The latter, who live on the Senamang, a tributary to the
Katingan River near its headwater, may be a Duhoi subtribe, but very
little is known about them; the custom of drinking tuak from human skulls
is credited to them, and they are looked upon with contempt by the
Katingans for eating dogs.
With the Katingans it is the custom for the blian to deposit in a cup
containing uncooked rice the objects withdrawn from a patient. Having
danced and spoken to the cereal he throws it away and with it the
articles, the rice advising the antoh that the small stones, or whatever
was eliminated, which he placed in the patient, are now returned to him.
These Katingans begin their year in June and July, when they cut the
jungle in order to make ladangs, months being designated by numbers. At
the beginning of the year all the families sacrifice fowls, eat the meat,
and give the blood to antoh in accordance with their custom. After the
harvest there is a similar function at which the same kind of dancing is
performed as at the tiwah feast. On both occasions a game is engaged in
which also is found among the Bahau and other tribes, wherein a woman
jumps dexterously between heavy pestles that, held horizontally, are
lifted up and brought down in rapid succession. Three months later - at the
end of the year - another festival occurs.
The Katingan calendar may be rendered thus:
1. Cutting the jungle, June and July....... during 2 months
2. Drying the trees and burning them....... during 1 month
3. Planting paddi.......................... during 2 months
4. New paddi............................... in 3 months
5. Harvesting.............................. during 1 or 2 months
6. Waiting................................. during 3 months
In order to ascertain the auspicious date for planting paddi these Dayaks
employ an astronomical device founded on the obvious fact that in their
country there comes a period when a rod placed in an upright position
casts no shadow. That is the time for planting. In addition to this method
of determination they consult a constellation of three stars which "rise"
in the east and "set" in the west during half a year, and are invisible
during the following six months. When the three stars appear
perpendicularly above the rod in the early morning, before sunrise, then
the time to plant is at hand; when they are in the zenith in the late
afternoon before sunset, the season for making ladang has come.
For these observations, however, a single rod is not used, but an
arrangement of rods called togallan, seven in number, which are planted in
the ground, the middle one upright, the rest diverging on either side like
a fan. Beginning on the left side, six months are indicated, but the
togallan does not remain standing more than three; in fact as soon as the
planting is finished it is removed. Although the most propitious time is
when the sun is at zenith, it is also considered favourable for half the
distance from the middle rod toward 3 and toward 5. If paddi is planted in
the second month the crop will be injured; if in the fifth month, the
plant will be damaged.
[Illustration: INDICATION BY THE TOGALLAN OF THE FAVORABLE TIME FOR
PLANTING RICE.]
Formerly heavy spears made of ironwood were employed not only as weapons,
but for agricultural purposes as well, both when making the holes into
which the seed grains are dropped and as material in erecting the
astronomical device. Each of the seven rods is called ton-dang, as is the
pointed stick with which at present the ground is prepared for planting
paddi.
MISCELLANEOUS
With the Kenyahs and many other tribes it is the custom to give boiled
rice that has stood overnight to the dogs, pigs, and hens; it is not
considered fit for human food.
Regarding the number of souls: The Murung says that each person has seven
souls, called brua, six being distributed as follows: one at the top of
the head, one in each eye and knee, and one in the navel. The Duhoi
(Ot-Danum) has also seven brua, one at the top of the head and one in each
eye, knee, and wrist.
Other tribes speak of three souls. The Kenyahs, according to Dr. J.M.
Elshout, have only one brua, located at times in the head, at times in the
heart; and the tiger-cat and the orang-utan have stronger brua than man.
The Katingans likewise recognise but one, called liao in life, and after
death. They also give the same name to the soul of an animal, but the more
common usage in the tribes is to call the ghost liao, by the Malays named
njava.
In regard to the practice of incision, which is used in Southwest Borneo,
Chapter XXXV, I am able to furnish some details gathered in Sampit from
three Dayaks who had been operated upon. A cut is made in the praeputium
lengthwise with a knife (further east a sharpened bamboo is used), a piece
of iron wood being used as a support, and the operation which in Katingan
is called habalak is performed by the father of the father's brother when
the boy is coming of age. Before the event he must go into the river up to
his navel seven days in succession, morning, midday, and evening, and
stand in the water for an hour. All boys must undergo the operation, which
is not sanguinary, the leaves of a tree called mentawa being applied to
the wound. They could give no reason why they follow this practice any
more than the ordinary Dayak can explain the purpose of tatuing.
