Chapter 12: Decorative Art (1)

All the tribes of Borneo practise a number of decorative arts. Some of the Klemantans, notably the Malanaus, excel all other tribes, in that they attain a high level of achievement in a great variety of such arts; but each tribe and sub-tribe preserves the tradition of some one or two decorative arts in which they are especially skilled. Thus some of the Klemantan tribes specially excel in the finer kinds of wood-carving (E.G. the decoration of paddles); the Kayans in tatuing and in chasing designs on steel; the Kenyahs in the painting of shields and in the production of large designs carved in low relief on wood and used for adorning houses and tombs; both Kayans and Kenyahs excel in the carving of sword-handles in deer's horn; the Barawans and Sebops in beadwork; the Kalabits and Ibans in tracing designs on the surface of bamboo; Punans in the decorative mat-work; Kanowits and Tanjongs in basket-work.

Wood-carving is the most generally practised and on the whole the most important of the decorative arts. Much of it is done on very hard wood; and the principal tools are the sword, the small knife carried in the sword-sheath, and adzes and axes of various sizes. The blade of the knife is some three inches in length, resembling in general shape the blade of the sword; it is wider in proportion, but has the same peculiar convexity of the one side and concavity of the other in transverse section. The shaft is sunk into the end of a rod of hard wood and secured with gutta and fine rattan lashing. The handle of hard wood is about a foot in length, half an inch in diameter, and slightly bowed in the plane of the blade, the convexity being in the direction of the cutting edge of the blade. The butt end of the handle is cunningly carved in the shape of a crocodile's head, or prolonged in a piece of carved deer's horn. The blade of the knife is held between the thumb and finger of the right hand, the cutting edge directed forwards, and the long handle is gripped between the forearm and the lower ribs; the weight of the body can thus be brought to the assistance of the arm in cutting hard material. With this knife most of the finer carving is done, the adze and sword being used chiefly for rough shaping.

The adze consists of a flat blade of steel in the shape of a highly acute-angled triangle (Pl. 111). The slightly convex base is the cutting edge. The upper half of the triangle (which may or may not be marked by a shoulder) is buried in the lashings by which it is attached to the wooden haft. The haft is a small bough of tough, springy wood, cut from a tree, together with a small block of the wood of the stem; the latter is shaved down until it forms an oblong block continuous with the haft and at an angle to it of 70[degree] -- 80[degree]. The upper half of the metal blade is laid upon the distal surface of this block and lashed firmly to it with fine strips of rattan. A piece of skin is often placed between the metal and the lashings; this facilitates the removal of the blade, and enables the craftsman to alter the angle between the cutting edge and the haft. Commonly the blade is laid in the plane of the haft, and the implement is then what we should call a small axe; on turning the blade through go', it is converted to a small adze; and not infrequently the blade is turned through a smaller angle, so that its plane forms an acute angle with that of the haft.

Carved woodwork is commonly painted with black and red paint, prepared respectively from soot and iron oxide mixed with sugar-cane juice or with lime; the moist pigment is applied with the finger on larger surfaces, and the finer lines and edges are marked out with the aid of a chisel-edged stick of wood.

Beadwork

Old beads are much valued and sought after by all the tribes except Ibans, especially by the Kayans. There are few families of the upper class that do not possess a certain number of them.

Many varieties are well known, and some of the Kayan women are very expert in recognising the genuine old specimens, and in distinguishing these varieties from one another and from modern imitations.

Formerly these old beads were one of the principal forms of currency, and they still constitute an important part of the wealth of many families.

Most of these valuable old beads are of foreign manufacture, though a few made from shell and agate are of the country. The old foreign-made beads were probably imported by Arab and Chinese traders at various dates. Some of them are probably of Chinese manufacture, others probably came from the near East and even from Venice. Some are of glass curiously marked and coloured, others of stone inlaid with bits of different colours, others of some hard substance whose composition defies description. Certain rare kinds are especially valued and can hardly be bought at any price; they are reckoned to be worth at least 100 dollars apiece. The most valuable of all is known as the LUKUT SEKALA; the ownership of each such bead is as accurately known throughout a large district as the ownership of the masterpieces of ancient art in our own country. The wife of a rich chief may possess old beads to the value of thousands of pounds, and will wear a large part of them on any occasion of display (Pl. 130). These old beads are worn threaded together to form necklaces and girdles, being arranged with some reference to harmony of size and colour and to value, the most valuable being placed in the middle where they will be shown to best advantage. A single rare bead is sometimes worn on the wrist.

A woman who possesses a good stock of such beads will seldom be seen without some of them on her person. She will occasionally exchange a few for other varieties, and is generally eager to add to her collection; she may occasionally make a present of one or two to some highly esteemed friend or relative, and will generally assign them, but without handing them over, to various female relatives before her death.

Besides these valuable old beads there are in use among all the tribes many small glass beads of modern European manufacture. These are threaded to form a variety of designs, generally in two colours, the combination of black and yellow being the most commonly preferred. These strips of beadwork are put to many decorative uses: they are applied to the women's head-bands, to the centre of the sun-hat, to sword sheaths, to cigarette boxes, to the war-coat at the nape of the neck, and, by some Klemantans, to the jackets of the women.

The designs worked in this way are but few, and most of them are common to all the tribes. The thread used is prepared by rolling on the thigh fibres drawn from the leaf of the pine-apple; it is very strong and durable. The design to be reproduced is drawn or carved in low relief on a board. A thread is fixed across the end of the board and others are tied to it at short intervals; on these the beads are threaded, neighbouring threads being tied together at short intervals; and the colours of the beads are selected according to the demands of the pattern over which they are worked.

Besides these designs on the flat, tassels, girdles, necklaces, ear-rings, and cigarette rings are also made of these beads. The modern imported beads used for these purposes are sometimes improved by being ground flat on the two surfaces that adjoin their neighbours; this is done by fixing a number of them into the cut end of a piece of sugar-cane and rubbing this against a smooth stone. This treatment of the beads gives to the articles made of them a very neat and highly finished appearance.

Bamboo Decorations

The working of designs on the surface of pieces of bamboo is done very simply, but none the less effectively. Among the bamboo articles generally decorated in the way to be described are the native drinking-cup, the tobacco-box, and tubes for carrying flint and steel and all sorts of odds and ends.

The pattern to be produced is outlined with the point of the knife upon the surface of the bamboo, the artist working from memory of the desired pattern and adapting it to the proportions of the surface to be covered. The Iban works more freely than others, working out the pattern and modifying it to meet the exigencies of his material, section by section, as he goes along. Others plan out the design for the whole surface before working out any part in detail. It is probable that in no case does a man sit down and produce a new pattern; but the freer mode of working of the Iban leads him on to greater modifications of the traditional designs; and it is probably partly for this reason that a much larger variety of designs is applied in this way by them than by the other tribes, among whom they are very limited in number. But the greater variety of designs worked by the Ibans is due also to the readiness with which he copies and adopts as his own the patterns used by other tribes. The Kayans and Kenyahs use almost exclusively varieties of the dog pattern and of the hook and circle (see Fig. 47).

The design outlined by the point of the knife is made to stand out boldly from the ground by darkening the latter. This is achieved in two ways: (1) the ground is covered with parallel close-set scratches, not running continuously throughout the larger areas of the ground, but grouped in sets of parallel lines some few millimetres in length, the various sets meeting at angles of all degrees; (2) the hard surface of the bamboo is wholly scraped away from the ground areas to a depth of about half a millimetre. In either case the black or red paint is then smeared over the whole surface with the finger, and when it has become dried the surface is rubbed with a piece of cloth (Kayan), or scraped lightly with a knife (Iban). The pigment is thus removed from the intact parts and remains adherent to the lines and areas from which the hard surface layer has been removed. The design is thus left in very low relief, and is of the natural colour of the bamboo upon a black or dark-red ground, or on a ground merely darkened by the parallel scratches (Pls. 126, 127).

Lashing

Lashing with strips of rattan and with coarse fibres from the leaf-stem of some of the palms and ferns is applied to a great variety of purposes, and largely takes the place of our nailing and screwing and riveting. It is carried out extremely neatly and commonly has a decorative effect. This effect is in some cases enhanced by combining blackened threads with those of the natural pale yellow colour; and the finer varieties of this work deserve to be classed with the decorative arts. The finest lashing-work is done by the Kalabits, who cover small bamboo boxes with a layer of close-set lashing, producing pleasing geometrical designs by the combination of yellow and black threads. The surface of the bamboo to which the lashing is applied is generally scraped away to a depth of about one-sixteenth of an inch; it is thus rendered less slippery than the natural surface, and is therefore gripped more firmly by the lashing, and the surface of the lashing is brought flush with the unlashed natural surface. The effect is not only a highly ornamental appearance, but also a greatly increased durability of the box, the natural tendency of the bamboo to split longitudinally being very effectively counteracted.

Similar fine decorative lashing is used by all the tribes for binding together the two halves of the sword sheath, and for binding the haft of knife or sword where it grips the metal blade, though brass wire is sometimes used for this purpose.

Closely allied to this lashing is the production of decorative knots. A considerable variety of knots are in common use; they are always well tied and practically effective, but some are elaborated for decorative purposes to form rosettes, especially by Kayans in making their sword sheaths.

Painting

We have stated above that the carved woodwork is often painted with black, red, and white pigments. It must be added that wooden surfaces are often painted on the flat, especially shields, the outer surfaces of walls of PADI huts, and tombs, also grave hats and the gunwales of boats, and decorative planks in the inner walls of the long gallery of the house. The Kenyahs and some of the Klemantans, especially the Skapans and Barawans, are most skilled in, and make most use of, this form of decoration; but it is probably practised in some degree by all the peoples.

The three pigments mentioned above -- black, red, and white, made respectively from soot, iron oxide, and lime -- are, so far as we know, the only native varieties; but at the present day these are sometimes supplemented with indigo and yellow pigments obtained from the bazaars. The pigment is generally laid on free-hand with the finger-tip, a few guiding points only being put in.

It may be mentioned here that individuals of all the tribes will occasionally amuse themselves by making rude drawings with charcoal on the plank wall of the gallery. The drawings usually depict human and animal figures, and scenes from the life of the people, and they generally illustrate the particular form of occupation in which the household is employed at the time, E.G. scenes from the PADI fields, a group of people weeding, the return of a war-party, the collection of honey, the capture of a large fish. These drawings are invariably very crude; their nature is sufficiently indicated by Pl. 128. There seem to be no noteworthy differences in this respect between the different peoples.

The Punans, having no houses and therefore no walls on which to draw pictures, have little opportunity to indulge any such tendency; but we have seen rude hunting scenes depicted by them on the walls of shallow caves; the technique consisted in scratching away the soft rotted surface of the limestone rock to produce outlines of the figures depicted.

The Malanaus, who live in the large limestone caves during the time of harvesting the edible nests of the swift, sometimes make rude drawings with charcoal on the walls of the cave.

The weaving of decorative designs on cloth is almost confined to the Sea Dayaks. Some account of the designs will be given below.

Shell-work

Shells (chiefly nassas and the flat bases of cone-shells) are sometimes applied by the Iban women to decorate their woven coats, by Kalabits (in concentric circles on their sunhats), and more rarely by other tribes in the decoration of baskets (Fig. 48). Fig. 49 represents a garment decorated in this fashion by Iban women, and worn by them when dancing with the heads of enemies in their hands.

The Decorative Designs

The Kayans make use in their decorative art of a large number of conventional designs. The principal applications of these designs are in tatu, beadwork, the production of panels of wood for the adornment of houses, tombs, boats, and PADI barns, the decoration of bamboo boxes, and the painting of hats, and the carving of highly ornate doors to the rooms. All these applications involve the covering of flat or curved surfaces with patterns either in low relief only or without relief; and many of the designs are applied in all these different ways, and all of them together form a natural group. Besides these surface designs, a considerable variety of designs is used in giving decorative form to solid objects such as the handles of swords and paddles, the ends of main roof-beams in the houses, posts used in various rites and in the construction of tombs, the figure-heads of war-boats. These, with the exception of those used in carving the sword handles, which are highly peculiar, form another group of relatives. The designs chased upon the blades of the swords constitute a fourth natural group distinct from the other two groups. A fifth small group of designs is carved in the form of fretwork. We propose to say a few words about the designs of each of these five groups.

(1) The designs of the first group are the most numerous and most widely applied. A large proportion of them obviously are conventionalised derivatives from animal forms. Of these animal forms the human figure, the dog, and the prawn have been the originals of the largest number of patterns; the macaque monkey and the large lizard (VARANUS) are also traceable. Some designs vaguely suggest a derivation from some animal form, but cannot confidently be assigned to any one origin.

A few seemed to be derived from vegetable forms; while some few, for example the hookpattern, seem to be derived from no animal or vegetable form. The hook-pattern seems to be symbolical of conjunction and acquisition in various spheres.

Of all the designs the derivatives from or variants of the dog are the most numerous and the most frequently applied. The name dog-pattern (KALANG ASU) is given to a very large number; and of these some obviously reproduce the form of the dog, while the derivation of the others from the same original can generally be made clear by the inspection of a number of intermediate forms, although some of them retain but very slight indications of the form or features of the dog. The unmistakable dog-patterns are illustrated by one of the panels shown in Pl. 124; and in Pls. 134 ET SEQ. we reproduce a number of dog-patterns of more or less conventionalised characters. It will be noticed that the eye is the most constant feature about which the rest of the pattern is commonly centred; but that the eye also disappears from some of the most conventionalised. It seems probable that, although the name KALANG ASU continues to be commonly used to denote all this group of allies, many of those who use the term, and even of those who carve or work the patterns, are not explicitly aware in doing so that the name and the patterns refer to the dog, or are in any way connected with it; that is to say, both the words and the pattern have ceased to suggest to their minds the meaning of the word dog, and mean to them simply the pattern appropriate to certain uses.

We have questioned men who have been accustomed to apply the dog-pattern as to the significance of the parts of the pattern, and have led them to recognise that the parts of the dog, eye, teeth, jaws, and so on, are represented; and this recognition has commonly been accompanied by expressions of enlightenment, as of one making an interesting discovery.[67] This ignorance of the origin of the pattern is naturally true only of the more conventionalised examples, whether of the dog or other natural forms. Probably a few who have specially interested themselves in the designs have traced out their connections pretty fully, but this is certainly quite exceptional. Most of the craftsmen simply copy the current forms, introducing perhaps now and then an additional scroll, or some other slight modification.

Some men are well known as experts in the production of designs, and such a man can produce a wonderful variety, all or most being well-known conventions. Their mode of working frequently implies that the artist is working to a pattern, mentally fixed and clearly visualised, rather than working out any new design. For he will work first on one part of the surface, then on another, producing disconnected fragments of the pattern, and uniting them later. Although the women use these patterns in beadwork and in tatuing, they rely in the main on the men for the patterns which they copy; these being drawn on wood or cloth for beadwork, or carved in low relief for tatuing. A Kayan expert may carry in mind a great variety of designs. One such expert produced for our benefit, during a ten days' halt of an expedition, forty-one patterns, drawn with pencil on paper; most of these are of considerable complexity and elaboration.

(2) The designs carved in the solid or in high relief are for the most part conventionalised copies of human and animal forms; but the conventionalising is not carried so far as in those of the first class, so that the carving generally constitutes an unmistakable representation of the original. The posts set up as altars to the gods are generally carved in the human form, and the degree of elaboration varies widely from the rudest possible indication of the head and limbs to a complete representation of all the parts. But in no case (with the possible exception of some of the figures carved by Malanaus) is the human form reproduced with any high degree of accuracy or artistic merit (Figs. 50 -- 53)

The animal forms are used chiefly as the figureheads of war-boats and at the ends of the main roof-beams of the houses; and some of these are executed with a degree of artistry that must win our admiration, especially when we reflect that the timber used is generally one of the harder kinds (but not iron-wood) such as the mirabo (AFZELIA PALEMBANICA), and that the only tools used are the axe, sword, and knife. The animals most frequently represented are the dog, crocodile, monkey, hornbill, and bear (Pls. 122, 125, Figs. 45, 46, 54 -- 57). Carved dogs, comparatively little conventionalised, are sometimes used as the supports of low platforms upon which the chiefs may sit on ceremonious occasions.

(3) The handles of the swords, generally of deer's antlers, but sometimes of wood, exhibit a group of highly peculiar closely allied designs. All these seem to be derived from the human form, although in many cases this can only be traced in the light of forms intermediate between the less and the more highly conventionalised (Pls. 129, 184). In examples in which the human form is most obvious, it has the following position and character: -- The butt end of the blade is sunk in a piece (about six inches in length) of the main shaft of the antler at its distal or upper end. This piece constitutes the grip of the handle or hilt. The proximal or lowest point of the antler projecting at an angle of some 70[degree] from the grip is cut down to a length of some four inches, forming a spur standing in the plane of the blade and towards its cutting edge. The grip is lashed with fine strips of rattan. The spur and the thick end in which the spur and the grip unite are elaborately carved. If the sword is held horizontally, its point directed forwards and its cutting edge upwards, the butt end is presented with the spur vertically before the face of the observer. It will then be seen that the surface turned to the observer presents the principal features of the human figure, standing with arms akimbo face to face with the observer. The key to the puzzle Is the double row of teeth. Above this are the two eyes. Below the level of the mouth the elbows project laterally, and a little below these and nearer the middle line are the two hands; and below these again the two legs stand out, carved not merely in relief, but in the solid, and bent a little at the knee. The feet are indicated below and more laterally. From the crown of the head projects a ring of short hair made up of tufts white, black, and red in colour. Another short tuft projects from the region of the navel (? pubis), and a pair of tufts project laterally a little below the level of the mouth. The extremity of the main shaft of the antler projects a little beyond the feet of the human figure, and is carved in a form which is clearly an animal derivative -- probably from the dog or possibly the crocodile. From its open jaws projects a long tuft of hair, and a pair of short tufts project laterally from the region of its ears. The whole of the carved part of the hilt thus represents a man standing upon the head of a dog (or crocodile). The interpretation of the whole is much obscured by the fact that the parts of the human figure named above are separated from one another by areas which are covered with a continuous scroll design in low relief, and by the fact that all the lateral parts of the carved area bear, scattered irregularly in relief, reduplications of the various features of the human figure, E.G. of the hands, elbows, knees, and even of the teeth, as well as many pairs of interlocking hooks. These last, which recur in other decorative designs, and which (as was said above) seem to symbolise the taking of heads, form an important and constant feature of the whole scheme of decoration. In the more elaborate examples they are carved out of the solid; and usually one hole (or more) about 5 mm. in diameter perforates the thickest part of the hilt, and contains in the middle plane a pair of these interlocking hooks.

In the most elaborate examples of these carved sword hilts all obvious trace of the human figure is lost in a profusion of detail, which, however, is of the same general character as that of the examples described above, and seems to consist of the various features of the human and animal pattern combined in wild profusion with regard only to decorative effect, and not at all to the reproduction of the parent forms.

With the decorative designs of the hilt of the sword must be classed those of its sheath. The sheath consists of two slips of TAPANG wood firmly lashed together with finely plaited rattan strips, both strips being hollowed so that they fit closely to the blade. It is provided with a plaited cord, which buckles about the waist. The inner piece of the sheath is smooth inside and out. The outer surface of the outer piece is often elaborately decorated. The decoration consists in the main of designs carved in relief; and these are composed of the same elements as the design upon the sword hilt, namely, hooks, single and interlocking, elbows, teeth, etc., all woven about with a scroll design of relieved lines.

(4) The designs reproduced in fretwork are in the main adaptations of some of those used in decorating surfaces, especially of the dog pattern; but they are always conventionalised in a high degree (see Pl. 130). The hook pattern is frequently introduced to fill up odd corners. The human form is seldom or never traceable in work of this kind. Fretwork is chiefly used to adorn the tombs of chiefs.

(5) The designs chased on the surfaces of the blades of swords and knives and spear-heads form a distinctive group. They are flowing scroll patterns containing many spiral and S-shaped curves in which no animal or plant forms can be certainly traced, though suggestions of the KALANG ASU may be found. The lack of affinity between these patterns and those applied to other surfaces suggests that they may have been taken over from some other people together with the craft of the smith; but possibly the distinctive character is due only to the exigencies of the material. Some of the designs painted on hats and shields exhibit perhaps some affinity with these. This work is almost confined to the Kayans.

It is worthy of remark that the art work of the Kayans is in the main of a public character; for example, the decorative carving about the house is done by voluntary and co-operative effort in the public gallery and hardly at all in the private rooms; and ornamented hats and shields are hung in the gallery rather than in the private rooms; again, the war-boats, which are the common property of the household, are decorated more elaborately than those which are private property.

All these forms of art work are the products of distinctly amateur effort; that is to say that, although certain individuals attain special skill and reputation in particular forms of art, they do not make their living by the practice of them, but rather, like every one else, rely in the main upon the cultivation of PADI for the family support; they will exchange services of this kind, and definite payments are sometimes agreed upon, but a large amount of such work is done for one another without any material reward.

The Kenyahs, Klemantans, and Ibans

The Kenyahs make use of all, or most, of the patterns found among the Kayans, and there is little or nothing that distinguishes the decorative art of the one tribe from that of the other. They use the patterns based on the monkey rather more than the Kayans; and a decoration commonly found in their houses is a frieze running along the top of the main partition wall of the house, bearing in low relief an animal design, painted in red and black, which is called BALI SUNGEI (I.E. water-spirit) or Naga. The latter name is known to all the tribes, and is probably of foreign origin; and it seems possible that the design and this name are derived from the dragon forms so commonly used in Chinese decorative art.

The various Klemantan tribes make use of many decorative designs very similar to those of the Kayans. Different animal forms predominant among the different tribes, E.G. among the LONG POKUNS the form of the gibbon and of the sacred ape (SEMINOPITHECUS HOSEI) are chiefly used in house decoration. Among the Sebops and Barawans the human figure predominates; the Malanaus make especially elaborate crocodile images in solid wood. The tombs of some of the Klemantans are very massive and elaborately decorated. The Tanjongs and Kanowits and Kalabits, who excel in basket-work, introduce a variety of patterns in black, red, and white. The majority of these are simple geometrical designs which arise naturally out of the nature of the material; of more elaborate designs specially common are the hook-pattern (Fig. 58), the pigeon's eye (Fig. 59), and the caterpillar (Fig. 60).

In wealth of decorative designs the Ibans surpass all the other tribes. These designs are displayed most abundantly in the decoration of bamboo surfaces and in the dyeing of cloths. The designs on bamboo surfaces are largely foliate scrolls, especially the yam-leaf, but also occasionally animal derivatives.

The designs dyed upon the cloths (Fig. 61) are largely animal derivatives; but the artists themselves seldom are aware of the derivation, even when the pattern bears the name of its animal origin; and as to the names of all, except the most obvious animal derivatives, even experts will differ. The frog, the young bird, the human form, and the lizard are the originals most frequently claimed. Parts of the animal, such as the head or eye, are commonly repeated in serial fashion detached from the rest of its form. And in many cases it is, of course, impossible to identify the parts of the pattern, although it may show a general affinity with unmistakable animal patterns. One such pattern very commonly used in dyeing is named after AGI BULAN, the large shrew (GYMNURA); but we have not been able to trace the slightest resemblance to the animal in any of the various examples we have seen (Pls. 131, 132).

We are inclined to suppose that the Ibans have copied many of their cloth-patterns from the Malays together with the crafts of dyeing and weaving. For their technique is similar to that of the Malays all over the peninsula, and the same is true of some of their designs. Only in this way, we think, can we account for their possession of these crafts, which are practised by but very few of the other inland peoples. The fact that plant derivatives predominate greatly over animals in their designs, whereas the reverse is true of almost all other tribes, bears out this supposition, for the Malays are forbidden by their religion to represent animal forms, and make use largely of plant forms.

Tatu

Tatuing is extensively practised among the tribes of Borneo. A great variety of patterns are used, and they are applied to many different parts of the body. A paper embodying most of the facts hitherto ascertained has been published by one of us (C. H.) in conjunction with Mr. R. Shelford, formerly curator of the Sarawak Museum, who has paid special attention to the subject; we therefore reproduce here the greater part of the substance of that paper,[68] with some slight modifications, and we desire to express our thanks to Mr. Shelford[69] for his kind permission to make use of the paper in this way.

The great diversity of tribes in Borneo involves, in a study of their tatu and tatuing methods, a good deal of research and much travel, if first-hand information on the subject is to be obtained. Between us we have covered a considerable area in Borneo and have closely crossquestioned members of nearly every tribe inhabiting Sarawak on their tatu, but we cannot claim to have exhausted the subject by any means; there are tribes in the interior of Dutch Borneo and in British North Borneo whom we have not visited, and concerning whom our knowledge is of the scantiest.

The practice of tatu is so widely spread throughout Borneo that it seems simpler to give a list of the tribes that do not tatu, than of those who do. We can divide such a list into two sections: the first including those tribes that originally did not tatu, though nowadays many individuals are met with whose bodies are decorated with designs copied from neighbouring tribes; the second including the tribes (mostly Klemantan) that have given up the practice of tatu owing to contact with Mohammedan and other influences.

A.

1. Punan. 2. Maloh. 3. Land Dyak.

B.

4. Malanau. 5. Miri. 6. Dali. 7. Narom. 8. Sigalang (down-river tribes of Ukit stock). 9. Siduan 10. Tutong. 11. Balait. 12. Bekiau (traces of a former practice of tatu occasionally found). 13. Bisaya. 14. Kadayans.

The patterns once employed by the tribes included in the second section of this list, most of which have adopted Malay dress and to some extent Malay customs, are lost beyond recall. The Land Dayaks display absolute ignorance of tatu, and aver that they never indulged in the practice. Maloh and Punan men ornamented with Kayan tatu designs we have often encountered; but they have no designs of their own, and attach no special significance to their borrowed designs.[70]

We may note here that the ornamentation of the body by means of raised scars and keloids is not known in Borneo. Both men and women of several tribes will test their bravery and indifference to pain by setting fire to a row of small pieces of tinder placed along the forearm, and the scars caused by these burns are often permanent, but should not be mistaken for decorative designs. Carl Bock (2, Pl. 16)[71] figures some Punan women with rows of keloids on the forearms, but states (p. 71) that these are due to a form of vaccination practised by these people.

The Kayans are, with one or two exceptions, the most tatued race in Borneo, and perhaps the best tatued from an artistic point of view; the designs used in the tatu of the men have been widely imitated, and much ceremonial is connected with the tatu of the women, an account of which we give below. Generally speaking, the true Klemantan designs are quite simple, and it is noteworthy that although the Kenyah tribes most nearly akin to Kayans have borrowed the Kayan tatu patterns, the majority of Kenyah and Klemantan tribes employ quite simple designs, whilst the primitive Kenyahs of the Batang Kayan river hardly tatu at all. A remarkable exception to the general simplicity of the Klemantan patterns is furnished by the Ukits, Bakatan, and Biadjau, who tatu very extensively in the most complex designs; the Long Utan, an extinct tribe, probably of Klemantan stock, also used highly decorative and complex designs. Since so many tribes owe much of their knowledge of tatu and the majority of their designs to the Kayans, it will be well to commence with an account of the art of tatu as practised by these people.

Kayan Tatu.

Dr. Nieuwenhuis [9, p. 450] agrees with us in stating that amongst these people the men tatu chiefly for ornament, and that no special significance is attached to the majority of designs employed; nor is there any particular ceremonial or tabu connected with the process of tatuing the male sex. There is no fixed time of life at which a man can be tatued, but in most cases the practice is begun early in boyhood. Nieuwenhuis [9, p. 456] remarks that the chiefs of the Mendalam Kayans scarcely tatu at all.

Amongst the Sarawak Kayans, if a man has taken the head of an enemy he can have the backs of his hands and fingers covered with tatu (Pl. 141, Fig. 1), but, if he has only had a share in the slaughter, one finger only, and that generally the thumb, can be tatued. On the Mendalam river, the Kayan braves are tatued on the left thumb only, not on the carpals and backs of the fingers, and the thigh pattern is also reserved for head-taking heroes [9, p. 456]. Of the origin of tatu the Kayans relate the following story: -- Long ago when the plumage of birds was dull and sober, the coucal (CENTROPUS SINENSIS) and the argus pheasant (ARGUSIANUS GRAYI) agreed to tatu each other; the coucal began on the pheasant first, and succeeded admirably, as the plumage of the pheasant bears witness at the present day; the pheasant then tried his hand on the coucal, but being a stupid bird he was soon in difficulties; fearing that he would fail miserably to complete the task, he told the coucal to sit in a bowl of SAMAK tan, and then poured the black dye over him, and flew off, remarking that the country was full of enemies and he could not stop; that is why the coucal to this day has a black head and neck with a tan-coloured body. Nieuwenhuis [9, p. 456] relates substantially the same story, the crow (CORONE MACRORHYNDYUS), however, being substituted for the coucal and the incident of the bowl of SAMAK tan omitted.

Among Kayans isolated designs are found on the following parts of the bodies of the men: -- The outside of the wrist, the flexor surface of the forearm, high up on the outside of the thigh, on the breasts and on the points of the shoulders, and, as already stated, in the case of warriors on the backs of the hands and fingers. But not all the men are tatued on all these parts of the body. The design tatued on the wrist (Pl. 139, Figs. 8 -- 10) is termed LUKUT, the name of an antique bead much valued by Kayans; the significance of this design is of some interest. When a man is ill, it is supposed that his soul has escaped from his body; and when he recovers it is supposed that his soul has returned to him; to prevent its departure on some future occasion the man will "tie it in" by fastening round his wrist a piece of string on which is threaded a LUKUT[72] or antique bead, some magic apparently being considered to reside in the bead. However, the string can get broken and the bead lost, wherefore it seems safer to tatu a representation of the bead on the part of the wrist which it would cover if actually worn. It is of interest also to note that the LUKUT, from having been a charm to prevent the second escape of the soul, has come to be regarded as a charm to ward off all disease; and the same applies to its tatued representation.

A design just below the biceps of a Punan tatued in the Kayan manner is shown on Pl. 142, Fig. 10, and we were informed by the Punan that this also was a LUKUT, an excellent example of the indifference paid to the significance of design by people with whom such design is not indigenous.

On the forearm and thigh the UDOH ASU or dog pattern is tatued, and four typical examples are shown on Pl. 136, Figs. 1, 2, 5, 6. Nieuwenhuis has figured a series of these designs [9, Pl. 82][73] showing a transition from a very elongate animal form to a rosette form; we have occasionally met with the former amongst Sarawak Kayans, but it is a common thigh design amongst the Mendalam Kayans; the forms numbered B and C are unusual in Sarawak. Of the four examples given in Pl. 136 -- and it may be noted that these met with the high approval of expert tatu artists -- Figs. 1, 2, and 5 may be considered as intermediate between Nieuwenhuis' very elongate example F and the truncated form E which is supposed to represent the head only of a dog. Fig. 2 is characteristic of the Uma Balubo Kayans, and is remarkable in that teeth are shown in both jaws; whilst, both in this example and in Fig. 5, the eye is represented as a disc, in Figs. 1 and 6 the eye is assuming a rosette-like appearance, which rosette, as Nieuwenhuis' series shows, is destined in some cases to increase in size until it swallows up the rest of the design. Fig. 6 may be compared with Nieuwenhuis, Fig. E, as it evidently represents little more than the head of a dog. Although a single figure of the dog is the most usual form of tatu, we have met with an example of a double figure; it is shown in Fig. 7; it will be observed that one of the dogs is reversed and the tails of the two figures interlock. Fig. 8 represents a dog with pups, TUANG NGANAK; A is supposed to be the young one.

The dog design figures very prominently in Kayan art, and the fact that the dog is regarded by these people and also by the Kenyahs with a certain degree of veneration may account for its general representation. The design has been copied by a whole host of tribes, with degradation and change of name (Fig. 62).

On the deltoid region of the shoulders and on the breast, a rosette or a star design is found (text, Figs. 63 and 64). As already stated, it seems in the highest degree probable that the rosette is derived from the eye in the dog pattern, and it is consequently of some interest to find that the name now given to the rosette pattern is that of the fruit of a plant which was introduced into Borneo certainly within the last fifty or sixty years. The plant is PLUKENETIA CORNICULATA, one of the Euphorbiaceae, and it is cultivated as a vegetable; its Kayan name is JALAUT. We have here a good example of the gradual degradation of a design leading to a loss of its original significance and even of its name, another name, which originated probably from some fancied resemblance between pattern and object, being applied at a subsequent date. IPA OLIM, I.E., open fruit of a species of MANGIFERA, is another name occasionally applied to the rosette pattern, but JALAUT is in more general use (cf. Pl. 140, Fig. 4, Pl. 141, Fig. 7, and Pl. 142, Fig. 9).

On Pl. 141, Fig. 1, is shown a hand tatued in the Kayan manner; the figures on the phalanges are known as TEGULUN,[74] representations of human figures or as SILONG, faces, and they are evidently anthropomorphic derivatives. The triangles on the carpal knuckles are termed SONG IRANG, shoots of bamboo, and the zigzag lines are IKOR, lines.

Kayan women are tatued in complicated serial[75] designs over the whole forearm, the backs of the hands, over the whole of the thighs and to below the knees, and on the metatarsal surfaces of the feet. The tatuing of a Kayan girl is a serious operation, not only because of the considerable amount of pain caused, but also on account of the elaborate ceremonial attached to this form of body ornamentation. The process is a long one, lasting sometimes as much as four years, since only a small piece can be done at a sitting, and several long intervals elapse between the various stages of the work. A girl when about ten years old will probably have had her fingers and the upper part of her feet tatued, and about a year later her forearms should have been completed; the thighs are partially tatued during the next year, and in the third or fourth year from the commencement, I.E. about puberty, the whole operation should have been accomplished.

A woman endeavours to have her tatu finished before she becomes pregnant, as it is considered immodest to be tatued after she has become a mother. If a woman has a severe illness after any portion of her body has been tatued, the work is not continued for some little time; moreover, according to Nieuwenhuis (9, p. 453), a woman cannot be tatued during seed time nor if a dead person is lying unburied in the house, since it is LALI to let blood at such times; bad dreams, such as a dream of floods, foretelling much blood-letting, will also interrupt the work. A tatued woman may not eat the flesh of the monitor lizard (VARANUS) or of the scaly manis (MANIS JAVANICA), and her husband also is included in the tabu until the pair have a male and a female child. If they have a daughter only they may not eat the flesh of the monitor until their child has been tatued; if they have a son only they cannot eat the monitor until they become grandparents. Should a girl have brothers, but no sisters, some of her tatu lines must not be joined together, but if she has brothers and sisters, or sisters only, all the lines can be joined.

Tatu amongst Kayan women is universal; they believe that the designs act as torches in the next world, and that without these to light them they would remain for ever in total darkness; one woman told Dr. Nieuwenhuis that after death she would be recognised by the impregnation of her bones with the tatu pigment. The operation of tatuing amongst Kayans is performed by women, never by men, and it is always the women who are the experts on the significance and quality of tatu designs, though the men actually carve the designs on the tatu blocks. Nieuwenhuis states (9, p. 452) that the office of tatuer is to a certain extent hereditary, and that the artists, like smiths and carvers, are under the protection of a tutelary spirit, who must be propitiated with sacrifices before each operation. As long as the children of the artist are of tender age she is debarred from the practice of her profession. The greater the number of sacrifices offered, or in other words, the greater the experience of the artist, the higher is the fee demanded. She is also debarred from eating certain food. It is supposed that if an artist disregards the prohibitions imposed upon her profession, the designs that she tatus will not appear clearly, and she herself may sicken and die.

The tools used by a tatu artist are simple,[76] consisting of two or three prickers, ULANG or ULANG BRANG, and an iron striker, TUKUN or PEPAK, which are kept in a wooden case, BUNGAN. The pricker is a wooden rod with a short pointed head projecting at right angles at one end; to the point of the head is attached a lump of resin in which are embedded three or four short steel needles, their points alone projecting from the resinous mass (Fig. 68). The striker is merely a short iron rod, half of which is covered with a string lashing. The pigment is a mixture of soot, water, and sugar-cane juice, and it is kept in a double shallow cup of wood, UIT ULANG; it is supposed that the best soot is obtained from the bottom of a metal cooking-pot, but that derived from burning resin or dammar is also used. The tatu designs are carved in high relief on blocks of wood, KELINGE[77] (Fig. 62), which are smeared with the ink and then pressed on the part to be tatued, leaving an impression of the designs. As will be seen later, the designs tatued on women are in longitudinal rows or transverse bands, and the divisions between the rows or bands are marked by one or more zigzag lines termed IKOR.

The subject who is to be tatued lies on the floor, the artist and an assistant squatting on either side of her; the artist first dips a piece of fibre from the sugar-palm (ARENGA SACCHARIFERA) into the pigment and, pressing this on to the limb to be tatued, plots out the arrangement of the rows or bands of the design; along these straight lines the artist tatus the IKOR, then taking a tatu block carved with the required design, she smears it with pigment and presses it on to the limb between two lines. The tatuer or her assistant stretches with her feet the skin of the part to be tatued, and, dipping a pricker into the pigment, taps its handle with the striker, driving the needle points into the skin at each tap. The operation is painful, and the subject can rarely restrain her cries of anguish; but the artist is quite unmoved by such demonstrations of woe, and proceeds methodically with her task. As no antiseptic precautions are taken, a newly tatued part often ulcerates, much to the detriment of the tatu; but taking all things into consideration, it is wonderful how seldom one meets with a tatu pattern spoilt by scar tissues.

It is against custom to draw the blood of a friend (PESU DAHA), and therefore, when first blood is drawn in tatuing, it is customary to give a small present to the artist. The present takes the form of four antique beads, or of some other object worth about one dollar; it is termed LASAT MATA, for it is supposed that if it were omitted the artist would go blind, and some misfortune would happen to the parents and relations of the girl undergoing the operation of tatu.

When the half of one IKOR has been completed the tattier stops and asks for SELIVIT; this is a present of a few beads, well-to-do people paying eight yellow beads of the variety known as LAVANG, valued at one dollar apiece, whilst poor people give two beads. It is supposed that if SELIVIT was not paid the artist would be worried by the dogs and fowls that always roam about a Kayan house, so that the work would not be satisfactorily done; however, to make assurance doubly sure, a curtain is hung round the operator and her subject to keep off unwelcome intruders. After SELIVIT has been paid a cigarette is smoked, and then work recommences in earnest, there being no further interruptions for the rest of the day except for the purpose of taking food. The food of the artist must be cooked and brought to her, as she must not stop to do other work than tatuing, and her tools are only laid aside for a few minutes while she consumes a hurried meal. Fowls or a pig are killed for the artist by the parents of the girl who is being tatued. The fees paid to the artist are more or less fixed; for the forearms a gong, worth from eight to twenty dollars, according to the workmanship required; for the thighs a large TAWAK, worth as much as sixty dollars if the very best workmanship is demanded, from six to twenty dollars if only inferior workmanship is required.[78] For tatuing the fingers the operator receives a MALAT or short sword. Nieuwenhuis (8, p. 236) states that it is supposed that the artist will die within a year if her charges are excessive; but we have not met with this belief amongst the Kayans of the Rejang and Baram rivers.

The knee-cap is the last part to be tatued, and before this is touched the artist must be paid; as this part of the design is the keystone, as it were, of the whole, the required fee is always forthcoming. A narrow strip down the back of the thigh is always left untatued; it is supposed that mortification of the legs would ensue if this strip was not left open.