XII 



DECORATIVE ART 259 



stated that a somewhat similar design was engraved by 

 them on sword blades. PI. 139, Fig. 4, is taken from a 

 tatu-block of uncertain origin, and the same name was also 

 applied to this by the Baram Kayans, though with some 

 hesitation and uncertainty ; the hornbill motif is here quite 

 obvious. 



We have stated that an interlacing line design is 

 generally employed for the back of the thigh ; we figure, 

 however, a remarkable exception from the Baloi river 

 (PI. 140, Fig. 5) ; this is known as kalong kowit, hook 

 pattern ; A is a representation of an antique bead, balalat 

 lukuty B is known as kowit^ hooks. Between the two strips 

 of line design at the back of the thigh runs a narrow line of 

 untatued skin, the supposed object of which has been 

 described above. The front and sides of the thigh in high- 

 class women will be covered with three or more strips of 

 pattern such as are shown on PI. 138, Figs. 4 and 5 ; 

 in the latter tushun tuva, dulang harok, ulu tinggang and 

 beliling bulan can again be recognised ; the ulu tinggang in 

 this example are less conventionalised than in the spirals of 

 the forearm pattern, and a spiral form of tushun tuva is 

 shown in addition to the angular form. The other example 

 exhibits ida limuy tushun tuvajalaut, kowit (the interlocking 

 spirals) and ulu tinggang. All these strips of pattern are 

 separated by the ikor. The knee-cap is the last part of the 

 leg to be tatued, and the design covering it is called the 

 kalong nangy the important pattern, good examples of 

 which are shown in Figs. 70, 71 ; Fig. 72 represents the 

 design on the front and sides of the thigh of an Uma 

 Semuka Kayan of the slave class, which also is termed 

 tushun tuva. 



The admirable Uma Lekan patterns (PI. 140, Fig. 2) 

 represent on the back of the thigh (AA) beliling bulan^ on 

 the front and sides (BB) silong^ faces or silong lejau^ tigers' 

 faces ; the latter is evidently an anthropomorph ; the knee- 

 cap design is particularly worthy of notice.^ Nieuwenhuis 

 [9, PI. 83, and 8, PI. XXVI I.] figures the thigh tatu of 

 a Mendalam woman of the panjin or free-woman class ; 

 the back of the thigh is occupied by two strips of the four- 



^ The drawing is taken from a rubbing of a model carved by an Uma 

 Lekan ; this will account for the asymmetry noticeable every here and there 

 throughout the design. A print from an actual tatu-block is shown in PL 

 139, Fig. 7 ; this would be repeated serially in rows down the front and sides 

 of the thigh, so that absolute uniformity would be attained ; the carver of the 

 model, which was about one-sixth life size, has not been able to keep the 

 elements of his design quite uniform. 



