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Category: Iban

Early Schools in Kuching

The Anglican Mission Schools The mission schools were used by the missionaries as a source of converts to Christianity. The Rajah James Brooke used the schools as a source of English language graduates to work in the civil service and local European commercial houses. The Chinese viewed them as a

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April 22, 2021 No Comments

Iban Headhunting and Coastal Raiding 1775-1860

Coastal Raiding and the Iban 1775-1860 Editors note: Most of the below account was presented by western writers. St. John, Keppel, Pringle, Beccari, Kennedy and the Rajah Brookes plus the Singapore Inquiry of 1849 are the only voices we hear in this narrative. Nowhere do we hear the Iban side

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February 24, 2021 No Comments

Borneo plants used in medicine and ritual

Each plant description has an accompanying detailed drawing like the above. Now swept away by modern medicine, these plants were used by the Borneo  people. The indigenous groups and the coastal Malays  knew which plants to collect for a wide variety of illnesses. However, the plant is a fickle creature

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February 21, 2021 No Comments

Why So Many Ibans ?

Why so many Ibans? The author of this article attempts to explain why there are so many Ibans compared to other groups. He says the Ibans, relative newcomers to Sarawak, predominate in the State. Increase in children does not explain the phenomena. The Iban are below average in natural fertility.

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February 3, 2021 No Comments

Murder in Sarawak

The following are two abridged versions of the murder of Fox and Steele, the English rulers in Kanowit, in 1859 as reported by the people of Sarawak. The complete accounts are in the Sarawak Museum Journal July-December 1965 p. 207-227. Kanowit Versionas told by Jaro bin Lamit, ex Chief of

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January 20, 2021 No Comments

Iban Whetstone Feast

This summary condenses twenty printed pages from the Sarawak Museum Journal July-December 1962 written by Benedict Sandin. My sincere apologies if things were left out or written in error. Probably one of the most unusual of Iban gawai rights is the whetstone feast. A whetstone is used for sharpening knives

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January 20, 2021 No Comments

Head Hunter Song

This song was translated by the Right Reverend Galvin from the Kenyah people. It was published in the The Sarawak Museum Journal July-December 1962. He states the song is only part of a longer dirge. Head-Hunting Song Up with you! Shout along the length of the house Away and summon

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January 20, 2021 No Comments

Tortoise and the Mouse Deer

The Tortoise and Mouse DeerTranslated by A.C. HaddonThe tortoise and the mouse deer agreed to steal from a neighbouring garden the fruit known as ‘buah mah”(rambutan in Malay). The mouse deer suggested that the tortoise should climb the tree whilst he would pick up the fruit. The tortoise did so

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January 20, 2021 No Comments

Love Potions and Sea Cows

Along the coast of Sarawak there were dugong or sea cows. In Malay, they were called sea women. They are extinct or nearly extinct. These animals were thought to be the source of mermaid stories among the Malay fishermen. The Tears of the Mermaid or Minyak Senyongyong are considered to

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January 20, 2021 No Comments

Baketan, Bisayah, Siteng

Baketan, Bisayah, Siteng There are two papers in the Journal written by Benedict Sandin describing some of the people of north Sarawak. Another history by Tuton Kaboy reports on the Siteng People. The Bisayah of Limbang A quarrel over the fathers estate caused one man to leave the Philippines. He

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January 20, 2021 No Comments
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