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Updated: June 18, 2025
A strong-smelling piece of skin from the civet cat is often attached to this head ornament, which is also favoured by natives on the Mahakam. In regard to ear ornamentation the Penyahbongs are at least on a par with the most extreme fashions of the Dayaks.
Nevertheless, upon opening one that had been closed for three weeks the camera inside was found to be white with mould. It was rough and hard travelling on account of incessant low kihams to be passed, or banks of small stones over which the prahus had to be dragged. The Penyahbongs had not yet learned to be good boatmen, often nearly upsetting the prahu when getting in or out.
Of these the last two are nomads, the first named have recently been induced to become agriculturists, and the Saputans some fifty years ago were still in an unsettled state. The "onder" at Braui confirmed this opinion when telling me of the fight he and thirty other Duhoi once had with Penyahbongs from whom he captured two heads for they are Ulu-Ots, he said.
Their principal weapon is the sumpitan, which, as usual, with a spear point lashed to one end, also serves as spear and is bought from the Saputans. Parang and shield complete the man's outfit. Except for a few cases of malaria, among the Penyahbongs there is no disease. In 1911 the cholera epidemic reached them, as well as the Saputans. Of remedies they have none.
Both before and since their transition to sedentary habits the Penyahbongs have been influenced by the Saputans, their nearest neighbours, four days' journey to the north, on the other side of the water-shed. Their ideas about rice culture and the superstitions and festivals attending it, come from the Saputans, of whom also a few live in Tamaloe.
At first they were roaming in the mountains, though not conflicting with the Penyahbongs, and later settled in four kampongs which, beginning with the uppermost, at the time of my visit were: 1. Formerly the office of the chief, tjupi, was hereditary. When he became old he was succeeded by his son. The woman bears her child in the house, surrounded by women, her husband, and another man.
Bangsul had undertaken to negotiate with us on behalf of the Penyahbongs and the Malays, and although in some ways he was an estimable man, his Malay characteristic of turning everything to his own advantage at times got the better of him and delayed an agreement.
The men felt the same way, and they went to the kampong and induced all the people to come out there, and thus a new kampong was founded. It is also used by the Penyahbongs. Once upon a time three brothers, Mohaktahakam, Batoni, and Bluhangoni, started in the morning from the kampong and walked to another kampong where Pahit, an antoh, had a fish-trap.
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