Chapter X: Part 10

As to the relationship of the Punans to the other tribes of the interior, Aban Deng, of the clan of Long Wats, (who in turn are closely allied to the Kayans, Kenyahs, and Sibops,) gave us the following account:—‘An old Chief living far in the interior highlands of Borneo, left, at his death, two sons, one of whom was energetic and laboured in the rice-clearings, while the other was incorrigibly lazy. With such different temperaments, the affairs of their common household soon became much disordered, and they agreed to separate, each one choosing the families that were to follow them, and thereafter all were to live as they pleased. The lazy brother and his adherents, who preferred hunting and roaming, betook themselves to the jungle, never built houses nor cultivated rice; their descendants are the Punans of to-day. The industrious brother, named Plian, and his adherents cleared the hills of jungle, planted rice, and built strong houses; from them are descended the Sibops and Long Wats. The Punans, after many years of wandering, determined to begin the cultivation of rice; two of their Chiefs collected them in a fertile valley near the base of “Bukit Bulan,” or the Mountain of the Moon, that high mountain in the centre of Kalamantan, (Borneo,) and they all set to work clearing off the jungle, while the Chiefs stood in a group and gave directions on all sides. The Punans, utterly unversed, however, in the cultivation of land, set fire in many places at once to the jungle when it was felled, and their leaders, thus surrounded by a circle of fire, perished in the flames. Dispirited and discouraged at the loss of their leaders, they once more scattered, and have ever since wandered in small bands throughout the jungle, depending on their blow-pipe, and snares, and the fruits of the forest, for their sustenance.’

When a Punan of the common class dies, his body is stretched out simply in a little hut of boughs and leaves, with no further burial. The corpse of a head-man or of one of his family is, on the other hand, wrapped in a coarse mat or a sheet of bark-cloth, and, doubled up in a squatting position, is forced into one of the baskets they use for carrying loads on their backs. It is then placed on a platform of poles, and over it a flimsy shelter of leaves.

A LARGE, FLAT BUTTRESS ROOT OF A TAPANG TREE FORMS THE BACKGROUND ON THE RIGHT. THE STICKS CUT INTO CURLED SHAVINGS ARE THE CHARMS INVARIABLY PUT UP TO WARD OFF EVIL SPIRITS. THE HEAD-MAN OF THE PARTY IS HONOURED WITH THE PROTECTION OF A ROOF OF PALM LEAVES, BUT HIS FOLLOWERS SLEEP EITHER ON THE GROUND OR ON PALM-LEAF MATS, WITH NO OTHER COVERING THAN THE ‘CLOISTERED BOUGHS’ OVERHEAD.]

Were the choice of a residence in a Bornean tribe forced on me, I should not hesitate long in casting my lot with the Punans. They have never a thought of the morrow; no cares; no responsibilities; no possessions; no enemies, for they desire nothing that other people have, not even clothes; money is dross; and home is where they rest their blow-pipes and hang up their parangs. Night can never find them homeless; home is wherever the setting sun finds them; does rain threaten, a few poles and a few leaves make a house; let the night be clear, and a soft bed of leaves in a nook between the great flat roots of a Tapang tree is luxury itself; for ‘where youth with unstuffed brain [never was a Punan brain ‘stuffed’] doth couch his limbs, there golden sleep doth reign.’

And, finally, in the happy land of the Punan there is no dressing and undressing morning and evening.

_TUBA-FISHING_

There are two varieties of Tuba[15] known to the natives, and used by them to poison fish in streams; these two varieties are called by them ‘Tuba Berábut,’—a shrub, and ‘Tuba Ja Jaran,’—a creeper; Tuba Berábut is more generally used, and is known to Botany as _Derris elliptica_. The poison is extracted from the bark of the creeper, and from the tubers and roots of the shrub. It seems to kill the fish by suffocation, and does not injure them for food; and as they do not die at once, but rise to the surface of the water, and dart hither and thither to evade the poison, there is not a little sport in spearing them or scooping them up in nets; at any rate, a Tuba-fishing is made a great occasion by all the tribes, and furnishes almost as fruitful a topic of conversation as a war expedition. To none of the tribes is the sport more attractive than to the Kenyahs, who live in the mountainous districts of the interior of the island.

The streams usually selected for this form of fishing, are the tributaries of the larger rivers,—mountain streams as clear and cool as crystal, flowing over pebbly beds. High over-arching trees, draped and festooned with ferns, orchids, and vines, ward off the heat of the sun and tone down its glare to that emerald, translucent green of damp, dense tropical forests. The swish and tinkle of the water as it rushes over the rapids above and below the deep pools which the fish frequent, and the musical calls of the Wawa monkeys, alone break the stillness, until the arrival of the merry, happy party of fishers from a Kenyah long-house. The women are bedecked in their finery of gay head-gear and bright bead-work necklaces. The young, unmarried damsels prove to be the life of the party, and are endlessly chaffing their lovers; the sidelong glances from beneath palm-leaf hats are as arch and coquettish as any ever cast from behind a spangled fan. Fun and innocent frolic rule supreme as the canoes race and jostle with each other round sharp turns where the stream runs swift, or over the turbulent rapids. The women catch the excitement of the fierce, desperate paddling; they stand up to the work, their jet-black hair streams over their shoulders, their tawny bodies sway with the boat as they dash from their paddles the ‘tender, curving lines of creamy spray.’ The men shout in triumph or laugh in defeat; and even the old crones cackle and urge on the youths to the sport. The scene is idyllic; there is nothing to revolt, everything to charm. Careless, untamed life amid a tropical jungle is to be seen at its very fairest on one of these Tuba-fishings among the Kenyahs.

The best time for the sport is during the dry season, when the rivers are low and the stones, left bare on the wide banks of the river, supply material for the dams, where the fish may be ‘rounded up.’ A dam is built of loose stones, either straight across the river, or else in a wedge-shape with the point up-stream, thus forcing the fish close to the bank on each side, where the chase is to end. When it has been built about eighteen inches high, a platform of rattans, with little fences at the sides, is placed in the centre of the dam or wherever the fish will be apt to congregate. The up-river end of this platform rests on the bottom of the stream, and the down-river end is about on a level with the surface of the water. In their mad endeavour to escape the suffocating poison, the fish make futile attempts to leap the dam, but by the force of the stream and their own exertions they land on the platform, where an active watcher deals death to them with a stick.

The day before the expedition, all who wish to have a share in the fish must contribute a due proportion of Tuba root, which is gathered in the jungle and scorched over a fire to make it more virulent. After the Tuba has been gathered and the day appointed for the fishing, then so much as even to breathe the name of Tuba is forbidden; if reference must be made to it, then it is to be called ‘pakat Abong;’ Abong is a strong-smelling root something like Tuba, and pakat means _to agree upon_; thus, ‘pakat Abong’ means _what we have agreed to call Abong_. This concealment of the truth deceives all the bats, birds, and insects, which are always keen to report to the fish all the sayings and doings of men, and, as Tuba has not been mentioned, no warning can be given. On one occasion, after a Tuba-fishing had been planned for the morrow, one of our party noticed a man with a bundle of roots, which he recognised as Tuba, and, following the usual Bornean custom of asking a question when at loss for a subject of conversation, inquired what was in the bundle. The reply was ‘pakat Abong.’ ‘Indeed,’ said the questioner, ‘I thought it looked like Tuba.’ At this mention of the fatal word, woe-begone looks passed round and every countenance fell, whereupon the Chief explained: ‘We Kenyahs call that root Abong when we wish to use its white juice, and those animals which live in the water [avoiding the word _fish_] we call “Daun” [_leaves_] which float down stream; did we not do so, when we want to stupefy them with this juice, those good-for-nothing, prying beetles called “Balli sunggong,” or some other friends of the _leaves_ such as the bats, or some kind of bird, would instantly carry the news of our intentions, and then where would be the use of all of our preparations? The _leaves_ would quickly disperse, and we should have to return from our pleasant excursion empty-handed and hungry. They might even invoke their powerful charm-working _leaf_,—the bony Balira,—to call down heavy rains and make the streams rushing torrents, and then good-bye to all our sport. But calling things by their wrong names, we fool these _leaves that float down stream_, and have a good day’s sport out of them.’

The ‘Balira,’ a fish full of bones and worthless as food, is supposed to be the Dayong of the fish. The legend runs that the fishes, aware that there was none among them who would devote himself to working charms, determined to elect a Dayong. No fish could be found to accept the office until, finally, the Balira offered his services on condition that every fish should give him one of his bones. They all agreed, with the result that now the Balira is choke full of bones, and a very skilful worker of charms to counteract the plans of mankind.

The boats assemble about a quarter of a mile above where the dam has been built in the river. On the bank, logs are placed, whereon the Tuba roots are pounded to a pulp, which is then swashed round and squeezed out in some of the smaller canoes, which have been half filled with water. The men pound, keeping time with their blows; and again and again the pulp is washed in the canoes until every drop of the sticky, white juice has been extracted. Then whitish clay or lime is mixed with the poison, to make it sink and spread through the water. Sometimes as much as two or three hundred weight of roots are pounded up for one fishing, the amount, of course, depending on the size of the stream. But before any poison is cast in, a certain quantity must be set aside for the Spirits. One of the party, therefore, goes a little further up the stream to some insignificant pool which has been left on the pebbly bank, (wherein—alas! for poor human nature,—any one could see with half an eye that there was no fish,) and, pouring in the Tuba juice, he calls out:—‘O Spirits of the Rocks! of the Wood! of the Smooth, Flat Stones! of the Karangans! of the Earth! and of the Leaves! here in this pool is your share of the numberless fish! Spoil not our sport by any interference!’

After this generous sacrifice has been made to the superior Powers, all the boats assemble round the canoes containing the poison, which are then suddenly tipped over, and the milk-white paste sinks to the bottom and contaminates all the water. One man in a small canoe goes in advance of all the rest, and the first fish that rises to the surface is caught in a scoop-net and thrown out on the bank; at the same instant the man again shouts to the Spirits that this fish is for them, and that they ought not grudge the small share that will probably fall to the lot of the party. This pious duty having been performed, the fun at once grows fast and furious. With shouts and splashes and jeers and laughter, all the canoes plunge into the chase after the fish which rise to the surface. As every where under the cope of heaven, here, too, the funny man is on hand, and laughs uproariously at his own fun after he has excitedly given false directions as to where the largest fish are coming up, and mocking those who miss their game; boats get entangled, but an occasional upset creates no ill feeling; the occupants are soon back in their places, and engrossed with spearing and scooping up the fish. The very old and the very young are stationed on the bank to catch the small fish or to drive the larger ones from their hiding-places under the overhanging roots and branches.

THE CENTRAL ORNAMENT IS COMPOSED OF YELLOW AND BLACK BEADS. THE SMALL, WHITE DECORATIONS, IN GROUPS OF THREE, ARE PORCELAIN SHIRT-BUTTONS, THE FIRST EVIDENCE OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF CIVILIZATION, INTRODUCED BY ‘TRADE’S UNFEELING TRAIN’ AS SUBSTITUTES FOR COWRIE SHELLS.]

So the whole party slowly drift down-stream, heaping their boats with the stupefied game until they reach the dam, where the man stationed on the rattan platform, or ‘Bering,’ has had a busy time of it, too; not only has he had to see to it that no fish escape, but he has also to keep a very keen look-out for his own safety; many of the fish have sharp, poisonous spines, which, if he be not careful, make ugly and excruciatingly painful wounds in his feet.

When all the fish possible have been caught, the party disembark, and fires are lit beneath green-wood platforms whereon the fish are spread after having been split and salted for future use. The plumpest and largest are always cooked and eaten on the spot by the keen-set fishermen, who revel, even to gorging, in the dainty change from their monotonous daily fare of boiled rice and dried salted fish.

With canoes, and hampers, and bodies filled, as the low descending sun sends shafts of amber light down the long reaches of the river, the fishers again embark, and lazily dip their paddles in the glowing water as the current drifts them on their homeward way. The red-letter day is over, but the joy of it remains for ever in the laughing gossip round the evening hearth.

FOOTNOTES

[1] See _Folk-lore in Borneo_, p. 29.

[2] The substance of the following paragraphs appeared in a Paper which I read before the American Philosophical Society, 1896.

[3] J. G. Frazer, _The Golden Bough_, p. 413.

[4] For instances elsewhere of the observance of similar purification, see _The Golden Bough_, FRAZER, vol. iii., p. 398 _et seq._

[5] I asked to have these words repeated to me after the ceremony; they are as follows: ‘Nilang megang beleuer, tebuku urip lakip makun alun!’ This ‘tebuku’ (knotted cord) illustrates a custom among the Kayans and Kenyahs which, I think, is noteworthy. When they wish to make a record of days or of things, they do so by tying knots either in a thin strip of rattan or in a cord of bark-fibre; this strip is called a ‘tebuku.’ It was a source to me of never-failing wonder to note how accurately and for what a length of time the maker of the strip can remember what every knot represents. I have seen a ‘tebuku tali’ (‘tali’ here means _strip_) wherein there were possibly three hundred knots, recording every article seized in a raid on a long-house; every knot or group of knots represented an article or collection of articles, and the itemized list was read off months and months afterward by the man who tied the knots, and, for aught I know, he could have remembered them for years. Of course, none could read it but the man who made it.

[6] The words ‘laram,’ _cool_, and ‘manin,’ _hot_, are used idiomatically; if a man is told to do anything, he need not instantly obey, as long as the command is, as he says, still ‘manin;’ if a man lay down a tool for which another has been waiting, the tool must not be instantly picked up, it is still ‘manin.’ A heavy, or, perhaps, an unjust fine, is termed ‘manin.’ The sense in which the old Dayong here used the word ‘laram’ is, I think, quiet and firm, like Tama Bulan, not hot-headed and inconstant.

[7] Aban Avit did not translate this, and I believe it is ancient Kayan, retained for its onomatopoetic sound.

[8] ‘Snappang,’ the Malay name for a gun, imitates the sound of the discharge. In the years following our Civil War the name, ‘Ku Klux Klan,’ was formed, it is said, from the sound of the cocking of a firearm.

[9] Poles cut into shavings in this manner have a significance which even the Borneans have lost sight of; they never could or would give any reason therefor except that it was ‘the custom.’

[10] DR. MORRIS JASTROW, JR., _Journal of Am. Oriental Soc._, 1900, xxi., p. 30 et seq.

[11] See _The Golden Bough_, FRAZER, vol. i., p. 15.

[12] See page 54 and photograph.

[13] DR. WILLY KÜKENTHAL, _Forschungsreise in den Molukken und in Borneo_, 1896, Tafel 42.

[14] See also, to the same effect, _The Golden Bough_, vol. i., p. 26.

[15] Allow me to call attention to the fact, whereof the significance I am hardly competent to judge, that in the Mohammedan Paradise ‘the most remarkable tree is called Tûba, or the tree of happiness,’ which among its manifold blessings, ‘will supply the blessed with food.’ Sale’s _Koran_. _Preliminary Discourse_, p. 68, ed. London, 1857.

INDEX

Aban,—the prefix to a name, 18, 55

Aban Avit, 55

Aban Avit’s veranda, 57, 66

Aban Jau’s house, 111

Aban Liah, 116

Aban Liah’s final illness, 132

Abun, the Chief at Long Lama, 69

Admiration denoted by clucks, 101

Adorn, 26

Affection among the Borneans, 141

Amau,—Omen birds and mammals, 160

Ambuscade, a Bornean, 83

Amok at Tama Aping Buling’s, 134

Apoi, 27

Appreciation of photographs, 125

Appreciation of foreign songs, 27

Arrack, drinking of, at naming ceremony, 42

Attainment of paradise, 63

Attempt to deceive the Omen birds, 28

Bállo,—the prefix to a name, 18

Bamboo, burning a strip of, to determine the giving of a name, 41

Bamboo, ceremonial use of ashes of, 41, 42

Bamboo drinking-cups, 107, 108

Bananas, salt, and ginger root given at a Naming, 35, 42

Batu, 76

Beads, Lukut sekála, 118

Beads, imitation of valuable, 118

Belief in future life, 62

Benefits from skulls hung in veranda, 59

Berawans,—Disposal of the dead, 139

‘Bintang sikópa’, 62

Bird’s-nest caves, 178, 181

Blackening the teeth, 157

Blari, 27

Blood, indifference to sight of, 62

Blood of a fowl, inspection of, 50

Blow-pipes, the making of, 113

Blow-pipes among the Punans, 177

Borrowing a head, 88

Breaking a taboo, 115

Bulan, daughter of Tama Bulan, 29

Bulun matai, Fields of the Dead, 61

Burial in jars, 139

Burial of a Chief, 140

Burial custom in the Naga Hills of Assam, 144

Burial of Punans, 183

Calling the name to revive a dying person, 50

Camphor collecting, 167

Camphor collecting, pre-empting a river, 115

Camphor language, 168

Camphor, reluctance to mention, 17

Cases for war-coats, 8

Casting off the taboos of mourning, 92

Caves, bird’s nest, 178-181

Ceremonial fire, 37

Ceremonies at the naming of a Chief’s son, 16

Ceremonies on the return from a war expedition, 90

Changing name after sickness, 16

Chanting of returning warriors, 91

Charm to divert evil Spirits at the Lelak house, 99

Charms for abundant crops, 164

Charms worked with portraits of a person, 179

Children initiated as warriors, 92

Cigarette-making, 30

Clucking to denote admiration, 101

Communication between Omen birds and man, 162

Conjunctivitis, 26

Conveying thanks to Omen birds, 78

Cord of life,—Tebuku urip,—Naming Ceremony, 34

Corpse, presents to a, 166

Costume of Berawan women while mourning, 139

Costume of Kayans and Kenyahs, 21

Council Negri, 20

Council of war, 73

Crops, charms for abundant, 164

Cupping to relieve headache, 49

Curled shavings on sticks, 168

Cursing a house, 136

Daily routine of household, 12

Dancing performed by women of the Lelak household, 101

Dayong, the, in case of illness, 12

Dayong’s attempt to recall a departing soul, 50

Dead bodies not carried through usual doorways, 52

Dead father’s name not mentioned, 17

Death posts, 67

Decorated house posts, 56

Decorating grave of dead Chief, 94

Deer may not be cooked in the house, 71

Deng, 27

Depilation of eyebrows and eyelashes, 158

Designs tattooed on the legs and arms of Kayan and Kenyah women, 148

Determining a name by burning a loop of bamboo, 41

Disposal of the dead,—Berawans, 139

Dogs, 8

Dreams, auspicious and prohibitory, to perforating the ears, 156

Drinking arrack at a Naming, 42

Drinking-cups, bamboo, 107, 108

Drinking a toast, 106

Dulit, Mount, 144

Ear-lobes, elongated, 153

Ear ornaments, 155

Ears, perforation of, 156

Early training of a Head-hunter, 54

Eating of the flesh of deer, 166

‘Eat slowly’, 80

Edible bird’s-nests, 178, 182

Education in indifference to sight of blood, 62

Eternal life in the jungle, 64

Etiquette in regard to weapons, 56

Etiquette in entering a house, 130

Evening chat with Aban Avit, 57

Evil omens in pig’s liver at Aban Liah’s feast, 121

Evil omen in pig’s liver at Tama Aping Buling’s, 132

Evil Spirits exorcised by fire, 28

Evil Spirits exorcised at the Naming ceremony, 33, 39

Evil Spirits exorcised by spitting, 28

Evil Spirits exorcised when a dog touches a rice-mortar, 165

Evil Spirits warded off by gong-beating, 34

Eyelashes and eyebrows depilated, 158

Exhortation to the sacrificial pig at Aban Liah’s, 120

Exorcism of Evil Spirits, 28, 33, 39

Facsimile of valuable beads, 118

Family rooms (_Lamin_), 9

Fat pork feast at Naming ceremony, 44

Fear of making life-like images or pictures, 56

Feast at Tama Aping Buling’s, 133

Feast after return of war party, 95

Feast, injunction at beginning of, 47

Feasting of a war party, 80

Female tattooers, 151

Fields of the dead, 61

Fine for violating a permantong, 12

Fire, a means of communicating with Omen birds, 4, 78

Fire, ceremonial, 37

Fire-drill, 37

Fireplaces, 4

Fire-saw, 37

Fish not spoken of before a Tuba fishing, 17, 186

Flattening heads, 158

Food, 11

Food of Punans, 175

Freeing women from mourning restrictions, 93

Future life, Belief in a, 62

Game of tag in the water, 14

Gathering edible bird’s-nests, 182

Gau, 27

Ghost’s clutch, 54

Ginger root, salt, and bananas given at Naming ceremony, 35, 42

Gong-beating to counteract effects of photography, 180

Gong-beating to ward off evil Spirits, 34

Government’s pig at the feast at Tama Aping Buling’s, 131

Grave, decoration of a Chief’s, 94

Greeting, absence of signs of, 142

Grippe in Borneo, 25

Grippe at Tama Bulan’s, 49

Guest chambers in Lelak house, 102

Handling of skulls, 65

Harvest festival, 164

Hawk-men,—_Laki Niho_, 161

Head, borrowing a, 88

Head-flattening, 158

Head-hunter, early training of a, 54

Head-hunters, mark of successful, 147

Head-hunting, Origin of, 59

Head-hunting, punishment for, 69

Horn-bill, Image of, hung with cigarettes, 31

Hose, Dr. Charles, invitation to people of Batang Kayan, 109

House-building, 1, 3, 4

House-building, sacrifice, 3

House-posts, decorated, 56

Humble attitude of women, 171

Husking rice, 7

Iban ear ornaments, 156

Iban tattooing, 148

Ill luck consigned to miniature boat, 179

Images, fear of making life-like, 56

Image of horn-bill hung with cigarettes, 31

Images made to work evil as they decay, 93

Importance of a name, 18

Indemnity,—_Usut_, 112, 163

Indifference to sight of blood, 62

Inflammation of the eyes, 26

Influence of skulls hung in the veranda, 65

Initiation of children as warriors, 92

Injunction at beginning of feast, 47

Ink for tattooing, 152

Inspection of pig’s liver at Aban Liah’s feast, 120

Inspection of spattering of blood from a fowl, 50

Instruction in the art of defence, 75

Invocation of the sacred pig at a Naming, 40

Invocation to the Spirits before a Tuba fishing, 188

Iron given for infringement of permantong, 163

Isit, the Omen-bird, 167

Jamma, 110

Jamma’s curse on Tama Aping Buling’s house, 136

Jamma’s feigned death, 135

Jawa, 116, 130

Jawa, Violation of rules of, 129

Jawa, or peace-making, 97

Joke, a Bornean, 128

Journey to Tama Bulan’s, 24

Juman, 68

Jungle, the, 64

Kaluri, kaludi, or kaleeri (musical instrument), 6

Kaluri among Naga tribes, 6

Kayan songs, 81

Kayan war dances, 101

Kayans and Kenyahs, 21

Kayans and Kenyahs, Costume of, 21

Kenyah lunar calendar, 31

Kayu urip,—_Tree of life_, 34

Killing of Tinggi the murderer, 68

Kilup breaks the rules of Jawa, 129

Kissing, the Bornean custom, 13

Kromong, a musical instrument, 110

Kükenthal, Dr. Willy, 105

Lack of affection, 141

Laid Jok Orang, 106

Laki La, 53

Laki Niho,—_Hawk-men_, 161

Laki Oi, Kayan Prometheus, 37

Laki Pesong,—the Fire-saw, 37

Lali, or permantong, 160

Lali of the pregnant rice, 164

Lali imposed on unnamed child, 32

Lali of mourning removed, 94

Lamin, or family rooms, 9

Language of camphor collectors, 168

Laram—meaning cool—idiomatic use of, 39

Legend about origin of head-hunting, 59

Lelak clan or tribe, 99

Lelak, guest chamber, 102

Leppu Anans, a small clan or tribe, 124

Leput,—_blow-pipes_—Manufacture of, 113

Leron clan, Jawa ceremonies, 117

Lijow, Tama Bulan’s son, 42

Lishun, 26

Love tokens before a war expedition, 75

Lueng’s death at Tama Bulan’s, 49

Lukut Sekála, valuable beads, 118

Lunar calendar, 31

Ma Obat, 84

Madong, 76

Manin,—meaning warm—idiomatic use of, 39

Manufacture of Sumpits or blow-pipes, 115

Mark of successful Head-hunter, 147

Marksmanship with the blow-pipe, 177

Maternal advice before a war expedition, 76

Meals, 11

Medicine, Rhinoceros used as, 176

Method of burial among the Berawans, 139

Method of tattooing, 151

Methods of resuscitating a fainting woman, 49

Miniature boat to carry away ill-luck, 179

Moon, Phases of, 31

Mosquitoes, 23

Mourning for a dead Chief, 139

Mourning, restrictions of, removed, 92

Mourning, restrictions of, removed from women, 93

Mount Dulit, 144

Musa—the Fire-saw, 37

Music of the kaluri, 7

Music of the kromong, 111

Mutilation of the ears, 155

Naga Hills, burial customs in, 144

Nalika,—the Fire-drill, 37

Name, determination of, 41

Name of dead father not mentioned, 17

Name, Reluctance in telling, 16

Name, Importance of, 18

Names of tattoo designs, 147

Names, Paraphrases of, 18

Names of relatives not mentioned, 17

Naming ceremonies, 16

Naming ceremonies, fat pork feast, 44

Naming ceremonies, exhortation of sacred pig, 40

Naming a Kenyah child, 32

New Fire, 37

Niah village and bird’s-nest caves, 178

Night before a war expedition, 32

Nicknames of very young children, 74

Nipa palms, 23

Oaths on a tiger’s tooth, 133

Object of a hunt not mentioned, 17

Objection to having idols photographed, 180

Observation of Omens before clearing of the jungle, 162

Occupations of the Punans, 175

Omen animals, 161

Omen birds and mammals—amau, 160

Omen birds, attempts to deceive, 28

Omen birds, communication between man and the, 162

Omen birds conveying thanks to, 4, 78

Omen bird,—Isit, 167

Omens in pig’s liver, 43

Omens in pig’s liver at Aban Liah’s feast, 121

Omens in pig’s liver at Tama Aping Buling’s feast, 132

Omen birds of house-building, 4

Operation of wet-cupping, 49

Orang Kaya Perkassa, 178

Oratory, 73, 123

Ordeal of a feast of raw pork, 44

Origin of head-hunting, 59

Origin of Punans, Legend, 183

Ornaments worn in the ears, 155

Ornamentation of the teeth, 157

‘Pakat Abong’, 186

Paradise, attainment of, 63

Parangs, taken off on entering a veranda, 56

Paraphrases of names, 18

Peace-making, or Jawa, 97

Perforation of the ears, 155

Permantong or Lali, 160

Permantong before house-building, 4

Permantong, breaking of a, 115

Permantong during sickness, 12

Permantong during camphor collecting, 169

Permantong, fine for violation of, 12

Permantong of a room, 12

Permantong in a Kayan house, 166

Permantong, infringement of, 163

Personal embellishment, 146

Pestles used in husking rice, 7

Phases of the moon, 31

Photographing the Punans, 174

Photographing idols, objection to, 180

Photography, evil effects of, 34

Photography, superstitions in regard to, 179

Pictures of animals always conventionalised, 56

Pig’s liver, Omens consulted in, 43

Pipes, tobacco, 171

Planting the corner-post of a house, 3

Platforms on the veranda, 6

Plugs of brass in the teeth, 157

Portrait of a woman taken by Dr. Kükenthal, 105

Posts recording head-hunts, 2, 67

Pre-empting a river for camphor collecting, 115

Prefixes of names, Meaning of, 55

Preliminary to speech-making, 122

Preparation for war expedition, 74

Presents to guests at Naming ceremony, 55

Presents to a corpse, 166

Presents sent to tribes on Batang Kayan River, 108

Primitive customs revived in all ceremonies, 90

Pronouncing a name for the first time at a Naming, 42

Propitiation of Spirits before tattooing, 151

Propriety in broaching a subject for discussion, 73

Punans, 170

Punans,—burial customs, 183

Punans’ bill of fare, 175

Punans’ fear of water, 177

Punans’ method of preparing tapioca, 176

Punans, relationship to Long Wats, 183

Punans, story of their origin, 183

Punans, Village of, 173

Punans, Village of, in bird’s-nest caves, 184

Punishment for head-hunting, 69

Purification after unlucky journey, 28

‘Put,’—a blow-pipe, Manufacture of, 113

Rack on which parangs are hung, 56

Raw pork feast, 44

Reasons for obtaining heads, 65

Recalling the soul of a dying person, 50, 51

Relationship of Punans to Long Wats, 183

Religion of the Borneans, Negative, 64

Reluctance to mention the name of the object of a search, 17

Retaliation for the killing of Tinggi, 69

Return of a war expedition, 90

Return to earth of Spirits of the dead, 140

Rhinoceros used as medicine, 176

Rice husking, 7

Rice mortars, 7

Rice mortars protected during the Permantong Padi, 165

Rivers pre-empted for camphor collecting, 115

River scenery, 23

Rivers tabooed, sign of, 167

Rules of Tama Bulan’s house, 20

Running amuck, 134

Sacrifice of slave girl—house-building, 3

Sacrifice of slave girl at burial of a Chief, 140

Sacrifice of slave for education of boys, 62

Sacrifice of pig on arrival of a Peace party, 126

Salt, ginger root, and bananas given at a Naming, 35, 42

Second day’s ceremony of Naming, 36

Serious consequences to us on account of Lueng’s death, 52

Shaving the hair after mourning, 92

Shavings, curled, on sticks, 168

Shy Punan maiden, 172

Sign of permantong of a river, 167

Sign of permantong in case of sickness, 12

Singing among the Kayans, 81

Skulls, the handling of, 65

Skulls, influence of, hung in veranda, 65

Skulls in Aban Avit’s veranda, 58

Slaves, sacrifice of, 62, 140

Sleeping-closets, 10

Smearing face and body with soot as sign of mourning, 139

‘Snappang,’ the name for a gun, 68

Soap, 13

Songs, appreciation of foreign, 27

Speech-making, 73

Speech-making at Aban Liah’s, 122

Spitting to banish evil Spirits, 28

Spitting on the hair cut off after mourning, 93

Sprinkling with water at a Naming, 39

Start of a war party, 77

Sticks cut into curled shavings, 168

Stinging ants, 177

Stretching the lobes of the ears, 153

Substitution of names, 17, 18, 55, 186

Summit of Mount Dulit, 144

Sumpits,—_blow-pipes_—Manufacture of, 113

Superstition with regard to photography, 179

Table manners, 11

Taboo or permantong, 160

Taboo, the breaking of, 115

Tag in the water, Game of, 14

‘Tama’, 18

Tama Aping Buling’s house, 127

Tama Balan Deng’s house, 136

Tama Bulan, 18, 21

Tama Bulan’s son, 30

Tama Bulan’s farewell to the Peace party, 109

Tama Liri’s house, 103

Tama Talun, 27

Tapioca, Method of preparation, 176

Tattoo designs, names of, 147

Tattooers, female, 151

Tattooing, propitiation of spirits before, 151

Tattooing of Kayan men, 146

Tattooing of Kayan and Kenyah women, 148

Tattooing needle and ink, 152

‘Tebok bulu,’—_bamboo cup_, 107

‘Tebuku Tali’ (note), 34

‘Tebuku urip,’—_cord of life_, 34

Teeth, Ornamentation of, 157

Terluat, 27

Tiger skin regarded with awe, 133

Tiger skin used in uttering a curse, 136

Tiger’s tooth, oath sworn on, 133

‘Tigga’—charms for the crops, 164

Timidity of Punans, 173

Tina—a prefix to a name, 18

Tinggi, a murderer, 68

Toasts, the Bornean custom of giving, 105

Tobacco growing wild, 183

Tobacco pipes, 171

‘Toh Lali’, 163

Tokong, the father of head-hunting, 59

Tone of voice of Punans, 174

Tree of life,—Kaya Urip—Naming ceremony, 34

Tuba berábut, and Tuba ja jaran, 185

Tuba-fishing, 185

Tuba-fishing, fish not mentioned before, 17, 186

Tuba-fishing, invocation of spirits, 188

Unfavourable sign in pig’s liver at Aban Liah’s feast, 121

Unnamed children, 18, 32

Unselfish love not a trait of the Borneans, 141

‘Usut,’ The rite of giving, 112, 163

Valuable beads,—Lukut Sekála, 118

Verandas of Kayan and Kenyah houses, 4

Violation of the rules of ‘Jawa’, 129

Wailing for the dead, 52, 138

War-coats, cases for, 8

War dances, 101

War expedition, 67

War expedition, ceremonies on return of, 90

War expedition, preparation for, 74

War party, the feasting of a, 80

Water, use of, in Naming ceremony, 39

Wawa monkey sacred to some families, 55

Weapons, etiquette in regard to, 56

Wet cupping, 49

Why the Balira is a bony fish, 187

Wild tobacco, 183

Wit of Borneans, 128

Women dressing as men, 164

Women, humble attitude of, 171

Wooden discs as ear-ornaments, 155

Words of invitation to a feast, 80