THE ABORIGINES OF BORNEO. 451 



who wore a remarkable waist ornament, totally unlike anytliing I 

 had before seen or heard of. It was neither more nor less than a 

 tightly-fitting cylinder, or corset, composed entirely of brass wire of 

 large size. One wire hoop was fitted ai'ovmd her w-aist at the hips, 

 and another half way up her breast, between which were fastened, 

 perpendicularly, brass wires of the same size and equal length, set 

 as closely together as jiossible without overlaying. This cui'ious 

 girdle of brass was ten inches in width, and, unhke the corset of 

 modern civilization, had no provision for the breasts, which strayed 

 out in a most lawless manner over the top. The girdle fitted so 

 tightly and with such rigidity that I was imj)elled to ask my com- 

 panion, Mr. O. H. St. John, how it was removed at the ajDj^roach 

 of that interesting period in womanhood to which every Dyak 

 woman looks forward with eager interest. He stated that when 

 pregnancy rendered the removal of the corset imperative the old 

 women of the village would tie the girl's hands together, pull them 

 above her head to the utmost stretch of her arms, make them fast 

 to a beam, and then work the girdle off over her head. 



In addition to this brass-wu'e corset, this same young woman 

 wore on each arm about fifteen nicely polished brass rings, or 

 bracelets, which, altogether, reached from her wrist nearly to her 

 elbow, like a long, close-fittting cuff of brass wii'e. Her entire out- 

 fit of wire was quite clean and highly jDoHshed, and in sharp con- 

 ti-ast with her dark skin, the general effect was quite pleasing. 



The Hill Dyak women sometimes wear a loosely-fitting jacket 

 of bright cloth, but are usually seen without it. The ornaments of 

 the men are armlets of plaited rattan, necklaces of beads, and some- 

 times, as I was told, of leopard's teeth, although I saw none of the 

 latter. Neither men nor women ever tattoo m the least, and their 

 skin is of a yellowish-brown coloi'. 



The weapons of the men consist solely of the spear and jDarong 

 latok, the latter being a heavy sword of the toughest steel, very 

 thick at the back, and with an edge like a razor, gotten up for the 

 express pui-pose of splitting a head open, or cutting it off altogether, 

 at a single blow. For a European, it is an awkward weapon to use, 

 the hilt being very small and set on the blade at an obtuse angle, 

 in order to give greater force to the smug of the weajjon. The 

 parong latok in my possession measures as follows : length of 

 blade, 21 inches ; breadth at widest part, 2 inches ; thickness at 

 back, \ inch at the point to f at the hilt ; length of hilt, 8^ inches ; 

 weight, 1\ lbs. The sheath is of wood, stained dai'k red, and is 



