Toms note: The omen birds are a group of birds that figure prominently in the Kenyah culture. Traditional Kenyah Farming Year When the spider hunter bird (Isit) is seen flying to the right, the omen is favourable and when it is seen flying to the left they had to avoid clearing the land that day […]
Kenyah Farming Year Read More »
All Creatures Great and Small #11 Plants from South America and onto Southeast Asia Dissochaeteae Melastomataceae is a large group of plants that includes plants that grow on another plant such as orchids. There are 375 species of these plants. Results from the molecular dating analysis suggest that the diversity of Dissochaeteae in the Southeast Asian
All Creatures Great and Small # 11 Read More »
Tom’s Note: This piece was written in 1978 about the Gawai Mpijog Rantau Festival for the first clearing of the padi (rice) fields. It was supposed to be filmed by Professor Geddes who made a contribution of pigs, fish, eggs etc. worth RM1000 but the camera broke down. The article states the celebration was conducted
Former Bidayuh Customs Read More »
Panay in the Philippines: A Sarawak Connection The island of Panay is the fourth largest island in the Philippine archipelago. The prehistory of the island, before the Spaniards is related in a document called the Maragatas. The Maragatas, written in 1221, states the Datuks from Borneo purchased the island from the Negritoes. The negritoes then moved into the mountains of
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Tom’s note: I own several pua kumbu, (cloth woven by Iban weavers) and have always wondered how the Iban ladies managed to turn out such beautiful and wonderful items. The Ladies One is not born into Iban society with a position. Rather he or she must earn it during their lifetime. Pioneering, opening jungle for
Wild and wonderful Iban Women Read More »
Toms Note: I continue with the history of the mission schools in Sarawak St. Mary’s In 1882, only one girl was being educated in St. Thomas, the Anglican school at Kuching. At the efforts of Mrs Hose, a day school was started in 1883. However, it was the efforts of the wife of the Archdeacon
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All Creatures Great and Small! Check out Borneohistory.net for regularly-updated Sarawak-based historical and contemporary scientific journal updates. Looking forward to seeing you!
A collection of recent research from Borneo New Species of Jumping Spider A new species of jumping spider from the canopies of Borneo has been made known to science. It distinguished from other jumping spiders by the colour variation, the mouthparts and the sex organs. Arthropoda Selecta 30(1): 105–112 Two New Species of Plants Two
This and That # 10 Read More »
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 pathway to the Cambridge School
Early Schools in Kuching Read More »
Tom’s Note: The writer of this essay concentrated on the two white men, Rajah James and Frances McDougall. He relegated the Sarawakians to mere mentions in this conflict. For example, “they attempted to organize a force to attack the Chinese failed because the Malay women refused to let the menfolk go”p.379. One envisions the Malay
The Bishop and the Rajah Read More »
