The Pagan Tribes of Borneo Part 19

Fig. 3. -- Design on the arm of a Kabayan man. From a drawing by Dr. H. Hiller of Philadelphia.

Fig. 4. -- Design on the forearm of a Lepu Lutong woman. From a drawing.

Fig. 5. -- Design on the forearm of a Long Utan woman. From a rubbing of a carved model in the Sarawak Museum. (No. 1430.)

Fig. 6. -- Design on the thigh of a Long Utan woman. From a rubbing of a carved model in the Sarawak Museum. (No. 1426.)

Fig. 7. -- Kenyah design, representing the DURIAN fruit (USONG DIAN), tatued on the b.r.e.a.s.t.s or shoulders of men. From a tatu-block in the Sarawak Museum. (No. 1054.17.)

Plate 142.

Fig. 1. -- Tatu design on the forearm of a Kalabit woman. From a drawing.

Fig. 2. -- Tatu design on front of leg of a Kalabit woman. C = BETIK LULUD, shin pattern. From a photograph.

Fig. 3. -- Tatu design on back of leg of a Kalabit woman. A = BETIK BUAH, fruit pattern; B = BETIK LAWA, trunk pattern. From a drawing.

Fig. 4. -- Tatu design on front of leg of the same Kalabit woman. D = BETIK KARAWIN; E = UJAT BATU, hill-tops. From a drawing.

Fig. 5. -- Tatu design on the forearm of an Uma Long woman. From a drawing.

Fig. 6. -- Tatu design on arms and torso of a Biajau man of low cla.s.s. From a drawing by a Maloh.

Fig. 7. -- Tatu design on leg of Biajau man of low cla.s.s. From a drawing by a Maloh.

Fig. 8. -- Tatu design on shin of Biajau woman of low cla.s.s. From a drawing by a Maloh.

Fig. 9. -- Kajaman design representing the fruit of PLUKENETIA CORNICULATA (JALAUT), tatued on the b.r.e.a.s.t.s or shoulders of men. From a tatu-block in the Sarawak Museum. (No. 1054.21.)

Fig. 10. -- Tatu design on the biceps of an Ukit man, said to represent a bead (LUKUT). From a drawing.

Plate 143.

Fig. 1. -- Design (GEROWIT, hooks) tatued on the breast of a Bakatan man. From a tatu-block in the collection of H.H. the Rajah of Sarawak.

Fig. 2. -- ,,

Fig. 3. -- Design (AKIH, tree gecko) tatued on the shoulder of a Bakatan man. From a drawing.

Fig. 4. -- ,,

Fig. 5. -- Design tatued on the calf of the leg of an Ukit. From a photograph.

Fig. 6. -- Tatu design on the foot of a Kayan woman of low cla.s.s. From a drawing.

Fig. 7. -- Design representing an antique bead (LUKUT), tatued on the wrist of a Bakatan girl. From a drawing.

Fig. 8. -- Design (GEROWIT) tatued on the metacarpals of a Bakatan girl. From a drawing.

Fig. 9. -- Design (KANAK, circles) on the back of a Bakatan man. From a tatu-block.

Fig. 10. -- Design (GEROWIT) tatued on the throat of a Bakatan man. From a photograph.

CHAPTER 13

Ideas of Spiritual Existences and the Practices Arising From Them

The Kayans believe themselves to be surrounded by many intelligent powers capable of influencing their welfare for good or ill. Some of these are embodied in animals or plants, or are closely connected with other natural objects, such as mountains, rocks, rivers, caves; or manifest themselves in such processes as thunder, storm, and disease, the growth of the crops and disasters of various kinds. There can be no doubt that some of these powers are conceived anthropomorphically; for some of them are addressed by human t.i.tles, are represented by carvings in human form, and enjoy, in the opinion of the Kayans, most of the characteristically human attributes.

Others are conceived more vaguely, the bodily and mental characters of man are attributed to them less fully and definitely; and it is probably true to say that these powers, all of which, it would seem, must be admitted to be spiritual powers (if the word spiritual is used in a wide sense as denoting whatever power is fashioned in the likeness of human will and feeling and intelligence), range from the anthropomorphic being to the power which resides in the seed grain and manifests itself in its growth and multiplication, and which seems to be conceived merely as a vital principle, virtue, or energy inherent in the grain, rather than as an intelligent and separable soul.[88]

It has been said of some peoples of lowly culture that they have no conception of merely mechanical causation, and that every material object is regarded by them as animated in the same sense as among ourselves common opinion regards the higher animals as animated. On the difficult question whether such a statement is true of any people we will not presume to offer an opinion; but we do not think that it could be truthfully made about any of the peoples of Borneo. It would be absurd to deny all recognition or knowledge of mechanical causation to people who show so much ingenuity in the construction of houses, boats, weapons, and a great variety of mechanical devices, such as traps, and in other operations involving the intelligent application of mechanical principles. These operations show that, though they may be incapable of describing in abstract and general terms the principles involved, they nevertheless have a nice appreciation of them. If a trap fails to work owing to its faulty construction, the trapper treats it purely as a mechanical contrivance and proceeds to discover and rectify the faulty part. It is true that in this and numberless similar situations a man's movements may be guided by his observation of omens; but if, after obtaining good omens, he has success in trapping, he does not attribute the successful operation of the trap to any, activity other than its purely mechanical movements; though it may be, and probably in some such cases is, true that the Kayan believes the omen bird to have somehow intervened to direct the animal towards the trap, or to prevent the animal being warned against it. The Kayan hangs upon the tomb the garments and weapons and other material possessions of the dead man;[89] and it would seem that he believes that some shadowy duplicate of each such object is thereby placed at the service of the ghost of the dead man. This, it might be argued, shows that he attributes to each such inert material object a soul, whose relation to the object is a.n.a.logous to that of the human soul to the body. But such an inference, we think, would not be justified. As with the Homeric Greeks, the principle of intelligence and life is not to be altogether identified with the ghost, or shade, or shadowy duplicate of the human form that is conceived to travel to the Kayan Hades. The soul seems to be rather an inextended invisible principle; for, as the procedure of the soul-catcher[90] shows, it is regarded as capable of being contained within, or attached to, almost any small object, living or inert. It would seem, then, that after death the visible ghost or shade of a man incorporates and is animated by the soul; and that the visible shade of inert objects is, like themselves, inert and inanimate.

There is, then, no good reason to suppose that the Kayans attribute life, soul, or animation to inert material objects; and they do not explain the majority of physical events animistically.

The spiritual powers or spirits may, we think be conveniently regarded as of three princ.i.p.al cla.s.ses: --

(1) There are the anthropomorphic spirits thought of as dwelling in remote and vaguely conceived regions and as very powerful to intervene in human life. Towards these the att.i.tude of the Kayans is one of supplication and awe, grat.i.tude and hope, an att.i.tude which is properly called reverential and is the specifically religious att.i.tude. These spirits must be admitted to be G.o.ds in a very full sense of the word, and the practices, doctrines, and emotions centred about these spirits must be regarded as const.i.tuting a system of religion.

(2) A second cla.s.s consists of the spirits of living and deceased persons, and of other anthropomorphically conceived spirits which, as regards the nature and extent of their powers, are more nearly on a level with the human spirits than those of the first cla.s.s. Such are those embodied in the omen animals and in the domestic pig, fowl, dog, in the crocodile, and possibly in the tiger-cat and a few other animals.

(3) The third cla.s.s is more heterogeneous, and comprises all the spirits or impalpable intelligent powers that do not fall into one or other of the two preceding cla.s.ses; such are the spirits very vaguely conceived as always at hand, some malevolent, some good; such also are the spirits which somehow are attached to the heads hung up in the houses. The dominant emotion in the presence of these is fear; and the att.i.tude is that of avoidance and propitiation.

The G.o.ds

The Kayans recognise a number of G.o.ds that preside over great departments of their lives and interests. The more important of these are the G.o.d of war, TOH BULU; three G.o.ds of life, LAKI JU URIP, LAKI MAKATAN URIP, and LAKI KALISAI URIP, of whom the first is the most important; the G.o.d of thunder and storms, LAKI BALARI and his wife OBENG DOH; the G.o.d of fire, LAKI PESONG; G.o.ds of the harvest, ANYI LAw.a.n.g and LAKI IVONG; a G.o.d of the lakes and rivers, URAI UKA; BALANAN, the G.o.d of madness; TOH KIHO, the G.o.d of fear; LAKI KATIRA MUREI and LAKI JUP URIP, who conduct the souls of the dead to Hades.

Beside or above all these is LAKI TENANGAN, a G.o.d more powerful than all the rest, to whom are a.s.signed no special or departmental functions. He seems to preside or rule over the company of lesser G.o.ds, much as Zeus and Jupiter ruled over the lesser G.o.ds of the ancient Greeks and Romans.

The Kayans seem to have no very clear and generally accepted dogmas about these G.o.ds. Some a.s.sert that they dwell in the skies, but others regard them as dwelling below the surface of the earth. The former opinion is in harmony with the practice of erecting a tree before the house with its branches buried in the ground and the root upturned when prayers are made on behalf of the whole house; for the tree seems to be regarded as in some sense forming a ladder or path of communication with the superior powers. The same opinion seems to be expressed in the importance attached to fire and smoke in prayer and ritual. Fire, if only in the form of a lighted cigarette, is always made when prayers are offered; it seems to be felt that the ascending smoke facilitates in some way the communication with the G.o.ds.

While some G.o.ds, those of war and life, of harvest and of fire, are distinctly friendly, others, namely, the G.o.ds of madness and fear, are terrible and malevolent; while the G.o.d of thunder and those that conduct the souls to Hades do not seem to be predominantly beneficent or malevolent.

LAKI TENANGAN seems to be the supreme being of the Kayan universe. He is conceived as beneficent and, as his t.i.tle LAKI implies, as a fatherly G.o.d who protects mankind. He is not a strictly tribal G.o.d, for the Kayan admits his ident.i.ty with PA SILONG, and with BALI PENYLONG, the supreme G.o.ds of the Klemantans and Kenyahs respectively. In this, we think, the Kayan religion shows a catholicity which gives it a claim to rank very high among all religious systems.

LAKI TENANGAN has a wife, DOH TENANGAN, who, though of less importance than himself, is specially addressed by the women. The G.o.d is addressed by name in terms of praise and supplication; the prayers seem to be transmitted to him by means of the souls of domestic pigs or fowls;[91]

for one of these is always killed and charged to carry the prayer to the G.o.d. At the same time a fire is invariably at hand and plays some part in the rite; the ascending smoke seems to play some part in the establishment of communication with the G.o.d. As an example of a prayer we give the following. The supplicant, having killed a pig and called the messengers of the G.o.d, cries, "Make my child live that I may bring him up with me in my occupations. You are above all men. Protect us from whatever sickness is abroad. If I put you above my head, all men look up to me as to a high cliff."

Similar rites are observed on addressing DOH TENANGAN. The following was given us as an example, "Oh! DOH TENANGAN, have pity upon me; I am ill -- make me strong to-morrow and able to find my food."