The Folk Lore Of Borneo

Author : William Henry Furness
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781332523115
Total Pages : 528 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (231 download)

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Download or read book The Home-Life of Borneo Head-Hunters written by William Henry Furness and published by . This book was released on 2015-08-09 with total page 528 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from The Home-Life of Borneo Head-Hunters: Its Festivals and Folk-Lore While to scenery, it is distance, - and photography, - which lends enchantment, it is, on the contrary, propinquity which, in my experience, lends to the Borneo Head-Hunters and to their Home-life, a charm which cannot be wholly dispelled even by the skulls hanging from the rafters of their houses. After living among them, for months at a time, an insight is gained into their individualities and peculiarities which a casual sojourn can never disclose. Some, of course, are ill-tempered, crotchety, selfish; others, again, are mild, gentle, generous. The youths have their languishing loves, which they are eager to confide to sympathetic ears. The maidens are coy, or demure, or bashful, when their lovers are near, and delight in teasing and tormenting. The Bornean mothers and fathers think their babies the prettiest that ever were born; and the young boys are as boyish as schoolboys here at home, and are quite as up to all mischief. It is so much easier to descend than it is to rise in what we call civilization, that, before a month is passed in a Kayan or a Kenyah house, the host and hostess, who, on first sight, seemed to be uncouth savages, frightfully mutilated as to eyes, ears, and teeth, are regarded as kind-hearted, devoted friends. It becomes well-nigh impossible to realise that they cannot add the simplest of sums without the aid of fingers and toes; and that Caesar, Shakespeare, and Washington are to them meaningless, unpronounceable words. Their honesty, (in a twelve months' residence the only thing stolen from me was a tooth-powder bottle, ) their simple, childlike nature, their keen interest in the pursuit of the moment, and their vivacious excitability, place them in advance of any 'savages' with whom I have ever, in my many wanderings, come in contact. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."