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SCIE NCE.

MARCH 23, 1883.]

In examining the positions of the movable

contacts

shown

for coupling

machine

No.

for tension or quantity, it will be seen that the

direction of the currents is similar.
Fig. 12 gives a perspective view of this commutator. The contacts are covered with an
ebonite plate, through which passes the handle
for manipulating the movable plate. This
ebonite plate bears four inscriptions, corresponding to the different combinations of the
commutator; and an index moving with the
handle indicates the combination in use.
This system has the advantage of changing
instantly

the grouping

of the two circuits

of

the same machine, and of quickly substituting

one machine for the other. It has, however,
the drawback,

common to all turning-contacts,

of not being absolutely reliable.

THE HEAD-HUNTERS

OF BORNEO.

IN an octavo volume of three hundred and thirtyseven pages, Carl Bock describes his journeyings into
the interior and across the island of Borneo and in
the island of Sumatra. The trip across Borneo, of
which the book mainly treats, was undertaken at the
instance of the governor of the Dutch Indies, for the
purpose of making a report upon the native races of
the interior, and of gathering collections of the fauna.
The author describes well; and those who read for
amusement and general information will not only
find the book entertaining, but will derive an excellent idea of the chief features of Bornean scenery, of
its strange animal life, of the character and peculiarities of the natives, and of many curious phases of
human life under the exceptional conditions of this
tropical island. Scattered through the first fifteen
clhapters, or what may be fitly termed the diary of the
trip, are very many interesting facts and observations
of value to the anthropologist. But the subsequent
chapters more particularly interest him, being devoted
to a consideration of the province of Koetoei, and
of the Dyak tribes inliabiti]ng it. The second part
treats of a limited sojourn in Sumatra, and is by far
the less important, as it is the smaller portion of the
volume.
Borneo is stated to be inhabited by Malays, Boegis,
a couple of hundred Chinamen, and a few Klings,
and by Dyaks. The Malays are chiefly confined to
the coast. The Boegis, emigrants from the south
part of the Celebes, are settled in one district (Koetoei),
'where they are getting numerous and powerful.' The
Dyaks, who are split up into numerous independent
an(l hostile tribes, occupy the interior of the island.
Perhaps the most important contribution to anthropologic knowledge miiadeby Mr. Bock, is his account
of the Orang Poonans, or forest people, whom he
believes to be the aboriginal inhabitants of Borneo,
and who are not only distinct from the neighboring
Dyaks, but, in their intercourse with them, do not
appear to have adopted their habits. Meeting some of
the Poonan men at Long Wai, a Dyak village, he succeeded in inducing one of the chiefs to escort him
to his forest home, where, however, his observations
were limited to a single afternoon. According to the
picture presented by the author, the Poonans would
seem to be in the lowest stage of savagery. He found
them almost destitute of clothing, without pottery,

189

with few utensils (and of the simplest kind); and he

confirms the belief, current in the island, that they
build no dwellings properly so called, but live day
and night in the open air, with no better shelter in
showery weather than that afforded by an attap mat.
It is possible that a longer and more intimate acquaintance with this wild people would have led to
the discovery of tokens of a higher culture. The
skin ofthe Poonans, particularly of the women, now
seen by a European for the first time, is ' somewhat
fairer than that of the other Dyaks,'- a result, as the
author doubtless correctly surmises, of their residing
in the dark forest.
A curious industry of the people is the collection of
bezoar stones, which are used by the Chinese as a
cure-all. The bezoar stones are of two kilnds: one is
derived from an external wound on a porcupine, and
is supposed by the author to be composed of bits of
leaves, etc., formed into a ball by the congealed blood;
the other is said to be a gall-stone, found in different
parts of the boehis monkey, Semnopithecus cristatus.
Head-hunting, as practised by all the Dyak tribes, is
asserted to be, on what appears to be sufficient evidence, part and parcel of their religious rites. Birth
and namings, marriages and burials, not to mention
less important events, cannot be properly celebrated,
unless the heads of a few enemies, more or less, have
been secured to grace the festivities or solemnities.
c"Head-hunting," says the author, " is the keystone,
so to speak, in the edifice of Dyak religion and character. Its perpetual practice is, no doubt, one great
cause of the rapid extinction of the race."
Naturally enough, a practice so deep-rooted as this,
has proved, and moustcontinue to prove, the one great
obstacle to be overcome in attempts to civilize the
Dyaks.
While all the Dyaks are head-hunters, only one of
the tribes, the Bahou tribe, practises cannibalism.
Human flesh i? eaten mainly at the feasts that follow
a successful head-hunting expedition. The form of
anthropophagy here disclosed seems to be somewhat
analogous to that which obtained among the NorthAmerican Indians, not a few tribes of whom partook
of the flesh of enemies, especially when the individuals slain were greatly renowned. At the same
time, it is stated that these cannibal feasts are also
given in celebration of various events, such as on the
occasion of the death of a chief. Moreover, not only
are the prisoners of war sacrificed, " but the richer
members of the community give a number of slavedebtors (i.e., those who are sold into slavery to work
out debts) to be put to death by slow torture, and
eaten."
'Pomali' is a practice in vogue among the Dyaks,
and also among other natives of the Malay archipelago, which seems to be somewhat allied in its nature to the tabu of the South-Sea Islander; although
it appears to be less complex in its workings, and to
cover much less ground, than that curious custom.
As a sign that pomali is being resorted to, a bunch
of maize is stuck in the ground, or baskets of rice
are suspended from a bamboo post, when strangers
are prohibited from entering the house or field thus
pomalied.
Tattooing was found to be a common practice among
the Dyaks, the women being the more elaborately
ornamented. The method adopted by the professional tattooer is to first cut outlines of the intended
pattern in wood, and then trace them on the body,
when it is pricked in with a sharp-pointed piece of
bamboo or a needle, dipped into a pigment prepared
from vegetable dyes. Men are tattooed when they
attain manhood, and women when about to be mar-

190

SCIE INCE.

ried; tattooing being, with the female sex, one of the

privileges of matrimony.
No communal practices appear to have attracted
the author's attention; but the statement made, that
among the Sandjoeng Dyaks there are only " a couple
of houses in eacli village, but so large as to contain
between them the whole population of 400 or 500,"
is of interest, since it carries with it the implication
of some form of communal life. In another place
these communal dwellings are described as from eighty
to a hundred and sixty feet in length, twenty to
thirty feet in width, and with walls about ten feet
high, the ridge of the roof rising another five or six
feet.
The house proper has but one floor, raised on
posts of ironwood about fifteen or twenty feet from
the ground, which forms the actual residence, under
which is a second floor, from four to six feet from
the ground, which serves for many domestic purposes, to hold councils in, and as a playground for
the children.
The fact, that, " whenever a deer is killed, every inhabitant of the village receives a share," the one
actually shooting the animal having the right to the
horns,' also clearly points to the existence of welldefined hunting-laws rooted in communal principles.
Judging from the description given, the Dyaks
would seem to possess many savage virtues. They
were found by the author to be singularly temperate
both in eating and drinking. The only native intoxia drink made from wild honey.
cant is 'toewak,'When offered brandy, they refused it, exhibiting a
strong distaste even to its odor; nor could they be
induced to more than taste it. They indulge to excess,
however, in betel-chewing, - a habit for which they
are indebted to the Malays.
In mental capacity the Dyaks are stated to be on
an equality with the Malays; but they are more energetic, and more willing to work. The author attests
their truthfulness, and states that thefts and robberies are entirely unknown among them. On the
other hand, they were found to be most importunate
beggars.
The chief industrial occupation of the Dyaks is
stated to be agriculture, both sexes taking part in the
labors of the field. As usual, the heavier portion falls
to the lot of the women, who are said to be 'the
only beasts of burden.' Rice is the main crop; but
bananas, sugar-cane, and a few cocoanuts are also
raised. The production, however, only suffices for
immediate wants, and in times of drought great distress always ensues.
The cutting of rattan to supply the Malay trade is
the jnext most important occupation. Considerable
quantities of gutta-peircha are also collected, but in
so wasteful a manner, as, in the author's opinion, to
threaten the future supply.
The gathering of wax from the nests of the indigenous bees is also an important industry; and twice
a year the edible nests of the swallow (Hirundb
esculenta) are collected for sale to the Chinese.
The medical practices of the Dyaks appear to be
strictly analogous to those of other savages. Certain
plants are employed as remedies; the task of concocting the medicine, and administering it, devolving
mainly, as appeared to the author, upon the women,
who also (lo what nursing is required. The main reliance, however, for the cure of disease, is in charms
and sorcery.
Curiously enough, symptoms of the prevalent Darwinian theory seemn to have penetrated lhese far-off
regions; and, while visiting a village of Dyak in the
interior, the author found a strong belief in the ex-

[VOL. I., No.

7.

istence of people with tails in a country but a few

days distant. To use his own words, " such definite
statements were made to me on the subject, that I
could hardly resist the temptation to penetrate myself
into the stronghold of my ancestral representatives."
te contented himself, however, with hiring one of the
natives to go in his stead, with, needless to say, quite
unsatisfactory results.
In appendices are given lists of land and freshwater shells collected by the author in Borneo and
Sumatra, with descriptions of new species; a list of
birds collected on the west coast of Sumatra; a list
of Sumatra butterflies; and a short vocabulary of the
Long Wai (Dyak) dialect.
The volume is copiously illustrated with lithographic
plates from the author's original drawings. These, if
not remarkable for artistic excellence, yet serve well
the purpose for which intended.

GEOLOGICAL MAP OF BELGIUM.

THE appearance of the first sheet of the new Carte
geologique de la Belgique, dressee par ordre du gouvernement introduces to us a new system of geplogical
cartography, which in many respects is more perfect
than any thing yet attempted by a geological survey.
The system adopted shows truly the real geology of
the country, but gives an imperfect idea of the general distribution of the strata. This, however, can be
readily shown on maps of a much smaller scale. The
sheet which has just appeared is that of Cinney: it is
on the scale of 1 : 20,000, the topography being indicated by 10-metre contour lines. The outcrops are
drawn as they are found, and colored with even tints.
The theoretical limits of the strata are defined by
degraded tints of the same color as that used to designate the outcrops of the same formation. If two outcrops are visible (as with the carboniferous limestone,
which is locally covered with sands), the diagrammatical extension of these is represented by fine dots
of the color of the sands. The light colors in even
tints are, on the contrary, reserved to represent the
general disposition of the superficial quaternary and
modern deposits. These have been studied carefully,
especially with the help of borings; and the lettering
on the map indicates the exact spot of each sounding.
A,short, straight, black line is used to represent the
strike of the beds; and a small point, like an arrowhead, projecting from it, indicates the direction of the
dip, while a number engraved on the other side of
the line shows its angle. Forests where no outcrops
are visible are left uncolored. Where the superficial
deposits consist of the detritus of a known formation,
the fact is indicated by equidistant broken lines of
the same color as that used to designate the outcrop
of which they are the waste.
Owing to the largeness of the scale, and the accurate topography of the maps of the war department,
the geologists of Belgium lhave been enabled to make
a true representation of the geology of Belgium as
shown by the outcrops of rocks that are visible, and
the superficial and surface deposits; placing on the
map merely what is known and can be seen, without
leaving any room for theoretical views of extension
of formations to creep in and create errors, as they
nearly always do. When tlle map is completed, it
will consist of 430 sheets; besides which, there will
be published a number of atlas-sheets of sections on
a scale of 1: 5,000. Accompanying each sheet of the
map, an explanatory .text will be published, containing a plate on which will be drawn three diagram-