46 IHRULCill CKMRAl. HURNKO 



our camp. Their dark-brown eyes had a kindlv expres- 

 sion; in fact they are harmless and timid-looking 

 beings, though in some parts of Borneo they engage in 

 head-hunting, a practice probably learned from the 

 Dayaks. Those I talked with said the custom was en- 

 tirely discontinued, although formerly heads of other 

 Punans, Malays, or Dayaks had been taken. 



These natives, following no doubt an observance 

 prevalent among the Dayaks, had some of their teeth 

 filed off in the upper jaw, the four incisors, two cuspids, 

 and two bicuspids. Our Kayans from Kaburau had no 

 less than ten teeth filed off, the four incisors and three 

 more on either side. The operation is performed when a 

 boy or girl becomes full-grown. For the boys it is not a 

 painful experience, but the girls have theirs filed much 

 shorter, which causes pain and loss of blood. 



The Punans make fire by iron and flint which are 

 carried in a small bamboo box. They are expert re- 

 garding the manufacture of the sumpitan (blow-pipe), 

 and are renowned for their skill in using this weapon and 

 can make the poisonous darts as well as the bamboo 

 caskets in which these are carried. Subsisting chiefly 

 upon meat, their favourite food is wild pig. 



At the birth of a child all the men leave the premises, 

 including the husband. The dead are buried in the 

 ground a metre deep, head toward the rising sun. The 

 Punans climb trees in the same manner as the Kayans 

 and other Dayaks I have seen, /. r., by tying their feet to- 

 gether and moving up one side of the tree in jumps. 

 The Kayans in climbing do not always tic the feet. 



