45a A NATUMALISrS WANDEJtlNGS 



ing, gave and received from the group a Lard stare ; but no 

 words were exchanged, AVheii we Lad gone a little way, he 

 looked back at the group. "These are Braves," he said, after 

 a little, with somewhat of adnuration, I thongLt, in his tone. 



" Indeed ! " I said, ** how do yon know ? " 



"The tallest of them," he replied, with a coolness that 

 astonisLed me, " cut oflf my father's head in their war with 

 Bibi^ufn." 



*'Do you not feel any nuicour towards him? Don't yon 

 wish to have it out with him now ? " 



" Ob, no J the two kingdoms are now" at peace ; each has 

 given back the heads they tciok, long ago/' 



The custom of head-hunting, m carried on among the wild 

 tribes of Borneo, is not pmctisefl among the Timorese except 

 during %var, which is begun after the most explicit declaration. 



When a raid by one tribe has ta.keu place on the fields or 

 herds of a tril>e in a neighbouring kiugdom, a messenger is 

 gent with the intelligence to its liajah. If the rulers of the 

 two kingdoms are united by the ordinary ties of friendshijj, or 

 by the ssmctity of the blood-lwnd, the aflair is settled after 

 long parleys and discussions, by tVie payment (»f an agreed-on 

 price. Kingdoms related to the belligerents by ties of marriage 

 or sworn brotherLood usually send a contingent to assist in 

 tbe war, or a kingdom may hire men from a neighbouring 

 or friendly power. If any of these are killed they must lie 

 redeemed by a large sum, so much for the eyes, hair, mouth, 

 nose, imd for every limb and organ uf the body, much after the 

 custom of reckoning the value of a man in vogue in the island 

 of Bum or among our own early ancestors. " The freeman's 

 life and the freeman's limb hail each on this (blood wite) 

 system its legal price. * Eye for an eye,' ran the rough code, 

 and *life for life,' or for each fair damages." 



If no goodwill exist between the two kingdoms, no satisfac- 

 tion will be obtained. War is prepared for, and by the sacred 

 rites described above the men who are to sustain their cause in 

 the field are selected. At length, when the armies meet, a last 

 discussion of the question is iield by a representative of each 

 side wLo advances in front of the re8|*ective annies. If no 

 agreement is come U) the fight begins. Being really of a very 

 cowanlly sj>irit, they never fight in tLe open but from behind 



