DECORATIVE ART 247 



borrowed the Kayan tatu patterns, the majority of Kenyah 

 and Klemantan tribes employ quite simple designs, whilst 

 the primitive Kenyahs of the Batang Kayan river hardly 

 tatu at all. A remarkable exception to the general 

 simplicity of the Klemantan patterns is furnished by the 

 Ukits, Bakatan, and Biadjau, who tatu very extensively in 

 the most complex designs ; the Long Utan, an extinct 

 tribe, probably of Klemantan stock, also used highly 

 decorative and complex designs. Since so many tribes 

 owe much of their knowledge of tatu and the majority 

 of their designs to the Kayans, it will be well to commence 

 with an account of the art of tatu as practised by these 

 people. 



i. Kayan Tatu. 



Dr. Nieuwenhuis [9, p. 450] agrees with us in stating 

 that amongst these people the men tatu chiefly for 

 ornament, and that no special significance is attached to the 

 majority of designs employed ; nor is there any particular 

 ceremonial or tabu connected with the process of tatuing 

 the male sex. There is no fixed time of life at which a 

 man can be tatued, but in most cases the practice is begun 

 early in boyhood. Nieuwenhuis [9, p. 456] remarks that 

 the chiefs of the Mendalam Kayans scarcely tatu at all. 



Amongst the Sarawak Kayans, if a man has taken the 

 head of an enemy he can have the backs of his hands and 

 fingers covered with tatu (PI. 141, Fig. i), but, if he has 

 only had a share in the slaughter, one finger only, and that 

 generally the thumb, can be tatued. On the Mendalam 

 river, the Kayan braves are tatued on the left thumb only, 

 not on the carpals and backs of the fingers, and the thigh 

 pattern is also reserved for head-taking heroes [9, p. 456]. 

 Of the origin of tatu the Kayans relate the following 

 story : — Long ago when the plumage of birds was dull and 

 sober, the coucal {Centropus sinensis) and the argus 

 pheasant {Argusianus grayi) agreed to tatu each other ; 

 the coucal began on the pheasant first, and succeeded 

 admirably, as the plumage of the pheasant bears witness at 

 the present day ; the pheasant then tried his hand on the 

 coucal, but being a stupid bird he was soon in difficulties ; 

 fearing that he would fail miserably to complete the task, 

 he told the coucal to sit in a bowl of saniak tan, and then 

 poured the black dye over him, and flew off, remarking 

 that the country was full of enemies and he could not 



