202 PAGAN TRIBES OF BORNEO chap. 



similar block completes the shell at the stern. The 

 prow is often ornamented with the head of a croco- 

 dile or the conventional dog's head carved in hard 

 wood and painted in red and black. 



The whole operation, like every other important 

 undertaking, is preceded by the finding of omens, 

 and it is liable to be postponed by the observation 

 of ill omens, by bad dreams, or by any misfortune 

 such as a death in the house. In each house are 

 certain men who are specially skilled in boat- 

 making, and by them the work is directed and all 

 the finer part of the work executed. In the case 

 of a war-boat which is to be the property of the 

 household, these special workers are paid a fee out 

 of the store of valuables accumulated under the 

 care of the chief by way of fines and confiscations. 



The smaller boats, ranging from a small canoe 

 suitable for one or two paddlers only, to one cap- 

 able of carrying a score or more, are generally 

 private property. These, like the war-boats, are 

 made from a single stem. The larger ones are 

 made in just the same way as the war-boats. In 

 the smaller ones the bow is shaped from the solid 

 block and is not opened out, as is the rest of the 

 boat. The craftsman who makes a boat for another 

 is helped by his customer, and is paid by him a fee 

 in brass-ware or dollars, the usual fee being a tawak 

 varying in size according to the size of the boat. 



If Kayans find themselves for any reason in 

 immediate need of a boat when none is at hand, 

 they sometimes fashion one very rapidly by stripping 

 the bark from a big tree. The two ends of the sheet 

 of bark are folded and lashed with rattan to form 

 bow and stern ; the middle part is wedged open with 

 cross-pieces which serve as benches, and the shell 

 is strengthened with transverse ribs and longitudinal 

 strips. A serviceable boat capable of carrying several 

 men and their baggage may be completed in the 



