Читать книгу Seventeen Years Among the Sea Dyaks of Borneo - Edwin Herbert Gomes - Страница 10

Sea Dyaks making a Canoe

Sea Dyaks at work on a small dug-out. The tree has been felled, and the trunk is being cut into shape and hollowed out. The Dyaks are using the native axe or bliong, and the picture shows their method of handling it.

To propel these boats the Dyaks use paddles about three feet or more in length. The paddle used by the steersman is larger than those used by the others, and the women use much smaller paddles than the men. These dug-out boats draw very little water, and are easily handled, and may be propelled at a good pace.

In shallow streams and in the rapids up-river, the Dyaks use small canoes, which they propel with poles, standing up in the boat to do so.

The principal tools the Dyaks have for their work are the duku and bliong. The duku is a short, thick sword, or, rather, chopping-knife, about two feet in length. The blade is either curved like a Turkish scimitar, or else quite straight. The handle is beautifully carved, and is made of hard wood or of horn. The duku is used in war as well as for more peaceful purposes. In the jungle it is indispensable, as without it the Dyak would not be able to go through the thick undergrowth which he is often obliged to penetrate. It is, moreover, used for all purposes where a knife or chisel is used, and is a warrior’s blade as well as a woodman’s hatchet.

The bliong is the axe the Dyaks use, and is a most excellent tool. They forge it of European steel, which they procure in bars. In shape it is like a small spade, about two and a half inches wide, with a square shank. This is set in a thin handle of hard wood, at the end of which there is a woven pocket of cane to receive it. The lower end of this handle has a piece of light wood fixed to it to form a firm grip for the hand. The bliong can be fixed in the handle at any angle, and is therefore used as an axe or adze. With it the natives make their boats, and cut planks and do much of their carpentering work. The Dyak can cut down a great forest tree with a bliong in a very short time.

While the work of the men is to build houses and to make boats, the work of the women is to weave cloth and make mats.

The cloth which the women weave is of two kinds, striped and figured. The former is made by employing successively threads of different colours in stretching the web. This is simple enough. The other pattern is produced by a more elaborate process. Undyed white thread is used, and the web stretched. The woman sketches on this the pattern which she wishes to appear on the cloth, and carefully notes the different colours for the different parts. If, for example, she wishes the pattern to be of three colours—blue, red, and white—she takes up the threads of the web in little rolls of about twenty threads, and carefully wraps a quantity of vegetable fibre tightly round those parts which are intended to be red or white, leaving exposed those parts which are intended to be blue. After she has in this manner treated the whole web, she immerses it in a blue dye made from indigo, which the Dyaks plant themselves. The dye takes hold of the exposed portions of the threads, but is prevented by the vegetable fibre from colouring the other parts. Thus the blue portion of the pattern is dyed. After it has been dried, the vegetable fibre is cut off, and the blue parts tied up, and only the portion to be dyed red exposed, and the web put into a red dye. In this way the red part of the pattern is obtained. By a similar method all the colours needed are produced. The weft is of one colour, generally light brown.

Dyak weaving is a very slow process. The woman sits on the floor, and the threads of the weft are put through one by one. The cloth they make is particularly strong and serviceable. The women seem to blend the colours they use in a pleasing manner, though there is a great sameness in the designs.

Girls Weaving

They are seated on mats on the floor. The threads are fastened to a frame, which is kept in position by a large band that is secured to the girl’s waist, and she can tighten or loosen the threads by leaning back or bending forward. The threads of the weft are put through one by one from right to left and left to right.

Mats are made either with split cane or from the outer bark of reeds. The women are very clever at plaiting, and some of their mats have beautiful designs.

They also make baskets of different sizes and shapes, some of which have coloured designs worked into them.

Hunting is with the Dyaks an occasional pursuit. They live upon a vegetable rather than upon an animal diet. But in a Dyak house there are generally to be found one or two men who go out hunting for wild pig or deer on any days when they are free from their usual farm work. The Dyak dogs are small and tawny in colour, and sagacious and clever in the jungle.

Native hunting with good dogs is easy work. The master loiters about, and the dogs beat the jungle for themselves. When they have found a scent, they give tongue, and soon run the animal to bay. The master knows from the peculiar bark of the dogs if they are keeping some animal at bay, and follows them and spears the game. The boars are fierce and dangerous when wounded, and turn furiously on the hunter, who often has to climb a tree to escape from their tusks. The dogs are very useful, and by attacking the hind legs of the animal keep making it turn round.

Deer are more easily run down than pigs, because they have not the strength to go any great distance, especially in the hot weather.

A favourite way of catching deer is to send a man to follow the spoor of a deer, and to find out where it lies to rest during the heat of the day. Then large nets made of fine cane are hung around, and the deer is driven into these by a large number of men, women, and boys making a noise. When the deer is caught in the net, he is soon killed.

A variety of traps are made by the Dyaks to catch birds and wild animals. One of these traps (peti) set for killing wild pig is a dangerous contrivance by which many Dyaks have lost their lives. It consists of a spring formed by a stick being tied to the end of a post and pulled apart from it. The end of this stick is armed with a sharp bamboo spear. I have known of several men being killed by this trap, and in Sarawak this particular trap is forbidden by the Government to be set.

The Sea Dyaks are very expert with the rod and line, and with them fishing is a favourite occupation. They begin fishing at an early age. For bait they use worms or certain berries. Their hooks are made of brass wire.

Another method of fishing is by wooden floats (pelampong), generally cut in the form of a duck. Each has a baited hook fastened to it, and is set swimming down the stream. The owner of these floats drifts slowly in his canoe after them, watching, till the peculiar motions of any of these ducks shows that a fish has been hooked.

The achar is a spoon-bait. A piece of mother-of-pearl shell or some white metal is cut in the form of a triangle. At the apex the line is attached, and at the base are fastened two or three hooks by a couple of inches of line. This appliance is generally used with a rod from the bows, and another man in the stern paddles the boat along.

The Dyaks also have many varieties of fish-traps, which they set in the streams and rivers. Most of these are made of split bamboo.

They also have nets of various kinds; the most popular is the jala, or circular casting-net, loaded with leaden or iron weights in the circumference, and with a spread sometimes of twenty feet. Great skill is shown by the Dyak in throwing this net over a shoal of fish which he has sighted. He casts the net in such a manner that all the outer edge touches the water almost simultaneously. The weights cause it to sink and close together, encompassing the fish, and the net is drawn up by a rope attached to its centre, the other end of which is tied to the fisherman’s left wrist. The thrower of this net often stands on the bow of a small canoe, and shows great skill in balancing himself. The jala is used both in fresh and salt water, and can be thrown either from the bank of a river or by a man wading into the sea.

But the most favourite mode of fishing among the Dyaks is with the tuba root (Cocculus indicus). Sometimes this is done on a small scale in some little stream. Sometimes, however, the people of several Dyak houses arrange to have a tuba-fishing. The men, women, and children of these houses, accompanied by their friends, go to some river which has been previously decided upon. A fence made by planting stakes closely together is erected from bank to bank. In the middle of this there is an opening leading into a square enclosure made in the same fashion, into which the fish enter when trying to escape from the tuba into fresh water. The canoes then proceed several hours’ journey up the river, until they get to some place decided on beforehand. Here they stop for the night in small booths erected on the banks of the river. The small boats are cleared of everything in them so as to be ready for use the next day.

All the people bring with them fishing-spears and hand-nets. The spears are of various kinds—some have only one barbed point, while others have two or three. The shaft of the spear is made of a straight piece of bamboo about six feet long. The spear is so made that, when a fish is speared the head of the weapon comes out of the socket in the bamboo; but as it is tied on to the shaft, it is impossible for the fish to escape. Even when the fisherman throws his spear at the fish, there is little chance of the fish escaping, because the bamboo bears it to the surface, and it is easy for the men to pick up the bamboo shaft and thus secure the fish.

Most of the people bring with them some tuba root, made up into small close bundles, the thickness of a man’s wrist, and about six inches long. Early the next morning some of the canoes are filled with water, and the root is beaten and dipped into it. For an hour or so fifty or more clubs beat a lively tattoo on the root bundles, as they are held to the sides of the boats. The tuba is dipped into the water in the boat, and wrung out from time to time. This gives the water a white, frothy appearance like soap-suds. The Dyaks, armed with fish-spears and hand-nets, wait in readiness in their canoes. At a given signal the poisoned liquid is baled out into the stream, and the canoes, after a short pause, begin to drift slowly down the current. The fish are stupefied by the tuba, and as they rise struggling to the surface, are speared by the Dyaks. The large fish are thus secured amid much excitement, several canoes sometimes making for the same spot where a large fish is seen. The women and children join in the sport, and scoop up the smaller fish with hand-nets. The tuba does not affect the flesh of the fish, which can be cooked and eaten.

This form of fishing, when carried out on a large scale, is always a great event among the Dyaks, because besides the large amount of fish secured on these occasions, there is always a great deal of fun and excitement, and it is looked upon as a pleasant sort of picnic.

Dyaks Returning from Tuba-fishing

In tuba fishing the juice of the tuba root is put in the water to poison it, and cause the fish to rise stupefied to the surface, when they are secured either with spears or by hand-nets. In the picture the men are seen taking up to the Dyak house their fish spears and the fish they have succeeded in taking. The boats, which are dug-outs, each made out of the trunk of a tree, are being made fast to the bank. The large hats the men are wearing as a protection from the sun are made of palm leaves. On the right of the picture is seen a three-pronged fish-spear.

For superstitious reasons the Dyaks do not interfere with the crocodile until he has shown some sign of his man-eating propensity. If the crocodile will live at peace with him, the Dyak has no wish to start a quarrel. If, however, the crocodile breaks the truce and kills someone, then the Dyaks set to work to find the culprit, and keep on catching and killing crocodiles until they find him. The Dyaks generally wear brass ornaments, and by cutting open a dead crocodile they can easily find out if he is the creature they wish to punish. Sometimes as many as ten crocodiles are killed before they manage to destroy the animal they want.

There are some men whose business it is to catch crocodiles, and who earn their living by that means; and whenever a human being has fallen a victim to one of these brutes, a professional crocodile catcher is asked to help to destroy the murderer. The majority of natives will not interfere with the reptiles, or take any part in their capture, probably fearing that if they did anything of the kind, they themselves may some time or other suffer for it by being attacked by a crocodile.

The ordinary way of catching a crocodile is as follows. A piece of hard wood about an inch in diameter and about ten inches long, is sharpened to a point at each end. A length of plaited bark of the baru tree, about eight feet long, is tied to a shallow notch in the middle of this piece of wood, and a single cane or rattan, forty or fifty feet long, is tied to the end of the bark rope, and forms a long line. The most irresistible bait is the carcase of a monkey, though often the body of a dog or a snake is used. The more overpowering the stench, the greater is the probability of its being taken, as the crocodile will only swallow putrifying flesh. When a crocodile has fresh meat, he carries it away and hides it in some safe place until it decomposes. This bait is securely lashed to the wooden bar, and one of the pointed ends is tied back with a few turns of cotton to the bark rope, bringing the bar and rope into the same straight line.

The next thing is to suspend the bait from the bough of a tree overhanging the part of the river known to be the haunt of the animals. The bait is hung a few feet above the high-water level, and the rattan line is left lying on the ground, and the end of the rattan is planted in the soil.

Several similar lines are set in different parts of the river, and there left for days, until one of the baits is taken by a crocodile. Attracted either by the smell or sight of the bait, some animal raises itself from the water and snaps at the hanging bundle, the slack line offering no resistance until the bait has been swallowed and the brute begins to make off. Then the planted end of the line holds sufficiently to snap the slight thread binding the pointed stick to the bark rope. The stick thus returns to its original position, at right angles to the line, and becomes jammed across the crocodile’s stomach, the two sharpened points fixing themselves into the flesh.

Next morning the trappers search for the missing traps, and seldom fail to find the coils of floating rotan, or cane, on the surface of some deep pool at no great distance from the place where they were set. A firm but gentle pull soon brings the crocodile to the surface, and if he be a big one, he is brought ashore, though smaller specimens are put directly into the boat, and made fast there.

Sometimes the cotton holding the bar to the line fails to snap. In that case the crocodile, becoming suspicious of the long line attached to what he has swallowed, manages to disgorge the bait and unopened hook in the jungle, where it is sometimes found. But should the cotton snap and the bar fix itself in the animal’s inside, nothing can save the brute.

The formidable teeth of the crocodile are not able to bite through the rope attached to the bait, because the baru fibres of which the rope is made get between his pointed teeth, and this bark rope holds no matter how much the fibres get separated.

Professional crocodile catchers are supposed to possess some wonderful power over the animals which enables them to land them and handle them without trouble. I have seen a man land a large crocodile on the bank by simply pulling gently at the line. But this is not surprising, as from the crocodile’s point of view there is nothing else to do but follow, when every pull, however gentle, causes considerable pain.

The rest of the proceeding is more remarkable. The animal is addressed in eulogistic language and beguiled, so the natives say, into offering no resistance. He is called a “rajah amongst animals,” and he is told that he has come on a friendly visit, and must behave accordingly. First the trapper ties up its jaws—not a very difficult thing to do. The next thing he does appears to me not very safe. Still speaking as before in high-flown language, he tells the crocodile that he has brought rings for his fingers, and he binds the hind-legs fast behind the beast’s back, so taking away from him his grip on the ground, and consequently his ability to use his tail. When one remembers what a sudden swing of the muscular tail means, one cannot help admiring the man who coolly approaches a large crocodile for the purpose of tying his hind-legs. Finally the fore-legs are tied in the same way over the animal’s back. A stout pole is passed under the bound legs, and the animal is carried away. He is taken to the nearest Government station, the reward is claimed, and he is afterwards cut open, and the contents of his stomach examined.

Though the animal is spoken to in such flattering terms before he is secured, the moment his arms and legs are bound across his back and he is powerless for evil, they howl at him and deride him for his stupidity.

The professional crocodile catchers are generally Malays, who are sent for whenever their services are required. But there are Dyaks who have given up their old superstitious dread of the animal, and are expert crocodile catchers.