804 REPORT — 1901. 



8. Clothing of the "Wild Tribes.— Cloth manufactured from beaten tree-bark. 

 Methods of wearing this cloth. Girdle manufactured from the rhizomorph of a 

 fungus. Necklaces and magic combs worn in their hair by women as a protection 

 against fever and snake-bite, &c. 



9. Huts and shelters of the wild tribes. — The tree-hut, lean-to, beehive- 

 shelter, and palm-leaf hut. 



10. Musical instruments, festivals, and songs. The nose-flute. Head-dresses, 

 leaf-festoons and leaf-bouquets, said to be worn to entrap demons. 



11. Chiefs and medicine-men. The exorcism of demons. The tiger-man, or 

 bHian. 



12. Marriages: the so-called ant-heap ceremony. 



1.3, Burials : the soul-hut erected beside the grave of the deceased. 

 14. Ideas of a future life : the moon as the Island of Fruits, as Wild Man's 

 Paradise, 



11. Anthropological Notes on Sai Kau, a Siamo-Malayan Village in the 

 Slate of Naivnchih (Tojan). By Nelson Annandale, B.A., and 

 Herbert C. Robinson. 



12.^ Provisional Classification of the Swords of the Sarawak Tribes. ' 



By R. Shelford, M.A. 



The short swords or parangs of the Sarawak tribes are divisible into ten 

 principal varieties : The parang ilnng or malat of the Kayans, Kenyahs, Kalabits, 

 Punans, and allied tribes ; the niabor, kmgyai tinggang, p'mjml, and bagu of the 

 Sea-Dyaks; the ;;aA;a//Mn of the Muruts ; the para)ig pedang oi the Malays and 

 Milanos; the latok of the Malays and Milanos ; the buko and the pandat of the 

 Land-Dyaks. 



The blade of the para7ig Hang or malat differs from all others in being concave 

 on the inner side, convex on the outer side ; the blade also curves slightly out- 

 wards. A zoomorphic pattern is usually present on the outer side of the blade, 

 rarely on the inner side. The back of the blade is shorter than the edge, so that 

 the blade appears as if it had been obliquely truncated : this truncate edge may be 

 termed the ' slope.' The character of the slope varies very considerably, and on 

 these variations the natives base a complicated classification of this type of weapon. 

 The handle is usually of stag's horn : it is very elaborately carved and decorated 

 with tufts of dyed hair. The sheath is composed of two grooved slats of wood 

 (as is also the case in all the other varieties of parangs), tightly bound together 

 with lashings of rattan and decorated with hair ; a small bark pocket is lashed to 

 the inner side of the sheath, and contains a small knife. 



The niabor is the characteristic weapon of the Sea-Dyaks. The blade is 

 strongly curved, and the back and edge pass insensibly to a point, so that there is 

 no slope ; there is a prominent finger-guard. The handle is much flattened 

 laterally, and i*" invariably carved with a phyllomorphic pattern. 



The langgai tinggang is practically a niabor with the handle of a parang ilang; 

 the term langgai tinggang, meaning the longest tail-feather of a hornbill, is applied 

 to this weapon by reason of a broad groove which runs along the blade on each 

 side, fancifully supposed to be feather-like in appearance. 



Thejimpul is of recent origin, and may be considered as a hybrid between 

 the langgai tinggang and parang ilang. The blade has flat sides, thus resembling 

 the two preceding types of parangs ; but the back and edge do not pass insensibly 

 to a point, but there is a short and abrupt slope. An incised phyllomorphic 

 design typically decorates both sides of the blade near its insertion into the 

 handle, but of late years the Sea-Dyaks have taken to copying Kayan and Kenyah 

 zoomorphic designs in the ornamentation of their weapons. The handle is of the 

 parang ilang type. 



' To be published in full in Journ. Anthrop. Inst., vol. xxxi. 



