DECORATIVE ART 241 



be found. The lack of affinity between these 

 patterns and those applied to other surfaces suggests 

 that they may have been taken over from some 

 other people together vi^ith the craft of the smith ; 

 but possibly the distinctive character is due only 

 to the exigencies of the material. Some of the 

 designs painted on hats and shields exhibit perhaps 

 some affinity with these. This work is almost 

 confined to the Kayans. 



It is worthy of remark that the art work of the 

 Kayans is in the main of a public character ; for 

 example, the decorative carving about the house 

 is done by voluntary and co-operative effort in the 

 public gallery and hardly at all in the private 

 rooms ; and ornamented hats and shields are hung 

 in the gallery rather than in the private rooms ; 

 again, the war-boats, which are the common property 

 of the household, are decorated more elaborately 

 than those which are private property. 



All these forms of art work are the products of 

 distinctly amateur effort; that is to say that, although 

 certain individuals attain special skill and reputation 

 in particular forms of art, they do not make their 

 living by the practice of them, but rather, like every 

 one else, rely in the main upon the cultivation of 

 padi for the family support ; they will exchange 

 services of this kind, and definite payments are 

 sometimes agreed upon, but a large amount of such 

 work is done for one another without any material 

 reward. 



The Kenyahs, Klemantans, and I bans 



The Kenyahs make use of all, or most, of the 

 patterns found among the Kayans, and there is 

 little or nothing that distinguishes the decorative 

 art of the one tribe from that of the other. They 

 use the patterns based on the monkey rather more 



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