The pagan tribes of Borneo - Get a Free Blog Here

192 PAGAN TRIBES OF BORNEO chap, x
that it is not regularly practised by any Klemantan
tribe, but rather only on occasions which in some
way evoke an exceptional degree of emotional
excitement. Thus, in one instance known to us,
the Orang Bukit of the Bruni territory, having
lost the most highly respected of their chiefs,
purchased a slave in Bruni to serve as the funereal
victim, and, having shut him in a wicker cage,
killed him with a multitude of stabs, some eight
hundred persons taking part in the act. But even
this act was, it must be observed, of the nature of
a pious and religious rite rather than an act of
wanton cruelty.
We cannot leave this subject without this last
word. If we are quite frank, we shall have to
admit that, even though the worst accounts of
Kayan cruelty were substantially true, such behaviour
would not in the least justify the belief
that the Kayans are innately more cruel than
ourselves. If we are tempted to take this view,
let us remember that, after our own race had
professed Christianity for many generations, the
authority of Church and State publicly decreed
and systematically inflicted in cold blood tortures
far more hideous and atrocious than any the Kayan
imagination has ever conceived.