After wearing the heads many days, they hang them up
to the ceilings of their rooms.
No English lord thinks so much of his pictures, as the Dyaks do of their
heads. They think these heads are the finest ornaments of their houses.
The man who has _most_ heads, is considered the _greatest_ man. A man who
has NO HEADS is despised! If he wishes to be respected, he must get a
head as soon as he can. Sometimes a man, in order to get a head, will go
out to look for a poor fisherman, who has done him no harm, and will come
back with his head.
When the Dyaks fight against their enemies, they try to get, not only the
heads of _men_, but also the heads of _women_ and CHILDREN. How dreadful
it must be to see a poor BABY'S HEAD hanging from the ceiling! There was
a Dyak who lost all his property by fire, but he cared not for losing
anything, so much as for losing his PRECIOUS HEADS; nothing could console
him for THIS loss; some of them he had cut off himself, and others had
been cut off by his father, and left to him!
People who are so bent on killing, as these Dyaks are, must have many
enemies. The Dyaks are always in fear of being attacked by their enemies.
They are afraid of living in lonely cottages; they think it a better plan
for a great many to live together, that they may be able to defend
themselves, if surprised in the night. Four hundred Dyaks will live
together in one house. The house is very large.
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