The pagan tribes of Borneo - Get a Free Blog Here

X WAR 191
the Sea Dayaks have been bitterly hostile to the
Kayans ever since the tribes have been in contact
and the I ban is a great romancer. It will be found
that many of the alleged instances of torture by
Kayans have been described by Sea Dayaks ;
;
and
we think there is good reason for hesitating to
accept any of these. But we would point out that,
if some of these accounts have been founded on
fact, the Sea Dayak victims, or their companions,
have in all probability provoked the Kayans to
severe reprisals by their atrocious behaviour, and
may be fairly said to have deserved their fate.
It is true that Kayans have been guilty of leaving
a slave or captive bound upon a tomb until he has
died from exposure to the sun. We know also
of one instance in which a Murut slave, having
treacherously murdered the only son of a great
Kayan chief in the Baram, at the instigation of
Bruni Malays, was killed by a multitude of small
stabs by the infuriated Kayan women, on being
brought captive to the house.
But such occurrences as these by no means
justify the statement that it is the practice of Kayans
to torture their captives ; and we have heard of
no well-attested instances that give any colour to
it. As we have said above, Kayans commonly
treat their captives so kindly that they soon become
content to remain in the households of their captors.
The Kayan feeling about torture is well illustrated
by the fact that the Kayan village responsible for
the exposure of the slave mentioned above was
looked at askance by other Kayans. The spot
was regarded with horror by them, and they regard
as a consequence of this act the failure of the line
of the chief of that village to perpetuate itself.
We have to admit that some of the Klemantans
cannot be so whole-heartedly defended against the
charge of torturing their captives. But we believe