The pagan tribes of Borneo - Get a Free Blog Here

26o PAGAN TRIBES OF BORNEO chap.
line pattern, here termed ketong pat, and a somewhat crude
anthropomorphic design, known as kohong kelunan, human
head, covers the front and sides of the thigh (text Fig. 69) ;
the centre of the knee-cap is occupied by a very similar
anthropomorph, known however as nang klinge, the
important design, and extending in a semicircle round the
upper part of it is a design made up of intersecting zigzags
and known as kalang ngipa, the snake design ; below the
knee-cap is a transverse band of hour-glass shaped figures
termed pedjako. Nieuwenhuis also figures [9, PI. 84] the
thigh pattern of a chiefs daughter from the same river
this only differs from the preceding example in the greater
elaboration of the kohong kelunan ; the back of the thigh is
covered by a form of the ida pat pattern not by the ida
lima pattern. Some of the tatu-blocks employed by the
Mendalam Kayan women are figured in the same works
[9, PI. 82, and 8, PI. XXVIII.].
A comparison of the figures here given lends strong
support to the supposition that the tuba-root pattern is
merely a degraded anthropomorph. Fig. 69 is a recognisable
anthropomorph such as is tatued in rows on the thigh, and
some such name as tegulun, silong, or kohong is applied to
it. Fig. 70 is a knee-cap design, evidently anthropomorphic
in nature, but termed nang klinge, the important design,
since it is the last part of all to be tatued. Fig. 71 is termed
tushun tuva, but a distinct face is visible in the centre of
the pattern ; the general similarity between this last design
and the examples of tushun tuva shown in the designs
on PL 138, Figs. 4 and 5, is
the two tushun tuva designs
quite obvious;
in Fig. 5, PL
the lower of
138, is composed
of angular lines, thus reverting to the angularity
of the lines in text. Fig. 69 ; at E, Fig. 3, PL 140, the lines
are partly angular, partly curved, and the bilateral symmetry
is entirely lost ; finally, in Fig. 72, the relationship of the
tushun tuva design to an anthropomorph is entirely lost.
A typical form of tatu on the foot of a low-class woman
is shown on PL 138, Fig. 6; a chiefs daughter would
have some modification of the principal element of the
thigh design tatued on this part.
ii. Kenyah Tatu.
The culture of the Sarawak Kenyahs is closely allied to
that of the Kayans, and their tatu may be considered
;