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Updated: June 27, 2025
Thus among the Kayans or Bahaus of Central Borneo, while the priestesses are engaged in the performance of certain rites they may not step on the ground, and boards are laid for them to tread on.
The Kayans have a keen sense of humour and fun. As with ourselves, the most frequent occasions of laughter are the small mishaps that happen to one's companions or to oneself; and practical jokes are perpetrated and appreciated.
In spite of his homeless nomadic life he generally appears well nourished and clean, and he seems less subject to sores and to the skin diseases which so often disfigure the other peoples, especially the Muruts, Kayans, and Sea Dayaks. All these peoples, with the exception of the Punans and similar nomads, live in village communities situated with few exceptions on the banks of the rivers.
The human soul may also, in the belief of all the peoples, be reincarnated in the body of almost any animal; but opinions in regard to this matter are very vague. Thus the Kayans believe that the objection of the Mohammedan Malays to the eating of pig is due to reincarnation of their souls in animals of that species, which belief naturally causes some vexation to the Malay traders.
Two methods of fire-making were in use here, by drilling or by friction with a rope made of fibre or rattan across a block of wood. The Katingan does not know the art of doing inlaid work on the blade of the parang, in which Kenyahs and Kayans excel, and he makes no earthen ware. Hair that has been cut from the head must be placed in a tree.
The best is known as Kayan gutta, because it is gathered and sent to the bazaars by the Kayans in a pure form. The trees are felled and the stem and branches are ringed at intervals of about eighteen inches, a narrow strip of bark being removed at each ring. The milky viscid sap drips out into leaf-cups, which are then emptied into a cylindrical vessel of bark.
Two chiefs, who some years ago were burned out of their homes in the Rejang district by the government, have settled themselves with their people in the Baram district. They had made a provisional peace with the Kayans some years ago, but the final ceremony was to be performed this evening.
It is not clear that he is the spirit of the river itself; for floods and the various changes of the river do not seem to be attributed to him. BALI PENYALONG, like Laki Tenangen, has a wife BUNGAN. She is not so distinctly the special deity of the women folk as is DOH TENANGAN among the Kayans.
The modes of warfare of the other tribes are similar in most respects to that of the Kayans described above; but some peculiarities are worthy of note. Kenyah warfare is very similar to Kayan, save in so far as their more impetuous temper renders their tactics more dashing. While the Kayans endeavour to make as many captives as possible, the Kenyahs attach little value to them.
When the naming is accomplished a general feast begins, the parents of the newly named children contributing the chief part of the good things; and a number of specially invited guests may participate. Among the Kayans of the upper Rejang the naming ceremonies differ widely from those described above, and are even more elaborate.
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