While he sings he keeps his head down behind the shield, which
is held in upright position, and he strikes either with right or left
hand. He had scarcely performed a minute when a change came over him. He
stamped one foot violently upon the floor, ceased playing, and seemed to
be in a kind of trance, but recovered himself quickly. A good antoh, one
of several who possessed him, had returned to him after an absence and had
entered through the top of his head. So strong is the force of
auto-suggestion.
It was a matter of considerable interest to me to meet here
representatives of two nomadic tribes of Borneo who had formed small
settlements in this remote region. I had already made the acquaintance of
the Punans in the Bulungan, but as they are very shy I welcomed the
opportunity of meeting them on more familiar terms. For more than a
generation a small number has been settled at Serrata, six hours walking
distance from Long Kai. The other nomads, called Bukats, from the
mountains around the headwaters of the Mahakam, have lately established
themselves on the river a short distance above its junction with the
Kasao; a few also live in the Penihing kampong Nuncilao. These recent
converts from nomadic life still raise little paddi, depending mostly upon
sago. Through the good offices of the Long Kai kapala people of both
tribes were sent for and promptly answered the call. The Punan visitors
had a kapala who also was a blian, and they had a female blian too, as had
the Bukats.
The Punans are simple-minded, shy, and retiring people, and the other
nomads even more so. The first-named are more attractive on account of
their superior physique, their candid manners, and somewhat higher
intellect. The natural food of both peoples is serpents, lizards, and all
kinds of animals and birds, the crocodile and omen birds excepted. With
the Bukats, rusa must not be eaten unless one has a child, but with the
Punans it is permissible in any case. The meat of pig is often eaten when
ten days old, and is preferred to that which is fresh. In this they share
the taste of the Dayak tribes I have met, with the exception of the
Long-Glats. I have known the odour from putrefying pork to be quite
overpowering in a kampong, and still this meat is eaten without any ill
effect. Salt is not used unless introduced by Malay traders. And evidently
it was formerly not known to the Dayaks.
None of these jungle people steal and they do not lie, although children
may do either. They were much afraid of being photographed and most of the
Bukats declined. A Bukat woman had tears in her eyes as she stepped
forward to be measured, but smiled happily when receiving her rewards of
salt, tobacco, and a red handkerchief. It had been worth while to submit
to the strange ways of the foreigner.
Both tribes are strictly monogamous and distinguished by the severe view
they take of adultery, which, however, seldom occurs. While it is regarded
as absolutely no detriment to a young girl to sleep with a young man,
matrimonial unfaithfulness is relentlessly punished. Payment of damages is
impossible. The injured Punan husband cuts the head from both wife and
corespondent and retires to solitude, remaining away for a long time, up
to two years. If the husband fails to punish, then the woman's brother
must perform the duty of executioner. The Bukats are even more severe. The
husband of an erring wife must kill her by cutting off her head, and it is
incumbent on her brother to take the head of the husband. At present the
Punans and Bukats are relinquishing these customs through fear of the
Company.
The Bukats told me that they originally came from the river Blatei in
Sarawak, and that Iban raids had had much to do with their movements.
According to their reports the tribe had recently, at the invitation of
the government, left the mountains and formed several kampongs in the
western division. One of them, with short stubby fingers, had a broad
Mongolian face and prominent cheek-bones, but not Mongolian eyes,
reminding me somewhat of a Laplander.
The Punans and the Bukats have not yet learned to make prahus, but they
are experts in the manufacture of sumpitans. They are also clever at
mat-making, the men bringing the rattan and the women making the mats.
Cutting of the teeth is optional. The gall of the bear is used as medicine
internally and externally. In case of fractured bones a crude bandage is
made from bamboo sticks with leaves from a certain tree. For curing
disease the Punans use strokes of the hand. Neither of these nomadic
tribes allow a man present when a woman bears a child. After child-birth
women abstain from work four days. When anybody dies the people flee,
leaving the corpse to its fate.
Having accomplished as much as circumstances permitted, in the latter part
of May we changed our encampment to Long Tjehan, the principal kampong of
the Penihings, a little further down the river. On a favourable current
the transfer was quickly accomplished. We were received by friendly
natives, who came voluntarily to assist in putting up my tent, laying
poles on the moist ground, on which the boxes were placed inside. They
also made a palisade around it as they had seen it done in Long Kai, for
the Dayaks are very adaptable people. Several men here had been to New
Guinea and they expressed no desire to return, because there had been much
work, and much beri-beri from which some of their comrades had died.
