This wild and irresponsible
system of tatu has been accompanied by an inevitable degradation of
the designs. There is a considerable body of evidence to show that the
Sea Dayaks have borrowed much in their arts and crafts from tribes who
have been longer established in Borneo; but it must be confessed that
in their decorative art they have often improved upon their models;
their bamboo carvings and their woven cloth are indeed "things of
beauty." But their tatu involves, not an intelligent elaboration
of the models, but a simplification and degradation, or at best an
elaboration without significance. Figs. 1 -- 6, Pl. 137, are examples
of the Sea Dayaks TUANG ASU or dog design. The figures show the dog
design run mad, and it is idle to attempt to interpret them, since
in every case the artists have given their individual fancies free
play. When the profession of the tatu-artist is hereditary, and when
the practice has for its object the embellishment of definite parts
of the body for definite reasons, we naturally find a constancy of
design; or, if there are varieties, there is a purpose in them, in
the sense that the variations can be traced to pre-existing forms,
and do not depart from the original so widely that their significance
is altogether lost.
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