The pagan tribes of Borneo - Get a Free Blog Here

DECORATIVE ART 241
be found. The lack of affinity between these
patterns and those applied to other surfaces suggests
that they may have been taken over from some
other people together vi^ith the craft of the smith ;
but possibly the distinctive character is due only
to the exigencies of the material. Some of the
designs painted on hats and shields exhibit perhaps
some affinity with these. This work is almost
confined to the Kayans.
It is worthy of remark that the art work of the
Kayans is in the main of a public character ; for
example, the decorative carving about the house
is done by voluntary and co-operative effort in the
public gallery and hardly at all in the private
rooms ; and ornamented hats and shields are hung
in the gallery rather than in the private rooms
again, the war-boats, which are the common property
of the household, are decorated more elaborately
than those which are private property.
All these forms of art work are the products of
distinctly amateur effort; that is to say that, although
certain individuals attain special skill and reputation
in particular forms of art, they do not make their
living by the practice of them, but rather, like every
one else, rely in the main upon the cultivation of
padi for the family support ; they will exchange
services of this kind, and definite payments are
sometimes agreed upon, but a large amount of such
work is done for one another without any material
reward.
The Kenyahs, Klemantans, and I bans
The Kenyahs make use of all, or most, of the
patterns found among the Kayans, and there is
little or nothing that distinguishes the decorative
art of the one tribe from that of the other. They
use the patterns based on the monkey rather more
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