The pagan tribes of Borneo - Get a Free Blog Here

CHAP. VII DAILY LIFE 117
sluggishly ; some descend to bathe, while others
smoke the fag ends of the cigarettes that were unfinished
when they fell asleep. Then the men
breakfast in their rooms, and not until they are satis-
fied do the women and children sit down to their
meal. During all this time the chronically hungry
dogs, attracted by the odours of food, make persistent
efforts to get into their owner's rooms. Success in
this manoeuvre is almostly always followed by their
sudden and noisy reappearance in the gallery,
caused by a smart blow with a stick. In the busy
farming season parties of men, women, and children
will set off in boats for the padi fields taking their
breakfasts with them.
After breakfast the men disperse to their various
tasks. During some three or four months of the
year all able-bodied persons repair daily to xh^ padi
fields, but during the rest of the year their employments
are more varied. The old women and
invalids remain all day long in the rooms ; the old
men lounge all day in the gallery, smoking many
home-made cigarettes, and perhaps doing a bit of
carving or other light work and keeping an eye
on the children. The young children play in and
out and about the house, chasing the animals, and
dabbling among the boats moored at the bank.
A few of the able-bodied men employ themselves
in or about the house, making boats, forging swords,
spear-heads, iron hoes, and axes, repairing weapons
or implements. Others go in small parties to the
jungle to hunt deer and pig, or to gather jungle
produce—fruits, rubber, rattans, or bamboos—or
spend the day in fishing in the river. During the
months of December and January the jungle fruits
—the durian, rambutan, mangosteen, lansat, mango,
and numerous small sour fruits (PL 65)—are much
more abundant than at other times ; and
during
these months all other work is neglected, while the