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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They Then Packed
The Harvested Paddi In Big Baskets, Which They Carried On Their Backs To
The Storehouse In The Kampong The Same Afternoon.
From planting time till
the end of the harvest - four or five months - a man is deputed to remain
In
the kampong to whom fish is forbidden, but who may eat all the rice he
wants, with some salt, and as recompense for his services receives a new
prahu or clothing.
A few days later, the chief having early in the morning taken omens from a
small bird, the inhabitants with few exceptions departed on a tuba-fishing
expedition to the Pipa, a small tributary to the Kayan River farther
north. The two kampongs, Long Pelaban and Long Mahan, combined forces, and
as so many were going I experienced difficulty in arranging to join the
excursion, but finally succeeded in securing prahus and men from the
latter place.
We passed a small settlement of Punans, former nomads, who had adopted the
Dayak mode of living, having learned to cultivate rice and to make prahus.
We found the people of Long Pelaban camped on a stony beach in two long
rows of rough shelters, each row containing many families under one common
roof of bark. The Long Mahan people had gone farther and camped on a
similar beach, and between the two I discovered a pleasant location in the
jungle by ascending the high bank of the river. Hardly had we finished
putting up our tents when a violent thunder-storm arose, which continued
unabated for half an hour, and thereafter with diminished force throughout
the night. Many of the Dayaks moved up to our position, and next day the
river ran high, so we did not make a start.
In the morning, after a fine bath, as I was about to take breakfast, a
large party of visitors from Long Mahan approached. They were unacquainted
with the Malay tongue and showed obvious signs of embarrassment, but by
distributing a little candy to the children and biscuits to the adults
harmony was soon established. Two unusually attractive small girls wearing
valuable bead necklaces, who at first had appeared takut (frightened),
unconcernedly seated themselves on their heels in front of me. The others
perched in a long row on two poles which they laid on the wet ground, all
of them preparing to watch me eat breakfast. Among other things the menu
included half a dozen small boiled potatoes brought from Tandjong Selor
and obtained from Central Java; they usually keep for four or five weeks
and are a valuable aid in maintaining good health in the tropics.
The Kenyahs had never seen potatoes before, and one man handed some of the
peelings to his wife for inspection, whereupon I gave her a potato, which
she peeled carefully, divided, and gave a piece to each of the two
children, with whom, however, it did not find favour. I opened a can of
milk and another of cream, for I was fresh from Europe and had plenty of
provisions. After helping myself from the cans I gave them to the
children, who greatly relished what was left in them, but they did not eat
greedily, behaving like white children who have not learned from adults to
eat hastily. The Kenyahs are very courteous. When a man passed my tent
opening he generally called aloud, as if announcing his presence.
In visiting the camps I found the Kenyahs, even on an occasion like the
present, busily engaged at some occupation, and seldom or never was
anybody seen sitting idle. The men were splitting rattan into fine
strings, later to be used for many purposes: for plaiting the sheath of
the parang; for making bottle-shaped receptacles for rice; for securing
the axe to the handle, etc. Women were doing the same work with bamboo,
first drying the stalks by standing them upright before a fire. These fine
bamboo strings are later used in making winnowing trays and for various
kinds of beautifully plaited work. When employed in this way, or on other
occasions, the women smoke big cigarettes as nonchalantly as the men.
Continuing the journey next day, we found it a laborious undertaking over
many small rapids. The water had already subsided, so we had to wade most
of the day, dragging the prahus, a task which we found rather fatiguing,
as the stones are difficult to step on in the water and very hot out of
it. The river was narrow, but here and there widened out into pools. Many
"bring" were erected over the stream, and I noticed that they were smaller
than those I had seen before, but the arrangements for beating the tuba
were far more elaborate.
On the river bank, as we approached the main camping-place, piles of the
light-brown root were often seen, resembling stacks of wood. The gathering
of these roots, I learned, was accomplished in one day. Our men had helped
in the work and they also put up a couple of "bring" near our camp for our
own use. Early in the afternoon two rather solid structures, built like
bridges across the small river, were erected; on these the beating of the
tuba was to take place next morning. In the middle, lengthwise, was placed
a long, narrow excavated log, longer than the bridge itself, for the use
of the beaters.
In the evening a large tree crashed to earth not far from my camp, and at
a later hour another, still nearer, thunderously broke with its fall the
silence of night. At two o'clock in the morning the beating of tuba began,
to the accompaniment of shouts and outcries, and though the noise was
considerable and unusual I did not find it intolerable, but fell asleep
again. I arose early, and after partaking of some excellent Dayak rice I
walked down to view the proceedings, and found the scene engrossing. Men
and women stood close together on each side of the long trough, crushing
the tuba with sticks in a similar manner to that adopted when pounding
rice.
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