This coffin is
placed on a simple platform in the utan. There is no feast attending this
rite. I visited the burial-place (taaran) of Tamaloe on the other side of
the river about a kilometre away. It was difficult to find, for the small
space which is cleared of jungle whenever there is a funeral very soon
grows up again. Only two boxes, each containing the corpse of a child,
were in good condition, the rest having fallen down and disappeared
through the action of rains and wild pigs.
After the husband's death the widow eats only every second day for a
month; after that she is free to eat, but for a year she weeps twice a
day, morning and evening, - though sometimes she forgets. The father,
mother, and sister of the deceased also take part in the one-year period
of wailing twice a day. After that period has elapsed the widow may
remarry. For the widower there are practically the same regulations,
though he does not weep loudly, and after eight months he can look for
another wife; but first he must have taken a head.
CHAPTER XVIII
A STRANGE MAMMAL - ANIMAL LIFE IN CENTRAL BORNEO - A SUPERB AND SILENT
REALM - VISIT TO A SALT WATER EXUDATION - PASSING THE DIVIDING RIDGE - A
MOUSE-DEER CHASE - ON THE KASAO RIVER
I was planning a visit to the headwaters of the Busang River, to be made
in connection with our future journey. Few natives, if any, have entered
that region, which was described as very mountainous, though the mountains
cannot be very high. But all who were approached on the subject, whether
Penyahbong or Malay, absolutely declined to take part in an expedition to
that country, because they would be killed by an animal called nundun,
which is very numerous there. They might be able to tackle one, they said,
but as soon as you encounter one there are hundreds more coming for you,
and there is nothing else to do but to run for your life. Those regions,
although known to be rich in rubber trees, are shunned by all natives.
Unless this is an altogether fabulous animal, which is hardly likely to be
the case, because the Punans and Bukats confirmed its existence, it would
appear to be a kind of bear which perhaps in fruit seasons gathers in
great numbers, and which is ferocious.
Nundun, in Penyahbong and Bukat called bohang (bear), is said to run
faster than a dog, is killed with the sumpitan at twenty to thirty metres
distance, and is eaten. It is further declared that its habitat extends
through the hilly regions between the headwaters of the Busang River and
the Upper Barito, and that it is especially numerous near the kampong
Kelasin.
