File:Children of Borneo (1912) (14576710250).jpg

Identifier: childrenofborneo00gome (find matches)
Title: Children of Borneo
Year: 1912 (1910s)
Authors: Gomes, Edwin Herbert, 1862-
Subjects: Children -- Borneo Borneo -- Social life and customs
Publisher: Edinburgh and London : Oliphant, Anderson & Ferrier
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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,and guard it against attacks of birds and beasts. Paddy planting is the chief occupation of everyDyak, but he has plenty of time for other things, andhis life is not quite so monotonous as may be supposed.The actual work of paddy planting, and ever3^thingconnected with it, such as the building of farm huts,and the getting ready of farming implements, takesup seven or perhaps eight months of the year. TheDyak has therefore a certain amount of time duringwhich he can visit his friends, make boats, or earn alittle extra money by hunting for such jungle produceas canes, gutta, or camphor. The ordinary boats of the Dyaks are cut out of asingle log. Some of my schoolboys, under the guid-ance of the native schoolmaster, once made a smallcanoe for their own use, so I saw the whole process.A tree having a long straight stem was felled, and thedesired length of trunk cut off. The outside was thenshaped to take the desired form of the canoe. Thenthe inside was hollowed out. The next thing to do
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IKI.S WEAVIM MANNER OF LIFE—OCCUPATION 31 was to widen the inside of this canoe. This was doneby fining the boat with water and making a fire underit, and by fastening large stone weights on each side.When the shell had been sufficiently opened out,thwarts were placed inside, about two feet from eachother, to prevent the boat getting out of shape when thewood dried. The stem and stern of the canoe arealike, both being curved and pointed, and rising outof the water. This is the usual type of Dyak boat, and the methodof making a smaller or larger canoe is exactly the same.Even a war-boat, ninety feet long, is made from thetrunk of one tree. In the longer boats planks or gun-wales are stitched on the sides, and the seams arecaulked, so as to render the boat water-tight. The only tool used for making a Dyak boat of thiskind is the Dyak axe or adze (bliong). This is a mostexcellent tool, and is forged of European steel, whichthey procure in bars. In shape it is like a smaUspade, about tw

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