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When the Sky Darkens: The Vanishing Penan of Sarawak
| Article
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20547 |
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Section : |
CULTURE
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| Issue
Date : |
11 / 1992 |
3,037 Words |
| Author
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Peter Gorman
Peter Gorman, a free-lance writer and collector for the
American Museum of Natural History, has researched and
written
extensively about the peoples of the Amazon. |
The waters of the Rajang River, the pathway into the heart of Borneo, used to run so clear that a person standing on its banks could look into the river and choose which fish to catch for dinner. These days, the Rajang is so muddy that the fish have gone blind. The mud is caused by soil erosion resulting from the most intensive lumbering in the world. The rain forest of Borneo, estimated to be 180 million years old, the oldest on the planet, is disappearing, and those who live within it are being forced to acculturate to a new world order where their cultures and values have no meaning.
The island of Borneo, the second largest island in the world, is divided into four states: the Indonesian state of Kalimantan; the sultanate of Brunei; and the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak. The aboriginal inhabitants of Borneo are the Dayak, and until forty years ago, few outsiders over hand contact with these tribal peoples beyond the coastline settlements. Starting in the 1950s, however, the British began the process of socializing the Dayak, and since that time almost all the tribes of Borneo have seen their life-styles and cultures undergo extensive change.
Deep within the remote highlands of the interior of Sarawak live the Penan, the last surviving nomadic culture in Borneo. They are people of the rain forest, hunters and gatherers who have an intimate knowledge and understanding of the natural history of their environment.
Though anthropologists have little knowledge of the intricacies of their belief system, it is known that he Penan believe the forest is a living organism and all things beneath the jungle canopy have their own spirits--some good, some evil. These spirits communicate with man through omens, and for the Penan, daily hunting and gathering often is determined by this spirit influence. Among their gods is Bali Mbutun, the lord of creation; their stories of an afterlife suggest a paradise where goddesses prepare exquisite feasts. The Penan have no concept of hell.
Except for their few trade items--some clothing, metal pots, and knives--the most remote Penan continue to live in much the same way their ancestors have lived for more than forty thousand years. Their knowledge of the forest has allowed them to thrive in a world most of us would consider uninhabitable. They have learned the secrets of the plants in their forests, from those that produce medicines to magical plants that can combat evil spirits. They know which plants yield glue used to trap birds, which contain toxic resins for their poison darts,
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