Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 January 1911 — LIFE IN SAVAGE BORNEO [ARTICLE]

LIFE IN SAVAGE BORNEO

'Observations of Cambridge Anthropological Expedition in Madang Country. HR. CHARLES . Hose, accompanied by Drs. MoDougall and Myers, members of the Cambridge anthropological expedition, set out for the Madang country, a hitherto unexplored district lying between the headwaters of the Batang-Yayan, Rejang and Baram rivers, and Inhabited by the Madangs, a warlike tribe of Ken yahs who by constant raids had be■come the terror of all the surrounding •country. "After a journey through the most picturesque country we arrived at the principal Madang village,” writes Dr. Hose in Travel and Exploration. "This village, which contained about 1,000 people, consisted of nine long houses, forming a circle the center of which had been cleared of shrubs and trees. For a considerable radius outside this ring the Jungle had been felled and the land was farmed on that side which was more or less ibounded by the river. The settlement, tt was evident, had been laid out on a plan best calculated to resist attack. The Madangs came down in great numbers to have a look at us and the -chief. Tama Usun Tael, invited me to take up my residence in his bouse. "My Kenyah friends hsd not *rTived Tot. but I thought It best to go with him at ones and afterward oanjgratulated myself when I found that, -according to custom, Tuna Bulan and

his followers (being unable *to enter the house until all cases of blood money between hiß people and the Madangs had been settled) were obliged to camp near the river for one night. The Madangs assisted in making huts for my followers, gave them several pigs and sent down their women laden with baskets , full of rice, so no want of hospitality could be said to mar our reception. In the evening I took a walk around the village, followed by a crowd of women and children, who appeared greatly pleased to 'find that the white man was able to converse with them. "Just across the river from where we were sitting was the grave yard, and there I witnessed a funeral procession as the day was drawing to a close. The coffin, which was a wooden box made from a tree trunk, was decorated with red and black patterns, in circles, with two small wooden figures of men placed at either end; if was lashed with rattans to a long pole and by this means was lifted to the shoulders of the bearers (numbering thirteen In all), who then carried It to the burying ground. “After the mourners had all passed over to the grave yard, a man quickly cut a couple of small sticks, each about five feet long, and about an inch in diameter. One of these he split almost the whole way down and forced the unsplit end into the ground, when the upper pert opened like a V, leaving sufficient room for eaeh person to pass through. He next epilt the top of‘the other stick, end placing another short stick in the deft made n cross which he also forced Into the ground.

"The funeral procession climbed the mound on which the cemetery was situated, passing through the V of the cleft stick in a single file. As soon as the coffin had been placed on the stage erected for the purpose the people commenced their return, following one another’s heels as quickly as possible, each spitting out the words, ‘Bit ball krpt fall Jat tesip bertatlp’ (‘Keep back, close out all things evil and sickness!’) as they passed through the V shaped stick. “The whole party having left the grave yard, the gate was closed by the simple process of tying the cleft ends of the stick together, and a few words were then said to the cross stick which they call 'ngrlng' or the wall that separates the living from the dead. "The Madangs are a very light skinned people, with bright dark eyes and perfectly straight, long black hair. "Their only garments consist of costs And waistcoats made from the bark of a tree known as kumut, which Is beaten out to a thin cloth with a wooden mallet. ‘The Madangs are a very musical race and possess many musical instruments. Among these are a sort of reed organ, a banjo, gongs and drums, a bamboo harp and a nose flute. The nose flute is an instrument made of bamboo on which the person plays not in the usual way with the lips but with his nose. I remember seeing on one occasion a man playing on his peculiar instrument surrounded by an audience of about forty persons. He assured me that sometimes he was able to move his audience to tears." ' 'T ' 4 ’ %