The Portland Gazette

Marriage Ceremonies.

In every country, in every age, and in every state of society, from the savage to the civilized, certain ceremonies have been observed at marriage; but the ceremonies practised in the isle of Borneo, as described by a late traveller (Dr. Leyden) are among the most brutal customs. Nobody in Borneo can be permitted to marry till he can present a human head of some other tribe to his proposed bride, in which case she is not permitted to refuse him. It is not necessary, however, that this should be obtained entirely by his own personal prowess. When a person is determined to go a head hunting, as it is very often a very dangerous service, he consults with his friends and acquaintances, who frequently accompany him. The head-hunter then proceeds with his party in the most cautious manner to the vicinity of the villages of another tribe, lies in ambush till they surprise some heedless, unsuspecting wretch, who is instantly decapitated. Sometimes, too they surprise a solitary fisherman in a river, or on the shore, who undergoes the same fate. When the hunter returns, the whole village is filled with joy, and old and young, men and women, hurry out to meet him and conduct him with the sound of brazen cymbals dancing in long lines, to the house of the female he admires, whose family likewise come out to greet him with dances, and provide him a seat, and give him meat and drink. He still holds the bloody head in his hand, and puts part of the blood into its mouth, after which the females of the family receive the head from him, which they hang up to the ceiling, over the door.

If a man's wife die, he is not permitted to make proposals of marriage to another, till he has provided another head of a different tribe, as if to revenge the death of his deceased wife. The head procured in this manner, they preserve with great care, and sometimes consult in divinations. The religious opinions connected with this practice, are by no means correctly understood. Some assert, that every person whom a man kills in this world, becomes his slave in the next. The Indian, it is said, think that the entrance into Paradise is over a long tree, which serves for a bridge, over which it is impossible to pass without the assistance of a slave slain in this world.

The practice of stealing heads causes frequent wars among the different tribes of the Indian. Many persons can never obtain a head, in which case they are generally despised by the warriors and the women. To such a height it is carried, however, that a person who had obtained eleven heads has been seen by Dr. Leyden, and he pointed out his son, a lad, who had procured three.