the presentation of skulls is but the prelude to a great entertainment. it has been planned for our especial benefit. as a sort of opening chorus and introductory number, we are entertained with the kia kia song of welcome as the circle of witnesses to the skull-presentation ceremony breaks up.
the medicine man—who, by the way, is supposed to hold communion with the spirits that every native believes inhabit the jungle—leads in the opening number, which is an ensemble of all the adult males of the kampong. he is attended by two others, who circle around him with heads bowed, rattling castanets made of the great pincers of the crayfish with which the coast abounds. these have a sound which reminds one of the never-to-be forgotten but hard-to-describe warning of the diamond-back crotalus or rattlesnake of america.
the circle breaks up and a dance takes place for our entertainment
they sang for us at the top of their leather lungs
141the medicine man is grotesque with his barbaric adornments. surmounting his head and securely fastened to his ordinary headdress, is a fish carved of wood, of a light pithy variety. the fish is nearly two feet in length and though its general color is white, the markings representing its fins and eyes are in red. as the man walks it bobs up and down in a funny way as though nodding its approval of the ceremony. while the medicine man and his feather-bedecked attendants perform their dance with extreme gravity, the others who are at some distance in the background, nearer the water’s edge, stride up and down the beach in close formation, singing at the top of their lungs a refrain that seems to be a continuous repetition of perhaps a dozen notes.
they walk briskly ten or twelve yards past the little group of three in the foreground and then reverse, those who had been in the rear now becoming the leaders, and walk an equal distance 142to the other side of the medicine man. meanwhile, the song goes on and the castanets continue their dry, menacing rattle. we watch them for a space of ten minutes, but after that the dance begins to grow monotonous. the thump of the drums keeps up with mechanical precision the even rhythm of the walking-dance. the performance becomes a bore. while the dance is still in progress we leave the beach to return to the camp. once warmed up, as they now are, they will continue to dance without interruption for hours. as the older men become fatigued they will drop out and younger ones take their place. when they have rested sufficiently, they will return, and so the dance goes on.
while the men are dancing the women are not idle. the fires are burning brightly in the kampong and over them the girls are roasting fish and sago cakes, while three women are carefully turning the pig that squealed this afternoon, in a pit dug for the purpose of roasting 143him according to their method. the pit is filled with red-hot stones, we find upon examination, and the odor that rises from the place makes us hungry. we begin to wonder how we can refuse to partake of his porkship, for we know that they will surely offer us some of the meat. that pig, like all their others, has been too careless in its diet to suit us as food, no matter how delicious the cooking may smell. in order that we may have some semblance of an excuse to refuse the meat we order moh to watch the roasting and have our dinner ready to serve the moment the pig is ready for the natives. we can then plead satiety without hurting their feelings.
as it happens, we are able to evade the issue gracefully, for the women take the food to the dancers on the beach, where they line up and receive it upon broad palm-leaves the women provide for the purpose. when all have eaten, the dancing is resumed. a great fire is built on the sand and the dance goes on in its light,—the most savage scene imaginable. though our 144hosts began the party in our honor, now all are joining in for the sheer pleasure it gives them, with no thought of us.
after our dinner we go down and watch them for an hour before turning in. as the excitement heightens the affair becomes a wild orgy in which all participate, and we beat a hasty retreat to the chaste seclusion of our tent, there to conjure sleep in the midst of this most unholy uproar.
long into the night the mad festival continues, until one by one the participants drop out from utter exhaustion and make their way to the shacks, where they gossip in loud tones, much to our annoyance.
the sun is overhead when the natives emerge the next day. unaccustomed to violent exercise such as that of the night before, some of them wearily drag themselves to the shade of the groves with the air of persons trying to show signs of animation merely to save their friends the trouble of a funeral.
long into the night the mad festival continues. to exert themselves in any productive occupation to a like extent would kill them
the drums are tuned in a peculiar manner. having no strings fastened to the heads with which to tighten them, they place small lumps of resin mixed with clay on the heads to produce the desired sound
145the women seem to be absolutely fagged out, and their feet drag as they prepare food for the men. there is little to interest one in the kampong to-day, but later on, when the heat of midday is past, the women gather in groups to prepare wady, the fermented drink of the kia kias. its preparation is neither nice nor sanitary. the female of the species being more deadly than the male, the women macerate in their mouths the ingredients of the drink, to extract the juices. for the killing mixture that produces wady, they chew up cocoanut meat, certain roots and leaves they gather in the jungle, and the acrid outer husk of the cocoanut.
this juice mixed with saliva is diluted with water and stored in gourds. it is allowed to ferment, enough sago starch being added to aid the process. after the mixture has stood a day or two in the heat of the sun, it has sufficient “kick” to floor a mule. while the wady is ripening the kampong rests and visitors from a distant kampong drop in to attend the coming wady party, for an invitation has been sent them by messenger.
146while the feast was in progress there seems to have developed a real love-affair between two members of the community. they have decided that they are for each other and that henceforth they will live together. the decision is a momentous one, for it involves a ceremony so utterly incomprehensible to the white man that we are aghast at its unbridled license.
according to kia kia ideas, a woman, to remain true to her husband, must have removed from her mind any desire for male companionship other than his. she therefore must submit herself to every man of her tribe before the marriage is recognized. this ceremony is made the occasion for an orgy, and though the participants are severely punished by the dutch officials when discovered, it is still in vogue clandestinely.
it is due to this that many of the women prefer to remain single and free to choose. those who undergo the frightful ordeal are never molested, we are told. indeed, it is said that two out of every five women succumb after such an experience. preparations are in progress for 147the ceremony, which is to take place this evening, and the bride is even now adorning herself with feathered finery and besmearing her dusky body with oil and paint. after night has settled down, all the natives repair to a clearing where the drums are calling and a huge fire is built. the occasion is one of merriment and the ceremony continues far into the night.
the day that the wady is ready the natives gather in the shade for the express purpose of becoming thoroughly and most comfortably inebriated. as the liquor begins to take effect they dance and sing. while they dance more wady is given them, until they are overcome and perforce must stagger away and lie down. soon they fall asleep, not to waken until late the next day, when they experience the most depressing of “mornings after.” by this time the wady is all gone, and, too, there is no ice-water! after a wady party of this kind the men do not fully recover for days, for the stuff is almost paralyzing in its effect.
