The pagan tribes of Borneo - Get a Free Blog Here

174 PAGAN TRIBES OF BORNEO chap.
bloody battle is the natural outcome ;
and it is
under these circumstances that the most severe
fighting takes place. But here again it is seldom
that any large proportion of either party is slain ;
for the dense jungle everywhere offers abundant
opportunities of concealment to those who condescend
to seek its shelter, and there are few, even
among the Kayans and Kenyahs, who will fight to
the bitter end, if the alternative of flight is open to
them.
A successful war-party returning home makes
no secret of its success. The boats are decorated
with palm leaves {daun isang), and a triumphal
chorus is raised from time to time, especially on
passing villages. As the villagers come out to
gaze on them, those who have taken heads stand
up in the boats. The heads, slightly roasted, are
wrapped up in palm leaves and placed in baskets
in the stern of the boat. If the return home involves
a journey of several days, the victors will, if possible,
pass the nights in the houses of friendly villages,
where they are made much of, especially those
who have taken heads ; and on these occasions the
glamour of victory is apt to turn the heads of some
of the women and to break down the reserve that
modesty normally imposes upon them.
On approaching their own village, whither the
rumour of their success usually precedes them,
the war-party is received with loud acclamations,
the people coming down to the riverside to receive
them. Before they ascend to the house, the heads
have to be safely lodged in a small hut specially
built for their reception ; and the young boys are
brought down to go through their first initiation
in the arts of war. Each child is made to hold
a sword and, with the assistance of some aged
warrior, to strike a blow at one of the newly captured
heads. The older boys, some nine or ten years