Sea Dayaks

“ Applied to the Sea Dayaks alone has the statement an element of truth. Among them to have taken a head does commonly enhance a wooer's chances of success, and many Sea Dayak girls and their mothers will taunt a suitor with having taken no head, but few of them will make the taking of a head an essential condition of the bestowal of their favour or of marriage. ”

“ The Dayaks are almost as dirty as the Negritos in the Philippines, and yet they are both certainly the merriest people I have ever met with. The heartiest and most unaffected laughter I have ever heard proceeded from the throats of Dayaks and Negritos. It almost seems as if dirt in some cases constitutes true happiness. ”

“ I persuade myself that the more the natives of Borneo are studied, the more lively will be the interest felt in them. The energy displayed by the Sea Dayaks, gives much hope of their advancement in civilization at a future time; and a few years of quiet and steady government would produce a great change in their condition. The Land Dayaks scarcely display the same aptitude for improvement, but patience may do much with them also; their modes of thought, their customs, and the traces of Hinduism in their religion, [3] render them a very singular and interesting people. ”

“ Of Dayaks there are, as already stated, two sorts, the Land-Dayak and the Sea-Dayak, the first of Indonesian, the second of proto-Malay stock. The former are a quiet, timid, industrious people, honest, and by no means lacking in intelligence, living on hill-tops to which they have fled from their oppressors; the latter throve on piracy, having been brought to this by the Muhammadan Malays and the half-bred Arabs. But even among the Sea-Dayaks a few tribes had not been thus vitiated, and upon these the late Rajah could always rely for support. ”

“ Such a black mark is worn more especially on going away from the house. Sea Dayaks sometimes go farther under such circumstances. They place the new-born child in a small boat and allow it to float down river, and standing upon the bank call upon all the evil spirits to take the child at once, if they mean to take it, in order that the parents may be spared the greater bereavement of losing it some years later. ”

“ The Sibuyau Dayaks of Lundu, from their greater intercourse with Malays and Chinese, and from the advantages they have derived from local self-government, and freely trading with the surrounding districts, have lost most of their old superstitions, as I have noticed in my account of the Sea Dayaks: nor must I omit to mention that their intercourse with a succession of able European officers, and the constant presence among them of Mr. Gomez, a missionary of singular tact, have had a remarkable effect upon their characters, and rendered them a very superior tribe. ”

“ They are equally industrious with the Sea Dayaks, and though somewhat slow and heavy in both mind and body, they are more skilled in the handicrafts than any of the other peoples. They also speak one language, which presents even less local diversity than the Sea Dayak language. ”

“ First they are offered betel nut and sirih leaf smeared with lime to chew, for among the Sea Dayaks this chewing takes the place of the smoking of cigarettes which is common to all the others; and they are then fed and entertained individually, or by twos and threes, in various rooms. No pig is killed or rice-spirit offered, though possibly a toasted bat or bit of salted wild pig will be served as a relish.
At great feasts the Sea Dayaks drink more freely than the other peoples, except the Muruts. Men and women alike drink deeply, and many become intoxicated. ”

“ The Malays sometimes make good bargains with them by using soft and flattering language, but the Dayaks often repent of being so wheedled, and will claim justice before the courts.
The Sea Dayaks, contrary to ancient custom, have the habit of keeping a few slaves, and are generally kind masters; but the system has been a very bad one, as many unfortunate people have become so in consequence of the debts or the crimes of their parents or grand-parents. It is scarcely right to give the name of slaves to these people, as on the payment of the original debt or fine they become free. ”

“ It is very satisfactory to be able to state that the Sea Dayaks have a clear idea of one Omnipotent Being who created and now rules over the world. They call him Batara; beneath him are many good and innumerable bad spirits, and the fear of the latter causes them to make greater offerings to them than to the good spirits. The awe with which many of them are named has induced a few, among others, Mr. Chambers, to imagine that their religion is a species of polytheism. ”

“ Another very curious and strikingly simple plan is employed by the Sea Dayaks for catching the Argus pheasant, whose beautiful wing feathers are highly valued. The cock-birds congregate at certain spots in the jungle, where they display their feathers and fight together. These spots they clear of all obstacles, pulling and pushing away sticks and leaves with their heads and necks, as well as scratching with their feet. The Dayaks, taking advantage of this habit, thrust vertically into the ground slips of bamboo, the edges of which are hardened in the fire and rendered very sharp. ”

“ In the Baram, a river inhabited by warlike Kayans and Kenyahs, the Malays, nominal rulers and traders, lived on sufferance alone, and so it was in the Sea-Dayak countries of the Batang Lupar, Saribas, and Rejang. Over the Malays, the Land-Dayaks, and the Melanaus, the Bruni Government had power—the Sea-Dayaks and Kayans scorned it. The sherips, as the title denotes, are of Arab origin, and they claim descent from the Prophet. They are half-breeds, and were dangerous men. ”

“ The Ulu Ai [327] Dayaks, or, as the name implies, those inhabiting the head-waters of the Kapuas, Rejang, and Batang Lupar, are nowadays the sole offenders, and although they lead others astray, these troubles involve but a small proportion of the Dayak population, but five per cent, or one per cent of the entire population of Sarawak.
375A quarter of a century ago, Malays were forced to live together in villages, for their protection against the Sea-Dayaks, and were constrained to move in strong and well-armed parties when visiting these people for the purpose of trade. ”

“ When all are dead, the proud Dayaks, proceed to hack off the heads of their victims and bind them round with rattan strings with which to carry them, and then, returning in triumph, are hailed with shouts of delight by their envious fellow-villagers, for this means wives, a Dayak maiden thinking as much of heads as a white girl would of jewellery. ”

“ They are an active little people.
In Sarawak these people are spoken of consistently as “Sea Dayaks,” or more generally “Dayak.” It is customary for the Dutch and other Europeans to term all the interior tribes of Borneo “Dayak,” with or without a qualifying designation. As there is such confusion of the terminology in the text-books, I consider it better to boldly face the situation and to introduce a new term to science to which a perfectly definite meaning can be applied.
Most of the Iban inhabit low-lying land ”

“ The Sea Dayaks, as I have observed, generally prefer male children; and the more mischievous and boisterous they are when young the greater the [49] delight they afford their parents. The observation, “He is very wicked,” is the greatest praise. They indulge them in everything, and at home give way to their caprices in an extraordinary manner. If the parents are affectionate to their children, the latter warmly return it. Instances have even occurred when, oppressed by sorrow at the reproaches of a father, a child has privately taken poison and destroyed himself. ”

“ In addition to these two groups we expected a large party of Madangs, a famous tribe of fighting men of the central highlands whose hand had hitherto been against every other tribe, and a large number of Sea Dayaks, who, more than all the rest, are always spoiling for a fight, and who are so passionately devoted to head-hunting that often they do not scruple to pursue it in an unsportsmanlike fashion. ”

“ The Sea-Dayaks, as well as the Land-Dayaks, and those tribes inhabiting the interior are alike pagans, and possess but a dim and vague belief in certain mythical beings who, between them, made man and gave him life. These gods are styled Batara or Patara and Jewata—Sanskrit names introduced by the Hindus. ”

“ Fifty years ago there were but few of them to be found outside the Batang Lupar, Saribas, and Kalaka river-basins, but now, though the population on these rivers has grown considerably, it is less than that of the same race on the Rejang alone, and they are spreading into the Oya, Muka, Tatau, and Baram river-basins. The Melanau population of the two first-named rivers live entirely either on the coast or near to it, and the Dayaks found the upper reaches unoccupied.
The Sea-Dayaks have many good qualities that are more or less lacking in the other inland tribes. ”

“ As in camping-parties in other parts of the world, the cooking is generally regarded as a nuisance to be shirked if possible. The Sea Dayaks indulge in these expeditions more frequently than others, and such parties of them may often be found at great distances from their homes. In the course of such long excursions they not infrequently penetrate into the regions inhabited by other tribes, and many troubles have had their origin in the truculent behaviour of such parties. ”

“ These are old blood-feuds, which undoubtedly originated with the interior tribes, and arose probably from an instinctive fear of the gradual advance of a more dominant race into their country, and from a not unnatural desire to check it. So far as the main population of the Sea-Dayaks is concerned these feuds have long ceased, but with the Ulu Ai Dayaks of the Rejang, those living on the head-waters, brought as they are by their situation in contact with these interior tribes, the case is different. ”

“ But, though time and circumstances may alter the nature of these semi-savages, and head-hunting will gradually become less popular, as the danger to those indulging in it is increased, still the savage old Adam will remain dormant in the nature of the Sea-Dayaks for many years to come, and at times must break out, as surely, and for the same reason, as it does in other parts of the world, and amongst far more civilised people ”

“ The longing these Dayaks have acquired for head-hunting is surprising. They say, “The white men read books, we hunt for heads instead.” Until the [68] Sarawak Government curbed their proceedings they were known to coast down as far as Pontianak, and occasionally they had been met forty miles out at sea in their rattan-tied boats, some of them seventy feet in length. In rough weather most of the crew jump overboard and hold on to the sides while the rest bale the boat out. ”

“ I had been at Sibu only three or four days, when word was brought down to Dr. Hose that the Ulu [195] Ai Dayaks, near Fort Kapit, about one hundred miles up the river, had attacked and killed a party of Punans for the sake of their heads. These Punans are a nomadic tribe who wander about through the great forests with no settled dwelling-places, but build themselves rough huts and hunt the wild game of the forest and feed on the many wild fruits that are found in these forests. Hose at once decided to go up to Fort Kapit and punish these Dayaks, and gave me leave to accompany him and Shelford. ”

“ Hose made objections to my doing so. He said it would be very unsafe for me to live among these Kapit Dayaks at the present time, as they were naturally in a very excitable state, and would have thought little of killing one of the “orang puteh” (white men) , whom they no doubt considered the cause of all their trouble. They would be sure to take me for a government official. Hose instead advised [203] me to go up a small unexplored branch river below Sibu, so as the launch was returning to Sibu I determined to return in her, leaving Hose and Shelford at Kapit. ”

“ Balaus and Seboyaus, 158; the Sea-Dayaks difficult to control, 321; the Ulu Ai Dayaks give trouble, 374, 375; well-disposed Dayaks, 375; their energy and thrift, 376, 387; they give the Dutch trouble, 377; punitive expeditions, 378; treachery of the Tamans and Bunut Malays, 379; expedition against the Upper Batang Lupar Dayaks, 380; insolence of the Kapuas Dayaks, ib.; the Dutch administer a lesson, 381; fourth Katibas expedition, ib.; lapse of the Sekrangs ib.; their punishment, 382; the upper Rejang Dayaks, ib.; are attacked, 383; raid by the Seriang Dayaks, ib.; Kadang, attacked, ib. ”

“ It would also be necessary to keep strict watch over their canoe, which contained all their riches. The efficient defence of these several positions would certainly be too much for their small number of men, none of whom had yet enjoyed a good night’s rest. They therefore resolved to remain in their boat, and by setting one man to do duty as sentry enable the others to enjoy undisturbed repose. Evening had closed in and the Dayaks took the first watch, the Europeans arranging to succeed and relieve them later in the night.
But man proposes and God disposes. ”

“ My first real acquaintance with the Sea Dayak was in the long bazaar at Sibu, and I was by no means disappointed in my first impressions, as I found him a most picturesque and interesting individual. The men usually have long black hair hanging down their backs, often with a long fringe on their foreheads. Their skin is brown, they have snub noses but resolute eyes, and they are of fine proportions, though they rarely exceed five feet five inches in height. ”

“ When any one dreams of a distant land, as we exiles often do, the Dayaks think that our souls have annihilated space, and paid a flying visit to Europe during the night. Elders and priestesses often assert that in their dreams they have visited the mansion of Tapa, and seen the Creator dwelling in a house like that of a Malay, the interior [190] of which was adorned with guns and gongs and jars innumerable, Himself being clothed like a Dayak.
A dream of sickness to any member of a family always ensures a ceremony ”