The Pagan Tribes of Borneo Part 12

Hat-making

The large flat circular hat worn by the Kayans for protection against sun and rain is made by the women from the large leaves of a palm. It is the only important handicraft practised by the women only. The hard tough fluted leaves are pressed flat and dried, when the flutes form ribs diverging from the stem. Triangular pieces of the length of the radius of the hat (I.E. from twelve to eighteen inches) are cut and then sewn together in a double layer; those of the upper layer radiate from the centre; those of the under layer are disposed in the reverse direction, so that their ribs diverge from the periphery, crossing those of the upper layer at an acute angle. This arrangement gives great rigidity to the whole structure. The two layers are st.i.tched together by threads carried round the hat in concentric circles at intervals of about one inch. The peripheral edges are sewn to a slender strip of rattan bent to form a circle, the two ends overlapping. The centre is generally finished with a disc of metal or strong cloth on the outer surface (Pl. 45). The hats hung upon the tombs are decorated on the upper surface with bold designs painted in black and red.

Most of the other tribes make similar hats, and the Malanaus and Land Dayaks are especially skilled in this craft. The former make very large hats of similar shape, the upper surface being of strips of rattan dyed red and black, and woven to form elaborate patterns.

Besides these sun-hats, the Kayans and Kenyahs and some of the Klemantans weave with fine strips of rattan close-fitting skull-caps and head-bands. The ends of the strips, some three or four inches in length, are sometimes left projecting from the centre or forming a fringe round the lower edge.

The close-fitting hemispherical war-cap is made of rattans about half an inch thick split in halves.

The Making of the Blow-pipe

The blow-pipe or SUMPITAN is perhaps the finest product of native Bornean craftmanship. It is made by Kayans, Kenyahs, and Punans, and rarely by Ibans and Klemantans.

The best sumpitans are made from the hard straight-grained wood of the JAGANG tree. Having chosen and felled the tree, often one of large size, the craftsman splits from it long pieces about eight feet in length. Such a piece is shaved with the adze until it is roughly cylindrical and three to four inches in diameter (Pl. 112). The piece may be carried home to be worked at leisure, or the boring may be done upon the spot. A platform is erected about seven feet above the ground; and the prepared rod is fixed vertically with the upper end projecting through the platform, its lower end resting on the ground (Pl. 113). Its upper end is lashed to the platform, its lower end to a pair of stout poles lashed horizontally to trees, and its middle to another pair of poles similarly fixed.

The next operation, the boring of the wood, is accomplished by the aid of a straight rod of iron about nine feet long, of slightly smaller diameter than the bore desired for the pipe, and having one end chisel-shaped and sharpened. One man standing on the platform holds the iron rod vertically above the end of the wood, and brings its sharp chisel edge down upon the centre of the flat surface. Lifting the rod with both hands he repeats his blow again and again, slightly turning the rod at each blow. He is aided in keeping the rod truly vertical by two or three forked sticks fixed horizontally at different levels above the platform in such a way that the vertical rod slides up and down in the forks, which thus serve as guides. The rod soon bites its way into the wood. An a.s.sistant, squatting on the platform with a bark-bucket of water beside him, ladles water into the hole after every two or three strokes, and thus causes the chips to float out. This operation steadily pursued for about six hours completes the boring. In boring the lower part, the craftsman aims at producing a slight curvature of the tube by very slightly bending the pole and lashing it in the bent position; the pole on being released then straightens itself, and at the same time produces the desired slight curvature of the bore. This curvature is necessary in order to allow for the bending of the blow-pipe, when in use, by the weight of the spearblade which is lashed on bayonet-fashion. If the desired degree of curvature is not produced in this way, the wooden pipe, still in the rough state as regards its outer surface, is suspended horizontally on loops, and weights are hung upon the muzzle end until, on sighting through the bore, only a half circle of daylight is visible -- this being the degree of curvature of the bore desired. The wood is then heated with torches, and on cooling retains the curvature thus impressed on it.

It only remains to whittle down the rough surface to a smooth cylinder slightly tapering towards the muzzle (Pl. 114), to polish the pipe inside and out, to lash on the spear-blade to the muzzle end with strips of rattan, and to attach a small wooden sight to the muzzle end opposite the spear-blade. The polishing of the bore is effected by working to and fro within it a long piece of closely fitting rattan; that of the outer surface, by rubbing it first with the skin of a stingray (which, although a marine fish, sometimes ascends to the upper reaches of the rivers), and afterwards with the leaf (EMPLAS) which is the local subst.i.tute for emery paper.

The shaft of the poisoned dart is made from the wood of the NIBONG and wild sago palms. It is about nine inches in length and one-sixteenth to one-eighth of an inch in diameter (Pl. 115). On to one end of this is fitted a small tapering cylinder of tough pith, about one inch in length, its greatest diameter at its b.u.t.t end being exactly equal to the bore of the pipe. The pith is shaved to the required diameter by the aid of a small wooden cylinder of the standard size (Fig. 42); this is prolonged in a pin of the same diameter as the shaft of the dart. A piece of pith transfixed by the pin is shaved with a sharp knife until its surface is flush with that of the wooden gauge.

The poison is prepared from the sap of the IPOH tree, ANTIARIS TOXICARIA. The milky sap runs out when the bark is incised, and is collected in a bamboo cup (Pl. 88). It is then heated slowly over a fire in a trough made from the leaf stem of a palm, until it becomes a thick paste of dark purple brown colour (Pl. 116). When the poison is to be applied to the darts, it is worked into a thinner paste on a palette with a spatula. A circular groove is cut round the shaft of the dart about two inches from its tip, and the part so marked off is rolled in the paste and then dried before a fire. For use against large game, pig, deer, or human beings, a larger dose of poison is required than can be carried on the tip of the shaft. A small triangular piece of metal is affixed by splitting the tip of the shaft, thrusting in the base of the triangular plate, and securing it with a fine thread of rattan or fern-stem. The poison is then applied to the surface of this metal. The metal is obtained nowadays from imported tin or bra.s.s ware, but formerly a slip of hard wood was used, and, possibly, in some cases stone.

The quiver for carrying the darts is a section of bamboo about four inches in diameter and ten inches in length, fitted with a cap of the same which fits over the shaved lip of the main piece (Fig. 44). A wooden hook lashed to the quiver enables it to be hung from the belt. The darts, mostly without piths, are wrapped in a squirrel skin and thrust tip downwards into the quiver. A small gourd tied to the quiver carries a supply of piths all ready to be placed on the darts.

Pottery

The importation of earthenware and of cooking pots of bra.s.s and iron has now almost put an end to the native manufacture of pottery; but in former times simple earthenware vessels for boiling rice were made by Kayans, Kenyahs, Ibans, and some of the Klemantans. Those who made no pots boiled their rice and sago in bamboos. The earthenware cooking pot is a simple egg-shaped vessel, one end of which is open and surrounded by a low everted lip or collar (Fig. 8, p. 60).

The clay is kneaded with water on a board until it has the desired consistency. The vessel is then built up on a hollowed base by squeezing the clay between a smooth rounded stone held by one hand within the vessel and a flat piece of wood, with which the clay is beaten from without. The roughly shaped vessel is allowed to dry in the sun and baked in the fire. In some cases the surface is smoothed and glazed by rubbing resin over its surface while hot.

Pots of this one shape only are made, but of several sizes. The commonest size holds about a quart; the largest about two gallons. A pot of this sort is carried in a basket made of fine unsplit rattans loosely woven in the form of interlacing rings.

The Manufacture of Bark-cloth

The native cloth, which was in universal use among the tribes of the interior until largely supplanted in recent years by imported cloth, is made from the bark of trees of several species (princ.i.p.ally the k.u.mUT, the IPOH, and the wild fig). The material used is the fibrous layer beneath the outer bark. A large sheet of it is laid on a wooden block and beaten with a heavy wooden club in order to render it soft and pliable. A piece of the required size and shape is cut from the sheet, and sewn across the direction of the fibres with needle and thread at intervals of about an inch. This prevents the material splitting along the direction of the fibres. Before European needles were introduced, the st.i.tching was done by piercing holes with a small awl and pushing the thread through the hole after withdrawing the awl (>Pl. 117).

Spinning and Weaving and Dyeing of Cloth

The Kayans, Kenyahs, and most of the Klemantans weave no cloth; but the Kayans claim, probably with truth, that they formerly wove a coa.r.s.e cloth. In recent years the Ibans, Muruts, and a few of the Klemantan tribes have been the only weavers. It may be said, we think, without fear of contradiction, that this is the only craft in which the Ibans excel all the other peoples. Their methods are similar to those of the Malays, and have probably been learnt from them. The weaving is done only by the women, though the men make the machinery employed by them.

The fibre used by the Ibans is cotton, which is obtained from shrubs planted and cultivated for the purpose. The seed is extracted from the ma.s.s of fibre by squeezing the ma.s.s between a pair of rollers arranged like a rude mangle, while the fibre is pulled away by hand (Pl. 118). Next the thread is spun from the ma.s.s of fibre by the aid of a simple wheel, turned by the right hand while the left hand twists the fibres (Pl. 119). The dyeing precedes the weaving if a pattern is to be produced. The web is stretched on a wooden frame about six feet long and twenty inches in width, by winding a long thread round it from end to end. The parts of the web corresponding to the parts of the cloth that are to remain undyed and of the natural pale brown colour of the thread are tied round with dried strips of a fibrous leaf (LEMBA), the upper and lower set of threads being wrapped up together in the same bundles (Pl. 120). If only one colour is to be applied, the web is then slipped off the frame. The threads are held in their relative positions by the wrappings, but are further secured by tying a string tightly about the whole bundle at each end. The web thus prepared is soaked in the dye for some two or three days, and then dried in a shady spot. The wrappings upon the threads are waterproof and protect the wrapped parts from the dye. When, after the dyeing, the web is stretched upon the loom, it presents the desired pattern in colour upon the undyed ground. The undyed weft is then woven across the web in the usual way. And since the threads of the weft do not appear on the surface, the dyed parts of the web present a uniformly coloured surface (Pl. 121).

In most cloths two colours, as well as the natural colour of the thread, appear on the surface -- the commonest colour being a warm brick red (obtained from the bark of the SAMAK tree) and a dark purple (obtained from the leaves of the TARUM plant). Lime and gypsum are sometimes mixed with the watery extracts as mordaunts, but these are probably modern refinements. When two colours are to appear, those parts of the web which are to be of one colour (say purple) are wrapped up during the immersion in the red dye together with the parts that are to appear uncoloured. When this first dyeing is completed the web is prepared for the purple dye, by uncovering the undyed parts which are to be purple, and wrapping up in bundles the threads which have already been dyed red. After being soaked in the purple dye and dried, all the wrappings are removed from the web, and the desired pattern in three colours appears upon it when it is stretched. Perhaps the most noteworthy feature of the operation of dyeing is that the woman generally wraps up the threads in the way required to produce the pattern without any guidance, judging the length and number of the threads to be included in each bundle purely by memory of the design aimed at.

The only striking peculiarity of the loom is its extreme simplicity. The upper ends of the web are looped over a stout bar which is fixed to a pair of uprights about a yard above the floor. The lower ends of the web are looped over a stout rod, to the ends of which a loop of cord is tied. The woman sits on the ground, (see Pl. 121) with this loop around her waist, and thus stretches the web and maintains the necessary tension of it. The manipulation of the shuttle and of the threads of the web is accomplished without other mechanical aids than the rods to which the one set of webthreads is tied by short threads.

CHAPTER 12

Decorative Art

All the tribes of Borneo practise a number of decorative arts. Some of the Klemantans, notably the Malanaus, excel all other tribes, in that they attain a high level of achievement in a great variety of such arts; but each tribe and sub-tribe preserves the tradition of some one or two decorative arts in which they are especially skilled. Thus some of the Klemantan tribes specially excel in the finer kinds of wood-carving (E.G. the decoration of paddles); the Kayans in tatuing and in chasing designs on steel; the Kenyahs in the painting of shields and in the production of large designs carved in low relief on wood and used for adorning houses and tombs; both Kayans and Kenyahs excel in the carving of sword-handles in deer's horn; the Barawans and Sebops in beadwork; the Kalabits and Ibans in tracing designs on the surface of bamboo; Punans in the decorative mat-work; Kanowits and Tanjongs in basket-work.

Wood-carving is the most generally practised and on the whole the most important of the decorative arts. Much of it is done on very hard wood; and the princ.i.p.al tools are the sword, the small knife carried in the sword-sheath, and adzes and axes of various sizes. The blade of the knife is some three inches in length, resembling in general shape the blade of the sword; it is wider in proportion, but has the same peculiar convexity of the one side and concavity of the other in transverse section. The shaft is sunk into the end of a rod of hard wood and secured with gutta and fine rattan lashing. The handle of hard wood is about a foot in length, half an inch in diameter, and slightly bowed in the plane of the blade, the convexity being in the direction of the cutting edge of the blade. The b.u.t.t end of the handle is cunningly carved in the shape of a crocodile's head, or prolonged in a piece of carved deer's horn. The blade of the knife is held between the thumb and finger of the right hand, the cutting edge directed forwards, and the long handle is gripped between the forearm and the lower ribs; the weight of the body can thus be brought to the a.s.sistance of the arm in cutting hard material. With this knife most of the finer carving is done, the adze and sword being used chiefly for rough shaping.

The adze consists of a flat blade of steel in the shape of a highly acute-angled triangle (Pl. 111). The slightly convex base is the cutting edge. The upper half of the triangle (which may or may not be marked by a shoulder) is buried in the lashings by which it is attached to the wooden haft. The haft is a small bough of tough, springy wood, cut from a tree, together with a small block of the wood of the stem; the latter is shaved down until it forms an oblong block continuous with the haft and at an angle to it of 70[degree] -- 80[degree]. The upper half of the metal blade is laid upon the distal surface of this block and lashed firmly to it with fine strips of rattan. A piece of skin is often placed between the metal and the lashings; this facilitates the removal of the blade, and enables the craftsman to alter the angle between the cutting edge and the haft. Commonly the blade is laid in the plane of the haft, and the implement is then what we should call a small axe; on turning the blade through go', it is converted to a small adze; and not infrequently the blade is turned through a smaller angle, so that its plane forms an acute angle with that of the haft.

Carved woodwork is commonly painted with black and red paint, prepared respectively from soot and iron oxide mixed with sugar-cane juice or with lime; the moist pigment is applied with the finger on larger surfaces, and the finer lines and edges are marked out with the aid of a chisel-edged stick of wood.

Beadwork

Old beads are much valued and sought after by all the tribes except Ibans, especially by the Kayans. There are few families of the upper cla.s.s that do not possess a certain number of them.

Many varieties are well known, and some of the Kayan women are very expert in recognising the genuine old specimens, and in distinguishing these varieties from one another and from modern imitations.

Formerly these old beads were one of the princ.i.p.al forms of currency, and they still const.i.tute an important part of the wealth of many families.

Most of these valuable old beads are of foreign manufacture, though a few made from sh.e.l.l and agate are of the country. The old foreign-made beads were probably imported by Arab and Chinese traders at various dates. Some of them are probably of Chinese manufacture, others probably came from the near East and even from Venice. Some are of gla.s.s curiously marked and coloured, others of stone inlaid with bits of different colours, others of some hard substance whose composition defies description. Certain rare kinds are especially valued and can hardly be bought at any price; they are reckoned to be worth at least 100 dollars apiece. The most valuable of all is known as the LUKUT SEKALA; the ownership of each such bead is as accurately known throughout a large district as the ownership of the masterpieces of ancient art in our own country. The wife of a rich chief may possess old beads to the value of thousands of pounds, and will wear a large part of them on any occasion of display (Pl. 130). These old beads are worn threaded together to form necklaces and girdles, being arranged with some reference to harmony of size and colour and to value, the most valuable being placed in the middle where they will be shown to best advantage. A single rare bead is sometimes worn on the wrist.

A woman who possesses a good stock of such beads will seldom be seen without some of them on her person. She will occasionally exchange a few for other varieties, and is generally eager to add to her collection; she may occasionally make a present of one or two to some highly esteemed friend or relative, and will generally a.s.sign them, but without handing them over, to various female relatives before her death.

Besides these valuable old beads there are in use among all the tribes many small gla.s.s beads of modern European manufacture. These are threaded to form a variety of designs, generally in two colours, the combination of black and yellow being the most commonly preferred. These strips of beadwork are put to many decorative uses: they are applied to the women's head-bands, to the centre of the sun-hat, to sword sheaths, to cigarette boxes, to the war-coat at the nape of the neck, and, by some Klemantans, to the jackets of the women.

The designs worked in this way are but few, and most of them are common to all the tribes. The thread used is prepared by rolling on the thigh fibres drawn from the leaf of the pine-apple; it is very strong and durable. The design to be reproduced is drawn or carved in low relief on a board. A thread is fixed across the end of the board and others are tied to it at short intervals; on these the beads are threaded, neighbouring threads being tied together at short intervals; and the colours of the beads are selected according to the demands of the pattern over which they are worked.

Besides these designs on the flat, ta.s.sels, girdles, necklaces, ear-rings, and cigarette rings are also made of these beads. The modern imported beads used for these purposes are sometimes improved by being ground flat on the two surfaces that adjoin their neighbours; this is done by fixing a number of them into the cut end of a piece of sugar-cane and rubbing this against a smooth stone. This treatment of the beads gives to the articles made of them a very neat and highly finished appearance.

Bamboo Decorations

The working of designs on the surface of pieces of bamboo is done very simply, but none the less effectively. Among the bamboo articles generally decorated in the way to be described are the native drinking-cup, the tobacco-box, and tubes for carrying flint and steel and all sorts of odds and ends.

The pattern to be produced is outlined with the point of the knife upon the surface of the bamboo, the artist working from memory of the desired pattern and adapting it to the proportions of the surface to be covered. The Iban works more freely than others, working out the pattern and modifying it to meet the exigencies of his material, section by section, as he goes along. Others plan out the design for the whole surface before working out any part in detail. It is probable that in no case does a man sit down and produce a new pattern; but the freer mode of working of the Iban leads him on to greater modifications of the traditional designs; and it is probably partly for this reason that a much larger variety of designs is applied in this way by them than by the other tribes, among whom they are very limited in number. But the greater variety of designs worked by the Ibans is due also to the readiness with which he copies and adopts as his own the patterns used by other tribes. The Kayans and Kenyahs use almost exclusively varieties of the dog pattern and of the hook and circle (see Fig. 47).

The design outlined by the point of the knife is made to stand out boldly from the ground by darkening the latter. This is achieved in two ways: (1) the ground is covered with parallel close-set scratches, not running continuously throughout the larger areas of the ground, but grouped in sets of parallel lines some few millimetres in length, the various sets meeting at angles of all degrees; (2) the hard surface of the bamboo is wholly sc.r.a.ped away from the ground areas to a depth of about half a millimetre. In either case the black or red paint is then smeared over the whole surface with the finger, and when it has become dried the surface is rubbed with a piece of cloth (Kayan), or sc.r.a.ped lightly with a knife (Iban). The pigment is thus removed from the intact parts and remains adherent to the lines and areas from which the hard surface layer has been removed. The design is thus left in very low relief, and is of the natural colour of the bamboo upon a black or dark-red ground, or on a ground merely darkened by the parallel scratches (Pls. 126, 127).

Lashing