h 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. Generally,
though, there is precious little fighting, as the Dayak attacks only
when his victims are unprepared.

While I was in Borneo I heard the following story of Dayak barbarity,
which is a good example of the way the women incite their men to go
on these head-hunting expeditions. In a certain district where some
missionaries were doing good work among the Dayaks, a Dayak young
man named Hathnaveng had been persuaded by the missionaries to give
up the barbaric custom of headhunting. One day, however, he fell in
love with a Dayak maiden. The girl, although returning his passion,
disdained his offer of marriage, because he no longer indulged in the
ancient practice of cutting off and bringing home the heads of the
enemies of the tribe. Hathnaveng, goaded by the taunts of the girl,
who told him to dress in women's clothes in the future, as he no
longer had the courage of a man, left the village and remained away
for some time. When he returned, he entered his sweetheart's hut,
carrying a sack on his shoulders. He opened it, and four human heads
rolled upon the bamboo floor. At the sight of the trophies, the girl
at once took him back into her favour, and flinging her arms round
his neck, embraced him passionately.

"You wanted heads," declared her lover. "I have brought them. Do you
not recognize them?"

Then to her horror she saw they were the heads of her father, her
mother, her brother and of a young man who was Ha