened was he that he fell backward +and broke all to pieces. The next man that they made was of hard wood, +but he, also, was utterly stupid, and absolutely good for nothing. Then +the two birds searched carefully for a good material, and eventually +selected the wood of a tree known as the _Kumpong_, which has a strong +fibre and exudes a quantity of deep red sap, whenever it is cut. Out of +this tree they fashioned a man and a woman, and were so well pleased +with this achievement that they rested for a long while and admired +their handiwork. Then they decided to continue creating more men; they +returned to the Kumpong tree, but they had entirely forgotten their +original pattern, and how they had executed it, and they were therefore +able to make only very inferior creatures, which became the ancestors of +the _Maias_ (the Orang Utan) and monkeys. + +The man and the woman were very helpless and hardly knew how to obtain +the simplest necessities of life, so the Iri and the Ringgong devised +the _Ubi_--a wild sweetpotato--the wild Tapioca, the Kaladi, or, as we +know it, the Kaladium, and other edible roots, whereof the man and woman +soon learned to eat; fire, however, was unknown to these first people +and they had to eat all of their food raw. + +Contemporaneously with the Maias and the monkeys many other animals came +into being, among them the dog. For a long time all living things were +friendly to one another and lived in the land of Kaburau, which lies +near a branch of the great Kapuas river, and is, even to this day, +considered by the Dayaks as the garden-spot of the world. The dog, +however, because he cleaned himself with his tongue, soon came to be +despised by all other animals, and although a bully he was yet +subservient to man. Then the deer and many of the other animals taunted +the dog, saying that he was so mean-spirited and servile that although +man thrashed him, nevertheless he fawned upon him and followed after +him; which they would never do, so they went off to the jungle to live. +But the dog comforted himself by saying that "When the man is about to +strike me I crouch down and sometimes this keeps his hand off; +furthermore, I cannot live on the poor food that these others must eat." +Hence, the dog follows and obeys man. + +One day when the man and the dog were in the jungle together, and got +drenched by rain, the man noticed that the dog warmed himself by rubbing +against a huge creeper, called the _Aka Rarah_, whereupon the man took a +stick and rubbed it rapidly against the Aka Rarah, and to his surprise +obtained fire. This was the origin of the _Sukan_, or fire drill, and +ever after the man had fire in his house. Not long after, in +accidentally dropping an Ubi near the fire, he found that it became much +more pleasant to the taste; by this accident cooking was discovered. + +[Illustration: MAKING FIRE WITH A FIRE-DRILL.] + +In the course of time, the dog and other animals began to multiply, and +man imitated their example; the woman brought forth a male child, whose +name was _Machan Buntu_. After many years, the woman gave birth to a +female child who, when she was well grown, married her brother Machan +Buntu and gave birth to seventy children at one time. These children +left their home and scattered all over the world. Some became wood +sprites and mountain gnomes, living in the trees, in the rivers, and +under ground. + +The tradition of the manufacture of man out of wood instead of clay is +thoroughly in keeping with an origin purely Dayak. The Dayaks never have +been proficient in pottery, and to this day they carve their bowls and +dishes out of hard wood, otherwise it seems to me that clay would have +suggested itself to them as the most suitable substance whereof to have +made man. Another item looks as if part of the story were an +interpolation, namely, where it is related that the two birds were so +pleased with their work after making man, that they rested; this looks +like a suggestion due to the first chapter of Genesis. Again, in that +land of Kaburau, where all animals lived in perfect harmony, and which +was the garden of the world, we may recognize the garden of Eden. Owing +to the lack of writing, as I said before, it is impossible to say how +old this tradition is, or to what extent it is known to Dayaks in other +parts of the country; I have heard that very much the same story is told +by the natives in the Rejang district several hundred miles south of the +Baram; where the chiefest difference in the accounts is that earlier and +higher than the birds there was a Supreme Being called _Rajah Gantalla_, +who after creating the two birds, committed the rest of the work to +them. I think in the _-allah_ of this name (I speak under correction) we +may discern a strong indication of Mohammedan influence. The first man, +instead of being carved entirely of Kumpong wood, was made, in this +latter account, of clay and then filled with the sap of the Kumpong +tree. + +A tradition (I do not say "legend," for this implies writing) which all +the Kayans seem to know and to take pleasure in relating, is connected +with the origin of their rite of head-hunting, for, although every +possible means is employed by the European rulers of the island to stop +this custom, it is still, nevertheless the one ruling passion of the +people. Nay, it is part of their Religion; no house is blest which is +not sanctified by a row of human skulls, and no man can hope to attain +to the happy region of Apo Leggan unless he, or some near relative of +his, has added a head to the household collection. Let me correct, +however, with regard to head-hunting, what is probably the prevalent +idea that the heads are hung up in the houses bleeding and raw, just as +they are severed from the body. This is quite wrong; whether or not they +would tolerate in their homes such horrid objects I cannot say, but +certain it is that the heads are first subjected to fire and smoke until +the flesh has dropped away, and what is then hung up is merely a skull; +unpleasant enough, but not so bad as is generally supposed. + +[Illustration: A KAYAN YOUTH.] + +The tradition is that the great chief Tokong, when out on a war +expedition, was told by Kop, the frog, that he should always take, +instead of only the hair, the whole head of his enemies; Tokong was +angry, at first, at the frog, but his followers at length persuaded him +to let them try the experiment on their next attack. After taking the +whole heads, the war party retreated quickly to the river down which +they had come, and came to the spot where they had left their boats and +were surprised to find that everything was exactly as they had left it. +When they embarked, lo, and behold! the current of the stream was, for +their sakes, reversed and like a flash they were carried up-stream and +reached their home in a miraculously short time. During the fifteen days +that they had been absent the crop of rice had not only sprouted, but +had grown, had ripened, and was almost ready to be harvested; the +members of their family who had been sick when they left, were now all +well, the lame could walk and the blind see. The wise men waggled their +heads, and one and all declared (and who can blame them?) that ever +after they would stick to the custom that Kop had taught them. + +It is not unfair to infer from this tradition that they have a crude, +germinal sense of the barbarity of their actions, in so far as they +think it necessary to invent an excuse to palliate that savage love of +trophy-hunting which seems inborn in mankind. The rite of head-hunting +is by no means confined to Borneo; the Formosans, and also many of our +new fellow-citizens, among the tribes of the Philippines, are +enthusiastic head-hunters, and our own cherished Indians within our own +borders have not yet given up their love for a scalp; it would be +perilous to assert that it is not a United States custom. + +The idea that the taking of a head is necessary in order to obtain +entrance to the pleasant regions of the land of departed spirits, is a +doctrine taught by the chiefs in order to make men brave in battle, and +do all in their power to avoid the punishment which awaits the coward. +The Kayan Hades is believed to be under ground, and like the Hades of +the ancient Greeks there is a guide to the entrance who corresponds to a +certain extent to Charon. But their river Styx is not a stream, but a +deep and wide ditch, through which flow ooze and slime swarming with +worms and maggots; the souls of the departed must cross over this ditch +not by a ferry, but by means of a fallen tree-trunk, guarded by the +great demon _Maligang_, who challenges all comers, and if they have no +record of bravery, he shakes the tree-trunk until they fall into the +ditch below and are eternally tortured by the devouring worm that dieth +not. Over the land of spirits presides the great demon _Laki Tenangan_, +who assigns the souls to their proper place, and sees that they get +their deserts, whether good or bad. + +In this shadowy world, APO LEGGAN is one of the principal regions, and +is the abode of the spirits of those who die from sickness or from old +age. The souls in _Apo Leggan_ have much the same lot as they had in +this world; the poor remain poor, and the rich maintain their rich +estate, and even the soul that has been harassed in life in the upper +air must none the less expect to find misfortune and perplexity in the +world to come. In the absence of any definite code of morals, this is, +perhaps, the most suitable belief that a savage tribe could have; it +stimulates them to a constant endeavor to better their condition in this +life and make their mark in some way, so that the life to come, in which +they have a firm belief, may not be a continuation of the hardships they +have endured here. Their methods of gaining wealth may not conform to +our ideas of propriety, but then all is fair in love and war, and as +they have very little idea of love, their motto has to be "all is fair +in war;" life in the jungle is little else than a ceaseless struggle for +the survival of the fittest. + +LONG JULAN, a second division, is where live the souls of those who have +died a violent or sudden death, either on the battlefield, or in their +own clearings by the accidental fall of a tree; and there also dwell the +young mothers who have died in childbirth; they become the wives of +young warriors who likewise have been cut off in the bloom of youth and +are therefore proper mates for unfortunate little mothers. Such beliefs +naturally tend to the taking of life; a young man, for instance, who +loses his wife in childbirth wishes to meet her again in the next world, +and his ambition to go on the warpath is doubly strong. Is he fortunate +enough to take a head, he gains high rank among warriors; should he be +killed, he has the comfortable assurance that he will again meet his +wife in _Long Julan_. The souls in _Long Julan_ have an easy time and +are always fairly well off, whatever their circumstances were in this +life. + +TAN TEKKAN, a third division, is the place to which Laki Tenangan +consigns suicides; wretched and woe begone in appearance, their souls +wander about in the jungle and in the clearings trying to pick up a +living by eating what roots and fruits they can find. This joyless +Hereafter is calculated to make those who contemplate suicide, rather +perform some self-sacrificing act of bravery whereby they will not only +benefit those whom they leave behind, but also gain for themselves a +more pleasant position in the world to come; therefore suicide is not at +all common. + +TENYU LALU, a fourth region, is assigned to the spirits of still-born +children. These little souls are said to be exceedingly brave and need +no other weapon wherewith to defend themselves than a stick of wood; +they have never felt pain nor experienced danger in this world, and are +therefore totally ignorant of such emotions. Whether or not they +increase in size in _Tenyu Lalu_ is not known, but it is generally +supposed that they live together in a little world of their own. + +Finally, LING YANG is the abode of those who have died by drowning; it +lies below the beds of rivers, and here the spirits soon become +exceedingly rich. All the goods lost in rivers by the capsizing of boats +in the rapids, or when they run foul of a snag in deep water, go into +the coffers of the dwellers in _Ling Yang_. + +Such are the main divisions of the _Dali Matei_, or country of the +dead; there are, however, many sacred hills, rivers, and lakes wherein +dwell certain powerful demons who govern the spirits. In this nether +world, some say that there are trees and plants and animals much the +same as in this; this point, however, seemed open to considerable doubt +in the minds of some whom I questioned, while others had so definite an +idea of it that they drew maps to show the positions of the different +regions. They seemed to regard it as a large river, along whose +tributaries dwelt the various classes of departed spirits. The Dayongs, +or medicine men, are the only ones who are supposed really to know; +these all maintain that, while acquiring their power over sickness, they +had visited the land of spirits. In the mythology of all countries there +is sure to be a hero who has made the descent to Hades and returned to +tell the tale, and the Kayans are no exceptions; they have their +Orpheus, only his name is Gamong. + +Gamong, during an attack of fever, realized that he was at the point of +death, but was loath to resign his spirit, so he called his friends +around him and begged them to dress him up, after death, in all his +war-clothes, and not to bury him for three days, but to place him in a +sitting posture with his sword and spear in his hands. He comforted them +by saying that he had an inner assurance that he had a terrible +encounter before him, but that he would actually return to this world in +about three days. Shortly after this, his breath ceased and his friends +performed all the rites of burial, just as he had requested. For three +days his body remained rigid; at the end of that time, he came back to +life and told his open-eyed friends his adventures as follows: "When my +spirit left you, I went directly down the path which leads to the great +tree-trunk, _Bintang Sikopa_, where Maligang stands; according to his +wont, he hailed me and told me to halt, which I would not do. Then +Maligang, whose arm is enormous, many times bigger than his body, began +to shake the tree, calling out 'who are you?' I replied 'I am Gamong, a +brave warrior, and you must not shake the tree while I cross.' Maligang +then said, consulting the pegs with which he records the deeds of men, +'What proof have I that you have been brave?' At this I was furious, I +drew my parang, uplifted my spear and ran amok, rushing into Maligang's +house, smashing everything and overturning the great jars of rice-toddy, +of which there is an abundance, but whereof no one ever drinks. Maligang +was frightened and bolted from the house, shouting as he fled, 'I have +not got you now, but in seven years' time you must return.' Finding that +Maligang had fled, and that there were other obstacles to prevent me +from going on, I returned to this world and its trials." The story goes +that Gamong lived seven years after this, and then succumbed body and +soul to the great Maligang; and as there is no record of his bravery, he +was probably shaken off of the tree-trunk and disappeared in the deep +pit seething with maggots. + +All this veracious history I got by word of mouth from a Kayan of the +Tinjar valley. + +Almost every medicine man has been down among the spirits of the dead, +and in proof of his assertions, a curiously shaped stone, or a knot of +wood, is displayed, which has been given by the spirits and is endowed +with all sorts of marvellous properties. I have in my possession a +Dayong's whole outfit of charms which I bought from his relatives after +his death; they were afraid to touch it, and for another Dayong to use +it is taboo of the worst kind. Such charms are usually buried with the +practitioner, but this old fellow evidently did not have a very large +practice, and, at his death, he was somewhat neglected. One of the +charms is a stone in which an active imagination might trace a +resemblance to the hand or foot of an animal; the sorrowing relatives +told me, with awe and bated breath, that it was given to their uncle by +a spirit on the top of a mountain, and that it was the foot of a dragon, +one of the most powerful resources of the Dayong pharmacopoeia. + +[Illustration: KAYAN WOMEN.] + +Companions to the stories of visits to the regions below the earth are +stories of visits to the world above the skies, to which adventurous +heroes climb either by vines or ropes, which dangle suddenly in front of +them, or by means of lofty trees. "Jack and the Bean Stalk" is a +parallel story in our own folklore. Sir Spencer St. John[1] gives a +Dayak account of the introduction of rice among the Orang Iban, as they +call themselves, which states that "when mankind had nothing to eat but +fruit and a species of fungus which grows round the roots of trees, a +party of Ibans, among whom was a man named _Si Jura_ (whose descendants +live to this day in the village of Simpok) went forth to sea. They +sailed on for a long time until they came to a place where 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; when he got among the boughs, he was tempted to ascend the +trunk and find how the tree grew in that position. On looking down he +saw his companions making off with the boat loaded with fruit; there +was nothing for him to do but go on climbing. At length he reached the +roots of the tree and found himself in the country of the Pleiades +[which the Dayaks call 'the seven chained-stars']; when he stood upon +the ground he met a man-like being, whose name was Si Kira, and he went +with him to his house. For food Si Kira offered to him a mess of soft +white grains, and told him to eat. 'What, eat those little maggots?' +said Si Jura. 'They are not maggots, that is boiled rice,' replied Si +Kira, and he forthwith instructed him in the art of planting, weeding, +reaping, husking, and boiling rice. + +"While Si Kira's wife was out, getting some water, Si Jura peeped into +one of the tall jars that were standing near by, and looking straight +through the bottom of it, he could see his father's house and all his +brothers and sisters sitting around talking. His spirits were much +depressed at the remembrance of the home that perhaps he should never +see again, and instead of eating he wept. Si Kira at once saw what was +the matter, and assured him that he would arrange everything +satisfactorily for him; then Si Jura fell to and ate a hearty meal, and +afterwards he was given three kinds of rice, and Si Kira further +instructed him how to fell the jungle, burn it, then take the omens from +the birds before planting, and when he harvested to hold a feast. By +means of a long rope Si Jura was lowered down to the earth again, close +to his father's house. From his visit to the Pleiades the Dayaks learned +all that they know about farming, and, what is more, to this day the +Pleiades themselves tell them when to begin farming, for, according to +their position in the sky in the morning and evening, they cut down the +jungle, burn, plant, and reap." + +I think there can be no doubt that Si Kira bestowed a great blessing on +the Dayaks when he gave them rice; but I am very sure that he saddled +them with a dire affliction when he introduced to them the omen-birds; +more procrastination, failure of expeditions, and exasperation of soul +can be laid to the score of these birds than to anything else on earth. +There is hardly an undertaking, however slight, that can be begun +without first consulting these wretched birds. Yet it is hardly to be +wondered at, that all tribes should hold the birds to be little prophets +of the jungle, dashing across man's path, at critical moments, to bless +or to ban. In the deep jungle, which at high noon is as silent as +"sunless retreats of the ocean," gay-plumaged birds are not sitting on +every bough singing plaintive, melodious notes; such lovely pictures +exist solely in the mind of the poet or of him who has never visited the +tropics. In the thick tangle of leaves and branches overhead, the larger +birds are seen with difficulty, even after considerable practice, and +the smaller birds appear as but a flash of light, as they dart through +the interlacing palms and vines; the apparition, with its sudden gleam +and instant disappearance, starts the impulse to make a wish, as when we +see a star shoot across the heavens. This same natural and almost +irresistible impulse, which we have all experienced, I suggest as one of +the explanations of the tendency of the Bornean mind to accept the birds +as the intelligent forerunners of good or ill. These unsophisticated +natives wander forth with some wish in their hearts, and should a bird +of the right species (for not all birds are omen-birds) cross their +path, the fulfilment of their wishes is established beyond a doubt by +its mere appearance, and it is to be feared (for they are mortal) that +if they do not want to see the bird--well, there are none so blind as +those who won't see. When it comes to taking omens for such an important +event as the planting of rice, or for going on the warpath, then the +ceremony extends over ten days or two weeks, and the opinion of the +small barking deer also must be consulted; furthermore, the whole +household is under the ban of a taboo, or _permantang_, as they call it, +and the people must all stay indoors while the three men who are +appointed as searchers are abroad on their omen-seeking errand. So firm +is their trust in the wisdom of the birds that even if they have worked +for months at a clearing they will abandon it and never plant it, if the +omens at the time of sowing be unfavorable. Certain birds must be seen +on the right hand to be favorable, while others are most propitious when +they soar overhead, or give a shrill cry on the left; on more than one +occasion, when traveling in native canoes, a bird which ought to have +appeared on the right has been seen on the left, and, to my utter +bewilderment, without a word the boat has been swung round in the stream +so as to bring to the right what was on the left, thus slyly fabricating +a bad omen into a good one, and for some distance we have gone in the +opposite direction, but now with highly favorable omens. When they +conclude that the bird has forgotten his warning or lost sight of us, +the boat has been again turned, fate has been deceived, and we journey +on as before. Once our whole party of eight or ten boats had to pull up +at the bank and walk through the jungle for a quarter of a mile or so to +make a bothersome white-headed hawk think that he had mistaken the +object of our expedition. When a favorable bird has been seen, a fire of +chips is at once built on the bank of the river, thereby letting the +bird know that his kind attention has been appreciated, Fire is always +the go-between of man and the birds, or any of the spirits; it forms an +important part in the ceremonies of consecration and absolution, and by +means of fire a man may break through a taboo, or _permantang_. Should +a man have a fruit-tree, for instance, which he wishes to protect, he +places about it several cleft sticks with stones thrust in the clefts, +and the stones are told to guard the tree and afflict with dire diseases +any pilferer of the fruit. Now, should a friend of the owner see this +sign of _permantang_ and yet wish some of the fruit, let him but build a +fire and commission the fire to tell the stones that he is a friend of +the owner, and that it is all right if he takes the fruit; then, when +the fire is burnt out, the fruit may be taken with impunity. In the +ceremony of naming a child, the sacrificial pig is touched with a fire +brand before it is harangued by the Dayong, or medicine man; and to +determine whether or not the chosen name be propitious, the strip of +rattan which has been used on the fire-saw to obtain the sacred fire, is +bent into a loop until its ends just meet; it is then set on fire in the +middle and allowed to burn through. If the two pieces thus made are of +uneven length the name is good; if they are both the same length another +name must be selected. The ashes from this burning are made into a paste +and smeared on the child's forehead just before it is deluged with a +bowl of cold water, and the name is made public for the first time. It +is strange what a similarity exists in different races relative to this +ceremony of giving a name. Why water should be used to confirm the rite, +they cannot themselves explain, except by saying that it is a custom +handed down to them from their grandfathers and their +great-great-grandfathers. It can hardly have suggested itself to the +minds of the Borneans as an element of purification and cleansing; to +their mind water does not possess these properties. Water is good to +drink when you are thirsty, and refreshing to bathe in when you are +hot, that is all; dirt has no horrors to the Bornean mind, and after a +plunge in the river has refreshed the body, the Kayan, Dayak, Kenyah, +Sibop, or whatever the tribe, will put on the same dirty waist-cloth or +cotton jacket that has never known soap, and has seldom if ever been +nearer the water than when on the back of its owner. Perhaps it is that +water is symbolic of life and motion; the river is always moving, it +murmurs and talks to itself, a draft of its coolness and a plunge into +its embrace adds new life to man; why should it not be the giver of +life? In almost all the native languages of Borneo the word for water +and river is the same; even when water is brought up into the house it +is still the river, and when they drink, they drink the river; when they +boil their rice they boil in the river, and when they name their +children they pour the river over them. Many subtribes or households +take their name from the river on which they live, as, for instance, the +Long Patas who live, or used to live, at the mouth of the Pata river +(Long meaning junction of one river with another), the Long Kiputs, the +Long Lamas, and many others that might be named, including the whole +tribe of the Kayans, who take their name from the great Kayan river +which empties into the sea on the East coast. If a river that is new to +them be visited, the spirits of that stream must be always propitiated +lest they resent the intrusion and drown the visitor. It is the custom +among the Bukits, one of the most primitive tribes, for the youths, when +they reach the bank of a new river, to divest themselves of every +article of clothing, save a chaplet of leaves, which they twist from the +vines near at hand; then crouching at the edge of the water, they toss +some personal ornament, such as a brass ear-ring or a bright bead, far +out into mid-stream, and at the same instant scoop up a handful of the +water; gazing earnestly into the few drops which they hold in their +palm, they invoke the spirits of the river to protect them, and implore +permission to enter the new territory. Not until this rite is completed +would they dare to bathe in the stream. + +[Illustration: A SCENE ON THE DAPOI RIVER.] + +To revert to the subject of names; from all that I have read, and from +personal observation, it seems that all Borneans recognize the sanctity +of names; of this we may find traces among all the primitive people of +the earth. Before the formal ceremony of naming a child, for instance, +has been performed, the child has no recognized place in the community, +and a mother in enumerating her children would never think of mentioning +one that had died before it was named, even though it had lived a year. +Before the ceremony, the intended name is known to no one except the +parents, and, for them to mention it, is strictly _permantang_ until the +river water has been poured on the child's head. A Kayan will never tell +you his name, but when asked he invariably turns to some one sitting +near him and asks him to pronounce the name which to the owner is +ineffable. For a man to mention the name of his dead father or mother is +a reckless flying in the face of providence. After a serious illness the +name should be changed and never uttered again, lest the evil spirits +revisit their victim; under a new name they will be likely to pass him +by. On one occasion, recognizing a man that I had seen on a former +visit, but, at the moment forgetting his name, I enquired what it was; +the name, however, struck me as entirely unfamiliar. He afterward +acknowledged that he had been very sick since I last saw him and now +bore a new name; only the assurance that the spirits could not harm him +through a white man induced him at last to whisper to me his former +name. This change of name to deceive the fates extends even to inanimate +objects, and to animals which are to be caught or trapped. When hunting +for camphor, the name of the object of their search must be never +mentioned; it is always spoken of as "the thing that smells." Even all +the instruments, which they use in collecting the valuable drug, have +fanciful names, while the searchers talk in a language invented solely +for those who collect camphor. Unless they conform to all these +requirements, the camphor crystals, which in this particular variety are +found only in the crevices of the wood, will elude them and their search +be fruitless. When the people go _Tuba fishing_, which consists of +poisoning the stream with the juice of the Tuba root, and thus +stupefying the fish and making them rise to the surface, where they can +be easily caught in nets or speared, they never say that they are going +after fish, but after the leaves which float down stream. + +These and many other customs relative to the naming of things are all +founded on the same idea of the potency and mysticism inherent in a +name, which may be found in the legends of the old Egyptians, wherein +the power of the great king and god _Ra_ depended on the fact that no +one knew his real name, until Isis by stratagem got it from him; and +forthwith his power left him. It was this same idea that prevented the +Hebrew from ever speaking the name of the Most High; it is probably the +same thought which prompts the Japanese to change a person's name after +death lest by mentioning the one known during life the spirit of the +dead should be recalled from the other world. + +The downfall of the god _Ra_ brings to mind another superstition of +which I have noticed a remnant among the Borneans also, the power of +working charms with the saliva. When the great god Ra became so old that +he no longer had control of his lower jaw, Isis collected some of his +saliva which dropped upon the ground below his throne, and mixing it +with clay, made a snake of it. (I quote from the "Turin Papyrus," of +which Mr. EDWARD CLODD gives a translation in his recent and valuable +little book called "Tom Tit Tot.") This snake Isis left in Ra's path; as +he passed by, it bit him, and to relieve him of his agony Isis persuaded +him that the only thing to be done was to tell her his true name that +she might drive out the pain from his bones. This he finally did, and +with disastrous results. I instance this to show the antiquity of the +superstition that the saliva is potent as an ingredient of charms; the +Kayans illustrate this, in the manner whereby they elude an evil spirit +which may have been following them on a journey on the river. They build +a small archway of boughs on the bank just before they arrive at their +destination. Underneath this arch, they build a fire and, in single +file, all pass under, stepping over the fire and spitting into it as +they pass; by this act they thoroughly exorcise the evil spirits and +emerge on the other side free from all baleful influence. Another +instance, is where they are throwing aside the signs of mourning for the +dead; during the period of mourning they may not cut their hair nor +shave their temples, but as soon as the mourning is ended by the +ceremony of bringing home a newly-taken head, the barber's knife is kept +busy enough. As every man leaves the barber's hands, he gathers up the +hair, and, spitting on it, murmurs a prayer to the evil spirits not to +harm him. He then blows the hair out of the verandah of the house. + +All these parallelisms, in the modes of thinking, among men in far +removed quarters of the earth, do not, I think, necessarily imply that +there has been a transmission of thought from one race to the other, but +that there is a certain round of thought through which the brain leads +us, and in development we must all have followed along the same path. +Some races have made more rapid strides than others, possibly owing to +natural surroundings, and in their strides have left the others +centuries behind. Almost within the memory of our grandfathers, in this +country, witches were burned, and from this there is only a step back to +the Dayong of Borneo. Indeed, whosoever sees these people and lives with +them their everyday life, must regard them, after a not very long time, +merely as backward pupils in the school of life. Let me say in +conclusion, that he would have an unresponsive heart that could not feel +linked in a bond of fellowship with these people, and that God has made +of only one blood all nations of the earth, when he hears a Bornean +mother crooning her child to sleep with words identical in sentiment +with "Rock-a-bye Baby,"--what though the mother's earlobes are elongated +many an inch by heavy copper rings, her arms tattooed to the elbow, and +her blackened teeth filed to points. Once upon a time I heard a Kayan +mother soothing her little baby to sleep, and the words of the lullaby +which I learned are as follows:-- + + + From the River's mouth the birds are straying, + And the Baiyo's topmost leaves are swaying; + The little chicks cheep, + Now my little one sleep, + For the black house-lizard, with glittering eye, + And the gray-haired Laki Laieng are nigh! + Sleep, dear little one, sleep! + + +For those philologically inclined I append the original:-- + + + Lung koh madang Manoh + Migieong ujong Baiyo + Mensip anak Yap + Lamate Telyap, Telyap abing, + Lamate Laki Laieng oban! + Ara we we ara! + + +FOOTNOTE: + +[1] "Forests of the Far East," vol. i, p. 213. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Folk-lore in Borneo, by William Henry Furness + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30233 *** diff --git a/30233-8.txt b/30233-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5d64a0a --- /dev/null +++ b/30233-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1204 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Folk-lore in Borneo, by William Henry Furness + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Folk-lore in Borneo + A Sketch + +Author: William Henry Furness + +Release Date: October 11, 2009 [EBook #30233] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOLK-LORE IN BORNEO *** + + + + +Produced by Martin Pettit and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +FOLK-LORE IN BORNEO + +A SKETCH + +BY + +WILLIAM HENRY FURNESS 3D, M.D., F.R.G.S. + +MEMBRE DE LA SOCIÉTÉ DE GÉOGRAPHIE À PARIS +MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY +MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN ORIENTAL SOCIETY + +[_PRIVATELY PRINTED_] + +WALLINGFORD +DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA +1899 + + +[Illustration: A KAYAN CHIEF.] + + + + +A SKETCH OF THE FOLK-LORE OF BORNEO. + + +In this short monograph I do not pretend to give anything more than a +Sketch of the Folk-lore to be found among the Borneans. The island is +large, and the people, scattered and isolated by constant inter-tribal +warfare, differ one tribe from another, in language, customs and +appearance almost more than do Germans, French, or English; to say that +any tradition or custom is common to all the tribes, or even to all of +one tribe, of Borneans, would be far too sweeping. A still greater +drawback to any universality, in legend or custom, is that there is no +written language, not even so much as picture-drawings on rocks to give +us a clue to ancient myths or traditions. The natives of Borneo are in a +certain sense savages, but yet they are savages of a high order, +possessed of a civilization far above what is usually implied by the +term; they live together in what almost might be called coöperative +communities, they practise the art of weaving, they forge rough +implements of iron, they cultivate rice and esculent plants, and in all +their work, such as house-building, boat-building, manufacture of cloth +and weapons of warfare, they show an ambitious desire, and a skilful +ability, to ornament their work and add, to its usefulness, pleasure to +the eye. One of their gravest faults, however, is their embarrassing +tenacity to the _fad_ of head-hunting, and a strict adherence to the +principle of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. This keeps the +different households, even of the same tribe, at constant war and makes +inevitable an uncomfortable yet pleasing interchange of heads during the +tedious months of the rainy season, when time hangs heavy on the +warriors' hands, and disused swords might get rusty. + +So little is known of the social and anthropological position of these +people, to others than those who make Malaysia and the South Sea islands +their study, that it may not be out of place to give a short description +of the people themselves before entering on the subject of their +Folk-lore. + +The remote origin of the Borneans, as well as of the greater part of all +of the inhabitants of the Polynesian islands, is an ethnological +problem; they are not Malay, neither are they Mongolian nor Negrito; +they bear resemblances here and there to all of these races, but not +marked enough to claim any one as the parent stock. Furthermore, there +is some evidence in favor of the theory that they are the result of +successive migrations of tribes from northern India and from Anam. + +[Illustration: A KAYAN LONG-HOUSE.] + +The inland tribes of Borneo, by which I include all the natives except +the Malays settled along the coast, are without any definite forms of +religious worship; they make idols of wood, but I have never seen any +offering made to them, nor do they regard them apparently as anything +more than as scarecrows to frighten off evil spirits. They are the +children of Dame Nature and as such have inherited their mother's +disregard for life, and this feature of their temperament has kept them +in a constant turmoil of warfare, which in turn compels them for mutual +protection to band together in communities of several families and build +for themselves a common house wherein to live, ever ready to turn out in +force and resist the attacks of hostile tribes. In not a few instances +these houses are as much as a quarter of a mile in length and shelter as +many as four hundred people. Every household is presided over by a +head-man known as the elder, or _Orang Tuah_, and he in turn is governed +in a measure by the chief of the tribe, known as the _Penghulu_. The +government of the household seems to be conducted in the quietest +manner; I have lived on several occasions in these houses for three or +four weeks at a time, and have never seen anything that could be called +a violent quarrel between two members of the household, nor have I seen +the Orang Tuah or the Penghulu submit any of the members to what might +be considered harsh treatment. I have also been with them when they were +out on the warpath, to use a North-American Indian term, when every +nerve was at high tension on the look-out for enemies and every thought +was turned to slaughter, but I have never seen the counsel of the Chief +disregarded. Of course, some Chiefs are weak and fail to give commands +because they are afraid to act, but a command once given is carried out, +or at least not disregarded, and I could never detect any means which +were taken to enforce an authority thus implicitly obeyed. + +As a people, they are not active-minded nor industrious, but yield to +the influence of climate, and, following the example offered to them by +the vast, dense jungle on every side, accept life as easily as it comes. +They are no exception to the rule that all untutored minds, living in +constant communion with any awful aspect of Nature, be it gigantic +mountains, a waste of waters, or an illimitable jungle, are saturated +with superstitions; every pool, every tree, every rock is the home of an +evil spirit, and all mysterious noises in the forest are ghostly +whisperings. Everywhere are signs and omens to warn man of danger or +direct his course; theirs is a life where no schooling is so vital as +the ability to read aright the "sermons in stones, books in the running +brooks." For them the world is the patch of jungle covering the few +square miles that they know, and bounded by the hills in the distance; +seldom do they get an extended view of the surrounding country; trees +hem them in on all sides and the mountains are so difficult of ascent, +and furthermore so infested with demons or "antu," that the summits can +be gained only at the risk of body, and, still worse, of soul. + +Many natives of the interior live and die with never a glimpse of the +sea, and the tales which the Malay and Chinese traders tell of lands +beyond the horizon where white men live, are as incomprehensible to them +as are to us the conjectural accounts which astronomers give of the +canals on the planet Mars. + +Naturally enough, of course, creation began on the island of Borneo, or +Kalamantan, as they call it, and the first people were Borneans and +spoke the language of the tribe that tells the story. Every tribe has a +different account of creation, and claims that its people sprang from +the first created mortals. The following account is the story of Genesis +according to the Kayans of Northwestern Borneo:-- + +In the old, old days, when there was nothing but water and sky, there +fell from the heavens an enormous rock; that part of it which protruded +from the water was hard, slippery, and quite bare, with no soil nor +plants upon it of any kind. After a long time, however, the rains +produced slime upon the rock, and little worms, called _halang_, were +bred in this slime, and they bored into the rock and left fine sand +outside of their burrows; this sand eventually became soil and covered +the rock. Again years passed and the rock remained barren of all other +life until suddenly there dropped from the Sun a huge wooden handle of a +_Parang_ (or sword) known as _Haup Malat_. This parang-handle sank deep +into the rock and taking root in the soil it sprouted and grew into a +great tree, named _Batang Utar Tatei_, whose branches stretched out over +the new land in every direction. When this tree was fully grown, there +dropped from the Moon a long rope-like vine known as the _Jikwan Tali_. +This vine quickly clung to the tree and took root in the rock. Now the +vine, Jikwan Tali, from the Moon became the husband of the tree, Batang +Utar Tatei, from the Sun, and Batang Utar Tatei gave birth to twins, a +male and a female, not of the nature of a tree, but more or less like +human beings. The male child was called _Klobeh Angei_, and the female +was called _Klubangei_. These two children married and then gave birth +to two more children, who were named _Pengok N'gai_, and _Katirah +Murai_. Katirah Murai was married to old man _Ajai Avai_, who comes +without pedigree into the narration. From Katirah Murai and Ajai Avai +are descended many of the chiefs who were founders of the various tribes +inhabiting the land of Kalamantan; their names are Sejau Laho, Oding +Lahang, from whom the Kayans spring, Tabalan, Pliban, and, finally, +Tokong, the father of head-hunting. + +As time went on, that which formerly had been merely slime on the rock, +became moss, and little by little small plants were produced. The twigs +and leaf-like appendages of the tree, evidently the female principle in +nature, as they fell to the ground, became birds, beasts, and fishes. +(Let me mention here that the endowment of leaves with life and +locomotion is no more than natural; while in the jungle I have +repeatedly seen what, in every respect, appeared to be a leaf fall to +the ground and then miraculously put out legs and walk away; it was one +of those remarkable insects of the _Mantis_ family, or "walking +leaves.") The inhabitants of the rock had no need of fire in those days, +for the sun beat down on them strongly, and there was no night; it was +not until many, many years had elapsed that an old man named _Laki Oi_ +invented a method of obtaining fire by means of friction produced by +pulling a strip of rattan rapidly back and forth beneath a piece of dry +wood. This process of making fire he called _Musa_, and it is still the +only method used in obtaining fire for ceremonials, such as the naming +of a child, or when communicating with the omen-birds. Laki Oi also +taught them the use of the fire-drill, which he called the _Nalika_. + +On the main trunk of Batang Utar Tatei was a large excrescence, from +which exuded a resinous gum called _Lutong_, which, as it dropped to the +ground beneath, was immediately transformed into chickens and swine; and +it is because they were thus formed out of the very heart and substance +of the tree that they are always used in the reading of auguries. From +this same cause, there was innate in them an insight into the innermost +workings of Nature and a knowledge of the future. + +The first beings with any resemblance to man had neither legs, nor +breasts, and consisted merely of a head, chest, arms, and a fragment of +a body which hung down in shreds and rags, having the appearance of +twisted snakes. When they moved they dragged themselves along the ground +by their arms. (From this description and from native carvings, I am +inclined to believe that a large cuttle-fish or octopus must have +suggested this idea to the original narrator of this tradition.) Little +by little, the body was brought into more compact form, and, in a later +generation, legs appeared, but it was a long time before they became +accustomed to legs and able to use them in moving about. A survival of +this awkwardness, so say the Kayans, is still noticeable in the way in +which children crawl about the floor, and in their clumsy walk when +first they learn to stand upright. The heads of these first people were, +furthermore, much larger than the heads of the present generation, and, +since it was the first part formed, it is the oldest part of the body, +and on this account the most important member, and valued accordingly +whether dead or alive. + +This account is, as far as I know, purely Bornean, inasmuch as had there +been any admixture from a foreign source (as we shall see further on was +probably the case with the Dyaks) there would have been possibly some +reference to a Supreme Creator rather than to this union of a vine and a +tree as the original source of life. The Kayans from whom I obtained +this account have had exceedingly little communication with the outside +world, except through occasional Malay or Chinese traders. There is just +a possibility that the idea of the wooden sword-handle being the +ultimate _fons et origo_ of all life comes from the fact that the word +for chief--"penghulu"--is derived from "hulu," meaning a sword-handle, +and the prefix "peng" denoting agency, so that the whole word means +literally "the master of the sword," and thus the ruler or chief. From +association of ideas, the sword-handle, without which the blade is +ineffective and useless, may have been suggested to them as the chief +of all beings. The sudden appearance of Ajai Avai on the scene as the +husband of Katirah Murai, is not at all at variance with the accounts +from many other sources of the populating of the world. In Laki Oi, we +recognize the Kayan "Prometheus," whose memory is revered by sanctifying +the fire procured after his manner of teaching, and from this tradition +it is probable that the procuring of fire by means of the "fire-saw" is +the aboriginal method. Should all of the fires in a Kayan house become +extinguished and no spark be left, new fires may be started by this +method, and by this method alone; even the fire-drill, and flint and +steel, which are not unknown to them, are tabooed. + +The Dayaks, who are closely akin in every respect to the Malays, and no +doubt adopted the traditions which were rife among the Malays both +before and after the latter became converted to Mohammedanism, give an +account of the creation of the world differing in every particular from +the foregoing Kayan story. + +One of the Dayak versions of the creation which I heard from the people +of that tribe, living in the Baram district of Sarawak, is that in the +beginning there were two large birds,--the _Burong Iri_ and the _Burong +Ringgong_ (Burong meaning _bird_), who made all the rivers, the great +sea, the earth, and the sky. The first things to have life were plants +and trees. When trees were first made, the winds blew them down, and +again and again the Iri and the Ringgong had to set them up, until in +their great wisdom they realized the necessity of props and stays, so +they fashioned the strong vines and creepers. Then these two creators +saw what pleasant places the boughs and branches of these trees would +make for other beings; whereupon they created birds and all flying +animals, like bats and flying squirrels. Then for a long while they +consulted together, and, finally, decided that they would make a man who +should walk about on the earth; at first, they made him of clay, but +when he was dried he could neither speak nor move, which provoked them, +and they ran at him angrily; so frightened was he that he fell backward +and broke all to pieces. The next man that they made was of hard wood, +but he, also, was utterly stupid, and absolutely good for nothing. Then +the two birds searched carefully for a good material, and eventually +selected the wood of a tree known as the _Kumpong_, which has a strong +fibre and exudes a quantity of deep red sap, whenever it is cut. Out of +this tree they fashioned a man and a woman, and were so well pleased +with this achievement that they rested for a long while and admired +their handiwork. Then they decided to continue creating more men; they +returned to the Kumpong tree, but they had entirely forgotten their +original pattern, and how they had executed it, and they were therefore +able to make only very inferior creatures, which became the ancestors of +the _Maias_ (the Orang Utan) and monkeys. + +The man and the woman were very helpless and hardly knew how to obtain +the simplest necessities of life, so the Iri and the Ringgong devised +the _Ubi_--a wild sweetpotato--the wild Tapioca, the Kaladi, or, as we +know it, the Kaladium, and other edible roots, whereof the man and woman +soon learned to eat; fire, however, was unknown to these first people +and they had to eat all of their food raw. + +Contemporaneously with the Maias and the monkeys many other animals came +into being, among them the dog. For a long time all living things were +friendly to one another and lived in the land of Kaburau, which lies +near a branch of the great Kapuas river, and is, even to this day, +considered by the Dayaks as the garden-spot of the world. The dog, +however, because he cleaned himself with his tongue, soon came to be +despised by all other animals, and although a bully he was yet +subservient to man. Then the deer and many of the other animals taunted +the dog, saying that he was so mean-spirited and servile that although +man thrashed him, nevertheless he fawned upon him and followed after +him; which they would never do, so they went off to the jungle to live. +But the dog comforted himself by saying that "When the man is about to +strike me I crouch down and sometimes this keeps his hand off; +furthermore, I cannot live on the poor food that these others must eat." +Hence, the dog follows and obeys man. + +One day when the man and the dog were in the jungle together, and got +drenched by rain, the man noticed that the dog warmed himself by rubbing +against a huge creeper, called the _Aka Rarah_, whereupon the man took a +stick and rubbed it rapidly against the Aka Rarah, and to his surprise +obtained fire. This was the origin of the _Sukan_, or fire drill, and +ever after the man had fire in his house. Not long after, in +accidentally dropping an Ubi near the fire, he found that it became much +more pleasant to the taste; by this accident cooking was discovered. + +[Illustration: MAKING FIRE WITH A FIRE-DRILL.] + +In the course of time, the dog and other animals began to multiply, and +man imitated their example; the woman brought forth a male child, whose +name was _Machan Buntu_. After many years, the woman gave birth to a +female child who, when she was well grown, married her brother Machan +Buntu and gave birth to seventy children at one time. These children +left their home and scattered all over the world. Some became wood +sprites and mountain gnomes, living in the trees, in the rivers, and +under ground. + +The tradition of the manufacture of man out of wood instead of clay is +thoroughly in keeping with an origin purely Dayak. The Dayaks never have +been proficient in pottery, and to this day they carve their bowls and +dishes out of hard wood, otherwise it seems to me that clay would have +suggested itself to them as the most suitable substance whereof to have +made man. Another item looks as if part of the story were an +interpolation, namely, where it is related that the two birds were so +pleased with their work after making man, that they rested; this looks +like a suggestion due to the first chapter of Genesis. Again, in that +land of Kaburau, where all animals lived in perfect harmony, and which +was the garden of the world, we may recognize the garden of Eden. Owing +to the lack of writing, as I said before, it is impossible to say how +old this tradition is, or to what extent it is known to Dayaks in other +parts of the country; I have heard that very much the same story is told +by the natives in the Rejang district several hundred miles south of the +Baram; where the chiefest difference in the accounts is that earlier and +higher than the birds there was a Supreme Being called _Rajah Gantalla_, +who after creating the two birds, committed the rest of the work to +them. I think in the _-allah_ of this name (I speak under correction) we +may discern a strong indication of Mohammedan influence. The first man, +instead of being carved entirely of Kumpong wood, was made, in this +latter account, of clay and then filled with the sap of the Kumpong +tree. + +A tradition (I do not say "legend," for this implies writing) which all +the Kayans seem to know and to take pleasure in relating, is connected +with the origin of their rite of head-hunting, for, although every +possible means is employed by the European rulers of the island to stop +this custom, it is still, nevertheless the one ruling passion of the +people. Nay, it is part of their Religion; no house is blest which is +not sanctified by a row of human skulls, and no man can hope to attain +to the happy region of Apo Leggan unless he, or some near relative of +his, has added a head to the household collection. Let me correct, +however, with regard to head-hunting, what is probably the prevalent +idea that the heads are hung up in the houses bleeding and raw, just as +they are severed from the body. This is quite wrong; whether or not they +would tolerate in their homes such horrid objects I cannot say, but +certain it is that the heads are first subjected to fire and smoke until +the flesh has dropped away, and what is then hung up is merely a skull; +unpleasant enough, but not so bad as is generally supposed. + +[Illustration: A KAYAN YOUTH.] + +The tradition is that the great chief Tokong, when out on a war +expedition, was told by Kop, the frog, that he should always take, +instead of only the hair, the whole head of his enemies; Tokong was +angry, at first, at the frog, but his followers at length persuaded him +to let them try the experiment on their next attack. After taking the +whole heads, the war party retreated quickly to the river down which +they had come, and came to the spot where they had left their boats and +were surprised to find that everything was exactly as they had left it. +When they embarked, lo, and behold! the current of the stream was, for +their sakes, reversed and like a flash they were carried up-stream and +reached their home in a miraculously short time. During the fifteen days +that they had been absent the crop of rice had not only sprouted, but +had grown, had ripened, and was almost ready to be harvested; the +members of their family who had been sick when they left, were now all +well, the lame could walk and the blind see. The wise men waggled their +heads, and one and all declared (and who can blame them?) that ever +after they would stick to the custom that Kop had taught them. + +It is not unfair to infer from this tradition that they have a crude, +germinal sense of the barbarity of their actions, in so far as they +think it necessary to invent an excuse to palliate that savage love of +trophy-hunting which seems inborn in mankind. The rite of head-hunting +is by no means confined to Borneo; the Formosans, and also many of our +new fellow-citizens, among the tribes of the Philippines, are +enthusiastic head-hunters, and our own cherished Indians within our own +borders have not yet given up their love for a scalp; it would be +perilous to assert that it is not a United States custom. + +The idea that the taking of a head is necessary in order to obtain +entrance to the pleasant regions of the land of departed spirits, is a +doctrine taught by the chiefs in order to make men brave in battle, and +do all in their power to avoid the punishment which awaits the coward. +The Kayan Hades is believed to be under ground, and like the Hades of +the ancient Greeks there is a guide to the entrance who corresponds to a +certain extent to Charon. But their river Styx is not a stream, but a +deep and wide ditch, through which flow ooze and slime swarming with +worms and maggots; the souls of the departed must cross over this ditch +not by a ferry, but by means of a fallen tree-trunk, guarded by the +great demon _Maligang_, who challenges all comers, and if they have no +record of bravery, he shakes the tree-trunk until they fall into the +ditch below and are eternally tortured by the devouring worm that dieth +not. Over the land of spirits presides the great demon _Laki Tenangan_, +who assigns the souls to their proper place, and sees that they get +their deserts, whether good or bad. + +In this shadowy world, APO LEGGAN is one of the principal regions, and +is the abode of the spirits of those who die from sickness or from old +age. The souls in _Apo Leggan_ have much the same lot as they had in +this world; the poor remain poor, and the rich maintain their rich +estate, and even the soul that has been harassed in life in the upper +air must none the less expect to find misfortune and perplexity in the +world to come. In the absence of any definite code of morals, this is, +perhaps, the most suitable belief that a savage tribe could have; it +stimulates them to a constant endeavor to better their condition in this +life and make their mark in some way, so that the life to come, in which +they have a firm belief, may not be a continuation of the hardships they +have endured here. Their methods of gaining wealth may not conform to +our ideas of propriety, but then all is fair in love and war, and as +they have very little idea of love, their motto has to be "all is fair +in war;" life in the jungle is little else than a ceaseless struggle for +the survival of the fittest. + +LONG JULAN, a second division, is where live the souls of those who have +died a violent or sudden death, either on the battlefield, or in their +own clearings by the accidental fall of a tree; and there also dwell the +young mothers who have died in childbirth; they become the wives of +young warriors who likewise have been cut off in the bloom of youth and +are therefore proper mates for unfortunate little mothers. Such beliefs +naturally tend to the taking of life; a young man, for instance, who +loses his wife in childbirth wishes to meet her again in the next world, +and his ambition to go on the warpath is doubly strong. Is he fortunate +enough to take a head, he gains high rank among warriors; should he be +killed, he has the comfortable assurance that he will again meet his +wife in _Long Julan_. The souls in _Long Julan_ have an easy time and +are always fairly well off, whatever their circumstances were in this +life. + +TAN TEKKAN, a third division, is the place to which Laki Tenangan +consigns suicides; wretched and woe begone in appearance, their souls +wander about in the jungle and in the clearings trying to pick up a +living by eating what roots and fruits they can find. This joyless +Hereafter is calculated to make those who contemplate suicide, rather +perform some self-sacrificing act of bravery whereby they will not only +benefit those whom they leave behind, but also gain for themselves a +more pleasant position in the world to come; therefore suicide is not at +all common. + +TENYU LALU, a fourth region, is assigned to the spirits of still-born +children. These little souls are said to be exceedingly brave and need +no other weapon wherewith to defend themselves than a stick of wood; +they have never felt pain nor experienced danger in this world, and are +therefore totally ignorant of such emotions. Whether or not they +increase in size in _Tenyu Lalu_ is not known, but it is generally +supposed that they live together in a little world of their own. + +Finally, LING YANG is the abode of those who have died by drowning; it +lies below the beds of rivers, and here the spirits soon become +exceedingly rich. All the goods lost in rivers by the capsizing of boats +in the rapids, or when they run foul of a snag in deep water, go into +the coffers of the dwellers in _Ling Yang_. + +Such are the main divisions of the _Dali Matei_, or country of the +dead; there are, however, many sacred hills, rivers, and lakes wherein +dwell certain powerful demons who govern the spirits. In this nether +world, some say that there are trees and plants and animals much the +same as in this; this point, however, seemed open to considerable doubt +in the minds of some whom I questioned, while others had so definite an +idea of it that they drew maps to show the positions of the different +regions. They seemed to regard it as a large river, along whose +tributaries dwelt the various classes of departed spirits. The Dayongs, +or medicine men, are the only ones who are supposed really to know; +these all maintain that, while acquiring their power over sickness, they +had visited the land of spirits. In the mythology of all countries there +is sure to be a hero who has made the descent to Hades and returned to +tell the tale, and the Kayans are no exceptions; they have their +Orpheus, only his name is Gamong. + +Gamong, during an attack of fever, realized that he was at the point of +death, but was loath to resign his spirit, so he called his friends +around him and begged them to dress him up, after death, in all his +war-clothes, and not to bury him for three days, but to place him in a +sitting posture with his sword and spear in his hands. He comforted them +by saying that he had an inner assurance that he had a terrible +encounter before him, but that he would actually return to this world in +about three days. Shortly after this, his breath ceased and his friends +performed all the rites of burial, just as he had requested. For three +days his body remained rigid; at the end of that time, he came back to +life and told his open-eyed friends his adventures as follows: "When my +spirit left you, I went directly down the path which leads to the great +tree-trunk, _Bintang Sikopa_, where Maligang stands; according to his +wont, he hailed me and told me to halt, which I would not do. Then +Maligang, whose arm is enormous, many times bigger than his body, began +to shake the tree, calling out 'who are you?' I replied 'I am Gamong, a +brave warrior, and you must not shake the tree while I cross.' Maligang +then said, consulting the pegs with which he records the deeds of men, +'What proof have I that you have been brave?' At this I was furious, I +drew my parang, uplifted my spear and ran amok, rushing into Maligang's +house, smashing everything and overturning the great jars of rice-toddy, +of which there is an abundance, but whereof no one ever drinks. Maligang +was frightened and bolted from the house, shouting as he fled, 'I have +not got you now, but in seven years' time you must return.' Finding that +Maligang had fled, and that there were other obstacles to prevent me +from going on, I returned to this world and its trials." The story goes +that Gamong lived seven years after this, and then succumbed body and +soul to the great Maligang; and as there is no record of his bravery, he +was probably shaken off of the tree-trunk and disappeared in the deep +pit seething with maggots. + +All this veracious history I got by word of mouth from a Kayan of the +Tinjar valley. + +Almost every medicine man has been down among the spirits of the dead, +and in proof of his assertions, a curiously shaped stone, or a knot of +wood, is displayed, which has been given by the spirits and is endowed +with all sorts of marvellous properties. I have in my possession a +Dayong's whole outfit of charms which I bought from his relatives after +his death; they were afraid to touch it, and for another Dayong to use +it is taboo of the worst kind. Such charms are usually buried with the +practitioner, but this old fellow evidently did not have a very large +practice, and, at his death, he was somewhat neglected. One of the +charms is a stone in which an active imagination might trace a +resemblance to the hand or foot of an animal; the sorrowing relatives +told me, with awe and bated breath, that it was given to their uncle by +a spirit on the top of a mountain, and that it was the foot of a dragon, +one of the most powerful resources of the Dayong pharmacopoeia. + +[Illustration: KAYAN WOMEN.] + +Companions to the stories of visits to the regions below the earth are +stories of visits to the world above the skies, to which adventurous +heroes climb either by vines or ropes, which dangle suddenly in front of +them, or by means of lofty trees. "Jack and the Bean Stalk" is a +parallel story in our own folklore. Sir Spencer St. John[1] gives a +Dayak account of the introduction of rice among the Orang Iban, as they +call themselves, which states that "when mankind had nothing to eat but +fruit and a species of fungus which grows round the roots of trees, a +party of Ibans, among whom was a man named _Si Jura_ (whose descendants +live to this day in the village of Simpok) went forth to sea. They +sailed on for a long time until they came to a place where 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; when he got among the boughs, he was tempted to ascend the +trunk and find how the tree grew in that position. On looking down he +saw his companions making off with the boat loaded with fruit; there +was nothing for him to do but go on climbing. At length he reached the +roots of the tree and found himself in the country of the Pleiades +[which the Dayaks call 'the seven chained-stars']; when he stood upon +the ground he met a man-like being, whose name was Si Kira, and he went +with him to his house. For food Si Kira offered to him a mess of soft +white grains, and told him to eat. 'What, eat those little maggots?' +said Si Jura. 'They are not maggots, that is boiled rice,' replied Si +Kira, and he forthwith instructed him in the art of planting, weeding, +reaping, husking, and boiling rice. + +"While Si Kira's wife was out, getting some water, Si Jura peeped into +one of the tall jars that were standing near by, and looking straight +through the bottom of it, he could see his father's house and all his +brothers and sisters sitting around talking. His spirits were much +depressed at the remembrance of the home that perhaps he should never +see again, and instead of eating he wept. Si Kira at once saw what was +the matter, and assured him that he would arrange everything +satisfactorily for him; then Si Jura fell to and ate a hearty meal, and +afterwards he was given three kinds of rice, and Si Kira further +instructed him how to fell the jungle, burn it, then take the omens from +the birds before planting, and when he harvested to hold a feast. By +means of a long rope Si Jura was lowered down to the earth again, close +to his father's house. From his visit to the Pleiades the Dayaks learned +all that they know about farming, and, what is more, to this day the +Pleiades themselves tell them when to begin farming, for, according to +their position in the sky in the morning and evening, they cut down the +jungle, burn, plant, and reap." + +I think there can be no doubt that Si Kira bestowed a great blessing on +the Dayaks when he gave them rice; but I am very sure that he saddled +them with a dire affliction when he introduced to them the omen-birds; +more procrastination, failure of expeditions, and exasperation of soul +can be laid to the score of these birds than to anything else on earth. +There is hardly an undertaking, however slight, that can be begun +without first consulting these wretched birds. Yet it is hardly to be +wondered at, that all tribes should hold the birds to be little prophets +of the jungle, dashing across man's path, at critical moments, to bless +or to ban. In the deep jungle, which at high noon is as silent as +"sunless retreats of the ocean," gay-plumaged birds are not sitting on +every bough singing plaintive, melodious notes; such lovely pictures +exist solely in the mind of the poet or of him who has never visited the +tropics. In the thick tangle of leaves and branches overhead, the larger +birds are seen with difficulty, even after considerable practice, and +the smaller birds appear as but a flash of light, as they dart through +the interlacing palms and vines; the apparition, with its sudden gleam +and instant disappearance, starts the impulse to make a wish, as when we +see a star shoot across the heavens. This same natural and almost +irresistible impulse, which we have all experienced, I suggest as one of +the explanations of the tendency of the Bornean mind to accept the birds +as the intelligent forerunners of good or ill. These unsophisticated +natives wander forth with some wish in their hearts, and should a bird +of the right species (for not all birds are omen-birds) cross their +path, the fulfilment of their wishes is established beyond a doubt by +its mere appearance, and it is to be feared (for they are mortal) that +if they do not want to see the bird--well, there are none so blind as +those who won't see. When it comes to taking omens for such an important +event as the planting of rice, or for going on the warpath, then the +ceremony extends over ten days or two weeks, and the opinion of the +small barking deer also must be consulted; furthermore, the whole +household is under the ban of a taboo, or _permantang_, as they call it, +and the people must all stay indoors while the three men who are +appointed as searchers are abroad on their omen-seeking errand. So firm +is their trust in the wisdom of the birds that even if they have worked +for months at a clearing they will abandon it and never plant it, if the +omens at the time of sowing be unfavorable. Certain birds must be seen +on the right hand to be favorable, while others are most propitious when +they soar overhead, or give a shrill cry on the left; on more than one +occasion, when traveling in native canoes, a bird which ought to have +appeared on the right has been seen on the left, and, to my utter +bewilderment, without a word the boat has been swung round in the stream +so as to bring to the right what was on the left, thus slyly fabricating +a bad omen into a good one, and for some distance we have gone in the +opposite direction, but now with highly favorable omens. When they +conclude that the bird has forgotten his warning or lost sight of us, +the boat has been again turned, fate has been deceived, and we journey +on as before. Once our whole party of eight or ten boats had to pull up +at the bank and walk through the jungle for a quarter of a mile or so to +make a bothersome white-headed hawk think that he had mistaken the +object of our expedition. When a favorable bird has been seen, a fire of +chips is at once built on the bank of the river, thereby letting the +bird know that his kind attention has been appreciated, Fire is always +the go-between of man and the birds, or any of the spirits; it forms an +important part in the ceremonies of consecration and absolution, and by +means of fire a man may break through a taboo, or _permantang_. Should +a man have a fruit-tree, for instance, which he wishes to protect, he +places about it several cleft sticks with stones thrust in the clefts, +and the stones are told to guard the tree and afflict with dire diseases +any pilferer of the fruit. Now, should a friend of the owner see this +sign of _permantang_ and yet wish some of the fruit, let him but build a +fire and commission the fire to tell the stones that he is a friend of +the owner, and that it is all right if he takes the fruit; then, when +the fire is burnt out, the fruit may be taken with impunity. In the +ceremony of naming a child, the sacrificial pig is touched with a fire +brand before it is harangued by the Dayong, or medicine man; and to +determine whether or not the chosen name be propitious, the strip of +rattan which has been used on the fire-saw to obtain the sacred fire, is +bent into a loop until its ends just meet; it is then set on fire in the +middle and allowed to burn through. If the two pieces thus made are of +uneven length the name is good; if they are both the same length another +name must be selected. The ashes from this burning are made into a paste +and smeared on the child's forehead just before it is deluged with a +bowl of cold water, and the name is made public for the first time. It +is strange what a similarity exists in different races relative to this +ceremony of giving a name. Why water should be used to confirm the rite, +they cannot themselves explain, except by saying that it is a custom +handed down to them from their grandfathers and their +great-great-grandfathers. It can hardly have suggested itself to the +minds of the Borneans as an element of purification and cleansing; to +their mind water does not possess these properties. Water is good to +drink when you are thirsty, and refreshing to bathe in when you are +hot, that is all; dirt has no horrors to the Bornean mind, and after a +plunge in the river has refreshed the body, the Kayan, Dayak, Kenyah, +Sibop, or whatever the tribe, will put on the same dirty waist-cloth or +cotton jacket that has never known soap, and has seldom if ever been +nearer the water than when on the back of its owner. Perhaps it is that +water is symbolic of life and motion; the river is always moving, it +murmurs and talks to itself, a draft of its coolness and a plunge into +its embrace adds new life to man; why should it not be the giver of +life? In almost all the native languages of Borneo the word for water +and river is the same; even when water is brought up into the house it +is still the river, and when they drink, they drink the river; when they +boil their rice they boil in the river, and when they name their +children they pour the river over them. Many subtribes or households +take their name from the river on which they live, as, for instance, the +Long Patas who live, or used to live, at the mouth of the Pata river +(Long meaning junction of one river with another), the Long Kiputs, the +Long Lamas, and many others that might be named, including the whole +tribe of the Kayans, who take their name from the great Kayan river +which empties into the sea on the East coast. If a river that is new to +them be visited, the spirits of that stream must be always propitiated +lest they resent the intrusion and drown the visitor. It is the custom +among the Bukits, one of the most primitive tribes, for the youths, when +they reach the bank of a new river, to divest themselves of every +article of clothing, save a chaplet of leaves, which they twist from the +vines near at hand; then crouching at the edge of the water, they toss +some personal ornament, such as a brass ear-ring or a bright bead, far +out into mid-stream, and at the same instant scoop up a handful of the +water; gazing earnestly into the few drops which they hold in their +palm, they invoke the spirits of the river to protect them, and implore +permission to enter the new territory. Not until this rite is completed +would they dare to bathe in the stream. + +[Illustration: A SCENE ON THE DAPOI RIVER.] + +To revert to the subject of names; from all that I have read, and from +personal observation, it seems that all Borneans recognize the sanctity +of names; of this we may find traces among all the primitive people of +the earth. Before the formal ceremony of naming a child, for instance, +has been performed, the child has no recognized place in the community, +and a mother in enumerating her children would never think of mentioning +one that had died before it was named, even though it had lived a year. +Before the ceremony, the intended name is known to no one except the +parents, and, for them to mention it, is strictly _permantang_ until the +river water has been poured on the child's head. A Kayan will never tell +you his name, but when asked he invariably turns to some one sitting +near him and asks him to pronounce the name which to the owner is +ineffable. For a man to mention the name of his dead father or mother is +a reckless flying in the face of providence. After a serious illness the +name should be changed and never uttered again, lest the evil spirits +revisit their victim; under a new name they will be likely to pass him +by. On one occasion, recognizing a man that I had seen on a former +visit, but, at the moment forgetting his name, I enquired what it was; +the name, however, struck me as entirely unfamiliar. He afterward +acknowledged that he had been very sick since I last saw him and now +bore a new name; only the assurance that the spirits could not harm him +through a white man induced him at last to whisper to me his former +name. This change of name to deceive the fates extends even to inanimate +objects, and to animals which are to be caught or trapped. When hunting +for camphor, the name of the object of their search must be never +mentioned; it is always spoken of as "the thing that smells." Even all +the instruments, which they use in collecting the valuable drug, have +fanciful names, while the searchers talk in a language invented solely +for those who collect camphor. Unless they conform to all these +requirements, the camphor crystals, which in this particular variety are +found only in the crevices of the wood, will elude them and their search +be fruitless. When the people go _Tuba fishing_, which consists of +poisoning the stream with the juice of the Tuba root, and thus +stupefying the fish and making them rise to the surface, where they can +be easily caught in nets or speared, they never say that they are going +after fish, but after the leaves which float down stream. + +These and many other customs relative to the naming of things are all +founded on the same idea of the potency and mysticism inherent in a +name, which may be found in the legends of the old Egyptians, wherein +the power of the great king and god _Ra_ depended on the fact that no +one knew his real name, until Isis by stratagem got it from him; and +forthwith his power left him. It was this same idea that prevented the +Hebrew from ever speaking the name of the Most High; it is probably the +same thought which prompts the Japanese to change a person's name after +death lest by mentioning the one known during life the spirit of the +dead should be recalled from the other world. + +The downfall of the god _Ra_ brings to mind another superstition of +which I have noticed a remnant among the Borneans also, the power of +working charms with the saliva. When the great god Ra became so old that +he no longer had control of his lower jaw, Isis collected some of his +saliva which dropped upon the ground below his throne, and mixing it +with clay, made a snake of it. (I quote from the "Turin Papyrus," of +which Mr. EDWARD CLODD gives a translation in his recent and valuable +little book called "Tom Tit Tot.") This snake Isis left in Ra's path; as +he passed by, it bit him, and to relieve him of his agony Isis persuaded +him that the only thing to be done was to tell her his true name that +she might drive out the pain from his bones. This he finally did, and +with disastrous results. I instance this to show the antiquity of the +superstition that the saliva is potent as an ingredient of charms; the +Kayans illustrate this, in the manner whereby they elude an evil spirit +which may have been following them on a journey on the river. They build +a small archway of boughs on the bank just before they arrive at their +destination. Underneath this arch, they build a fire and, in single +file, all pass under, stepping over the fire and spitting into it as +they pass; by this act they thoroughly exorcise the evil spirits and +emerge on the other side free from all baleful influence. Another +instance, is where they are throwing aside the signs of mourning for the +dead; during the period of mourning they may not cut their hair nor +shave their temples, but as soon as the mourning is ended by the +ceremony of bringing home a newly-taken head, the barber's knife is kept +busy enough. As every man leaves the barber's hands, he gathers up the +hair, and, spitting on it, murmurs a prayer to the evil spirits not to +harm him. He then blows the hair out of the verandah of the house. + +All these parallelisms, in the modes of thinking, among men in far +removed quarters of the earth, do not, I think, necessarily imply that +there has been a transmission of thought from one race to the other, but +that there is a certain round of thought through which the brain leads +us, and in development we must all have followed along the same path. +Some races have made more rapid strides than others, possibly owing to +natural surroundings, and in their strides have left the others +centuries behind. Almost within the memory of our grandfathers, in this +country, witches were burned, and from this there is only a step back to +the Dayong of Borneo. Indeed, whosoever sees these people and lives with +them their everyday life, must regard them, after a not very long time, +merely as backward pupils in the school of life. Let me say in +conclusion, that he would have an unresponsive heart that could not feel +linked in a bond of fellowship with these people, and that God has made +of only one blood all nations of the earth, when he hears a Bornean +mother crooning her child to sleep with words identical in sentiment +with "Rock-a-bye Baby,"--what though the mother's earlobes are elongated +many an inch by heavy copper rings, her arms tattooed to the elbow, and +her blackened teeth filed to points. Once upon a time I heard a Kayan +mother soothing her little baby to sleep, and the words of the lullaby +which I learned are as follows:-- + + + From the River's mouth the birds are straying, + And the Baiyo's topmost leaves are swaying; + The little chicks cheep, + Now my little one sleep, + For the black house-lizard, with glittering eye, + And the gray-haired Laki Laieng are nigh! + Sleep, dear little one, sleep! + + +For those philologically inclined I append the original:-- + + + Lung koh madang Manoh + Migieong ujong Baiyo + Mensip anak Yap + Lamate Telyap, Telyap abing, + Lamate Laki Laieng oban! + Ara we we ara! + + +FOOTNOTE: + +[1] "Forests of the Far East," vol. i, p. 213. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Folk-lore in Borneo, by William Henry Furness + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOLK-LORE IN BORNEO *** + +***** This file should be named 30233-8.txt or 30233-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/2/3/30233/ + +Produced by Martin Pettit and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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The island is +large, and the people, scattered and isolated by constant inter-tribal +warfare, differ one tribe from another, in language, customs and +appearance almost more than do Germans, French, or English; to say that +any tradition or custom is common to all the tribes, or even to all of +one tribe, of Borneans, would be far too sweeping. A still greater +drawback to any universality, in legend or custom, is that there is no +written language, not even so much as picture-drawings on rocks to give +us a clue to ancient myths or traditions. The natives of Borneo are in a +certain sense savages, but yet they are savages of a high order, +possessed of a civilization far above what is usually implied by the +term; they live together in what almost might be called coöperative +communities, they practise the art of weaving, they forge rough +implements of iron, they cultivate rice and esculent plants, and in all +their work, such as house-building, boat-building, manufacture of cloth +and weapons of warfare, they show an ambitious desire, and a skilful +ability, to ornament<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> their work and add, to its usefulness, pleasure to +the eye. One of their gravest faults, however, is their embarrassing +tenacity to the <i>fad</i> of head-hunting, and a strict adherence to the +principle of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. This keeps the +different households, even of the same tribe, at constant war and makes +inevitable an uncomfortable yet pleasing interchange of heads during the +tedious months of the rainy season, when time hangs heavy on the +warriors' hands, and disused swords might get rusty.</p> + +<p>So little is known of the social and anthropological position of these +people, to others than those who make Malaysia and the South Sea islands +their study, that it may not be out of place to give a short description +of the people themselves before entering on the subject of their Folk-lore.</p> + +<p>The remote origin of the Borneans, as well as of the greater part of all +of the inhabitants of the Polynesian islands, is an ethnological +problem; they are not Malay, neither are they Mongolian nor Negrito; +they bear resemblances here and there to all of these races, but not +marked enough to claim any one as the parent stock. Furthermore, there +is some evidence in favor of the theory that they are the result of +successive migrations of tribes from northern India and from Anam.</p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i008.jpg" width='700' height='485' alt="A Kayan Long-House" /></div> + +<h4><span class="smcap">A Kayan Long-House.</span></h4> + +<p>The inland tribes of Borneo, by which I include all the natives except +the Malays settled along the coast, are without any definite forms of +religious worship; they make idols of wood, but I have never seen any +offering made to them, nor do they regard them apparently as anything +more than as scarecrows to frighten off evil spirits. They are the +children of Dame Nature and as such have inherited their mother's +disregard for life, and this feature of their temperament has kept them +in a constant<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> turmoil of warfare, which in turn compels them for mutual +protection to band together in communities of several families and build +for themselves a common house wherein to live, ever ready to turn out in +force and resist the attacks of hostile tribes. In not a few instances +these houses are as much as a quarter of a mile in length and shelter as +many as four hundred people. Every household is presided over by a +head-man known as the elder, or <i>Orang Tuah</i>, and he in turn is governed +in a measure by the chief of the tribe, known as the <i>Penghulu</i>. The +government of the household seems to be conducted in the quietest +manner; I have lived on several occasions in these houses for three or +four weeks at a time, and have never seen anything that could be called +a violent quarrel between two members of the household, nor have I seen +the Orang Tuah or the Penghulu submit any of the members to what might +be considered harsh treatment. I have also been with them when they were +out on the warpath, to use a North-American Indian term, when every +nerve was at high tension on the look-out for enemies and every thought +was turned to slaughter, but I have never seen the counsel of the Chief +disregarded. Of course, some Chiefs are weak and fail to give commands +because they are afraid to act, but a command once given is carried out, +or at least not disregarded, and I could never detect any means which +were taken to enforce an authority thus implicitly obeyed.</p> + +<p>As a people, they are not active-minded nor industrious, but yield to +the influence of climate, and, following the example offered to them by +the vast, dense jungle on every side, accept life as easily as it comes. +They are no exception to the rule that all untutored minds, living in +constant communion with any awful aspect of Nature, be it gigantic +mountains, a waste of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> waters, or an illimitable jungle, are saturated +with superstitions; every pool, every tree, every rock is the home of an +evil spirit, and all mysterious noises in the forest are ghostly +whisperings. Everywhere are signs and omens to warn man of danger or +direct his course; theirs is a life where no schooling is so vital as +the ability to read aright the "sermons in stones, books in the running +brooks." For them the world is the patch of jungle covering the few +square miles that they know, and bounded by the hills in the distance; +seldom do they get an extended view of the surrounding country; trees +hem them in on all sides and the mountains are so difficult of ascent, +and furthermore so infested with demons or "antu," that the summits can +be gained only at the risk of body, and, still worse, of soul.</p> + +<p>Many natives of the interior live and die with never a glimpse of the +sea, and the tales which the Malay and Chinese traders tell of lands +beyond the horizon where white men live, are as incomprehensible to them +as are to us the conjectural accounts which astronomers give of the +canals on the planet Mars.</p> + +<p>Naturally enough, of course, creation began on the island of Borneo, or +Kalamantan, as they call it, and the first people were Borneans and +spoke the language of the tribe that tells the story. Every tribe has a +different account of creation, and claims that its people sprang from +the first created mortals. The following account is the story of Genesis +according to the Kayans of Northwestern Borneo:—</p> + +<p>In the old, old days, when there was nothing but water and sky, there +fell from the heavens an enormous rock; that part of it which protruded +from the water was hard, slippery, and quite bare, with no soil nor +plants upon it of any kind. After a long<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> time, however, the rains +produced slime upon the rock, and little worms, called <i>halang</i>, were +bred in this slime, and they bored into the rock and left fine sand +outside of their burrows; this sand eventually became soil and covered +the rock. Again years passed and the rock remained barren of all other +life until suddenly there dropped from the Sun a huge wooden handle of a +<i>Parang</i> (or sword) known as <i>Haup Malat</i>. This parang-handle sank deep +into the rock and taking root in the soil it sprouted and grew into a +great tree, named <i>Batang Utar Tatei</i>, whose branches stretched out over +the new land in every direction. When this tree was fully grown, there +dropped from the Moon a long rope-like vine known as the <i>Jikwan Tali</i>. +This vine quickly clung to the tree and took root in the rock. Now the +vine, Jikwan Tali, from the Moon became the husband of the tree, Batang +Utar Tatei, from the Sun, and Batang Utar Tatei gave birth to twins, a +male and a female, not of the nature of a tree, but more or less like +human beings. The male child was called <i>Klobeh Angei</i>, and the female +was called <i>Klubangei</i>. These two children married and then gave birth +to two more children, who were named <i>Pengok N'gai</i>, and <i>Katirah +Murai</i>. Katirah Murai was married to old man <i>Ajai Avai</i>, who comes +without pedigree into the narration. From Katirah Murai and Ajai Avai +are descended many of the chiefs who were founders of the various tribes +inhabiting the land of Kalamantan; their names are Sejau Laho, Oding +Lahang, from whom the Kayans spring, Tabalan, Pliban, and, finally, +Tokong, the father of head-hunting.</p> + +<p>As time went on, that which formerly had been merely slime on the rock, +became moss, and little by little small plants were produced. The twigs +and leaf-like appendages of the tree, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>evidently the female principle in +nature, as they fell to the ground, became birds, beasts, and fishes. +(Let me mention here that the endowment of leaves with life and +locomotion is no more than natural; while in the jungle I have +repeatedly seen what, in every respect, appeared to be a leaf fall to +the ground and then miraculously put out legs and walk away; it was one +of those remarkable insects of the <i>Mantis</i> family, or "walking +leaves.") The inhabitants of the rock had no need of fire in those days, +for the sun beat down on them strongly, and there was no night; it was +not until many, many years had elapsed that an old man named <i>Laki Oi</i> +invented a method of obtaining fire by means of friction produced by +pulling a strip of rattan rapidly back and forth beneath a piece of dry +wood. This process of making fire he called <i>Musa</i>, and it is still the +only method used in obtaining fire for ceremonials, such as the naming +of a child, or when communicating with the omen-birds. Laki Oi also +taught them the use of the fire-drill, which he called the <i>Nalika</i>.</p> + +<p>On the main trunk of Batang Utar Tatei was a large excrescence, from +which exuded a resinous gum called <i>Lutong</i>, which, as it dropped to the +ground beneath, was immediately transformed into chickens and swine; and +it is because they were thus formed out of the very heart and substance +of the tree that they are always used in the reading of auguries. From +this same cause, there was innate in them an insight into the innermost +workings of Nature and a knowledge of the future.</p> + +<p>The first beings with any resemblance to man had neither legs, nor +breasts, and consisted merely of a head, chest, arms, and a fragment of +a body which hung down in shreds and rags, having the appearance of +twisted snakes. When they moved they dragged themselves along the ground +by their arms. (From this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> description and from native carvings, I am +inclined to believe that a large cuttle-fish or octopus must have +suggested this idea to the original narrator of this tradition.) Little +by little, the body was brought into more compact form, and, in a later +generation, legs appeared, but it was a long time before they became +accustomed to legs and able to use them in moving about. A survival of +this awkwardness, so say the Kayans, is still noticeable in the way in +which children crawl about the floor, and in their clumsy walk when +first they learn to stand upright. The heads of these first people were, +furthermore, much larger than the heads of the present generation, and, +since it was the first part formed, it is the oldest part of the body, +and on this account the most important member, and valued accordingly +whether dead or alive.</p> + +<p>This account is, as far as I know, purely Bornean, inasmuch as had there +been any admixture from a foreign source (as we shall see further on was +probably the case with the Dyaks) there would have been possibly some +reference to a Supreme Creator rather than to this union of a vine and a +tree as the original source of life. The Kayans from whom I obtained +this account have had exceedingly little communication with the outside +world, except through occasional Malay or Chinese traders. There is just +a possibility that the idea of the wooden sword-handle being the +ultimate <i>fons et origo</i> of all life comes from the fact that the word +for chief—"penghulu"—is derived from "hulu," meaning a sword-handle, +and the prefix "peng" denoting agency, so that the whole word means +literally "the master of the sword," and thus the ruler or chief. From +association of ideas, the sword-handle, without which the blade is +ineffective and useless, may have been suggested to them as the chief +of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> all beings. The sudden appearance of Ajai Avai on the scene as the +husband of Katirah Murai, is not at all at variance with the accounts +from many other sources of the populating of the world. In Laki Oi, we +recognize the Kayan "Prometheus," whose memory is revered by sanctifying +the fire procured after his manner of teaching, and from this tradition +it is probable that the procuring of fire by means of the "fire-saw" is +the aboriginal method. Should all of the fires in a Kayan house become +extinguished and no spark be left, new fires may be started by this +method, and by this method alone; even the fire-drill, and flint and +steel, which are not unknown to them, are tabooed.</p> + +<p>The Dayaks, who are closely akin in every respect to the Malays, and no +doubt adopted the traditions which were rife among the Malays both +before and after the latter became converted to Mohammedanism, give an +account of the creation of the world differing in every particular from +the foregoing Kayan story.</p> + +<p>One of the Dayak versions of the creation which I heard from the people +of that tribe, living in the Baram district of Sarawak, is that in the +beginning there were two large birds,—the <i>Burong Iri</i> and the <i>Burong +Ringgong</i> (Burong meaning <i>bird</i>), who made all the rivers, the great +sea, the earth, and the sky. The first things to have life were plants +and trees. When trees were first made, the winds blew them down, and +again and again the Iri and the Ringgong had to set them up, until in +their great wisdom they realized the necessity of props and stays, so +they fashioned the strong vines and creepers. Then these two creators +saw what pleasant places the boughs and branches of these trees would +make for other beings; whereupon they created birds and all flying +animals, like bats and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> flying squirrels. Then for a long while they +consulted together, and, finally, decided that they would make a man who +should walk about on the earth; at first, they made him of clay, but +when he was dried he could neither speak nor move, which provoked them, +and they ran at him angrily; so frightened was he that he fell backward +and broke all to pieces. The next man that they made was of hard wood, +but he, also, was utterly stupid, and absolutely good for nothing. Then +the two birds searched carefully for a good material, and eventually +selected the wood of a tree known as the <i>Kumpong</i>, which has a strong +fibre and exudes a quantity of deep red sap, whenever it is cut. Out of +this tree they fashioned a man and a woman, and were so well pleased +with this achievement that they rested for a long while and admired +their handiwork. Then they decided to continue creating more men; they +returned to the Kumpong tree, but they had entirely forgotten their +original pattern, and how they had executed it, and they were therefore +able to make only very inferior creatures, which became the ancestors of +the <i>Maias</i> (the Orang Utan) and monkeys.</p> + +<p>The man and the woman were very helpless and hardly knew how to obtain +the simplest necessities of life, so the Iri and the Ringgong devised +the <i>Ubi</i>—a wild sweetpotato—the wild Tapioca, the Kaladi, or, as we +know it, the Kaladium, and other edible roots, whereof the man and woman +soon learned to eat; fire, however, was unknown to these first people +and they had to eat all of their food raw.</p> + +<p>Contemporaneously with the Maias and the monkeys many other animals came +into being, among them the dog. For a long time all living things were +friendly to one another and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> lived in the land of Kaburau, which lies +near a branch of the great Kapuas river, and is, even to this day, +considered by the Dayaks as the garden-spot of the world. The dog, +however, because he cleaned himself with his tongue, soon came to be +despised by all other animals, and although a bully he was yet +subservient to man. Then the deer and many of the other animals taunted +the dog, saying that he was so mean-spirited and servile that although +man thrashed him, nevertheless he fawned upon him and followed after +him; which they would never do, so they went off to the jungle to live. +But the dog comforted himself by saying that "When the man is about to +strike me I crouch down and sometimes this keeps his hand off; +furthermore, I cannot live on the poor food that these others must eat." +Hence, the dog follows and obeys man.</p> + +<p>One day when the man and the dog were in the jungle together, and got +drenched by rain, the man noticed that the dog warmed himself by rubbing +against a huge creeper, called the <i>Aka Rarah</i>, whereupon the man took a +stick and rubbed it rapidly against the Aka Rarah, and to his surprise +obtained fire. This was the origin of the <i>Sukan</i>, or fire drill, and +ever after the man had fire in his house. Not long after, in +accidentally dropping an Ubi near the fire, he found that it became much +more pleasant to the taste; by this accident cooking was discovered.</p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i017.jpg" width='700' height='555' alt="Making Fire with a Fire-Drill" /></div> + +<h4><span class="smcap">Making Fire with a Fire-Drill.</span></h4> + +<p>In the course of time, the dog and other animals began to multiply, and +man imitated their example; the woman brought forth a male child, whose +name was <i>Machan Buntu</i>. After many years, the woman gave birth to a +female child who, when she was well grown, married her brother Machan +Buntu and gave birth to seventy children at one time. These children +left<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> their home and scattered all over the world. Some became wood +sprites and mountain gnomes, living in the trees, in the rivers, and under ground.</p> + +<p>The tradition of the manufacture of man out of wood instead of clay is +thoroughly in keeping with an origin purely Dayak. The Dayaks never have +been proficient in pottery, and to this day they carve their bowls and +dishes out of hard wood, otherwise it seems to me that clay would have +suggested itself to them as the most suitable substance whereof to have +made man. Another item looks as if part of the story were an +interpolation, namely, where it is related that the two birds were so +pleased with their work after making man, that they rested; this looks +like a suggestion due to the first chapter of Genesis. Again, in that +land of Kaburau, where all animals lived in perfect harmony, and which +was the garden of the world, we may recognize the garden of Eden. Owing +to the lack of writing, as I said before, it is impossible to say how +old this tradition is, or to what extent it is known to Dayaks in other +parts of the country; I have heard that very much the same story is told +by the natives in the Rejang district several hundred miles south of the +Baram; where the chiefest difference in the accounts is that earlier and +higher than the birds there was a Supreme Being called <i>Rajah Gantalla</i>, +who after creating the two birds, committed the rest of the work to +them. I think in the <i>-allah</i> of this name (I speak under correction) we +may discern a strong indication of Mohammedan influence. The first man, +instead of being carved entirely of Kumpong wood, was made, in this +latter account, of clay and then filled with the sap of the Kumpong tree.</p> + +<p>A tradition (I do not say "legend," for this implies writing)<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> which all +the Kayans seem to know and to take pleasure in relating, is connected +with the origin of their rite of head-hunting, for, although every +possible means is employed by the European rulers of the island to stop +this custom, it is still, nevertheless the one ruling passion of the +people. Nay, it is part of their Religion; no house is blest which is +not sanctified by a row of human skulls, and no man can hope to attain +to the happy region of Apo Leggan unless he, or some near relative of +his, has added a head to the household collection. Let me correct, +however, with regard to head-hunting, what is probably the prevalent +idea that the heads are hung up in the houses bleeding and raw, just as +they are severed from the body. This is quite wrong; whether or not they +would tolerate in their homes such horrid objects I cannot say, but +certain it is that the heads are first subjected to fire and smoke until +the flesh has dropped away, and what is then hung up is merely a skull; +unpleasant enough, but not so bad as is generally supposed.</p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i021.jpg" width='378' height='700' alt="A Kayan Youth" /></div> + +<h4><span class="smcap">A Kayan Youth.</span></h4> + +<p>The tradition is that the great chief Tokong, when out on a war +expedition, was told by Kop, the frog, that he should always take, +instead of only the hair, the whole head of his enemies; Tokong was +angry, at first, at the frog, but his followers at length persuaded him +to let them try the experiment on their next attack. After taking the +whole heads, the war party retreated quickly to the river down which +they had come, and came to the spot where they had left their boats and +were surprised to find that everything was exactly as they had left it. +When they embarked, lo, and behold! the current of the stream was, for +their sakes, reversed and like a flash they were carried up-stream and +reached their home in a miraculously short time. During the fifteen days +that they had been absent the crop of rice<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> had not only sprouted, but +had grown, had ripened, and was almost ready to be harvested; the +members of their family who had been sick when they left, were now all +well, the lame could walk and the blind see. The wise men waggled their +heads, and one and all declared (and who can blame them?) that ever +after they would stick to the custom that Kop had taught them.</p> + +<p>It is not unfair to infer from this tradition that they have a crude, +germinal sense of the barbarity of their actions, in so far as they +think it necessary to invent an excuse to palliate that savage love of +trophy-hunting which seems inborn in mankind. The rite of head-hunting +is by no means confined to Borneo; the Formosans, and also many of our +new fellow-citizens, among the tribes of the Philippines, are +enthusiastic head-hunters, and our own cherished Indians within our own +borders have not yet given up their love for a scalp; it would be +perilous to assert that it is not a United States custom.</p> + +<p>The idea that the taking of a head is necessary in order to obtain +entrance to the pleasant regions of the land of departed spirits, is a +doctrine taught by the chiefs in order to make men brave in battle, and +do all in their power to avoid the punishment which awaits the coward. +The Kayan Hades is believed to be under ground, and like the Hades of +the ancient Greeks there is a guide to the entrance who corresponds to a +certain extent to Charon. But their river Styx is not a stream, but a +deep and wide ditch, through which flow ooze and slime swarming with +worms and maggots; the souls of the departed must cross over this ditch +not by a ferry, but by means of a fallen tree-trunk, guarded by the +great demon <i>Maligang</i>, who challenges all comers, and if they have no +record of bravery, he shakes the tree-trunk until they fall into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> the +ditch below and are eternally tortured by the devouring worm that dieth +not. Over the land of spirits presides the great demon <i>Laki Tenangan</i>, +who assigns the souls to their proper place, and sees that they get +their deserts, whether good or bad.</p> + +<p>In this shadowy world, <span class="smcap">Apo Leggan</span> is one of the principal regions, and +is the abode of the spirits of those who die from sickness or from old +age. The souls in <i>Apo Leggan</i> have much the same lot as they had in +this world; the poor remain poor, and the rich maintain their rich +estate, and even the soul that has been harassed in life in the upper +air must none the less expect to find misfortune and perplexity in the +world to come. In the absence of any definite code of morals, this is, +perhaps, the most suitable belief that a savage tribe could have; it +stimulates them to a constant endeavor to better their condition in this +life and make their mark in some way, so that the life to come, in which +they have a firm belief, may not be a continuation of the hardships they +have endured here. Their methods of gaining wealth may not conform to +our ideas of propriety, but then all is fair in love and war, and as +they have very little idea of love, their motto has to be "all is fair +in war;" life in the jungle is little else than a ceaseless struggle for +the survival of the fittest.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Long Julan</span>, a second division, is where live the souls of those who have +died a violent or sudden death, either on the battlefield, or in their +own clearings by the accidental fall of a tree; and there also dwell the +young mothers who have died in childbirth; they become the wives of +young warriors who likewise have been cut off in the bloom of youth and +are therefore proper mates for unfortunate little mothers. Such beliefs +naturally tend to the taking of life; a young man, for instance, who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> +loses his wife in childbirth wishes to meet her again in the next world, +and his ambition to go on the warpath is doubly strong. Is he fortunate +enough to take a head, he gains high rank among warriors; should he be +killed, he has the comfortable assurance that he will again meet his +wife in <i>Long Julan</i>. The souls in <i>Long Julan</i> have an easy time and +are always fairly well off, whatever their circumstances were in this life.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Tan Tekkan</span>, a third division, is the place to which Laki Tenangan +consigns suicides; wretched and woe begone in appearance, their souls +wander about in the jungle and in the clearings trying to pick up a +living by eating what roots and fruits they can find. This joyless +Hereafter is calculated to make those who contemplate suicide, rather +perform some self-sacrificing act of bravery whereby they will not only +benefit those whom they leave behind, but also gain for themselves a +more pleasant position in the world to come; therefore suicide is not at all common.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Tenyu Lalu</span>, a fourth region, is assigned to the spirits of still-born +children. These little souls are said to be exceedingly brave and need +no other weapon wherewith to defend themselves than a stick of wood; +they have never felt pain nor experienced danger in this world, and are +therefore totally ignorant of such emotions. Whether or not they +increase in size in <i>Tenyu Lalu</i> is not known, but it is generally +supposed that they live together in a little world of their own.</p> + +<p>Finally, <span class="smcap">Ling Yang</span> is the abode of those who have died by drowning; it +lies below the beds of rivers, and here the spirits soon become +exceedingly rich. All the goods lost in rivers by the capsizing of boats +in the rapids, or when they run foul of a snag in deep water, go into +the coffers of the dwellers in <i>Ling Yang</i>.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span></p><p>Such are the main divisions of the <i>Dali Matei</i>, or country of the +dead; there are, however, many sacred hills, rivers, and lakes wherein +dwell certain powerful demons who govern the spirits. In this nether +world, some say that there are trees and plants and animals much the +same as in this; this point, however, seemed open to considerable doubt +in the minds of some whom I questioned, while others had so definite an +idea of it that they drew maps to show the positions of the different +regions. They seemed to regard it as a large river, along whose +tributaries dwelt the various classes of departed spirits. The Dayongs, +or medicine men, are the only ones who are supposed really to know; +these all maintain that, while acquiring their power over sickness, they +had visited the land of spirits. In the mythology of all countries there +is sure to be a hero who has made the descent to Hades and returned to +tell the tale, and the Kayans are no exceptions; they have their +Orpheus, only his name is Gamong.</p> + +<p>Gamong, during an attack of fever, realized that he was at the point of +death, but was loath to resign his spirit, so he called his friends +around him and begged them to dress him up, after death, in all his +war-clothes, and not to bury him for three days, but to place him in a +sitting posture with his sword and spear in his hands. He comforted them +by saying that he had an inner assurance that he had a terrible +encounter before him, but that he would actually return to this world in +about three days. Shortly after this, his breath ceased and his friends +performed all the rites of burial, just as he had requested. For three +days his body remained rigid; at the end of that time, he came back to +life and told his open-eyed friends his adventures as follows: "When my +spirit left you, I went directly down the path which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> leads to the great +tree-trunk, <i>Bintang Sikopa</i>, where Maligang stands; according to his +wont, he hailed me and told me to halt, which I would not do. Then +Maligang, whose arm is enormous, many times bigger than his body, began +to shake the tree, calling out 'who are you?' I replied 'I am Gamong, a +brave warrior, and you must not shake the tree while I cross.' Maligang +then said, consulting the pegs with which he records the deeds of men, +'What proof have I that you have been brave?' At this I was furious, I +drew my parang, uplifted my spear and ran amok, rushing into Maligang's +house, smashing everything and overturning the great jars of rice-toddy, +of which there is an abundance, but whereof no one ever drinks. Maligang +was frightened and bolted from the house, shouting as he fled, 'I have +not got you now, but in seven years' time you must return.' Finding that +Maligang had fled, and that there were other obstacles to prevent me +from going on, I returned to this world and its trials." The story goes +that Gamong lived seven years after this, and then succumbed body and +soul to the great Maligang; and as there is no record of his bravery, he +was probably shaken off of the tree-trunk and disappeared in the deep +pit seething with maggots.</p> + +<p>All this veracious history I got by word of mouth from a Kayan of the +Tinjar valley.</p> + +<p>Almost every medicine man has been down among the spirits of the dead, +and in proof of his assertions, a curiously shaped stone, or a knot of +wood, is displayed, which has been given by the spirits and is endowed +with all sorts of marvellous properties. I have in my possession a +Dayong's whole outfit of charms which I bought from his relatives after +his death; they were afraid to touch it, and for another Dayong to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> use +it is taboo of the worst kind. Such charms are usually buried with the +practitioner, but this old fellow evidently did not have a very large +practice, and, at his death, he was somewhat neglected. One of the +charms is a stone in which an active imagination might trace a +resemblance to the hand or foot of an animal; the sorrowing relatives +told me, with awe and bated breath, that it was given to their uncle by +a spirit on the top of a mountain, and that it was the foot of a dragon, +one of the most powerful resources of the Dayong pharmacopœia.</p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i030.jpg" width='700' height='557' alt="Kayan Women" /></div> + +<h4><span class="smcap">Kayan Women.</span></h4> + +<p>Companions to the stories of visits to the regions below the earth are +stories of visits to the world above the skies, to which adventurous +heroes climb either by vines or ropes, which dangle suddenly in front of +them, or by means of lofty trees. "Jack and the Bean Stalk" is a +parallel story in our own folklore. Sir Spencer St. John<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> gives a +Dayak account of the introduction of rice among the Orang Iban, as they +call themselves, which states that "when mankind had nothing to eat but +fruit and a species of fungus which grows round the roots of trees, a +party of Ibans, among whom was a man named <i>Si Jura</i> (whose descendants +live to this day in the village of Simpok) went forth to sea. They +sailed on for a long time until they came to a place where 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; when he got among the boughs, he was tempted to ascend the +trunk and find how the tree grew in that position. On looking down he +saw his companions making off with the boat loaded<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> with fruit; there +was nothing for him to do but go on climbing. At length he reached the +roots of the tree and found himself in the country of the Pleiades +[which the Dayaks call 'the seven chained-stars']; when he stood upon +the ground he met a man-like being, whose name was Si Kira, and he went +with him to his house. For food Si Kira offered to him a mess of soft +white grains, and told him to eat. 'What, eat those little maggots?' +said Si Jura. 'They are not maggots, that is boiled rice,' replied Si +Kira, and he forthwith instructed him in the art of planting, weeding, +reaping, husking, and boiling rice.</p> + +<p>"While Si Kira's wife was out, getting some water, Si Jura peeped into +one of the tall jars that were standing near by, and looking straight +through the bottom of it, he could see his father's house and all his +brothers and sisters sitting around talking. His spirits were much +depressed at the remembrance of the home that perhaps he should never +see again, and instead of eating he wept. Si Kira at once saw what was +the matter, and assured him that he would arrange everything +satisfactorily for him; then Si Jura fell to and ate a hearty meal, and +afterwards he was given three kinds of rice, and Si Kira further +instructed him how to fell the jungle, burn it, then take the omens from +the birds before planting, and when he harvested to hold a feast. By +means of a long rope Si Jura was lowered down to the earth again, close +to his father's house. From his visit to the Pleiades the Dayaks learned +all that they know about farming, and, what is more, to this day the +Pleiades themselves tell them when to begin farming, for, according to +their position in the sky in the morning and evening, they cut down the +jungle, burn, plant, and reap."</p> + +<p>I think there can be no doubt that Si Kira bestowed a great blessing on +the Dayaks when he gave them rice; but I am very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> sure that he saddled +them with a dire affliction when he introduced to them the omen-birds; +more procrastination, failure of expeditions, and exasperation of soul +can be laid to the score of these birds than to anything else on earth. +There is hardly an undertaking, however slight, that can be begun +without first consulting these wretched birds. Yet it is hardly to be +wondered at, that all tribes should hold the birds to be little prophets +of the jungle, dashing across man's path, at critical moments, to bless +or to ban. In the deep jungle, which at high noon is as silent as +"sunless retreats of the ocean," gay-plumaged birds are not sitting on +every bough singing plaintive, melodious notes; such lovely pictures +exist solely in the mind of the poet or of him who has never visited the +tropics. In the thick tangle of leaves and branches overhead, the larger +birds are seen with difficulty, even after considerable practice, and +the smaller birds appear as but a flash of light, as they dart through +the interlacing palms and vines; the apparition, with its sudden gleam +and instant disappearance, starts the impulse to make a wish, as when we +see a star shoot across the heavens. This same natural and almost +irresistible impulse, which we have all experienced, I suggest as one of +the explanations of the tendency of the Bornean mind to accept the birds +as the intelligent forerunners of good or ill. These unsophisticated +natives wander forth with some wish in their hearts, and should a bird +of the right species (for not all birds are omen-birds) cross their +path, the fulfilment of their wishes is established beyond a doubt by +its mere appearance, and it is to be feared (for they are mortal) that +if they do not want to see the bird—well, there are none so blind as +those who won't see. When it comes to taking omens for such an important +event as the planting of rice, or for going on the warpath,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> then the +ceremony extends over ten days or two weeks, and the opinion of the +small barking deer also must be consulted; furthermore, the whole +household is under the ban of a taboo, or <i>permantang</i>, as they call it, +and the people must all stay indoors while the three men who are +appointed as searchers are abroad on their omen-seeking errand. So firm +is their trust in the wisdom of the birds that even if they have worked +for months at a clearing they will abandon it and never plant it, if the +omens at the time of sowing be unfavorable. Certain birds must be seen +on the right hand to be favorable, while others are most propitious when +they soar overhead, or give a shrill cry on the left; on more than one +occasion, when traveling in native canoes, a bird which ought to have +appeared on the right has been seen on the left, and, to my utter +bewilderment, without a word the boat has been swung round in the stream +so as to bring to the right what was on the left, thus slyly fabricating +a bad omen into a good one, and for some distance we have gone in the +opposite direction, but now with highly favorable omens. When they +conclude that the bird has forgotten his warning or lost sight of us, +the boat has been again turned, fate has been deceived, and we journey +on as before. Once our whole party of eight or ten boats had to pull up +at the bank and walk through the jungle for a quarter of a mile or so to +make a bothersome white-headed hawk think that he had mistaken the +object of our expedition. When a favorable bird has been seen, a fire of +chips is at once built on the bank of the river, thereby letting the +bird know that his kind attention has been appreciated, Fire is always +the go-between of man and the birds, or any of the spirits; it forms an +important part in the ceremonies of consecration and absolution, and by +means of fire a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> man may break through a taboo, or <i>permantang</i>. Should +a man have a fruit-tree, for instance, which he wishes to protect, he +places about it several cleft sticks with stones thrust in the clefts, +and the stones are told to guard the tree and afflict with dire diseases +any pilferer of the fruit. Now, should a friend of the owner see this +sign of <i>permantang</i> and yet wish some of the fruit, let him but build a +fire and commission the fire to tell the stones that he is a friend of +the owner, and that it is all right if he takes the fruit; then, when +the fire is burnt out, the fruit may be taken with impunity. In the +ceremony of naming a child, the sacrificial pig is touched with a fire +brand before it is harangued by the Dayong, or medicine man; and to +determine whether or not the chosen name be propitious, the strip of +rattan which has been used on the fire-saw to obtain the sacred fire, is +bent into a loop until its ends just meet; it is then set on fire in the +middle and allowed to burn through. If the two pieces thus made are of +uneven length the name is good; if they are both the same length another +name must be selected. The ashes from this burning are made into a paste +and smeared on the child's forehead just before it is deluged with a +bowl of cold water, and the name is made public for the first time. It +is strange what a similarity exists in different races relative to this +ceremony of giving a name. Why water should be used to confirm the rite, +they cannot themselves explain, except by saying that it is a custom +handed down to them from their grandfathers and their +great-great-grandfathers. It can hardly have suggested itself to the +minds of the Borneans as an element of purification and cleansing; to +their mind water does not possess these properties. Water is good to +drink when you are thirsty, and refreshing to bathe in when you are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> +hot, that is all; dirt has no horrors to the Bornean mind, and after a +plunge in the river has refreshed the body, the Kayan, Dayak, Kenyah, +Sibop, or whatever the tribe, will put on the same dirty waist-cloth or +cotton jacket that has never known soap, and has seldom if ever been +nearer the water than when on the back of its owner. Perhaps it is that +water is symbolic of life and motion; the river is always moving, it +murmurs and talks to itself, a draft of its coolness and a plunge into +its embrace adds new life to man; why should it not be the giver of +life? In almost all the native languages of Borneo the word for water +and river is the same; even when water is brought up into the house it +is still the river, and when they drink, they drink the river; when they +boil their rice they boil in the river, and when they name their +children they pour the river over them. Many subtribes or households +take their name from the river on which they live, as, for instance, the +Long Patas who live, or used to live, at the mouth of the Pata river +(Long meaning junction of one river with another), the Long Kiputs, the +Long Lamas, and many others that might be named, including the whole +tribe of the Kayans, who take their name from the great Kayan river +which empties into the sea on the East coast. If a river that is new to +them be visited, the spirits of that stream must be always propitiated +lest they resent the intrusion and drown the visitor. It is the custom +among the Bukits, one of the most primitive tribes, for the youths, when +they reach the bank of a new river, to divest themselves of every +article of clothing, save a chaplet of leaves, which they twist from the +vines near at hand; then crouching at the edge of the water, they toss +some personal ornament, such as a brass ear-ring or a bright bead, far +out into mid-stream, and at the same instant scoop up a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>handful of the +water; gazing earnestly into the few drops which they hold in their +palm, they invoke the spirits of the river to protect them, and implore +permission to enter the new territory. Not until this rite is completed +would they dare to bathe in the stream.</p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i036.jpg" width='700' height='503' alt="A Scene on the Dapoi River" /></div> + +<h4><span class="smcap">A Scene on the Dapoi River.</span></h4> + +<p>To revert to the subject of names; from all that I have read, and from +personal observation, it seems that all Borneans recognize the sanctity +of names; of this we may find traces among all the primitive people of +the earth. Before the formal ceremony of naming a child, for instance, +has been performed, the child has no recognized place in the community, +and a mother in enumerating her children would never think of mentioning +one that had died before it was named, even though it had lived a year. +Before the ceremony, the intended name is known to no one except the +parents, and, for them to mention it, is strictly <i>permantang</i> until the +river water has been poured on the child's head. A Kayan will never tell +you his name, but when asked he invariably turns to some one sitting +near him and asks him to pronounce the name which to the owner is +ineffable. For a man to mention the name of his dead father or mother is +a reckless flying in the face of providence. After a serious illness the +name should be changed and never uttered again, lest the evil spirits +revisit their victim; under a new name they will be likely to pass him +by. On one occasion, recognizing a man that I had seen on a former +visit, but, at the moment forgetting his name, I enquired what it was; +the name, however, struck me as entirely unfamiliar. He afterward +acknowledged that he had been very sick since I last saw him and now +bore a new name; only the assurance that the spirits could not harm him +through a white man induced him at last to whisper to me his former<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> +name. This change of name to deceive the fates extends even to inanimate +objects, and to animals which are to be caught or trapped. When hunting +for camphor, the name of the object of their search must be never +mentioned; it is always spoken of as "the thing that smells." Even all +the instruments, which they use in collecting the valuable drug, have +fanciful names, while the searchers talk in a language invented solely +for those who collect camphor. Unless they conform to all these +requirements, the camphor crystals, which in this particular variety are +found only in the crevices of the wood, will elude them and their search +be fruitless. When the people go <i>Tuba fishing</i>, which consists of +poisoning the stream with the juice of the Tuba root, and thus +stupefying the fish and making them rise to the surface, where they can +be easily caught in nets or speared, they never say that they are going +after fish, but after the leaves which float down stream.</p> + +<p>These and many other customs relative to the naming of things are all +founded on the same idea of the potency and mysticism inherent in a +name, which may be found in the legends of the old Egyptians, wherein +the power of the great king and god <i>Ra</i> depended on the fact that no +one knew his real name, until Isis by stratagem got it from him; and +forthwith his power left him. It was this same idea that prevented the +Hebrew from ever speaking the name of the Most High; it is probably the +same thought which prompts the Japanese to change a person's name after +death lest by mentioning the one known during life the spirit of the +dead should be recalled from the other world.</p> + +<p>The downfall of the god <i>Ra</i> brings to mind another superstition of +which I have noticed a remnant among the Borneans<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> also, the power of +working charms with the saliva. When the great god Ra became so old that +he no longer had control of his lower jaw, Isis collected some of his +saliva which dropped upon the ground below his throne, and mixing it +with clay, made a snake of it. (I quote from the "Turin Papyrus," of +which Mr. <span class="smcap">Edward Clodd</span> gives a translation in his recent and valuable +little book called "Tom Tit Tot.") This snake Isis left in Ra's path; as +he passed by, it bit him, and to relieve him of his agony Isis persuaded +him that the only thing to be done was to tell her his true name that +she might drive out the pain from his bones. This he finally did, and +with disastrous results. I instance this to show the antiquity of the +superstition that the saliva is potent as an ingredient of charms; the +Kayans illustrate this, in the manner whereby they elude an evil spirit +which may have been following them on a journey on the river. They build +a small archway of boughs on the bank just before they arrive at their +destination. Underneath this arch, they build a fire and, in single +file, all pass under, stepping over the fire and spitting into it as +they pass; by this act they thoroughly exorcise the evil spirits and +emerge on the other side free from all baleful influence. Another +instance, is where they are throwing aside the signs of mourning for the +dead; during the period of mourning they may not cut their hair nor +shave their temples, but as soon as the mourning is ended by the +ceremony of bringing home a newly-taken head, the barber's knife is kept +busy enough. As every man leaves the barber's hands, he gathers up the +hair, and, spitting on it, murmurs a prayer to the evil spirits not to +harm him. He then blows the hair out of the verandah of the house.</p> + +<p>All these parallelisms, in the modes of thinking, among men<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> in far +removed quarters of the earth, do not, I think, necessarily imply that +there has been a transmission of thought from one race to the other, but +that there is a certain round of thought through which the brain leads +us, and in development we must all have followed along the same path. +Some races have made more rapid strides than others, possibly owing to +natural surroundings, and in their strides have left the others +centuries behind. Almost within the memory of our grandfathers, in this +country, witches were burned, and from this there is only a step back to +the Dayong of Borneo. Indeed, whosoever sees these people and lives with +them their everyday life, must regard them, after a not very long time, +merely as backward pupils in the school of life. Let me say in +conclusion, that he would have an unresponsive heart that could not feel +linked in a bond of fellowship with these people, and that God has made +of only one blood all nations of the earth, when he hears a Bornean +mother crooning her child to sleep with words identical in sentiment +with "Rock-a-bye Baby,"—what though the mother's earlobes are elongated +many an inch by heavy copper rings, her arms tattooed to the elbow, and +her blackened teeth filed to points. Once upon a time I heard a Kayan +mother soothing her little baby to sleep, and the words of the lullaby +which I learned are as follows:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<div>From the River's mouth the birds are straying,</div> +<div>And the Baiyo's topmost leaves are swaying;</div> +<div class="i3">The little chicks cheep,</div> +<div class="i3">Now my little one sleep,</div> +<div>For the black house-lizard, with glittering eye,</div> +<div>And the gray-haired Laki Laieng are nigh!</div> +<div class="i3">Sleep, dear little one, sleep!</div> +</div></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span></p><p>For those philologically inclined I append the original:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<div>Lung koh madang Manoh</div> +<div>Migieong ujong Baiyo</div> +<div>Mensip anak Yap</div> +<div>Lamate Telyap, Telyap abing,</div> +<div>Lamate Laki Laieng oban!</div> +<div class="i6">Ara we we ara!</div> +</div></div> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> "Forests of the Far East," vol. i, p. 213.</p></div> + +</div> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30233 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/30233-h/images/i002.jpg b/30233-h/images/i002.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6c0ee6d --- /dev/null +++ b/30233-h/images/i002.jpg diff --git a/30233-h/images/i008.jpg b/30233-h/images/i008.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..38ef074 --- /dev/null +++ b/30233-h/images/i008.jpg diff --git a/30233-h/images/i017.jpg b/30233-h/images/i017.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..98ab226 --- /dev/null +++ b/30233-h/images/i017.jpg diff --git a/30233-h/images/i021.jpg b/30233-h/images/i021.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ef296ac --- /dev/null +++ b/30233-h/images/i021.jpg diff --git a/30233-h/images/i030.jpg b/30233-h/images/i030.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9af0e40 --- /dev/null +++ b/30233-h/images/i030.jpg diff --git a/30233-h/images/i036.jpg b/30233-h/images/i036.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..278d887 --- /dev/null +++ b/30233-h/images/i036.jpg diff --git a/30233.txt b/30233.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f71e641 --- /dev/null +++ b/30233.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1204 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Folk-lore in Borneo, by William Henry Furness + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Folk-lore in Borneo + A Sketch + +Author: William Henry Furness + +Release Date: October 11, 2009 [EBook #30233] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOLK-LORE IN BORNEO *** + + + + +Produced by Martin Pettit and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +FOLK-LORE IN BORNEO + +A SKETCH + +BY + +WILLIAM HENRY FURNESS 3D, M.D., F.R.G.S. + +MEMBRE DE LA SOCIETE DE GEOGRAPHIE A PARIS +MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY +MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN ORIENTAL SOCIETY + +[_PRIVATELY PRINTED_] + +WALLINGFORD +DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA +1899 + + +[Illustration: A KAYAN CHIEF.] + + + + +A SKETCH OF THE FOLK-LORE OF BORNEO. + + +In this short monograph I do not pretend to give anything more than a +Sketch of the Folk-lore to be found among the Borneans. The island is +large, and the people, scattered and isolated by constant inter-tribal +warfare, differ one tribe from another, in language, customs and +appearance almost more than do Germans, French, or English; to say that +any tradition or custom is common to all the tribes, or even to all of +one tribe, of Borneans, would be far too sweeping. A still greater +drawback to any universality, in legend or custom, is that there is no +written language, not even so much as picture-drawings on rocks to give +us a clue to ancient myths or traditions. The natives of Borneo are in a +certain sense savages, but yet they are savages of a high order, +possessed of a civilization far above what is usually implied by the +term; they live together in what almost might be called cooperative +communities, they practise the art of weaving, they forge rough +implements of iron, they cultivate rice and esculent plants, and in all +their work, such as house-building, boat-building, manufacture of cloth +and weapons of warfare, they show an ambitious desire, and a skilful +ability, to ornament their work and add, to its usefulness, pleasure to +the eye. One of their gravest faults, however, is their embarrassing +tenacity to the _fad_ of head-hunting, and a strict adherence to the +principle of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. This keeps the +different households, even of the same tribe, at constant war and makes +inevitable an uncomfortable yet pleasing interchange of heads during the +tedious months of the rainy season, when time hangs heavy on the +warriors' hands, and disused swords might get rusty. + +So little is known of the social and anthropological position of these +people, to others than those who make Malaysia and the South Sea islands +their study, that it may not be out of place to give a short description +of the people themselves before entering on the subject of their +Folk-lore. + +The remote origin of the Borneans, as well as of the greater part of all +of the inhabitants of the Polynesian islands, is an ethnological +problem; they are not Malay, neither are they Mongolian nor Negrito; +they bear resemblances here and there to all of these races, but not +marked enough to claim any one as the parent stock. Furthermore, there +is some evidence in favor of the theory that they are the result of +successive migrations of tribes from northern India and from Anam. + +[Illustration: A KAYAN LONG-HOUSE.] + +The inland tribes of Borneo, by which I include all the natives except +the Malays settled along the coast, are without any definite forms of +religious worship; they make idols of wood, but I have never seen any +offering made to them, nor do they regard them apparently as anything +more than as scarecrows to frighten off evil spirits. They are the +children of Dame Nature and as such have inherited their mother's +disregard for life, and this feature of their temperament has kept them +in a constant turmoil of warfare, which in turn compels them for mutual +protection to band together in communities of several families and build +for themselves a common house wherein to live, ever ready to turn out in +force and resist the attacks of hostile tribes. In not a few instances +these houses are as much as a quarter of a mile in length and shelter as +many as four hundred people. Every household is presided over by a +head-man known as the elder, or _Orang Tuah_, and he in turn is governed +in a measure by the chief of the tribe, known as the _Penghulu_. The +government of the household seems to be conducted in the quietest +manner; I have lived on several occasions in these houses for three or +four weeks at a time, and have never seen anything that could be called +a violent quarrel between two members of the household, nor have I seen +the Orang Tuah or the Penghulu submit any of the members to what might +be considered harsh treatment. I have also been with them when they were +out on the warpath, to use a North-American Indian term, when every +nerve was at high tension on the look-out for enemies and every thought +was turned to slaughter, but I have never seen the counsel of the Chief +disregarded. Of course, some Chiefs are weak and fail to give commands +because they are afraid to act, but a command once given is carried out, +or at least not disregarded, and I could never detect any means which +were taken to enforce an authority thus implicitly obeyed. + +As a people, they are not active-minded nor industrious, but yield to +the influence of climate, and, following the example offered to them by +the vast, dense jungle on every side, accept life as easily as it comes. +They are no exception to the rule that all untutored minds, living in +constant communion with any awful aspect of Nature, be it gigantic +mountains, a waste of waters, or an illimitable jungle, are saturated +with superstitions; every pool, every tree, every rock is the home of an +evil spirit, and all mysterious noises in the forest are ghostly +whisperings. Everywhere are signs and omens to warn man of danger or +direct his course; theirs is a life where no schooling is so vital as +the ability to read aright the "sermons in stones, books in the running +brooks." For them the world is the patch of jungle covering the few +square miles that they know, and bounded by the hills in the distance; +seldom do they get an extended view of the surrounding country; trees +hem them in on all sides and the mountains are so difficult of ascent, +and furthermore so infested with demons or "antu," that the summits can +be gained only at the risk of body, and, still worse, of soul. + +Many natives of the interior live and die with never a glimpse of the +sea, and the tales which the Malay and Chinese traders tell of lands +beyond the horizon where white men live, are as incomprehensible to them +as are to us the conjectural accounts which astronomers give of the +canals on the planet Mars. + +Naturally enough, of course, creation began on the island of Borneo, or +Kalamantan, as they call it, and the first people were Borneans and +spoke the language of the tribe that tells the story. Every tribe has a +different account of creation, and claims that its people sprang from +the first created mortals. The following account is the story of Genesis +according to the Kayans of Northwestern Borneo:-- + +In the old, old days, when there was nothing but water and sky, there +fell from the heavens an enormous rock; that part of it which protruded +from the water was hard, slippery, and quite bare, with no soil nor +plants upon it of any kind. After a long time, however, the rains +produced slime upon the rock, and little worms, called _halang_, were +bred in this slime, and they bored into the rock and left fine sand +outside of their burrows; this sand eventually became soil and covered +the rock. Again years passed and the rock remained barren of all other +life until suddenly there dropped from the Sun a huge wooden handle of a +_Parang_ (or sword) known as _Haup Malat_. This parang-handle sank deep +into the rock and taking root in the soil it sprouted and grew into a +great tree, named _Batang Utar Tatei_, whose branches stretched out over +the new land in every direction. When this tree was fully grown, there +dropped from the Moon a long rope-like vine known as the _Jikwan Tali_. +This vine quickly clung to the tree and took root in the rock. Now the +vine, Jikwan Tali, from the Moon became the husband of the tree, Batang +Utar Tatei, from the Sun, and Batang Utar Tatei gave birth to twins, a +male and a female, not of the nature of a tree, but more or less like +human beings. The male child was called _Klobeh Angei_, and the female +was called _Klubangei_. These two children married and then gave birth +to two more children, who were named _Pengok N'gai_, and _Katirah +Murai_. Katirah Murai was married to old man _Ajai Avai_, who comes +without pedigree into the narration. From Katirah Murai and Ajai Avai +are descended many of the chiefs who were founders of the various tribes +inhabiting the land of Kalamantan; their names are Sejau Laho, Oding +Lahang, from whom the Kayans spring, Tabalan, Pliban, and, finally, +Tokong, the father of head-hunting. + +As time went on, that which formerly had been merely slime on the rock, +became moss, and little by little small plants were produced. The twigs +and leaf-like appendages of the tree, evidently the female principle in +nature, as they fell to the ground, became birds, beasts, and fishes. +(Let me mention here that the endowment of leaves with life and +locomotion is no more than natural; while in the jungle I have +repeatedly seen what, in every respect, appeared to be a leaf fall to +the ground and then miraculously put out legs and walk away; it was one +of those remarkable insects of the _Mantis_ family, or "walking +leaves.") The inhabitants of the rock had no need of fire in those days, +for the sun beat down on them strongly, and there was no night; it was +not until many, many years had elapsed that an old man named _Laki Oi_ +invented a method of obtaining fire by means of friction produced by +pulling a strip of rattan rapidly back and forth beneath a piece of dry +wood. This process of making fire he called _Musa_, and it is still the +only method used in obtaining fire for ceremonials, such as the naming +of a child, or when communicating with the omen-birds. Laki Oi also +taught them the use of the fire-drill, which he called the _Nalika_. + +On the main trunk of Batang Utar Tatei was a large excrescence, from +which exuded a resinous gum called _Lutong_, which, as it dropped to the +ground beneath, was immediately transformed into chickens and swine; and +it is because they were thus formed out of the very heart and substance +of the tree that they are always used in the reading of auguries. From +this same cause, there was innate in them an insight into the innermost +workings of Nature and a knowledge of the future. + +The first beings with any resemblance to man had neither legs, nor +breasts, and consisted merely of a head, chest, arms, and a fragment of +a body which hung down in shreds and rags, having the appearance of +twisted snakes. When they moved they dragged themselves along the ground +by their arms. (From this description and from native carvings, I am +inclined to believe that a large cuttle-fish or octopus must have +suggested this idea to the original narrator of this tradition.) Little +by little, the body was brought into more compact form, and, in a later +generation, legs appeared, but it was a long time before they became +accustomed to legs and able to use them in moving about. A survival of +this awkwardness, so say the Kayans, is still noticeable in the way in +which children crawl about the floor, and in their clumsy walk when +first they learn to stand upright. The heads of these first people were, +furthermore, much larger than the heads of the present generation, and, +since it was the first part formed, it is the oldest part of the body, +and on this account the most important member, and valued accordingly +whether dead or alive. + +This account is, as far as I know, purely Bornean, inasmuch as had there +been any admixture from a foreign source (as we shall see further on was +probably the case with the Dyaks) there would have been possibly some +reference to a Supreme Creator rather than to this union of a vine and a +tree as the original source of life. The Kayans from whom I obtained +this account have had exceedingly little communication with the outside +world, except through occasional Malay or Chinese traders. There is just +a possibility that the idea of the wooden sword-handle being the +ultimate _fons et origo_ of all life comes from the fact that the word +for chief--"penghulu"--is derived from "hulu," meaning a sword-handle, +and the prefix "peng" denoting agency, so that the whole word means +literally "the master of the sword," and thus the ruler or chief. From +association of ideas, the sword-handle, without which the blade is +ineffective and useless, may have been suggested to them as the chief +of all beings. The sudden appearance of Ajai Avai on the scene as the +husband of Katirah Murai, is not at all at variance with the accounts +from many other sources of the populating of the world. In Laki Oi, we +recognize the Kayan "Prometheus," whose memory is revered by sanctifying +the fire procured after his manner of teaching, and from this tradition +it is probable that the procuring of fire by means of the "fire-saw" is +the aboriginal method. Should all of the fires in a Kayan house become +extinguished and no spark be left, new fires may be started by this +method, and by this method alone; even the fire-drill, and flint and +steel, which are not unknown to them, are tabooed. + +The Dayaks, who are closely akin in every respect to the Malays, and no +doubt adopted the traditions which were rife among the Malays both +before and after the latter became converted to Mohammedanism, give an +account of the creation of the world differing in every particular from +the foregoing Kayan story. + +One of the Dayak versions of the creation which I heard from the people +of that tribe, living in the Baram district of Sarawak, is that in the +beginning there were two large birds,--the _Burong Iri_ and the _Burong +Ringgong_ (Burong meaning _bird_), who made all the rivers, the great +sea, the earth, and the sky. The first things to have life were plants +and trees. When trees were first made, the winds blew them down, and +again and again the Iri and the Ringgong had to set them up, until in +their great wisdom they realized the necessity of props and stays, so +they fashioned the strong vines and creepers. Then these two creators +saw what pleasant places the boughs and branches of these trees would +make for other beings; whereupon they created birds and all flying +animals, like bats and flying squirrels. Then for a long while they +consulted together, and, finally, decided that they would make a man who +should walk about on the earth; at first, they made him of clay, but +when he was dried he could neither speak nor move, which provoked them, +and they ran at him angrily; so frightened was he that he fell backward +and broke all to pieces. The next man that they made was of hard wood, +but he, also, was utterly stupid, and absolutely good for nothing. Then +the two birds searched carefully for a good material, and eventually +selected the wood of a tree known as the _Kumpong_, which has a strong +fibre and exudes a quantity of deep red sap, whenever it is cut. Out of +this tree they fashioned a man and a woman, and were so well pleased +with this achievement that they rested for a long while and admired +their handiwork. Then they decided to continue creating more men; they +returned to the Kumpong tree, but they had entirely forgotten their +original pattern, and how they had executed it, and they were therefore +able to make only very inferior creatures, which became the ancestors of +the _Maias_ (the Orang Utan) and monkeys. + +The man and the woman were very helpless and hardly knew how to obtain +the simplest necessities of life, so the Iri and the Ringgong devised +the _Ubi_--a wild sweetpotato--the wild Tapioca, the Kaladi, or, as we +know it, the Kaladium, and other edible roots, whereof the man and woman +soon learned to eat; fire, however, was unknown to these first people +and they had to eat all of their food raw. + +Contemporaneously with the Maias and the monkeys many other animals came +into being, among them the dog. For a long time all living things were +friendly to one another and lived in the land of Kaburau, which lies +near a branch of the great Kapuas river, and is, even to this day, +considered by the Dayaks as the garden-spot of the world. The dog, +however, because he cleaned himself with his tongue, soon came to be +despised by all other animals, and although a bully he was yet +subservient to man. Then the deer and many of the other animals taunted +the dog, saying that he was so mean-spirited and servile that although +man thrashed him, nevertheless he fawned upon him and followed after +him; which they would never do, so they went off to the jungle to live. +But the dog comforted himself by saying that "When the man is about to +strike me I crouch down and sometimes this keeps his hand off; +furthermore, I cannot live on the poor food that these others must eat." +Hence, the dog follows and obeys man. + +One day when the man and the dog were in the jungle together, and got +drenched by rain, the man noticed that the dog warmed himself by rubbing +against a huge creeper, called the _Aka Rarah_, whereupon the man took a +stick and rubbed it rapidly against the Aka Rarah, and to his surprise +obtained fire. This was the origin of the _Sukan_, or fire drill, and +ever after the man had fire in his house. Not long after, in +accidentally dropping an Ubi near the fire, he found that it became much +more pleasant to the taste; by this accident cooking was discovered. + +[Illustration: MAKING FIRE WITH A FIRE-DRILL.] + +In the course of time, the dog and other animals began to multiply, and +man imitated their example; the woman brought forth a male child, whose +name was _Machan Buntu_. After many years, the woman gave birth to a +female child who, when she was well grown, married her brother Machan +Buntu and gave birth to seventy children at one time. These children +left their home and scattered all over the world. Some became wood +sprites and mountain gnomes, living in the trees, in the rivers, and +under ground. + +The tradition of the manufacture of man out of wood instead of clay is +thoroughly in keeping with an origin purely Dayak. The Dayaks never have +been proficient in pottery, and to this day they carve their bowls and +dishes out of hard wood, otherwise it seems to me that clay would have +suggested itself to them as the most suitable substance whereof to have +made man. Another item looks as if part of the story were an +interpolation, namely, where it is related that the two birds were so +pleased with their work after making man, that they rested; this looks +like a suggestion due to the first chapter of Genesis. Again, in that +land of Kaburau, where all animals lived in perfect harmony, and which +was the garden of the world, we may recognize the garden of Eden. Owing +to the lack of writing, as I said before, it is impossible to say how +old this tradition is, or to what extent it is known to Dayaks in other +parts of the country; I have heard that very much the same story is told +by the natives in the Rejang district several hundred miles south of the +Baram; where the chiefest difference in the accounts is that earlier and +higher than the birds there was a Supreme Being called _Rajah Gantalla_, +who after creating the two birds, committed the rest of the work to +them. I think in the _-allah_ of this name (I speak under correction) we +may discern a strong indication of Mohammedan influence. The first man, +instead of being carved entirely of Kumpong wood, was made, in this +latter account, of clay and then filled with the sap of the Kumpong +tree. + +A tradition (I do not say "legend," for this implies writing) which all +the Kayans seem to know and to take pleasure in relating, is connected +with the origin of their rite of head-hunting, for, although every +possible means is employed by the European rulers of the island to stop +this custom, it is still, nevertheless the one ruling passion of the +people. Nay, it is part of their Religion; no house is blest which is +not sanctified by a row of human skulls, and no man can hope to attain +to the happy region of Apo Leggan unless he, or some near relative of +his, has added a head to the household collection. Let me correct, +however, with regard to head-hunting, what is probably the prevalent +idea that the heads are hung up in the houses bleeding and raw, just as +they are severed from the body. This is quite wrong; whether or not they +would tolerate in their homes such horrid objects I cannot say, but +certain it is that the heads are first subjected to fire and smoke until +the flesh has dropped away, and what is then hung up is merely a skull; +unpleasant enough, but not so bad as is generally supposed. + +[Illustration: A KAYAN YOUTH.] + +The tradition is that the great chief Tokong, when out on a war +expedition, was told by Kop, the frog, that he should always take, +instead of only the hair, the whole head of his enemies; Tokong was +angry, at first, at the frog, but his followers at length persuaded him +to let them try the experiment on their next attack. After taking the +whole heads, the war party retreated quickly to the river down which +they had come, and came to the spot where they had left their boats and +were surprised to find that everything was exactly as they had left it. +When they embarked, lo, and behold! the current of the stream was, for +their sakes, reversed and like a flash they were carried up-stream and +reached their home in a miraculously short time. During the fifteen days +that they had been absent the crop of rice had not only sprouted, but +had grown, had ripened, and was almost ready to be harvested; the +members of their family who had been sick when they left, were now all +well, the lame could walk and the blind see. The wise men waggled their +heads, and one and all declared (and who can blame them?) that ever +after they would stick to the custom that Kop had taught them. + +It is not unfair to infer from this tradition that they have a crude, +germinal sense of the barbarity of their actions, in so far as they +think it necessary to invent an excuse to palliate that savage love of +trophy-hunting which seems inborn in mankind. The rite of head-hunting +is by no means confined to Borneo; the Formosans, and also many of our +new fellow-citizens, among the tribes of the Philippines, are +enthusiastic head-hunters, and our own cherished Indians within our own +borders have not yet given up their love for a scalp; it would be +perilous to assert that it is not a United States custom. + +The idea that the taking of a head is necessary in order to obtain +entrance to the pleasant regions of the land of departed spirits, is a +doctrine taught by the chiefs in order to make men brave in battle, and +do all in their power to avoid the punishment which awaits the coward. +The Kayan Hades is believed to be under ground, and like the Hades of +the ancient Greeks there is a guide to the entrance who corresponds to a +certain extent to Charon. But their river Styx is not a stream, but a +deep and wide ditch, through which flow ooze and slime swarming with +worms and maggots; the souls of the departed must cross over this ditch +not by a ferry, but by means of a fallen tree-trunk, guarded by the +great demon _Maligang_, who challenges all comers, and if they have no +record of bravery, he shakes the tree-trunk until they fall into the +ditch below and are eternally tortured by the devouring worm that dieth +not. Over the land of spirits presides the great demon _Laki Tenangan_, +who assigns the souls to their proper place, and sees that they get +their deserts, whether good or bad. + +In this shadowy world, APO LEGGAN is one of the principal regions, and +is the abode of the spirits of those who die from sickness or from old +age. The souls in _Apo Leggan_ have much the same lot as they had in +this world; the poor remain poor, and the rich maintain their rich +estate, and even the soul that has been harassed in life in the upper +air must none the less expect to find misfortune and perplexity in the +world to come. In the absence of any definite code of morals, this is, +perhaps, the most suitable belief that a savage tribe could have; it +stimulates them to a constant endeavor to better their condition in this +life and make their mark in some way, so that the life to come, in which +they have a firm belief, may not be a continuation of the hardships they +have endured here. Their methods of gaining wealth may not conform to +our ideas of propriety, but then all is fair in love and war, and as +they have very little idea of love, their motto has to be "all is fair +in war;" life in the jungle is little else than a ceaseless struggle for +the survival of the fittest. + +LONG JULAN, a second division, is where live the souls of those who have +died a violent or sudden death, either on the battlefield, or in their +own clearings by the accidental fall of a tree; and there also dwell the +young mothers who have died in childbirth; they become the wives of +young warriors who likewise have been cut off in the bloom of youth and +are therefore proper mates for unfortunate little mothers. Such beliefs +naturally tend to the taking of life; a young man, for instance, who +loses his wife in childbirth wishes to meet her again in the next world, +and his ambition to go on the warpath is doubly strong. Is he fortunate +enough to take a head, he gains high rank among warriors; should he be +killed, he has the comfortable assurance that he will again meet his +wife in _Long Julan_. The souls in _Long Julan_ have an easy time and +are always fairly well off, whatever their circumstances were in this +life. + +TAN TEKKAN, a third division, is the place to which Laki Tenangan +consigns suicides; wretched and woe begone in appearance, their souls +wander about in the jungle and in the clearings trying to pick up a +living by eating what roots and fruits they can find. This joyless +Hereafter is calculated to make those who contemplate suicide, rather +perform some self-sacrificing act of bravery whereby they will not only +benefit those whom they leave behind, but also gain for themselves a +more pleasant position in the world to come; therefore suicide is not at +all common. + +TENYU LALU, a fourth region, is assigned to the spirits of still-born +children. These little souls are said to be exceedingly brave and need +no other weapon wherewith to defend themselves than a stick of wood; +they have never felt pain nor experienced danger in this world, and are +therefore totally ignorant of such emotions. Whether or not they +increase in size in _Tenyu Lalu_ is not known, but it is generally +supposed that they live together in a little world of their own. + +Finally, LING YANG is the abode of those who have died by drowning; it +lies below the beds of rivers, and here the spirits soon become +exceedingly rich. All the goods lost in rivers by the capsizing of boats +in the rapids, or when they run foul of a snag in deep water, go into +the coffers of the dwellers in _Ling Yang_. + +Such are the main divisions of the _Dali Matei_, or country of the +dead; there are, however, many sacred hills, rivers, and lakes wherein +dwell certain powerful demons who govern the spirits. In this nether +world, some say that there are trees and plants and animals much the +same as in this; this point, however, seemed open to considerable doubt +in the minds of some whom I questioned, while others had so definite an +idea of it that they drew maps to show the positions of the different +regions. They seemed to regard it as a large river, along whose +tributaries dwelt the various classes of departed spirits. The Dayongs, +or medicine men, are the only ones who are supposed really to know; +these all maintain that, while acquiring their power over sickness, they +had visited the land of spirits. In the mythology of all countries there +is sure to be a hero who has made the descent to Hades and returned to +tell the tale, and the Kayans are no exceptions; they have their +Orpheus, only his name is Gamong. + +Gamong, during an attack of fever, realized that he was at the point of +death, but was loath to resign his spirit, so he called his friends +around him and begged them to dress him up, after death, in all his +war-clothes, and not to bury him for three days, but to place him in a +sitting posture with his sword and spear in his hands. He comforted them +by saying that he had an inner assurance that he had a terrible +encounter before him, but that he would actually return to this world in +about three days. Shortly after this, his breath ceased and his friends +performed all the rites of burial, just as he had requested. For three +days his body remained rigid; at the end of that time, he came back to +life and told his open-eyed friends his adventures as follows: "When my +spirit left you, I went directly down the path which leads to the great +tree-trunk, _Bintang Sikopa_, where Maligang stands; according to his +wont, he hailed me and told me to halt, which I would not do. Then +Maligang, whose arm is enormous, many times bigger than his body, began +to shake the tree, calling out 'who are you?' I replied 'I am Gamong, a +brave warrior, and you must not shake the tree while I cross.' Maligang +then said, consulting the pegs with which he records the deeds of men, +'What proof have I that you have been brave?' At this I was furious, I +drew my parang, uplifted my spear and ran amok, rushing into Maligang's +house, smashing everything and overturning the great jars of rice-toddy, +of which there is an abundance, but whereof no one ever drinks. Maligang +was frightened and bolted from the house, shouting as he fled, 'I have +not got you now, but in seven years' time you must return.' Finding that +Maligang had fled, and that there were other obstacles to prevent me +from going on, I returned to this world and its trials." The story goes +that Gamong lived seven years after this, and then succumbed body and +soul to the great Maligang; and as there is no record of his bravery, he +was probably shaken off of the tree-trunk and disappeared in the deep +pit seething with maggots. + +All this veracious history I got by word of mouth from a Kayan of the +Tinjar valley. + +Almost every medicine man has been down among the spirits of the dead, +and in proof of his assertions, a curiously shaped stone, or a knot of +wood, is displayed, which has been given by the spirits and is endowed +with all sorts of marvellous properties. I have in my possession a +Dayong's whole outfit of charms which I bought from his relatives after +his death; they were afraid to touch it, and for another Dayong to use +it is taboo of the worst kind. Such charms are usually buried with the +practitioner, but this old fellow evidently did not have a very large +practice, and, at his death, he was somewhat neglected. One of the +charms is a stone in which an active imagination might trace a +resemblance to the hand or foot of an animal; the sorrowing relatives +told me, with awe and bated breath, that it was given to their uncle by +a spirit on the top of a mountain, and that it was the foot of a dragon, +one of the most powerful resources of the Dayong pharmacopoeia. + +[Illustration: KAYAN WOMEN.] + +Companions to the stories of visits to the regions below the earth are +stories of visits to the world above the skies, to which adventurous +heroes climb either by vines or ropes, which dangle suddenly in front of +them, or by means of lofty trees. "Jack and the Bean Stalk" is a +parallel story in our own folklore. Sir Spencer St. John[1] gives a +Dayak account of the introduction of rice among the Orang Iban, as they +call themselves, which states that "when mankind had nothing to eat but +fruit and a species of fungus which grows round the roots of trees, a +party of Ibans, among whom was a man named _Si Jura_ (whose descendants +live to this day in the village of Simpok) went forth to sea. They +sailed on for a long time until they came to a place where 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; when he got among the boughs, he was tempted to ascend the +trunk and find how the tree grew in that position. On looking down he +saw his companions making off with the boat loaded with fruit; there +was nothing for him to do but go on climbing. At length he reached the +roots of the tree and found himself in the country of the Pleiades +[which the Dayaks call 'the seven chained-stars']; when he stood upon +the ground he met a man-like being, whose name was Si Kira, and he went +with him to his house. For food Si Kira offered to him a mess of soft +white grains, and told him to eat. 'What, eat those little maggots?' +said Si Jura. 'They are not maggots, that is boiled rice,' replied Si +Kira, and he forthwith instructed him in the art of planting, weeding, +reaping, husking, and boiling rice. + +"While Si Kira's wife was out, getting some water, Si Jura peeped into +one of the tall jars that were standing near by, and looking straight +through the bottom of it, he could see his father's house and all his +brothers and sisters sitting around talking. His spirits were much +depressed at the remembrance of the home that perhaps he should never +see again, and instead of eating he wept. Si Kira at once saw what was +the matter, and assured him that he would arrange everything +satisfactorily for him; then Si Jura fell to and ate a hearty meal, and +afterwards he was given three kinds of rice, and Si Kira further +instructed him how to fell the jungle, burn it, then take the omens from +the birds before planting, and when he harvested to hold a feast. By +means of a long rope Si Jura was lowered down to the earth again, close +to his father's house. From his visit to the Pleiades the Dayaks learned +all that they know about farming, and, what is more, to this day the +Pleiades themselves tell them when to begin farming, for, according to +their position in the sky in the morning and evening, they cut down the +jungle, burn, plant, and reap." + +I think there can be no doubt that Si Kira bestowed a great blessing on +the Dayaks when he gave them rice; but I am very sure that he saddled +them with a dire affliction when he introduced to them the omen-birds; +more procrastination, failure of expeditions, and exasperation of soul +can be laid to the score of these birds than to anything else on earth. +There is hardly an undertaking, however slight, that can be begun +without first consulting these wretched birds. Yet it is hardly to be +wondered at, that all tribes should hold the birds to be little prophets +of the jungle, dashing across man's path, at critical moments, to bless +or to ban. In the deep jungle, which at high noon is as silent as +"sunless retreats of the ocean," gay-plumaged birds are not sitting on +every bough singing plaintive, melodious notes; such lovely pictures +exist solely in the mind of the poet or of him who has never visited the +tropics. In the thick tangle of leaves and branches overhead, the larger +birds are seen with difficulty, even after considerable practice, and +the smaller birds appear as but a flash of light, as they dart through +the interlacing palms and vines; the apparition, with its sudden gleam +and instant disappearance, starts the impulse to make a wish, as when we +see a star shoot across the heavens. This same natural and almost +irresistible impulse, which we have all experienced, I suggest as one of +the explanations of the tendency of the Bornean mind to accept the birds +as the intelligent forerunners of good or ill. These unsophisticated +natives wander forth with some wish in their hearts, and should a bird +of the right species (for not all birds are omen-birds) cross their +path, the fulfilment of their wishes is established beyond a doubt by +its mere appearance, and it is to be feared (for they are mortal) that +if they do not want to see the bird--well, there are none so blind as +those who won't see. When it comes to taking omens for such an important +event as the planting of rice, or for going on the warpath, then the +ceremony extends over ten days or two weeks, and the opinion of the +small barking deer also must be consulted; furthermore, the whole +household is under the ban of a taboo, or _permantang_, as they call it, +and the people must all stay indoors while the three men who are +appointed as searchers are abroad on their omen-seeking errand. So firm +is their trust in the wisdom of the birds that even if they have worked +for months at a clearing they will abandon it and never plant it, if the +omens at the time of sowing be unfavorable. Certain birds must be seen +on the right hand to be favorable, while others are most propitious when +they soar overhead, or give a shrill cry on the left; on more than one +occasion, when traveling in native canoes, a bird which ought to have +appeared on the right has been seen on the left, and, to my utter +bewilderment, without a word the boat has been swung round in the stream +so as to bring to the right what was on the left, thus slyly fabricating +a bad omen into a good one, and for some distance we have gone in the +opposite direction, but now with highly favorable omens. When they +conclude that the bird has forgotten his warning or lost sight of us, +the boat has been again turned, fate has been deceived, and we journey +on as before. Once our whole party of eight or ten boats had to pull up +at the bank and walk through the jungle for a quarter of a mile or so to +make a bothersome white-headed hawk think that he had mistaken the +object of our expedition. When a favorable bird has been seen, a fire of +chips is at once built on the bank of the river, thereby letting the +bird know that his kind attention has been appreciated, Fire is always +the go-between of man and the birds, or any of the spirits; it forms an +important part in the ceremonies of consecration and absolution, and by +means of fire a man may break through a taboo, or _permantang_. Should +a man have a fruit-tree, for instance, which he wishes to protect, he +places about it several cleft sticks with stones thrust in the clefts, +and the stones are told to guard the tree and afflict with dire diseases +any pilferer of the fruit. Now, should a friend of the owner see this +sign of _permantang_ and yet wish some of the fruit, let him but build a +fire and commission the fire to tell the stones that he is a friend of +the owner, and that it is all right if he takes the fruit; then, when +the fire is burnt out, the fruit may be taken with impunity. In the +ceremony of naming a child, the sacrificial pig is touched with a fire +brand before it is harangued by the Dayong, or medicine man; and to +determine whether or not the chosen name be propitious, the strip of +rattan which has been used on the fire-saw to obtain the sacred fire, is +bent into a loop until its ends just meet; it is then set on fire in the +middle and allowed to burn through. If the two pieces thus made are of +uneven length the name is good; if they are both the same length another +name must be selected. The ashes from this burning are made into a paste +and smeared on the child's forehead just before it is deluged with a +bowl of cold water, and the name is made public for the first time. It +is strange what a similarity exists in different races relative to this +ceremony of giving a name. Why water should be used to confirm the rite, +they cannot themselves explain, except by saying that it is a custom +handed down to them from their grandfathers and their +great-great-grandfathers. It can hardly have suggested itself to the +minds of the Borneans as an element of purification and cleansing; to +their mind water does not possess these properties. Water is good to +drink when you are thirsty, and refreshing to bathe in when you are +hot, that is all; dirt has no horrors to the Bornean mind, and after a +plunge in the river has refreshed the body, the Kayan, Dayak, Kenyah, +Sibop, or whatever the tribe, will put on the same dirty waist-cloth or +cotton jacket that has never known soap, and has seldom if ever been +nearer the water than when on the back of its owner. Perhaps it is that +water is symbolic of life and motion; the river is always moving, it +murmurs and talks to itself, a draft of its coolness and a plunge into +its embrace adds new life to man; why should it not be the giver of +life? In almost all the native languages of Borneo the word for water +and river is the same; even when water is brought up into the house it +is still the river, and when they drink, they drink the river; when they +boil their rice they boil in the river, and when they name their +children they pour the river over them. Many subtribes or households +take their name from the river on which they live, as, for instance, the +Long Patas who live, or used to live, at the mouth of the Pata river +(Long meaning junction of one river with another), the Long Kiputs, the +Long Lamas, and many others that might be named, including the whole +tribe of the Kayans, who take their name from the great Kayan river +which empties into the sea on the East coast. If a river that is new to +them be visited, the spirits of that stream must be always propitiated +lest they resent the intrusion and drown the visitor. It is the custom +among the Bukits, one of the most primitive tribes, for the youths, when +they reach the bank of a new river, to divest themselves of every +article of clothing, save a chaplet of leaves, which they twist from the +vines near at hand; then crouching at the edge of the water, they toss +some personal ornament, such as a brass ear-ring or a bright bead, far +out into mid-stream, and at the same instant scoop up a handful of the +water; gazing earnestly into the few drops which they hold in their +palm, they invoke the spirits of the river to protect them, and implore +permission to enter the new territory. Not until this rite is completed +would they dare to bathe in the stream. + +[Illustration: A SCENE ON THE DAPOI RIVER.] + +To revert to the subject of names; from all that I have read, and from +personal observation, it seems that all Borneans recognize the sanctity +of names; of this we may find traces among all the primitive people of +the earth. Before the formal ceremony of naming a child, for instance, +has been performed, the child has no recognized place in the community, +and a mother in enumerating her children would never think of mentioning +one that had died before it was named, even though it had lived a year. +Before the ceremony, the intended name is known to no one except the +parents, and, for them to mention it, is strictly _permantang_ until the +river water has been poured on the child's head. A Kayan will never tell +you his name, but when asked he invariably turns to some one sitting +near him and asks him to pronounce the name which to the owner is +ineffable. For a man to mention the name of his dead father or mother is +a reckless flying in the face of providence. After a serious illness the +name should be changed and never uttered again, lest the evil spirits +revisit their victim; under a new name they will be likely to pass him +by. On one occasion, recognizing a man that I had seen on a former +visit, but, at the moment forgetting his name, I enquired what it was; +the name, however, struck me as entirely unfamiliar. He afterward +acknowledged that he had been very sick since I last saw him and now +bore a new name; only the assurance that the spirits could not harm him +through a white man induced him at last to whisper to me his former +name. This change of name to deceive the fates extends even to inanimate +objects, and to animals which are to be caught or trapped. When hunting +for camphor, the name of the object of their search must be never +mentioned; it is always spoken of as "the thing that smells." Even all +the instruments, which they use in collecting the valuable drug, have +fanciful names, while the searchers talk in a language invented solely +for those who collect camphor. Unless they conform to all these +requirements, the camphor crystals, which in this particular variety are +found only in the crevices of the wood, will elude them and their search +be fruitless. When the people go _Tuba fishing_, which consists of +poisoning the stream with the juice of the Tuba root, and thus +stupefying the fish and making them rise to the surface, where they can +be easily caught in nets or speared, they never say that they are going +after fish, but after the leaves which float down stream. + +These and many other customs relative to the naming of things are all +founded on the same idea of the potency and mysticism inherent in a +name, which may be found in the legends of the old Egyptians, wherein +the power of the great king and god _Ra_ depended on the fact that no +one knew his real name, until Isis by stratagem got it from him; and +forthwith his power left him. It was this same idea that prevented the +Hebrew from ever speaking the name of the Most High; it is probably the +same thought which prompts the Japanese to change a person's name after +death lest by mentioning the one known during life the spirit of the +dead should be recalled from the other world. + +The downfall of the god _Ra_ brings to mind another superstition of +which I have noticed a remnant among the Borneans also, the power of +working charms with the saliva. When the great god Ra became so old that +he no longer had control of his lower jaw, Isis collected some of his +saliva which dropped upon the ground below his throne, and mixing it +with clay, made a snake of it. (I quote from the "Turin Papyrus," of +which Mr. EDWARD CLODD gives a translation in his recent and valuable +little book called "Tom Tit Tot.") This snake Isis left in Ra's path; as +he passed by, it bit him, and to relieve him of his agony Isis persuaded +him that the only thing to be done was to tell her his true name that +she might drive out the pain from his bones. This he finally did, and +with disastrous results. I instance this to show the antiquity of the +superstition that the saliva is potent as an ingredient of charms; the +Kayans illustrate this, in the manner whereby they elude an evil spirit +which may have been following them on a journey on the river. They build +a small archway of boughs on the bank just before they arrive at their +destination. Underneath this arch, they build a fire and, in single +file, all pass under, stepping over the fire and spitting into it as +they pass; by this act they thoroughly exorcise the evil spirits and +emerge on the other side free from all baleful influence. Another +instance, is where they are throwing aside the signs of mourning for the +dead; during the period of mourning they may not cut their hair nor +shave their temples, but as soon as the mourning is ended by the +ceremony of bringing home a newly-taken head, the barber's knife is kept +busy enough. As every man leaves the barber's hands, he gathers up the +hair, and, spitting on it, murmurs a prayer to the evil spirits not to +harm him. He then blows the hair out of the verandah of the house. + +All these parallelisms, in the modes of thinking, among men in far +removed quarters of the earth, do not, I think, necessarily imply that +there has been a transmission of thought from one race to the other, but +that there is a certain round of thought through which the brain leads +us, and in development we must all have followed along the same path. +Some races have made more rapid strides than others, possibly owing to +natural surroundings, and in their strides have left the others +centuries behind. Almost within the memory of our grandfathers, in this +country, witches were burned, and from this there is only a step back to +the Dayong of Borneo. Indeed, whosoever sees these people and lives with +them their everyday life, must regard them, after a not very long time, +merely as backward pupils in the school of life. Let me say in +conclusion, that he would have an unresponsive heart that could not feel +linked in a bond of fellowship with these people, and that God has made +of only one blood all nations of the earth, when he hears a Bornean +mother crooning her child to sleep with words identical in sentiment +with "Rock-a-bye Baby,"--what though the mother's earlobes are elongated +many an inch by heavy copper rings, her arms tattooed to the elbow, and +her blackened teeth filed to points. Once upon a time I heard a Kayan +mother soothing her little baby to sleep, and the words of the lullaby +which I learned are as follows:-- + + + From the River's mouth the birds are straying, + And the Baiyo's topmost leaves are swaying; + The little chicks cheep, + Now my little one sleep, + For the black house-lizard, with glittering eye, + And the gray-haired Laki Laieng are nigh! + Sleep, dear little one, sleep! + + +For those philologically inclined I append the original:-- + + + Lung koh madang Manoh + Migieong ujong Baiyo + Mensip anak Yap + Lamate Telyap, Telyap abing, + Lamate Laki Laieng oban! + Ara we we ara! + + +FOOTNOTE: + +[1] "Forests of the Far East," vol. i, p. 213. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Folk-lore in Borneo, by William Henry Furness + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOLK-LORE IN BORNEO *** + +***** This file should be named 30233.txt or 30233.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/2/3/30233/ + +Produced by Martin Pettit and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2f9e8f0 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #30233 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/30233) diff --git a/old/30233-8.txt b/old/30233-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5d64a0a --- /dev/null +++ b/old/30233-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1204 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Folk-lore in Borneo, by William Henry Furness + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Folk-lore in Borneo + A Sketch + +Author: William Henry Furness + +Release Date: October 11, 2009 [EBook #30233] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOLK-LORE IN BORNEO *** + + + + +Produced by Martin Pettit and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +FOLK-LORE IN BORNEO + +A SKETCH + +BY + +WILLIAM HENRY FURNESS 3D, M.D., F.R.G.S. + +MEMBRE DE LA SOCIÉTÉ DE GÉOGRAPHIE À PARIS +MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY +MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN ORIENTAL SOCIETY + +[_PRIVATELY PRINTED_] + +WALLINGFORD +DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA +1899 + + +[Illustration: A KAYAN CHIEF.] + + + + +A SKETCH OF THE FOLK-LORE OF BORNEO. + + +In this short monograph I do not pretend to give anything more than a +Sketch of the Folk-lore to be found among the Borneans. The island is +large, and the people, scattered and isolated by constant inter-tribal +warfare, differ one tribe from another, in language, customs and +appearance almost more than do Germans, French, or English; to say that +any tradition or custom is common to all the tribes, or even to all of +one tribe, of Borneans, would be far too sweeping. A still greater +drawback to any universality, in legend or custom, is that there is no +written language, not even so much as picture-drawings on rocks to give +us a clue to ancient myths or traditions. The natives of Borneo are in a +certain sense savages, but yet they are savages of a high order, +possessed of a civilization far above what is usually implied by the +term; they live together in what almost might be called coöperative +communities, they practise the art of weaving, they forge rough +implements of iron, they cultivate rice and esculent plants, and in all +their work, such as house-building, boat-building, manufacture of cloth +and weapons of warfare, they show an ambitious desire, and a skilful +ability, to ornament their work and add, to its usefulness, pleasure to +the eye. One of their gravest faults, however, is their embarrassing +tenacity to the _fad_ of head-hunting, and a strict adherence to the +principle of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. This keeps the +different households, even of the same tribe, at constant war and makes +inevitable an uncomfortable yet pleasing interchange of heads during the +tedious months of the rainy season, when time hangs heavy on the +warriors' hands, and disused swords might get rusty. + +So little is known of the social and anthropological position of these +people, to others than those who make Malaysia and the South Sea islands +their study, that it may not be out of place to give a short description +of the people themselves before entering on the subject of their +Folk-lore. + +The remote origin of the Borneans, as well as of the greater part of all +of the inhabitants of the Polynesian islands, is an ethnological +problem; they are not Malay, neither are they Mongolian nor Negrito; +they bear resemblances here and there to all of these races, but not +marked enough to claim any one as the parent stock. Furthermore, there +is some evidence in favor of the theory that they are the result of +successive migrations of tribes from northern India and from Anam. + +[Illustration: A KAYAN LONG-HOUSE.] + +The inland tribes of Borneo, by which I include all the natives except +the Malays settled along the coast, are without any definite forms of +religious worship; they make idols of wood, but I have never seen any +offering made to them, nor do they regard them apparently as anything +more than as scarecrows to frighten off evil spirits. They are the +children of Dame Nature and as such have inherited their mother's +disregard for life, and this feature of their temperament has kept them +in a constant turmoil of warfare, which in turn compels them for mutual +protection to band together in communities of several families and build +for themselves a common house wherein to live, ever ready to turn out in +force and resist the attacks of hostile tribes. In not a few instances +these houses are as much as a quarter of a mile in length and shelter as +many as four hundred people. Every household is presided over by a +head-man known as the elder, or _Orang Tuah_, and he in turn is governed +in a measure by the chief of the tribe, known as the _Penghulu_. The +government of the household seems to be conducted in the quietest +manner; I have lived on several occasions in these houses for three or +four weeks at a time, and have never seen anything that could be called +a violent quarrel between two members of the household, nor have I seen +the Orang Tuah or the Penghulu submit any of the members to what might +be considered harsh treatment. I have also been with them when they were +out on the warpath, to use a North-American Indian term, when every +nerve was at high tension on the look-out for enemies and every thought +was turned to slaughter, but I have never seen the counsel of the Chief +disregarded. Of course, some Chiefs are weak and fail to give commands +because they are afraid to act, but a command once given is carried out, +or at least not disregarded, and I could never detect any means which +were taken to enforce an authority thus implicitly obeyed. + +As a people, they are not active-minded nor industrious, but yield to +the influence of climate, and, following the example offered to them by +the vast, dense jungle on every side, accept life as easily as it comes. +They are no exception to the rule that all untutored minds, living in +constant communion with any awful aspect of Nature, be it gigantic +mountains, a waste of waters, or an illimitable jungle, are saturated +with superstitions; every pool, every tree, every rock is the home of an +evil spirit, and all mysterious noises in the forest are ghostly +whisperings. Everywhere are signs and omens to warn man of danger or +direct his course; theirs is a life where no schooling is so vital as +the ability to read aright the "sermons in stones, books in the running +brooks." For them the world is the patch of jungle covering the few +square miles that they know, and bounded by the hills in the distance; +seldom do they get an extended view of the surrounding country; trees +hem them in on all sides and the mountains are so difficult of ascent, +and furthermore so infested with demons or "antu," that the summits can +be gained only at the risk of body, and, still worse, of soul. + +Many natives of the interior live and die with never a glimpse of the +sea, and the tales which the Malay and Chinese traders tell of lands +beyond the horizon where white men live, are as incomprehensible to them +as are to us the conjectural accounts which astronomers give of the +canals on the planet Mars. + +Naturally enough, of course, creation began on the island of Borneo, or +Kalamantan, as they call it, and the first people were Borneans and +spoke the language of the tribe that tells the story. Every tribe has a +different account of creation, and claims that its people sprang from +the first created mortals. The following account is the story of Genesis +according to the Kayans of Northwestern Borneo:-- + +In the old, old days, when there was nothing but water and sky, there +fell from the heavens an enormous rock; that part of it which protruded +from the water was hard, slippery, and quite bare, with no soil nor +plants upon it of any kind. After a long time, however, the rains +produced slime upon the rock, and little worms, called _halang_, were +bred in this slime, and they bored into the rock and left fine sand +outside of their burrows; this sand eventually became soil and covered +the rock. Again years passed and the rock remained barren of all other +life until suddenly there dropped from the Sun a huge wooden handle of a +_Parang_ (or sword) known as _Haup Malat_. This parang-handle sank deep +into the rock and taking root in the soil it sprouted and grew into a +great tree, named _Batang Utar Tatei_, whose branches stretched out over +the new land in every direction. When this tree was fully grown, there +dropped from the Moon a long rope-like vine known as the _Jikwan Tali_. +This vine quickly clung to the tree and took root in the rock. Now the +vine, Jikwan Tali, from the Moon became the husband of the tree, Batang +Utar Tatei, from the Sun, and Batang Utar Tatei gave birth to twins, a +male and a female, not of the nature of a tree, but more or less like +human beings. The male child was called _Klobeh Angei_, and the female +was called _Klubangei_. These two children married and then gave birth +to two more children, who were named _Pengok N'gai_, and _Katirah +Murai_. Katirah Murai was married to old man _Ajai Avai_, who comes +without pedigree into the narration. From Katirah Murai and Ajai Avai +are descended many of the chiefs who were founders of the various tribes +inhabiting the land of Kalamantan; their names are Sejau Laho, Oding +Lahang, from whom the Kayans spring, Tabalan, Pliban, and, finally, +Tokong, the father of head-hunting. + +As time went on, that which formerly had been merely slime on the rock, +became moss, and little by little small plants were produced. The twigs +and leaf-like appendages of the tree, evidently the female principle in +nature, as they fell to the ground, became birds, beasts, and fishes. +(Let me mention here that the endowment of leaves with life and +locomotion is no more than natural; while in the jungle I have +repeatedly seen what, in every respect, appeared to be a leaf fall to +the ground and then miraculously put out legs and walk away; it was one +of those remarkable insects of the _Mantis_ family, or "walking +leaves.") The inhabitants of the rock had no need of fire in those days, +for the sun beat down on them strongly, and there was no night; it was +not until many, many years had elapsed that an old man named _Laki Oi_ +invented a method of obtaining fire by means of friction produced by +pulling a strip of rattan rapidly back and forth beneath a piece of dry +wood. This process of making fire he called _Musa_, and it is still the +only method used in obtaining fire for ceremonials, such as the naming +of a child, or when communicating with the omen-birds. Laki Oi also +taught them the use of the fire-drill, which he called the _Nalika_. + +On the main trunk of Batang Utar Tatei was a large excrescence, from +which exuded a resinous gum called _Lutong_, which, as it dropped to the +ground beneath, was immediately transformed into chickens and swine; and +it is because they were thus formed out of the very heart and substance +of the tree that they are always used in the reading of auguries. From +this same cause, there was innate in them an insight into the innermost +workings of Nature and a knowledge of the future. + +The first beings with any resemblance to man had neither legs, nor +breasts, and consisted merely of a head, chest, arms, and a fragment of +a body which hung down in shreds and rags, having the appearance of +twisted snakes. When they moved they dragged themselves along the ground +by their arms. (From this description and from native carvings, I am +inclined to believe that a large cuttle-fish or octopus must have +suggested this idea to the original narrator of this tradition.) Little +by little, the body was brought into more compact form, and, in a later +generation, legs appeared, but it was a long time before they became +accustomed to legs and able to use them in moving about. A survival of +this awkwardness, so say the Kayans, is still noticeable in the way in +which children crawl about the floor, and in their clumsy walk when +first they learn to stand upright. The heads of these first people were, +furthermore, much larger than the heads of the present generation, and, +since it was the first part formed, it is the oldest part of the body, +and on this account the most important member, and valued accordingly +whether dead or alive. + +This account is, as far as I know, purely Bornean, inasmuch as had there +been any admixture from a foreign source (as we shall see further on was +probably the case with the Dyaks) there would have been possibly some +reference to a Supreme Creator rather than to this union of a vine and a +tree as the original source of life. The Kayans from whom I obtained +this account have had exceedingly little communication with the outside +world, except through occasional Malay or Chinese traders. There is just +a possibility that the idea of the wooden sword-handle being the +ultimate _fons et origo_ of all life comes from the fact that the word +for chief--"penghulu"--is derived from "hulu," meaning a sword-handle, +and the prefix "peng" denoting agency, so that the whole word means +literally "the master of the sword," and thus the ruler or chief. From +association of ideas, the sword-handle, without which the blade is +ineffective and useless, may have been suggested to them as the chief +of all beings. The sudden appearance of Ajai Avai on the scene as the +husband of Katirah Murai, is not at all at variance with the accounts +from many other sources of the populating of the world. In Laki Oi, we +recognize the Kayan "Prometheus," whose memory is revered by sanctifying +the fire procured after his manner of teaching, and from this tradition +it is probable that the procuring of fire by means of the "fire-saw" is +the aboriginal method. Should all of the fires in a Kayan house become +extinguished and no spark be left, new fires may be started by this +method, and by this method alone; even the fire-drill, and flint and +steel, which are not unknown to them, are tabooed. + +The Dayaks, who are closely akin in every respect to the Malays, and no +doubt adopted the traditions which were rife among the Malays both +before and after the latter became converted to Mohammedanism, give an +account of the creation of the world differing in every particular from +the foregoing Kayan story. + +One of the Dayak versions of the creation which I heard from the people +of that tribe, living in the Baram district of Sarawak, is that in the +beginning there were two large birds,--the _Burong Iri_ and the _Burong +Ringgong_ (Burong meaning _bird_), who made all the rivers, the great +sea, the earth, and the sky. The first things to have life were plants +and trees. When trees were first made, the winds blew them down, and +again and again the Iri and the Ringgong had to set them up, until in +their great wisdom they realized the necessity of props and stays, so +they fashioned the strong vines and creepers. Then these two creators +saw what pleasant places the boughs and branches of these trees would +make for other beings; whereupon they created birds and all flying +animals, like bats and flying squirrels. Then for a long while they +consulted together, and, finally, decided that they would make a man who +should walk about on the earth; at first, they made him of clay, but +when he was dried he could neither speak nor move, which provoked them, +and they ran at him angrily; so frightened was he that he fell backward +and broke all to pieces. The next man that they made was of hard wood, +but he, also, was utterly stupid, and absolutely good for nothing. Then +the two birds searched carefully for a good material, and eventually +selected the wood of a tree known as the _Kumpong_, which has a strong +fibre and exudes a quantity of deep red sap, whenever it is cut. Out of +this tree they fashioned a man and a woman, and were so well pleased +with this achievement that they rested for a long while and admired +their handiwork. Then they decided to continue creating more men; they +returned to the Kumpong tree, but they had entirely forgotten their +original pattern, and how they had executed it, and they were therefore +able to make only very inferior creatures, which became the ancestors of +the _Maias_ (the Orang Utan) and monkeys. + +The man and the woman were very helpless and hardly knew how to obtain +the simplest necessities of life, so the Iri and the Ringgong devised +the _Ubi_--a wild sweetpotato--the wild Tapioca, the Kaladi, or, as we +know it, the Kaladium, and other edible roots, whereof the man and woman +soon learned to eat; fire, however, was unknown to these first people +and they had to eat all of their food raw. + +Contemporaneously with the Maias and the monkeys many other animals came +into being, among them the dog. For a long time all living things were +friendly to one another and lived in the land of Kaburau, which lies +near a branch of the great Kapuas river, and is, even to this day, +considered by the Dayaks as the garden-spot of the world. The dog, +however, because he cleaned himself with his tongue, soon came to be +despised by all other animals, and although a bully he was yet +subservient to man. Then the deer and many of the other animals taunted +the dog, saying that he was so mean-spirited and servile that although +man thrashed him, nevertheless he fawned upon him and followed after +him; which they would never do, so they went off to the jungle to live. +But the dog comforted himself by saying that "When the man is about to +strike me I crouch down and sometimes this keeps his hand off; +furthermore, I cannot live on the poor food that these others must eat." +Hence, the dog follows and obeys man. + +One day when the man and the dog were in the jungle together, and got +drenched by rain, the man noticed that the dog warmed himself by rubbing +against a huge creeper, called the _Aka Rarah_, whereupon the man took a +stick and rubbed it rapidly against the Aka Rarah, and to his surprise +obtained fire. This was the origin of the _Sukan_, or fire drill, and +ever after the man had fire in his house. Not long after, in +accidentally dropping an Ubi near the fire, he found that it became much +more pleasant to the taste; by this accident cooking was discovered. + +[Illustration: MAKING FIRE WITH A FIRE-DRILL.] + +In the course of time, the dog and other animals began to multiply, and +man imitated their example; the woman brought forth a male child, whose +name was _Machan Buntu_. After many years, the woman gave birth to a +female child who, when she was well grown, married her brother Machan +Buntu and gave birth to seventy children at one time. These children +left their home and scattered all over the world. Some became wood +sprites and mountain gnomes, living in the trees, in the rivers, and +under ground. + +The tradition of the manufacture of man out of wood instead of clay is +thoroughly in keeping with an origin purely Dayak. The Dayaks never have +been proficient in pottery, and to this day they carve their bowls and +dishes out of hard wood, otherwise it seems to me that clay would have +suggested itself to them as the most suitable substance whereof to have +made man. Another item looks as if part of the story were an +interpolation, namely, where it is related that the two birds were so +pleased with their work after making man, that they rested; this looks +like a suggestion due to the first chapter of Genesis. Again, in that +land of Kaburau, where all animals lived in perfect harmony, and which +was the garden of the world, we may recognize the garden of Eden. Owing +to the lack of writing, as I said before, it is impossible to say how +old this tradition is, or to what extent it is known to Dayaks in other +parts of the country; I have heard that very much the same story is told +by the natives in the Rejang district several hundred miles south of the +Baram; where the chiefest difference in the accounts is that earlier and +higher than the birds there was a Supreme Being called _Rajah Gantalla_, +who after creating the two birds, committed the rest of the work to +them. I think in the _-allah_ of this name (I speak under correction) we +may discern a strong indication of Mohammedan influence. The first man, +instead of being carved entirely of Kumpong wood, was made, in this +latter account, of clay and then filled with the sap of the Kumpong +tree. + +A tradition (I do not say "legend," for this implies writing) which all +the Kayans seem to know and to take pleasure in relating, is connected +with the origin of their rite of head-hunting, for, although every +possible means is employed by the European rulers of the island to stop +this custom, it is still, nevertheless the one ruling passion of the +people. Nay, it is part of their Religion; no house is blest which is +not sanctified by a row of human skulls, and no man can hope to attain +to the happy region of Apo Leggan unless he, or some near relative of +his, has added a head to the household collection. Let me correct, +however, with regard to head-hunting, what is probably the prevalent +idea that the heads are hung up in the houses bleeding and raw, just as +they are severed from the body. This is quite wrong; whether or not they +would tolerate in their homes such horrid objects I cannot say, but +certain it is that the heads are first subjected to fire and smoke until +the flesh has dropped away, and what is then hung up is merely a skull; +unpleasant enough, but not so bad as is generally supposed. + +[Illustration: A KAYAN YOUTH.] + +The tradition is that the great chief Tokong, when out on a war +expedition, was told by Kop, the frog, that he should always take, +instead of only the hair, the whole head of his enemies; Tokong was +angry, at first, at the frog, but his followers at length persuaded him +to let them try the experiment on their next attack. After taking the +whole heads, the war party retreated quickly to the river down which +they had come, and came to the spot where they had left their boats and +were surprised to find that everything was exactly as they had left it. +When they embarked, lo, and behold! the current of the stream was, for +their sakes, reversed and like a flash they were carried up-stream and +reached their home in a miraculously short time. During the fifteen days +that they had been absent the crop of rice had not only sprouted, but +had grown, had ripened, and was almost ready to be harvested; the +members of their family who had been sick when they left, were now all +well, the lame could walk and the blind see. The wise men waggled their +heads, and one and all declared (and who can blame them?) that ever +after they would stick to the custom that Kop had taught them. + +It is not unfair to infer from this tradition that they have a crude, +germinal sense of the barbarity of their actions, in so far as they +think it necessary to invent an excuse to palliate that savage love of +trophy-hunting which seems inborn in mankind. The rite of head-hunting +is by no means confined to Borneo; the Formosans, and also many of our +new fellow-citizens, among the tribes of the Philippines, are +enthusiastic head-hunters, and our own cherished Indians within our own +borders have not yet given up their love for a scalp; it would be +perilous to assert that it is not a United States custom. + +The idea that the taking of a head is necessary in order to obtain +entrance to the pleasant regions of the land of departed spirits, is a +doctrine taught by the chiefs in order to make men brave in battle, and +do all in their power to avoid the punishment which awaits the coward. +The Kayan Hades is believed to be under ground, and like the Hades of +the ancient Greeks there is a guide to the entrance who corresponds to a +certain extent to Charon. But their river Styx is not a stream, but a +deep and wide ditch, through which flow ooze and slime swarming with +worms and maggots; the souls of the departed must cross over this ditch +not by a ferry, but by means of a fallen tree-trunk, guarded by the +great demon _Maligang_, who challenges all comers, and if they have no +record of bravery, he shakes the tree-trunk until they fall into the +ditch below and are eternally tortured by the devouring worm that dieth +not. Over the land of spirits presides the great demon _Laki Tenangan_, +who assigns the souls to their proper place, and sees that they get +their deserts, whether good or bad. + +In this shadowy world, APO LEGGAN is one of the principal regions, and +is the abode of the spirits of those who die from sickness or from old +age. The souls in _Apo Leggan_ have much the same lot as they had in +this world; the poor remain poor, and the rich maintain their rich +estate, and even the soul that has been harassed in life in the upper +air must none the less expect to find misfortune and perplexity in the +world to come. In the absence of any definite code of morals, this is, +perhaps, the most suitable belief that a savage tribe could have; it +stimulates them to a constant endeavor to better their condition in this +life and make their mark in some way, so that the life to come, in which +they have a firm belief, may not be a continuation of the hardships they +have endured here. Their methods of gaining wealth may not conform to +our ideas of propriety, but then all is fair in love and war, and as +they have very little idea of love, their motto has to be "all is fair +in war;" life in the jungle is little else than a ceaseless struggle for +the survival of the fittest. + +LONG JULAN, a second division, is where live the souls of those who have +died a violent or sudden death, either on the battlefield, or in their +own clearings by the accidental fall of a tree; and there also dwell the +young mothers who have died in childbirth; they become the wives of +young warriors who likewise have been cut off in the bloom of youth and +are therefore proper mates for unfortunate little mothers. Such beliefs +naturally tend to the taking of life; a young man, for instance, who +loses his wife in childbirth wishes to meet her again in the next world, +and his ambition to go on the warpath is doubly strong. Is he fortunate +enough to take a head, he gains high rank among warriors; should he be +killed, he has the comfortable assurance that he will again meet his +wife in _Long Julan_. The souls in _Long Julan_ have an easy time and +are always fairly well off, whatever their circumstances were in this +life. + +TAN TEKKAN, a third division, is the place to which Laki Tenangan +consigns suicides; wretched and woe begone in appearance, their souls +wander about in the jungle and in the clearings trying to pick up a +living by eating what roots and fruits they can find. This joyless +Hereafter is calculated to make those who contemplate suicide, rather +perform some self-sacrificing act of bravery whereby they will not only +benefit those whom they leave behind, but also gain for themselves a +more pleasant position in the world to come; therefore suicide is not at +all common. + +TENYU LALU, a fourth region, is assigned to the spirits of still-born +children. These little souls are said to be exceedingly brave and need +no other weapon wherewith to defend themselves than a stick of wood; +they have never felt pain nor experienced danger in this world, and are +therefore totally ignorant of such emotions. Whether or not they +increase in size in _Tenyu Lalu_ is not known, but it is generally +supposed that they live together in a little world of their own. + +Finally, LING YANG is the abode of those who have died by drowning; it +lies below the beds of rivers, and here the spirits soon become +exceedingly rich. All the goods lost in rivers by the capsizing of boats +in the rapids, or when they run foul of a snag in deep water, go into +the coffers of the dwellers in _Ling Yang_. + +Such are the main divisions of the _Dali Matei_, or country of the +dead; there are, however, many sacred hills, rivers, and lakes wherein +dwell certain powerful demons who govern the spirits. In this nether +world, some say that there are trees and plants and animals much the +same as in this; this point, however, seemed open to considerable doubt +in the minds of some whom I questioned, while others had so definite an +idea of it that they drew maps to show the positions of the different +regions. They seemed to regard it as a large river, along whose +tributaries dwelt the various classes of departed spirits. The Dayongs, +or medicine men, are the only ones who are supposed really to know; +these all maintain that, while acquiring their power over sickness, they +had visited the land of spirits. In the mythology of all countries there +is sure to be a hero who has made the descent to Hades and returned to +tell the tale, and the Kayans are no exceptions; they have their +Orpheus, only his name is Gamong. + +Gamong, during an attack of fever, realized that he was at the point of +death, but was loath to resign his spirit, so he called his friends +around him and begged them to dress him up, after death, in all his +war-clothes, and not to bury him for three days, but to place him in a +sitting posture with his sword and spear in his hands. He comforted them +by saying that he had an inner assurance that he had a terrible +encounter before him, but that he would actually return to this world in +about three days. Shortly after this, his breath ceased and his friends +performed all the rites of burial, just as he had requested. For three +days his body remained rigid; at the end of that time, he came back to +life and told his open-eyed friends his adventures as follows: "When my +spirit left you, I went directly down the path which leads to the great +tree-trunk, _Bintang Sikopa_, where Maligang stands; according to his +wont, he hailed me and told me to halt, which I would not do. Then +Maligang, whose arm is enormous, many times bigger than his body, began +to shake the tree, calling out 'who are you?' I replied 'I am Gamong, a +brave warrior, and you must not shake the tree while I cross.' Maligang +then said, consulting the pegs with which he records the deeds of men, +'What proof have I that you have been brave?' At this I was furious, I +drew my parang, uplifted my spear and ran amok, rushing into Maligang's +house, smashing everything and overturning the great jars of rice-toddy, +of which there is an abundance, but whereof no one ever drinks. Maligang +was frightened and bolted from the house, shouting as he fled, 'I have +not got you now, but in seven years' time you must return.' Finding that +Maligang had fled, and that there were other obstacles to prevent me +from going on, I returned to this world and its trials." The story goes +that Gamong lived seven years after this, and then succumbed body and +soul to the great Maligang; and as there is no record of his bravery, he +was probably shaken off of the tree-trunk and disappeared in the deep +pit seething with maggots. + +All this veracious history I got by word of mouth from a Kayan of the +Tinjar valley. + +Almost every medicine man has been down among the spirits of the dead, +and in proof of his assertions, a curiously shaped stone, or a knot of +wood, is displayed, which has been given by the spirits and is endowed +with all sorts of marvellous properties. I have in my possession a +Dayong's whole outfit of charms which I bought from his relatives after +his death; they were afraid to touch it, and for another Dayong to use +it is taboo of the worst kind. Such charms are usually buried with the +practitioner, but this old fellow evidently did not have a very large +practice, and, at his death, he was somewhat neglected. One of the +charms is a stone in which an active imagination might trace a +resemblance to the hand or foot of an animal; the sorrowing relatives +told me, with awe and bated breath, that it was given to their uncle by +a spirit on the top of a mountain, and that it was the foot of a dragon, +one of the most powerful resources of the Dayong pharmacopoeia. + +[Illustration: KAYAN WOMEN.] + +Companions to the stories of visits to the regions below the earth are +stories of visits to the world above the skies, to which adventurous +heroes climb either by vines or ropes, which dangle suddenly in front of +them, or by means of lofty trees. "Jack and the Bean Stalk" is a +parallel story in our own folklore. Sir Spencer St. John[1] gives a +Dayak account of the introduction of rice among the Orang Iban, as they +call themselves, which states that "when mankind had nothing to eat but +fruit and a species of fungus which grows round the roots of trees, a +party of Ibans, among whom was a man named _Si Jura_ (whose descendants +live to this day in the village of Simpok) went forth to sea. They +sailed on for a long time until they came to a place where 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; when he got among the boughs, he was tempted to ascend the +trunk and find how the tree grew in that position. On looking down he +saw his companions making off with the boat loaded with fruit; there +was nothing for him to do but go on climbing. At length he reached the +roots of the tree and found himself in the country of the Pleiades +[which the Dayaks call 'the seven chained-stars']; when he stood upon +the ground he met a man-like being, whose name was Si Kira, and he went +with him to his house. For food Si Kira offered to him a mess of soft +white grains, and told him to eat. 'What, eat those little maggots?' +said Si Jura. 'They are not maggots, that is boiled rice,' replied Si +Kira, and he forthwith instructed him in the art of planting, weeding, +reaping, husking, and boiling rice. + +"While Si Kira's wife was out, getting some water, Si Jura peeped into +one of the tall jars that were standing near by, and looking straight +through the bottom of it, he could see his father's house and all his +brothers and sisters sitting around talking. His spirits were much +depressed at the remembrance of the home that perhaps he should never +see again, and instead of eating he wept. Si Kira at once saw what was +the matter, and assured him that he would arrange everything +satisfactorily for him; then Si Jura fell to and ate a hearty meal, and +afterwards he was given three kinds of rice, and Si Kira further +instructed him how to fell the jungle, burn it, then take the omens from +the birds before planting, and when he harvested to hold a feast. By +means of a long rope Si Jura was lowered down to the earth again, close +to his father's house. From his visit to the Pleiades the Dayaks learned +all that they know about farming, and, what is more, to this day the +Pleiades themselves tell them when to begin farming, for, according to +their position in the sky in the morning and evening, they cut down the +jungle, burn, plant, and reap." + +I think there can be no doubt that Si Kira bestowed a great blessing on +the Dayaks when he gave them rice; but I am very sure that he saddled +them with a dire affliction when he introduced to them the omen-birds; +more procrastination, failure of expeditions, and exasperation of soul +can be laid to the score of these birds than to anything else on earth. +There is hardly an undertaking, however slight, that can be begun +without first consulting these wretched birds. Yet it is hardly to be +wondered at, that all tribes should hold the birds to be little prophets +of the jungle, dashing across man's path, at critical moments, to bless +or to ban. In the deep jungle, which at high noon is as silent as +"sunless retreats of the ocean," gay-plumaged birds are not sitting on +every bough singing plaintive, melodious notes; such lovely pictures +exist solely in the mind of the poet or of him who has never visited the +tropics. In the thick tangle of leaves and branches overhead, the larger +birds are seen with difficulty, even after considerable practice, and +the smaller birds appear as but a flash of light, as they dart through +the interlacing palms and vines; the apparition, with its sudden gleam +and instant disappearance, starts the impulse to make a wish, as when we +see a star shoot across the heavens. This same natural and almost +irresistible impulse, which we have all experienced, I suggest as one of +the explanations of the tendency of the Bornean mind to accept the birds +as the intelligent forerunners of good or ill. These unsophisticated +natives wander forth with some wish in their hearts, and should a bird +of the right species (for not all birds are omen-birds) cross their +path, the fulfilment of their wishes is established beyond a doubt by +its mere appearance, and it is to be feared (for they are mortal) that +if they do not want to see the bird--well, there are none so blind as +those who won't see. When it comes to taking omens for such an important +event as the planting of rice, or for going on the warpath, then the +ceremony extends over ten days or two weeks, and the opinion of the +small barking deer also must be consulted; furthermore, the whole +household is under the ban of a taboo, or _permantang_, as they call it, +and the people must all stay indoors while the three men who are +appointed as searchers are abroad on their omen-seeking errand. So firm +is their trust in the wisdom of the birds that even if they have worked +for months at a clearing they will abandon it and never plant it, if the +omens at the time of sowing be unfavorable. Certain birds must be seen +on the right hand to be favorable, while others are most propitious when +they soar overhead, or give a shrill cry on the left; on more than one +occasion, when traveling in native canoes, a bird which ought to have +appeared on the right has been seen on the left, and, to my utter +bewilderment, without a word the boat has been swung round in the stream +so as to bring to the right what was on the left, thus slyly fabricating +a bad omen into a good one, and for some distance we have gone in the +opposite direction, but now with highly favorable omens. When they +conclude that the bird has forgotten his warning or lost sight of us, +the boat has been again turned, fate has been deceived, and we journey +on as before. Once our whole party of eight or ten boats had to pull up +at the bank and walk through the jungle for a quarter of a mile or so to +make a bothersome white-headed hawk think that he had mistaken the +object of our expedition. When a favorable bird has been seen, a fire of +chips is at once built on the bank of the river, thereby letting the +bird know that his kind attention has been appreciated, Fire is always +the go-between of man and the birds, or any of the spirits; it forms an +important part in the ceremonies of consecration and absolution, and by +means of fire a man may break through a taboo, or _permantang_. Should +a man have a fruit-tree, for instance, which he wishes to protect, he +places about it several cleft sticks with stones thrust in the clefts, +and the stones are told to guard the tree and afflict with dire diseases +any pilferer of the fruit. Now, should a friend of the owner see this +sign of _permantang_ and yet wish some of the fruit, let him but build a +fire and commission the fire to tell the stones that he is a friend of +the owner, and that it is all right if he takes the fruit; then, when +the fire is burnt out, the fruit may be taken with impunity. In the +ceremony of naming a child, the sacrificial pig is touched with a fire +brand before it is harangued by the Dayong, or medicine man; and to +determine whether or not the chosen name be propitious, the strip of +rattan which has been used on the fire-saw to obtain the sacred fire, is +bent into a loop until its ends just meet; it is then set on fire in the +middle and allowed to burn through. If the two pieces thus made are of +uneven length the name is good; if they are both the same length another +name must be selected. The ashes from this burning are made into a paste +and smeared on the child's forehead just before it is deluged with a +bowl of cold water, and the name is made public for the first time. It +is strange what a similarity exists in different races relative to this +ceremony of giving a name. Why water should be used to confirm the rite, +they cannot themselves explain, except by saying that it is a custom +handed down to them from their grandfathers and their +great-great-grandfathers. It can hardly have suggested itself to the +minds of the Borneans as an element of purification and cleansing; to +their mind water does not possess these properties. Water is good to +drink when you are thirsty, and refreshing to bathe in when you are +hot, that is all; dirt has no horrors to the Bornean mind, and after a +plunge in the river has refreshed the body, the Kayan, Dayak, Kenyah, +Sibop, or whatever the tribe, will put on the same dirty waist-cloth or +cotton jacket that has never known soap, and has seldom if ever been +nearer the water than when on the back of its owner. Perhaps it is that +water is symbolic of life and motion; the river is always moving, it +murmurs and talks to itself, a draft of its coolness and a plunge into +its embrace adds new life to man; why should it not be the giver of +life? In almost all the native languages of Borneo the word for water +and river is the same; even when water is brought up into the house it +is still the river, and when they drink, they drink the river; when they +boil their rice they boil in the river, and when they name their +children they pour the river over them. Many subtribes or households +take their name from the river on which they live, as, for instance, the +Long Patas who live, or used to live, at the mouth of the Pata river +(Long meaning junction of one river with another), the Long Kiputs, the +Long Lamas, and many others that might be named, including the whole +tribe of the Kayans, who take their name from the great Kayan river +which empties into the sea on the East coast. If a river that is new to +them be visited, the spirits of that stream must be always propitiated +lest they resent the intrusion and drown the visitor. It is the custom +among the Bukits, one of the most primitive tribes, for the youths, when +they reach the bank of a new river, to divest themselves of every +article of clothing, save a chaplet of leaves, which they twist from the +vines near at hand; then crouching at the edge of the water, they toss +some personal ornament, such as a brass ear-ring or a bright bead, far +out into mid-stream, and at the same instant scoop up a handful of the +water; gazing earnestly into the few drops which they hold in their +palm, they invoke the spirits of the river to protect them, and implore +permission to enter the new territory. Not until this rite is completed +would they dare to bathe in the stream. + +[Illustration: A SCENE ON THE DAPOI RIVER.] + +To revert to the subject of names; from all that I have read, and from +personal observation, it seems that all Borneans recognize the sanctity +of names; of this we may find traces among all the primitive people of +the earth. Before the formal ceremony of naming a child, for instance, +has been performed, the child has no recognized place in the community, +and a mother in enumerating her children would never think of mentioning +one that had died before it was named, even though it had lived a year. +Before the ceremony, the intended name is known to no one except the +parents, and, for them to mention it, is strictly _permantang_ until the +river water has been poured on the child's head. A Kayan will never tell +you his name, but when asked he invariably turns to some one sitting +near him and asks him to pronounce the name which to the owner is +ineffable. For a man to mention the name of his dead father or mother is +a reckless flying in the face of providence. After a serious illness the +name should be changed and never uttered again, lest the evil spirits +revisit their victim; under a new name they will be likely to pass him +by. On one occasion, recognizing a man that I had seen on a former +visit, but, at the moment forgetting his name, I enquired what it was; +the name, however, struck me as entirely unfamiliar. He afterward +acknowledged that he had been very sick since I last saw him and now +bore a new name; only the assurance that the spirits could not harm him +through a white man induced him at last to whisper to me his former +name. This change of name to deceive the fates extends even to inanimate +objects, and to animals which are to be caught or trapped. When hunting +for camphor, the name of the object of their search must be never +mentioned; it is always spoken of as "the thing that smells." Even all +the instruments, which they use in collecting the valuable drug, have +fanciful names, while the searchers talk in a language invented solely +for those who collect camphor. Unless they conform to all these +requirements, the camphor crystals, which in this particular variety are +found only in the crevices of the wood, will elude them and their search +be fruitless. When the people go _Tuba fishing_, which consists of +poisoning the stream with the juice of the Tuba root, and thus +stupefying the fish and making them rise to the surface, where they can +be easily caught in nets or speared, they never say that they are going +after fish, but after the leaves which float down stream. + +These and many other customs relative to the naming of things are all +founded on the same idea of the potency and mysticism inherent in a +name, which may be found in the legends of the old Egyptians, wherein +the power of the great king and god _Ra_ depended on the fact that no +one knew his real name, until Isis by stratagem got it from him; and +forthwith his power left him. It was this same idea that prevented the +Hebrew from ever speaking the name of the Most High; it is probably the +same thought which prompts the Japanese to change a person's name after +death lest by mentioning the one known during life the spirit of the +dead should be recalled from the other world. + +The downfall of the god _Ra_ brings to mind another superstition of +which I have noticed a remnant among the Borneans also, the power of +working charms with the saliva. When the great god Ra became so old that +he no longer had control of his lower jaw, Isis collected some of his +saliva which dropped upon the ground below his throne, and mixing it +with clay, made a snake of it. (I quote from the "Turin Papyrus," of +which Mr. EDWARD CLODD gives a translation in his recent and valuable +little book called "Tom Tit Tot.") This snake Isis left in Ra's path; as +he passed by, it bit him, and to relieve him of his agony Isis persuaded +him that the only thing to be done was to tell her his true name that +she might drive out the pain from his bones. This he finally did, and +with disastrous results. I instance this to show the antiquity of the +superstition that the saliva is potent as an ingredient of charms; the +Kayans illustrate this, in the manner whereby they elude an evil spirit +which may have been following them on a journey on the river. They build +a small archway of boughs on the bank just before they arrive at their +destination. Underneath this arch, they build a fire and, in single +file, all pass under, stepping over the fire and spitting into it as +they pass; by this act they thoroughly exorcise the evil spirits and +emerge on the other side free from all baleful influence. Another +instance, is where they are throwing aside the signs of mourning for the +dead; during the period of mourning they may not cut their hair nor +shave their temples, but as soon as the mourning is ended by the +ceremony of bringing home a newly-taken head, the barber's knife is kept +busy enough. As every man leaves the barber's hands, he gathers up the +hair, and, spitting on it, murmurs a prayer to the evil spirits not to +harm him. He then blows the hair out of the verandah of the house. + +All these parallelisms, in the modes of thinking, among men in far +removed quarters of the earth, do not, I think, necessarily imply that +there has been a transmission of thought from one race to the other, but +that there is a certain round of thought through which the brain leads +us, and in development we must all have followed along the same path. +Some races have made more rapid strides than others, possibly owing to +natural surroundings, and in their strides have left the others +centuries behind. Almost within the memory of our grandfathers, in this +country, witches were burned, and from this there is only a step back to +the Dayong of Borneo. Indeed, whosoever sees these people and lives with +them their everyday life, must regard them, after a not very long time, +merely as backward pupils in the school of life. Let me say in +conclusion, that he would have an unresponsive heart that could not feel +linked in a bond of fellowship with these people, and that God has made +of only one blood all nations of the earth, when he hears a Bornean +mother crooning her child to sleep with words identical in sentiment +with "Rock-a-bye Baby,"--what though the mother's earlobes are elongated +many an inch by heavy copper rings, her arms tattooed to the elbow, and +her blackened teeth filed to points. Once upon a time I heard a Kayan +mother soothing her little baby to sleep, and the words of the lullaby +which I learned are as follows:-- + + + From the River's mouth the birds are straying, + And the Baiyo's topmost leaves are swaying; + The little chicks cheep, + Now my little one sleep, + For the black house-lizard, with glittering eye, + And the gray-haired Laki Laieng are nigh! + Sleep, dear little one, sleep! + + +For those philologically inclined I append the original:-- + + + Lung koh madang Manoh + Migieong ujong Baiyo + Mensip anak Yap + Lamate Telyap, Telyap abing, + Lamate Laki Laieng oban! + Ara we we ara! + + +FOOTNOTE: + +[1] "Forests of the Far East," vol. i, p. 213. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Folk-lore in Borneo, by William Henry Furness + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOLK-LORE IN BORNEO *** + +***** This file should be named 30233-8.txt or 30233-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/2/3/30233/ + +Produced by Martin Pettit and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Folk-lore in Borneo + A Sketch + +Author: William Henry Furness + +Release Date: October 11, 2009 [EBook #30233] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOLK-LORE IN BORNEO *** + + + + +Produced by Martin Pettit and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> + +<h1>FOLK-LORE IN BORNEO</h1> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<h2>A SKETCH</h2> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>WILLIAM HENRY FURNESS <span class="smaller">3D</span>, M.D., F.R.G.S.</h2> + +<h4>MEMBRE DE LA SOCIÉTÉ DE GÉOGRAPHIE À PARIS<br /> +MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY<br /> +MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN ORIENTAL SOCIETY</h4> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<h3>[<i>PRIVATELY PRINTED</i>]</h3> + +<p class="tbrk"> </p> + +<h4>WALLINGFORD<br />DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA<br />1899</h4> + +<hr /> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i002.jpg" width='575' height='700' alt="A Kayan Chief" /></div> + +<h4><span class="smcap">A Kayan Chief.</span></h4> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p> + +<h1>A SKETCH</h1> + +<h3>OF THE</h3> + +<h1>FOLK-LORE OF BORNEO.</h1> + +<hr class="smler" /> + +<p>In this short monograph I do not pretend to give anything more than a +Sketch of the Folk-lore to be found among the Borneans. The island is +large, and the people, scattered and isolated by constant inter-tribal +warfare, differ one tribe from another, in language, customs and +appearance almost more than do Germans, French, or English; to say that +any tradition or custom is common to all the tribes, or even to all of +one tribe, of Borneans, would be far too sweeping. A still greater +drawback to any universality, in legend or custom, is that there is no +written language, not even so much as picture-drawings on rocks to give +us a clue to ancient myths or traditions. The natives of Borneo are in a +certain sense savages, but yet they are savages of a high order, +possessed of a civilization far above what is usually implied by the +term; they live together in what almost might be called coöperative +communities, they practise the art of weaving, they forge rough +implements of iron, they cultivate rice and esculent plants, and in all +their work, such as house-building, boat-building, manufacture of cloth +and weapons of warfare, they show an ambitious desire, and a skilful +ability, to ornament<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> their work and add, to its usefulness, pleasure to +the eye. One of their gravest faults, however, is their embarrassing +tenacity to the <i>fad</i> of head-hunting, and a strict adherence to the +principle of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. This keeps the +different households, even of the same tribe, at constant war and makes +inevitable an uncomfortable yet pleasing interchange of heads during the +tedious months of the rainy season, when time hangs heavy on the +warriors' hands, and disused swords might get rusty.</p> + +<p>So little is known of the social and anthropological position of these +people, to others than those who make Malaysia and the South Sea islands +their study, that it may not be out of place to give a short description +of the people themselves before entering on the subject of their Folk-lore.</p> + +<p>The remote origin of the Borneans, as well as of the greater part of all +of the inhabitants of the Polynesian islands, is an ethnological +problem; they are not Malay, neither are they Mongolian nor Negrito; +they bear resemblances here and there to all of these races, but not +marked enough to claim any one as the parent stock. Furthermore, there +is some evidence in favor of the theory that they are the result of +successive migrations of tribes from northern India and from Anam.</p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i008.jpg" width='700' height='485' alt="A Kayan Long-House" /></div> + +<h4><span class="smcap">A Kayan Long-House.</span></h4> + +<p>The inland tribes of Borneo, by which I include all the natives except +the Malays settled along the coast, are without any definite forms of +religious worship; they make idols of wood, but I have never seen any +offering made to them, nor do they regard them apparently as anything +more than as scarecrows to frighten off evil spirits. They are the +children of Dame Nature and as such have inherited their mother's +disregard for life, and this feature of their temperament has kept them +in a constant<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> turmoil of warfare, which in turn compels them for mutual +protection to band together in communities of several families and build +for themselves a common house wherein to live, ever ready to turn out in +force and resist the attacks of hostile tribes. In not a few instances +these houses are as much as a quarter of a mile in length and shelter as +many as four hundred people. Every household is presided over by a +head-man known as the elder, or <i>Orang Tuah</i>, and he in turn is governed +in a measure by the chief of the tribe, known as the <i>Penghulu</i>. The +government of the household seems to be conducted in the quietest +manner; I have lived on several occasions in these houses for three or +four weeks at a time, and have never seen anything that could be called +a violent quarrel between two members of the household, nor have I seen +the Orang Tuah or the Penghulu submit any of the members to what might +be considered harsh treatment. I have also been with them when they were +out on the warpath, to use a North-American Indian term, when every +nerve was at high tension on the look-out for enemies and every thought +was turned to slaughter, but I have never seen the counsel of the Chief +disregarded. Of course, some Chiefs are weak and fail to give commands +because they are afraid to act, but a command once given is carried out, +or at least not disregarded, and I could never detect any means which +were taken to enforce an authority thus implicitly obeyed.</p> + +<p>As a people, they are not active-minded nor industrious, but yield to +the influence of climate, and, following the example offered to them by +the vast, dense jungle on every side, accept life as easily as it comes. +They are no exception to the rule that all untutored minds, living in +constant communion with any awful aspect of Nature, be it gigantic +mountains, a waste of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> waters, or an illimitable jungle, are saturated +with superstitions; every pool, every tree, every rock is the home of an +evil spirit, and all mysterious noises in the forest are ghostly +whisperings. Everywhere are signs and omens to warn man of danger or +direct his course; theirs is a life where no schooling is so vital as +the ability to read aright the "sermons in stones, books in the running +brooks." For them the world is the patch of jungle covering the few +square miles that they know, and bounded by the hills in the distance; +seldom do they get an extended view of the surrounding country; trees +hem them in on all sides and the mountains are so difficult of ascent, +and furthermore so infested with demons or "antu," that the summits can +be gained only at the risk of body, and, still worse, of soul.</p> + +<p>Many natives of the interior live and die with never a glimpse of the +sea, and the tales which the Malay and Chinese traders tell of lands +beyond the horizon where white men live, are as incomprehensible to them +as are to us the conjectural accounts which astronomers give of the +canals on the planet Mars.</p> + +<p>Naturally enough, of course, creation began on the island of Borneo, or +Kalamantan, as they call it, and the first people were Borneans and +spoke the language of the tribe that tells the story. Every tribe has a +different account of creation, and claims that its people sprang from +the first created mortals. The following account is the story of Genesis +according to the Kayans of Northwestern Borneo:—</p> + +<p>In the old, old days, when there was nothing but water and sky, there +fell from the heavens an enormous rock; that part of it which protruded +from the water was hard, slippery, and quite bare, with no soil nor +plants upon it of any kind. After a long<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> time, however, the rains +produced slime upon the rock, and little worms, called <i>halang</i>, were +bred in this slime, and they bored into the rock and left fine sand +outside of their burrows; this sand eventually became soil and covered +the rock. Again years passed and the rock remained barren of all other +life until suddenly there dropped from the Sun a huge wooden handle of a +<i>Parang</i> (or sword) known as <i>Haup Malat</i>. This parang-handle sank deep +into the rock and taking root in the soil it sprouted and grew into a +great tree, named <i>Batang Utar Tatei</i>, whose branches stretched out over +the new land in every direction. When this tree was fully grown, there +dropped from the Moon a long rope-like vine known as the <i>Jikwan Tali</i>. +This vine quickly clung to the tree and took root in the rock. Now the +vine, Jikwan Tali, from the Moon became the husband of the tree, Batang +Utar Tatei, from the Sun, and Batang Utar Tatei gave birth to twins, a +male and a female, not of the nature of a tree, but more or less like +human beings. The male child was called <i>Klobeh Angei</i>, and the female +was called <i>Klubangei</i>. These two children married and then gave birth +to two more children, who were named <i>Pengok N'gai</i>, and <i>Katirah +Murai</i>. Katirah Murai was married to old man <i>Ajai Avai</i>, who comes +without pedigree into the narration. From Katirah Murai and Ajai Avai +are descended many of the chiefs who were founders of the various tribes +inhabiting the land of Kalamantan; their names are Sejau Laho, Oding +Lahang, from whom the Kayans spring, Tabalan, Pliban, and, finally, +Tokong, the father of head-hunting.</p> + +<p>As time went on, that which formerly had been merely slime on the rock, +became moss, and little by little small plants were produced. The twigs +and leaf-like appendages of the tree, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>evidently the female principle in +nature, as they fell to the ground, became birds, beasts, and fishes. +(Let me mention here that the endowment of leaves with life and +locomotion is no more than natural; while in the jungle I have +repeatedly seen what, in every respect, appeared to be a leaf fall to +the ground and then miraculously put out legs and walk away; it was one +of those remarkable insects of the <i>Mantis</i> family, or "walking +leaves.") The inhabitants of the rock had no need of fire in those days, +for the sun beat down on them strongly, and there was no night; it was +not until many, many years had elapsed that an old man named <i>Laki Oi</i> +invented a method of obtaining fire by means of friction produced by +pulling a strip of rattan rapidly back and forth beneath a piece of dry +wood. This process of making fire he called <i>Musa</i>, and it is still the +only method used in obtaining fire for ceremonials, such as the naming +of a child, or when communicating with the omen-birds. Laki Oi also +taught them the use of the fire-drill, which he called the <i>Nalika</i>.</p> + +<p>On the main trunk of Batang Utar Tatei was a large excrescence, from +which exuded a resinous gum called <i>Lutong</i>, which, as it dropped to the +ground beneath, was immediately transformed into chickens and swine; and +it is because they were thus formed out of the very heart and substance +of the tree that they are always used in the reading of auguries. From +this same cause, there was innate in them an insight into the innermost +workings of Nature and a knowledge of the future.</p> + +<p>The first beings with any resemblance to man had neither legs, nor +breasts, and consisted merely of a head, chest, arms, and a fragment of +a body which hung down in shreds and rags, having the appearance of +twisted snakes. When they moved they dragged themselves along the ground +by their arms. (From this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> description and from native carvings, I am +inclined to believe that a large cuttle-fish or octopus must have +suggested this idea to the original narrator of this tradition.) Little +by little, the body was brought into more compact form, and, in a later +generation, legs appeared, but it was a long time before they became +accustomed to legs and able to use them in moving about. A survival of +this awkwardness, so say the Kayans, is still noticeable in the way in +which children crawl about the floor, and in their clumsy walk when +first they learn to stand upright. The heads of these first people were, +furthermore, much larger than the heads of the present generation, and, +since it was the first part formed, it is the oldest part of the body, +and on this account the most important member, and valued accordingly +whether dead or alive.</p> + +<p>This account is, as far as I know, purely Bornean, inasmuch as had there +been any admixture from a foreign source (as we shall see further on was +probably the case with the Dyaks) there would have been possibly some +reference to a Supreme Creator rather than to this union of a vine and a +tree as the original source of life. The Kayans from whom I obtained +this account have had exceedingly little communication with the outside +world, except through occasional Malay or Chinese traders. There is just +a possibility that the idea of the wooden sword-handle being the +ultimate <i>fons et origo</i> of all life comes from the fact that the word +for chief—"penghulu"—is derived from "hulu," meaning a sword-handle, +and the prefix "peng" denoting agency, so that the whole word means +literally "the master of the sword," and thus the ruler or chief. From +association of ideas, the sword-handle, without which the blade is +ineffective and useless, may have been suggested to them as the chief +of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> all beings. The sudden appearance of Ajai Avai on the scene as the +husband of Katirah Murai, is not at all at variance with the accounts +from many other sources of the populating of the world. In Laki Oi, we +recognize the Kayan "Prometheus," whose memory is revered by sanctifying +the fire procured after his manner of teaching, and from this tradition +it is probable that the procuring of fire by means of the "fire-saw" is +the aboriginal method. Should all of the fires in a Kayan house become +extinguished and no spark be left, new fires may be started by this +method, and by this method alone; even the fire-drill, and flint and +steel, which are not unknown to them, are tabooed.</p> + +<p>The Dayaks, who are closely akin in every respect to the Malays, and no +doubt adopted the traditions which were rife among the Malays both +before and after the latter became converted to Mohammedanism, give an +account of the creation of the world differing in every particular from +the foregoing Kayan story.</p> + +<p>One of the Dayak versions of the creation which I heard from the people +of that tribe, living in the Baram district of Sarawak, is that in the +beginning there were two large birds,—the <i>Burong Iri</i> and the <i>Burong +Ringgong</i> (Burong meaning <i>bird</i>), who made all the rivers, the great +sea, the earth, and the sky. The first things to have life were plants +and trees. When trees were first made, the winds blew them down, and +again and again the Iri and the Ringgong had to set them up, until in +their great wisdom they realized the necessity of props and stays, so +they fashioned the strong vines and creepers. Then these two creators +saw what pleasant places the boughs and branches of these trees would +make for other beings; whereupon they created birds and all flying +animals, like bats and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> flying squirrels. Then for a long while they +consulted together, and, finally, decided that they would make a man who +should walk about on the earth; at first, they made him of clay, but +when he was dried he could neither speak nor move, which provoked them, +and they ran at him angrily; so frightened was he that he fell backward +and broke all to pieces. The next man that they made was of hard wood, +but he, also, was utterly stupid, and absolutely good for nothing. Then +the two birds searched carefully for a good material, and eventually +selected the wood of a tree known as the <i>Kumpong</i>, which has a strong +fibre and exudes a quantity of deep red sap, whenever it is cut. Out of +this tree they fashioned a man and a woman, and were so well pleased +with this achievement that they rested for a long while and admired +their handiwork. Then they decided to continue creating more men; they +returned to the Kumpong tree, but they had entirely forgotten their +original pattern, and how they had executed it, and they were therefore +able to make only very inferior creatures, which became the ancestors of +the <i>Maias</i> (the Orang Utan) and monkeys.</p> + +<p>The man and the woman were very helpless and hardly knew how to obtain +the simplest necessities of life, so the Iri and the Ringgong devised +the <i>Ubi</i>—a wild sweetpotato—the wild Tapioca, the Kaladi, or, as we +know it, the Kaladium, and other edible roots, whereof the man and woman +soon learned to eat; fire, however, was unknown to these first people +and they had to eat all of their food raw.</p> + +<p>Contemporaneously with the Maias and the monkeys many other animals came +into being, among them the dog. For a long time all living things were +friendly to one another and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> lived in the land of Kaburau, which lies +near a branch of the great Kapuas river, and is, even to this day, +considered by the Dayaks as the garden-spot of the world. The dog, +however, because he cleaned himself with his tongue, soon came to be +despised by all other animals, and although a bully he was yet +subservient to man. Then the deer and many of the other animals taunted +the dog, saying that he was so mean-spirited and servile that although +man thrashed him, nevertheless he fawned upon him and followed after +him; which they would never do, so they went off to the jungle to live. +But the dog comforted himself by saying that "When the man is about to +strike me I crouch down and sometimes this keeps his hand off; +furthermore, I cannot live on the poor food that these others must eat." +Hence, the dog follows and obeys man.</p> + +<p>One day when the man and the dog were in the jungle together, and got +drenched by rain, the man noticed that the dog warmed himself by rubbing +against a huge creeper, called the <i>Aka Rarah</i>, whereupon the man took a +stick and rubbed it rapidly against the Aka Rarah, and to his surprise +obtained fire. This was the origin of the <i>Sukan</i>, or fire drill, and +ever after the man had fire in his house. Not long after, in +accidentally dropping an Ubi near the fire, he found that it became much +more pleasant to the taste; by this accident cooking was discovered.</p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i017.jpg" width='700' height='555' alt="Making Fire with a Fire-Drill" /></div> + +<h4><span class="smcap">Making Fire with a Fire-Drill.</span></h4> + +<p>In the course of time, the dog and other animals began to multiply, and +man imitated their example; the woman brought forth a male child, whose +name was <i>Machan Buntu</i>. After many years, the woman gave birth to a +female child who, when she was well grown, married her brother Machan +Buntu and gave birth to seventy children at one time. These children +left<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> their home and scattered all over the world. Some became wood +sprites and mountain gnomes, living in the trees, in the rivers, and under ground.</p> + +<p>The tradition of the manufacture of man out of wood instead of clay is +thoroughly in keeping with an origin purely Dayak. The Dayaks never have +been proficient in pottery, and to this day they carve their bowls and +dishes out of hard wood, otherwise it seems to me that clay would have +suggested itself to them as the most suitable substance whereof to have +made man. Another item looks as if part of the story were an +interpolation, namely, where it is related that the two birds were so +pleased with their work after making man, that they rested; this looks +like a suggestion due to the first chapter of Genesis. Again, in that +land of Kaburau, where all animals lived in perfect harmony, and which +was the garden of the world, we may recognize the garden of Eden. Owing +to the lack of writing, as I said before, it is impossible to say how +old this tradition is, or to what extent it is known to Dayaks in other +parts of the country; I have heard that very much the same story is told +by the natives in the Rejang district several hundred miles south of the +Baram; where the chiefest difference in the accounts is that earlier and +higher than the birds there was a Supreme Being called <i>Rajah Gantalla</i>, +who after creating the two birds, committed the rest of the work to +them. I think in the <i>-allah</i> of this name (I speak under correction) we +may discern a strong indication of Mohammedan influence. The first man, +instead of being carved entirely of Kumpong wood, was made, in this +latter account, of clay and then filled with the sap of the Kumpong tree.</p> + +<p>A tradition (I do not say "legend," for this implies writing)<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> which all +the Kayans seem to know and to take pleasure in relating, is connected +with the origin of their rite of head-hunting, for, although every +possible means is employed by the European rulers of the island to stop +this custom, it is still, nevertheless the one ruling passion of the +people. Nay, it is part of their Religion; no house is blest which is +not sanctified by a row of human skulls, and no man can hope to attain +to the happy region of Apo Leggan unless he, or some near relative of +his, has added a head to the household collection. Let me correct, +however, with regard to head-hunting, what is probably the prevalent +idea that the heads are hung up in the houses bleeding and raw, just as +they are severed from the body. This is quite wrong; whether or not they +would tolerate in their homes such horrid objects I cannot say, but +certain it is that the heads are first subjected to fire and smoke until +the flesh has dropped away, and what is then hung up is merely a skull; +unpleasant enough, but not so bad as is generally supposed.</p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i021.jpg" width='378' height='700' alt="A Kayan Youth" /></div> + +<h4><span class="smcap">A Kayan Youth.</span></h4> + +<p>The tradition is that the great chief Tokong, when out on a war +expedition, was told by Kop, the frog, that he should always take, +instead of only the hair, the whole head of his enemies; Tokong was +angry, at first, at the frog, but his followers at length persuaded him +to let them try the experiment on their next attack. After taking the +whole heads, the war party retreated quickly to the river down which +they had come, and came to the spot where they had left their boats and +were surprised to find that everything was exactly as they had left it. +When they embarked, lo, and behold! the current of the stream was, for +their sakes, reversed and like a flash they were carried up-stream and +reached their home in a miraculously short time. During the fifteen days +that they had been absent the crop of rice<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> had not only sprouted, but +had grown, had ripened, and was almost ready to be harvested; the +members of their family who had been sick when they left, were now all +well, the lame could walk and the blind see. The wise men waggled their +heads, and one and all declared (and who can blame them?) that ever +after they would stick to the custom that Kop had taught them.</p> + +<p>It is not unfair to infer from this tradition that they have a crude, +germinal sense of the barbarity of their actions, in so far as they +think it necessary to invent an excuse to palliate that savage love of +trophy-hunting which seems inborn in mankind. The rite of head-hunting +is by no means confined to Borneo; the Formosans, and also many of our +new fellow-citizens, among the tribes of the Philippines, are +enthusiastic head-hunters, and our own cherished Indians within our own +borders have not yet given up their love for a scalp; it would be +perilous to assert that it is not a United States custom.</p> + +<p>The idea that the taking of a head is necessary in order to obtain +entrance to the pleasant regions of the land of departed spirits, is a +doctrine taught by the chiefs in order to make men brave in battle, and +do all in their power to avoid the punishment which awaits the coward. +The Kayan Hades is believed to be under ground, and like the Hades of +the ancient Greeks there is a guide to the entrance who corresponds to a +certain extent to Charon. But their river Styx is not a stream, but a +deep and wide ditch, through which flow ooze and slime swarming with +worms and maggots; the souls of the departed must cross over this ditch +not by a ferry, but by means of a fallen tree-trunk, guarded by the +great demon <i>Maligang</i>, who challenges all comers, and if they have no +record of bravery, he shakes the tree-trunk until they fall into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> the +ditch below and are eternally tortured by the devouring worm that dieth +not. Over the land of spirits presides the great demon <i>Laki Tenangan</i>, +who assigns the souls to their proper place, and sees that they get +their deserts, whether good or bad.</p> + +<p>In this shadowy world, <span class="smcap">Apo Leggan</span> is one of the principal regions, and +is the abode of the spirits of those who die from sickness or from old +age. The souls in <i>Apo Leggan</i> have much the same lot as they had in +this world; the poor remain poor, and the rich maintain their rich +estate, and even the soul that has been harassed in life in the upper +air must none the less expect to find misfortune and perplexity in the +world to come. In the absence of any definite code of morals, this is, +perhaps, the most suitable belief that a savage tribe could have; it +stimulates them to a constant endeavor to better their condition in this +life and make their mark in some way, so that the life to come, in which +they have a firm belief, may not be a continuation of the hardships they +have endured here. Their methods of gaining wealth may not conform to +our ideas of propriety, but then all is fair in love and war, and as +they have very little idea of love, their motto has to be "all is fair +in war;" life in the jungle is little else than a ceaseless struggle for +the survival of the fittest.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Long Julan</span>, a second division, is where live the souls of those who have +died a violent or sudden death, either on the battlefield, or in their +own clearings by the accidental fall of a tree; and there also dwell the +young mothers who have died in childbirth; they become the wives of +young warriors who likewise have been cut off in the bloom of youth and +are therefore proper mates for unfortunate little mothers. Such beliefs +naturally tend to the taking of life; a young man, for instance, who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> +loses his wife in childbirth wishes to meet her again in the next world, +and his ambition to go on the warpath is doubly strong. Is he fortunate +enough to take a head, he gains high rank among warriors; should he be +killed, he has the comfortable assurance that he will again meet his +wife in <i>Long Julan</i>. The souls in <i>Long Julan</i> have an easy time and +are always fairly well off, whatever their circumstances were in this life.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Tan Tekkan</span>, a third division, is the place to which Laki Tenangan +consigns suicides; wretched and woe begone in appearance, their souls +wander about in the jungle and in the clearings trying to pick up a +living by eating what roots and fruits they can find. This joyless +Hereafter is calculated to make those who contemplate suicide, rather +perform some self-sacrificing act of bravery whereby they will not only +benefit those whom they leave behind, but also gain for themselves a +more pleasant position in the world to come; therefore suicide is not at all common.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Tenyu Lalu</span>, a fourth region, is assigned to the spirits of still-born +children. These little souls are said to be exceedingly brave and need +no other weapon wherewith to defend themselves than a stick of wood; +they have never felt pain nor experienced danger in this world, and are +therefore totally ignorant of such emotions. Whether or not they +increase in size in <i>Tenyu Lalu</i> is not known, but it is generally +supposed that they live together in a little world of their own.</p> + +<p>Finally, <span class="smcap">Ling Yang</span> is the abode of those who have died by drowning; it +lies below the beds of rivers, and here the spirits soon become +exceedingly rich. All the goods lost in rivers by the capsizing of boats +in the rapids, or when they run foul of a snag in deep water, go into +the coffers of the dwellers in <i>Ling Yang</i>.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span></p><p>Such are the main divisions of the <i>Dali Matei</i>, or country of the +dead; there are, however, many sacred hills, rivers, and lakes wherein +dwell certain powerful demons who govern the spirits. In this nether +world, some say that there are trees and plants and animals much the +same as in this; this point, however, seemed open to considerable doubt +in the minds of some whom I questioned, while others had so definite an +idea of it that they drew maps to show the positions of the different +regions. They seemed to regard it as a large river, along whose +tributaries dwelt the various classes of departed spirits. The Dayongs, +or medicine men, are the only ones who are supposed really to know; +these all maintain that, while acquiring their power over sickness, they +had visited the land of spirits. In the mythology of all countries there +is sure to be a hero who has made the descent to Hades and returned to +tell the tale, and the Kayans are no exceptions; they have their +Orpheus, only his name is Gamong.</p> + +<p>Gamong, during an attack of fever, realized that he was at the point of +death, but was loath to resign his spirit, so he called his friends +around him and begged them to dress him up, after death, in all his +war-clothes, and not to bury him for three days, but to place him in a +sitting posture with his sword and spear in his hands. He comforted them +by saying that he had an inner assurance that he had a terrible +encounter before him, but that he would actually return to this world in +about three days. Shortly after this, his breath ceased and his friends +performed all the rites of burial, just as he had requested. For three +days his body remained rigid; at the end of that time, he came back to +life and told his open-eyed friends his adventures as follows: "When my +spirit left you, I went directly down the path which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> leads to the great +tree-trunk, <i>Bintang Sikopa</i>, where Maligang stands; according to his +wont, he hailed me and told me to halt, which I would not do. Then +Maligang, whose arm is enormous, many times bigger than his body, began +to shake the tree, calling out 'who are you?' I replied 'I am Gamong, a +brave warrior, and you must not shake the tree while I cross.' Maligang +then said, consulting the pegs with which he records the deeds of men, +'What proof have I that you have been brave?' At this I was furious, I +drew my parang, uplifted my spear and ran amok, rushing into Maligang's +house, smashing everything and overturning the great jars of rice-toddy, +of which there is an abundance, but whereof no one ever drinks. Maligang +was frightened and bolted from the house, shouting as he fled, 'I have +not got you now, but in seven years' time you must return.' Finding that +Maligang had fled, and that there were other obstacles to prevent me +from going on, I returned to this world and its trials." The story goes +that Gamong lived seven years after this, and then succumbed body and +soul to the great Maligang; and as there is no record of his bravery, he +was probably shaken off of the tree-trunk and disappeared in the deep +pit seething with maggots.</p> + +<p>All this veracious history I got by word of mouth from a Kayan of the +Tinjar valley.</p> + +<p>Almost every medicine man has been down among the spirits of the dead, +and in proof of his assertions, a curiously shaped stone, or a knot of +wood, is displayed, which has been given by the spirits and is endowed +with all sorts of marvellous properties. I have in my possession a +Dayong's whole outfit of charms which I bought from his relatives after +his death; they were afraid to touch it, and for another Dayong to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> use +it is taboo of the worst kind. Such charms are usually buried with the +practitioner, but this old fellow evidently did not have a very large +practice, and, at his death, he was somewhat neglected. One of the +charms is a stone in which an active imagination might trace a +resemblance to the hand or foot of an animal; the sorrowing relatives +told me, with awe and bated breath, that it was given to their uncle by +a spirit on the top of a mountain, and that it was the foot of a dragon, +one of the most powerful resources of the Dayong pharmacopœia.</p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i030.jpg" width='700' height='557' alt="Kayan Women" /></div> + +<h4><span class="smcap">Kayan Women.</span></h4> + +<p>Companions to the stories of visits to the regions below the earth are +stories of visits to the world above the skies, to which adventurous +heroes climb either by vines or ropes, which dangle suddenly in front of +them, or by means of lofty trees. "Jack and the Bean Stalk" is a +parallel story in our own folklore. Sir Spencer St. John<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> gives a +Dayak account of the introduction of rice among the Orang Iban, as they +call themselves, which states that "when mankind had nothing to eat but +fruit and a species of fungus which grows round the roots of trees, a +party of Ibans, among whom was a man named <i>Si Jura</i> (whose descendants +live to this day in the village of Simpok) went forth to sea. They +sailed on for a long time until they came to a place where 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; when he got among the boughs, he was tempted to ascend the +trunk and find how the tree grew in that position. On looking down he +saw his companions making off with the boat loaded<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> with fruit; there +was nothing for him to do but go on climbing. At length he reached the +roots of the tree and found himself in the country of the Pleiades +[which the Dayaks call 'the seven chained-stars']; when he stood upon +the ground he met a man-like being, whose name was Si Kira, and he went +with him to his house. For food Si Kira offered to him a mess of soft +white grains, and told him to eat. 'What, eat those little maggots?' +said Si Jura. 'They are not maggots, that is boiled rice,' replied Si +Kira, and he forthwith instructed him in the art of planting, weeding, +reaping, husking, and boiling rice.</p> + +<p>"While Si Kira's wife was out, getting some water, Si Jura peeped into +one of the tall jars that were standing near by, and looking straight +through the bottom of it, he could see his father's house and all his +brothers and sisters sitting around talking. His spirits were much +depressed at the remembrance of the home that perhaps he should never +see again, and instead of eating he wept. Si Kira at once saw what was +the matter, and assured him that he would arrange everything +satisfactorily for him; then Si Jura fell to and ate a hearty meal, and +afterwards he was given three kinds of rice, and Si Kira further +instructed him how to fell the jungle, burn it, then take the omens from +the birds before planting, and when he harvested to hold a feast. By +means of a long rope Si Jura was lowered down to the earth again, close +to his father's house. From his visit to the Pleiades the Dayaks learned +all that they know about farming, and, what is more, to this day the +Pleiades themselves tell them when to begin farming, for, according to +their position in the sky in the morning and evening, they cut down the +jungle, burn, plant, and reap."</p> + +<p>I think there can be no doubt that Si Kira bestowed a great blessing on +the Dayaks when he gave them rice; but I am very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> sure that he saddled +them with a dire affliction when he introduced to them the omen-birds; +more procrastination, failure of expeditions, and exasperation of soul +can be laid to the score of these birds than to anything else on earth. +There is hardly an undertaking, however slight, that can be begun +without first consulting these wretched birds. Yet it is hardly to be +wondered at, that all tribes should hold the birds to be little prophets +of the jungle, dashing across man's path, at critical moments, to bless +or to ban. In the deep jungle, which at high noon is as silent as +"sunless retreats of the ocean," gay-plumaged birds are not sitting on +every bough singing plaintive, melodious notes; such lovely pictures +exist solely in the mind of the poet or of him who has never visited the +tropics. In the thick tangle of leaves and branches overhead, the larger +birds are seen with difficulty, even after considerable practice, and +the smaller birds appear as but a flash of light, as they dart through +the interlacing palms and vines; the apparition, with its sudden gleam +and instant disappearance, starts the impulse to make a wish, as when we +see a star shoot across the heavens. This same natural and almost +irresistible impulse, which we have all experienced, I suggest as one of +the explanations of the tendency of the Bornean mind to accept the birds +as the intelligent forerunners of good or ill. These unsophisticated +natives wander forth with some wish in their hearts, and should a bird +of the right species (for not all birds are omen-birds) cross their +path, the fulfilment of their wishes is established beyond a doubt by +its mere appearance, and it is to be feared (for they are mortal) that +if they do not want to see the bird—well, there are none so blind as +those who won't see. When it comes to taking omens for such an important +event as the planting of rice, or for going on the warpath,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> then the +ceremony extends over ten days or two weeks, and the opinion of the +small barking deer also must be consulted; furthermore, the whole +household is under the ban of a taboo, or <i>permantang</i>, as they call it, +and the people must all stay indoors while the three men who are +appointed as searchers are abroad on their omen-seeking errand. So firm +is their trust in the wisdom of the birds that even if they have worked +for months at a clearing they will abandon it and never plant it, if the +omens at the time of sowing be unfavorable. Certain birds must be seen +on the right hand to be favorable, while others are most propitious when +they soar overhead, or give a shrill cry on the left; on more than one +occasion, when traveling in native canoes, a bird which ought to have +appeared on the right has been seen on the left, and, to my utter +bewilderment, without a word the boat has been swung round in the stream +so as to bring to the right what was on the left, thus slyly fabricating +a bad omen into a good one, and for some distance we have gone in the +opposite direction, but now with highly favorable omens. When they +conclude that the bird has forgotten his warning or lost sight of us, +the boat has been again turned, fate has been deceived, and we journey +on as before. Once our whole party of eight or ten boats had to pull up +at the bank and walk through the jungle for a quarter of a mile or so to +make a bothersome white-headed hawk think that he had mistaken the +object of our expedition. When a favorable bird has been seen, a fire of +chips is at once built on the bank of the river, thereby letting the +bird know that his kind attention has been appreciated, Fire is always +the go-between of man and the birds, or any of the spirits; it forms an +important part in the ceremonies of consecration and absolution, and by +means of fire a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> man may break through a taboo, or <i>permantang</i>. Should +a man have a fruit-tree, for instance, which he wishes to protect, he +places about it several cleft sticks with stones thrust in the clefts, +and the stones are told to guard the tree and afflict with dire diseases +any pilferer of the fruit. Now, should a friend of the owner see this +sign of <i>permantang</i> and yet wish some of the fruit, let him but build a +fire and commission the fire to tell the stones that he is a friend of +the owner, and that it is all right if he takes the fruit; then, when +the fire is burnt out, the fruit may be taken with impunity. In the +ceremony of naming a child, the sacrificial pig is touched with a fire +brand before it is harangued by the Dayong, or medicine man; and to +determine whether or not the chosen name be propitious, the strip of +rattan which has been used on the fire-saw to obtain the sacred fire, is +bent into a loop until its ends just meet; it is then set on fire in the +middle and allowed to burn through. If the two pieces thus made are of +uneven length the name is good; if they are both the same length another +name must be selected. The ashes from this burning are made into a paste +and smeared on the child's forehead just before it is deluged with a +bowl of cold water, and the name is made public for the first time. It +is strange what a similarity exists in different races relative to this +ceremony of giving a name. Why water should be used to confirm the rite, +they cannot themselves explain, except by saying that it is a custom +handed down to them from their grandfathers and their +great-great-grandfathers. It can hardly have suggested itself to the +minds of the Borneans as an element of purification and cleansing; to +their mind water does not possess these properties. Water is good to +drink when you are thirsty, and refreshing to bathe in when you are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> +hot, that is all; dirt has no horrors to the Bornean mind, and after a +plunge in the river has refreshed the body, the Kayan, Dayak, Kenyah, +Sibop, or whatever the tribe, will put on the same dirty waist-cloth or +cotton jacket that has never known soap, and has seldom if ever been +nearer the water than when on the back of its owner. Perhaps it is that +water is symbolic of life and motion; the river is always moving, it +murmurs and talks to itself, a draft of its coolness and a plunge into +its embrace adds new life to man; why should it not be the giver of +life? In almost all the native languages of Borneo the word for water +and river is the same; even when water is brought up into the house it +is still the river, and when they drink, they drink the river; when they +boil their rice they boil in the river, and when they name their +children they pour the river over them. Many subtribes or households +take their name from the river on which they live, as, for instance, the +Long Patas who live, or used to live, at the mouth of the Pata river +(Long meaning junction of one river with another), the Long Kiputs, the +Long Lamas, and many others that might be named, including the whole +tribe of the Kayans, who take their name from the great Kayan river +which empties into the sea on the East coast. If a river that is new to +them be visited, the spirits of that stream must be always propitiated +lest they resent the intrusion and drown the visitor. It is the custom +among the Bukits, one of the most primitive tribes, for the youths, when +they reach the bank of a new river, to divest themselves of every +article of clothing, save a chaplet of leaves, which they twist from the +vines near at hand; then crouching at the edge of the water, they toss +some personal ornament, such as a brass ear-ring or a bright bead, far +out into mid-stream, and at the same instant scoop up a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>handful of the +water; gazing earnestly into the few drops which they hold in their +palm, they invoke the spirits of the river to protect them, and implore +permission to enter the new territory. Not until this rite is completed +would they dare to bathe in the stream.</p> + +<div class="center"><img src="images/i036.jpg" width='700' height='503' alt="A Scene on the Dapoi River" /></div> + +<h4><span class="smcap">A Scene on the Dapoi River.</span></h4> + +<p>To revert to the subject of names; from all that I have read, and from +personal observation, it seems that all Borneans recognize the sanctity +of names; of this we may find traces among all the primitive people of +the earth. Before the formal ceremony of naming a child, for instance, +has been performed, the child has no recognized place in the community, +and a mother in enumerating her children would never think of mentioning +one that had died before it was named, even though it had lived a year. +Before the ceremony, the intended name is known to no one except the +parents, and, for them to mention it, is strictly <i>permantang</i> until the +river water has been poured on the child's head. A Kayan will never tell +you his name, but when asked he invariably turns to some one sitting +near him and asks him to pronounce the name which to the owner is +ineffable. For a man to mention the name of his dead father or mother is +a reckless flying in the face of providence. After a serious illness the +name should be changed and never uttered again, lest the evil spirits +revisit their victim; under a new name they will be likely to pass him +by. On one occasion, recognizing a man that I had seen on a former +visit, but, at the moment forgetting his name, I enquired what it was; +the name, however, struck me as entirely unfamiliar. He afterward +acknowledged that he had been very sick since I last saw him and now +bore a new name; only the assurance that the spirits could not harm him +through a white man induced him at last to whisper to me his former<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> +name. This change of name to deceive the fates extends even to inanimate +objects, and to animals which are to be caught or trapped. When hunting +for camphor, the name of the object of their search must be never +mentioned; it is always spoken of as "the thing that smells." Even all +the instruments, which they use in collecting the valuable drug, have +fanciful names, while the searchers talk in a language invented solely +for those who collect camphor. Unless they conform to all these +requirements, the camphor crystals, which in this particular variety are +found only in the crevices of the wood, will elude them and their search +be fruitless. When the people go <i>Tuba fishing</i>, which consists of +poisoning the stream with the juice of the Tuba root, and thus +stupefying the fish and making them rise to the surface, where they can +be easily caught in nets or speared, they never say that they are going +after fish, but after the leaves which float down stream.</p> + +<p>These and many other customs relative to the naming of things are all +founded on the same idea of the potency and mysticism inherent in a +name, which may be found in the legends of the old Egyptians, wherein +the power of the great king and god <i>Ra</i> depended on the fact that no +one knew his real name, until Isis by stratagem got it from him; and +forthwith his power left him. It was this same idea that prevented the +Hebrew from ever speaking the name of the Most High; it is probably the +same thought which prompts the Japanese to change a person's name after +death lest by mentioning the one known during life the spirit of the +dead should be recalled from the other world.</p> + +<p>The downfall of the god <i>Ra</i> brings to mind another superstition of +which I have noticed a remnant among the Borneans<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> also, the power of +working charms with the saliva. When the great god Ra became so old that +he no longer had control of his lower jaw, Isis collected some of his +saliva which dropped upon the ground below his throne, and mixing it +with clay, made a snake of it. (I quote from the "Turin Papyrus," of +which Mr. <span class="smcap">Edward Clodd</span> gives a translation in his recent and valuable +little book called "Tom Tit Tot.") This snake Isis left in Ra's path; as +he passed by, it bit him, and to relieve him of his agony Isis persuaded +him that the only thing to be done was to tell her his true name that +she might drive out the pain from his bones. This he finally did, and +with disastrous results. I instance this to show the antiquity of the +superstition that the saliva is potent as an ingredient of charms; the +Kayans illustrate this, in the manner whereby they elude an evil spirit +which may have been following them on a journey on the river. They build +a small archway of boughs on the bank just before they arrive at their +destination. Underneath this arch, they build a fire and, in single +file, all pass under, stepping over the fire and spitting into it as +they pass; by this act they thoroughly exorcise the evil spirits and +emerge on the other side free from all baleful influence. Another +instance, is where they are throwing aside the signs of mourning for the +dead; during the period of mourning they may not cut their hair nor +shave their temples, but as soon as the mourning is ended by the +ceremony of bringing home a newly-taken head, the barber's knife is kept +busy enough. As every man leaves the barber's hands, he gathers up the +hair, and, spitting on it, murmurs a prayer to the evil spirits not to +harm him. He then blows the hair out of the verandah of the house.</p> + +<p>All these parallelisms, in the modes of thinking, among men<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> in far +removed quarters of the earth, do not, I think, necessarily imply that +there has been a transmission of thought from one race to the other, but +that there is a certain round of thought through which the brain leads +us, and in development we must all have followed along the same path. +Some races have made more rapid strides than others, possibly owing to +natural surroundings, and in their strides have left the others +centuries behind. Almost within the memory of our grandfathers, in this +country, witches were burned, and from this there is only a step back to +the Dayong of Borneo. Indeed, whosoever sees these people and lives with +them their everyday life, must regard them, after a not very long time, +merely as backward pupils in the school of life. Let me say in +conclusion, that he would have an unresponsive heart that could not feel +linked in a bond of fellowship with these people, and that God has made +of only one blood all nations of the earth, when he hears a Bornean +mother crooning her child to sleep with words identical in sentiment +with "Rock-a-bye Baby,"—what though the mother's earlobes are elongated +many an inch by heavy copper rings, her arms tattooed to the elbow, and +her blackened teeth filed to points. Once upon a time I heard a Kayan +mother soothing her little baby to sleep, and the words of the lullaby +which I learned are as follows:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<div>From the River's mouth the birds are straying,</div> +<div>And the Baiyo's topmost leaves are swaying;</div> +<div class="i3">The little chicks cheep,</div> +<div class="i3">Now my little one sleep,</div> +<div>For the black house-lizard, with glittering eye,</div> +<div>And the gray-haired Laki Laieng are nigh!</div> +<div class="i3">Sleep, dear little one, sleep!</div> +</div></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span></p><p>For those philologically inclined I append the original:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<div>Lung koh madang Manoh</div> +<div>Migieong ujong Baiyo</div> +<div>Mensip anak Yap</div> +<div>Lamate Telyap, Telyap abing,</div> +<div>Lamate Laki Laieng oban!</div> +<div class="i6">Ara we we ara!</div> +</div></div> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> "Forests of the Far East," vol. i, p. 213.</p></div> + +</div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Folk-lore in Borneo, by William Henry Furness + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOLK-LORE IN BORNEO *** + +***** This file should be named 30233-h.htm or 30233-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/2/3/30233/ + +Produced by Martin Pettit and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Folk-lore in Borneo + A Sketch + +Author: William Henry Furness + +Release Date: October 11, 2009 [EBook #30233] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOLK-LORE IN BORNEO *** + + + + +Produced by Martin Pettit and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +FOLK-LORE IN BORNEO + +A SKETCH + +BY + +WILLIAM HENRY FURNESS 3D, M.D., F.R.G.S. + +MEMBRE DE LA SOCIETE DE GEOGRAPHIE A PARIS +MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY +MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN ORIENTAL SOCIETY + +[_PRIVATELY PRINTED_] + +WALLINGFORD +DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA +1899 + + +[Illustration: A KAYAN CHIEF.] + + + + +A SKETCH OF THE FOLK-LORE OF BORNEO. + + +In this short monograph I do not pretend to give anything more than a +Sketch of the Folk-lore to be found among the Borneans. The island is +large, and the people, scattered and isolated by constant inter-tribal +warfare, differ one tribe from another, in language, customs and +appearance almost more than do Germans, French, or English; to say that +any tradition or custom is common to all the tribes, or even to all of +one tribe, of Borneans, would be far too sweeping. A still greater +drawback to any universality, in legend or custom, is that there is no +written language, not even so much as picture-drawings on rocks to give +us a clue to ancient myths or traditions. The natives of Borneo are in a +certain sense savages, but yet they are savages of a high order, +possessed of a civilization far above what is usually implied by the +term; they live together in what almost might be called cooperative +communities, they practise the art of weaving, they forge rough +implements of iron, they cultivate rice and esculent plants, and in all +their work, such as house-building, boat-building, manufacture of cloth +and weapons of warfare, they show an ambitious desire, and a skilful +ability, to ornament their work and add, to its usefulness, pleasure to +the eye. One of their gravest faults, however, is their embarrassing +tenacity to the _fad_ of head-hunting, and a strict adherence to the +principle of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. This keeps the +different households, even of the same tribe, at constant war and makes +inevitable an uncomfortable yet pleasing interchange of heads during the +tedious months of the rainy season, when time hangs heavy on the +warriors' hands, and disused swords might get rusty. + +So little is known of the social and anthropological position of these +people, to others than those who make Malaysia and the South Sea islands +their study, that it may not be out of place to give a short description +of the people themselves before entering on the subject of their +Folk-lore. + +The remote origin of the Borneans, as well as of the greater part of all +of the inhabitants of the Polynesian islands, is an ethnological +problem; they are not Malay, neither are they Mongolian nor Negrito; +they bear resemblances here and there to all of these races, but not +marked enough to claim any one as the parent stock. Furthermore, there +is some evidence in favor of the theory that they are the result of +successive migrations of tribes from northern India and from Anam. + +[Illustration: A KAYAN LONG-HOUSE.] + +The inland tribes of Borneo, by which I include all the natives except +the Malays settled along the coast, are without any definite forms of +religious worship; they make idols of wood, but I have never seen any +offering made to them, nor do they regard them apparently as anything +more than as scarecrows to frighten off evil spirits. They are the +children of Dame Nature and as such have inherited their mother's +disregard for life, and this feature of their temperament has kept them +in a constant turmoil of warfare, which in turn compels them for mutual +protection to band together in communities of several families and build +for themselves a common house wherein to live, ever ready to turn out in +force and resist the attacks of hostile tribes. In not a few instances +these houses are as much as a quarter of a mile in length and shelter as +many as four hundred people. Every household is presided over by a +head-man known as the elder, or _Orang Tuah_, and he in turn is governed +in a measure by the chief of the tribe, known as the _Penghulu_. The +government of the household seems to be conducted in the quietest +manner; I have lived on several occasions in these houses for three or +four weeks at a time, and have never seen anything that could be called +a violent quarrel between two members of the household, nor have I seen +the Orang Tuah or the Penghulu submit any of the members to what might +be considered harsh treatment. I have also been with them when they were +out on the warpath, to use a North-American Indian term, when every +nerve was at high tension on the look-out for enemies and every thought +was turned to slaughter, but I have never seen the counsel of the Chief +disregarded. Of course, some Chiefs are weak and fail to give commands +because they are afraid to act, but a command once given is carried out, +or at least not disregarded, and I could never detect any means which +were taken to enforce an authority thus implicitly obeyed. + +As a people, they are not active-minded nor industrious, but yield to +the influence of climate, and, following the example offered to them by +the vast, dense jungle on every side, accept life as easily as it comes. +They are no exception to the rule that all untutored minds, living in +constant communion with any awful aspect of Nature, be it gigantic +mountains, a waste of waters, or an illimitable jungle, are saturated +with superstitions; every pool, every tree, every rock is the home of an +evil spirit, and all mysterious noises in the forest are ghostly +whisperings. Everywhere are signs and omens to warn man of danger or +direct his course; theirs is a life where no schooling is so vital as +the ability to read aright the "sermons in stones, books in the running +brooks." For them the world is the patch of jungle covering the few +square miles that they know, and bounded by the hills in the distance; +seldom do they get an extended view of the surrounding country; trees +hem them in on all sides and the mountains are so difficult of ascent, +and furthermore so infested with demons or "antu," that the summits can +be gained only at the risk of body, and, still worse, of soul. + +Many natives of the interior live and die with never a glimpse of the +sea, and the tales which the Malay and Chinese traders tell of lands +beyond the horizon where white men live, are as incomprehensible to them +as are to us the conjectural accounts which astronomers give of the +canals on the planet Mars. + +Naturally enough, of course, creation began on the island of Borneo, or +Kalamantan, as they call it, and the first people were Borneans and +spoke the language of the tribe that tells the story. Every tribe has a +different account of creation, and claims that its people sprang from +the first created mortals. The following account is the story of Genesis +according to the Kayans of Northwestern Borneo:-- + +In the old, old days, when there was nothing but water and sky, there +fell from the heavens an enormous rock; that part of it which protruded +from the water was hard, slippery, and quite bare, with no soil nor +plants upon it of any kind. After a long time, however, the rains +produced slime upon the rock, and little worms, called _halang_, were +bred in this slime, and they bored into the rock and left fine sand +outside of their burrows; this sand eventually became soil and covered +the rock. Again years passed and the rock remained barren of all other +life until suddenly there dropped from the Sun a huge wooden handle of a +_Parang_ (or sword) known as _Haup Malat_. This parang-handle sank deep +into the rock and taking root in the soil it sprouted and grew into a +great tree, named _Batang Utar Tatei_, whose branches stretched out over +the new land in every direction. When this tree was fully grown, there +dropped from the Moon a long rope-like vine known as the _Jikwan Tali_. +This vine quickly clung to the tree and took root in the rock. Now the +vine, Jikwan Tali, from the Moon became the husband of the tree, Batang +Utar Tatei, from the Sun, and Batang Utar Tatei gave birth to twins, a +male and a female, not of the nature of a tree, but more or less like +human beings. The male child was called _Klobeh Angei_, and the female +was called _Klubangei_. These two children married and then gave birth +to two more children, who were named _Pengok N'gai_, and _Katirah +Murai_. Katirah Murai was married to old man _Ajai Avai_, who comes +without pedigree into the narration. From Katirah Murai and Ajai Avai +are descended many of the chiefs who were founders of the various tribes +inhabiting the land of Kalamantan; their names are Sejau Laho, Oding +Lahang, from whom the Kayans spring, Tabalan, Pliban, and, finally, +Tokong, the father of head-hunting. + +As time went on, that which formerly had been merely slime on the rock, +became moss, and little by little small plants were produced. The twigs +and leaf-like appendages of the tree, evidently the female principle in +nature, as they fell to the ground, became birds, beasts, and fishes. +(Let me mention here that the endowment of leaves with life and +locomotion is no more than natural; while in the jungle I have +repeatedly seen what, in every respect, appeared to be a leaf fall to +the ground and then miraculously put out legs and walk away; it was one +of those remarkable insects of the _Mantis_ family, or "walking +leaves.") The inhabitants of the rock had no need of fire in those days, +for the sun beat down on them strongly, and there was no night; it was +not until many, many years had elapsed that an old man named _Laki Oi_ +invented a method of obtaining fire by means of friction produced by +pulling a strip of rattan rapidly back and forth beneath a piece of dry +wood. This process of making fire he called _Musa_, and it is still the +only method used in obtaining fire for ceremonials, such as the naming +of a child, or when communicating with the omen-birds. Laki Oi also +taught them the use of the fire-drill, which he called the _Nalika_. + +On the main trunk of Batang Utar Tatei was a large excrescence, from +which exuded a resinous gum called _Lutong_, which, as it dropped to the +ground beneath, was immediately transformed into chickens and swine; and +it is because they were thus formed out of the very heart and substance +of the tree that they are always used in the reading of auguries. From +this same cause, there was innate in them an insight into the innermost +workings of Nature and a knowledge of the future. + +The first beings with any resemblance to man had neither legs, nor +breasts, and consisted merely of a head, chest, arms, and a fragment of +a body which hung down in shreds and rags, having the appearance of +twisted snakes. When they moved they dragged themselves along the ground +by their arms. (From this description and from native carvings, I am +inclined to believe that a large cuttle-fish or octopus must have +suggested this idea to the original narrator of this tradition.) Little +by little, the body was brought into more compact form, and, in a later +generation, legs appeared, but it was a long time before they became +accustomed to legs and able to use them in moving about. A survival of +this awkwardness, so say the Kayans, is still noticeable in the way in +which children crawl about the floor, and in their clumsy walk when +first they learn to stand upright. The heads of these first people were, +furthermore, much larger than the heads of the present generation, and, +since it was the first part formed, it is the oldest part of the body, +and on this account the most important member, and valued accordingly +whether dead or alive. + +This account is, as far as I know, purely Bornean, inasmuch as had there +been any admixture from a foreign source (as we shall see further on was +probably the case with the Dyaks) there would have been possibly some +reference to a Supreme Creator rather than to this union of a vine and a +tree as the original source of life. The Kayans from whom I obtained +this account have had exceedingly little communication with the outside +world, except through occasional Malay or Chinese traders. There is just +a possibility that the idea of the wooden sword-handle being the +ultimate _fons et origo_ of all life comes from the fact that the word +for chief--"penghulu"--is derived from "hulu," meaning a sword-handle, +and the prefix "peng" denoting agency, so that the whole word means +literally "the master of the sword," and thus the ruler or chief. From +association of ideas, the sword-handle, without which the blade is +ineffective and useless, may have been suggested to them as the chief +of all beings. The sudden appearance of Ajai Avai on the scene as the +husband of Katirah Murai, is not at all at variance with the accounts +from many other sources of the populating of the world. In Laki Oi, we +recognize the Kayan "Prometheus," whose memory is revered by sanctifying +the fire procured after his manner of teaching, and from this tradition +it is probable that the procuring of fire by means of the "fire-saw" is +the aboriginal method. Should all of the fires in a Kayan house become +extinguished and no spark be left, new fires may be started by this +method, and by this method alone; even the fire-drill, and flint and +steel, which are not unknown to them, are tabooed. + +The Dayaks, who are closely akin in every respect to the Malays, and no +doubt adopted the traditions which were rife among the Malays both +before and after the latter became converted to Mohammedanism, give an +account of the creation of the world differing in every particular from +the foregoing Kayan story. + +One of the Dayak versions of the creation which I heard from the people +of that tribe, living in the Baram district of Sarawak, is that in the +beginning there were two large birds,--the _Burong Iri_ and the _Burong +Ringgong_ (Burong meaning _bird_), who made all the rivers, the great +sea, the earth, and the sky. The first things to have life were plants +and trees. When trees were first made, the winds blew them down, and +again and again the Iri and the Ringgong had to set them up, until in +their great wisdom they realized the necessity of props and stays, so +they fashioned the strong vines and creepers. Then these two creators +saw what pleasant places the boughs and branches of these trees would +make for other beings; whereupon they created birds and all flying +animals, like bats and flying squirrels. Then for a long while they +consulted together, and, finally, decided that they would make a man who +should walk about on the earth; at first, they made him of clay, but +when he was dried he could neither speak nor move, which provoked them, +and they ran at him angrily; so frightened was he that he fell backward +and broke all to pieces. The next man that they made was of hard wood, +but he, also, was utterly stupid, and absolutely good for nothing. Then +the two birds searched carefully for a good material, and eventually +selected the wood of a tree known as the _Kumpong_, which has a strong +fibre and exudes a quantity of deep red sap, whenever it is cut. Out of +this tree they fashioned a man and a woman, and were so well pleased +with this achievement that they rested for a long while and admired +their handiwork. Then they decided to continue creating more men; they +returned to the Kumpong tree, but they had entirely forgotten their +original pattern, and how they had executed it, and they were therefore +able to make only very inferior creatures, which became the ancestors of +the _Maias_ (the Orang Utan) and monkeys. + +The man and the woman were very helpless and hardly knew how to obtain +the simplest necessities of life, so the Iri and the Ringgong devised +the _Ubi_--a wild sweetpotato--the wild Tapioca, the Kaladi, or, as we +know it, the Kaladium, and other edible roots, whereof the man and woman +soon learned to eat; fire, however, was unknown to these first people +and they had to eat all of their food raw. + +Contemporaneously with the Maias and the monkeys many other animals came +into being, among them the dog. For a long time all living things were +friendly to one another and lived in the land of Kaburau, which lies +near a branch of the great Kapuas river, and is, even to this day, +considered by the Dayaks as the garden-spot of the world. The dog, +however, because he cleaned himself with his tongue, soon came to be +despised by all other animals, and although a bully he was yet +subservient to man. Then the deer and many of the other animals taunted +the dog, saying that he was so mean-spirited and servile that although +man thrashed him, nevertheless he fawned upon him and followed after +him; which they would never do, so they went off to the jungle to live. +But the dog comforted himself by saying that "When the man is about to +strike me I crouch down and sometimes this keeps his hand off; +furthermore, I cannot live on the poor food that these others must eat." +Hence, the dog follows and obeys man. + +One day when the man and the dog were in the jungle together, and got +drenched by rain, the man noticed that the dog warmed himself by rubbing +against a huge creeper, called the _Aka Rarah_, whereupon the man took a +stick and rubbed it rapidly against the Aka Rarah, and to his surprise +obtained fire. This was the origin of the _Sukan_, or fire drill, and +ever after the man had fire in his house. Not long after, in +accidentally dropping an Ubi near the fire, he found that it became much +more pleasant to the taste; by this accident cooking was discovered. + +[Illustration: MAKING FIRE WITH A FIRE-DRILL.] + +In the course of time, the dog and other animals began to multiply, and +man imitated their example; the woman brought forth a male child, whose +name was _Machan Buntu_. After many years, the woman gave birth to a +female child who, when she was well grown, married her brother Machan +Buntu and gave birth to seventy children at one time. These children +left their home and scattered all over the world. Some became wood +sprites and mountain gnomes, living in the trees, in the rivers, and +under ground. + +The tradition of the manufacture of man out of wood instead of clay is +thoroughly in keeping with an origin purely Dayak. The Dayaks never have +been proficient in pottery, and to this day they carve their bowls and +dishes out of hard wood, otherwise it seems to me that clay would have +suggested itself to them as the most suitable substance whereof to have +made man. Another item looks as if part of the story were an +interpolation, namely, where it is related that the two birds were so +pleased with their work after making man, that they rested; this looks +like a suggestion due to the first chapter of Genesis. Again, in that +land of Kaburau, where all animals lived in perfect harmony, and which +was the garden of the world, we may recognize the garden of Eden. Owing +to the lack of writing, as I said before, it is impossible to say how +old this tradition is, or to what extent it is known to Dayaks in other +parts of the country; I have heard that very much the same story is told +by the natives in the Rejang district several hundred miles south of the +Baram; where the chiefest difference in the accounts is that earlier and +higher than the birds there was a Supreme Being called _Rajah Gantalla_, +who after creating the two birds, committed the rest of the work to +them. I think in the _-allah_ of this name (I speak under correction) we +may discern a strong indication of Mohammedan influence. The first man, +instead of being carved entirely of Kumpong wood, was made, in this +latter account, of clay and then filled with the sap of the Kumpong +tree. + +A tradition (I do not say "legend," for this implies writing) which all +the Kayans seem to know and to take pleasure in relating, is connected +with the origin of their rite of head-hunting, for, although every +possible means is employed by the European rulers of the island to stop +this custom, it is still, nevertheless the one ruling passion of the +people. Nay, it is part of their Religion; no house is blest which is +not sanctified by a row of human skulls, and no man can hope to attain +to the happy region of Apo Leggan unless he, or some near relative of +his, has added a head to the household collection. Let me correct, +however, with regard to head-hunting, what is probably the prevalent +idea that the heads are hung up in the houses bleeding and raw, just as +they are severed from the body. This is quite wrong; whether or not they +would tolerate in their homes such horrid objects I cannot say, but +certain it is that the heads are first subjected to fire and smoke until +the flesh has dropped away, and what is then hung up is merely a skull; +unpleasant enough, but not so bad as is generally supposed. + +[Illustration: A KAYAN YOUTH.] + +The tradition is that the great chief Tokong, when out on a war +expedition, was told by Kop, the frog, that he should always take, +instead of only the hair, the whole head of his enemies; Tokong was +angry, at first, at the frog, but his followers at length persuaded him +to let them try the experiment on their next attack. After taking the +whole heads, the war party retreated quickly to the river down which +they had come, and came to the spot where they had left their boats and +were surprised to find that everything was exactly as they had left it. +When they embarked, lo, and behold! the current of the stream was, for +their sakes, reversed and like a flash they were carried up-stream and +reached their home in a miraculously short time. During the fifteen days +that they had been absent the crop of rice had not only sprouted, but +had grown, had ripened, and was almost ready to be harvested; the +members of their family who had been sick when they left, were now all +well, the lame could walk and the blind see. The wise men waggled their +heads, and one and all declared (and who can blame them?) that ever +after they would stick to the custom that Kop had taught them. + +It is not unfair to infer from this tradition that they have a crude, +germinal sense of the barbarity of their actions, in so far as they +think it necessary to invent an excuse to palliate that savage love of +trophy-hunting which seems inborn in mankind. The rite of head-hunting +is by no means confined to Borneo; the Formosans, and also many of our +new fellow-citizens, among the tribes of the Philippines, are +enthusiastic head-hunters, and our own cherished Indians within our own +borders have not yet given up their love for a scalp; it would be +perilous to assert that it is not a United States custom. + +The idea that the taking of a head is necessary in order to obtain +entrance to the pleasant regions of the land of departed spirits, is a +doctrine taught by the chiefs in order to make men brave in battle, and +do all in their power to avoid the punishment which awaits the coward. +The Kayan Hades is believed to be under ground, and like the Hades of +the ancient Greeks there is a guide to the entrance who corresponds to a +certain extent to Charon. But their river Styx is not a stream, but a +deep and wide ditch, through which flow ooze and slime swarming with +worms and maggots; the souls of the departed must cross over this ditch +not by a ferry, but by means of a fallen tree-trunk, guarded by the +great demon _Maligang_, who challenges all comers, and if they have no +record of bravery, he shakes the tree-trunk until they fall into the +ditch below and are eternally tortured by the devouring worm that dieth +not. Over the land of spirits presides the great demon _Laki Tenangan_, +who assigns the souls to their proper place, and sees that they get +their deserts, whether good or bad. + +In this shadowy world, APO LEGGAN is one of the principal regions, and +is the abode of the spirits of those who die from sickness or from old +age. The souls in _Apo Leggan_ have much the same lot as they had in +this world; the poor remain poor, and the rich maintain their rich +estate, and even the soul that has been harassed in life in the upper +air must none the less expect to find misfortune and perplexity in the +world to come. In the absence of any definite code of morals, this is, +perhaps, the most suitable belief that a savage tribe could have; it +stimulates them to a constant endeavor to better their condition in this +life and make their mark in some way, so that the life to come, in which +they have a firm belief, may not be a continuation of the hardships they +have endured here. Their methods of gaining wealth may not conform to +our ideas of propriety, but then all is fair in love and war, and as +they have very little idea of love, their motto has to be "all is fair +in war;" life in the jungle is little else than a ceaseless struggle for +the survival of the fittest. + +LONG JULAN, a second division, is where live the souls of those who have +died a violent or sudden death, either on the battlefield, or in their +own clearings by the accidental fall of a tree; and there also dwell the +young mothers who have died in childbirth; they become the wives of +young warriors who likewise have been cut off in the bloom of youth and +are therefore proper mates for unfortunate little mothers. Such beliefs +naturally tend to the taking of life; a young man, for instance, who +loses his wife in childbirth wishes to meet her again in the next world, +and his ambition to go on the warpath is doubly strong. Is he fortunate +enough to take a head, he gains high rank among warriors; should he be +killed, he has the comfortable assurance that he will again meet his +wife in _Long Julan_. The souls in _Long Julan_ have an easy time and +are always fairly well off, whatever their circumstances were in this +life. + +TAN TEKKAN, a third division, is the place to which Laki Tenangan +consigns suicides; wretched and woe begone in appearance, their souls +wander about in the jungle and in the clearings trying to pick up a +living by eating what roots and fruits they can find. This joyless +Hereafter is calculated to make those who contemplate suicide, rather +perform some self-sacrificing act of bravery whereby they will not only +benefit those whom they leave behind, but also gain for themselves a +more pleasant position in the world to come; therefore suicide is not at +all common. + +TENYU LALU, a fourth region, is assigned to the spirits of still-born +children. These little souls are said to be exceedingly brave and need +no other weapon wherewith to defend themselves than a stick of wood; +they have never felt pain nor experienced danger in this world, and are +therefore totally ignorant of such emotions. Whether or not they +increase in size in _Tenyu Lalu_ is not known, but it is generally +supposed that they live together in a little world of their own. + +Finally, LING YANG is the abode of those who have died by drowning; it +lies below the beds of rivers, and here the spirits soon become +exceedingly rich. All the goods lost in rivers by the capsizing of boats +in the rapids, or when they run foul of a snag in deep water, go into +the coffers of the dwellers in _Ling Yang_. + +Such are the main divisions of the _Dali Matei_, or country of the +dead; there are, however, many sacred hills, rivers, and lakes wherein +dwell certain powerful demons who govern the spirits. In this nether +world, some say that there are trees and plants and animals much the +same as in this; this point, however, seemed open to considerable doubt +in the minds of some whom I questioned, while others had so definite an +idea of it that they drew maps to show the positions of the different +regions. They seemed to regard it as a large river, along whose +tributaries dwelt the various classes of departed spirits. The Dayongs, +or medicine men, are the only ones who are supposed really to know; +these all maintain that, while acquiring their power over sickness, they +had visited the land of spirits. In the mythology of all countries there +is sure to be a hero who has made the descent to Hades and returned to +tell the tale, and the Kayans are no exceptions; they have their +Orpheus, only his name is Gamong. + +Gamong, during an attack of fever, realized that he was at the point of +death, but was loath to resign his spirit, so he called his friends +around him and begged them to dress him up, after death, in all his +war-clothes, and not to bury him for three days, but to place him in a +sitting posture with his sword and spear in his hands. He comforted them +by saying that he had an inner assurance that he had a terrible +encounter before him, but that he would actually return to this world in +about three days. Shortly after this, his breath ceased and his friends +performed all the rites of burial, just as he had requested. For three +days his body remained rigid; at the end of that time, he came back to +life and told his open-eyed friends his adventures as follows: "When my +spirit left you, I went directly down the path which leads to the great +tree-trunk, _Bintang Sikopa_, where Maligang stands; according to his +wont, he hailed me and told me to halt, which I would not do. Then +Maligang, whose arm is enormous, many times bigger than his body, began +to shake the tree, calling out 'who are you?' I replied 'I am Gamong, a +brave warrior, and you must not shake the tree while I cross.' Maligang +then said, consulting the pegs with which he records the deeds of men, +'What proof have I that you have been brave?' At this I was furious, I +drew my parang, uplifted my spear and ran amok, rushing into Maligang's +house, smashing everything and overturning the great jars of rice-toddy, +of which there is an abundance, but whereof no one ever drinks. Maligang +was frightened and bolted from the house, shouting as he fled, 'I have +not got you now, but in seven years' time you must return.' Finding that +Maligang had fled, and that there were other obstacles to prevent me +from going on, I returned to this world and its trials." The story goes +that Gamong lived seven years after this, and then succumbed body and +soul to the great Maligang; and as there is no record of his bravery, he +was probably shaken off of the tree-trunk and disappeared in the deep +pit seething with maggots. + +All this veracious history I got by word of mouth from a Kayan of the +Tinjar valley. + +Almost every medicine man has been down among the spirits of the dead, +and in proof of his assertions, a curiously shaped stone, or a knot of +wood, is displayed, which has been given by the spirits and is endowed +with all sorts of marvellous properties. I have in my possession a +Dayong's whole outfit of charms which I bought from his relatives after +his death; they were afraid to touch it, and for another Dayong to use +it is taboo of the worst kind. Such charms are usually buried with the +practitioner, but this old fellow evidently did not have a very large +practice, and, at his death, he was somewhat neglected. One of the +charms is a stone in which an active imagination might trace a +resemblance to the hand or foot of an animal; the sorrowing relatives +told me, with awe and bated breath, that it was given to their uncle by +a spirit on the top of a mountain, and that it was the foot of a dragon, +one of the most powerful resources of the Dayong pharmacopoeia. + +[Illustration: KAYAN WOMEN.] + +Companions to the stories of visits to the regions below the earth are +stories of visits to the world above the skies, to which adventurous +heroes climb either by vines or ropes, which dangle suddenly in front of +them, or by means of lofty trees. "Jack and the Bean Stalk" is a +parallel story in our own folklore. Sir Spencer St. John[1] gives a +Dayak account of the introduction of rice among the Orang Iban, as they +call themselves, which states that "when mankind had nothing to eat but +fruit and a species of fungus which grows round the roots of trees, a +party of Ibans, among whom was a man named _Si Jura_ (whose descendants +live to this day in the village of Simpok) went forth to sea. They +sailed on for a long time until they came to a place where 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; when he got among the boughs, he was tempted to ascend the +trunk and find how the tree grew in that position. On looking down he +saw his companions making off with the boat loaded with fruit; there +was nothing for him to do but go on climbing. At length he reached the +roots of the tree and found himself in the country of the Pleiades +[which the Dayaks call 'the seven chained-stars']; when he stood upon +the ground he met a man-like being, whose name was Si Kira, and he went +with him to his house. For food Si Kira offered to him a mess of soft +white grains, and told him to eat. 'What, eat those little maggots?' +said Si Jura. 'They are not maggots, that is boiled rice,' replied Si +Kira, and he forthwith instructed him in the art of planting, weeding, +reaping, husking, and boiling rice. + +"While Si Kira's wife was out, getting some water, Si Jura peeped into +one of the tall jars that were standing near by, and looking straight +through the bottom of it, he could see his father's house and all his +brothers and sisters sitting around talking. His spirits were much +depressed at the remembrance of the home that perhaps he should never +see again, and instead of eating he wept. Si Kira at once saw what was +the matter, and assured him that he would arrange everything +satisfactorily for him; then Si Jura fell to and ate a hearty meal, and +afterwards he was given three kinds of rice, and Si Kira further +instructed him how to fell the jungle, burn it, then take the omens from +the birds before planting, and when he harvested to hold a feast. By +means of a long rope Si Jura was lowered down to the earth again, close +to his father's house. From his visit to the Pleiades the Dayaks learned +all that they know about farming, and, what is more, to this day the +Pleiades themselves tell them when to begin farming, for, according to +their position in the sky in the morning and evening, they cut down the +jungle, burn, plant, and reap." + +I think there can be no doubt that Si Kira bestowed a great blessing on +the Dayaks when he gave them rice; but I am very sure that he saddled +them with a dire affliction when he introduced to them the omen-birds; +more procrastination, failure of expeditions, and exasperation of soul +can be laid to the score of these birds than to anything else on earth. +There is hardly an undertaking, however slight, that can be begun +without first consulting these wretched birds. Yet it is hardly to be +wondered at, that all tribes should hold the birds to be little prophets +of the jungle, dashing across man's path, at critical moments, to bless +or to ban. In the deep jungle, which at high noon is as silent as +"sunless retreats of the ocean," gay-plumaged birds are not sitting on +every bough singing plaintive, melodious notes; such lovely pictures +exist solely in the mind of the poet or of him who has never visited the +tropics. In the thick tangle of leaves and branches overhead, the larger +birds are seen with difficulty, even after considerable practice, and +the smaller birds appear as but a flash of light, as they dart through +the interlacing palms and vines; the apparition, with its sudden gleam +and instant disappearance, starts the impulse to make a wish, as when we +see a star shoot across the heavens. This same natural and almost +irresistible impulse, which we have all experienced, I suggest as one of +the explanations of the tendency of the Bornean mind to accept the birds +as the intelligent forerunners of good or ill. These unsophisticated +natives wander forth with some wish in their hearts, and should a bird +of the right species (for not all birds are omen-birds) cross their +path, the fulfilment of their wishes is established beyond a doubt by +its mere appearance, and it is to be feared (for they are mortal) that +if they do not want to see the bird--well, there are none so blind as +those who won't see. When it comes to taking omens for such an important +event as the planting of rice, or for going on the warpath, then the +ceremony extends over ten days or two weeks, and the opinion of the +small barking deer also must be consulted; furthermore, the whole +household is under the ban of a taboo, or _permantang_, as they call it, +and the people must all stay indoors while the three men who are +appointed as searchers are abroad on their omen-seeking errand. So firm +is their trust in the wisdom of the birds that even if they have worked +for months at a clearing they will abandon it and never plant it, if the +omens at the time of sowing be unfavorable. Certain birds must be seen +on the right hand to be favorable, while others are most propitious when +they soar overhead, or give a shrill cry on the left; on more than one +occasion, when traveling in native canoes, a bird which ought to have +appeared on the right has been seen on the left, and, to my utter +bewilderment, without a word the boat has been swung round in the stream +so as to bring to the right what was on the left, thus slyly fabricating +a bad omen into a good one, and for some distance we have gone in the +opposite direction, but now with highly favorable omens. When they +conclude that the bird has forgotten his warning or lost sight of us, +the boat has been again turned, fate has been deceived, and we journey +on as before. Once our whole party of eight or ten boats had to pull up +at the bank and walk through the jungle for a quarter of a mile or so to +make a bothersome white-headed hawk think that he had mistaken the +object of our expedition. When a favorable bird has been seen, a fire of +chips is at once built on the bank of the river, thereby letting the +bird know that his kind attention has been appreciated, Fire is always +the go-between of man and the birds, or any of the spirits; it forms an +important part in the ceremonies of consecration and absolution, and by +means of fire a man may break through a taboo, or _permantang_. Should +a man have a fruit-tree, for instance, which he wishes to protect, he +places about it several cleft sticks with stones thrust in the clefts, +and the stones are told to guard the tree and afflict with dire diseases +any pilferer of the fruit. Now, should a friend of the owner see this +sign of _permantang_ and yet wish some of the fruit, let him but build a +fire and commission the fire to tell the stones that he is a friend of +the owner, and that it is all right if he takes the fruit; then, when +the fire is burnt out, the fruit may be taken with impunity. In the +ceremony of naming a child, the sacrificial pig is touched with a fire +brand before it is harangued by the Dayong, or medicine man; and to +determine whether or not the chosen name be propitious, the strip of +rattan which has been used on the fire-saw to obtain the sacred fire, is +bent into a loop until its ends just meet; it is then set on fire in the +middle and allowed to burn through. If the two pieces thus made are of +uneven length the name is good; if they are both the same length another +name must be selected. The ashes from this burning are made into a paste +and smeared on the child's forehead just before it is deluged with a +bowl of cold water, and the name is made public for the first time. It +is strange what a similarity exists in different races relative to this +ceremony of giving a name. Why water should be used to confirm the rite, +they cannot themselves explain, except by saying that it is a custom +handed down to them from their grandfathers and their +great-great-grandfathers. It can hardly have suggested itself to the +minds of the Borneans as an element of purification and cleansing; to +their mind water does not possess these properties. Water is good to +drink when you are thirsty, and refreshing to bathe in when you are +hot, that is all; dirt has no horrors to the Bornean mind, and after a +plunge in the river has refreshed the body, the Kayan, Dayak, Kenyah, +Sibop, or whatever the tribe, will put on the same dirty waist-cloth or +cotton jacket that has never known soap, and has seldom if ever been +nearer the water than when on the back of its owner. Perhaps it is that +water is symbolic of life and motion; the river is always moving, it +murmurs and talks to itself, a draft of its coolness and a plunge into +its embrace adds new life to man; why should it not be the giver of +life? In almost all the native languages of Borneo the word for water +and river is the same; even when water is brought up into the house it +is still the river, and when they drink, they drink the river; when they +boil their rice they boil in the river, and when they name their +children they pour the river over them. Many subtribes or households +take their name from the river on which they live, as, for instance, the +Long Patas who live, or used to live, at the mouth of the Pata river +(Long meaning junction of one river with another), the Long Kiputs, the +Long Lamas, and many others that might be named, including the whole +tribe of the Kayans, who take their name from the great Kayan river +which empties into the sea on the East coast. If a river that is new to +them be visited, the spirits of that stream must be always propitiated +lest they resent the intrusion and drown the visitor. It is the custom +among the Bukits, one of the most primitive tribes, for the youths, when +they reach the bank of a new river, to divest themselves of every +article of clothing, save a chaplet of leaves, which they twist from the +vines near at hand; then crouching at the edge of the water, they toss +some personal ornament, such as a brass ear-ring or a bright bead, far +out into mid-stream, and at the same instant scoop up a handful of the +water; gazing earnestly into the few drops which they hold in their +palm, they invoke the spirits of the river to protect them, and implore +permission to enter the new territory. Not until this rite is completed +would they dare to bathe in the stream. + +[Illustration: A SCENE ON THE DAPOI RIVER.] + +To revert to the subject of names; from all that I have read, and from +personal observation, it seems that all Borneans recognize the sanctity +of names; of this we may find traces among all the primitive people of +the earth. Before the formal ceremony of naming a child, for instance, +has been performed, the child has no recognized place in the community, +and a mother in enumerating her children would never think of mentioning +one that had died before it was named, even though it had lived a year. +Before the ceremony, the intended name is known to no one except the +parents, and, for them to mention it, is strictly _permantang_ until the +river water has been poured on the child's head. A Kayan will never tell +you his name, but when asked he invariably turns to some one sitting +near him and asks him to pronounce the name which to the owner is +ineffable. For a man to mention the name of his dead father or mother is +a reckless flying in the face of providence. After a serious illness the +name should be changed and never uttered again, lest the evil spirits +revisit their victim; under a new name they will be likely to pass him +by. On one occasion, recognizing a man that I had seen on a former +visit, but, at the moment forgetting his name, I enquired what it was; +the name, however, struck me as entirely unfamiliar. He afterward +acknowledged that he had been very sick since I last saw him and now +bore a new name; only the assurance that the spirits could not harm him +through a white man induced him at last to whisper to me his former +name. This change of name to deceive the fates extends even to inanimate +objects, and to animals which are to be caught or trapped. When hunting +for camphor, the name of the object of their search must be never +mentioned; it is always spoken of as "the thing that smells." Even all +the instruments, which they use in collecting the valuable drug, have +fanciful names, while the searchers talk in a language invented solely +for those who collect camphor. Unless they conform to all these +requirements, the camphor crystals, which in this particular variety are +found only in the crevices of the wood, will elude them and their search +be fruitless. When the people go _Tuba fishing_, which consists of +poisoning the stream with the juice of the Tuba root, and thus +stupefying the fish and making them rise to the surface, where they can +be easily caught in nets or speared, they never say that they are going +after fish, but after the leaves which float down stream. + +These and many other customs relative to the naming of things are all +founded on the same idea of the potency and mysticism inherent in a +name, which may be found in the legends of the old Egyptians, wherein +the power of the great king and god _Ra_ depended on the fact that no +one knew his real name, until Isis by stratagem got it from him; and +forthwith his power left him. It was this same idea that prevented the +Hebrew from ever speaking the name of the Most High; it is probably the +same thought which prompts the Japanese to change a person's name after +death lest by mentioning the one known during life the spirit of the +dead should be recalled from the other world. + +The downfall of the god _Ra_ brings to mind another superstition of +which I have noticed a remnant among the Borneans also, the power of +working charms with the saliva. When the great god Ra became so old that +he no longer had control of his lower jaw, Isis collected some of his +saliva which dropped upon the ground below his throne, and mixing it +with clay, made a snake of it. (I quote from the "Turin Papyrus," of +which Mr. EDWARD CLODD gives a translation in his recent and valuable +little book called "Tom Tit Tot.") This snake Isis left in Ra's path; as +he passed by, it bit him, and to relieve him of his agony Isis persuaded +him that the only thing to be done was to tell her his true name that +she might drive out the pain from his bones. This he finally did, and +with disastrous results. I instance this to show the antiquity of the +superstition that the saliva is potent as an ingredient of charms; the +Kayans illustrate this, in the manner whereby they elude an evil spirit +which may have been following them on a journey on the river. They build +a small archway of boughs on the bank just before they arrive at their +destination. Underneath this arch, they build a fire and, in single +file, all pass under, stepping over the fire and spitting into it as +they pass; by this act they thoroughly exorcise the evil spirits and +emerge on the other side free from all baleful influence. Another +instance, is where they are throwing aside the signs of mourning for the +dead; during the period of mourning they may not cut their hair nor +shave their temples, but as soon as the mourning is ended by the +ceremony of bringing home a newly-taken head, the barber's knife is kept +busy enough. As every man leaves the barber's hands, he gathers up the +hair, and, spitting on it, murmurs a prayer to the evil spirits not to +harm him. He then blows the hair out of the verandah of the house. + +All these parallelisms, in the modes of thinking, among men in far +removed quarters of the earth, do not, I think, necessarily imply that +there has been a transmission of thought from one race to the other, but +that there is a certain round of thought through which the brain leads +us, and in development we must all have followed along the same path. +Some races have made more rapid strides than others, possibly owing to +natural surroundings, and in their strides have left the others +centuries behind. Almost within the memory of our grandfathers, in this +country, witches were burned, and from this there is only a step back to +the Dayong of Borneo. Indeed, whosoever sees these people and lives with +them their everyday life, must regard them, after a not very long time, +merely as backward pupils in the school of life. Let me say in +conclusion, that he would have an unresponsive heart that could not feel +linked in a bond of fellowship with these people, and that God has made +of only one blood all nations of the earth, when he hears a Bornean +mother crooning her child to sleep with words identical in sentiment +with "Rock-a-bye Baby,"--what though the mother's earlobes are elongated +many an inch by heavy copper rings, her arms tattooed to the elbow, and +her blackened teeth filed to points. Once upon a time I heard a Kayan +mother soothing her little baby to sleep, and the words of the lullaby +which I learned are as follows:-- + + + From the River's mouth the birds are straying, + And the Baiyo's topmost leaves are swaying; + The little chicks cheep, + Now my little one sleep, + For the black house-lizard, with glittering eye, + And the gray-haired Laki Laieng are nigh! + Sleep, dear little one, sleep! + + +For those philologically inclined I append the original:-- + + + Lung koh madang Manoh + Migieong ujong Baiyo + Mensip anak Yap + Lamate Telyap, Telyap abing, + Lamate Laki Laieng oban! + Ara we we ara! + + +FOOTNOTE: + +[1] "Forests of the Far East," vol. i, p. 213. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Folk-lore in Borneo, by William Henry Furness + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOLK-LORE IN BORNEO *** + +***** This file should be named 30233.txt or 30233.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/2/3/30233/ + +Produced by Martin Pettit and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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