Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1906-01-13

husband had three heads hanging he
fore his room would sneer at the wo-
man whose spouse could boast but two
and the latter was probably nagged at
and badgered for women are alike the
world over till he went out and pro-
cured another. And so by slow degrees
the first question asked by a prospec-
tive father-in-law OF a sutton for his
daughters hand came to be not How
much brassware Lave youY but "How
many heads have you? and no self re-
speeding girl would look at a man who
could not boast his two or three.
To pass on from this somewhat grew
some theme, were some of the officers
in Borneo to write the histories of all
the blood feuds with which they have
dealt they would fill many and large
volumes, for never tribe but has it's
two or three. Some of these are of fair
~ modern origin, and their story, as
told over the campfire at night by the
''old man" of the tribe, takes but few
minutes to relate, every head lost or
gained being carefully licked off on the
fingers, the teller being conscious of
score of younger men squatting round,
each of whom would consider the omis-
sion of his share in the matter as a per-
sonal insult. Others again are Of such
long standing that their origin is lost in
the mists Of time, and no man Of Telo-
cusan can tell why his village is at feud
with the people of Panawan.
Various causes contribute to give rise
to these blood feuds. Perhaps during
cattle receiving expedition by the young
bloods of village A a man Of village B
will be killed and his head taken to
adorn the long house at A. The vii
layers of B, biding their time for these
are jungle folk and not courageous, will
take party of A people at q disadvan-
tage and the roof beam of the long
house of B has heavier weight to car
ry. Then blood feud is declared and
it becomes the bounden duty Of every
B man (nOte the emphasis) to collect
the head of every A person that he can
manage to fall upon without much risk
to himself, and vice versa. Each village
keeps count of it's score by the simple
expedient of hanging up the tangible
evidence of every point in the CHASTITY
contest SO as to be constantly before it's
eyes.
And so the game goes on from year
to year, and the row Of skulls in each
village grows longer and longer till
there comes a day when the English
officer, having felt his way for months,
quietly suggests to the chief of A that
it might be an advantage to settle
matters and make friends with B. The
chief laughs at the idea. But all the
same it sinks in, and the old man finds
himself thinking how good it would
be to be able to trade and search for
gutta and rotan in the rich country
around his rivals village. No more is
said. But the white man finds himself
shortly in village B, and the process is
repeated. The next step is a meeting
between the two tribes. Finally, after
lengthy negotiations, they meet, both
sides fully armed and equally suspi-
cious, and the white man, sitting cool
and collected, opens the palaver.
First the score is counted up on both
sides, and his heart sinks as he hears
that there is a difference of opinion. "A
claims that B owes three heads. b
admits only two. Voices are raised,