“That is what I also cannot make out,” the Dayak assured him. “As a rule the grasping of the hair and the blow itself take place so rapidly that the victim has no time to utter a cry. Some instances of rapidity have been recorded where the victims actually make a few steps onward waving their arms about after decapitation. The Dayak boys of the upper regions regularly cultivate head-hunting as a fine art. They first place a cocoanut on the top of a thin post and practice until they are able to cut the post clean through just under the point where the nut rests upon it without injuring the latter. Later on, as they advance in years and their strength increases, the post is replaced by an effigy of a large boy, the neck of which is made of a piece of soft but elastic wood, and in order to complete the illusion they adorn the nut with a wig formed of the fibres of the arengpalm, which, when properly made, strongly resembles the thin hair of the natives. Hence their great dexterity.” “To which I can add,” Johannes continued, “that the Dayaks of the lower country are just as great experts in the handling of their mandauws. I have witnessed at Kwala Kapoeas how, in the presence of the Colonel, any Dayak, however weak in appearance, could without visible effort divide in halves at a single blow a ripe green cocoanut, while none of the Europeans could manage to penetrate beyond the fibre.” “It seems a curious custom to offer one’s lady-love these human heads,” Schlickeisen continued. “Quite so; but yet it has a meaning,” Johannes answered. “Formerly it must have been a proof of his valor given by the bridegroom to his bride, to demonstrate that he was capable of protecting his wife and children. What better guarantee than the head of one of his enemies killed by his own hand could be offered by a primitive community? This custom afterwards became degraded by turning skulls into an article of luxury or of established traffic. Thus an institution originating in the best intentions became the curse of the whole population.” “But these atrocities cannot be practiced in the lower country, can they?” Wienersdorf asked of Dalim. “The Dutch will not allow them,” the latter replied. “So that you only abandon the practice because it is prohibited. Don’t you consider head-hunting an abominable occupation?” “Who can say? Perhaps according to my views it is not,” was the phlegmatic reply, proving that the perception of its horror had not greatly impressed him. While they were conversing in this strain the night crept on and day at last reappeared, to the great delight of our travellers.