The pagan tribes of Borneo - Get a Free Blog Here

DECORATIVE ART 247
borrowed the Kayan tatu patterns, the majority of Kenyah
and Klemantan tribes employ quite simple designs, whilst
the primitive Kenyahs of the Batang Kayan river hardly
tatu at all. A remarkable exception to the general
simplicity of the Klemantan patterns is furnished by the
Ukits, Bakatan, and Biadjau, who tatu very extensively in
the most complex designs ; the Long Utan, an extinct
tribe, probably of Klemantan stock, also used highly
decorative and complex designs. Since so many tribes
owe much of their knowledge of tatu and the majority
of their designs to the Kayans, it will be well to commence
with an account of the art of tatu as practised by these
people.
i. Kayan Tatu.
Dr. Nieuwenhuis [9, p. 450] agrees with us in stating
that amongst these people the men tatu chiefly for
ornament, and that no special significance is attached to the
majority of designs employed ; nor is there any particular
ceremonial or tabu connected with the process of tatuing
the male sex. There is no fixed time of life at which a
man can be tatued, but in most cases the practice is begun
early in boyhood. Nieuwenhuis [9, p. 456] remarks that
the chiefs of the Mendalam Kayans scarcely tatu at all.
Amongst the Sarawak Kayans, if a man has taken the
head of an enemy he can have the backs of his hands and
fingers covered with tatu (PI. 141, Fig. i), but, if he has
only had a share in the slaughter, one finger only, and that
generally the thumb, can be tatued. On the Mendalam
river, the Kayan braves are tatued on the left thumb only,
not on the carpals and backs of the fingers, and the thigh
pattern is also reserved for head-taking heroes [9, p. 456].
Of the origin of tatu the Kayans relate the following
story :—Long ago when the plumage of birds was dull and
sober, the coucal {Centropus sinensis) and the argus
pheasant {Argusianus grayi) agreed to tatu each other ;
the coucal began on the pheasant first, and succeeded
admirably, as the plumage of the pheasant bears witness at
the pheasant then tried his hand on the
the present day ;
coucal, but being a stupid bird he was soon in difficulties ;
fearing that he would fail miserably to complete the task,
he told the coucal to sit in a bowl of saniak tan, and then
poured the black dye over him, and flew off, remarking
that the country was full of enemies and he could not