The only available course was to return to Sampit.
The name of the Dayaks here and on Lake Sembulo is Tamoan (or Samoan),
with intermixture of Katingans, who are said to understand each other's
language. Most of these friendly natives had fair-sized beards, some only
mustaches. The elder men complainingly said that the younger ones no
longer want to tatu nor cut the front teeth. No haste was apparent about
making the coffin for the woman who had been dead four days; although not
yet commenced they said it would be completed that day.
The left bank of the river is much higher than the right, which is
flooded, therefore the utan on that side presents a very different
appearance, with large, fine-looking trees and no dense underbrush. All
was fresh and calm after the rain which prevails at this season
(February). There were showers during the afternoon, at times heavy, and
the Malays were much opposed to getting wet, wanting to stop paddling,
notwithstanding the fact that the entire prahu was covered with an atap.
As we approached the mouth of the river, where I intended to camp for the
night, I noticed a prahu halting at the rough landing place of a ladang,
and as we passed it the rain poured down. When the single person who was
paddling arose to adjust the scanty wet clothing I perceived that it was a
woman, and looking back I discovered her husband snugly at ease under a
palm-leaf mat raised as a cover. He was then just rising to walk home.
That is the way the men of Islam treat their women. Even one of the Malay
paddlers saw the humour of the situation and laughed.
At Rongkang I was told the legend of the dog that in ancient times had
come from the inland of Borneo to Sembulo, where it became progenitor of
the tailed people. In various parts of Borneo I heard about natives with
short tails, and there are to-day otherwise reliable Dayaks, Malays, and
even Chinese, who insist that they have seen them. Especially in regard to
their presence at the lake of Sembulo, at the kampong of the same name,
the consensus of opinion is strong. That place is the classical ground for
the rumour of tailed men, and I thought it worth while, before leaving
Borneo, to make another attempt later to reach Sembulo and investigate the
reasons for the prevalent belief in tailed humans in that locality. The
most complete legend on this subject I obtained from a prominent
ex-district kapala, Kiai Laman, a Kahayan Dayak converted to Islam. He has
travelled much in certain sections of Borneo, is interested in folklore
matters, and told his stories without apparent errors or contradictions.
The tale here rendered is from the Ot-Danums on the Upper Kahayan River.
A male dog called Belang started out to hunt for game - pig, deer, plandok.
The kampong heard him bark in the manner common to dogs when on the trail
of an animal, and then the baying ceased. The owner watched for the animal
to return, but for half a year there was no news of him. In the meantime
the dog had gone to Sembulo, making the trip in fifteen days. He appeared
there in the shape of a man, took part in the work of the kampong, and
married. His wife bore a child who had a tail, not long, about ten
centimetres. "I do not like to tell a lie," said my raconteur. "What the
sex was I do not know, but people say it was a male infant. She had
another child, a female, also with a tail."
In the ladang the woman thought the crying of her children sounded very
strange. "It is not like that of other infants," she said. "Other people
have no tails and you have; you look like the children of a dog." Their
father replied: "In truth I am a dog," and immediately he resumed his
natural form, ran away, and after an interval arrived in the Upper
Kahayan, where his owner welcomed him, and the dog lived to old age and
died.
In due time the two children married and had large families, all of whom
had tails, but since the Malays came and married Sembulo women the tails
have become shorter and shorter. At present most of the people have none,
and those that remain are not often seen because clothes are now worn;
however, many travellers to Sembulo have beheld them.
The rendering from Rongkal is similar, with this difference: The man from
Upper Kahayan followed his dog - which at sight of his master resumed
canine form - and killed it. According to a Malay version, a raja of
Bandjermasin was much disliked and the people made him leave the country.
He took a female dog with him in the prahu and went to Sembulo, where he
had children all of whom had tails.
CHAPTER XXXV
A VISIT TO KUALA KAPUAS - A BREED OF STUMP-TAILED DOGS - THE SHORT-TAILED
CATS OF BORNEO - A SECOND EXPEDITION TO LAKE SEMBULO-NATIVES UNDISMAYED BY
BERI-BERI - THE TAMOANS - THE PRACTICE OF INCISION
The second trip to Sembulo had to be postponed until the return of the
controleur of Sampit from an extended tour, when the steam-launch
Selatan would again be placed at my service. During the weeks of waiting
I made a trip to Kuala Kapuas, northwest of Bandjermasin. The Kapuas River
is broad here, I should say at least 600 metres; if there is any wind one
cannot cross because the prahus are all made of iron-wood and sink easily,
owing to the fact that they are heavy and do not accommodate themselves to
the waves.
