The Ibans of Saribas

The History of the People of Bangkit , Paku, Saribas
Note: The houses mentioned in this article are called longhouses. They are built on stilts where each section is like a townhouse with a family living in each one.They share a common porck or verandah.
There are several ancient people who lived among the Ibans. They include Sapatu Pejuru Buban, a Chief. He married Dayang Bangi and they begot Raja Abu. He later married Jenua who was an expert at weaving first class Iban blankets (pua kumbu) used by the wives of warriors to receive head trophies from their husbands. Raja Aba and Jenua produced Raja Jejungkat who was an expert in tying together the skulls for presentation in the longhouse. This line would continue until they returned to the unseen world.
A Chief named Nyawi led the people to migrate from Sebaru in the Kalimantan Barat to the Bangkit stream a true left tributary of the Paku river. He decided to settle there and buried a piece of earth which had been given to him by his unseen ancestor. The area prospered but the place where the earth was buried could not be stepped on by human legs. To violate thiss edict would result in sever elephantiasis’
Nyawai and his wife Ulas had a son named Temegoh. When he was nine, his father’s slaves wanted to fire some of the dead debris. When they reached the area they decided to kill him because “If we do not kill him now, he will bully us worse than his father”. They placed him the center of the debris and lit the flames. The fire engulfed Temegoh but a mushroom which contained water saved him. When his father heard the story, he became enraged and decided he must ill treat the slaves for what they had done. Temegoh married the daughter of a slave and, after a few generations, begot Nanggar.
Nanggar was a very brave warrior who killed many enemies in war. One day, he led all of his brave warriors to build a statue called Apit. After a few ceremonies which included the blood of sows, the warriors placed it on the corner of land facing their enemies. He prayed for it (the statue) to kill all of his enemies. The apit statue is like a human figure complete with face, ears, mouth, teeth, body hands and legs. Nanggar and his wife, Lantak had eight children where one set were twins.
At a later time when the twins became an adult, Saang, who lived down river, invited them to a feast. The guests all swam and bathed in the river while the twins watched. They were amused by the bathers. During their amusements, there was an elderly man who then placed a war charm around his neck. While eating dinner, the man told Megong that he would become a leader in war. (matak kayu).
After the harvest, Megong led his people on a successful raid on the people of the mouth of the Rejang river. Because of his success, the tribe changed his name from Megong to Gerijh. The group lived happily until domestic troubles caused Senabong and his followers to split from Sana and his group.
One day, Sanas people noticed a Tapang tree with a bees nest high in the branches. Wanting the honey, they cleared the area around the base of the tree. They would retrieve honey during the next full moon. Meanwhile , Senabongs people also claimed the tree. Sana went on the night of the full moon and climbed the tree and took the honey. The Senabongs people found out and destroyed the equipment left by Sanas.
Anal’s daughter died a sudden death. The causes of death, according to the Sana people, was the destruction of the equipment. During the funeral, Senabong bought a gong from a Malay trader. He beat the gong to test the sound. This was forbidden by Iban custom during a funeral. They accused him of disrespecting them during the mourning time and also because of the bee tree incident. Sana then went and asked where the drum was and he took the drum home in compensation for the death of Anals daughter. The Senabong and Sanna people agreed to split.Senabong and his people moved to a new area. They built a longhouse but a group of bees perched on the new house. This was an omen they should abandon the house and build a new house someplace else. They built another house at mouth of Sungai Air (river Air) near the Embawang Rapid. They lived happily there for awhile.
Sana and his people would not allow the Senabong people to own the land. The Sana people thought they should own the land together while the Senabong people felt the land was theirs and did not want to share it. They agreed a diving contest, that is the person who could stay underwater the longest, would win.
Senabong asked a man named Pebom, an Iban from Babu in the Rimas to dive for his side while Sana asked his friend, Pri to dive for him. The both met at the Riau stream below the mouth of the Sungai Pekasi. When they started to dive, the tide was high. When the water began to recede, Pebon could no longer dip his face in the water, as his head was stuck on a huge drying log.(?) But Pri, who was still diving in deeper water kept his face wet. Seeing this , Sana and his people declared victory.
Senabong was so ashamed being beaten by Sanna, that he moved with his followers to live at Tanjong Mangut in the main Layar River. Sana and his wife were closely related to Senabong and they decided to call him back from Tanjong Mangut. They arrived at Tanjong Mangut with a gift of eight jabir ($8.00) for them to cool their anger at past quarrels. Senabong said he would like to think about it. Finally, Senabong agreed to return but his wife’s mother Dula, heard of this she threw her jacket at him (which meant that she accused Senabong of having the heart of a woman) . Senabong declined to ever live with Sana again.
The Malays at that time were under Abang Sidek. He told Senabong that because he was not friendly with Sana he could not live near him. Senabong moved his longhouse and lived among the Balau and the Sibuyau. Senabong gathered together the warriors of the area and sent some of his warriors to spy on Sana. The spies attacked a padi(rice) field and cut the head off of Daong and brought it back to Senabong. When Senabong saw the head he wept as Daong was the first woman he had sex with. This was a bad omen and the Balau people separated from him.Senabong and his followers migrated to the Kiran River and built his house at Paloh.They lived there for two years and then they returned to Batang Lupar to build his house at Sungai Pinang Mirah. This time the Bankit people liked him because in the last two years no one had attacked them.
Sana and his people wanted to attack Senabong for the revenge of the death of Daong. They formed a war party and moved forward to attack the village. They came to the Saribas River and saw a lot of buntal fish floating in the river. They turned back knowing this was a bad omen. After the planting season, Sana and his war party set out to attack Senabong again but at the Saribas River they saw many prawns floating in the river. This was another bad omen and the returned home again.
On the way back, they passed Indai Ukap’s farm and she asked if they had killed Senabong. They replied no and she said “You can never kill him as Senabong is jointly guarded by the goddesses Kumang and Indai Gerijih of the unseen world.”When they came home, they called a war council and all agreed that they could not attack Senabong unless they had Gerijih Ai Marang to lead the war party. ( I am not sure whether he came back from the unseen world or was human) They presented him with one jar covered with huge gong to persuade him the lead.
After a meeting with the other Chiefs, Gerijih agreed to move to Bangkit and to lead the war party. After they had prepared everything for the war boat, Gerijih set sail. At Nanga Bankit they stopped and looked for a favorable omen. Gerijih had found the nest of an omen bird, ketupong bird. They all agreed they would wait until the nestlings had been able to fly. They waited for three months.While leading the war party again, they came across a Malay fishermen, who told them that Senabongs boat was sailing on the South China Sea and would arrive soon. As the boat landed, Gerijih told Senabong that he was cursed for having killed Daong. At the same moment a warrior named Engut speared Senabong in the thigh. Senabong fell down in the boat and was beheaded by a warrior named Singa. Gerijih asked the warriors not to harm Uja, Senabong’s son, but one of them cut off his ear.
When the deed was done, the warriors passed Indai Ukap’s hut at Nanga Penggan which was not far from her former hut at Nanga Buling. She asked if the hunt was successful and the warriors cried they had killed their arch enemy Senabong. “No doubt that Senabong was killed by Gerijih as the later was looked after by the spirits of the Libau unseen world.” she said.Shortly after the death of his father, Uja led his followers to and built a home inside Sibuyah territory. He then called for Sibuyah and Balau people to join a war expedition against Gerijih the revenge the death of his father Senabong.
His fathers friend was named Chief warrior of the war expedition. They secretly tracked down Gerijihs longhouse which was located at the mouth of the Semambu stream. Early in the night, a woman named Renting of Gerijih’s passed urine at the open verandah of her house. Uja flung a spear but missed. Renting quickly caught the spear and called upon Julai and asked him to follow Uja and Pebon with that weapon.
Julai and some other followed the enemies for the whole night in the jungle. At the headwater of the Bakir stream, they fought and killed two of Uja’s warriors. Pebom was in injured but could not run away. They waited until Batu Galang came. “If you do not kill him you let the demon hunter live.” he said and banged his head against the buttress of the Rian Selai tree. His brains flowed out of his skull.
At the defeat of Uja and his warriors peace reigned for many years. There were expeditions to other Iban tribes but for the most part the peace was secure. However, the crops did not grow very well. They went to a Malay trader and purchased a slave named Embalu and a gong (tarwak). When the day came for the offering ceremony, they took Embalu to high ground and killed him. His blood and other offerings were used by them to smear the land. After this ceremony the crops grew very well.

The account is from The History of the People of Bangkit, Paku Saribas by Benedict Sandin in The Sarawak Museum Journal December, 1971

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