Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: May 21, 2025
Barawan design for the shoulder or breast of men. From a drawing. Design of uncertain origin, on the calf of the leg of an Ukit man. Plate 139. From a tatu-block in the Sarawak Museum. From a tatu-block in the Sarawak Museum. This is tatued in rows down the front and sides of the thigh. From a tatu-block in the Sarawak Museum. From a tatu-block in the Sarawak Museum.
The dog design is usually known as USANG ORANG, the prawn pattern; the teeth of the dog are held to represent the notched border of the prominent rostrum characteristic of the prawns of the genus PALAEMAN, that occur so plentifully in the fresh-water streams of Borneo. All these are tatued on the flexor surface of the forearm or on the outside of the thigh.
According to this authority, girls when only eight years old have the backs of the fingers tatued, at the commencement of menstruation the tatu of the fingers is completed, and in the course of the following year the tatu is carried over the backs of the hand to the wrist; the feet are tatued synchronously with the hands.
The Sea Dayaks at the present day are, as far as the men are concerned, the most extensively tatued tribe in Borneo, with the exception of the Bakatans, Ukits, Kahayans, and Biajau; nevertheless, from a long-continued and close study of their tatu, we are forced to the conclusion that the practice and the designs have been entirely borrowed from other tribes, but chiefly from the Kayans.
The knee-cap is the last part to be tatued, and before this is touched the artist must be paid; as this part of the design is the keystone, as it were, of the whole, the required fee is always forthcoming. A narrow strip down the back of the thigh is always left untatued; it is supposed that mortification of the legs would ensue if this strip was not left open.
To this number we were able to add three Malays from the kampong. The third was a strong, tall man with some Dayak blood, who was tatued. Djobing, as he was named, belonged to a camp of rattan workers up on the Busang, and decided to go at the last moment, no doubt utilising the occasion as a convenient way of returning.
The women are tatued as described by Hamer down the front of the shin with two parallel lines connected by transverse cross-bars; according to our informant the design was supposed to represent a flat fish, such as a sole.
Nieuwenhuis' book , is the extent of our knowledge of the tatu of the inhabitants of the Kahayan river. The latter illustration shows a man tatued with a characteristic check pattern over the torso, stomach, and arms, but there is no reference to the plate in the text. Our figure is copied from a drawing by Dr. H. Hiller, of Philadelphia.
Among the Kayans a man's hands are only fully tatued when he has taken a head; while the social status of a woman is marked by the degree of fineness of the tatuing. It follows that death is neither greatly feared nor desired; but an old man will sometimes affirm that he is quite ready or even desirous to die, although he may seem cheerful and fairly vigorous.
All the men have a large representation of the full moon tatued on the calf of the leg, following the custom of the Ot-Danums, Murungs, and Siangs. As far as I ascended the river the Upper Katingans rarely have more tatuing than this, but the Lower Katingans are elaborately ornamented, chest and arms being covered with illustrations of familiar objects.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking