CHAPTER IX
A VISIT TO A DYAK LONG-HOUSE
As the Blanchita approached her destination many Dyaks appeared on theshores. They were Sea Dyaks in this region; and the name seems to havecome down from a former era in the history of the island, for at thepresent time they have little or no connection with a sea-faring life,and their sampans are mainly if not entirely used on the rivers. Butformerly they built large war-boats, or _bankongs_, some of which wereseventy feet long.
These craft did not go to sea. The naval battles were fought on riversand lakes; for the boats were not adapted to heavy weather, and couldnot have lived even in a moderate gale. They were propelled entirely byoars, single banked, and twenty-four rowers were all that could work.The largest of them had a platform or elevated deck, under which theoarsmen sat, and on which the warriors engaged the enemy.
Some sort of strategy was used; for the small boats were sent aheadsometimes to skirmish with the foe, and lure their canoes to a pointwhere the larger craft were concealed, which then came out and fell uponthe enemy. If the craft were used for purposes of piracy, as they werein the northern part of the island, in attacking foreign vessels, itcould only be when the strangers were caught within a short distance ofthe shores.
Mr. Eng came on board of the yacht when his sampans were taken in tow,and was seated with the cabin party on the forward seats. He spokeEnglish perfectly, and explained everything that needed it as the boatproceeded. The explorers had seen Dyaks enough, but had not before takenthe trouble to study them; for they seemed not to be in touch with thecivilization of Sarawak, and were "hewers of wood and drawers of water,"and not proper specimens of the race.
"The men here, Mr. Eng, do not appear to be very powerful physically,"said Louis, as they passed several laborers at work in a paddy.
"They are not as strong as Englishmen and Americans," replied the agent,glancing at the seamen in the waist. "The tallest man I have seen amongthe Sea Dyaks was not more than five and a half feet in height. Fivefeet three inches is a more common figure, though the average is lessthan that. They are not men of great strength; but they are active, ofgreat endurance, and in running they exhibit great speed."
"These people are not ruined by their tailors' bills," said Scott.
"They do not need much clothing in this climate; and a piece ofbark-cloth a yard wide is full dress here. The _chawat_, as they callthis garment, is about five feet long, and is wound around the waisttightly, and drawn between the legs, one end hanging down in front, andthe other behind. They wear a sort of turban on the head; and some ofthem have as many as four rings, large and small, hanging from theirears, through which they pass. Some of them use white cotton instead ofbark-cloth, like the Hindoos in India."
The yacht was now approaching the landing-place pointed out by theagent. A crowd of women and children were hurrying to the riverside.They appeared to be lighter in complexion than the men. As a rule theywere not handsome, though a few of them were rather pretty. The Americanvisitors were not likely to fall in love with any of the young women onthe shore. They were all in "full dress," which means simply apetticoat, reaching from the waist to the knees, made of bark-clothembroidered with various figures.
A few of the females wore a sort of red jacket and the conical Malayhat; but those are used only on "state occasions." The single garmentwas secured at the waist by being drawn into a belt of rattans, coloredblack. Above this was worn a coil of many rings of large brass wire; andall of them seemed to be provided with this appendage. There was somevariety in the use of this ornament; for some wore it tightly woundaround the body, while others had it quite loose.
In addition to this some of the young girls had a dozen rings of varioussizes hanging loosely around their necks, and falling upon the chest,which had no other covering. Their eyes were black, as was also theirhair, which was very luxuriant, and generally well cared for, being tiedup in a cue behind.
The village did not consist of a great number of small buildings, butfrom the landing-place could be seen the end of an immense structurewith a forest of palms behind it. The rear of it was not perpendicular,but slanted outward, like many of the walls of corn-houses in NewEngland, doubtless to keep the rain from the roof from penetrating. Allthe party, including the sailors, landed; for Mr. Eng declared that theDyaks were honest, and even in Sarawak were never known to stealanything, though the Malays and Chinamen were given to pilfering.
The crowd of men, women, and children gathered on the shore had lookedthe Blanchita over with the closest attention while the Americans werelooking them over. The party landed under the escort of the agent, andtook up the line of march for the big house. The entire crowd of Dyaksfollowed them, though they did not intrude upon them; on the contrary,they treated all of the visitors with a respect and deference borderingon homage.
"That 'long-house,' as we call it here, is nearly two hundred feet inlength," said Mr. Eng. "It is thirty feet wide. Now you can see more ofit; and you notice that it is set upon a multitude of posts, like allMalay and Dyak houses. These posts are firmly set in the ground; andbeing about six inches in diameter, you can readily see that the houserests on a solid foundation. It is not likely to be blown down in anyordinary gale, though a hurricane might sweep it away. Not a nail, not awooden pin or peg, is used in the construction of such buildings."
"Then, I should think any ordinary gale would level them to the ground,"suggested Louis.
"But the Dyaks have a substitute for nails or pins," replied the guide."All the poles and sticks and boards are tightly bound together withrattans; and I believe they hold together better than if they werenailed."
"I observed in England and France that the stagings used in the erectionof buildings were made partly of round poles, tied together with ropes.I talked with a man who told me they were stronger than if put togetherwith nails," said Morris.
"I think he was right. I can't tell you how the Malays and Dyaks managethe rattan to render it so flexible, but it seems to me they make betterwork than ropes. On the back of this house, there is not a single windowor other opening," continued Mr. Eng, as the party stood at the end ofthe structure, near the rear corner. "The disagreeable feature of thebuilding, or rather of the habits of the occupants, is that the spaceunder it, ten feet between the ground and the floor, is a catch-all forall refuse matter, and you notice that an unpleasant odor comes fromit."
"Is this the only entrance to it?" asked Scott, pointing to a door,which was reached by a log notched like a flight of stairs.
"There is a door at the other end also; and there may be ways ofmounting the platform, or veranda, which forms the front of thebuilding, as climbing a post, or dropping from a tree. Some of theposts, of which you see a multitude under the house, are cut off at thefirst floor, while many of them reach up to the roof, and support it. Wewill go in now, if you like; and, being sailors, I suppose you can climbthe log."
"No doubt of that," replied Scott, who was the first to ascend. "Are allthat crowd coming up?"
"Certainly; they are the occupants of the long-house, and they must beat home in order to do the honors of the occasion," laughed the guide.
The villagers followed the party, and immediately manifested theirpoliteness in various ways. The prettiest girl in the crowd spoke toLouis; though he did not understand a word she said, but replied to herin English, when she was as much at sea as he had been.
"What does she say, Achang?" he asked of the Bornean.
"_Tabet, tuan_," replied the native.
"I heard her say that; but what does it mean?"
"It means, 'Good-day, sir,'" answered the Bornean; and he proceeded totell her that Louis was the "head man," very rich, and owned a bigship.
She made a very graceful obeisance to him, and then rushed away througha door on the side of the grand hall, as it may well be called. But shereturned immediately, bringing a very elaborately worked mat, which shespread on the floor at the feet of the "head man." Then she spread outher hands
, and bowed low, saying something which was Greek to him.
"She invites you to take a seat on the mat," Achang explained.
As a matter of politeness Louis seated himself, and looked at the maidenwho treated him with so much consideration. By this time the other womenwere bringing mats for the rest of the party, making no distinctionbetween the seamen and the cabin party. The latter followed the exampleof the young millionaire, and seated themselves. The foremast handsdeclined the proffered courtesy; and Achang explained to the ladies thatonly the four young men who were seated were the magnates of thecompany, while the others were inferior personages, for the Bornean wasnot strictly democratic in his ideas.
"We will look at the house now, if you please," said Mr. Eng, after the"Big Four" had been seated a few minutes; and all of them rose to theirfeet, bowing low to the young ladies who had treated them with so muchdistinction.
About forty or fifty of the posts extended from the ground, for thevisitors had not time to count them; and most of them had suspended uponthem various trophies of the hunt, including the antlers of deer,crocodiles' heads, weapons, paddles, and spears. In the middle of thelong hall a fire was burning on a foundation of soil, enclosed by aborder of wood. In the roof was a sort of scuttle, which was fastenedopen to admit the air, and to allow some of the smoke to escape, thoughthere was plenty of it remaining in the apartment.
"What is that overhead, Mr. Eng?" asked Louis, pointing to a black masssuspended near the fire, though he had a suspicion of its nature.
"That is a collection of human skulls, relics of the days ofhead-hunting; for they are generally kept in a building erected for thepurpose, though appropriated at the present time partly to other uses.There are about twenty of them, which is not a large number for avillage like this. Not one of them is less than twenty years old; forRajah Brooke put an end to head-hunting long ago, though some of it hasbeen done in spite of his edicts. A lady beckons to you, Mr. Belgrave."
The pretty girl--by comparison--stood by his side, pointing to one ofthe numerous doors at the closed side of the house. Louis followed her,and she conducted him into a room. A portion of the floor was coveredwith mats on which the occupants sleep, with an earth section for afire. There was no furniture of any kind. The roof of the building wascovered with square pieces of palm like those used on the sampans, andthese could be raised in each room when necessary for air.
"This apartment is occupied by one family, or by a married couple, andunmarried men and boys sleep in the attic overhead," said Mr. Eng. "Ithas but one door, the one opening into the main hall. This is a house ofsixteen doors; and by this enumeration the size of the village isstated, and this number gauges the taxes to be paid."
"Citizens cannot dodge their taxes here, then, as some of them do in theUnited States," said Scott.
The party walked the entire length of the hall, and then passed out uponthe platform, which was not covered, and was used for various purposes,such as drying rice or other articles. The floors were composed ofstrips of palm, not more than an inch and a half wide, and placed aninch apart. They were lashed to the floor joists, or poles, with rattan.
"Those doors, which indicate the taxable rate of the village, look asthough they were cut out of single planks," said Scott.
"And so they are," replied the agent.
"I have seen no saw-mills here, and I suppose they bring the lumber fromEngland or India."
"Not at all, though some may be obtained in that manner. They are madefrom the buttress of the tapang-tree, which you must have seen."
"I have not noticed any such thing, though perhaps none of us couldidentify it," replied the captain.
"It is found growing out in triangular form from just above the roots ofthe tree. In a large one it is twelve or fifteen feet long. It makes anatural plank two inches thick, which may be trimmed into any shape withthe biliong."
The party were ready to depart; and they made all sorts of courteousgestures to their hosts, especially the ladies. The women asked them fortobacco, as Achang interpreted the requests. They had none, but some ofthe seamen supplied them with all they had about them.