The pagan tribes of Borneo - Get a Free Blog Here

176 PAGAN TRIBES OF BORNEO chap.
As soon as the news of the taking of heads
reaches the house, the people go out of mourning,
i.e. they shave the parts of the scalp surrounding
the crown and pull out eyebrows and eyelashes
(which have been allowed to grow during mourning)
they put off their bark-cloth garments and resume
their cotton-cloths and ornaments.
If, as is usually the case on the return of a warparty,
mourning for a chief is to be terminated, one
of the heads is carried down river to his tomb,
followed by most of the men, while the women wail
in the house. The head is first brought before the
house, but not into it. An old man shoots a dart
into the air in the direction of the enemy, and then,
pattering out a long formula in the usual way, he
slaughters a fowl and puts a part of the carcase upon
a short stick thrust into the earth. The men of the
party then march past, each touching the carcase with
his knee, and saying as he does so, " Cast out sickness,
make me strong and healthy, exalt me above my
enemies, etc. etc." Beside the tomb a tall pole is
set up, and the head dressed in leaves is suspended
by a cord from its upper end. A number of pigs
will already have been slain in preparation for the
feast, and their lower jaws are hung about the
tomb on poles. The deep war-chorus is shouted
by the party as it travels to and from the tomb.
In returning the whole party bathes in the river,
and while they are in the water an old man waves
over them some of the isang leaves with which the
head has been decorated, wishing them health and
long life.
A few days (not less than four) after the return
of the war-party, the heads are brought into the
house with much rejoicing and ceremony. Every
proved ineffective, an infant sister of the patient was killed and a small piece
of the flesh given to the patient to eat. It would, we think, be grossly unfair
to describe any of these peoples as cannibals on account of these practices.
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