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H. Wilfrid Walker - Wanderings Among South Sea Savages
been up here before, trading with the Dayaks, could have discovered it. I had told the Malay chief that I
wished to visit a Dayak village where no white man had ever been and where they were head-hunters. He
had smiled slyly and nodded as if he understood. Thereupon he said, "Baik (good), Tuan," and said he
would help me. Just as darkness was setting in we arrived at a Dayak village, consisting of one very long
house, which I afterwards found to exceed two hundred feet in length. It was situated about one hundred
yards from the stream. No sooner had we sighted it than the air resounded with the loud beating of large
gongs and plenty of shouting. There was a great commotion among the Dayaks.
I at first felt doubtful as to the kind of reception I should get, and immediately made my way to the house
with Dubi, who explained to the Dayak chief that I was no government official, but had come to see them
and also to get some "burong" (birds) and "kopo-kopo" (butterflies). I forthwith presented the old chief
with a bottle of gin, such as they often get from the Malay traders, and some Javanese tobacco, and his
face was soon wreathed in smiles.
The Dayaks soon brought all my baggage into the house and I paid off my Malays and proceeded to
make myself as comfortable as I could for my stay of several weeks, the chief giving me a portion of his
own quarters and spreading mats for me over the bamboo floor. On the latter I put my camp-bed and
boxes. I occupied a portion of the open corridor or main hall, which ran the length of the house and
where the unmarried men sleep. This long corridor was just thirty feet in width, and formed by far the
greater portion of the house; small openings from this corridor led on to a kind of unsheltered platform
twenty-five feet in width, which ran the length of the house and on which the Dayaks generally dry their
"padi" (rice).
The other side of the house was divided into several rooms, each of which belonged to a separate family.
Here they store their wealth, chiefly huge jars and brass gongs. The house was raised on piles fully ten to
twelve feet from the ground, the space underneath being fenced in for the accommodation of their pigs
and chickens. The smells that came up through the half-open bamboo and "bilian"-wood flooring were
the reverse of pleasant. The entrance at each end was by means of a very steep and slippery sort of ladder
made out of one piece of wood with notches cut in it, the steps being only a few inches in width. One of
these ladders had a rough bamboo hand-rail on each side, and the top part of the steps was roughly
carved into the semblance of a human face.
In the rafters over my head I noticed a great quantity of spears, shields, "sumpitans" or blowpipes,
paddles, fish-traps, baskets and rolls of mats piled up indiscriminately, while just over my head where I
slept was a rattan basket containing two human heads, though Dubi told me he thought the Dayaks had
hidden most of their heads on my arrival. This description of the house I resided in for some time, applies
more or less to all the Dayak houses I saw in Borneo.
This house or village was called Menus, and the old chief's name was Usit. In spelling these names one
has to be entirely guided by the sounds and write them after the fashion of the English method of spelling
Malay. The village or house of Menus seemed to contain about one hundred inhabitants, not counting
small children. Upon my arrival I was soon surrounded by a most curious throng, many of whom gazed
at me with open mouths, in astonishment at the sight of an "orang puteh" (white man), as of course no
white man had ever been here before and but very few of the people had ever seen one. One old woman
remembered having seen a white man, and some of the older men had from time to time seen
government officials on the Rejang River, but except to these few I was a complete novelty. Considering
this, I was greatly astonished at their friendliness, as not only the men, but the women and children
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