6o 



PAGAN TRIBES OF BORNEO chap. 



Rice, the principal food, which forms the bulk of 

 every meal, is boiled in an iron or brass pot with 

 lip, handle, and lid, not unlike the old English 



cauldron ; it has no legs, 

 and is placed on a tripod 

 of stones or suspended 

 over the fire. This metal 

 pot, which is obtained 

 from the Chinese traders, 

 has superseded the 

 home-made pot of clay 

 (Fig. 8) and the bamboo 

 vessels in which the rice 

 was cooked in former 

 times. A larger wide 

 stewpan is also used for cooking pork, vegetables, 

 and fish. The Kayans smoke tobacco, which they 

 cultivate in small quantities. It is generally smoked 

 in the form of large cigar- 

 ettes, the finely cut leaf 

 being rolled in sheets of 

 dried banana leaf. But it 

 is also smoked in pipes, 

 which are made in a 

 variety of shapes, the 

 bowl of hardwood, the 

 stem of slender bamboo 

 (Fig. 9). Sea Dayaks 

 chew tobacco, but smoke 

 little, being devoted to 

 the chewing of betel nut. 

 Jin every house is a 

 number of large brass gongs [tawak), which are 

 used in various ceremonies and for signalling, and 

 constitute also one of the best recognised standards 

 of value and the most important form of currency. 

 Besides these largest gongs, smaller ones of various 

 shapes and sizes are kept and used on festive 



Fig. 8. 



