Through Central Borneo; an Account of Two Years' Travel in the Land of Head-Hunters Between the Years 1913 and 1917Lumholtz, Carl
History
Through Central Borneo; an Account of Two Years' Travel in the Land of Head-Hunters Between the Years 1913 and 1917
Lumholtz, Carl
Borneo -- Description and travel; Ethnology -- Borneo; Natural history -- Borneo
The raja, who was extremely obliging, ordered the principal men of the
kampong to appear in complete war outfit, and showed us how an imaginary
attack of Iban head-hunters would be met. They came streaming one after
another down the ladder, made the evolutions of a running attack in close
formation, holding their large shields in front of them, then ran to the
water and paddled away, standing in their prahus, to meet the supposed
enemy in the utan on the other side of the river.
At noon the female blians were preparing for an important ceremony in the
dángei hut, with a dance round it on the ground later, and I therefore
went up to the gallery. The eight performers held each other by the hands
in a circle so large that it filled the hut. Constantly waving their arms
backward and forward they moved round and round. Some relics from Apo
Kayan were then brought in: a small, shining gong without a knob and a
very large bracelet which looked as if it had been made of bamboo and was
about eight centimetres in diameter. One of the blians placed the bracelet
round her folded hands and then ran round the circle as well as through
it; I believe this was repeated sixteen times. When she had finished
running they all walked in single file over into the gallery in order to
perform the inevitable mélah.
Shortly afterward followed a unique performance of throwing rice, small
bundles of which, wrapped in banana leaves, were lying in readiness on the
floor. Some of the men caught them with such violence that the rice was
spilled all about, and then they flipped the banana leaves at those who
stood near. Some of the women had crawled up under the roof in
anticipation of what was coming. After a few minutes passed thus, the
eight blians seated themselves in the dángei hut and prepared food for
antoh in the way described above, but on this occasion one of them pounded
paddi with two short bamboo sticks, singing all the while.
A very amusing entertainment then began, consisting of wrestling by the
young men, who were encouraged by the blians to take it up and entered the
game with much enthusiasm, one or two pairs constantly dancing round and
round until one became the victor. The participants of their own accord
had divested themselves of their holiday chavats and put on small ones for
wrestling. With the left hand the antagonist takes hold of the descending
portion of the chavat in the back, while with the right he grasps the
encircling chavat in front. They wrestled with much earnestness but no
anger. When the game was continued the following morning the young men
presented a sorry spectacle. Rain had fallen during the night, and the
vanquished generally landed heavily on their backs in the mud-holes, the
wrestlers joining in the general laugh at their expense. To encourage them
I had promised every victor twenty cents, which added much to the
interest.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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