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
- Page 266 of 489 - First - Home
Sometimes
Damar Is Used To Dry The Flesh And The Eyes.
The last night out the head-hunters always sleep near their kampong, and
early next morning, while it is still dark, they come singing.
The people
of the kampong waken, array themselves in their best finery, and go to
meet them, the women wearing their newest skirts and bringing pieces of
nice cloth to present to the conquerors. The man who cut the head carries
it suspended from his neck until it is taken from him by a woman who gives
him the cloth to wear instead, possibly as a badge of heroism. It makes no
difference whether this service is performed by his wife, an unmarried
woman, or another man's wife. The singing ceases and all proceed to the
kampong, to the house of the kapala, where the heads are hung from the
beam at the head of the ladder, and the cloths which were bestowed upon
the victors are returned to the women. The heads are left hanging, while
for the festivities connected with their arrival a hut, called mangosang,
is constructed, consisting of an airy shelter made of two rows of bamboo
stalks supported against each other, and profusely adorned with the
inevitable wood shavings.
The head-hunters, who must take their food apart from their associates and
in the presence of the heads, now bring water from the river to boil rice,
in bamboo, outside on the gallery. When the cooking is finished the heads
are brought to take part in the meal, being hung near the place where the
men are to eat and about half a metre above the floor, to be out of reach
of dogs.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 266 of 489
Words from 70909 to 71192
of 132281
