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The Kayans seek to read in the behaviour of the omen birds and in the entrails of the slaughtered pigs and fowls indications of the way in which the gods responds to their prayers. For they regard the true omen birds as the trusty messengers of the gods.
Some have a spout opposite the single handle. The hollowing and general shaping of such dishes is done with a small adze, and they are finished with the knife. Basket-work, etc. The weaving of baskets, mats, and caps is one of the most important handicrafts of the Kayans. It is chiefly practised by the women, though the men help in collecting and preparing the materials.
Like the Ibans, the Kenyahs make peace more readily than the Kayans, who nurse their grievances and seek redress after long intervals of time. The Ibans conduct their warfare less systematically, and with far less discipline than the Kayans and Kenyahs.
The Kayans are the most numerous, the most powerful, and the most warlike people in Borneo. They are an inland race, and their locality extends from about sixty miles up the country from Tanjong Barram to the same extent farther into the interior, in latitude 3° 30' N., and thence across the island to probably a similar distance from the eastern shore.
This is supposed to make the boat so heavy that it can only travel very slowly. Charms These practices involve the application of charms. Charms are extensively used by all the peoples, least so by Kayans. In every house is at least one bundle of charms, known as SIAP AIOH by the Kenyahs, by whom more importance is attached to it than by any of the other tribes.
The other makes a journey to a world of the dead much like APO LEGGAN of the Kayans; and the journey involves the crossing of the river on a single log, the passage of which is disputed by a malign being, who tries to shake the nerve of the ghost by flinging ashes at him as he traverses the bridge.
The Ibans use a rather greater variety of weapons than the Kayans, in that they have spears whose blades bear barbs which prevent the withdrawal of the blade from the body of the enemy without great violence. The Klemantan tribes are on the whole far less warlike than Kayans, Kenyahs, and Ibans. Their offensive warfare is usually on a small scale, and is undertaken primarily for revenge.
The foregoing account of the social organisation of the Kayans applies equally well to the Kenyahs, except that some of the titles used are different. The Klemantans and Muruts, too, present few important differences except that the power of the chiefs is decidedly less, and the distinction of the social strata less clearly marked, and slaves are less numerous.
When travelling or working in the jungle the mother carries the infant slung upon her back, either in a bark-cloth or a specially constructed cradle of plaited rattan such as is used by the Kayans. The infant is suckled from one to two years, and then takes to the ordinary diet of boiled wild sago, varied with other animal and vegetable products of the jungle.
But, although the Kayans have a strong sense of the ridiculous, their laughter is not so violent and uncontrollable as that of Europeans is apt to be, and it is not so apt to recur from time to time at the mere recollection of an amusing incident. These stories are repeated again and again, without failing to amuse those who are perfectly familiar with them.
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