Seventeen Years Among the Sea Dyaks of Borneo: A Record of Intimate Association with the Natives of the Bornean JunglesGomes, Edwin Herbert
History
Seventeen Years Among the Sea Dyaks of Borneo: A Record of Intimate Association with the Natives of the Bornean Jungles
Gomes, Edwin Herbert
Iban (Bornean people); Sarawak (Malaysia) -- Description and travel
The way in which the Dyak works gutta is this:—He wanders in the jungle
till he finds a gutta-tree. He cuts it down, and rings it neatly all
along the trunk and branches at intervals of a foot or two with a kind
of hollow chisel that he brings with him for the purpose. Under each
ring he puts a leaf made into a cup to catch the milk-white sap which
slowly exudes. Into each of these he puts a little scraped bark of the
tree. Then he collects all the sap, and boils it until the gutta is
precipitated at the bottom of the pot like a mass of dough. This is taken
out while it is still soft, placed upon a board, and kneaded vigorously
with the hands, and afterwards trodden with the bare feet. When it is
almost too stiff to work, it is flattened out carefully, and then rolled
into a wedge-shaped mass. A hole is punched through the thin end, through
which a string is put to carry it, and it is ready for sale. This crude
gutta has a mottled or marbled light brown appearance, which is given
to it by the scraped bark which is mixed with it. The juice of the wild
fig-tree (_Ficus_) or of the different species of bread-fruit trees
(_Artocarpus_) is sometimes used to adulterate it.
Sometimes, instead of working gutta, the Dyaks earn money by collecting
canes, or _rotan_. A journey is made by a party of them to some jungle
region where canes abound, and they collect the various marketable
species of the genus _Calamus_. These canes are creeping plants the
stems of which are covered with a hard flinty bark. The leaves are very
thorny, and cling to the trees and branches around. The older part of
the cane has no leaves. It is very tough and strong, and in size about
one-quarter of an inch in diameter. It is easily split, and used for the
seats of chairs, etc.
Sometimes the Dyaks join others in the collection of edible birds’-nests
for the Chinese market. This is a great industry in those parts of Borneo
where there are large limestone caves, in which these nests are found.
The caves are farmed out by Government, and whatever is obtained over the
amount paid to Government is the profit of the workers. In Upper Sarawak
certain tribes possess caves in which edible birds’-nests are found, and
they divide the nests with the Government.
Sometimes Dyaks who wish to earn a little extra money go and help these
tribes in collecting birds’-nests, and get a share of the profits, or
more often they go to small caves which belong to no one in particular
and collect birds’-nests for themselves, and then give a share of what
they find to the Government.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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