Down the
river they have a few kampongs below Long Pangian, in the same vicinity;
west of it are a few more, as mentioned in the description of my journey.
On attempting to ascend the river further one would soon reach a vast
extent of country entirely uninhabited except around the headwaters. The
Bahau, too, is inhabited only at its source, and both rivers pass through
wild, picturesque regions.
On that portion of the Kayan called Brem-Brem the river presents a
formidable array of kihams which defeated the government's attempt to
establish communication between Apo Kayan and the debouchure of the river.
This was desirable for the sake of provisioning the garrison. An officer
of the Dutch army in Borneo told me that from military reports and the
testimony of Kenyahs he estimated that the Brem-Brem is a continuous
stretch of kihams for thirty kilometres. The Kenyahs had told him that
they walked two days and he thought that for four kilometres the river ran
underground. These difficult conditions compel the Kenyahs to take another
route in their travels to Tandjong Selor, marching over the watershed to
the Bahau River, where they make new prahus and then continue the journey.
I give a list of subtribes with reserve:
Oma-Bakkah, Oma-Lisan, Oma-Kulit, Oma-Lim, Oma-Puah, Oma-Yalan,
Oma-Tokkung, Oma-Bakkung, Oma-Bam, Oma-Lung, Oma-Badang, Lepo-Tepo,
Lepo-Tao, Lepo-Maot, Lepo-Ke Anda Pah, Lepo-Ke Ang Lung, Lepo-Ke
Oma-Lasang. Most of the Lepo are on the Bahau. My informant, who had
travelled in the interior, said there was little difference in the
languages of these subtribes.
The Kenyahs, a few Kayans, and the Katingans mutilate the membrum virile
by transpiercing the glans and the urethra, and a piece of brass wire is
inserted. A Kenyah tribe (Oma-Badang) in Podjungan, makes two perforations
so directed that the wires are crossed.
The kapala of the Penihing kampong Long Kai, on the Mahakam, told me that
Kayan and Kenyah are the same people. He probably knew the Kayans only by
personal experience, but his opinion is curious in view of the fact that
the two tribes have been bracketed by Dr. A.C. Haddon and Dr. J.H.F.
Kohlbrugge.
MURUNGS
(Notes from kampong Tumbang Marowei, on the Laong, a tributary to the
Barito River, in Central Borneo)
At the time of childbirth two to four women and one blian attend the
prospective mother, who assumes a recumbent position with the upper
portion of the body slightly raised. The blian blows upon a cupful of
water which the woman drinks in order to make delivery easy. The umbilical
cord is cut with a knife or a sharp piece of ironwood, and the afterbirth
is buried.
