160 ANNALS NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



big- slaughter, of the bringing hack of heads, or of a related exploit. 

 Since that time, I have read Dr. Furness's picturesque account 221 

 of the return of the Kayan head-hunting expedition, and I have 

 noted several features of the celebration that closely resemble the 



liag-oho rites accompanying the entrance of the two bamboos. Still 

 more striking is the similarity in mental attitude toward the cere- 

 mony, as would appear from such emotional responses as the fixed 

 position of the warriors, the rapt and exalted expression of their 

 faces, the restrained eagerness of the waiting women, the break 

 into the war cry on entering- the house. Since this behavior is only 

 (me of many points of resemblance between the Bagobo and the 

 wild tribes of Borneo, it seems possible that the same stimulus — 

 that of hunting- human heads - gave rise to the ceremony in the 

 one group as well as in the other. 



Among- the Berawan of Sarawak, according to Purness, when, in 



111 "At the very first glimmer of dawn I was awakened bj an unusual stir throughout 

 the house. The women and children and the few men who were so unfortunate as to 

 have been obliged to remaia behind, were all collecting along the edge of the veranda 

 below the eaves, whence they could get a view of the river. Just at the very instant 

 that the sun sent its tirst shaft of level light down the long expanse of river, we heard 

 coming up-stream, a solemn, low, deep-toned chant, or rather bamming, in harmony. 

 There were no articulate words, only a continuous sound, in different keys, from treble 

 to bass, of the double vowel oo, as in boom. A miuute later the long line of canoes, 

 lashed three abreast, slowly rounded the turn, and drifted toward the house. The men 

 were all standing. . . Only a few were at the paddles, merely enough to steer the pro- 

 cession, while all the others stood as motionless as statues, holding their spears upright 

 and the point of their shields resting at their feet. On and on they slowly glided, 

 propelled, it almost seemed, by this inexpressibly solemn dirge, which was wafting this 

 sacred skull to a home it must for ever bless. ... In order to watch the ceremony more 

 narrowly, I left the veranda as the boats neared the beach, and I shall not soon forget 

 Abun's solemn, absorbed demeanour. I could not catch his eye, and, unlike his usual 

 self, he took not the smallest notice of my presence, nor did any of the others. Ever] 

 face wore the rapt expression of a profoundly religious rite. Without intermitting the 

 chant, Abun, bearing the skull, led the procession in single file to the up-river end of 

 the house.... When they were all gathered, .still chanting, in a close group, the old 

 'fencing-master' stepped out to the front with a blow-pipe, and, looking in the direction 

 of the Tinjar River (still chanting) addressed a vehement warning to the enemy, and then 

 (still chanting) raised the blow-pipe to his lips, and blew a dart high in the air to 

 carry the message to them. The chanting in-lanth ceased, and all gave a wild, exultant 

 shout..." The Borne Life of Borneo Bead-hunters, pp. 00—92. 1902. [The account 

 continues with a narration of the rites held over the skull. 



According to Furnees, the Kayans have a legend on the origin of taking heads, and 

 the mythical account Bays that it was first done on (he advice of a frog, and that this 

 initial trial brought them b anj blessings that the practice was ever after continued. 



"//. cil., p. till. 



