Here a large tree overhanging
the river is chosen for the trap. Stout rattans are made fast to its
branches, brought over the branches of a neighbouring tree, and made
fast in some spot within reach of a hidden watcher. The stem of the
overhanging tree is then cut almost through, so that a few blows of
a sword, severing the supporting rattans, may cause the tree to fall
upon the passing boat.
When a hostile war-party enters a section of a river in which there
is a number of villages of one tribe or of friendly tribes, its
approach may be signalled throughout the district by the beating
of the TAWAK. The same peculiar rhythm is used for this purpose by
all the tribes, though it probably has been copied from the Kayans
by all the others. It consists in a rapid series of strokes of
increasing rate upon the boss, followed by one long deep note, and
two shorter ones struck upon the body and once repeated. Whenever
this war-alarm is heard in a village, it is repeated, and so passed
on from village to village. The people working in the farms or in the
jungle, or travelling on the river, return at once to their villages on
hearing the alarm, and the houses are prepared for defence. When the
news of the approach of a hostile party has been spread in this way
throughout the river, it has little chance of successfully attacking
a house or village, and it will, unless very numerous, content itself
with attempting to cut off some of the people returning home from
the farms.
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