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
If a man has the means he is free to take four wives, who may all be
sisters if he so desires. As to the number of wives a man is allowed to
acquire, no exception is made in regard to the kapala. A brother is
permitted to marry his sister, and my informant said that the children
resulting from this union are strong; but, on the other hand, it is
forbidden for cousins to marry, and a still worse offence is for a man to
marry the mother of his wife or the sister of one's father or mother. If
that transgression has been committed the culprit must pay from one to two
hundred rupias, or if he cannot pay he must be killed with parang or
klevang (long knife). The children of such union are believed to become
weak.
When twelve years of age girls are regarded as marriageable, and sexual
relations are absolutely free until marriage; in fact, if she chooses to
have a young man share her mat it is considered by no means improper. If a
girl should be left with child and the father cannot be found she is
married to somebody else, though no man is forced to wed her. Marriage
relations are very strict and heavy fines are imposed on people at fault,
but divorces may be had provided payment is made, and a widow may remarry
if she desires to do so.
When a person dies there is much wailing, and if the deceased is a father
or mother people of the same house do not sleep for three days. The corpse
remains in the house three days, during which time a root called javau is
eaten instead of rice, babi and bananas being also permissible. The body
is washed and wrapped in white cotton cloth, bought from Malay traders,
and placed in a coffin made of iron-wood. As the coffin must not be
carried through the door, the house wall is broken open for it to pass on
its way to a cemetery in the utan. Sometimes as soon as one year
afterward, but usually much later, the coffin is opened, the bones are
cleaned with water and soap and placed in a new box of the same material
or in a gutshi, an earthen jar bought from the Chinese. The box or jar is
then deposited in a subterranean chamber made of iron-wood, called kobur
by both Malays and Murungs, where in addition are left the personal
effects of the deceased,--clothing, beads, and other ornaments,--and, if a
man, also his sumpitan, parang, axe, etc. This disposition of the bones is
accompanied by a very elaborate feast, generally called tiwah, to the
preparation of which much time is devoted.
According to a conception which is more or less general among the Dayaks,
conditions surrounding the final home of the departed soul are on the
whole similar to those existing here, but before the tiwah feast has been
observed the soul is compelled to roam about in the jungle three or four
years, or longer, until that event takes place. This elaborate ceremony is
offered by surviving relatives as an equivalent for whatever was left
behind by the deceased, whose ghost is regarded with apprehension.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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