It seems that while the wady party was in progress something occurred that aroused the ire of one or two of the older women of the kampong. The visitors who came to partake of the cup that cheers partook of something else, not on the program, and this occasioned a great deal of discussion, conducted mainly by the wife of the injured party.

A very fine stone club turned up missing, so to speak, and the family wealth was thus greatly depleted. While the loss is of moment, the men are inclined to pass the matter over, but this is not the case with the women. Things have been going too smoothly of late, and they desire some real diversion. The feast just held has served but to whet their appetite for excitement and they demand that the men go to the other kampong and either secure the stolen club, which took so many weary hours in the making, or collect other indemnity. At the threat that all the women will hold themselves aloof until the demand is obeyed, the men go on what purports to be a friendly visit and actually do return two days later with the stolen club.

The Dutch officials punish them severely for indulging in these practices

The Head Dance. Two girls begin it by slowly walking up and down in the center of the circle of onlookers

149Our interest is aroused, and Intelligence is questioned as to what would have happened had the thieving member of the neighboring tribe failed to return the weapon. In the course of his long-winded reply he tells us many things of interest.

His description of the fights in which he has taken part, himself, and the manner in which the Kia Kia warrior goes after “long pig,” is given so na?vely that it is a pity one cannot repeat it in Intelligence’s inimitable way.

When pig is scarce and there has been no fresh meat in the kampong for a long time, he says, the old women begin to whine and complain that the hunters are no good, and if they are unable to bring in meat after a long, hard hunting-trip, 150the women gather in a clearing and make wady. When the wady is ready the men are called to the clearing and each receives a small portion, but not enough to make him at all hilarious. The younger women then gather in the center of the circle of men, who are sitting cross-legged around the edge of the open space, and dance.

At first the dancing is done quietly, merely to amuse the men, and some of the younger men beat the drums and sing. The men under the stimulating influence of the wady join in, singing at the top of their voices, their bodies swaying to and fro to the time of the music. When all are singing, the old women, who have been waiting for the party to reach this stage, bring from the houses all the smoked human heads that they have on hand, decorated with bird-of-paradise feathers for the occasion. These they give to the youngest and most comely of the dancers, although in some cases the old women themselves swing into the moving throng, and, after marching up and down with measured tread 151for a time, finally break into a wild dance, swinging the heads in their hands.

They screech and scream the praises of their warrior ancestors and reproach the men present. As the dance goes on they grow hysterical, and it becomes a frenzied whirl of twisting, contorting women, who swing around the circle and thrust into the men’s faces the heads they carry, upbraiding them for their laziness and inability to bring in meat for their women. They again threaten the men with total exclusion from all intercourse with themselves and with promises and cajolery seek to rouse them from their apathy.

Here and there in the circle are a few men who by their tense attitude and sparkling eyes show the women that their interest is awakened. The women play up to these and by means of blood-curdling screeches and much waving of the grisly trophies excite the men to the point where they leap to their feet and join the dance. Some of them take the heads themselves and endeavor to stir in their fellows a like spirit of enthusiasm. 152One by one the others respond to the appeal, until all are dancing in a twisting, milling mass of yelling savages. When this point is reached the old women bring the weapons from the houses and the scene becomes one of the wildest, most barbaric imaginable. More wady is given the men, and they gradually muster up enough courage to take to the war-path.

This does not mean that they go boldly forth to attack their enemies; it means only that they have decided to have a feast the main attraction of which will be the bodies of as many victims as they can collect without undue risk to themselves. The procedure is to bedeck themselves in their finest fashion and visit a kampong remote from their own. They choose one which lies on the far side of one or two others with which they themselves are friendly. When they pass through these kampongs they tell their neighbors that they are going hunting and in no manner hint at their real errand.

Upon arrival at the kampong selected for their visit, they stroll in from the jungle as though 153tired out from a not very successful hunting-excursion and, being hospitable, their hosts immediately prepare food and places for them to rest. Friendships are struck up and two or three days are loitered away while the lay of the land is being observed. Two or three victims—who live in shacks remote from the main houses of the village, as a rule—are selected, and the final plans are laid. One or two of the visiting tribe strike up a friendship with the victims and go with them to their shacks at night, ostensibly to gossip and sleep. A signal is arranged: the cry of a nightbird or a song by one of their own men, purposely awake and watching with some of his fellows by the fireside, is the usual indication that all is ready.

When the silence tells those on g............