Borneo Research Bulletin (Vol. 10, No. 2) September 1978

8/10/2019 Borneo Research Bulletin (Vol. 10, No. 2) September 1978

1/34

Other Items: Personal news, brief summaries of research

activities, recent publications, and other brief items will

appear without the source specifically indicated.

The

Editor urges those contributing such news items to send

them in the form and style in which the contributor wishes

them to appear rather than leaving this to the discretion

of the Editor.

All contributions should be sent to the Editor, Borneo

Research Bulletin, c/o Department of ~nthropolog-hge

of William and Hary, Williamsburg, Virginia, 23185, U.S.A.

STYLE FOR CONTRIBUTIONS

Please submit all contributions double spaced.

Research

Notes and Brief Communications should be limited to approxi-

mately eight double-spaced pages.

Footnotes are to be

avoided wherever possible.

Bibliographies should be listed

alphabetically by author at the end of contributions; author

should appear on a separate line, then date, title of

article, journal, volume number, and pages. For books,

include place of publication and finally publisher.

References in the body of contributions should be cited by

author's last name, date, and page number as follows:

(Smith 1950:36-41).

For punctuation and capitalization

refer to Bibliographic Section.

Xames mentioned in the News Section nd other uncredited

contributions will be capitalized and underlined.

ORNEO

RESE RCH

ULLETIN

Vol. 10, No. 2 September 1978

Notes From the Editor:

~ndowmefit rive;

Cont-tionsforh e Support of the BRC

Research Notes

The Xualang of Indonesian Borneo:

Neglected Sources for Iban Studies

ictor T. King

Brief Communications

Shifting Cultivation

Generalizations about Place Names: Some

Borneo Examples Allen

R.

Maxwell

News and Announcements

Report of A Music Workshop in East,

Kalimantan Jose 1.laceda

Sulawest Research Council Newsletter

Fifth International Symposium of

ropical Ecology

Borneo News

ook Reviews, Abstracts, Bibliography

Vinson Sutlive: The Iban of Sarawak

ames Elasine 105

Lela Garner Noble: Phili ine ~ o l i c

toward Sabah: A C h d d n c e

ames Warren 107

Robert

H.V.

Reece: The Cession of Sarawak

to the British Crown ?n 1946 10

ifliography 117

The Borneo Research Bulletin is published twice

y e a r l m r i l and September)

by the Borneo

Research Council. Please address all inauiries

and contributions .for publications to nso on K.

Sutlive, Jr., Editor, Borneo Research Bulletin,

Department of Anthropology,~ollege of-

and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia, 23185,

U.

.A.

Single issues are available at US 2.50.


2/34

NOTES FROM

TH

EDITOR

The Borneo Research Council Endowment Fund has been

e s t a b l i s h e d . As r e p o r t e d e a r l i e r ( B u l l e t i n 1 0 : 2 ) ,

t h e E d i to r s e n t r e q u e s t s f o r o n e - ti m e g r a n t s t o t w el v e

founda t ions a nd c ompan ies , d e s c r i b ing t he h i s t o r y a nd

a c t i v i t i e s o f t h e C o un c i l, i n c l u d i n g ba ck i s s u e s o f

the Bul le t in , and sol ic i t in g money f or an endowment

fund . Whi le re p r e s e n ta t i ve s o f s e ve ra l a ge nc ie s re p l i e d

tha t the i r r e s ourc e s we re to t a l ly c ommi t t e d a nd we re

u n ab l e t o ac c ed e t o o u r r e q u e s t , o t h e r s a r e

s t i l l

cons idering i t

am de l igh t e d to re por t t ha t B rune i She l l Pe t ro leum

Company Limited has made a grant of US 1,000.

with which

we have begun th e Endowment Fund. Subseq uent t o r e c e i p t

o f th i s g ra n t , we re c e ive d a g i f t o f 100 . de s igna te d

for the Fund from one of t he F el lows .

I n l i g h t o f t h e f i n a n c i a l r e p o r t e n c l o s e d ,

i t

seems

impera t ive tha t we s t r iv e fo r an endowment fund of a t

least US 10,000.

Th i s would ge ne ra te e nough in t e re s t

to s upplemen t g i f t s and c on t r ib u t io ns , obv ia t i ng a dva nc es

r e q ui r e d t o p u b l i s h a nd d i s t r i b u t e

t h e B u l l e t i n .

To th is end, g i f t s to th e Endowment Fund, over and above

subscr ipt ion payments ,

w i l l

be most welcome.

I ' s h o u l d l i k e t o e x p r e s s my p e r s o n al g r a t i t u d e a n d ,

am

c e r t a in , t he de ep a ppre c ia t ion o a l l r ea d e rs o f t h e

B u l l e t i n , t o t h e f o l l o w in g p er s o ns f o r t h e i r g e ne r ou s

contr ibut ions : George

N

Appel l , Robert F A u s t i n ,

Vic tor T King, D ie t r ic h Kuhne; Kaureen Liebl , P e te r

M e tca l f , A l a s t a i r M orr i s on,

H

Arlo Nimrno, Raymond

R

1

Rudes, and James

F

IJarren.

THE

BORNEO RESEARCH COUNCIL

The Bor

members

scholar

neo Research Council was founded i n 1968 and i t s

h ip c ons i s t s o f Fe l lows , a n in t e rn a t i ona l g roup o f

s who a re p ro fe s s iona l ly e ngaged i n re s e a rc h i n

Borneo. The goals of th e Council a r e (1) t o promote

s c i e n t i f i c r e s e a r c h

i n

t h e s o ' ci a l , b i o l o g i c a l ( c o n t . p . 1 20 )

R E S E A R C H N O T E S

THE MUALAXG

O

1NDONESIP.N BOEUJEO

:

NEGLECTED SOURCES FOR IBAN STUDIES

Victor T. King

The Un ive rs i t y o f Hu l l

have no te d e l s e whe re th a t t he re a re ve ry rough ly

7,000 people i n Western Ind ones ian Borneo (West

Kalimant an), who acknowledge themselves a s bel ong ing

t o the c a te gory Iba n ' (1975a :

300) 1

I n c o n t r a s t

with th e Iban i n Sarawak, those i n Indones ian Borneo

a r e few i n n um be r. T h i s f a c t , t o g e t h e r w i t h t h e i r

remoteness

a nd t h e d i f f i c u l t i e s o f u nd e rt a ki n g f i e l d -

work in West Kalimant an, has meant t ha t t he I ndon esian

I ba n ha ve r e c e i v e d ve r y l i t t l e a t t e n t i o n f ro m a n t h r o-

p o l o g i s t s .

In consequence there

i s

a s a d l a c k o f

b a s i c d e s c r i p t i v e m a t e r i a l on t h em .

C e r t a in l y some da ta on Iban a r e a v a i l a b l e i n Dutch

s ourc e s , a nd have t r i e d in a l im i t e d a nd ina de qua te

way, t o use much of t h i s sca t t e r ed ma te r i a l and my

o m s u p e r f i c i a l o b s e rv a t i on s o f t he m i n o r d e r t o b e gi n

t o f i l l t h i s gap i n t h e I b a n e t h n o gr a p h i c re c o r d

(1973a:36-7; 1975a:300-3; 1976a:306-2 7; 1976b:05-114).

In

a number

o f

re s p e c t s Ka liman tan Iba n c lo s e l y re s emble

t h e i r Sarawak cous ins . However, they should be an

o b j & t o f s t u dy i n t h e i r own r i g h t .

They have been,

a nd a r e , s u b j e c t t o d i f f e r e n t e x pe r ie n c es v i s - a - v i s

government.

Economic oppo r tun i t i e s a r e a l s o ge ne ra l ly

more l imi ted i n ICalimantan than i n Sarawak, and t h i s

d i s a d va n t a g e , to u p l e d w i t h t h e i r d i s t a n c e f ro m t h e

la rg e c omre rc ia l c e n t re s a long the ma in Kapua s r iv e r ,

causes the Indones ian Iban

s t i l l

t o o r i e n t t h e m se l ve s

pa r t ly t o Sa ra wa k fo r t r a d e a nd work .

Some Iban


3/34

c ommuni ti es a r e a l s o found i n a ra t he r d i f f e r e n t

e c o log ic a l n i che i n IZal iman ta n f rom the c l a s s i c h i l l

r i c e e c os ys tem i n the a re a s i n Sarawak i n which Iban

have bee n in t e ns iv e ly s tud ie d . Iba n a re a l s o ve ry

much a minor i ty people i n Kal imantan, and th i s fa c t

has played and may co nt inue t o p lay an important p ar t

i n t h e i r r e l a t i o n s w i t h g o ve rn me nt a nd w i t h t h e i r c l o s e

ne ighbours. F in a l l y , Iban i n Kal ima ntan l i ve in

a s s o c i a t i o n w i t h c u l t u r a l l y a nd s o c i a l l y c l o s e l y

re l a te d peoples who t oge th er recogn ize \Jes t .Kal imantan

a s the a re a f rom which the y t r a c e th e i r o r i g in s and

t h e i r most im p o r ta n t t r a d i t i o n s . I n m ak ing t h i s l a s t

po in t am no t p ropos ing re s e a rc h in to the o r ig in s o f

Iba n c u l tu re a nd s oc ie ty a s s uc h , bu t r a the r the

broadening of Iban s t ud ie s t o inc l ude those numerous

K al im an ta n pe o pl e s r e l a t e d t o a nd h i s t o r i c a l l y s i g -

n i f i c a n t fo r the Iba n. In o th e r words, wou ld l i ke

to s e e Iba n s tud ie d w i th in the c on te x t o f th e w ide r

complex of Ib an ic

pe op le s 2 o f which the y a r e a pa r t .

(King 1973b:254-7; 1974:32-3; 1976c:87-99).

.have a l ready made a p l ea fo r th e s t udy of Iban

prop er in West Kalimant an, and

i t

i s g r a t i fy i n g t o h e a r

th at Frank McKeown of Monash Un iv ers ity int en ds t o un der-

take research on the Iban of th e Kapuas lake s area .

However, t he s p e c i f i c pu rpose o f t h i s p re s e n t r e s e a rc h

n o te i s t o d raw a t t e n t i o n t o t h e i m po r ta n ce o f o t h e r

s ou rce s o f in fo rma tion i n Ka liman ta n f o r Iba n s tu d ie s in

gener al. Unf ort una tel y, much of the work on Sarawak Iban

h as d ev ot ed ve r y l i t t l e a t t e n t i o n t o e t h n i c g ro up in gs i n

Indones ian So ne o which e xh i b i t marke d s im i l a r i t i e s w i th

Iban. These groupin gs comprise, among ot he rs , th e Kantu

Se be rua ng, M ua la ng , De sa , a nd most , i f no t a l l , t he

r ive r -ba s e d g roup ings in the Ke tungau r i ve r a nd i t s

t r ib u t a r i e s (e .g . Tabun , S iga ra u , Se ka la u , Se ka pa t , Ba ga u,

Banj ur, Se bar u Demam, and Maung). Th is complex may

well inc lude a number of o t he r peoples as wel l (King 1976c:

86-105). Michael Dove of St anfor d Uni ver s i ty has rec ent ly

completed f i e l d work among the Kantu to th e west of t he

Kapuas lakes , and hi s res earc h w i l l no doub t c on t r ibu te

s ubs t a n t i a l ly to ou r knowledge o f Iba n ic pe op le s . Yet

we a l re a dy have importa n t bu t ne g le c te d s ou rc e s fo r a no the r

of these Iban ic groupings , t he Mualang, in the work of

Donatus Dunselman, a Capuchin pr ie st . t ha s pe rha ps no t

been fu l l y re a l i z e d by some s c ho la r s in t e r e s t e d in

Sarawak Iban th a t Dunselman has pub lis hed i n Dutch a

number of i tems on th e Mualang, which provi de va lua ble

c ompara t ive re s e a rc h s ou rc e s fo r Iba n i s t s (1950 1 -46 ;

1954:52-63; 1955 ; 1953: 166-72; 1959a; 1959b :460-74;

1961:409-37).

A t

t he p re s e n t t ime am a t t e mpt ing to a t ra ns la t e a nd

br i ng toge t he r s ome o f th e impor ta n t pa r t s o f Duns el -

man s wr i t ing . Th i s i s i n t h e c o n t e x t o f a n on g oi n g

p r o j e c t w i t h

D r s J B

Ave of th e Rijksmuseum voor Vol-

kenkunde in Leiden. We are now engaged i n compil ing

a b ib l iog ra phy o f the main l i t e r a t u r e on West Ka l i -

ma nta n, a nd us ing some o f th i s ma te r i a l fo r r e s e a rc h

i n t o e t h n o h is t o r y , e t h n i c r e l a t i o n s , a nd p ro bl em s o f

e t h n i c c l a s s i f i c a t i o n .

Donatus Dunselman himself rec ogniz ed the s i gn if ic an ce

of h is work f or Iban s t ud ie s when he wrote :

T h er e e x i s t s t r o n g c u l t u r a l r e l a t i o n s be tw ee n

the se [Mualang] Dayak and the Iban o r Batang

Lupar of Western Borneo and Sarawak, and li k e -

wise w i th o t he r g roups o f th e c e n t r a l Ka puas

a r e a , p a r t i c u l a r l y t h e g r o u ps o f t h e K an tu k, t h e

Seberuang, and th e Desa , and the v ario us groups

o f the Ketunga u ba s in , i . a . t h e g roups o f the

Bugau, t he Tabun and th e Banyur. Remarkable

s i m i l a r i t i e s a r e t o be o bs er v ed i n t h e i r

l a n gu a g e, i n t h e i r t e c h n iq u e s o f w e av in

p l a i t i n g

and

i n t h e i r myths

(1955 :279).

Dunselman a l s o s p e c i f i c a l l y d e m o n st r a te s s o m s i m i l a r i t i e s

between h i s Mualang

da ta a nd thos e

o f t h e I ba n i n t h e

wr it in gs of Dunn, Perham, Brooke Low, Richa rds and

Nyuak. Subsequently A A Cense and E.M. Uhlen beck, i n

t h e i r l i n g u i s t i c s u rv ey o f B or ne o, a l s o p o i n t e d t o t h e

importance of Dunselman s work f o r Iban language s t ud ie s .

The y s t a t e d :

C los e ly r e l a t e d t o Se a Dayak i s Mualang, spoken

along the Ayak a nd B e l i t a ng R ive rs , r ig h t -ha n d

a f f lue n t s o f th e Kapua s R ive r , , a pp rox ima te l

two hundred miles up-s t ream from Pont i anak.

This language has been thorou ghly s t ud ie d by

Fat her Dunselman, who f i r s t publ ishe d some

f ragmen t s o f a n e x te ns iv e s a c re d c ha n t w i th a

t r a n s l a t i o n , a nd l a t e r t h e f u l l t e x t (1958 2) .

Yet de s p i t e the obv ious va lue o f the s e s ou rc e s the y ha ve


4/34

apparent ly not ex c i te d much enth us iasm among s tude nts

of Sarawak Iban. t ha s c on t inue d to s u rp r i s e me how

l i t t l e o f t h e Du tch m a t e r i a l f i n d s i t s way i n t o E ng l is h

t e x t s . F or e xa mp le , i n r e l a t i o n t o y own work on t h e

Maloh of West Kalimantan have drawn at te n ti o n t o the

u t i l i t y o f Dutch s ou rc e s (1972) , wh ic h we re g los s e d ove r

by Tom Harrisson in h is e th nol ogi ca l not es on the same

people (1965). The same propogan da ta sk has to be

unde r ta ken fo r the Iba n ic c omplex a s we l l .

t i s perha ps un fa i r t o s ing le ou t one example o f

Sarawak scho lars hip t o demons tra te the tendency t o

negl ec t Dutch source s . There ar e many oth ers . Never-

the le s s , E r ik J e ns e n s r e c e n t s tudy o f The Iba n a nd

th e i r R e l ig ion (1974) p rov ide s

us

w i t h a p a r t i c u l a r l y

g o o d i n u s t r a t i o n o f t h e p o t e n t i a l c o mp ar at iv e v al u e

of Dutch wri t ing s on the Ib an ic complex. Jan Ave s

re vie w o f J e ns e n s book po in te d e s pe c ia l ly t o i t s

n e g l e ct o f c om pa ra bl e m a t e r i a l f o r o t h e r e t h n i c

groups i n Borneo (1977:3 86).

In

t h i s c o n n e c t i o n

nowhere d id Jensen r ef er t o Dunselman s da ta on Mualang

r e l i g i o n; y e t , i n y o p i n i o n , i t h a s d i r e c t r e le v an c e t o

the Iban case . For example , Jensen mentioned cer ta in

Iba n l ege ndary he roe s a nd a type o f Iba n o ra l l i t e ra tu re

c a l l e d k a n a . He s a i d , a t one p o i n t , t h a t kan a i s t h e

name g ive n to l e ge nda ry a c c oun t s h e n the s e a r e e xp re s s e d

in rhythmical o r semi -po et ic a l forms (1974:

63) .

Jensen

ref er red t o the most famous Iban her o , Rl ing (Kel ing,

K l i en g ) , h i s d w e l l i n g p l a c e a t P a ng ga u, a n d t h e f a c t t h a t

i t was the re t ha t t he a nc e s to r s o f human Iba n e ve n tua l ly

divided from Klin g s group (pp. 70, 71, 94-5, 103, 116,

204, 206-7).5 Some 20 ye ars bef ore Jen sen s work, Dunsel-

man recorded and t ran s l a t ed th e Mualang ep ic K a n a S e r a ,

which i s an a l lu s i o n t o t he l i fe - s t or y o f ~ e l i n ~ 6 ,nd

which cont a ins numerous re fer ence s t o the heroes o f

Panggau Libau (sometimes ca ll ed Pauh Sandai or Lengan (g)

Lengayan). Dunselman not ed th a t the se cul t ure heroes or

Buah Kana

a l s o a pp e ar i n t h e o r a l l i t e r a t u r e o f t h e

IZantu Desa, Lebang, Sebe ruang and many Icetungau gro ups ,

es pe ci al ly t he Tabun and Banyur (1955 : 8-10 ). Dunselman s

work on Mualang cr ea t ion myths, and pa rt ic ul ar ly th e myth

of Puyang Gana, a l s o de mons t rat e s s t r ik in g s i mi la r i t i e s

with some of t he Iban myths recou nted by Jensen.

t t h i s j u n c t u re t h i n k

i t

b e s t t o s um ma ri ze b r i e f l y t h e

con ten ts o f some of Dunselm an s work which

w i l l

s e r v e

t o i l l u s t r a t e some o f t h e p a r a l l e l s a nd d i f f e r e n c e s

between 1.Iualang and Iban b e l i e f .

Dunselman s two

m ost i m p o r ta n t p u b l i c a t i o n s a r e h i s K an a S e r a . Z a n g

d e r

Z w a n g e r s c h a p ( 19 55 ) w i t h i t s b r i e f p r e v i e r ( 1 95 4 ),

a nd h i s

i t d e r

L i t e r a t u u r

d e r

M u a l a n g - f a j a k s

(1959).

The K a n a S e r a

i s

Dunselman s m a g num o p us . t c o n t a i n s

a w e a lt h o f m a t e r i a l o n t h e Mu al an g s p i r i t w o rl d , t h e i r

m a t e ri a l c u l t u r e , e n vi r on m en t , h i s t o r y , r e l a t i o n s w i t h

o the r e thn ic g roup ings , a nd customs a s s oc i a t e d w i th

s uch th ings a s he a d -hun t ing , f a rming , r e c e iv i ng gue s t s

and marriage .

The K a n a S e r a t e l l s t h e s t o r y o f a g i r l , u s u al l y c al l e d

T e l i t B en an g, w ho h as a l l k i n d s o f a d v e n t u r e s , i n c l u d i n g

j o ur n ey s t o t h e w o r ld b e n ea t h t h e w a t e r a n d t o t h e

heavens . In esse nce , i t i s an a l l us i o n t o th e l i f e

of Kel ing and h i s marria ge t o Kurnang. The Mualang

t r a d i t io n o f Ke l ing be g ins a t a p l a c e c a l l e d (Temba-

wang) Tampun Juah, which i s s a i d t o h av e be en i n t h e

h e ad w at e rs o f t h e S a i , a t r i b u t a r y o f t h e K e tu n ga u,

and the Sekayam ri ve rs . There the Llualang were c a l le d

Menua Dayak o r Menua Tampun Ju a h , o r someti mes

th e peop le o f Lembah Buluh.

Accordin g t o Dunselman

the Ketunga u pe op le s , i nc l ud in g the I ba n , r e c kon th e i r

de s ce n t from th i s p l a c e . However , t he re a re a l s o

M ua la ng o r i g i n s t o r i e s wh ic h t r a c e de s c e n t ba ck e ven

f u r t h e r t o L ab ai ( La bi ) ~ a w a i . a p p a r e n tl y a n a n c i en t

name fo r th e pre sen t-d ay Sukadana (1955 :6 ). There

are

a l s o

l i n k s

w i t h Java

The s to r y goes t ha t a t Tampun J ua h the re l i ve d a man,

Balai Gamang ( als o c al le d Kuma/Kumba), and h i s wif e

Tik al Bidang. When Ti ka l Bidang was pr eg na nt, she

d re am t o f a g a rd en i n J av a w hi ch c o n t a i n e d a l l s o r t s

o f d e l i c i o u s f r u i t . She a sk e d h e. r h us ba nd t o f e t c h

f r u i t f rom the gard en, which was watched over by a

se er c al le d Manang Kedung. Bala i Gamang s jou rney was

s uc c e s s fu l . He re tu rne d and when h i s w i fe ha d e a te n

t h e f r u i t s h e g ai n ed s t r e n g t h

and

g av e b i r t h t o a s o n ,

Reling Nacling.

When he was ful l - grown , Kel in g disappe ared t o a p lace

beneath t he wat er where water-nympths l i v e , and was

educated by th e most famous of the se , Pupu Peru a.

He then m arr ied Rurnang and wandered a lo ne ov er t h e

h ea ve ns u n t i l e v e n t u a l l y h i s w i f e b r o u gh t h im ba ck t o

the land of t he Buah Ihna , of which Panggau for ned

t h e c e n t r e .


5/34

Lana l v

beoples

., .

;Originally tht th e r with human

-3ual'ang and rt bsequen t l y d i v i ded

. from

them before

rile

xualang ana oth ers l e f t Tarnpun

~ u a h .

T hese cu l t u r e he r ues ea r ed ' t o ano t he r

, p l a c e 3 ,

bu t

t he y c ou ld s t i l l n a v i s i b l e s h ap e

and

cam t o t he a i d o f human sel man s t a t e s t h a t

, .the Buah Kana are bel iev ed

t

g t o t h i s w o r ld

dhnia)

and n o t

t o

the heavens

~ ~ a n q i

n o r t o t h e

-land

of t h e

dead

sehaydn).

t i s a l s o b e li e ve d t h a t

the Buah

Kana

w i l l e \ n a nd t h e h e r o i c ,

golden age w i l l h e r e

rent ua l l

s t o r e d .

.ed toge

b u t s u

3

d i app

t ake

o

s . Dun

o

belon

I

y r e t u r

The Buah Kana l iv e in di f f er en t longhouses of which

Panggau

Libau i s the most famous. This

i s

t he house

of L a j a ( o r Ked i ) , Ke l ing and h i s ha l f - b r o t he r I j au

(also c al le d Lalayang Ilenang, Bunga Pluing and Ja la k) .

They each have s i s te rs - Dara Lantan Sekumbang

i s

t h e

s i s t e r of Laj a; Kumang Pan tang o r Dara Tengah P.laua

i s

the s i s t e r of Ke ling; and Pantang Temus Manis Nyamai

( a ls o c a l l e d Dabung N ya la ) i s I j a u ' s s i s t e r . O t h er

named inh ab i ta nts o f Panggau ar e Ta l i Undi ( f . ) and

1

her bro ther Tungkai Tangga ' Lu la i Parabung Lan gi t

( f . ) and her bro the r Gesing Salau Lelang; Dara Imbuk

1

t a (f .) and h er b ro th er Bumbun (a ls o c a ll ed Manis Mua

and Bujang Pandak Ranggang); Bendung ( f . ) and he r

brot her Pungga3 Ind ai Abang (o r Balun Belunan) ( f .

)

and both he r husband , Apai Abang ( or Panta u Pejawan)

and he r younger s i s t e r , Dara Tunsan Jawa. Another

impor tant house i s Gelong (Gelung) , where the hero es

Pandung (with hi s s i s t e r Bundong) and Remuyan (w ith

h is s i s t e r Kumang) l i v e . Bundong became the wife of

Laja , and Kurnang, the wife of Kel ing. In h is

c o u r t i n g o f K umang, K e l i n g m ee ts h i s g r e a t e s t r i v a l

Labong, who l i v e s a t Ayau.

There i s al so a conn ect ion between th e Buah Kana and

Java. Pungga ' , whose fa th er

i s

Tukang Kawah,

i s

t h e

f i r s t c o u s ln o f M ping P a d i , a p o w er f u l r u l e r o f J a v a

and L abai L awa i. L abong i s r e l a t ed t o R i a i R i ba i

Lawai who

i s

ca l l ed Ratu Sunan Solo.

Chants which de al ex clu s iv ely w i th th e Buah Kana are

c a l l e d

K a n a T a n g i ,

a nd a p r i n c i p l e e p is o d e i n th em i s

t he s t r ugg l e be tween Ke l i ng and L abong f o r t h e hand o f

Icumang. These chants can be performe d on any s o c ia l

occas i on , whi l e t he K a n a s e r a can on l y be de l i ve r ed

d u r i n g t h e m a r r ia g e f e a s t a n d m us t be g i v e n i n f u l l .

Besides Panggau and Gelong, the re are a number of o th er

p l a c e s n e n t io n e d i n t h e K a n a .

T h e s e a r e :

M e n ua u j u n q

(or Ujung Penanggpng Tian g o r A1.i

Plabu)

-

a p l a c e b e n e a th t h e w a t e r w h er e

Meningan Rangkang ( o r ' I b a ' Sawa' Elanang) and

h i s s i s t e r D ar a P e r ua ( o r Pu pu ' P e r u a ) l i v e .

The i n h a b i t a n t s o f t h i s w o r ld a r e d e s c en d ed

f rom sac r e d wa t e r c r ea t u r e s and can pun i sh

humans f o r wrong-doing. t

i s

s a i d t h a t t h e

d e i t y o f t h e w a t er

i s

R a j a J u a t a .

2 .

M e n u a R e m a n g - th e 'c lo udy ' hea ven, home of

th e head hunte r Ketimbang Kaya/Agung and h i s

- s i s t e r Kumang R am in sa n ( o r ~ u n ~ g a n g / ~ n g g a n g ) .

t i s s a i d S em pe nd ai L ima i s t h e r u l e r o f

the c loudy heaven.

3 . M e n u a J e l a y a n K a y a , s i t u a t e d i n t h e h e a ve n s

p r o p e r ~ e n u a a n q i t ) , the home of Je laya n

Kaya, th e pot-maker, and mender of broken

t h i n g s , a nd h i s s i s t e r K e t in g a n Kumang o r

Jawai Pudun.

4 M e n ua M a n a n q , a l s o i n t h e h e a v e n s , t h e home

of t he g r ea t s ee r o r shaman Ke l i ung S engkayan

Burung ( a l s o ca l l ed Manang Mensunai , or Biku

Kebayu o r Al an g Bun su ~ a n a n ~ ) l Ond h i s

s i s t e r Kumang Jampang.

5 .

N i b u n q ~ e m a l i

t h e h a u nt e d f o r e s t , a l s o

s i t u a t e d i n t h e h e av e n s, w h er e s p i r i t s d w e ll

e. g. a n t u p u q a k [ th e he a dl es s s p i r i t ] ,

B e r a

[spirit of a woman who die d in c hi ld bi r t h ]

m e n y u n g k a i

[ fe m al e s p i r i t wh ic h l u s t s a f t e r

m e n' s g e n i t a l s ] ) .

6. bor de r r eg i o n bet ween heaven and ea r t h

wher e t he f amous J a l i B e r an i l i ve s , su r r ounded

by enemies .

7.

bor de r r eg i on on t he way t o heaven , h i g h i n

the mountains , where Bujang Caing Celawang

( or Ramping P i nggang) dwe l l s , t he r u l e r o f

t h e s p i r i t s w hi ch o r i g i n a t e f r om a n a k a j a n q

(babie s who d ie und er t hr ee months ol d and who

ar e wr apped i n a mat and p l aced i n t he b r anch


6/34

o f a t r e e ) .

Dunselman s second major pu bl ic at io n u i t e

L i t e r a -

t u u r (1959a) com prises a number of Elualang chan ts

and o r a l t ex t s . T hese i nc l u de o r i g i n myt hs, t he myt hs

of Puyang Gana, Bui Nasi (D as i) , Poton g Kempat, Keseka

and B ur ung Benang ; chan t s de l i ve r ed dur i ng t he ag r i c u l -

t u r a l c y c l e , w hi ch a l s o r e co u n t t h e o r i g i n o f c e r t a i n

f a r ming p r a c t i ce s ; chan t s by young and adu l t ma l es ,

d w e ll i ng i n a f o r e s t h u t w h i l e e ng a ge d i n h u n t i n g ,

g a t h e r i n g o r h e a d - h u n ti n g ; c h a n t s d e l i v e r e d d u r i n g

t he c o l l ec t i on o f honey f r om

l a l a u

t r e e s ; a p r a i s e -

song t o a Malay r u l e r ; f r agment s o f a l u l l ab y sung by

women while t h e i r menfolk a re away on a head -hun t; and

f i n a l l y p i e c e s o f a c h a n t u s ed on t h e r e c e p t i o n o f a

he ad t o t h e v i l l a g e .

Perhaps

i t

i s wo r th b r i e f l y s u m m a ri zi n g t h e o r i g i n

myths. T hey con t a i n some cha r ac t e r s know t o I ban .

The two my th ica l an ce st or s a Tarnpun Juah ar e Ambun

Nenurun and Pulcat Menpawan. li T he y ga ve b i r t h t o

seven sons and th re e daug hte rs . The e l de s t son was

Puyang Gana, who was bor n w it h on ly o ne arm and one

l e g ( c f . Ib an Pu la ng ~ a n a ) .

2

M became th e s p i r i t /

d e i t y o f t h e e a r t h , m e t t h e r u l e r o f t h e e a r t h - s p i r i t s

R aj a S uasa , and mar r i ed t he l a t t e r s daug h t e r , Dara

Mere jatlM araja t who was lep rou s. The seco nd son was

Puyang Belawan, t he a nc es to r

o f

t h e

Buah

K a n a H e

begot Gerunung Emas whose d au gh te r was Ti k al Bid ang,

t he mot he r o f Ke l ing . The t h i r d ch i l d was a daugh t e r

Dar a Genuk ; t he f o ur t h , a son , B e j i t Mana i. The l a t t e r

i s r epu t ed t o be t h e ances t o r o f human Mual ang. He

gave var ious cus toms to the Mualang and to ge th er wi th

h i s s i s t e r , D a ra K a n t a ,

i s

a s s o c i a t e d w i t h t h e s e v e n

pr in ci pa l onen-bi rds (van Naerssen 1951-2 :146). The

f i f t h c h i l d was a b o y , B el an g Pa t u ng ; t h e s i x t h , a b o y,

Belang Pinggang; t he sev enth a son , Belang Bau; the

e i g h t h , a dau gh t e r , Dara Kan t a

;

t h e n i n t h , a b e a u t i f u l

daug hter , Potong Kernpat , who co nt r act ed le pro sy and

who became th e wife of l laj i Flelayu, t he r u l e r of Nanga

Sepauk. These gave var ious marr iag e customs t o the

Mualang. The ten th c hi ld was Bui Nasi , a so n, who

was t he f i r s t t o l ea r n abou t r i ce and h i mse l f became

a

r i c e - s p i r i t

The genea l ogy f r om t he f our t h ch i l d B e j i t Manai r uns

t h rough t h r e e o r f our gene r a t i ons (1950 : 2 ; 1959a :7 t o

Guja u/Go jau Ternanggung B d i who e v e n t u a l l y l e f t T ampun

J u ah w i t h h i s f o l l o w e r s. P 3

They moved i n t o th e Upper

Ketungau, fol lo wed one of

i t s

t r i b u t a r i e s , t h e Mu al an g,

a nd t h e n s e t t l e d a t t h e f o o t o f t h e m o w t a i n R am at.

T her e t hey mixed w i t h peop l e f r om a nea r by p l ace ca l +ed

Tanah Tabo Eve ntua l ly migra nts moved i n t o th e Aya

and B e l i t an g . t he two r i v e r s now popu l a t ed by Kual ang .

s e c on d o r i g i n s t o r y c o n c e r n s t h e p e o p l e o f T an ah

Tabo . They ar e descended from Kaseka Busung, who

mar r i ed Dara J an t ung , t h e ch i l d o f P e t a r a Gur u. T hey

had a so n, Bujang Panjang, and t was t h i s man who

e n t e r e d i n t o

an

i n c e s t u o u s u n i on w i t h t h e y o u n ge s t

s i s t e r o f h i s m o th er .

H i s

m a t e r n a l g r a n d f a t h e r . P e t a r a

G ur u, h a d t o s a c r i f i c e a p i g t o r em ove t h e i l l - l u c k

f o l l owi ng on i nc es t . The coup l e had no i s s ue , and

Dujang Panjang remarr ied and had a so n, Guntur . IIe in

t u r n had a son , T i n t i ng I l en j ang i n , who h i mse l f had

two son s , Sangi and Mar i and a dau ght er Dayang

Burung Benang. In one st or y i t i s t h i s d a u gh t er w ho

mar r i ed Demong R ui r u l e r o f t h e Emba loh Dayaks i n

th e Upper Kapuas. t was f r om t h i s mar r i age t h a t

some P lu al an g i n h e r i t e d a r i s t o c r a t i c r a n k

s u k a )

An i n t e r e s t i n g f e a t u re o f K u ala ng s o c i e t y i s t h a t t h ey

h av e t h r e e e s t a b l i s h e d r a n k s : b a n s a s u k a ( a r i s t o -

c r a t s ) , o r a n g m e1 u a r / m e n u a (commoners) and b a n s a

m e l a w a n g

( s l a v e s) . T h is r e l a t i v e l y l o n g - s e t t l e d ,

h i e r a r c h i c a l Ibanic pop u l a t i on i n t he ICapuas con-

t r a s t s w i t h t h e i r m o b il e , p i o n e e r i n g an d more e g a l i -

t a r i a n Iban c o u s i n s .

In t hes e myt hs and t he

K an a s e r a

t h e r e a r e a l s o r e f -

e r ences t o S enga lang ( T enga l ang) Eur ung . Appar e n t l y ,

i n t h e Mual ang l anguage ,

s e n g a l a n g

m ea ns g i f t e d w i t h

s u p e r n a t u r a l p o w er s b u t u n l i k e t h e Ib a n c a s e ,

Sengalang Burung

i s

a c o l l e c t i v e t e r m f o r t h e s e ve n

pr i nc i p a l omen b i r ds . 14

h a ve b e en u n a b l e t o d i s c o v e r

t he names o f a l l s even b i r ds f r om Dunse l man s w r i t i n gs ,

b u t t h o s e w h ic h d o a p p e ar a c c o r d c l o s e l y w i t h I b a n

onen bi rd s . They ar e

k e t u p o n g / k e t u p u n q , b e r a g a i / b a r a -

g a i , g a m u a s , p a pu a

and

b e j a r n p u n g .

The

k e n y a l a n g ,

r

R h in o ce r os H o r n b i l l , a s w i t h I b a n , i s n o t c o n s i d e r e d

t o be one o f t he s even omen b i r ds . t i s d e s ig n a te d

as d er n ia , u s u a l l y a g e n e r a l t e rm f o r a ni m al t u t e l a r y

s p i r i t s .

T e l a n j i n g i s t er m g iv e n t o a ni ma l s p i r i t s

w hi ch p r o t e c t h e a d - h u n te r s a n d s ha ma ns i n p a r t i c u l a r .

t i t l e of t h e t u t e la r y s p i r i t s o f t h i n g s r a t h e r


7/34

than animals i n sengiang. Dunselman te l l s us tha t

t h e k en ya la ng i s t h e f o c u s o f

an

i m p o r t a n t f e s t i v a l

(gawai) . wooden f i gu re rep res en t in g the head of a

ho rn b i l l i s p l a c e d on a l a rge i ronwood po le (ke nya wi r

ucung o r t e ra s ) a f t e r a s uc c e s s fu l he a d -hun t .

Dunselman s o th er pu bl i ca t ion s comprise a paper on

Mualang marriage cus toms (1950), two fu rt he r a r t ic l es

on Mualang marriag e ch ant s (1959b; 196 1), and one

on Mualang t i t l e s which inc l udes pra ise-names (e g .

S inga, M ac an , La ng La u t ) a nd t e rms f o r o f f i c i a l p os i -

t io ns (1958). Of th es e , th e paper on marriage prac-

t i c e s , a nd one o f the p ie c e s on ma rr i a ge c ha n t s c a l l e d

nge ba u t a j a u a re th e mos t in t e re s t in g . I w i l l b r i e f l y

summarize th ese . The de sc ri pt io n of Mualang marr iage

inc lude s s e c t io ns on the pha s e s o f ma r r i a ge be ginn ing

with the asking f or a fem ale s hand (be tunang) through

the o f f i c i a l enga ge me nt (be rp i n ta k ) t o the ma r r i a ge

proper .

It

mentions the g i f t s exchanged be tween the

two p a r t i e s t o t h e m a r r i a g e , a n d t h e f i n e s a s s o c i a t e d

w i th i n c e s t , d i v o r c e , s e p a r a t i o h m a rr i ag e w i t h o u t

t h e p r o pe r p r oc e du r es e t c . F i n a l l y , t h e o r i g i n s o f

c e r t a in c ustoms re l a t in g to ma r r i a ge a re t r a c e d ba ck

t o Potong Kempat, Ha ji Melayu, Bujang Panj ang, Bui

EJasi and B ej i t Planai.

The ngebau t a j a u , t he s ub j e c t o f the s e c ond pa pe r ,

i s he ld before th e main Kana Sera and

i s

a chant per-

formed d u r i ng a s a c r i f i c i a l o f f e r i n g p r e s en t ed t o a

sacred ja r . The chant i s d iv ide d i n t o a numbe r o f

s e c t i o n s , a s f o l l ow s

1

t e mpa 1: th i s inc lude s a n a c count o f the

f o r m at i o n o f t h e e a r t h by t h e c r e a t i o n

bir d and th e cre a t i on of man and animals .

2 . leman penduduk: i t t e l l s o f t he f i r s t

i n h a b i t a n t s o r f o un d e rs o f t h e p r i n c i p a l

pla ces i n West Kal imantan ra nging from

Java which i s s a i d t o l i e o p po s it e th e

Kapuas es tu ar y through Pontiana k Landak

Sanggau, Sekadau, Sintang, Selimbau,

Embaloh-Leboyan t o th e Sekara ng and

Kenyawit

.

3

l e m a n b a sa : t h i s s e ct i o n g i ve s th e o r i g i n s

of cus tom law s temming from such f i gu re s a s

Puyang Gana, and from s p i r i t s and ghos ts .

4. l eman Pa t i t h i s e numera te s the e a r l i e r M alay

p a t i o r r u l e r s o f t h e a r e a f r o m S i n t a n g down-

s tream through Be l i ta ng, Sepauk. Sekadau,

Sanggau t o Pont ianak . These ar e fol lowed by a

l i s t

of Dayak rul er s o f t he Mualang, Tabun,

Banyur, Tanjung, Desa and Bui.

5

5

a n gk a t: ( l i t . t h e r i s i n g ) . Here t h e c h a n te r

r i s e s a nd v i s i t s a l l t h e a pa rt me nt s ( b i l i k )

of the longhouse .

6 .

p a n s an ( l i t . t h e p a s s i n g b y ) . He r e co u n ts

a l l i mp o rt an t p l a c e s i n t h e e n v ir o n s o f t h e

longhouse .

7

lem an pe t a : t h i s s e t s o u t t h e v a r i o u s p r o h i -

b i t i o n s t o be o b se r ve d a t a f e a s t .

8 . ba ngka i : he re words a r e a dd re s s e d t o th e

c h ic k en wh ic h i s t o be s a c r i f i c e d .

9

n g i nj a u j a r i : ( l i t . t h e b o rr o wi n g o f h a n d s )

a s ki n g f o r t h e s p i r i t u a l a s s i s t a n c e o f f or me r

gre a t head-hunters ( t ua ) and the Buah Kana.

1 0 . leman p e l e l a t h e re t h e c h a n t e r c a l l s f o r a l l

k i nd s o f f a v o u rs , e . g . t h e f r u i t f u l n e s s o f t h e

e a r t h , c r o p s. e t c .

11

mimpi: the bad dreams of t he br id e and groom

a r e e x o r c i z e d .

12 .

a y u :

t h e c h a n t e r as k s f o r h i s s o u l a nd t h a t

o f th e ma rr i e d c oup le t o be s t re ng the ne d .

These t he n ar e th e main items which Dunselman has

pub lish ed on th e Elualang and whic h,

I

m a i n t a i n , s h o u l d

r e c e i v e m or e a t t e n t i o n f r om s t u d e n t s o f t h e I b a n. F o r

too long the p o l i t i c a l boundary be twe en M a la ysia n a nd

Indone s ian B orneo , but more pa r t i c u l a r ly the fa c t t h a t

much of th e Kal imantan m ate ria l

i s

i n D ut c h, h a s d i s -

couraged sch ol ar s who have worked among peo ple s i n th e

n o r t h e r n t h i r d o f t h e i s l a n d f r om u s i n g d a t a f r om t h e

sout h , and from viewing Borneo as a whole . Admit tedly

the r e a re va s t ga ps in Ka l ima n ta n e thnogra phy s i nc e ve ry

l i t t l e r e c e n t a n t h r o p o l o g i c a l f i e ld w o rk h a s b ee n u nd e r-

t a ke n the r e . However , t h i s s hou ld no t l e a d us t o ne -


8/34

glec t what mate r ia l i s av a i l abl e on Ica l imantan peoples .

I hope t h i s b r i e f p a p er h as i l l u s t r a t e d t h a t s ome d a t a

i n Dutch

i s

of va lue p rov ide d Eng l i sh -s pe a k ing s c ho la r s

a re p repa re d to w iden t he i r ho r i z ons

and make use of i t

The fa c t t ha t many of t he pe oples i n Sarawak, and indeed

S ab ah , ha ve c l o s e r e l a t i v e s t o t h e s o u t h o f t h e b o r d e r

should ,

I

hope, l ead t o a gr ea te r emphas is on Kal imantan

s t u d i e s i n f u t u re .

l NOTES

1 . My or ig in a l e s t ima te s o f 10 ,000-11,000 now s ee m

md uly hig h (1974: 32 ; 1975b : 1241).

2. See A B Hudson (1371:304, 306) fo r th e te rm

I b a n i c , a l th o u gh

i t

must be mentioned that from

t h e p o i n t

o f v ie w o f h i s t o r i c a l p r e c e de n t a n d

i n di g en o us e t h n i c i d e n t i f i c a t i o n t h e t e r m I b a n i c

may wel l meet with c er ta in ob jec t io ns .

3. See a ls o Cnthoven (1903: 39 7) , Bournan (1923-24:

285-9; 1924: 184-9 ) and van Naerssen (1951-52: 145)

4.

In

the 1950s Kualang numbered about 8,00 0 sou ls .

Nany had come under Catho l ic inf l uenc e . See a l so

Dunselman (1351 a: 22-31

;

1951b 71-5).

5 . R e fere nc es to K l ing a nd h i s group (wh ic h inc lude s

Kurnang, Lul ong , L aj a, Pungga, Dara Lant an Sakum-

bang, e t c . c rop up in a number of pub l ic a t i on s

on Sarawak Iba n o r a l t r a d i t io n . Se e , fo r

example, Har risso n (1965 25)

,

Harrisson and Sandin

(1966:64,

74,

86-7, 118, 138, 151-2, 181-2, 205,

218, 226-8, 239-40, 262) and Sandin (1 967:24 5, 257-

8, 264-5, 267-8, 373, 383, 392-3, 395; 1977:35-6,

147, 186-8). More es pe ci al ly see Perham and

Brooke Law i n L in g Roth (1965: 311-38) , and Dunn

(1912: 135-54 , 634 -48; 1913:22-39 ; 1914 :494-528,

373-913; 1915-16: 332-57, 817-43 ).

6 . Th i s i s Duns elman s t r a ns c r ip t io n .

7

La wa i i s s a i d to be a n o ld name fo r the

Kapuas river.

Occas ional ly t h e i r home

i s

p l a c e d i n t h e n e i g h -

bourhood of Semitau.

In Tampun Juah Mualang le ar ne d t h f i r custo ms, laws

a nd r i t u a l s an d t h e a p p r o p r i a t e o f f e r i n g s t o

Peta ra . Puyang Gana, Sengalang Burung, and ot he r

d e i t i e s and s p i r i t s .

t

i s

s a i d t h a t t h e s o u l s o f d ea d sh am an s go t o

Rabung, a mountain in t he up per Yetungau.

Ordinary men

s

s o u l s

,

howe ver , e ve n tua l ly d i s -

s o lve i n t o dew and a re a bs o rbe d by th e e a r s o f

r i c e (IJestenenk 1897 : 310).

The cr ea to r was P et ar a (Ba tar a) Guru, who made

man f rom a

k u m p n g

t r e e .

See Bouman ( 1923-4:285-9) on th e myths of P ulang/

Puyang/Piang Gana

and

Bui Nas i col le c t ed from

the Desa , Seberuang, Sekubang, and Sekajanm

p e o pl e s i n t h e S ep au k r i v e r t o t h e s o u t h o f t h e

Mualang. Also se e Heynen (1937:24-8) f or

s i mi la r myths from th e Ketungau.

There

i s

a l s o a s t o r y o f t h e d i v i s i o n o f p e op l es

a t Tampun Juah a f t e r th e e a t in g of mushrooms.

The mushrooms indu ced a drunke n s tu po ur and when

everyone woke up they found t h a t th ey spoke

d i f f e r e n t l a n gu a g es ( c f . I b a n) .

Kuhr ta l ks of Hindu-Javanese-derived de i t ie s among

th e West Borneo Dayaks (1896 :226 -8). These

inc lude Pe ta ra (Ba t a ra )

,

Duwata/ Ju bata /L ebata /

Rebata (Dewata) and Seng iang

Sang

Yang).

In the K a n a e r a t h e r e a r e a l s o r e f e re n c e s t o

th e enemies of th e Mualang. The

u i

a r e s a i d

t o be r e l a t e d t o t h e I b an , a nd t o l i v e on a

t r i bu t a ry o f the B a ta ng Lupa r . O the r e nemies a re

the Desa (near S inta ng) , Remm ( a long th e Sekayam

r i v e r )

,

Bugau (t he Ke tu nga u) , I . lentakai /Entakai

(no r th -e a s t o f Sa ngga u) a nd the Iba n . A l l i a nc e s

were a l so made with t he Ketungau peoples aga ins t

th e Iban. Mualang had Embaloh and Pm an sla ve s

a s w e l l , c a pt u re d i n r a i d s .


9/34

-70-

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ave. J B

1977

Review o f T k I b a n a nd t h e i r R e l i g i on ,by

Er ik J e ns e n , B i jd ra ge n t o t de Ta a l-

,

Land-

en Volkenkunde 133 : 382-6.

Bouman,

M A

1923-24 Een Dajaksch Scheppingsverhaal, Mederlandsch-

Indie Oud en Nieuw 8:285-9.

1924 Eth nogr afis che Aanteekeningen omtrent de

Gouvernements lande n i n de boven-Kapoeas

W es te ra fd ee li ng van Eorneo, ~ i js c h ri f t v o or

Indi sche Taal- Land-en Volkenkunde 64:

173: 95.

Cense, A A and E M Uhlenbeck

1958 Cr i t ic a l Survey of Studies on th e Languages

o f B or ne o, I b n i n k l i j k I n s t i t u u t v o o r

Taal- , Land-en Volkenkunde, Bibl iographica l

Ser ies 2 , The Hague, Plar tinus Ni jho ff .

Dunn, E

1912/19 13/191 4/1915- 16 The Mengap Bungai Taun ,

the 'Chan t o f t he F lowe rs o f the Ye a r ' .

Anthro os 7:135-54; 634-48; 8:22-39; 9:494-

ms+


10/34

Jensen . E r i k

1974 T he I ban and t h e i r R e l i g i o n , Oxf or d ,

C l arendon Pres s

King, Victor T

1972 Add i t ion al i lotes on the Malohs and Rela ted

Peoples of Kalimantan Bara t : th e Value of

Dutch Ethnog raphy , Sarawak Museum Jo ur na l

20: 83-105.

1973a Embalohs and Iban in Kalimantan , Sarawak

Gazette 99 36-7.

1973b Kantus of the Kapuas RFver, Sarawak Ga ze tt e,

99 :254-7.

1974 Some Sug ges tion s f o r Futu re Resear ch i n West

Kal imantan. Borneo Research Su l l e t in

6: 31-8.

1975a Ethnog raphic Data on th e Iban of the Embaloh

Region, West Kal imantan, gra wa k Gazet te

101: 300-3.

1975b Iba n, Family of Plan, London, Flar sha ll

Cavendish, Vol. 4 , p t . 45: 1241-5.

1976a Mi gr a t i on , W ar fa r e and C ul t u r e C on tac t i n

B or ne o: a C r i t i q u e o f E c o l o g i c a l A n a l y s i s

Oceania 46:306-27.

1976b

ome

Aspec ts of Iban-Maloh Con tact in West

Kal imantan, Indon esia No. 21 (A pr i l ) 85-114.

1976c The People s of th e Middle and Upper

Kapuas Pos s ib le Research Pro jec ts i n West

Kal imantan, Borneo Research Bu l le t in

8: 86-105.

Kuhr, E.L.M.

1896 S che tsen u i t B or neo s W es t e r a f dee l i n g ,

Bi jdragen to ot de Taal - , Land-en

Volkendunde van Ne derl and sch- Indi e 46 :214-

39.

Naerssen, F.H. van

1951-2 Een Streekon derzo ek i n West -Borneo,

Indonesie 5 145-56.

Roth, Henry Ling

1968 The Nat ives of Sarawak and Br i t i s h Nor th

Borneo, Kuala Lumpur and Sin ga po re,

Uni ve r s i t y o f Ma l aya P r es s ( s ec t i on s by

J Perham and H Brooke Law) SVol. 1:311-

38.

Sandin. Benedict

1967 S impulang o r Pulang Gana: the Founder of

Dayak A gr icu l tu re , Sarawak Museum Jo ur na l

15 245-406.

1977 Gawai Burong. The Chant s and Ce le br at io ns

o f t h e I ba n B i r d F e s t i v a l , P en a ng ,

U n i v e r s i t i S a i n s M a l a y si a P r e s s .

Wes tenenk L C

1897 Moealang-en Sekadan-Dajaks (Een Rei sve r-

h a a l ) T i j d s c h r i f t v o o r I n di s ch e T a a l- ,

Land-en Volkenkunde 39 305 -26.

B R I E F C O M M U N I C A T I O N S

S h i f t i n g C u l t i v a t i o n

The f o l l o w i n g a n a l y s i s o f s h i f t i n g c u l t i v a t i o n i n S ara wa k

has been p roduced by t h e Agr i cu l t u r e Depa r t ment . I n l i g h t

o f t h e f o r th c om i ng s e s s i o n o n s h i f t i n g c u l t i v a t i o n wh ic h

i s p a r t o f t h e I n t e r n a t i o n a l C o n g r es s o f A n t h r o p o l o g ic a l

and E t hno l og i c a l S c i enc es , t o be he l d i n New De l h i i n

December, t he an a l y s i s

i s

q u i t e t i m e ly .

E x t e n t o f S h i f t i n g C u l t i v a t i o n

S h i f t i n g o r h i l l p a d i c u l t i v a t i o n i s w id e ly p r a c t i s e d by t h e

I ba ns , B i dayuhs , Kayans, Kenyahs and o t he r mi nor e t hn i c

gr oups o f Sa r awak. T he e s t i m a t ed ac r eage unde r sh i f t i n g o r

h i l l p a d i c u l t i v a t i o n i s b ig g e r t h an t h a t o f w et p a d i b ut i n

t er ms o f y i e l d p e r a c r e h i l l p a d i i s l ower .

The e s t i m a te d a c r e a ge s u nd e r h i l l p a d i a r e a s f o l l o w s :

P l an t e d Ar ea Har ves t ed Ar ea

1 9 73 /7 4 s e a s o n 6 6 , 54 9 h e c t a r e s 6 2 , 0 6 3 h e c t a r e s

1 9 7 4/ 7 5 s e a s o n 6 4 , 2 0 1 h e c t a r e s 6 1 , 15 7 h e c t a r e s

1975176 season 65 ,950 hec t a r e s 62 ,116 he c t a r e s


11/34

Socio-Economic Factors Related to

ill-~adi

Farming

Due to the low productivity of hill padi, it is to be

expected that quite a large number of hill padi farmers

cannot be self-sufficient in rice every year. The low

productivity, however, does not discourage them from

continuing with the practice of hill-padi farming. The

following reasons for the commitment to a hill-padi crop

may be identified:

(i) The ritual significance of rice (though not

as important now as in the past). Freeman

(J.D.?

re em an

Re ort on the 1ban) describes

the i n t e rd e ~e n dk - of c ~ n o m ~ .ocial

- - -

- -

organisationL nd rituals in hill padi culti-

vation; the way in which the padi spirits are

looked upon as possessing a society of their

own and the reverence with which each family's

'padi pun' or strain of sacred rice is treated;

(ii)

the minor crops interp'lanted with hill padi and

the opportunities which visits to the hill padi

farm give for foraging for wild edible plants

and for hunting;

(iii) the superior taste of hill rice as compared with

other r.ice;

(iv) the desire to produce at least some of the

family's yearly requirement of rice;

(v)

the need to establish or maintain rights over

land which is required by working on a padi farm.

Problems Arising from Shifting Cultivation

The annual practice of hill-padi planting has given rise

to three major problems in the State:

(i) A heavy loss of valuable timber due to the

felling of virgin or old secondary jungles for

shifting cultivation;

(ii) soil erosion leading to the depletion of soil.

This results from the clearing of steep hills

and the practice of relatively short fallow

periods due to the increasing population

pressure in the shifting cultivation areas;

(iii)

flooding to adjacent areas

due to rapid water

run-off from areas cleared df natural vegetation.

Importance of Hill Padi

Since mid-1969, hill padi has accounted for about 4 per-

cent of the State's annual output of rice. From the

beginning of the First Malaysia Plan, however, its contri-

bution has shown a decline because of an increase of swamp

padi. By 1990, it is projected that hill padi will account

for some 2 percent of the State's rice output.

The Government has given strong emphasis to increasing

rice production by concentrating on wet-padi production.

However, it is unlikely that hill padi cultivation will

dramatically decrease in view of the socio-economic factors

associated with the hill-padi crop, and the limited oppor-

tunity in the remote areas for cultivation of swamp padi

because of the hilly terrain.

Generalizations About Place Names: Some Borneo Examples

Allen

R.

Maxwell

The University of Alabama

Richards raises a number of points regarding place names in

Borneo (1978:24-27). with some of which

I

find myself in

concurrence, others in disagreement. The subject of toponon

is often neglected and deserves greater attention from anthr

pologists and other cultural specialists. The numbers beloa

refer to divisions in Richards' discussion; section titles

have been added here, where appropriate.

1. River bankness orientation. In Anglo-American culture

orientation to the right bank and

left

bank of a river is wi

the direction of the rlver flow (e .g. , C0D:s.v.). In the

Malay culture of Brunei, orientation to the

s u b l h k n n

'right bank' and subalah

k y r i

(or

k i r i

'left bank' of a

river is against the direction of the river fly,w.

Thus, the

is nothing at all natural about. alay river bankness

orientation except in a purely ad hoc way. Both systems

of orientation are equally arbitrary (cf. Sahlins 1976).

Commitment to a position that the Halay system is natural

implies that the Anglo-American system is non-natural,

since it is the logical obverse of the former. But there is


12/34

no reason to give logical priority to either system.

The

two systems are simply examples of different cultural

logics (Sahlins 1976)

2

The alleged relation between batanq - tree - trunk -

branches remains spurious unless it can be demonstrated

that batanq referring to 'trunk' and b a t a n q referring to

'river' represents a clear case of polysemy and not one of

homonymy.

Given the present state of etymological knowledge

and the underdeveloped state of semantic theory, it seems

doubtful whether this condition can be met.

Regarding the change of a river's name at the juncture of

a major tributary,

I cannot speak to the Sarawak examples.

However, an interesting case was noted in the Temburong

District of Brunei.

Many maps and publications indicate

that the easterly river flowing into the southernmost part

of Brunei Bay is the Temburong River

S U I J ~ ~

amburuq - the

westerly river is the Pandaruan).

This identification is

also utilized by Bruneians living in the capital area of

Brunei District, most of whom have little occasion to visit

Temburong District.

About

three miles upstream from the

embouchure into Brunei Bay, according to this classification,

is the mouth of the Labu River

(sugay

labu). However, to

villagers living upstream in the Labu Valley,

it is

the

Temburong River which empties into the Labu River, and the

latter which has its mouth (kwala labu) at the southernmost

end of Brunei Bay. Thus the question arises: Does

A

empty

into B or does B empty into A?

There is no way to answer

this question based on the physical environmental character-

istics of this small part of Borneo.

Geological and topo-

graphic histories of the local landscape, however interesting

they may be, are irrelevant.

The question is fundamentally

ethnographic.

The closest attention possible needs to be

paid to local patterns of usage, not only to the classifi-

cation itself, but also to the commentaries people offer on

the classification.

Kadayan villagers of the upper Labu

( u l u

labu) claim a kind of authority of familiarity on the

classification of which river flows into which, mentioned

earlier. They state that the categorization found in many

published sources is simply wrong.

3. In Kadayan, the term tapjug is applied to the long

stretch of land on a river bank which is bounded on the

upstream and downstream ends by bends in a river, as well as

to capes and promontories of both sea and river.

There is

one such prominent tapjug on the lower Labu River not far

upstream from the mouth. tajljug

l a p j a r

is about one and a

half miles long and straight, an uncommon phenomenon on

the lower reaches of a meandering riv r

The local ethno-

historic explanation for this extraor2i;ary landform featur

is that

awag

s i m a w n the great Brunei culture hero, was

paddling on the Labu River and happened to nod off to sleep

When his canoe struck the river bank, the tremendous power

from one of his strokes cut through the point of land

(taPjui/),

forming a ditch which became the river course.

As one informant put it, This is why the Labu River near

tapjut) lapjar is very long and straight,

there are no bends

sabappa, sugay

labu

dakat

t w j u r )

lapjar papjag sakali,

lurus, ndada balinqkuk

-

lapjar

h a s

the meaning 'stretched

out').

4. Topon ic changes. Changes in place names can be helpf.

c u e s d n t e r p r e t a t on of historical developments (Wolt,

1967) as well as the ethnohistorical understanding of a plal

In each case it is important to ascertain the linguistic ant

cultural provenience of the toponyms concerned,

before pro-

ceeding to try to establish an etymology. The main headwatl

of the Labu River is known locally as the sugay l a b u

l u t u t ,

the word

l u t u t

does not refer to 'knee' as it is not a Mala:

word.

It is a Lun Bawang word referring to

the ever-presen.

'clouded' (Kad. kabut) condition of the water in the stream

(The common Kadayan term for

'knee ,' n any case is

t u h u t ,

a l t h o u g h l u t u t

s

known b y v i r t u a l l y e v e r y o n e . T hu s

t

would be improper to analyze the place name

labu

l u t u t

as i:

it were a Malay form, although it appears to be one. Whethc

this form will undergo a regularization by Malay semantics

in the future it is impossible to say. The etymology from

the Lun Bawang form is widely known to the Kadayan present11

living in the area.

Aconscious change in a place name was encountered which

reflects

the slow shift that has been taking place in the

area during the twentieth century, from a non-Muslim Lun

Bawang (Murut) population to a Muslim, Kadayan population.

The present village of kampuq pyasawpyasaw

before the earl)

1950s was known as kampug tukaqug. tukaqug was stated to

be a Lun Bawang form, reflecting the fact that

the early

inhabitants of the Labu River valley were Murut,

although

the Kadayan did not know a meaning for the term.

(One old

and very knowletgeable Lun B?wang man indicated that

tukagsg was a spirit naga, also known as tamakar A

District Officer suggested the change, indicating that it


13/34

was more fitting for a Malay (i.e., in this case, Muslim)

village not to have a Murut name.

The new name of the village, however, can be a semantic

trap for the unwary toponomist. The place name pyasaw-

pyasaw could represent either l., the form pyasawpyasaw

'all sorts of coconuts, reduplicated from the root pyasaw

'coconut(s),' or

2 .

pyasawpyasaw 'An lesia s lendens,'

a tree variety with very hard wood

w

fi i--+

C

grows In t e

forest around the village. In fact the village place name

I

is considered locally to have the former meaning, deriving

from a once large stand of coconut palms (of which only a

few remain) located on the opposite.bank of the Labu River

just below the present village landing dock. While both

possible etyma of this place name were encountered during

the first stages of field work, the locally relevant

explanation was not discovered until near the end of the

research period.

5. The Content of Place Names. It is difficult to make

so un f ie n er a li z af i oa b o~ e semantic content comemo-

rated in place names outside the analysis of data sets

collected within a particular local environment. Such

generalizations may or may not be false, depending on

findings from the analysis of toponymic data. Given the

present state of our knowledge it is hard to imagine that

any such generalizations could have any general cross-lin-

guistic and cross-cultural validity. The further question

of intra-linguistic and intra-cultural variability in patterns

of place naming remains unaddressed.

A preliminary analysis of about

75

toponyms, for which

I

informant interpretations are available, collected in the

course of ethnographic and linguistic research with the

I

Kadayan of the Labu Valley, Temburong District, Brunei, indi-

cated a wide range of semantic contents in use (Maxwell 1977).

This tabulation shows

26

names commemorate the activities of

ordinary people; 36 biological and physical characteristics

of the environment;

8,

iscellaneous cultural activities; and

5,

the activities of extraordinary beings, including culture

heroes. Further data collection is needed to obtain infor-

mant interpretation for scores of other toponyms already

obtained. It will then be possible to construct generali-

zations for the names in use in a particular locale which

have empirical corroboration.

6.

The Content of Place Names (cont.). The contents of

placeames m e n t ~ n ~ o ~ eimilar to the examples

mentioned by Richards (1978:26). It would be interesting

to know the extent to which co me mo ra t~ on f biological

and physical characteristics of the environment is a

regular phenomenon between different languages and cultures

in Borneo and elsewhere.

One common source of potential

confusion, however, lies in the common prefix si- ,

sa-

sa-, or sa -, if Malay linguistic influence has been present.

Either of at least two different Halay prefixes might be

involved:

si-

'PERSON MARKER,' or sa- 'one-.' While no

cases of the latter were uncovered, it cannot be ruled out

that examples will be discovered in the future. Numerous

examples of place names with the prefixsi-.were encountered.

For certain of them it can be accurately determined that

the person prefix is part of the place names,

as three

landings have been named after individuals the writer is

acquainted with (pagkalan siadin,

pagkalan

sibali, pag-

kalan sitam, commemorating Adin, Bali, and Hitam - morpho-

phonemically in Kadayan, si-

hi

tam si tam) .

7. Problems. First, with respect to the name mukah, of

the town and river of coastal Third Division, Sarawak,

there is at least one published explication of that name.

The author claims that some sailors followed the face (muka)

of a beautiful woman in the sky to the shore; and that

Over the years the spelling has changed to Mukah (Sham-

suddin 1967:8). Archer, however, claims that the pronun-

ciation is mukah, rather than muka (1949:100), and is corro-

borated by Druce who would have to be considered an authorit

on this point, as a native speaker of Malanaw (1949:103).

While Richards may be right that these are

. obvious

meanings that are evidently false

~ukah,

ornication or

Muka,

face) probably from being interpreted in the wrong

language (1978:26), such cannot be assumed a rlorl, but

needs to be established ethnographically, ana b u r c e

language determtned if possible. Assessing the ethno-

graphic validity of mukah could prove to be a sensitive

matter.

Second, with respect to unexplained or undiscovered names.

the toponymist is in a special kind of predicament. If

the informant or informants one asks about a place name

cannot explicate it or do not know it at al l, to whom does

one turn? Unlike many other kinds of social and cultural

information, particular toponymic data may not be widely

shared by members of a social group. It seems that some


14/34

amount of serendipity must accompany a successful toponomist

in a strange landscape.

There is no way to disprove the contention that a landscape

feature is unnamed other than to discover a place'name for

it.

One is more likely to succeed in more densely populated

areas where larger numbers of individuals routinely have

opportunities and needs to refer to places in the environ-

ment by use of a terminological label.

Thus collecting

place names in sparsely populated or unpopulated areas will

often prove a difficult task, However, it seems somewhat

rash to conclude that a place has no name, unless it is only

meant that one is unable to discover it. There is no way to

distinguish between a place that 2s unnamed and a place for

which one is unable to discover the name. Unless one is

able to discover a name,

no conclusion can be reached that

a place is either unnamed or named.

This conclusion is

valid because of the following two possibilities. First, a

name may be known, but the cultural tradition attaching it

to a particular location in the environment may have become

lost. This situation would appear to pertain in the case of

Ptolemaic place names for Southeast Asian geographical fea-

tures (cf. Wheatley 1961:138-176). Second, both the name

and the cultural tradition locating the place it applied to

may have become lost.

One would expect that this is the case

with large numbers of perfectly ordinary Sru place names

(cf. Harrisson 1949).

These points are raised because of the experience of this

writer trying to collect place names in Brunei.

Both Kadayan

and Lun Bawang (in Brunei Malay, 'Murut') informants main-

tained that names were widely applied to locations in the

environment. For example along one stretch of the Labu river

about 1 314 miles, or 3 kilometers, long near a village, 55

toponyms and 43 place names were recorded including synony-

mous forms. (The difference made here between a toponym and

a

place name is the :allowing In cases of forms like b u k i t

t a p a l l a n ,

'Hive Hill, and

s u g a y t a p a g a n ,

'Hive River,' two

toponyms are counted, but only one place name t a p a g a n ;

Maxwell 1977.)

Numerous individuals often commented that

indeed there were many names of local places.

Of course

there were

spots which were unnamed, but as indicated earlier

it would be difficult to determine the difference between one

or more informants not being aware of an already existing

name for a location versus there being no existing name for

that location.

8.

Things-May-Be-Other-Than-They-Seem. he lesson of

Richards'

embu as

example probably cannot be overstated. In

the headwaters of the Labu River there is a river, a hill.

and a pool all sharing a single place n'ame: u g a y s a r u m a h ,

b u k i t s a r u m a h, and l u a q a n s a r u m a h , ~ & l e superficially

s a r u m a h might look like 'one house' (ignoring that such a

form properly should take a grammatical classifier, e:g.,

s a b u a h r u m a h ,

such is not the case. The name is derlved

locally from the presence of a large number of trees of the

variety referred to as

k a y u s a r u m a h

or

k a y u s a r u m a h s ar u m a h .

Comparing informant description of this tree with that of

Burkill, this is likely the latter's Fa raea i antea (1966

s

v

. This and Richard's example il&e%kT&iger of

facile conclusions about place names. In addition, the forr

s a r u m a h is not morphosemantically decomposable, being a

unitary simple lexeme (cf.

6.,

bove).

Place names inscribe cultural and social information onto

the landscape (Geertz 1973). These 'inscriptions' however

are not static. They undergo phonological, morphological,

lexical and semantic remodeling as

the cultures and languagc

of the inhabitants of the area change. Place names can be

helpful in disambiguating the complex overlapping of lingui.

stic and social variables in the cultural 'prehistory' of a1

area. Further they constitute an excellent source of data

to be utilized in ascertaining and delimiting the complex oj

meaning relations which are important in the everyday life

human beings in a region. While

I

disagree with Richards

01

several points, his interest in bringing the importance of

place names in understanding human settings in Borneo to o m

attention is commendable.

(Note: Research in Brunei was supported by National Insti-

tute of Health Grant 1 TOL

M

11,231-01, and Wenner-Gren

Foundation for Anthropological Research Pre-Doctoral Fellow-

ship No.

2173, and locally by the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka,

Brunei.

B i b l i o g r a p h y : Archer, J. B. . 949. "Melanau as it is spoken

a review)

Sarawak Museum Journai 5 1 (n s

:

98-102 ~urkil

I.H., 1966, Dietio-f the Zconomic Products of the Ma1

Peninsula, 2,v ol s. , nd edition, Kuala Lumpur, Ministry of

Agriculture and Cooperatives; COD, 1966, The Concise Oxford

Dictionary of Current English, ed. by H.W. Fowler and F.G.

Fowler. Fifth edition revised by E. McIntosh. Oxford,

Clarendon Press; Druce,

Austin, 1949, "A Malanau comment on

the Above ' LJ B Archer,

"Melanau as it is spoken

(a review1


15/34

Sarawak Museum Journal 5: l (n.s.):102-103; eertz, Clifford,

1973, h Interpretation of Culture, pp. 3-30, New York,

Basic Books, Inc.; Harrisson. Tom. 1949. The Srus and Four

Stone ~i gu re s rom Sarawak, ~u ll et in k the Raffles Museum,

Series B. No. 4 p. 117-122; Hasan bin Pulcul and P.S. Ashton,

n.d., A Checklist of Brunei Trees, Brunei; Maxwell, Allen

R.,

1977, ~adayan ethno) toponymy as ethnohistory, Paper

presented at the 76th Annual Meeting of the American Anthro-

pological Association, Houston; Richards, A.J.N.. 978, A

I

Note-on Borneo Place Names, ~o rn eo es earc h ulle tin 0.1

24-27; Sahlins, Marshall, 1976, Culture and Practical Reason,

Chicago, The University of Chicago Press; Shamsuddin, A.K.

1967, Mukah. in Anon.. How Thev Were Named. Kuchine.

~orneo iteriture ureau. P

1 6 .

Wheatlev. ' ~a ul . 361.

I

The Golden Khersonese, ~t uh ie s n-the ist orical eography of

The Malay Peninsula betore A ,D . 1500, Kuala Lumpur. University

of Malava Press: Wolters. O.W. 19b/. Earlv Indonesian Commerce.

~

~

~ ~

~thaca,'~.~.cornell University Press. '

N E W S A N D A N N O U N C E M E N T S

Report of

A

Music Workshop

In E S T -antan

Jose Maceda

University of the Philippines

Introduction

In accordance with a recommendation of the Advisory Com-

mittee for A Study of Malay Culture, in its meeting in

Bali in 1974, the Directorate General of Culture of the

Department of Education and Culture of Indonesia, in

cooperation with the Indonesian National Commission for

UNESCO (and with the sponsorship of UNESCO), convened a

workshop that took place primarily in Kalimantan Timur,

from March 29 to April 23, 1977. The purpose of the work-

shop was to have Southeast Asian countries work together

for a practical application of theories of music research

and arrive at common methodologies of investigation and

cataloguing of material useful for the performing and

creative arts, the social sciences, and mass media. The

participants were men and women with responsible posi-

tions in their respective countries, and members of

various disciplines--music education, composition, lingui-

stics, anthropology, ethnomusicology, dance, piano and

r n d (Thai xylophone) playing, dancing and the art of

the d l n g (puppeteer). The official representatives were

U Han Win (Burma), N. Revel-Macdonald (France, UNESCO

delegate), I Made Bandem (Indonesia), Firdaus Burhan

(Indonesia),

R

Wiranto (Indonesia), Wayan Geriya (Indo-

nesia), Jean Joseph Rakotoarison (Madagascar), Ayub bjn

Ismail (Malaysia) Abdul Fatah Kirim (Malaysia) Jose

Maceda (Philippines), Edith Abisheganaden (Singapore),

Virot Tantranon (Thailand), and Sirichaicharn Fackjamroon

(Thailand)

The workshop opened on March 29 , 1977, with speeches of

welcome in Jakarta by Drs. Firdaus Arnir, Secretary-General

of the Indonesian National Commission for UNESCO, Dr.

James McDivitt, Director and Chief of Mission of UNESCO in

Indonesia, and Drs. Suwandono, Director of the Pembinaan

Kesenian, who spoke on behalf of Professor I.B. Mantra,

Director-General for Culture of the Department of Educa-

tion and Culture. Following the plenary speeches, Dr.

J O S ~

aceda was elected chairman, Mr. I Made Bandem, vice-

chairman, and Miss Shanta Abisheganaden as rapporteur of

the workshop. Mr Bandem read a paper on A Social and

Cultural Background of Peoples of Kalimantan Timur, based

on an exploratory trip he and Drs. Firdaus Burhan took in

Kalimantan Timur in 1975, and on contributions provided by

Drs. Wayan Geriya. Dr. Maceda discussed field methods--

technics of tape-recording, measurement of flute stops,

description of rites and ceremonies as cultural background-

and laboratory methods involving cataloguing, filing, class

fication of data, distribution studies, and the writing of

monographs and glossaries of musical terms. Dr. N. Revel-

Macdonald talked about the different languages of Borneo,

certain problems that might arise in the field, and the

collection of song-texts with illustrations o:E work done

in the Philippines.

The following day, the team of about 15 people flew to

Balikpapan, drove to Samarinda from where, after a

reception at the Governor's office, the group, enlarged by

about 15 officials and other representatives from Sama-

rinda, proceeded en route along the Mahakam River, the

widest and longest in East Kalimantan. More than a year

before the workshop took place, an Indonesian team visited


16/34

some vi l l ag es i n the Kl in jau and the Telen branches of

the Mahakam, and

t i s on t he b as i s of t h i s e a r l i e r v i s i t

th a t an i t i n e ra ry o f t r a v e l was p rep ared fo r th e worksho p

to v is i t s ev en o r mo re k m p o n g r a t h er th an ju s t o ne o r two

a lo n g th ese two r iv er s .

One day to thr ee days were spent

I in each v i l lag e , mak in g a t o t a l o f th r e e week s f ield wo rk

and 1000 kil om ete rs t ra ve l t o and from Samarinda. Two

small motor b o a ts , ca l l ed ta x i -b o a ts , w i th low ro o f s , each

holding f if te en people, brought the workshop group through

i t s t r a v e l . A lt ho ug h t was a lo n g an d t i r i n g jo u rn ey fo r

a la rge group of people i n cramped surroun dings, t was

a unique f i e ld exper ie nce which brought immediate res ul ts

t o t h e r e s e a r c h e r s .

Den se ju n g les w i th a g r ea t v a r i e t y o f

t imber b e in g h au led d owns tr eam, v i l la g e s o f d i f f e r e n t

ethni c groups, fog , he at , humidity , rainsto rms and an ever-

win ding r iv er , b rown in co lo r w i th a l l k in d s o f cu r r en ts ,

whir lpools , and f l oa ti ng de br is , were among the sce nes ,

l iv i n g th in g s , o b jec ts , e lemen ts , an d sen sa t io n s ex p erien ced

by t h e team i n i t s t r a v e l .

The names of v i l l ag es v i s i te d and th e p eop le th a t l i v e i n

them are l is ted below:2

Villages on the Klin j au River Li ngu is t ic Group of People

i

Muara Anchalong (Ancalong) Icut ai, Bugis, Banj a r

Long Bentuq (Bentuk), a

se t t lemen t ab o u t 35

years,old wi th 400 peo ple Modang

Long LeqEs (Lees),

a

se t t lemen t

35

y e a r s

old with 2800 people Kenyah umaq b

Tanjung Manis , se t t le d

only a few years ago ,

wi th 300 pe opl e Kenyah umaq taw

Villages on the Telen River

Li ngu is t ic Group of People

Long Noran, new vi l l a g e

wit h 510 people Kenyah l ppoq k u l i t

Long Segar, new se tt l e -

ment with 210 families

and mission churches

Kenyah umaq l a n

~e'h'e's Liah Bing, v il la ge

more than 100 years o ld

wi th 750 pe opl e Modang

Klinjau Telen and-wa hau Rivers.


17/34

ayon

u t a i

I

KALIMANTAN TIMUR :

Distribution of Linguistic Groups

Their corresponding musical

instruments are listed in the table

sv

Long Wehyah, new settle-

ment with more than

105 people Modang

Miau Baru settled in

1961, now has 1300

people Kayan umaq le?san

In comparison with villages in the head waters of the

Mahakam, the above

k a m p o n q

are relatively new settlements.

Their inhabitants are, except for those in Muara Anchalong,

Dayak people who originally came from the apoq Kayan, or

the Upper Mahakam and Kayan river systems. Among some

Dayak groups, the immigration to the Telen and Klinjau

took a long time. With the Kayan of Miau Baru, it lasted

several years and was a very difficult journey--by motor

and paddle-boats, by foot through jungles, sometimes

staying in a place for months to gather food and build

their boats in which they travelled. Although these Dayak

are nominally Christians (some groups were converted in

1945, before they moved down the Mayakam), they have

preserved in certain ways and i,n varying degrees their

old cultures. The Modang of ~ e h 6 s iah Bing make up about

the oldest settlement in these two rivers, and their

rituals and customs are held intact.

Each village that the workshop visited provided a welcome

ceremony and an elaborate music program in which the

music culture was well represented.

t

was of course

impossible to examine in detail the different social

contexts under which these musics were performed, but, on

the other hand, these presentations brought quickly to the

visitors specific information and a panoramic view of the

music in the Klinjau and Telen River areas.

Welcome Ceremonies and Programs

In Muara Anchalong (Mixed linguistic groups: Kutai,

Bugis, Banjar)

A welcome ceremony t e p u n g t e w a r ) was arranged by the

government officer

c h a m a t )

of the district. The guests

were made to sit in new bamboo platform built in tiers.

Each visitor was blessed with leaves d a u n d a d a p ) of the

d a d a

tree to give strength, and yellow rice

b e r a s k u n i n g )

to cfean the body. Coconut leaves m e ma ka i p l a s ) soaked

in coconut.water

a ~ r e l a p a ) ,

were made to brush lightly

the fegt of each visitor. Then, a program of Suku Kutai


18/34

music followed:

1 .

t a r i k a n j a r ,

welcome dance by six girls with musical

accompaniment on the bronze xylophone

( s a r o n ) ,

a

double-headed drum

( k e n d a n q ) ,

and a suspended gong

( g o n g ) .

2

k a n j a r l a k i - l a k i ,

another dance with music played on

the

s a r o n , k e n d a n q,

and

g o n g .

3 .

t a r i j e p e n ,

dance by three children with music of the

three-string bowed lute,

g a m b u s , k e n d a n g ,

and

g o n g .

4 .

t a r i b e l i a n ,

dance by one man accompanied by the

s a r o n , g o n g,

and

k e n d a n g .

5. t a r i j ep e n l a k i - l a k i ,

dance by three men with musical

accompaniment on the

q a m b u s

and

k e n d a n g .

In

Long Bentuq (Linguistic group: Modang)

The welcome ceremony

( t e p u n g t e w a r )

which was dedicated to

Pok Jeke, began with the sacrifice of a chicken which was

to prevent spirits from disturbing the proceedings. The

visitors formed a line and as each one walked past the head-

man or authority of local traditions

( k e p a l a a d a t ) ,

he waved

feathers of the

t e n g k o q

bird over his head. With a chicken's

egg, he touched their foreheads to get rid of bad spirits

that may lurk inside their bodies.

A

receptionist stepped

forward and, as a symbol of unity, she tied a bracelet with

one bead around the wrist of each visitor.

Music Program I (before dinner)

1.

Kway hgn

was danced by nineteen girls and six boys to

the accompaniment of a long tubular drum

( t d w u n g )

and

two suspended gongs

( o n g )

as entertainment for a

child's ritual, a wedding, or an ancestor's worship.

2

t b 'm b a t a g ,

a dance to celebrate a victory in a

headhunting raid.

3 . j o n g n y e ' l o n g .

About

2 5

women danced to

a

choral

singing in celebration of

L ra w a n a k ,

a feast in honor

of a child.

4

k a n Z t p a t a y

a warrior 's dance performed by four men.

Music Program

I1

(after dinner)

1

l n q mi -n g b ' n gqZ t ,

a sad expression, played by two

ring flutes

( l u k u n w u t )

one after the other,

2

l u a n g k k d j a w

lament for the dead, music for the

jew's harp

( to ng ~ u w )

played by three women,

3 t o n g l u k t L g g u k ,

percussion tubes struck with a stick.

4

n q g l u y ,

song for the feast of a child, sung by a chorus

of seven women and three men.

5 t o m b o y a ,

a lullaby, sung by the wife of the

k e p a l a a d a t .

6

gong and drum patterns.

Scenes of a Harvest Celebration

( r a w

ell^

1.

s z n g

(mortar): about ten men and women pounded rice

in two long mortars, one with three holes and a shorter

one with two holes.

2

p n l i n g I E ~ ah l i n g ,

shifting and sieving pounded

rice amidst shouting and beating of gongs and drums.

3 . p a h 6 n ,

a tug-of-war between one man and five women.

Each side took its turn to win.

4 .

t gm bk m b a t a q ,

a dance in small steps, accompanied by

a drum and gong.

5 h u d o q ,

a fertility dance performed by thirteen men ,

seven of whom wore masks and costumes made of banana

and palm leaves. Those with masks had the names

w an

t b 'n q q ap , w an p o n l i s , w a n h p o y , wa n y a k , w a n m a n l i u ,

w a n w a d y a o , w a n w o a ,

and

w a n p 6 n n ~ n g .

They representel

animals or characters who chase malevolent spirits

preventing a good harvest.

H U ~ O ~

ithout masks are

slaves or messengers of the masked

h u d o q .

They carry

seeds of rice, root crops, fruits, sugar cane, and

coconut to the villages.

6 j o n g n y e l o n g ,

a song by a big group o f men and women.

A

~ 6 l i a n

eremony.

The dance was led by two male mediums who were followed by

six women playing on bamboo tubes. One

b g l i a n

waved an egg

over the whole body of the sick person i n order to catch

the bad spiri.t. The egg could not be broken, lest the

spirit escape and get inside the body of other people. The

offerings of the ceremony were uncooked white rice

( b r a s ) ,

a chicken

( j

Borneo Research Bulletin (Vol. 10, No. 2) September 1978

Documents

Transcript of Borneo Research Bulletin (Vol. 10, No. 2) September 1978