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
Here we had to stay two weeks, while the remainder of our baggage was
being brought up and until a new station for storing goods had been
established in the jungle higher up the river. Rajimin had an attack of
dysentery, and although his health improved he requested permission to
return, which I readily granted notwithstanding his undeniable ability in
skinning birds. He was afraid of the kihams, not a good shot, and so
liable to lose his way in the jungle that I always had to have a Dayak
accompany him. It is the drawback with all Javanese that, being
unaccustomed to these great jungles, at first they easily get lost.
Rajimin joined a few Malays in building a small float, on which they went
down the river. Several Malays aspired to succeed him as taxidermist, but
showed no aptitude. I then taught one of our Javanese soldiers who had
expressed interest in the matter. Being painstaking and also a good shot,
the new tokang burong (master of birds), the Malay designation for a
taxidermist, gave satisfactory results in due time.
One day while I was taking anthropometric measurements, to which the
Ot-Danums grudgingly submitted, one of them exhibited unusual agitation and
actually wept. Inquiring the reason, I learned that his wife had jilted
him for a Kapuas Dayak who, a couple of nights previously, when the
injured man was out hunting wild pigs for me, had taken advantage of the
husband's absence. Moreover, the night before, the rival had usurped his
place a second time, compelling the husband to go elsewhere. The incident
showed how Dayak ideas were yielding to Malay influence. He was in despair
about it, and threatened to kill the intruder as well as himself, so I
told the sergeant to strengthen the hands of the kapala. I could not
prevent the woman's disloyalty to her husband, but the new attraction
should not be allowed to stay in the house. This had the effect of making
the intruder depart a few minutes later, though he did not go far away.
The affair was settled in a most unexpected manner. The kapala being
absent, his substitute, _bonhomme mais borné_, and probably influenced by
her relatives, decided that the injured husband must pay damages f. 40
because he had vacated his room the night he went out hunting.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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