The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1905-08-15
DYAK HEAD HUNTERS
LEGEND OF THE ORIGIN OF THEIR
FEARFUL PRACTICES.

FEARFUL PRACTICES.
The BlOOdthirsty Savages of BOrneO
Are Reformed Now, but In Former
Days No Man Counted Until He Had
Beheaded an Enemy.
The home of the Dyak head hunters
is in the forests of the interior Of Bor
neo, and in order to observe that inter-
esting mortal on his native heath you
must leave behind railroads and steam
ers, put yourself and your belongings
into a native 'longboat" and travel for
days up one of the great rivers which
rise in the mountains Of central Bor-
neo and find their way into the China
sea.
The origin of head hunting among
the Dyaks is told in a legend which has
been handed down from father to son
from some faroff time, to which even
a Mulhall or an Edward Atkinson
would hesitate to affiX an exact date.
1t appears that certain chief Of the
Shop tribe of DyakS, TOkOng by name,
was off with some Of his men on an
expedition to punish band Of robbers
who had attacked Shop village. They
travelled by river until they reached
point near the camp Of the robbers, and
then, after fastening their boats to the
bank, they waited in the shade of some
trees to cook good round meal before
they made the projected attack. Just
as they were about to start Tokong
heard a gruff bass voice issuing from
behind bowlder, and on going to the
spot he saw a large frog surrounded
by it's young ones. He greeted the frog,
who thereupOn addressed him at length
on the subject of Dyak fighting meth
DDS. "What fools you are" he said, "to
content yourself when you kill an enc
my by taking his scalp to adorn your
shields and scabbards. Now, If you
would only take the whole head you
would find that every kind Of good for
tune would attend you"
After some discussion with his fol-
lowers Tokong decided to give the
frogs plan a trial, and 50 when they
attacked the robbers the next day they
took good care to carry off the heads
Of them. What was their establishment
on reaching the river again to find their
boats already launched. AS soon as
they were seated in the boats they be-
gan to move Of their own accord-the
very current of the river changed and
flowed uphill. On their arrival at the
village they found that the rice, which
had only been planted few days be-
fore, was already ripe; that those who
had been left behind i'll were now re-
covered; that the lame could walk and
the blind see.
Before head hunting was suppressed
freshly taken heads were required in
connection with a great number of
civil and religious ceremonies.
If chief died it was necessary to
decorate his grave with head, for if
this were not done the spirit Of the de-
parted on paying it's last visit to its
earthly home before retiring finally to
balun natal C'the fields Of the dead')
would see that proper respect had not
been paid to his corpse, and he would
curse all his surviving relatives so that
they would become blind, deaf or lame.
In some tribes it was the custom to
secure a number of heads whenever a
chief died under the belief that the
murdered men and women would 60 to
the next world with the dead chief as
his DerSOnal attendants
But there was scarcely any impOr-
tant occasion which did not call for
heads A chiefs child could not be
given a name until head had been Sc
cured; Dyak youth could find no ia
vor in the eyes of his sweetheart until
he had taken a head or two; nothing
insured SO much good luck, either in
war expeditions or in rice planting, as
the addition Of few heads to the col
lection, with which the veranda Of ev-
cry Dyak house was decorated.
The head hunter as seen today in
Borneo Is a reformed character; but,
although that element in his life which
exercised a morbid fascination for all
lovers Of the horrible and grotesque no
longer exists. there remains much that
is quaint and interesting in the daily
life of the Dyak.
In common with a great number Of
people in all ages and in all parts Of
the world. the Dyaks have an elaborate
system Of taboo. which they call per-