WAR 187 



a head ; and in some cases of murder by Sea Dayaks, 

 the murderer has no doubt been egged on in this 

 way. 



Nevertheless, we repeat that there is no ground 

 for the oft-reprinted assertion that the taking of a 

 head is a necessary prelude to marriage/ Like 

 other tribesmen I bans do not bring home the heads 

 of their companions who have fallen in battle ; but 

 while men of other tribes are content to drag the 

 corpses of their fallen friends into some obscure spot 

 and to cover them with branches, Ibans frequently 

 cut off the heads and bury them at a distance from 

 the scene of battle, in order to prevent their being 

 taken by the enemy. 



The Ibans use a rather greater variety of weapons 

 than the Kayans, in that they have spears whose 

 blades bear barbs which prevent the withdrawal of 

 the blade from the body of the enemy without great 

 violence. 



The Klemantan tribes are on the whole far less 

 warlike than Kayans, Kenyahs, and Ibans. Their 

 offensive warfare is usually on a small scale, and 

 is undertaken primarily for revenge. Their warlike 

 ambition is easily satisfied by the taking of a single 

 head, or even by a mere hostile demonstration 

 against the enemy's house. Nevertheless, like all 

 the other tribes, except the Punans, the Klemantans 

 need a human head to terminate a period of mourning. 



We venture to append to this chapter a few specu- 

 lations on the origin and history of head-hunting. 

 From what we have said above it is clear that the 

 Ibans are the only tribe to which one can apply the 

 epithet head-hunters with the usual connotation of 

 the word, namely, that head-hunting is pursued as 

 a form of sport. But although the Ibans are the 

 most inveterate head-hunters, it is probable that 

 they adopted the practice some few generations 



^ See footnote, vol. i., p. 76. 



