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

SPORTS AND AMUSEMENTS 221
on other occasions when many are met together, they will
keep it up for hours to the thumping of drums and the
beating of brass gongs. They have a musical instrument
of bamboo, like the pan-pipe (engkrurai), to which they
but the usual music on such occasions
sometimes dance ;
is a row of small brass gongs (engkrumong), placed on the
ground, and beaten with two sticks, also large brass gongs,
and a variety of drums.
The two popular dances are the Sword Dance and the
War Dance, both of which are danced by the men. It is
very rarely that the women dance. I am told that they
only do so when a fighting-party have been successful,
and return with a human head which has been taken in
war. Then the women, dressed up in all their finery,
go to the landing-stage where the war-boat is, and as the
head is taken to the house the women dance around it
singing a monotonous chant.
The Mencha, or Sword Dance, is danced in the following
manner : Two
swords, or in their place two sticks, are
placed on the mat, and the two dancers commence from
the opposite ends, turning the body, clapping the hands,
and extending the arms, lifting their feet and planting
them down in grotesque but not ungraceful attitudes.
For a few minutes they posture and move in leisurely
mamier round and round about ; then they seize the
Bwords, and pass and repass each other, now cutting,
now crossing swords, retiring and advancing. Sometimes
one kneels as though to defend himself from the attacks
of his adversary. The main idea of this Sword Dance
seems to be the posturing in different attitudes, and not
so much the skill displayed in fencing. Those are con-
sidered the best dancers who, according to Dyak ideas,
are the most graceful in their movements. I have often