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 Kapala's House I Saw A Superb Plank, Four Metres Long, Raised
Lengthwise Against The Wall; One Side Of It Was Taken Up With Fine
Carvings On A Large Scale, Representing Three Pairs Of Dogs.
This I
fortunately obtained.
The kapala's father was an Oma-Suling, but his
grandmother, a Long-Glat, had taught him some kremi or kesa, the Malay
words for folklore (in Long-Glat, lawong), and I collected from him two
rather interesting tales, which are included with other folklore stories
at the end of this book. In one of them (No. 18) the airplane is
foreshadowed, and by one that could fly for a month, at that. Needless to
state, an airplane had never been heard of in those parts.
The people were inquisitive but more distant than the other tribes I had
visited, a quality which is often a saving grace. They were very willing
to be photographed, and among my subjects were three women of the
nobility, called rajas, who had many coins sewn on their skirts in a way
that looked quite well. One wore a head ornament such as I had not seen
before, an elaborate affair lying over the hair, which was worn loose and
hanging down the back. One man trembled noticeably when before the camera,
without spoiling the photograph, however, though it was a side-view.
Of the women who helped me with the interpretations of designs, one had a
marked Mongolian fold of the eye, though her eyes could scarcely be said
to be placed obliquely.
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