Stirring scenes in savage lands : $b An account of the manners, customs, habits and recreations, peaceful and warlike, of the uncivilised worldGreenwood, James
History
Stirring scenes in savage lands : $b An account of the manners, customs, habits and recreations, peaceful and warlike, of the uncivilised world
Greenwood, James
Anthropology
When the small-pox was committing dreadful havoc among the Sakarangs
the villagers would not allow themselves to be innoculated; they ran
into the jungle in every direction, caring for no one but themselves,
leaving their houses empty and dwelling far away in the most silent
spots in parties of two and three and sheltered only by a few leaves.
When these calamities come upon them they utterly lose all command
over themselves and become as timid as children. When the fugitives
become short of provisions a few of the old men who have already had
the complaint creep back to the houses at night and take a supply of
rice. In the daytime they do not dare to stir or speak above a whisper
for fear the spirits should see or hear them. They do not call the
small-pox by its name, but are in the habit of saying, “Has he left
you?” at other times they call it jungle-leaves or fruit; at other
places the Datu or chief.
Their priests frequently use the names of invisible spirits, and are
supposed to be able to interpret their language as well as to hold
communion with them; and in ordinary times they pretend to work the
cure of the sick by means of incantations, and after blinding the
patient’s eyes pretend, by the aid of the spirits, to draw the bones
of fish or fowl out of their flesh. When the Dayaks are questioned as
to their belief in these easily-exposed deceits, they say, No; but the
custom has descended to them from their ancestors, and they still pay
their priests heavy sums to perform the ancient rites.
They believe in a future state--considering that the Simaūgat or
spiritual part of man lives for ever; that they awake shortly after
death in the Sabayan or future abode, and that there they find those of
their relatives and friends who have departed before them. Some tribes
divide their Sabayan into seven distinct stories which are occupied by
the souls of the departed according to their rank and position in life.
The really wicked occupy the lowest, but whether happy or miserable
they acknowledge ignorance.
The Kayans of Baram have some singular ideas concerning a future state.
The name of their god is Totadungan and he reigns over all; they
say he has a wife but no children, and beneath him are many gods of
inferior power. They believe in a future state with separate places for
the souls of the good and the bad, and that both heaven and hell are
divided into many distinct residences--that those who die from wounds,
or sickness, or drowning, go to separate places. If a woman dies before
her husband they hold that she goes to heaven and marries again; but
that if when her earthly husband dies he goes to heaven the celestial
match is broken off and the old husband claims his partner.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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