NORTH BORNEO. 
71 
small wooden model resembling somewhat the shape of a man, which I at first took to be a 
Murut household idol; but when I inquired of our hosts what this peculiar model really 
was, they answered that it was the model of a child which they had killed on one of their 
expeditions, but, as the skull would not keep, they carved out this as a memento of 
their bravery. 
Head-hunting is one of the most cowardly of barbaric customs, and probably existed at 
one time in some form or other amongst the greater part of the inhabitants of the world. 
The North-American Indian kept the scalps of his victims ; the South-American preserved 
the skin and hair in a marvellous manner, discarding the skull. Some Bornean tribes 
preserve the fleshy parts by drying and smoking the head over a fire; the nostrils are 
prevented from shrinking by small wooden plugs. In the Batavia Museum are many heads 
taken from the Sumatran and Bornean head-hunters, which are bedecked with gilt crowns 
and otherwise fantastically adorned; and so well is the facial expression retained by the 
means employed in drying, that I have heard that a man could recognize his relation’s head 
years after by the features alone. The antiquity of this custom throughout the south-eastern 
portions of Asia probably dates from the early stages of man’s development, when he first 
became acquainted with the use of weapons. Borneo has always been noted as the 
metropolis of this practice ; in fact all the pagan population did and at the present moment 
most of the interior tribes still do indulge in this custom. 
Head-hunting has become, as it were, a pagan religious rite, probably derived 
originally from a custom of “ vendetta.” I do not think many tribes in North Borneo 
embark light-heartedly on such expeditions, as they entail a lengthened absence from 
village comforts, in exchange for a very trying pilgrimage into the forests, from which the 
men return often in a very emaciated condition, at times even succumbing to the hardships 
they have to endure. This custom, as carried on by the Dusuns of North Borneo, does 
little harm, their victims being but very few; but when entered upon as formerly by the 
Dyaks and Kayans, and to a less extent by the Muruts of to-day, it has the effect of almost 
depopulating the surrounding districts. 
The Muruts go on these expeditions for several reasons, but chiefly to propitiate their 
“ Hantus ” or spirits, as well as to gratify their love of bloodshed. Their enemies are the 
wild tribes inland, whom they speak of as “ Orang Taggal,” the Trusan Muruts to the south, 
and the Bruneis. They cannot, however, be on very bad terms with the latter, as I met 
Brunei traders in their houses. The chief reason for the addition of a head to the ghastly 
row is the death of a relation, when the departed spirit will not rest until this horrible 
custom has been complied with. After the harvest is another occasion, this time to insure 
a good crop for the following season; on the building of a new house, as a petition to the 
“ hantu ” to ward off illness and the attacks of enemies; and in some tribes by a bachelor to 
win the hand of his future bride. There always seem to be single individuals or parties of 
two or three on the war-path for reasons of their own; these scoundrels never openly 
attack, but hover about the outskirts of a distant village, and if possible cut off a woman or 
child and bolt with their trophy at once. Some expeditions are carried out, however, on a 
large scale when the cause is one that concerns the community, such as the rice-harvest or 
an epidemic: then the villages combine forces, and several hundred men go out on the 
