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817613/18 SEP 1995

Perp us.. Ju. :> I 'ega raMalaysia

CONTENTS

PART I

PAPERS ON BRITISH NORTH BORNEOPAGE

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

(i) SOME CUSTOMS AND BELIEFS OF THE "ORANGDUSUN" 3

(ii) FOLK-TALES OF THE TUARAN AND] TEMPASSUKDISTRICTS . 45

(iii) NORTH BORNEAN MARKETS 129

PART II

THE MALAY PENINSULA

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 134

(i) SOME BELIEFS AND CUSTOMS OF THE NEGRITOS 143

(ii) SOME BELIEFS AND CUSTOMS OF THE SAKAI 197

(iii) SOME BELIEFS AND CUSTOMS OF THE JAKUN 262

(iv) MISCELLANEOUS NOTES ON MALAY CUSTOMS ANDBELIEFS 268

(v) MALAY FOLK-TALES 273

(vi) MALAY BACK-SLANG 276

(vii) SETTING UP THE POSTS OF A MALAY HOUSE 277

(viii) BELA KAMPONG • 279

(ix) CUSTOMS OF THE CAMPHOR·HUNTERS AND BAHASAKAPOR. 280

VOCABULARY (BAHASA KAPOR) 288

APPENDIX A. PUAKA • 292

B. KEMPUNAN 294

INDEX 297

PLATE

MEMPELAM, A NEGRITO OF PERAK FRONTISPIECE

PART I

PAPERS ON BRITISH NORTH BORNEO

(i) Some Customs and Belief s of the" Orang Du sun;"(ii ) Folk-tales of the T uaran and Tempassuk Districts.

(iii ) North Bornean Ma rkets.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

T HE present collection of Dusun, Bajau, and Illanunstories was made in the years 1910 and 19II, during

parts of which I was stationed in the two adjoining districtsof Tuaran and Tempassuk; while the material contained inthe first paper, that on customs and beliefs of the" OrangDusun," was collected partly at the same tim e as the folk­stories, partly on a short visit which I paid to the TempassukDistrict in 1915. TheTempassuk is inhabited by three differentpeoples, the Dusuns, Bajaus and Illanuns, and it is chieflyfrom the first of these that the tal es have been collected; for,since both the Bajaus and Illanuns are Mohamedans, theirfolk-lore is not nearly so extensive as that of their Dusunneighbours, who are pagans. The Mohamedans, roughlyspeaking, form the coastal and estuarine population, whilethe Dusuns, with the exception of those of a few large villageson the plains, which border on the Bajau zone, are confinedto the foot-hills and mountainous portions of the area. TheTuaran District is also divided between Bajaus and Dusuns,but here Illanuns are wanting.

It would seem that the Dusuns are the original inhabitantsof the country, and that the Bajaus and Illanuns, both Proto­Malayan peoples, are later arrivals who have driven the first­named inland. This is known to be a fact in the case of the"Illanuns, who are a piratical tribe of Mindanao in the Philip­pines; of whom small roving parties have settled in Borneo. -

EMP

2 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO PT. I

The origin of the Bajaus- is, I believe, unknown, but th eyare widely spread along the coasts of North Borneo. However ,as far as the Tempassuk is concerned, tradition asserts thatthey first came in trading boats from the dir ection of Kudat ,and even tually fought th e Dusuns and formed settlements inthe country.

It is often said by Europeans resident in North Borneo,without, I think, sufficient evidence, that the Dusuns have 'a large admixture of Chinese blood. What the Dusuns wouldseem to be is a primitive Indonesian people, with some strainof Mongolian (not modern Chinese) blood. The up-countryDusun is generally short , sturdy, and light in colour , with aface which is often broad and flat, showing great developmentof th e angle of the lower jaw. The nose is broad, and its bridgeand root depressed. The head is long as compared with thatof the Bajau.

" Orang Dusun ," which, literally translated, means" peopleof the orchards," is a name which was originally used by th eMalays to denote large sections of th e Indonesian populationof British North Borneo, which th ey considered to be ofsimilar habits and culture. The term is loose, but useful, andhas consequently been adopted by Europeans, and, for thisreason, I also retain it.

In those parts of the country which I know, it cannot besaid that th e Dusuns have any tribal organization, th e villagecomm unity being the unit. In the Tempassuk District th eDusuns style themselves Tindal, while I believe that th e up­country Tu aran natives do the same. Around Tuaran Settle­ment, however, they seem to call th emselves Song 2 (or suong)Latud (people of the country; i.e. the developed country asopposed to the jungle). These Tuaran villagers differ some­what in their customs from th e Tempassuk natives. It mustbe understo od that in these papers I deal only with the Tem-

1 In the Tempassuk they ca ll themselves " Sarn a ," Some of them claimto have origina lly come from J ohore. If this is true they are probably of.t he sam e race as the J akun and the Oran g Laut of the Malay Pe ninsula.The Bajaus of the East Coast of Borne o are st ill sea- noma ds, or partly so .

2 This word seems to have t he same meaning as the Malay isi , " contents ."

PT. I BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 3

passuk District and with the villages immediately surroundingthe Government post at Tuaran. I have never visit ed theupland villages of the Tuaran Valley, though I have met manyof th eir inhabitants. The villagers of the hinterland of thecoast between the mouth of the Tuaran River and J esselton .ar e absolutely unknown to me.

(i) SOME CUSTOMS AND BELIEFS OF THE" ORANG DUSUNl "

The religion of the Dusuns is largely animistic, though withit is combined a belief in a supreme deity, who has a wife,and in minor deities or major spirits . Their ceremonies, asmight be expected, are chiefly concerned with those super­natural beings who may, according to their ideas, affect humanaffairs favourably or unfavourably, these ranging from thepositively malevolent to th e potentially, or actually, bene­ficent. Those which are implacably hostile must be drivenaway by means of magic, for, in their case, bribery is of noavail, among them being included, I think, the body-snatchingspirits, and those which cause some acute diseases, such assmall-pox. To induce others, less malevolent and more venal,to quit the haunts of mankind, a mixture of magic and briberyor cajolery may be employed, as, for instance, in the annualceremonies for purging villages of evil influences, and in someTempassuk District methods of dealing with th e ghosts of thenewly buried. Again, there are spirits who will remain neutralif they are propitiated, and among them, perhaps, are to beplaced those of rivers; while there would seem to be a fewwhich will be positively friendly if well treated, such as thespirits of the sacred jars which the Tuaran Dusuns treasureand the spirits of the rice; but even these become bad tem­pered when neglected. If no offerings or sacrifices were madeto the jar spirits, they would certainly take their revenge bybringing all sorts of misfortunes up on those who had slightedthem; and what would happen to the crops of a man whoserice-souls were offended with him?

1 Vide two papers of mine published in The J ournal of the Royal A nthro­pological Institute, vols, XLIl. and XLVIl.

1-2

4 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO PT. I

The propitiation of the Dusuns' chief deit y, Kinharingan ,an d his wife Munsumundok does not, I believe, form any con­siderable part of their ritual, and, though the form er is called ·upon to be a witness to oaths , he is, probably, regarded asbeing too far away to take an y very great interest in every­day matters.

A curious feature of Dusun religious ceremonies is theprominent part played by priestesses, initiated women, up onwhom rests the responsibility for the successful carrying outof the rites. Men, though present, usually play only a sub­ordinate part in such performances, the duty assigned to thembeing that of providing a musical accompaniment for thewomen's chants. At Tuaran there are regular fixed fees foryoung women who wish to enter the ranks of the initiated ,arid their instruction covers a period of over three months.The fees received by the instructresses are, at the present day,generally paid in money, though formerly paym ent was mad ein goods. I have been told by natives that the women use asecret lan guage in their chants, and thus the mysteries of theirconjurations are safeguarded from becoming public property.

Certain more or less fixed yearly festivals and ceremoniesare observed by the Dusuns of both districts, but there isconsiderabl e difference in custom between the Tuaran peopleand those of the Tempassuk, and, indeed, between the Tem­passuk highlanders and lowlanders, if not even betweenneighbouring villages.

Various animals are regarded as omens, either of good orevil portent, and these, some of which I treat of below, havea considerabl e influ ence on the people 's daily life.

H ead-hunting was prevalent in both districts, until pro­hibited by the British North Borneo Company, but certainrites connected with it are still carried out at Tuaran , andprobably elsewhere . On t aking a head a warrior was enti tledt o be tattooed in a particular manner, but with the pro­hibition of head-hunting tattooing has become practicallyobsolete .

PT. I BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 5

THE DUSUNS OF TUARAN

DeitiesSome details with regard to Kinharingan, the Creator, and

Munsumundok, his wife, will be found among the notes onthe Tempassuk area, the belief in these two divinities beingcommon to both districts. Two Tuaran Dusun legends of thecreation will be found among the folk-tales on pp. 45 and 46.

The Cult of Sacred JarsThe Dusuns of Tuaran, Papar, and, I believe, of some other

places commonly worship certain jars, which are regarded asbeing sacred. Various kinds of old jars of foreign manufacture,most , if not all, of which are of Chinese origin, are regardedas being valuable property by many of the pagan peoples (andalso by some of the Mohamedans) of Borneo, but the Dusunsthink that certain varieties! of them are tenanted by in­dwelling spirits, and are hence worthy of reverence. It is toa kind called gusi in particular that sacrifice and prayer aremade at Tuaran; and families vie with one another to obtaina specimen, from two to three thousand dollars being no un­common price to pay for one. Each member of afamily hasoften a small share in such a jar, and, owing to the frequent andcomplicated lawsuits which formerly arose in consequence, itbecame necessary that such cases should be stopped; a notifica­tion, therefore,was issued by the then Governor ofBritishNorthBorneo, which prohibited legal proceedings with regard to gusi,except with a viewto enforcing the rights of thewaris (membersof the families of owners) as defined in the notifications,

The gusi is a pot-bellied jar of a greenish-brown colour, andhas often a crackled skin, but whether this crackle is due toage, or was produced in manufacture, I am not certain. Itappears to be of Chinese make, and specimens may vary con­siderably in size.

Gusi are often kept in a railed-off enclosure in one of the1 Vide also a folk-story on p . 52.2 Vide a critique of a former paper of mine in The British N. Borneo Herald

of October rst, 1914. In this will be found some interesting and originalnotes on the Dusuns, Major E. O. Rutter being responsible for them.

6 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO PT . I

inn er rooms of a Dusun house, and annual sacrifices are madeto them at a festival called M engahau, about which a fewparticulars will be found below. I have it on th e authorityof a Tuaran Dusun, named Omboi, that the old women go toa gusi and wipe its mouth, saying at the sam e tim e, "Do notbe angry with me, for I have given you food-." The spiritsth at dwell in the gusi, one in each jar, the same informantto ld me, are those of ancest ors. They are thought to be evillydisposed unless kept in a good temper by sacrifices, when th eymay be actually beneficent. Offerings are made to the gusiwhen there is sickness in the house or village. The buluhonis a kind of gusi which th e Dusuns say that Kinharingan letdown to the earth by a cord from an open window in the sky.A species of banyan (Ficus) is reported to be the abode of 'a spirit, and it is said that men coming suddenly upon a treeof this kind ha ve seen many gusis standing below it, but whenthey have looked again , the jars ha ve vanished for the spirithas snat ched them up into th e tree.

Religious Ceremonies

(i) One of the most, or th e most, important yearly ceremonyof the Tuaran Dusuns is that which is called Mobog, when allevil spirits which may ha ve collected in the village during th eprevious year are solemnly expelled. In September, 1910, Iwas lucky enough to see a part of these rites carried out. Thechief performers, as is the case in all Dusun religious cere­monies, were women, th e minor parts, of drum- or gong­beaters, being assigned to the men. A procession of women,in full ceremonial dress, goes from house to house, stoppingat each to go through a performance. It is preceded by a boycarrying a spear on which is impaled a large parcel containing

1 The Bahnars, Sedan gs and Jurai s of Indo-China als o have sacred jars,which a re thought to contain indwelling spirits. Their mouths are coa te dwith blo od a nd rice -wine on holidays. As among the Dusuns old jars areconsidered to be wea lth (Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, vo l. III." Indo-China, " p . 230 ).

Certain old Chin ese jars which a re found in the Philippines are said tobe able t o t alk , vide F ay-Cooper Cole's Chinese Pottery in the Philippines.p . 1 2 (Publi cation 1 6 2 of the Field Museum of Chicago).

PT. I BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 7

rice, the wrapping of which is a piece of palm-spathe ; nextfollow two men bearing between them a drum and a largegong of the variety kn own as tawag-tawag, these being slungfrom a bamboo pole, the ends of which rest on their shoulders.Aft er them come the women, one of whom carries on her backa small sucking-pig in a basket. Each woman holds a w;l.l1din her right hand, which has a spiral strip of bark, runningfrom end to end, removed from it. These wands, I was told,are used for beating the sucking-pig, and the name of M obog,meaning "beating," is given to the ceremony because the pigis maltreated in this manner". In addition to the wands thewomen also bring with them bunches of small brass bells, whichare shaken in time with th eir movements, while performingposturing dances, by quick backward and forward jerks oftheir wrists, and, as well as these, somewhat castanet-likeinstruments called tetubit, consisting of two discs of brassattached by a string to a handle, which is usually made froma back-plate of a soft-turtle (Trionyx). The tetubit is used tobeat time during chanting>, the discs being clanked togetheragainst the base of the thumb of the right hand on its innersurface. On arrival at a house, mats are spread near it by somegirls. A man then brings the stalk of a coconut-palm leaf,and having bent the proximal and broader end at right anglesto the rest of the stalk, he sharpens the distal end slightly,and plants it firmly in the ground at the end of the mats whichis nearest to the door of the hous e. In front of this the spear­mentioned above-is set, point upwards, and at the base ofthe leaf-stalk is placed the packet wrapped in palm-spathe.The women then take their places on th e mats, and theceremony begins.

This consists partly of chant, partly of dance and chantcombined. At one time the women are movin g slowly roundin a circle from left to right, chanting the while, and empha-

1 The squeals of the pig, I underst and, attract the spirits;2 It may, perhaps, have a ma gical use as well. Vide p. 2 2 , with reference

to the use of a somewhat similar instrument, the gunding, in the TempassukDistrict.