Seventeen years among the Sea Dyaks of Borneo; a ... - Sabrizain.org

92 SOCIAL LIFE
is always made to it. A chicken is killed and the blood
smeared on the jar.
It is not known for certain where these jars originally
came from. One theory is that many years ago a colony
of Chinese settled in Borneo for a short period, and made
these jars and then left the country.
These old jars have been imitated by the Chinese, and
many modern jars are very like the originals. A very
profitable business is done by Malay traders, who, for
one genuine old jar in their possession, have six or more
modern jars.
The Dyaks are very cautious about paying
a large price for a doubtful article, but for all that they are
often taken in.
I was at a Dyak house in Saribas, and was shown a jar
which a Malay trader had brought for sale. A Dyak had
decided to buy it, the price had been agreed upon, and
the trader was to come on t^e following day to receive it
in brass guns, gongs, and money. The Dyaks, on examin-
ing the jar more closely, came to the conclusion that it
was a modern imitation. When the trader came, he was
told that the Dyak had had a bad dream about the jar,
and so was not prepared to buy it. In talking to an old
Dyak about it, I was told that to say one had a bad dream
was the usual way of refusing to buy a jar which seemed
of doubtful value.
An amusing incident happened at Sebetan in Krian
when I was there. A Malay trader, whom we will call
"A," came to a Dyak house with a " "
jar to sell. A was
well known, as he lived in his coffee plantation on the
bank of the Krian River. The Dyaks examined the jar
and saw many defects in it, and said so. The next day
another Malay trader, whom we will call " B," arrived
with a jar to sell, but no one in the house seemed inclined