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 52 of 489 - First - Home
The Punans Make Fire By Iron And Flint Which Are Carried In A Small Bamboo
Box.
They are expert regarding the manufacture of the sumpitan
(blow-pipe), and are renowned for their skill in using this weapon and can
make the poisonous darts as well as the bamboo caskets in which these are
carried.
Subsisting chiefly upon meat, their favourite food is wild pig.
At the birth of a child all the men leave the premises, including the
husband. The dead are buried in the ground a metre deep, head toward the
rising sun. The Punans climb trees in the same manner as the Kayans and
other Dayaks I have seen, i.e., by tying their feet together and moving
up one side of the tree in jumps. The Kayans in climbing do not always tie
the feet.
These shy nomads remained in camp two days and allowed themselves to be
photographed. One morning seven of them went out to look for game, armed
with their long sumpitans and carrying on the right side, attached to the
girdle, the bamboo casket that contained the darts. They formed a
thrilling sight in the misty morning as in single file they swung with
long, elastic steps up the hill. Though the Punans are famous as hunters
and trappers, they returned in a few hours without any result. Next
morning when I ventured to begin taking their measurements they became
uneasy and one after another slipped away, even leaving behind part of
their promised rewards, rice and clothing for the women, and taking with
them only tobacco and a large tin of salt, which I rather regretted, as
they had well earned it all.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 52 of 489
Words from 13944 to 14224
of 132281