Through Central Borneo An Account Of Two Years' Travel In The Land Of The Head-Hunters Between The Years 1913 And 1917 By Carl Lumholtz
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Most Of Those That Were Measured Came
From The Kampongs Above, One Of Which Is Only Two Or Three Hours Away.
Several Men Had Their Foreheads Shaved In A Manner Similar To The Chinese,
A Straight Line From Ear To Ear Forming The Hair Limit.
I observed the
same fashion with the Upper Katingans, and in rare cases also with the
Kayans and Kenyahs.
They make fire by drilling one upright stick into
another lying on the ground. Seven is their sacred number. Formerly the
kampongs elected a kapala for an indefinite period. If he was satisfactory
he might remain a long time. At present the native kapala of the district
makes the appointment.
Among my friends here were the kapala of the kampong and his wife. She was
an interesting woman, very intelligent, with a slender but splendid
figure, and her face was curiously Mongolian. She had lost an eye by
smallpox, but there was so much light and vivacity in the brown one she
had left that the missing organ was forgotten. At first sternly refusing
to face the camera, after receiving chocolate like the rest both she and
her husband wanted to be photographed.
More than once I have seen the Dayak father here and elsewhere take the
youngest baby to the river to bathe. As soon as the navel is healed, about
eight days after birth, the infant is immersed, usually twice a day,
before seven o'clock in the morning and at sunset. The temperature of the
river water here in the morning was 72 F. It is astonishing how the
helpless little nude being, who can neither walk nor talk, remains
absolutely quiet while being dipped under the cold water again and again.
The father holds it in a horizontal position for immersion, which lasts
only a few moments, but which undoubtedly would evoke lusty cries from a
white child.
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