According to his estimate there were over two hundred of
them in the Muller mountains, and they had killed many Malays, taking
their heads. Three chiefs were famous for being very tall.
Fishing with tuba is known to them, also to the nomadic Punans and Bukats,
Saputans, and Penihings. The Penyahbongs believe they were placed in this
world by an antoh. Omens are taken from nine birds and from dreams. When a
house is finished there are two or three hours' dancing in the night by
men and women, one man playing the sapi (native guitar).
The child is born outside of the house. One or two women stand by to take
it, wrapped in cloth, into the dwelling, where for three days it remains
unbathed. Although death at childbirth is known to occur, usually within
fifteen minutes the mother rises and repairs to the house. The umbilical
cord is cut with a sharp bamboo and the afterbirth is not taken care of,
dogs generally being permitted to eat it. When the child can walk the
father and mother give it a name. No abortion is practised, there are no
puberty ceremonies, and sexual intercourse is not practised during
menstruation.
SAPUTANS
(Notes from the Kasao River, a tributary to the Upper Mahakam)
The name Saputan is derived from the word sahput, sumpitan (the
blow-pipe), and probably means, "those who have sumpitan." In the upper
part of the Kasao River is a big back current called Saputan and the people
who originally lived at the headwaters have the same name as the current.
At first they were roaming in the mountains, though not conflicting with
the Penyahbongs, and later settled in four kampongs which, beginning with
the uppermost, at the time of my visit were: 1. Pomosing (mouse) at a
tributary of the same name. 2. Data Laong (land of durian). 3. Ong Sangi
(ong = river). 4. Nomorunge (a common, small, black and white bird) on a
tributary of the same name; with hardly a hundred full-grown persons, this
is the largest. Formerly the office of the chief, tjupi, was hereditary.
When he became old he was succeeded by his son.
The woman bears her child in the house, surrounded by women, her husband,
and another man. She assumes a lying position and is helped by being
frequently lifted up, and by stroking. The abdomen is rubbed with a
certain medicinal herb, first having been heated over the fire, to
facilitate the expulsion of the afterbirth, which later is hung in a tree.
Having tied a vine round the umbilical cord near the abdomen they cut the
cord with a sharp piece of bamboo. The assisting women wash the baby as
well as the mother.
For two days after childbirth she does no work, and for some time she must
not eat the fat of pig or fish. In case of twins being born, they are
welcome if the sex is the same, but if one is male and the other female,
one is given away, the father exercising his preference. Two months after
birth a name is given by the father. Should the mother die, no other woman
willingly suckles the child unless the father has a daughter who can do
it. However, by paying from one to three gongs a woman may be induced to
undertake the duty.
ORANG BAHAU
(On the Mahakam River)
Bahau is the name of a river in Apo Kayan, where the tribes of the Mahakam
River lived before they migrated to their present habitations, a hundred
and fifty to two hundred years ago. The Penihings, Kayans, Oma-Sulings,
and Long-Glats speak of themselves as Orang Bahau, as also do the
Saputans, though probably they did not originally come from Apo Kayan.
According to these Dayaks the designation as used by the Malays signifies
people who wear only chavat (loin cloth), and the Punans and Ibans are
said to be included under the same term.
PUNANS AND BUKATS
(Notes from kampong Long Kai on the Mahakam River)
The formidable king cobra (naia bungarus) is feared by the Punans, who
have no remedy for the bite of this or any other venomous snake. The
Bukats are said to know a cure which they share with the Penihings; the
bark is scraped from a certain tree and the juice is applied to the wound.
Death from lightning is unknown to any of these three tribes.
The Punans apparently do not attribute disease to the adverse influence of
an antoh, although their remedy is the same, consisting of singing in the
night and removing small stones from the abdomen or other parts that may
be affected.
The Bukats whom I met were beautifully tatued. The kapala whom I saw at
Long Kai had the mark of a ripe durian on each shoulder in front and an
immature one above each nipple. On the lower part of the upper arm was a
tatu of an edible root, in Penihing called rayong. Over the back of his
right hand, toward the knuckles, he had a zigzag mark representing the
excrescences of the durian fruit. In regard to the presence of spirits,
number of souls, blians, disease, and its cure, restrictions for pregnant
women, the child's cradle - the ideas of the Bukats are identical with
those of the Penihings, and possibly are derived from them.
PENIHINGS
(Notes from the Mahakam River)
The Penihings get their supply of ipoh, the poison for the sumpitan darts,
from Punans who live at the sources of the rivers of the Western Division.
According to native report the trees which furnish the juice do not grow
along the Mahakam and the nearest country where they are found is to the
south of Tamaloe.
