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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Each Of The Seven Rods Is Called Ton-Dang, As Is The
Pointed Stick With Which At Present The Ground Is Prepared For Planting
Paddi.
MISCELLANEOUS
With the Kenyahs and many other tribes it is the custom to give boiled
rice that has stood overnight to the dogs, pigs, and hens; it is not
considered fit for human food.
Regarding the number of souls: The Murung says that each person has seven
souls, called brua, six being distributed as follows: one at the top of
the head, one in each eye and knee, and one in the navel. The Duhoi
(Ot-Danum) has also seven brua, one at the top of the head and one in each
eye, knee, and wrist.
Other tribes speak of three souls. The Kenyahs, according to Dr. J.M.
Elshout, have only one brua, located at times in the head, at times in the
heart; and the tiger-cat and the orang-utan have stronger brua than man.
The Katingans likewise recognise but one, called liao in life, and after
death. They also give the same name to the soul of an animal, but the more
common usage in the tribes is to call the ghost liao, by the Malays named
njava.
In regard to the practice of incision, which is used in Southwest Borneo,
Chapter XXXV, I am able to furnish some details gathered in Sampit from
three Dayaks who had been operated upon. A cut is made in the praeputium
lengthwise with a knife (further east a sharpened bamboo is used), a piece
of iron wood being used as a support, and the operation which in Katingan
is called habalak is performed by the father of the father's brother when
the boy is coming of age.
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