The Project Gutenberg EBook of Folk-lore in Borneo, by William Henry Furness

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Title: Folk-lore in Borneo
A Sketch

Author: William Henry Furness

Release Date: October 11, 2009 [EBook #30233]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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FOLK-LORE IN BORNEO

A SKETCH

BY

WILLIAM HENRY FURNESS 3D, M.D., F.R.G.S.

MEMBRE DE LA SOCIETE DE GEOGRAPHIE A PARIS
MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY
MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN ORIENTAL SOCIETY

[_PRIVATELY PRINTED_]

WALLINGFORD
DELAWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
1899

[Illustration: A KAYAN CHIEF.]

A SKETCH OF THE FOLK-LORE OF BORNEO.

In this short monograph I do not pretend to give anything more than a
Sketch of the Folk-lore to be found among the Borneans. The island is
large, and the people, scattered and isolated by constant inter-tribal
warfare, differ one tribe from another, in language, customs and
appearance almost more than do Germans, French, or English; to say that
any tradition or custom is common to all the tribes, or even to all of
one tribe, of Borneans, would be far too sweeping. A still greater
drawback to any universality, in legend or custom, is that there is no
written language, not even so much as picture-drawings on rocks to give
us a clue to ancient myths or traditions. The natives of Borneo are in a
certain sense savages, but yet they are savages of a high order,
possessed of a civilization far above what is usually implied by the
term; they live together in what almost might be called cooperative
communities, they practise the art of weaving, they forge rough
implements of iron, they cultivate rice and esculent plants, and in all
their work, such as house-building, boat-building, manufacture of cloth
and weapons of warfare, they show an ambitious desire, and a skilful
ability, to ornament their work and add, to its usefulness, pleasure to
the eye. One of their gravest faults,