The first class ranks as a sort of
nobility and until recent times had slaves, who were kindly treated. The
members of the second class have less property, but they are active in
blacksmithing, making prahus, determining the seasons by astronomical
observations, etc. These well-bred Dayaks are truthful and do not steal.
In their conception a thief will have to carry around the stolen goods on
his head or back in the next life, forever exposed to scorn and ridicule.
Third-class people are descendants of slaves and, according to the
posthouder at Long Pangian, himself a Dayak, they are the more numerous on
the Kayan River. These may tell lies, and ten per cent of them are apt to
appropriate small articles, but they never steal money.
The Kenyah woman is most independent, and may travel unaccompanied by
another woman with a party of men for days, sleeping aside, separate from
the men. She and her husband both bring wood to the house and she does the
cooking. No man has ever been known to beat or kill his wife. If
dissatisfied, either may leave the other. The daughter of the chief at
Long Mahan had had three husbands. Abortive plants are used, but the men
do not know what they are.
Every day I went to the kampong, and it was a pleasure to visit these
still primitive natives. Women, as usual, were timid about being
photographed, for it is a universal belief that such an operation prevents
women from bearing children. However, by giving money, cloth, sugar, or
the like, which would enable them to offer some little sacrifice to
protecting spirits, I usually succeeded. But if a woman is pregnant or has
care of a small child, no inducements are of any avail, as an exposure to
the camera would give the child bad luck or a disease that might kill it.
The women here had the teeth of the upper jaw in front filed off, but not
the men, who make plugs from yellow metal wire, procured in Tandjong
Selor, with which they adorn their front teeth, drilling holes in them for
the purpose. The plug is made with a round flat head, which is the
ornamental part of it, and without apparent rule appears in one, two, or
three incisors, usually in the upper jaw, sometimes in both. One of my men
took his out to show to me.
The women are cleanly, combing their hair frequently and bathing three
times daily. The men bathe even oftener; still all of them have more or
less parasites in their hair and frequently apply lime juice in order to
kill them. A young woman, whom I remembered as one of two who had danced
for the kinematograph, had considerable charm of manner and personal
attraction; it was a trifle disconcerting to find my belle a little later
hunting the fauna of her lover's head. Her nimble fingers were deftly
expert in the work and her beloved was visibly elated over the
demonstration of her affection.
These natives do not tolerate hair on the body and pull it out or shave it
off. The men even remove the hair at the edge of the scalp all around the
head, letting the remainder attain a growth of about sixty centimetres,
and this is tucked up in a coil under the cap. The hair of eyebrows and
eyelids is removed with great care. The women perform this operation, and
tweezers made for the purpose are usually seen among the ornaments that
hang from the tops of their hats. I was told that people careful about
their appearance have their eyes treated in this manner every ten or even
every five days. It is a service which a young man's "best girl" is glad
to perform and a couple thus engaged may often be seen. Truly the wiles of
Cupid are many.
The Dayaks are fond of ornaments and the Kenyahs are no exception. The
extraordinary number of large tin or brass rings worn in the vastly
distended ear-lobe is well known and is the striking feature in the
appearance of most tribes. I was told that among the Kenyahs the ear-lobes
of children are pierced when the infant is seven days old. Especially the
women of this and many other tribes carry this fashion to extremes, the
lobe being so elongated that it may be twisted twice around the ear. The
heavy weight of rings sometimes breaks the thin band to which the lobe has
been stretched. The men may also wear rings, though they remove them when
going into the utan or to the ladang, and, although in this regard the
males make less display than the females, in the wearing of valuable
necklaces they excel them.
Necklaces of beads are worn by men, women, and children. When money is
obtained by selling rubber to the Chinese, or by taking part in an
expedition to New Guinea, there is much display of such ornaments, many of
which are manufactured in Europe. But the Dayaks are extremely particular
about the kind they buy; therefore it is useless to take beads out to
Borneo without knowing the prevalent fashion. On the Kayan River a
favoured style of bead is tubular in form, light yellow in hue, and
procured from Bugis traders who are said to obtain their stock in New
Guinea. Others of similar shape, but brown in colour, come from Sumatra.
When children are small they are carried on the backs of their mothers in
a kind of cradle, the outside of which is often elaborately adorned with
beads. The chief in Long Pelaban had one, the value of which I computed to
be two thousand florins.
