The pagan tribes of Borneo - Get a Free Blog Here

48 PAGAN TRIBES OF BORNEO chap.
loop bears several massive rings of copper (PI. 20),
whose combined weight is in some cases as much
as two pounds/ Most of the Kenyah women also
wear similar earrings, but these are usually lighter
and more numerous, and the lobe is not so much
distended. The women of many of the Klemantan
tribes wear a large wooden disc in the distended
lobe of each ear, and those of other Klemantan
tribes wear a smaller wooden plug with a boss (PL
32). The children run naked up to the age of
six or seven years, when they are dressed in the
fashion of their parents.
On festive occasions both men and women put
on as many of their ornaments as can be conveniently
worn.
Deformation of the Head
Some of the Malanaus, a partially Mohammedan
tribe of Klemantans, seated about the mouths of
the Muka, Oya, and Bintulu rivers of Sarawak,
have the curious custom of flattening the heads
of the infants, chiefly the females. The flattening
is effected at an early age, the process beginning
generally within the first month after birth. It
consists in applying pressure to the head by means
of a simple apparatus for some fifteen minutes, more
or less, on successive days, or at rather longer
intervals. The application of the pressure for this
brief space of time, on some ten to twenty occasions,
seems to suffice to bring about the desired effect.
The pressure is applied while the child sleeps, and
is at once relaxed if the child wakes or cries. The
apparatus, known as tadal (see Fig. 3), consists
of a stout flat bar of wood, some nine inches in
length and three wide in its middle part. This
^ Accidental tearing of the lobe inevitably occurs occasionally ; and if this
is attributed to the carelessness of any other person a brass tawak or gong must
be paid in compensation. Repair of a torn lobe is sometimes effected by
overlapping the raw ends and keeping them tied in this position for some weeks.