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It is of interest also to note that the LUKUT, from having been a charm to prevent the second escape of the soul, has come to be regarded as a charm to ward off all disease; and the same applies to its tatued representation. On the forearm and thigh the UDOH ASU or dog pattern is tatued, and four typical examples are shown on Pl. 136, Figs. 1, 2, 5, 6.
Character of Designs. Part of Body Tatued. Cermonial. Object of Tatu. Serial designs on hands. Inside of forearm, outside of thigh, breasts, wrist and points of shoulders. Back of hand sometimes. None Sign of bravery in some forms, to ward off illness in others. The whole forearm, back of hand, the whole thigh, the metatarsal surface of the foot.
The central part of the forearm design is an anthropomorphic derivative, judging by the name TEGULUN; the lines are termed KILANG, and KANAK and GEROWIT are also conspicuous; GEROWIT IS also the name of the design for the metacarpals; the two stars joined by a line on the wrist are termed LUKUT, and it is possible that their significance is the same as that of the Kayan LUKUT tatued in the same place by men, but we have no evidence that this is the case.
If a dog dies in the house, the men push the carcase out of the house and into the river with long poles, and will on no account touch it with their hands. The spot on the floor on which the dog died is fenced round with mats for some few days in order to prevent the children walking over it. It is usual for the Kenyah men to have one or more designs tatued on their forearms and shoulders.
It differs from every other form in that the tatued surface of the skin is not covered uniformly with the ink, but the design, such as it is, is merely stippled into the skin, producing an appearance of close-set irregular dots. No other part of the body is tatued, and the practice is confined to the female sex. The Dusun women apparently do not tatu.
The men of the lower left-hand branch of the Barito and of the midcourse of that river are often not tatued at all, but such tatu as was extant in 1850 was highly significant according to Schwaner's account; thus, a figure composed of two spiral lines interlacing each other and with stars at the extremities tatued on the shoulder signified that the man had taken several heads; two lines meeting each other at an acute angle behind the finger nails signified dexterity in wood-carving; a star on the temple was a sign of happiness in love.
The Uma Luhat seem to have borrowed their tatu and designs very largely if not entirely from the Long Glat; with them the back of the thigh is tatued before the front, which is exceptional. Half of the knee is tatued. Their designs are modifications of the hornbill and dog's head designs of the Long Glat. Tatu of Muruts and Klemantans.
On the thigh is tatued a design termed SOEWROE, said to resemble a neck ornament.
The quadrangles were twelve in number, divided from each other by four longitudinal and two transverse untatued lines, 6 millimetres broad, two of the longitudinal lines running down each side of the front of the leg, and two down each side of the calf, approximately equidistant; the forearm was tatued in the same style. This manner of tatu is obsolete now, but Dr.
Circles are tatued on the biceps, on the back of the thigh, and on the calf of the leg; a modification of the scroll design of the chest occurs on the flexor surface of the forearm. On the forehead is sometimes tatued a star or rosette pattern called LUKUT, antique bead, and it appears that this is of the nature of a recognition mark.
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