CHAPTER IV
DYAK BABIES AND CHILDREN
A Dyak baby is much like any other baby in being a little helpless human thing that spends most of his time in sleeping and feeding, worrying its mother with its constant wants, but yet loved greatly by her, and as it grows up, making its parents proud of it, and amusing them by its cunning little ways. Its colour varies from a light brown with a tinge of yellow to a dark chocolate, and it wears no clothing at all until it is five or six years old.
Until a civilised government interfered to prevent such cruel murders, there used to be a custom among the Dyaks that if the mother died when her child was born, the poor babe should pay the penalty and be buried with the mother. The reasons given for this cruel act was that the child was the cause of the mother's death, and that there was no one to nurse and care for it. No woman would dare to nurse such an orphan, lest it should bring misfortune upon her own children. Therefore the poor child was often placed alive in the coffin with the dead mother, and both were buried together. That was the old cruel Dyak custom, but I am glad to say it is a long time since it has been carried out. I have myself known many cases among the Dyaks where the mother has died, and the orphan has been adopted and brought up by some friend or relative.
When a child is born a fowl is waved over it as a kind of offering to the gods and spirits. This fowl is then killed, cooked, and eaten by the parents, and any friends that may be present.
During the first three days the child receives its bath in a wooden vessel in the house, but on the fourth day it is taken to the river. Some curious ceremonies attend its first bath in the river. An old man of some standing, who has been successful in his undertakings, is asked to bathe the child. He wades into the river holding the child in his arms. A fowl is killed on the bank, a wing is cut off, and if the child be a boy this wing is stuck upon a spear, and if a girl it is fixed to the slip of wood used to pass between the threads in weaving, and this is fixed on the bank, and the blood allowed to drop into the stream, as an offering to propitiate the spirits supposed to inhabit the waters, and to insure that, at any rate, no accident by water shall happen to the child. The remainder of the fowl is taken back to the house and cooked and eaten.
At some period after the child's birth – it may be within a few weeks or it may be deferred for years – a ceremony is gone through in which the gods and spirits are invoked to grant the child health and wealth and success in all his undertakings. This ceremony is generally postponed for some years if the parents are poor, in order to enable them to save a little to pay for the entertainment of their friends and relations on the occasion. Where the parents are better off, the ceremony is held a few weeks after the birth of the child. Several witch doctors are asked to take part in this performance. A portion of the long open hall of the Dyak house is screened off by large hand-woven Dyak sheets, and within these the mother sits with the child in her arms. The witch doctors walk round and round singing an incantation. Generally there is a leader who sings by himself for a few minutes, then he pauses, and turns round to his followers, and they all sing in chorus. Then the leader sings by himself again, and so on. They all walk round, first turning their feet to the right, and stamping on the floor, then pausing a moment, and turning their feet to the left, still stamping. This ceremony begins in the evening and goes on for several hours. When it is over, food is brought out to the assembled guests, and all partake of the provided feast.
The proceedings differ very much according to the wealth and standing of the parents. Among the poor, it is a very quiet affair – two or three witch doctors attend, and only the near relatives of the child are present. On the other hand, among those who are rich, this ceremony is made the occasion of holding a great feast, and inviting people from all parts to attend. Pigs and fowls are killed for food. Jars of tuak (a spirit obtained from rice) are brought forth for the guests to drink, and all are invited to rejoice with the parents.
The naming of the child is not made the occasion for any ceremonies, and it is not unusual to meet children of seven or eight years old who have not yet received a name. They are known by some pet name, or are called endun (little girl) or igat or anggat (little boy).
Even when a name is given to a child, it is often changed for some reason or other. The Dyaks have a great objection to uttering the name of a dead person, so, if the namesake of a child dies, at once a new name is chosen. Again, if the child be liable to frequent attacks of illness, it is no uncommon thing for the parents to change the name two or three times in the course of a year. The reason for this is that all sickness and death are supposed to be caused by evil spirits, who are put off the scent by this means. When they come to take the child's soul away, they do not hear the old name uttered any more, and so they conclude he no longer exists, and return without him!
Dyak children do not have many toys. Little girls are sometimes seen with rudely-carved wooden dolls, and little boys play with models of boats. The boys are fond of spinning tops, which they make for themselves.
The Dyaks are very fond of children, and treat them very kindly. They rarely if ever punish them. The children have a great deal of liberty, but are not often unruly, disobedient or disrespectful. They are generally very fond of their parents, and when they grow older, do as they are told from a desire to please them.
Dyak children have very soon to make themselves useful. A little boy of ten or eleven accompanies his father to his work and helps him as best he can. A boy is very proud when he has succeeded in making his first dug-out canoe, which he sometimes does at fifteen. I have often, when on a visit to a Dyak village, been asked by some boy to see the first boat he has made, and I have been shown, not a toy boat, but a canoe in which three men could sit comfortably.
The girls like to help their mothers and learn to become useful at an early age, and to do the different kinds of work a woman is expected to do. When a woman is plaiting a mat of split cane, or of reeds, she often gives the short ends, which she has cut off, to her little girl, who sits by her and tries to make a little mat with them. I have often seen little girls of ten and eleven being taught by their mothers how to weave cloth.
It is sad to think of these Dyak children in Borneo living in constant fear of evil spirits, and not knowing anything about God. The missionaries try to teach the little ones, and at each up-country Mission Station there is a small school for Dyak boys. Here they are taught about God, and are cut away from all the superstitious customs which they would constantly see in their Dyak homes. Many of these boys, after being at school for a few years, return to their own people, taking back with them the good lessons they have learnt, and in many cases influencing their friends and relatives for good, and leading some of them to become Christians. A few of these schoolboys are sent on to the larger school at the capital to be taught English. These are the boys who, one hopes, will in after years become teachers and catechists among their own people. There are so few Dyak books that it is necessary that a Dyak teacher should learn English in order to be able to educate himself by reading English books.
CHAPTER V
MANNER OF LIFE – OCCUPATION
The Dyaks are industrious and hard-working, and in the busy times of paddy2 planting they work from early in the morning till dusk, only stopping for a meal at midday. The division of labour between the men and the women is a very reasonable one, and the women do their fair share of work. The men do the timber-felling, wood-cutting, clearing the land, house and boat building, and the heavier work generally. The women help in the lighter part of the farm work, husk and pound the rice they eat, cook, weave, make mats and baskets, fetch the water for their daily use from the well or river, and attend to the children.
With regard to paddy planting on the hills, the work is divided between the men and women in the following manner. The men cut down the jungle where the paddy is to be planted. When the timber and shrubs have been burnt, the men and women plant the grain. The roots and stumps of trees are left in the ground. The men walk in front with a long heavy staff in the right hand of each, and make holes in the ground, about a foot apart. The women walk behind them and throw a few grains of seed in each hole.
When the paddy has grown a little, the ground has to be carefully weeded; this work is done by the women. When the crop is ripe, both men and women do the reaping. They walk between the rows of standing grain, and with a sharp, oddly-shaped little knife, they cut off the heads one by one, and place them in their baskets which are tied to their waists in front of them. The carrying home of the paddy thus reaped is mostly done by the men, who can carry very heavy loads on their back, though the women help in this work to some extent. The next thing is to separate the grain from the little tiny stems to which it is still attached. This is done by the men. The grain is placed on a large square sieve of rattan or cane, fixed between four posts in the verandah of the Dyak house, and the men tread on it and press it through the sieve. The paddy that falls through is taken and stored in the loft in large round bins made of bark.
When rice is wanted for food, the paddy is dried in the sun, and then pounded by the women in wooden mortars with pestles five feet long. As a rule two or three women each use their pestles at one mortar, which is cut out of the trunk of a tree. I have seen as many as six girls use their pestles in quick succession at one mortar. In this way the grain is freed from husk, and is made ready for food.
The Dyak marries at an early age, and lives in a long village house with many other families, and does his best to get as much paddy as possible each year. He rises on work-days early in the morning, partakes of his frugal meal of rice and salt, or rice and fish, varied by a piece of wild pork or venison, which he may have received as a gift or bought from some hunting friend. His wife wraps up his midday meal for him in the spathe of a Pinang palm, and he goes to his work of cutting down the jungle for planting, returning home in the evening.
There are days when he does not go to work on his paddy farm, but spends his time in getting firewood, or mending things in his room, or in sitting about in the common verandah chatting with his friends.
When the paddy is planted and has grown a little, and the time of weeding draws near, the family remove to the little hut put up in the paddy farm. When the weeding is done, the family return to the long Dyak house and remain there for about two months. Then they go back to their hut to watch the ripening paddy, and guard it against attacks of birds and beasts.
Paddy planting is the chief occupation of every Dyak, but he has plenty of time for other things, and his life is not quite so monotonous as may be supposed. The actual work of paddy planting, and everything connected with it, such as the building of farm huts, and the getting ready of farming implements, takes up seven or perhaps eight months of the year. The Dyak has therefore a certain amount of time during which he can visit his friends, make boats, or earn a little extra money by hunting for such jungle produce as canes, gutta, or camphor.
The ordinary boats of the Dyaks are cut out of a single log. Some of my schoolboys, under the guidance of the native schoolmaster, once made a small canoe for their own use, so I saw the whole process. A tree having a long straight stem was felled, and the desired length of trunk cut off. The outside was then shaped to take the desired form of the canoe. Then the inside was hollowed out. The next thing to do was to widen the inside of this canoe. This was done by filling the boat with water and making a fire under it, and by fastening large stone weights on each side. When the shell had been sufficiently opened out, thwarts were placed inside, about two feet from each other, to prevent the boat getting out of shape when the wood dried. The stem and stern of the canoe are alike, both being curved and pointed, and rising out of the water.
This is the usual type of Dyak boat, and the method of making a smaller or larger canoe is exactly the same. Even a war-boat, ninety feet long, is made from the trunk of one tree. In the longer boats planks or gunwales are stitched on the sides, and the seams are caulked, so as to render the boat water-tight.
The only tool used for making a Dyak boat of this kind is the Dyak axe or adze (bliong). This is a most excellent tool, and is forged of European steel, which they procure in bars. In shape it is like a small spade, about two and a half inches wide, with a square shank. This is set in a thin handle of hard wood, at the end of which there is a woven pocket of cane to receive it. The lower end of this handle has a piece of light wood fixed to it to form a firm grip for the hand. The bliong can be fixed in the handle at any angle, and is therefore used as an axe or adze. With it the Dyaks can cut down a great forest tree in a very short time, and it is used for cutting planks and doing their carpentering work.
While the work of the men is to build houses and to make boats, the work of the women is to weave cloth and make mats and baskets. The women plant their own cotton, beat it out with small sticks, and by means of a spinning-wheel make their own yarn. This yarn is not so fine as that of English manufacture, but it is stronger and keeps its colour well. At the present time, however, a great deal of the cloth woven by the Dyaks is done with yarn of English make. The warp is arranged in the loom, and the weaver sits on the floor and uses her hands and feet, the latter working the treadles. The threads of the woof are then passed backwards and forwards. The work is very slow, and Dyak weaving very tedious. They use vegetable dyes, and the women blend the colours in a pleasing manner, though there is a great sameness in the designs. The cloth they make is particularly strong and serviceable.
Mats are made either with split cane or from the outer bark of reeds. The women are very clever at plaiting, and some of their mats are very fine in texture. They also make baskets of different shapes and sizes, some of which have coloured designs worked into them.
CHAPTER VI
HEAD-HUNTING
The custom of head-hunting at one time prevailed to a great extent among the Dyaks. In the old days no Dyak chief of any standing could be married unless he had been successful in obtaining the head of an enemy. For this reason it was usual to make an expedition into the enemy's country before the marriage feast of any great chief. The head brought home need not be that of a man; the head of a woman or child would serve the purpose quite as well.
There were certain ancient customs which necessitated the possession of a human head. When any person died, the relatives went into mourning. They put away their ornaments and finery, and these were tied together in bundles. At the feast in honour of the dead, these bundles were all undone, and the men and women were allowed to wear their ornaments again. Some man cut the string with which they were tied up, but before he could do such a thing, it was necessary that a human head be brought into the house, and it was usual for the man who had obtained that head to take a leading part in the ceremonies and cut open the bundles. It was also customary to make an offering of a fresh human head to the spirits when a new village house was to be built.
But these customs are not now universally observed. At the feast in honour of the dead, the headman of the house generally cuts open the bundles of finery that have been put away, and at the building of a new house, the killing of a pig is supposed to satisfy the demands of the spirits.
It is presumed that a man, who has secured a human head, must necessarily be brave. But this need not be the case at all, for, as I have already mentioned, the head may be that of a woman or child. Again, the heads need not be obtained in open warfare. Very often the head of an enemy is taken while he is asleep. Nor is it necessary that a man kill his victim alone with his own hand. Frequently many of his friends help him to kill some unfortunate man whom they have waylaid.
In the old days an expedition, that one tribe intended to take against another, was announced at one of their feasts, when the village was thronged with guests from far and near. Some great chief would advance his reason for the desired attack. Either some of his people had been slain and revenge was called for, or else they required a human head to enable them to put off their mourning. Or perhaps they wished to build a new house, and required some human heads to offer to the spirits of the earth. Or, possibly, he himself wished to marry, and wanted a head as a proof of his valour in the eyes of his lady-love. Among the crowd who listened, there would be many who wished to follow him on the war-path. The women would urge their husbands, or lovers, or brothers to go. The chief would choose a certain number to form a council of war. These would discuss the matter, and it would be decided when the party was to start for the enemy's country, and how much food each man was to take with him.
Then the War Spear would be sent round to the neighbouring villages, to let all know of the expedition. A man would bring the spear to a long Dyak village house, deliver his message, and return, leaving the spear to be carried on by one of the men in that house to the next village, and so on. At once the men in that house would get their war-boats ready. They would furbish up their arms, and sharpen their weapons, and decorate their helmets and war-jackets.
The costume a Dyak wears when going on the war-path, consists of a basket-work cap, decorated with feathers, and sometimes with human hair, a sleeveless skin or cotton jacket, and the usual Dyak costume of the waistcloth. For weapons, he has a sword. This may be of foreign or of their own make. It is a dangerous weapon at close quarters. He also has a spear consisting of a long wooden shaft of some hard wood with a steel spear-head, which is tied on firmly to the shaft with cane. For defensive purposes the Dyak has a large wooden shield, about three feet long, which, with its handle, is hollowed out of a single block of wood. It is held in the left hand, well advanced before the body, and meant not so much to receive the spear-point, as to divert it by a twist of the hand. It is generally painted in bright colours, and often decorated with human hair.
Sometimes the shaft of the spear is a sumpit or blow-pipe. This is a small wooden tube about eight feet long. The smoothness and straightness of the bore is remarkable. The hole is drilled with an iron rod, one end of which is chisel-pointed, through a log of hard wood, which is afterwards pared down and rounded till it is about an inch in diameter.
The dart used with the sumpit is usually made of a thin splinter of the nibong palm, stuck into a round piece of very light wood, so as to afford a surface for the breath to act upon. These darts are sharpened to a fine point, and are carried in neatly-carved bamboo quivers.
The poison for these darts is obtained from the ipoh tree (upas). Though the wound made by the dart is very slight, yet so potent and deadly is the poison, that death follows in a very short time.
The Dyaks do not attack a village if their approach has been discovered, and the people are on the defensive. Under these circumstances, they content themselves with cutting off stragglers, or hide near the water-side for people who are going to bathe, or on their way to examine their fish-traps. These they attack unawares, cut down, take their heads, and escape into the jungle before the alarm is given.
When fighting, the Dyak warriors gather round their chiefs and defend them bravely. Relatives often cluster together for mutual help. When one of them is killed, rather than allow the enemy to take his head, they decapitate him themselves, and bring his head back.
On the return from a war expedition, if the people of any particular boat have secured a human head, word is sent up to the Dyak village house, as soon as the boat reaches the landing-stage. The men remain in the boat, and wait there, till all the women-folk come to it dressed in their best. The excitement is great, and there are continual shouts of triumph as the women, singing a monotonous chant, surround the hero who has killed the enemy and lead him to the house. He is seated in a place of honour, the head is put on a brass tray before him, and all crowd round him to hear his account of the battle, and how he succeeded in killing one of his foes.
The Dyaks value very highly the heads taken in war. They hang them over the fireplaces in the long open verandahs of their houses, they make offerings to them, and they believe that the souls of those whom they have slain will be their slaves in the other world. I look upon it as a remarkable fact worthy of record, that two great Dyak chiefs, who became Christians – one the Orang Kaya of Padih, Saribas, and the other, Tarang of Krian – should have taken such a decided step as to refuse to treasure their enemies' heads any more. They were both men of position, with a great reputation for bravery. Two of the grandchildren of the Orang Kaya were at my school at Temudok for some time. A son of Tarang, Tujoh by name, worked as my Catechist in Krian for several years. While so many Dyak Christians are most unwilling to give up all their old heathen customs, these two Christian Dyak chiefs happily took up the right attitude, in such an important matter in the eyes of the Dyaks as head-hunting.