Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: May 4, 2025
The Rajah was courteous, but tried to dissuade us from the undertaking by relating that several bands of Dyaks had been out on head-hunting expeditions of late, and that the mouth of the Rejang was infested by Illanum pirates. The captain only laughed, and jokingly told Sir James that if the game proved scarce he might come back and claim the prize money on a boat-load of pirate heads.
In these piratical expeditions the Malays assigned the heads of their victims as the booty of their Iban allies, while they kept for themselves the forms of property of greater cash value. The Malays were thus interested in encouraging in the Ibans the passion for head-hunting which, since the suppression of piracy, has found vent in the irregular warfare and treacherous acts described above.
When the Toradjas are on a head-hunting expedition and have entered the enemy's country, they may not eat any fruits which the foe has planted nor any animal which he has reared until they have first committed an act of hostility, as by burning a house or killing a man.
Up to twenty years ago the Duhoi and the Katingans made head-hunting raids on each other. It was the custom to take a little flesh from the arm or leg of the victim, which was roasted and eaten. Before starting on such an expedition the man must sleep separate from his wife seven days; when going pig-hunting the separation is limited to one day.
When an Ifugao goes on a head-hunting expedition, he takes the images in his head-basket, together with a stone to make the enemy's feet heavy so that he cannot run away, and a little wooden stick in representation of a spear, to the end of which is attached a stone this to make the enemy's spear strike the earth so that it might not strike him.
These two ko'-mis were built four years ago when Bontoc and Samoki had their last important head-hunting forays with Tulubin. They killed and ate their fowls and pigs in a ceremony called "fi-kat'," and, if all was well, approached the mountains near Tulubin and watched to waylay a few of her people when they came to the sementeras in the early morning.
He "had been to Soerabaia," which means that he had been at hard labour, convicted of head-hunting, and during his term had acquired a sufficient knowledge of Malay to be able to serve me. My Penihing collections I believe are complete.
They were both antohs, so there was a general return to life, and the people from the two kampongs to which the families belonged came together and made the kampongs into one. Many young men courted Ohing Blibiching, but she was difficult to please. Finally, she favoured Anyang Mokathimman because he was strong, skilful in catching animals, brave in head-hunting.
In other words, the people get to itching for a head, because a head brings them emotional satisfaction. It is believed that now the people of the two sister pueblos, Bontoc and Samoki, look on war and head-hunting somewhat as a game, as a dangerous, great sport, though not a pastime. It is a test of agility and skill, in which superior courage and brute force are minor factors.
The following story told of Sir William Macgregor, the first administrator, shows the way of Britishers in governing native races. He one day marched into a village where five hundred warriors were assembled for a head-hunting expedition. Sir William, then Doctor Macgregor, had with him two white men and twelve native police.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking