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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At The Headwaters Of The Kayan River In Apo Kayan
Lives A Subtribe, Oma-Lakan, Said To Number About 400; These Do Not File
The Front Teeth.
In Chapter IX is described a recent head-hunting raid by
the Kenyahs on these Kayans.
KENYAHS
The Kenyahs are found only within the Bulungan district on the Kayan
River. They are settled principally at the headwaters in Apo Kayan and at
the sources of a northern tributary, the Bahau, in Podjungan. In these two
regions it is estimated that they number altogether about 25,000. 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.
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