48 PAGAN TRIBES OF BORNEO chap. 



loop bears several massive rings of copper (PI. 20), 

 whose combined weight is in some cases as much 

 as two pounds/ Most of the Kenyah women also 

 wear similar earrings, but these are usually lighter 

 and more numerous, and the lobe is not so much 

 distended. The women of many of the Klemantan 

 tribes wear a large wooden disc in the distended 

 lobe of each ear, and those of other Klemantan 

 tribes wear a smaller wooden plug with a boss (PL 

 32). The children run naked up to the age of 

 six or seven years, when they are dressed in the 

 fashion of their parents. 



On festive occasions both men and women put 

 on as many of their ornaments as can be conveniently 

 worn. 



Deformation of the Head 



Some of the Malanaus, a partially Mohammedan 

 tribe of Klemantans, seated about the mouths of 

 the Muka, Oya, and Bintulu rivers of Sarawak, 

 have the curious custom of flattening the heads 

 of the infants, chiefly the females. The flattening 

 is effected at an early age, the process beginning 

 generally within the first month after birth. It 

 consists in applying pressure to the head by means 

 of a simple apparatus for some fifteen minutes, more 

 or less, on successive days, or at rather longer 

 intervals. The application of the pressure for this 

 brief space of time, on some ten to twenty occasions, 

 seems to suffice to bring about the desired effect. 

 The pressure is applied while the child sleeps, and 

 is at once relaxed if the child wakes or cries. The 

 apparatus, known as tadal (see Fig. 3), consists 

 of a stout flat bar of wood, some nine inches in 

 length and three wide in its middle part. This 



^ Accidental tearing of the lobe inevitably occurs occasionally ; and if this 

 is attributed to the carelessness of any other person a brass tawak or gong must 

 be paid in compensation. Repair of a torn lobe is sometimes effected by 

 overlapping the raw ends and keeping them tied in this position for some weeks. 



