Children of Borneo Part 6

DREAMS

The Dyaks place implicit confidence in dreams. Their theory is that during sleep the soul can hear, see and understand, and so what is dreamt is what really takes place. When anyone dreams of a distant land, they believe that his soul has paid a flying visit to that land.

In dreams, also, the G.o.ds and spirits are supposed to bring charms to human beings. The story is often told of how a man falls asleep and dreams that a spirit came to him and gave certain charms, and lo! when he awakes, he finds them in his hands. Or else he is told in a dream to go to a certain spot at a special time and pick up some stone there, which will have some mysterious influence for good over his fortunes.

Dreams are looked upon by the Dyaks as the means the G.o.ds and spirits use to convey their commands to men, or to warn them of coming danger.

Houses are often deserted, and farming land, on which much labour has been spent, abandoned on account of dreams. Newly married couples often separate from the same cause. It is no unusual thing for a man or a woman to dream that the spirits are hungry and need food. In that case the inmates of the Dyak house organize a feast, and offerings are made to the hungry spirits.

CHAPTER XIII

MARRIAGES AND BURIALS

Marriages in all countries are occasions of rejoicing, and it is the same among the Dyaks. The princ.i.p.al part of the ceremony is the fetching of the bride from her father's to the bridegroom's house. The women-folk of the village, who are friends of the bridegroom's family, set out in a boat, gaily decorated with an awning of parti-coloured sheets, and with streamers and flags flying, to an accompaniment of gongs and drums and musical instruments, to fetch the bride to her future home.

When the boat arrives at the landing-stage of the bride's house, they all walk up--a gaily dressed crowd--and are welcomed into the house.

Here they sit down and talk over the future prospects of the young couple, chewing betel-nut and _sireh_ (a kind of pepper leaf) all the time. A portion of these chewing ingredients are carefully set aside to be used later on. The Dyak with his great love for divination, cannot allow such an occasion to pa.s.s without some attempt to find out the secrets of the future.

[Ill.u.s.tration: IN WEDDING FINERY]

The company all sit down in the long common hall of the Dyak house, and the betel-nut, _sireh_, etc., specially set aside for the ceremony, are brought forward. A betel-nut is split into seven pieces by one supposed to be lucky in matrimonial matters, and these, together with the other ingredients of the betel-nut mixture, are all put in a little basket, which is bound together with red cloth, and laid for a short time upon the open platform adjoining the house.

The Master of the Ceremonies, who splits the betel-nut, then makes a little speech, telling the a.s.sembled guests that if either party should desert the other without sufficient reason, the offending party shall be fined such an amount as has been agreed upon.

The basket containing the split pieces of betel-nut is then brought in and uncovered, and the contents examined to ascertain the will of the G.o.ds. Should the pieces of betel-nut, by some mystic power, increase in number, the marriage will be an unusually happy one; but should they decrease, it is a bad omen, and the marriage must be postponed or relinquished altogether. But, as a matter of fact, they neither increase nor decrease, and this is taken to mean that the wedding is one upon which the spirits have p.r.o.nounced neither a good nor a bad verdict.

This action gives the name to the marriage ceremony. The Dyaks call marriage _Mlah Pinang_--"spitting the betel-nut."

The contents of the little basket, used to discover the will of the higher powers, is chewed by those present just as other _pinang_ and _sireh_, and the marriage ceremony is over; the young couple are lawfully man and wife.

For the wedding, the bride decks herself out in all the finery she possesses, or can borrow from her friends. Her wedding-dress consists of a short petticoat of Dyak-woven cloth, which reaches to her knees. Along the bottom edge of this there are sewed several rows of tinsel, and of silver coins, below which probably hang some rows of hawk-bells, which make a tinkling sound as she walks. Round her waist are several coils of bra.s.s or silver chain, and two or three belts made of dollars or other silver coins linked together. From her hips upwards, as far as her armpits, she wears a corset formed by threading split cane through a great number of small bra.s.s rings, arranged so closely together as to completely hide the cane. To this corset may be fixed two or three bands of silver coins. Her armlets of bra.s.s or silver extend as far up as her elbow. As many rings as she possesses are on her fingers, and she wears necklaces of small beads, worked in very beautiful patterns, and finished off with a ta.s.sel of beads, or else a large number of big silver or bra.s.s b.u.t.tons strung together round her neck. Her ears are decorated with filigreed studs of silver gilt, with a setting of scarlet cloth behind the filigree work to show them off.

In her hair is a towering comb of silver filigree work, to which are attached a number of silver spangles, which glitter with every movement of her head. She wears her hair in a knot into which are stuck a number of large bra.s.s hair-pins, decorated with beads and little tags of red and yellow and white cloth. She possesses a bright coloured jacket of Dyak-woven cloth; but she does not wear it, it is slung over her right shoulder.

After this detailed description of the bride's dress, it is disappointing to learn that the bridegroom takes no special pains to ornament his person. The men wear a great deal of finery when they attend a feast, or when they go on the war-path, but on the occasion of his wedding, the bridegroom takes no extra trouble over his apparel.

BURIALS

As soon as a man dies, the professional mourner sits on a swing near the head of the corpse and sings a long dirge, blaming the different parts of the house, beginning with the roof-ridge and proceeding downwards, for not keeping back the soul of the dead man.

Then the corpse is carried out into the public part of the house, and is covered with a Dyak sheet. By his side are put his belongings--his clothes, his implements of work, his s.h.i.+eld, his sword, his spear--which are to be buried with him, or placed on his grave.

Early the following morning the body, wrapped in mats, and secured with a light framework of wood, is carried on the shoulders of four men, and, accompanied by their friends, they go to the jungle. When they come to the spot where a tree is to be cut down for the coffin, a halt is made.

A fowl is killed, and the blood collected in a cup, and mixed with a little water. Each person present is touched with the blood, to propitiate the G.o.ds, and to secure safety from any evil consequences to the persons engaged in the funeral rites. They now set to work to make the coffin. A tree is felled and the required length cut off. This is split in two, and each half is hollowed out. The corpse is then placed inside this rude coffin, the two parts of which are now firmly lashed together with cane.

They then proceed either on foot or by boat to the place of burial. The trees in a Dyak burial-ground are not cut down, so there is nothing to distinguish it from any ordinary jungle. The Dyaks regard a cemetery with superst.i.tious terror as the abode of spirits, and never go to it except to bury their dead, and when they do this, they do not stay longer than they can help, but hurry away lest they should meet some spirit from the other world.

The graves are rarely more than three feet deep. The Dyaks dare not step into the grave to deepen it, because, according to their superst.i.tious ideas, any one who does such a thing will die a violent death. They use no spade or hoe to turn up the earth, but cut the soil with their choppers, and throw up the mould with their hands. They dig the grave as far as their arms will reach, and no farther.

When the corpse is buried, there are placed either in the grave or on it, for use in the next world, various articles of clothing, personal ornaments, weapons of warfare, implements of farm work, and even instruments of music, according to the s.e.x and natural proclivities of the dead. Some of these belong to the departed; others are given by friends as tokens of affection.

When the grave has been filled with earth, it is fenced round, and food and drink are placed in the enclosure, and at either end something is put to indicate the s.e.x and favourite occupation of the deceased. If the grave be that of a warrior, it is roofed and decorated with streamers, and such of his weapons as are not buried with him are hung about, and the ground around is palisaded and spiked. The grave of the hunter is distinguished by his spear, his blow-pipe and quiver, together with the trophies of the chase--stags' antlers, and boars' tusks. Some articles of feminine attire or work--spindles, petticoats, waist-rings, or water-gourds--indicate the graves of women.

CHAPTER XIV

A DYAK LEGEND

There are many fairy-tales and legends known to the Dyaks of the present day. As they have no written language, these have been handed down by word of mouth, from generation to generation, from ancient times. These tales and legends may be divided into two cla.s.ses: 1. Those which are mythical and related as such, which are simply meant to interest and amuse, and in these respects resemble the fairy-tales familiar to us all. 2. And those believed by them to be perfectly true, and to record events which have actually taken place. These form in fact the mythology of the Dyaks. The following legend is related by them as explaining how they came to plant rice, and to observe the omens of birds:

THE STORY OF SIU

Many thousands of years ago, before the paddy plant was known, the Dyaks lived on tapioca, yams, potatoes and such fruit as they could find in the jungle. It was not till Siu taught them to plant paddy[3] that such a thing as rice was known. The story of how he came to know this article of food, and how he and his son, Seragunting, introduced it among the Dyaks is here set forth.

[Footnote 3: Paddy--rice in the husk.]

Siu was the son of a great Dyak chief. His father died when he was quite a child, and at the time this story begins, he had grown to manhood, and lived with his mother, and was the head of a long Dyak house in which lived some three hundred families. He was strong and active, and handsome in appearance, and there was no one in the country round equal to him either in strength or comeliness.

He proposed to the young men of his house that they should take their blow-pipes and darts and go into the jungle to shoot birds. So one morning they all started early. Each man had with him his bundle of food for the day, and each went a different way, as they wished to see, on returning in the evening, who would be the most successful of them all.

Siu wandered about the whole morning in the jungle, but, strange to say, he did not see any bird, nor did he meet with any animal. Worn out with fatigue, he sat down to rest under a large tree, and, feeling hungry, he ate some of the food he had brought with him. It was now long past midday, and he had not succeeded in killing a single bird! Suddenly he heard, not far off, the sound of birds, and hurrying in that direction, he came to a wild fig-tree covered with ripe fruit, which a very large number of birds were busy eating. Never before had he seen such a sight!

On this one tree the whole feathered population of the forest seemed to have a.s.sembled together!

[Ill.u.s.tration: KILLING BIRDS WITH A BLOW-PIPE]

Siu hid himself under the thick leaves of a shrub growing near, and taking a poisoned dart, he placed it in his blow-pipe and shot it out.

He had aimed at one bird and hit it. But that bird was not the only one that fell dead at his feet. To his astonishment, he saw that many of the other birds near it were killed also. Again he shot out a dart, and again the same thing happened. In a very short time, Siu had killed as many birds as he could carry.

He tried to return the same way he came, but soon found himself in difficulties. He wandered about, and walked several miles, but could not find the jungle path which he had followed early in the day. It was beginning to grow dusk, and Siu was afraid he would have to spend the night in the jungle.

Great was his joy, just as he was giving up all hope, to come to a garden and a path leading from it. Siu followed this path, knowing it would lead him to some house not far off. He soon came to a well, and near at hand he saw the lights of a long Dyak house. He stopped to have a bath, and hid the birds he was carrying, and his blow-pipe and quiver in the brushwood near the well, hoping to take them with him when he started to return the next morning.

He walked up to the house, and when he came to the bottom of the ladder leading up to it he shouted: "Oh, you people in the house, will you allow a stranger to walk up?" A voice answered, "Yes; come up!"

He walked up into the house. To his surprise he saw no one in the long public hall in front of the different rooms. That part of a Dyak house, usually so crowded, was quite empty. All was silent. Even the person who answered him was not there to receive him.

He saw a dim light further on, and walked towards it, wondering what had happened to all the people of the house. Presently he heard a woman's voice in the room say: "Sit down, Siu; I will bring out the _pinang_[4] and _sireh_[5] to you." Soon a young and remarkably pretty girl came out of the room with the chewing ingredients, which she placed before him.

[Footnote 4: _Pinang_--betel-nut.]