CHAPTER XII 



DECORATIVE ART 



All the tribes of Borneo practise a number of 

 decorative arts. Some of the Klemantans, notably 

 the Malanaus, excel all other tribes, in that they 

 attain a high level of achievement in a great variety 

 of such arts ; but each tribe and sub-tribe preserves 

 the tradition of some one or two decorative arts 

 in which they are especially skilled. Thus some of 

 the Klemantan tribes specially excel in the finer 

 kinds of wood-carving (e.g. the decoration of paddles); 

 the Kayans in tatuing and in chasing designs on 

 steel ; the Kenyahs in the painting of shields and 

 in the production of large designs carved in low 

 relief on wood and used for adorning houses and 

 tombs ; both Kayans and Kenyahs excel in the 

 carving of sword - handles in deer's horn ; the 

 Barawans and Sebops in beadwork ; the Kalabits 

 and I bans in tracing designs on the surface of 

 bamboo ; Punans in the decorative mat - work ; 

 Kanowits and Tanjongs in basket-work. 



Wood-carving is the most generally practised 

 and on the whole the most important of the decora- 

 tive arts. Much of it is done on very hard wood ; 

 and the principal tools are the sword, the small 

 knife carried in the sword -sheath, and adzes and 

 axes of various sizes. The blade of the knife is some 

 three inches in length, resembling in general shape 

 the blade of the sword ; it is wider in proportion, 



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