The pagan tribes of Borneo - Get a Free Blog Here

XII DECORATIVE ART 253
the head is attached a lump of resin in which are embedded
three or four short steel needles, their points alone projecting
from the resinous mass (Fig. 68). The striker is merely
a short iron rod, half of which is covered with a string
lashing. The pigment is a mixture of soot, water, and
sugar-cane juice, and it is kept in a double shallow cup
of wood, uit ulang\ it is supposed that the best soot is
obtained from the bottom of a metal cooking-pot, but that
derived from burning resin or dammar is also used. The
tatu designs are carved in high relief on blocks of wood,
kelinge^ (Fig- 62), which are smeared with the ink and then
pressed on the part to be tatued, leaving an impression of
the designs. As will be seen later, the designs
tatued on women are in longitudinal rows or
transverse bands, and the divisions between the
rows or bands are marked by one or more zigzag
lines termed ikor.
The subject who is to be tatued lies on the
floor, the artist and an assistant squatting on
either side of her ; the artist first dips a piece of
1^3-
fibre from the sugar-palm {Arenga sacchariferd)
into the pigment and, pressing this on to the
limb to be tatued, plots out the arrangement of
the rows or bands of the design ; along these
straight lines the artist tatus the ikor^ then
taking a tatu block carved with the required
design, she smears it with pigment and presses
it on to the limb between two lines. The
tatuer or her assistant stretches with her feet
the skin of the part to be tatued, and, dipping y\g. 68.
a pricker into the pigment, taps its handle with
the striker, driving the needle points into the skin at
each tap. The operation is painful, and the subject
can rarely restrain her cries of anguish ; but the artist is
quite unmoved by such demonstrations of woe, and proceeds
methodically with her task. As no antiseptic precautions
are taken, a newly tatued part often ulcerates, much to the
detriment of the tatu ; but taking all things into consideration,
it is wonderful how seldom one meets with a tatu
pattern spoilt by scar tissues.
It is against custom to draw the blood of a friend {pesu
daha), and therefore, when first blood is drawn in tatuing, it
is customary to give a small present to the artist. The
^ The Sea Dayak word telingai or kelingai has the same meaning.