XII 



DECORATIVE ART 249 



very elongate animal form to a rosette form ; we have 

 occasionally met with the former amongst Sarawak Kayans, 

 but it is a common thigh design amongst the Mendalam 

 Kayans ; the forms numbered b and c are unusual in 

 Sarawak. Of the four examples given in PI. 136 — and 

 it may be noted that these met with the high approval of 

 expert tatu artists — Figs, i, 2, and 5 may be considered as 

 intermediate between Nieuwenhuis' very elongate example 

 / and the truncated form e which is supposed to represent 

 the head only of a dog. Fig. 2 is characteristic of the 

 Uma Balubo Kayans, and is remarkable in that teeth are 

 shown in both jaws ; whilst, both in this example and in 

 Fig. 5, the eye is represented as a disc, in Figs, i and 6 the 

 eye is assuming a rosette-like appearance, which rosette, as 

 Nieuwenhuis' series shows, is destined in some cases to 



Fig. 62. 



increase in size until it swallows up the rest of the design. 

 Fig. 6 may be compared with Nieuwenhuis, Fig. ^, as it 

 evidently represents little more than the head of a dog. 

 Although a single figure of the dog is the most usual form 

 of tatu, we have met with an example of a double figure ; 

 it is shown in Fig. 7 ; it will be observed that one of the 

 dogs is reversed and the tails of the two figures interlock. 

 Fig. 8 represents a dog with pups, tuang nganak ; A is 

 supposed to be the young one. 



The dog design figures very prominently in Kayan art, 

 and the fact that the dog is regarded by these people and 

 also by the Kenyahs with a certain degree of veneration 

 may account for its general representation. The design 

 has been copied by a whole host of tribes, with degradation 

 and change of name (Fig. 62). 



On the deltoid region of the shoulders and on the 

 breast, a rosette or a star design is found (text. Figs. 63 and 

 64). As already stated, it seems in the highest degree 



