Full Description
First published in 1953, this volume by I. H. N. Evans describes the Dusun people of the Tempasuk region in what was formerly North Borneo (now Sabah in East Malaysia). Based on the author's own research and extensive personal experience, the volume presents a detailed account of the cultural and religious beliefs of the Dusun people, as well as their rites, ceremonies, and traditions. The volume also includes sixty-five Dusun folk-stories, two appendices, and a unique collection of photographs taken by the author himself.
Contents
Preface; Introduction; Part I. General Rules: 1. The deities and the creation; 2. Various spirits; 3. Sun, moon and stars; cosmography; 4. The priestess and the 'sacred language'; 5. Some objects used in ceremonies; 6. Komburongoh; 7. Lustral water; 8. Sogit (Sagit); 9. The soul; 10. Mononglumaag; 11. Birth; 12. The giving of names; 13. Marriage and divorce; 14. 'Incest'; 15. The widow and the widower; 16. Father-in-law, mother-in-law; 17. Death and burial; 18. The Dusun month; 19. Kaasaban (thunder tabus); 20. Guardian stones and other ponungolig; 21. Sacred animals; 22. Omens and omen animals; 23. Kopohunan (koi-imah-imah); 24. Krointod; 25. The new house; 26. Ragang numak. The dispersal of the Dusuns; 27. 'Hot rain'; 28. The lampadak tree; 29. Various beliefs and customs; Part II. Ceremonies: Introduction; 1. Agricultural ceremonies; 2. Communal ceremonies; 3. Personal ceremonies; Part III. Folk-Stories: Introduction; 1. The creation and the misdoings of Towadakon; 2. A creation story; 3. A creation story; 4. A heretical creation story; 5. Another creation story from Tambatuon; 6. A Kahung Saraiyoh creation story; 7. A Toburon creation story; 8. Kinorohingan's sons; 9. Two stories of how the rice got its husk; 10. Ginjan goes to heaven; 11. Galamon learns a lesson; 12. The Dusun Pandora's box; 13. The Puran Tanak's revenge; 14. The half boy; 15. A Rogon Gaiyoh steals children; 16. The Bubutan's child; 17. Rokian's children; 18. The Bugang and the Boy; 19. Sumandak loses her rice-souls; 20. The little girl's rice-soul; 21. My ancestor Turikon; 22. The men who went to sunrise; 23. The incestuous stars of morning and evening; 24. The origin of two contellations: the Miasau-Pisau; 25. The eclipse of the moon; 26. The rice-planters' stars; 27. Saraban; 28. Takuluk fights the wind; 29. The flood; 30. Sagatapon and her fish; 31. The head that revenged itself; 32. The effects of a mogindalan; 33. The Tonsimongs' priestess; 34. Baiaboh's devotion; 35. Oduk Minatob intervenes; 36. The origin of Tindihan Hill; 37. The origin of Kuog Hill; 38. The war of the Koruk-fish against Kinsiraban; 39. The house that became a stone; 40. The house that became a boulder; 41. The tunnel to Tenghilan; 42. The orang-utang at Kahung Saraiyoh; 43. The rats' village; 44. The buffalo's children; 45. The mosquitoes' village; 46. Where the fish live; 47. The boy, the python, and the birds; 48. The bee wife; 49. Gimbak visits the villages of the dead and of the wild pigs; 50. Tambatuon 'history'. Affairs at Ragang Nunuk, etc.; 51. Kadamaian 'history': the migration from Ragang Nunuk, the huge snake, etc.; 52. The Surun people make a ladder to heaven; 53. The Surun people's ladder. The Bugang's bones; 54. The old people and the new people; 55. The 'history' of the Tabilong Dusuns; 56. The Tabilong Dusuns may not plough; 57. The Kurap bird; 58. The origin of the clam; 59. Don't be greedy and jealous; 60. Brothers dog and crocodile; 61. The coconut-shell child; 62. Putar and the eggs; 63. The upas tree; 64. Lantibong's return; 65. A story against the Mohammedans; Appendix A. Kadamaian Dusun rites: texts, translations, notes; Appendix B. The Moginakan gurumpot held at Kahung Saraiyoh in May and June, 1949; Index.
