THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



119 



DAYAK COCK-FIGHTERS : NOTE THE TATTOOING ON THE SHOULDERS OE THE -MAN 



IN THE CENTER 



If it is appropriate for the matador to adorn himself in raiment radiant as the sun before 

 'entering the bull-ring, why should not the cock-fighter of Sarawak festoon himself with beads, 

 bangles, and bracelets before he tosses his bird into the pit ! 



The Dayaks live in long communal 

 houses having a common gallery or pas- 

 sageway along one side, with the living 



rooms on the other. Each family occu- 

 pies one room. 



EINGERS AND TOES INDISPENSABLE IN 

 DAYAK ARITHMETIC 



Having occasion to ask Changkok the 

 size of a particular house that I planned 

 to visit, he began counting on the fingers 

 of his right hand, calling oft the name of 

 the head of each family. He continued 

 counting on the fingers of his left hand, 

 then on the toes of his right foot, then, 



beginning on the big toe of his left foot, 

 he paused in thought, holding the second 

 toe. But the effort had been too much ; 

 he lost hold of the toe and had to count 

 all over again. 



Probably if the problem had required 

 a computation above 20 Changkok, like 

 many other natives, would have had to 

 call in another man with more fingers and 

 toes to count on. 



It was an interesting demonstration of 

 the origin of twenty as a unit in our sys- 

 tem of enumeration — in English, a score ; 

 in French, une vingtaine. If Changkok 

 had employed the fingers and toes of four 



