THE PENYAHBONGS 183 



Dayak tribes also possess such feminine accessories. 

 With the Penyahbongs the male chiefly hunts, the female 

 doing all the work. She makes the house, cuts the sago 

 palm, and prepares the sago. When setting forth to bring 

 home the animal killed by her husband she carries her 

 own parang with which to cut it up, placing it inside the 

 rattan bag on her back. With one or two other women 

 she may go out with the dogs to kill wild pigs with a 

 spear. When searching for the many kinds of fruit found 

 in the utan her own axe is carried with which to cut the 

 tree down, for she never climbs to pick the fruit. As for 

 the durian, she waits until it falls ripe to the ground. The 

 woman also brings water and firewood, does all the cook- 

 ing, and then calls her husband that he may eat. Bas- 

 ketry is not known, but the rattan mat and the mat of 

 palm leaves on which these natives sleep are nicely made 

 by the women, who also manufacture the large mat on 

 which the stamping of sago, by human feet, is performed. 

 In changing abode women carry everything, the men con- 

 veying only the sumpitan and the darts, probably also a 

 child that is big enough to walk, but the small child the 

 woman always carries. If the men go to war the women 

 remain behind and defend themselves if attacked. 



Although the woman thus bears an absurdly large share 

 of the family burden, nevertheless it cannot be said that 

 her lot is an unhappy one, because she is not the slave of 

 the man, as is the case, for instance, with the Australian 

 savages. From time immemorial their society has known 

 no other conditions, and the married couples are generally 

 happy. Both of them treat their children with affection, 



