The pagan tribes of Borneo - Get a Free Blog Here

50 PAGAN TRIBES OF BORNEO chap.
The effect produced is of course a flattening of
brow and occiput and a broadening of the whole
head. The motive seems to be the desire to enhance
the beauty of the child by ensuring to it a moon-like
face, which is the most admired form. The Malanaus
seem to be by nature peculiarly round-headed ;
the
question whether this is due to the effects of headflattening
practised for many generations, must be
left to the investigations of the Neo-Lamarckians.
They are also a peculiarly handsome people, and
it seems more likely that, taking a pride in their
good looks, they have, like so many other peoples,
sought to enhance the beauty of their children by
accentuating a racial peculiarity.
Houses
All the tribes except the Punans build houses of
one type ; but the size and proportions, the strength
of the materials used, and the skill and care displayed
in the work of construction, show wide differences.
The houses of the Kayans are perhaps better and
more solidly built than any others and may be
taken as
modate
the type. Each house is built to accom-
many families ; an average house may
contain some forty to fifty, making up with children
and slaves some two or three hundred persons
while some of the larger houses are built for as
many as a hundred and twenty families, or some
five to six hundred persons. The house is always
close to a river, and it usually stands on the bank
at a distance of 20 to 50 yards from the water,
its length lying parallel to the course of the river.
The plan of the house is a rectangle, of which the
length generally much exceeds the width (PL 34).
Its roof is always a simple ridge extending the
whole length of the house, and is made of shingles
of bilian (ironwood) or other hard and durable kind
;