XX 



PECULIARITIES 209 



washed with a solution of common salt. But a 

 clean wound is merely bound up with a rag ; or, if 

 there is much haemorrhage, wood ashes are first 

 applied. They practise no more efficient methods 

 for arresting haemorrhage. 



Headache is treated by tugging the hair of the 

 * scalp in small bundles in systematic order. Massage 

 of the muscles is practised for the relief of pain, and 

 massage is applied to the abdomen in cases of 

 obstinate constipation ; in certain cases they claim 

 to break up hard lumps in the belly by squeezing 

 them with the hands. Bodily aches and fatigue are 

 relieved by pulling and bending the parts of the 

 limbs until all the joints crack in turn. 



Cupping is perhaps the most frequently practised 

 surgical operation. Severe internal bruising from 

 falls or heavy blows is the usual occasjon. The 

 operation is performed by scratching the skin with 

 the point of a knife, and then applying the mouth of 

 a bamboo cup previously heated over the fire. The 

 cup is a piece of bamboo some five or six inches in 

 length and an inch or rather more in diameter. 

 Its edge is thinned and smoothed. Several of 

 these may be simultaneously applied in a case of 

 extensive bruising. Since this operation, like 

 tatuing, involves the shedding of blood, some small 

 offering, such as a few beads, must be made to the 

 patient by the operator. 



The Kayans have distinct numerals up to ten 

 (yV, dua, telOy pat, limer, nam, tusu, saya, pitan, 

 pulu). Those from eleven to nineteen are formed 

 by prefixing pulu ( = ten) to the names of the digits ; 

 and those from twenty to twenty-nine by prefixing 

 dua pulu ( = two twenty) ; and so on up to ji ator 

 ( = one hundred). Two hundred is dua ator, three 

 hundred is telo ator, and so on up to mibu ( = one 

 thousand). All or most of the other tribes (except 

 the Punans) have a similar system of numerals, 



