The Natives of Sarawak and British North Borneo: Based Chiefly on the Mss. of the Late H. B. Low, Sarawak Government Service, Volume 1 |
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Common terms and phrases
amongst antu appearance asked Bajaus Bakatans Balungan bamboo bambu Baram Baram River Batang Lupar betel-nut birds boat body Borneo Brooke Low buried Burong called ceremony chief child Chinese cloth coffin colour corpse Crossland custom Dayaks dead death deceased deer Denison Dusuns farm feast feet fish fowl friends fruit girls gongs grave hair head heard Hugh Low husband ibid Ida'an inhabitants John jungle Kanowit Kapuas Kayans killed Klieng Land Dyaks Limbang Lingga living look Low Coll Lundu Malays manang marriage marry Milanaus mouth Mundy Muruts natives never night omen Orang Kaya paddy padi Petara Plandok Punans race Rajah Rejang Rejang river rice river round Sakarang Sarawak river says Sea Dyaks Sibuyaus sick spear Spencer St spirit told tree tribe Ukits Undups Upper Sarawak village wife woman women wood young
Popular passages
Page 110 - ... adorn their waists, or even a petticoat — there is a very peculiar testimony of regard which is worthy of note. About nine or ten at night, when the family is supposed to be fast asleep within the mosquito curtains in the private...
Page 109 - At the marriage a fowl is killed, rice boiled, and a feast made by the relations of the bride and bridegroom. The bridegroom then generally betakes himself to the apartments of his wife's parents or relations and becomes one of the family. Occasionally — as for example, when the bride has many brothers and sisters, or when the bridegroom is the support of aged parents or of younger brothers and sisters — the bride enters and becomes one of the family of her husband.
Page 110 - He goes to the curtains of his beloved, gently awakes her, and she on hearing who it is rises at once, and they sit conversing together, and making arrangements for the future in the dark over a plentiful supply of sirrah-leaf and betel-nut, which it is the gentleman's duty to provide.
Page 452 - Dyaks now stood on the first peg and drove in a third, about level with his face, to which he tied the bamboo in the same way, and then mounted another step, standing on one foot, and holding by the bamboo at the peg immediately above him, while he drove in the next one. In this manner he ascended about twenty feet, when the upright bamboo becoming thin, another was handed up by his companion, and this was joined on by tying both bamboos to three or four of the pegs. When this was also nearly ended,...
Page 110 - If when awoke the young lady rises and accepts the prepared betel-nut, happy is the lover, for his suit is in a fair way to prosper, but if on the other hand she rises and says, " Be good enough to blow up the fire...
Page 281 - ... they cut his head open, take out his brains, wash and restore them, to give him a clear mind to penetrate into the mysteries of evil spirits, and the intricacies of disease ; they insert gold dust into his eyes to give him keenness and strength of sight powerful enough to see the soul wherever it may have wandered...
Page 127 - ... that she could not think of living with him any longer ; or the husband has only to tell his wife that he distinctly heard a certain animal roar, or a bird scream in the night. The friends of either party are called together, the fine agreed on paid, and so an end of the business. Says Mr. St. John, "many men and women have been married seven or eight times before they find the partner with whom they wish to spend the remainder of their lives.
Page 65 - I AM inclined to rank the Dyaks above the Malays in mental capacity, while in moral character they are undoubtedly superior to them. They are simple and honest, and become the prey of the Malay and Chinese traders, who cheat and plunder them continually. They are more lively, more talkative, less secretive, and less suspicious, than the Malay, and are therefore pleasanter companions. The Malay boys have little inclination for active sports and games, which form quite a feature in the life of the...
Page 114 - The men of this tribe marry but one wife, and that not until they have attained the age of seventeen or eighteen. Their wedding -ceremony is curious ; and, as related, is performed by the bride and bridegroom being brought in procession along the large room, where a brace of fowls is placed over the bridegroom's neck, which he whirls seven times round his head. The fowls are then killed, and their blood sprinkled on the forehead of the pair, which done, they are cooked, and eaten by the new-married...
Page 65 - I thought to amuse them with something new, and showed them how to make " cat's cradle " with a piece of string. Greatly to my surprise, they knew all about it, and more than I did ; for, after I and Charles had gone through all the changes we could make, one of the boys took it off my hand, and made several new figures which quite puzzled me. They then showed me a number of other tricks with pieces of string, which seemed a favorite amusement with them. Even these apparently trifling matters may...