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
Dirang had brought many heads to the kampong, but finding all the people
dead and houses fallen down, he became angry and killed the slaves he had
brought back. He then went out on another hunt for heads. When the prahus
passed the kampong where Inyah was, all the people in the house saw them,
and Obongbadjang, her young son, who had heard much of Dirang, went down
to see him. "Where are you going?" asked Dirang. "I want to go with you,"
answered the boy. Dirang liked him, and let him into the prahu.
They travelled far and wide, and finally came to the kampong which they
wanted to attack. Dirang went in from one end of the house and
Obongbadjang from the other, and they cut the heads from all the people,
men, women, and children, and met in the middle of the house. Dirang was
wondering who this young man was who was strong like himself and not
afraid. "My name is Obongbadjang," he said, "the son of Dirang and Inyah."
He then ran away, although Dirang tried to keep him back, and he ran until
he arrived where his mother was.
On seeing his son run away Dirang felt "sick in his throat," then
collected all the heads, comprising the population of the whole kampong,
put them in the prahus, and returned to look for his son and wife. He
stopped at the same place where he had killed the big babi and made a hut.
He then went to look for Obongbadjang and Inyah. When he was walking under
the house, which was high up in the air, Inyah threw a little water down
on him. He turned his head up and saw there was a house, but there was no
ladder and he could not get up. They put out the ladder and he went up and
met Inyah again, who, until then, he did not know was alive. He also met
his son, and after remaining a little while he took them away to rebuild
their kampong.
NOTE.--"Sick in his throat," Saputan mode of speech for deep emotional
depression, is similar to our "feeling a choking in the throat." The
Malays say: "Sick in his liver."
For the sake of convenience the Malay name babi for a pig, perfectly known
to the Dayaks, has been maintained in this tale.
14. WHEN HUSBAND AND WIFE ARE ANTOHS
(From the Saputans; kampong Data Láong)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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