Through Central Borneo An Account Of Two Years' Travel In The Land Of The Head-Hunters Between The Years 1913 And 1917 By Carl Lumholtz
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In The Mountains The Cold Weather Prevented Them From
Sleeping Much.
It often happened that they were without food for three
days, when they would drink water and smoke tobacco.
Trees are climbed in
the jumping way described before, and without any mechanical aid. Formerly
bathing was not customary. Excrements are left on the ground and not in
the water. They don't like the colour red, but prefer black. Fire was made
by flint and iron, which they procured from the Saputans.
The hair is not cut nor their teeth. The women wear around the head a ring
of cloth inside of which are various odoriferous leaves and flowers of
doubtful appreciation by civilised olfactory senses. A strong-smelling
piece of skin from the civet cat is often attached to this head ornament,
which is also favoured by natives on the Mahakam.
In regard to ear ornamentation the Penyahbongs are at least on a par with
the most extreme fashions of the Dayaks. The men make three slits in the
ear; in the upper part a wooden disk is enclosed, in the middle the tusk
of a large species of cat, and in the lobe, which is stretched very long,
hangs a brass coil. The ears of the women have only two incisions, the one
in the middle part being adorned with bead strings, while in the lobe up
to one hundred tin rings may be seen. They are tatued, and noticeable on
the men is a succession of stars across the chest, as if hanging on a
thread which is lower in the middle.
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