Within each group harmony and mutual helpfulness
is the rule; each shares with all members of the group whatever
food, whether vegetable or animal, he may procure by skill or good
fortune. On returning to camp with a piece of game, a Punan throws
it down in the midst and it is treated as common property. If he has
slain a large pig or deer, too heavy for him to bring in unaided, he
returns to camp and modestly keeps silence over his achievement until
some question as to his luck is put to him; then he remarks that he
has left some small piece of game in the jungle, a mere trifle. Three
or four men will then set out and, following the path he has marked
by bending down twigs on his way back to camp, will find the game
and bring it in. If a present of tobacco is made to one member of
a group of Punans, the whole mass is divided by one of them into as
many heaps as there are members of the band present; and then each
of them, men and women alike, takes one heap for his or her own use,
the one who divided the mass taking the heap left by the rest.
In spite of their shyness and timidity, they respond readily to
kind treatment. They are never seen on the rivers, as they have
no boats and cannot easily be persuaded to venture a trip in a
boat.
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