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It is supposed to be the spirit of some ancestor renowned for bravery, or some other virtue, who at death has taken an animal form ... it is revealed in a dream what animal form the honoured dead has taken." Magic, Spells, and Charms Magic is in a comparatively neglected and backward condition among the Kayans and Kenyahs, Punans, Ibans, and the more warlike up-country Klemantans.
It seems probable that the taking of heads was introduced to Borneo by Kayans when they entered the island, probably some few centuries ago, and that the Klemantans and other tribes, like the Ibans, have adopted the custom from their example.
The Sea Dayaks had obtained no footing in the river, and the Klemantans, who dwelt in the lower reaches, had proved quite incapable of withstanding their formidable neighbours. The latter had driven them out of the more desirable parts of the river, had made many slaves, and had appropriated many of the valuable caves in which they had gathered the edible nests of the swift.
At this point another tributary, the Bukau, coming from near the opposite side of Bukit Batu, joins the Rejang. Here he collected a force of some 200 Kayans and Klemantans, and led them up to the head of the Bukau and then on foot through the jungle to the neighbourhood of Bukit Batu.
The Ibans being great wanderers, small parties of them, engaged perhaps in working jungle produce, will settle for some weeks in a household of Klemantans, and, after being received hospitably, and sometimes even after contracting marriages with members of the household, will seize an opportunity, when most of the men of the house are from home, to take the heads of all the men, women, and children who remain, and to flee with them to their own distant homes.
In this respect the Ibans and some of the Klemantans have been the chief offenders; while the Kayans and Kenyahs have seldom given trouble, after once placing themselves under the established governments.
The latter constitute the principal part of the population of the northern end of the island, predominating over all the other peoples in British North Borneo, and in the northern extremities of Sarawak and of Dutch Borneo. The Muruts are confined to the northern part of Borneo. They resemble the Klemantans more closely than the other peoples.
Besides these sun-hats, the Kayans and Kenyahs and some of the Klemantans weave with fine strips of rattan close-fitting skull-caps and head-bands. The ends of the strips, some three or four inches in length, are sometimes left projecting from the centre or forming a fringe round the lower edge. The close-fitting hemispherical war-cap is made of rattans about half an inch thick split in halves.
Some of the Klemantans, notably the Malanaus, excel all other tribes, in that they attain a high level of achievement in a great variety of such arts; but each tribe and sub-tribe preserves the tradition of some one or two decorative arts in which they are especially skilled. Wood-carving is the most generally practised and on the whole the most important of the decorative arts.
Of these we distinguish six principal groups: Sea Dayaks or Ibans, the Kayans, Kenyahs, Klemantans, Muruts, Punans. A census of the population has been made in most of the principal districts of Sarawak and of Dutch Borneo; but as no census of the whole country has hitherto been made, it is impossible to state with any pretence to accuracy the number of the inhabitants of the island.
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