The old Dayak who undid the wrappings
pretended to be horrified, but I felt sure that the old hypocrite
wished that he owned them himself.
Only seven of the heads had been brought in, and two of them were
heads of women, and although they had been smoked, I could easily
see that one of them was that of a quite young, good-looking girl,
with masses of long, dark hair. She had evidently been killed by a
blow from a "parang," as the flesh on the head had been separated by
a large cut which had split the skull open. In one of the men's heads
there were two small pieces of wood inserted in the nose. They were
all ghastly sights to look at, and smelt a bit, and I was not sorry
to be able to turn my back on them.
As in the present case, the brass-encircled young Dayak women are
generally the cause of these head-hunts, as they often refuse to
marry a man unless he has one or more heads, and in many cases a
man is absolutely driven to get a head if he wishes to marry. The
heads are handed down from father to son, and the rank of a Dayak is
generally determined by the number of heads he or his ancestors have
collected. A Dayak goes on the war-path more for the sake of the heads
he may get, than for the honour and glory of the fighting.
Pages:
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216