Posts

This and That #7

An occasional paper consisting of current research pertaining to Borneo. Pua Kumbu and Title History Using a pua kumbu from Borneo, the author tries to show the title of the piece, Remung, evokes the mythical tiger flying spirit , who, in ritual chants, is supposed to guard the rice bin

Read More »

Melanau Poison Tale

Melanau Tale On the Oya river, a few bends above Tamin and just below Skuau, there once lived two brothers whose Chieftain father had died. Both were still young, kind to everyone in the village and good at every undertaking. The elder of the two was elected to succeed his

Read More »

Births among the Selako

The Selako are one of the dyak groups living in Lundu between Malaysia and Indonesia on the border. Batang Saka ‘ampat is a cluster of about 20 houses. (1978) After the birth of the child, the umbilical cord is cut off off by the midwife (bidan) with a bamboo splint.

Read More »

Tarsier

Note: This is a first person essay which I have abbreviated to fit the Internet form of reading.  Enjoy ! I arrived in Kuching at the end of October, 1971. The monsoon season had just brought the first and longer lasting rains of the wet season. What was I doing

Read More »

Sarawak River Fishing

Each evening, my wife and sit out on our balcony on the 20th floor of the Riverine Condo. We often light a candle, have dinner and discuss the days’ passing. This is our time. After sunset, we see a boat and a man circling the above buoy. He usually has

Read More »

The Missionaries

Probably one of the most hilarious stories I have read in the Sarawak Museum Journal, if that publication can ever be called hilarious, is an article by Barbra Harrison entitled “Near to Ngadju”.Here she relates the tales from the Rhinish Mission of Barmen Germany. The Rhinish missionaries were in search

Read More »

Sarawak River Fishing

Each evening, my wife and sit out on our balcony on the 20th floor of the Riverine Condo. We often light a candle, have dinner and discuss the days’ passing. This is our time. After sunset, we see a boat and a man circling the above buoy. He usually has

Read More »

Tiger Leech

“Spurn not the loopy leech with language lurid Annelids have much to teach The anak murid” Christine (my youngest daughter) and I first came to Sarawak in 2008 and knew we were going into the jungle. We purchased those leech guards which protected your ankles and legs from what we

Read More »

This and That # 1

An occasional paper about the current research related to Borneo Two new philodendrons (Homalomineae Araceae) from Borneo have been made known to the western world. They are restricted to sandstones and forested karsts in the Sarawak area. Sing Yeng Wong of Unimas and Peter C. Boyce are the people who

Read More »

This and That # 2

An occasional paper related to current research aligned to Borneo Melanu and Numbers The way a society thinks is important in development. When one combines numbers into that thinking the results can be astounding. Suffina Long and Yahutazi in the November issue of the Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities

Read More »

The Santubong Buddha

Probably the crown the jewel in the Sarawak Museum Collection is the Santubong Buddha found in the Bukit Maras part of Santubong area 1955. The 26 cm figure belongs to the Late Gupta (Sarnath School) classification of Buddhas where the robe is open, the right hand is down and the

Read More »

Melanau Healing

For many generations now, the healings of various dukuns, bohmohs, Chinese medicine men and others have been relegated to the antique shops and their cures to historians like myself. Modern doctors and nurses have taken their place as most everyone is within reasonable traveling distance to modern medical care. There

Read More »