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
Every night while we were camped here, and frequently in the day, as if
controlled by magic, the numerous dogs belonging to the Dayaks suddenly
began to howl in chorus. It is more ludicrous than disagreeable and is a
phenomenon common to all kampongs, though I never before had experienced
these manifestations in such regularity and perfection of concerted
action. One or two howls are heard and immediately all canines of the
kampong and neighbouring ladangs join, perhaps more than a hundred in one
chorus. At a distance the noise resembles the acclamations of a vast crowd
of people. The Penihings and Oma-Sulings treat man's faithful companion
well, the former even with affection; and the dogs, which are of the usual
type, yellowish in colour, with pointed muzzle, erect ears, and upstanding
tail, are in fine condition. A trait peculiar to the Dayak variety is that
he never barks at strangers, permitting them to walk on the galleries or
even in the rooms without interference. Groups of these intelligent
animals are always to be seen before the house and on the gallery, often
in terrific fights among themselves, but never offensive to strangers.
They certainly serve the Dayaks well by holding the pig or other animal at
bay until the men can come up and kill it with spear. Some of them are
afraid of bear, others attack them. They are very eager to board the
prahus when their owners depart to the ladangs, thinking that it means a
chase of the wild pig. Equally eager are they to get into the room at
night, or at any time when the owner has left them outside. Doors are
cleverly opened by them, but when securely locked the dogs sometimes, in
their impatience, gnaw holes in the lower part of the door which look like
the work of rodents, though none that I saw was large enough to admit a
canine of their size. One day a big live pig was brought in from the utan
over the shoulder of a strong man, its legs tied together, and as a
compliment to me the brute was tethered to a pole by one leg, while the
dogs, about fifty, barked at and harassed it. This, I was told, is the way
they formerly were trained. As in a bull-fight, so here my sympathy was
naturally with the animal, which managed to bite a dog severely in the
side and shook another vigorously by the tail. Finally some young boys
gave it a merciful death with spears.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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