The blood of a fowl, with the same addition, is offered.
The plandok's liao is given this to eat in order that he may not cause the
occupant of the house to die; the animal is then carried into the utan,
about an hour's walk, and set free. Three days afterward they sacrifice a
pig, the blood of which, with the usual admixture, is given to the bad
antoh who sent the plandok, with entreaties not to kill the man. For seven
days the head of the house stays in the kampong, being free to bathe in
the river and walk about, but he must not go outside the settlement.
The red monkey is an attendant of a bad antoh, and if he enters a house or
comes on the roof or underneath the house it is considered very
unfortunate. There is no remedy and the owner must move elsewhere; the
house is demolished, the wooden material carried away and erected in
another kampong. Should he remain at the same place there would be much
strife between him and his neighbours. If a wah-wah climbs on a roof the
house will burn down. There is no remedy for this either; the incumbent
leaves and makes a new home.
On the other hand, should a scaly ant-eater enter a room it is a joyful
event, indicating that the owner will become rich. The animal is caught,
blood from a fowl is smeared over him, and he is carried back to the utan.
If it should so happen that a red-backed lizard, a timid animal rather
common about kampongs, enters a house it also brings good luck. A good
antoh gave it the order to come, and it means much paddi, a gutshi, and
other good things. Three fowls must be sacrificed and the people also
dance.
CHAPTER XXXIV
FUNERAL CUSTOMS OF THE KATINGANS - DEPARTURE FROM KASUNGAN - AN ATTEMPTED
VISIT TO SEMBULO - INDIFFERENT MALAYS - A STRANGE DISEASE - THE BELIEF IN
TAILED PEOPLE - THE LEGEND OF THE ANCESTOR OF TAILED MEN
When a liao departs through the top of the head and death occurs, gongs
are beaten for twenty-four hours. Five or six men set to work to make a
beautiful coffin similar to the one already described; this is often
finished in a day and the corpse, having been washed, is immediately
placed within it. For a man a new chavat of wood fibre is adjusted around
the loins, without other vestments. Another day is consumed in the work of
decorating the coffin, which is done by men, while women weave diminutive
mats, which are left less than half finished and are laid on top of the
casket. For three days and as many nights the remains are kept in the
house, and, if a man, his duhong (ancient knife), parang, knife, spear,
sumpitan, betel box, tobacco container, and much food are placed nearby.
After these matters have received attention, food is eaten by those
present. Fires are kept burning within the house and also outside, and
after each meal the people strike one another's legs with firebrands in
order to forget their grief. Members of the family, who begin to wail
immediately after his death, continue to do so constantly for seven days,
and they wear no red garments until after the tiwah feast which
constitutes his second funeral. The coffin is buried in the ground or
placed on a crude platform, and, when this work is finished, thorough
ablution in water containing leaves which possess qualities especially
adapted to this purpose is the rule for everybody concerned. This is done
to the end that no odour of the dead shall linger, thus exposing the
living to danger from the bad antoh that is responsible for the
unfortunate event which necessitated their recent activities. Later, all
partake of tuak, including the children.
After this preliminary disposal of the body the family begins to plan for
the second and final funeral, which is considered a compensation to the
departed soul for the property he left behind. Caution demands that they
be very punctilious about this, for the ghost, though believed to be far
above this plane, is thought to be resentful, with power to cause
misfortunes of various kinds and therefore is feared. Until recently, when
a man of means died, a slave had to be killed and his head placed on top
of the coffin. When time for the second funeral, the tiwah, came round
another slave was killed and his head hung near by. They are his
attendants in the next life, but many more and elaborate arrangements are
necessary to satisfy the demands of the liao, and they must be fully
complied with on the celebration of the tiwah, the most elaborate of all
feasts in Borneo.
When the deceased is well-to-do this observance may follow immediately,
but usually years go by and many liaoes are served at the same time. On
the great occasion the coffin is put on a big fire for a couple of hours
until the flesh has been burned from the bones, which are then collected
in a small box and placed in a house of limited proportions especially
constructed for this purpose and called sandung. It is made of ironwood,
and in these regions the people have a preference for placing it high
above the ground, but it may also be put underground in a subterranean
chamber also made of ironwood, which may take five or six months to
construct and which is large enough to accommodate a family. The feast
lasts one week, during which food and tuak are provided. Every night the
women dance inside the house, around a tree composed of many bamboo stalks
placed together so as to form a large trunk.
