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Updated: May 15, 2025
The hostility of the Kalabits on the north-eastern border, who persistently raided those villages of their fellow-tribesmen that had come under the government, had necessitated an expedition against them in 1893. And Sea Dayak parties of jungle workers had on more than one occasion stirred up serious trouble.
Besides those who call themselves Muruts, we class under the same general name several tribes which we regard as closely allied to them; namely, the Adangs in the head of the Limbang; the Kalabits about the head of the Baram; the Sabans and Kerayans at the head of the Kerayan river; the Libuns; the Lepu Asings at the head of the Bahau; Tagals and Dusuns in the most northerly part; the Trings of the Barau and Balungan rivers on the east.
The religious rites of this people closely resemble those of the tribes with which we have been dealing above; but in all cases in which pigs are sacrificed by the latter, buffaloes are used by the Kalabits. The rite of sprinkling the blood of pigs and fowls on men and on the altar-posts and images may, we think, be an extension or adaptation of the blood-brotherhood ceremony.
This view, that in all sacrifices of the pig and fowl these are but substitutes for human victims, finds very strong support in the following facts: The Kalabits, a tribe inhabiting the north-western corner of the Baram district, breed the water-buffalo and use it in cultivating their land. It has probably been introduced to this area from North Borneo at a recent date.
The descendants of the immigrants who introduced this type of culture are, we think, the Muruts proper, who claim that name and dwell chiefly in the Trusan, the Padas, the Sembakong, the Kerayan rivers, and in the head of the Kinabatangan; also the Kalabits in the northern part of the upper basin of the Baram. It is these which display most decidedly the physical peculiarities noted above.
We mention here a statement commonly made by Kayans, which, if true, is of some interest as reporting a curious exception to a world-wide custom commonly regarded as directly determined by the difference of nature between the sexes, the report, namely, that among the Kalabits the initiative in all love-making is taken by the women.
Among the Sebops and Barawans the human figure predominates; the Malanaus make especially elaborate crocodile images in solid wood. The tombs of some of the Klemantans are very massive and elaborately decorated. The Tanjongs and Kanowits and Kalabits, who excel in basket-work, introduce a variety of patterns in black, red, and white.
The Kalabits and some of the coastwise Klemantans who live in alluvial areas have learnt, probably through intercourse with the Philippine Islanders or the inhabitants of Indo-China, to prepare the land for the PADI seed by leading buffaloes to and fro across it while it lies covered with water. The Kalabits lead the water into their fields from the streams descending from the hills.
The finest lashing-work is done by the Kalabits, who cover small bamboo boxes with a layer of close-set lashing, producing pleasing geometrical designs by the combination of yellow and black threads.
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