132 MENGAP, THE SONG OP THR DYAK HEAD PEAST. 



saying that lie has many more where that came from. They 

 start off homewards and come to their waiting father-in-law 

 and deliver the "precious jewel" into the hands of his daugh- 

 ter, Dara Inchin Temaga. 



Now this ornament, on account of which so much trouble 

 and delay is undergone, is nothing else than a human head, 

 either a mass of putrifying flesh, or a blackened charred skull. 

 The high price and value of this ghastly trophy in Dyak 

 estimation is marked by the many epithets which describe 

 it, the trouble of obtaining it, and the being for whom it was 

 sought, no less a person that the daughter of the great Sin- 

 galang Burong. It shows how a Dyak woman of quality 

 esteems the possession of it. This is that which shall make 

 Dara Inchin more splendidly attired than her compeers Lulong 

 and Kumang, themselves the ideal of Dyak feminine beauty. 

 And moreover the story is a distinct assertion of that which 

 has been often said, viz, that the women are at the bottom, 

 the prime movers of head-taking in many instances; and how 

 should they not be with the example of this story before 

 them ? 



The meaning and application of the woman singing 

 a child to sleep in Msing's house is the imprecation of a fear- 

 ful curse on their enemies. The child which is carried up 

 and down the house is simply metaphorical for a human head, 

 which in the Gawe is carried about the house, and through 

 it the curse of death is invoked upon its surviving associates. 

 In the words I have quoted above their life is prayed to be 

 short, their necks to rot in the mud, their mouths to be tri- 

 umphed over and mocked, and their heads to be hung up in the 

 conquerors' houses as trophies of victory. And this is but 

 a very small part of the whole curse. It is this part of the 

 song which is listened to with the greatest keenness and en- 

 joyment, especially by the young who crowd round the per- 

 former at this part. 



With this "ornament" in possession Singalang Burong 

 and his followers set out for the lower world. On the way 

 they pass through several -mythical countries the names of 

 which are given, and come to "pintu lantjit", of which 

 " Grandmother Doctor " is the guardian, and see no way of 

 getting through, it is so tight and firmly shut. The young 

 men try their strength and the edge of their weapons to 

 force a passage through, but to no purpose. In the midst of 

 the noise the old "grandmother" herself appears and chides 



