The pagan tribes of Borneo - Get a Free Blog Here

i8o PAGAN TRIBES OF BORNEO chap.
When a hostile war-party enters a section of a
river in which there is a number of villages of one
tribe or of friendly tribes, its approach may be
signalled throughout the district by the beating
of the tawak. The same peculiar rhythm is used
for this purpose by all the tribes, though it probably
has been copied from the Kayans by all the others.
It consists in a rapid series of strokes of increasing
rate upon the boss, followed by one long deep note,
and two shorter ones struck upon the body and
once repeated. Whenever this war-alarm is heard
in a village, it is repeated, and so passed on from
village to village. The people working in the
farms or in the jungle, or travelling on the river,
return at once to their villages on hearing the alarm,
and the houses are prepared for defence.^ When
the news of the approach of a hostile party has
been spread in this way throughout the river, it
has little chance of successfully attacking a house
or village, and it will, unless very numerous, content
itself with attempting to cut off some of the people
returning home from the farms. If the invading
party is very strong, it may surround a house whose
defenders have been warned of their coming, and
attempt to starve them into submission. In the
old days it was not uncommon for a strong party
of Kayans to descend upon a settlement of the
more peaceable coastwise people, and to extort from
them a large payment of brass-ware as the price
of their safety. If the unfortunate household
submitted to this extortion, the Kayans would keep
faith with them, and would ratify a treaty of peace
by making the headman of the village blood-brother
of their chief.
Some features of the tactics adopted by the
Kayans are worthy of more detailed description.
If a strong party determines to attack a house in
face of an alert defence, they may attempt to storm