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

THE YOUNG BRAVE STAGGERED HOME
WITH HIS TROPHY.
companies. For the rest let us accept
that distinct tropical island as the
imam in the street. is willing to accept
it, merely as ''Borneo, where the head
hunters come from"
Moreover, it is not to be supposed
that head hunters are the sole inhabit-
ants of the country. A new arrival
who landed a few years ago at the
principal port, armed to the teeth with
two loaded revolvers and large bowie
knife and ready to fight for his head at
any moment was disarmed by a cour-
teous customs official and directed to a
comfortable hotel, from the veranda Of
which he was able to see English la
dies amusing themselves at lawn tennis
and European children taking their
afternoon airing under the charge Of
their Chinese nurses.
1t probably would not have conduced
to the greenhorn's peace of mind had
he known that the dapper little Dyak
policeman doing street duty in the road
below with no more deadly weapon
than a truncheon cherished lovingly in
his box at the barracks a long, keen
knife whose handle bore little row Of
nOtcheS. 1t was merely valued relic
of the policeman's younger days before
he left his faraway jungle village to
enlist in the white mans service, but
each notch could have told it's tale of
the swift and deadly blow that added
yet one more to the number Of Jungle
tragedies and one more to the grim line
of trophies hanging in the village long
house.
Head hunting as a tribal custom is
rapidly dying out as the sphere Of in
fuence'' Of the government slowly but
steadily extends farther and farther
into the interior.
The principal reasons for which heads
are taken may be summed up into
few words-frstly, as a sign of valor
and token Of manhood, and, secondly,
as a ready method Of keeping the score
/ in blood feud. 1t is a common belief
that the wild Dyak Of Borneo is in the
habit Of prowling around with a large
knife like the lion of Scripture. "seek-
that he collects heads in much the same
way as his white brother collects post
age stamps or butterflies. This. how
ever, is far from being the case. and
the native of the far interior is in real
| ity a very mild savage, whose principal
vice is the habit Of becoming extremely
intoxicated on a fermented drink which
/ he makes from a far too large portion
of his rice crop.
We will briefly analyze the first of
the two reasons given above for which
the young buck sallies forth on
head hunt. Undoubtedly in days gone
by the possession of a head implied
that the owner, or, rather the new own
| er, had successfully met and CONQUERED
an enemy. The young brave staggered
| home with his newly acquired trODhy.
| feeling that he had at last donned the
toga virilis and was entitled to marry
wife and join in the councils Of the
men. Festivities were held, large ouan-
titles of tapai Tice wine) were CON
sumed, and the hero of the hour. having
taken possession of room in the ''mar-
ried" portion of the long house that
shelters the whole of a Dyak village
and found damsel to share it. would
proceed to hang up his head as proudly
as his English brother hangs nm b. 8
first sporting trophy.
! Times have deteriorated since those
good old days. The young matron whose