The pagan tribes of Borneo - Get a Free Blog Here

CHAPTER X
WAR
The Kayans are perhaps less aggressive than anyother
of the interior peoples with the exception of
the Punans. Nevertheless prowess in war has made
them respected or feared by all the peoples; and
during the last century they established themselves
in the middle parts of the basins of all the great
rivers, driving out many of the Klemantan communities,
partly by actual warfare, partly by the
equally effective method of appropriating to their
own use the tracts of jungle most suitable for the
cultivation oi padi.
The fighting quality of the individual Kayan, the
loyalty and obedience of each household to its
chief, the custom of congregating several long
houses to form a populous village upon some spot
carefully chosen for its tactical advantages (generally
a peninsula formed by a deep bend of the river),
and the strong cohesion between the Kayans of
different and even widely separated villages,— all
these factors combine to render the Kayans comparatively
secure and their villages immune from
attack. But though a Kayan village is seldom
attacked, and though the Kayans do not wantonly
engage in bloodshed, yet they will always stoutly
assert their rights, and will not allow any injury
done to any member of the tribe to go unavenged.
The avenging of injuries and the necessity of
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