British Borneo: Sketches of Brunai, Sarawak, Labuan, and North Borneo — John Shaqi
British Borneo: Sketches of Brunai, Sarawak, Labuan, and North BorneoTreacher, W. H. (William Hood), Sir
History
British Borneo: Sketches of Brunai, Sarawak, Labuan, and North Borneo
Treacher, W. H. (William Hood), Sir
Great Britain -- Colonies -- Asia; Labuan; Sabah; Sarawak (Malaysia)
With this and his _bliong_ he performs all his carpentry work; from
felling the enormous timber tree in the jungle to the construction of
his house and boat. The _bliong_ is indeed a most useful implement and
can perform wonders in the hands of a Malay. It is in the shape of a
small adze, but according to the way it is fitted into the handle it can
be used either as an axe or adze. The Malays with this instrument can
make planks and posts as smooth as a European carpenter is able to do
with his plane.
The _parang ílang_ is a fighting weapon, with a peculiarity in the shape
of the blade which, Dr. TAYLOR informs me, is not known to occur in the
weapons of any other country, and consists in the surface of the near
side being flat, as in an ordinary blade, while that of the off side is
distinctly convex. This necessitates rather careful handling in the case
of a novice, as the convexity is liable to cause the blade to glance off
any hard substance and inflict a wound on its wielder. This weapon is
manufactured in Brunai, but is the proper arm of the Kyans and, now,
also of the Sarawak Dyaks, who are closely allied to them and who, in
this as in other matters, such as the curious perforation of a part of
their person, which has been described by several writers, are following
their example. The Kyans were once the most formidable Sub-Malay tribe
in Northern Borneo and have been alluded to in preceding pages. On the
West coast, their headquarters is the Baram River, which has recently
been added to Sarawak, but they stretch right across to the East Coast
and Dutch territory.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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