Into the Valley of the Head hunters

Mon, 23 Dec 2002 13:24:19 -0000 (Asia/Kuala_Lumpur)

I just returned from a 3 day/2 night longhouse tour. The Iban are the largest ethnic group in Sarawak and, like most Orang Ulu (original people), they live large communal structures called long houses. Essentially, they are small villages under one very large roof.

On the first day, we journeyed 4 hours by bus and then another 2 hours by boat up the Lemanak river to an Iban long house.

In days past, the Iban were head hunters. Were were shown a collection of skulls that still hold ceremonial value to the tribe. We were assured that the skulls were were about 100 years old. But then, our guide didn't know exactly how old *he* was either.

We did all the usual tourist stuff. We met the chief, a heavily tattooed elderly man, and they demonstrated some of the their traditional dances. They didn't seem too enthusiastic during the dances. We also observed the residents weaving hats and fish nets. These weren't demonstrations put on for our benefit. The Iban remain self reliant in many things.

Not all things, however. Aside from the hats, all wore modern clothing. There were lights and each family had a generator. The wooden long house was held together with nails. The roof was sheet metal. Our transport up the river was via wooden long boat with an outboard motor. I also detected a faint blue haze on the river in front of us, evidence of considerable and sustained outboard motor traffic.

The next morning, the roosters crowed (and kept crowing), the light slipped through the jungle and, eventually, we got up. After breakfast, we hiked through the jungle and crossed a small river countless times before arriving at another, essentially abandoned long house. This was the structure where our guide had grown up. The village had moved years ago, largely because the long house was too far from schools.

Late in the afternoon, we were served a traditional Iban "barbecue", fish, chicken, and local vegetables stuffed into bamboo tubes and cooked over a fire. Probably the most "exotic" dish was the palm hearts. It was also a little disturbing. We were told that it takes 2 years for a palm to reach the size of the one we ate.

Next morning, we managed to fit enough time between deluges to hike the 2 hour "short cut" back to original long house. Along the way we a large beetle that flies and behaves like a bee and we also saw some of Iban agriculture.

The Iban practice a relatively benign form of slash and burn. They don't irrigate and they don't plow. That allows them to re-plant land in a decades long rotational system. Still, the land is not as fertile as it once was.

About noon, we found another gap in the deluge, packed up our gear, and journeyed down river to the jetty and they bus that would take us home.

One minor thing I saw in the long house was a pair of kitties with short crooked tails. I had seen adults with crooked and abbreviated tails before in Malaysia but I thought it was the result of accidents. Apparently, they are born that way.

Today was another "overhead" day. Tomorrow I have a short list of possibles. But on Christmas Day, I think I'm going to take a ferry up to Sibu: first stop on the way Miri and the national parks of Northern Sarawak.