66 PAGAN TRIBES OF BORNEO chap. 



nothing in the shape of material reward. He may- 

 receive a Httle voluntary assistance in the cultivation 

 of his field ; in travelling by boat he is accorded the 

 place of honour and ease in the middle of the boat, 

 and he is not expected to help in its propulsion. 

 His principal rewards are the social precedence and 

 deference accorded him and the satisfaction found 

 in the exercise of authority. 



If the people of a house or village are gravely 

 dissatisfied with the conduct of their chief, they will 

 retire to their /^^/-fields, building temporary houses 

 there. If many take this course, a new long house 

 will be built and a new chief elected to rule over it, 

 while the old chief remains in the old house with 

 a reduced following, sometimes consisting only of 

 his near relatives. 



The office of chief is rather elective than heredi- 

 tary, but the operation of the elective principle is 

 affected by a strong bias in favour of the most 

 capable son of the late chief; so in practice a chief 

 is generally succeeded by one of his sons. An 

 elderly chief will sometimes voluntarily abdicate in 

 favour of a son. If a chief dies, leaving no son of 

 mature age, some elderly man of good standing 

 and capacity will be elected to the chieftainship, 

 generally by agreement arrived at by many informal 

 discussions during the weeks following the death. 

 If thereafter a son of the old chief showed himself a 

 capable man as he grew up, he would be held to 

 have a strong claim on the chieftainship at the next 

 vacancy. If the new chief at his death left also 

 a mature and capable son, there might be two 

 claimants, each supported by a strong party ; the 

 issue of such a state of affairs would probably be 

 the division of the house or village, by the departure 

 of one claimant with his party to build a new 

 village. In such a case the seceding party would 

 carry away with them their share of the timbers 



