The Pagan Tribes of Borneo Part 42

[103] -- "The Relations between Men and Animals in Sarawak,"

J. ANTH. INST. vol. x.x.xi.

[104] -- We are not aware that the "bull-roarer" is put to any other uses than this by any of the tribes.

[105] -- See Chap. XIII.

[106] -- Vol. ii., p. 120.

[107] -- The word BALI is used on a great variety of occasions, generally as a form of address, being prefixed to the proper name or designation of the being addressed or spoken of. The being thus addressed is always one having special powers of the sort that we should call supernatural, and the prefix serves to mark this possession of power. It may be said to be an adjectival equivalent of the MANA of the Melanesians or of the WAKANDA or ORENDA of North American tribes, words which seem to connote all power other than the Purely mechanical. It seems not improbable that the word BALI has entered the Kayan language from a Sanskrit source; for in Sanskrit it was prefixed to the names of priests and heroes. The word is even more extensively used by the Kenyahs, who prefix it to the names of several of their G.o.ds; and the Klemantans use the word VALI in the same way.

[108] -- This procedure seems to be one of the many varieties of "crystal gazing" that are practised among many peoples; and it seems probable that the DAYONG, in some cases at least, experiences hallucinatory visions of the scenes that he so vividly describes as he gazes on the polished metal. The sword so used becomes the property of the DAYANG.

[109] -- These beads seem to be designed for use by the ghost in paying for its pa.s.sage across the river of death.

[110] -- Among some of the peoples it is customary to beat a big gong while this operation is in progress, or, in the case of a woman, a drum, in order to announce to the inhabitants of the other world the coming of the recently deceased. The beating of gongs is in general use for signalling from house to house.

[111] -- Small articles specially valued by the deceased are enclosed in the coffin; thus, OYANG LUHAT, a Kayan PENGHULU (see Chap. XXII.), who bled slowly to death from an accidentally inflicted wound, gave strict instructions as he lay dying that his certificate of office bearing the Rajah's signature and his Sarawak flag, the public badge of his office, should be put in his coffin with his body; and there can be no reasonable doubt that he hoped to display them, or rather their ghostly replicas, in the other world. As a clear instance of such belief it seems worth while to mention the following case. One of us had given some coloured prints to a Kayan boy, an only son to whom his parents were much attached. On a subsequent visit he was told by the bereaved mother that the child had been very fond of the pictures, and that she had put them in his coffin because she knew that he would like to look at them in the other world.

[112] -- Among Klemantans it is usual to spoil all articles hung upon a tomb; and they give the reason that in the other world everything is the opposite of what it is here: the spoilt shall be perfect, the new and unspoilt shall be old and damaged, and so on. It is probable that the real or original motive for this practice is the desire to avoid placing temptations to theft in the way of strangers.

[113] -- Among some of the Klemantan tribes the opposite practice of shaving the whole scalp is observed in mourning.

[114] -- In some of the remoter forts of the Sarawak government old heads that have been confiscated are kept, and are occasionally lent for the purpose of enabling a village to go out of mourning without shedding human blood.

[115] -- When pressed in private after a ceremony of this kind, a certain DAYONG admitted to us that perhaps, if we should look into the house, we should see the food apparently untouched; but he maintained that nevertheless all the strength or essence of the food would have been consumed, the husks merely being left.

[116] -- Apparently it is not that the DAYONG claims to be "possessed"

by the soul of the dead man; for from time to time he inclines his ear again to the soul-house to catch the faint voice of the ghost. We know of no cases in which it is claimed that the body of a living man is "possessed" by a departed soul.

[117] -- Cases occur among the Kayans, though but rarely. The method most employed is to stab a knife into the throat.

[118] -- In one such case the body was laid out in the gallery of the house and preparations for the funeral were far advanced, when one of us (C. H.) arrived. On glancing at the alleged corpse he suspected that life was not extinct, and succeeded, by the application of ammonia to the nostrils, in restoring the entranced Kayan to animation, and shortly to a normal condition of health.

[119] -- The man mentioned in the foregoing footnote had given to a DAYONG (no doubt in response to leading questions) a circ.u.mstantial account of adventures of this kind, before we had an opportunity of questioning him after an interval of some ten days. He then admitted that he could remember nothing clearly.

[120] -- The cry of this species is peculiar; it terminates with an interrupted series of cries that sound like mocking laughter.

[121] -- See below, vol. ii. p. 130.

[122] -- The incident was reported by Dr. Hose to the British Consul at Bruni, who entered an effective warning against repet.i.tions of such acts.

[123] -- A dangerous madman is generally kept shut up in a large strong cage in the gallery of the house.

[124] -- It is believed that the tatuing on the woman's hands and forearms illuminates for the ghost dark places traversed on the journey to the other world.

[125] -- Coco-nuts are commonly opened by two blows with a sword struck upon opposite sides, and it seems probable that the method of splitting the jar was suggested by this practice.

[126] -- In this chapter we have departed from our rule of describing first and most fully the facts and beliefs of the Kayan people, because before planning this book we had paid special attention to this topic, and had obtained fuller information in regard to the Kenyahs than to other peoples, and had published this in the form of a paper in the JOURNAL OF THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSt.i.tUTE ("The Relations between Men and Animals in Sarawak," J. ANTH. INSt.i.t. vol. x.x.xi.). This paper, modified and corrected in detail, forms the substance of this chapter. We wish to epxress our thanks to the Council of the Royal Anthropological Inst.i.tute of Great Britain and Ireland for permission to make use of this paper.

[127] -- We find that the practices of these people in connection with omens or auspices so closely resemble those of the early Romans that it seems worth while to draw attention to these resemblances, and we therefore quote in footnotes some pa.s.sages from Dr. Smith's DICTIONARY OF CLa.s.sICAL ANTIQUITIES, referring to the practice of the Romans: "In the most ancient times no transaction, whether private or public, was performed without consulting the auspices, and hence arose the distinction of AUSPICIA PRIVATA and AUSPICIA PUBLICA."

[128] -- See Chap. XXII.

[129] -- "No one but a patrician could take the auspices."

[130] -- "Romulus is represented to have been the best of augurs, and from him all succeeding augurs received the chief mark of their office."

[131] -- "Hence devices were adopted so that no ill-omened sound should be heard, such as blowing a trumpet during the sacrifice."

[132] -- "The person who has to take them (the auspices) first marked out with a wand ... a division of the heavens called 'templum,'

... within which he intended to make his observations."

[133] -- "It was from Jupiter mainly that the future was learnt, and the birds were regarded as his messengers."

[134] -- "The Roman auspices were essentially of a practical nature; they gave no information respecting the course of future events, they did not inform men what was to happen, but simply taught them whether they were to do or not to do the matter purposed; they a.s.signed no reason for the decision of Jupiter, they simply announced -- Yes or No."

[135] -- "It was only a few birds which could give auguries among the Romans. They were divided into two cla.s.ses: Oscines, those which gave auguries by singing or their voice; and Alites, those which gave auguries by their flight." "There were considerable varieties of omen according to the note of the Oscines or the place from which they uttered the note; and similarly among the Alites, according to the nature of their flight."

[136] -- "They endeavoured to learn the future, especially in war, by consulting the entrails of victims."

[137] -- This phrase as commonly used implies the exchange of greetings.

[138] -- See Chap. XII.

[139] -- Of the Romans it is said: "When a fox, a wolf, a serpent, a horse, a dog, or any other kind of quadruped, ran across a person's path or appeared in an unusual place, it formed an augury."

[140] -- JOURN. OF STRAITS ASIATIC SOCIETY, Nos. 8, 10, and 14.

[141] -- See Chap. XXII.

[142] -- See Chap. XVII.

[143] -- In the paper from which the greater part of this chapter is extracted this word was spelt NYARONG. It is now clear to us that it should be spelt as above, with the initial NG, a common initial sound in the Sea Dayak language. The most literal translation of the word is, the thing that is secret, or simply, the secret, or my secret.

[144] -- Almost every Iban possesses and constantly carries with him a bundle of such objects; they are regarded as charms and are called PENGAROH; but few probably claim to enjoy the protection of a secret helper.

[145] -- INTRODUCTION TO COMPARATIVE PSYCHOLOGY, and elsewhere.

[146] -- Now that the sacrifice of human victims is forbidden, Kenyahs and Klemantans sometimes carve a human figure upon the first of the main piles of a new house to be put into the ground.

[147] -- See vol. ii., p. 4.

[148] -- Quoted in Mr. Frazer's TOTEMISM, 1st ed., 1887, p. 8.

[149] -- Aban Jau possessed a large curiously shaped pig's tusk which he wore on his person in the belief that any firearm fired at it would not go off. It is probable that his belief in this charm was connected with his belief in the dream-pig. The belief was very genuine, until in a moment of excessive confidence he hanged the tusk upon a tree and invited one of us to fire at it. The tusk was shattered. Aban Jau said nothing; but presumably a process of disintegration began in his mind; for after some hours he remarked that his charm had lost its power.

[150] -- Dr. Boas is of the opinion that the totems of the Indians of British Columbia have been developed from the personal MANITOU, the guardian animals acquired by youths in dreams. Miss A. C. Fletcher is led to a similar conclusion by a study of the totems of the Omaha tribe of Indians (IMPORT OF THE TOTEM, Salem, Ma.s.s., 1897). The facts described above in connection with the NGARONG of the Ibans and similar allied inst.i.tutions among other tribes of Sarawak would seem, then, to support the views of these authors as to the origin of totemism.