TRAVELS IN THE EAST INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO, 1868,

By Bickmore.

A description of the war dance performed at Amahai (1865?):

The resident kindly sent a number of coast people to invite them to come
down and perform their war dance before us.  In a few hours, a party of
about 20 appeared.  Only eight or ten were able-bodied men. The others
were women, children,and old men.  In height and general appearance they
closely resemble the Malays, and evidently form merely a subdivision of
the Malay race. Their peculiar characteristics are the darker color of
their skins and their hair, which, instead of being lank like that of the
Malays, is crisp, but not wooly like that of the Papuans.  They wear it so
very long, that they may properly be said to have large and bushy heads.
When in full dress, however, this abundance of hair is confined by a red
handkerchief, obtained from the natives on the coast, and ornamented with
parts of small shell, the NASSA, in place of beads.  their clothing is a
strip of the inner bark of a tree, beaten with stones until it becomes
white and opaque, and appears much like white, rough paper.  This garment
is three or four inches wide, and about three feet long.  It passes around
the waist and covers the loins in such a way that one end hangs down in
front as far as the knee.  On the arm, above the elbow, some wore a large
ring, apparantly made from the stalk of a sea foam, gorgonia.  To this
were fastened bunches of long, narrow green leaves, striped with yellow.
Similar ornaments were fastened to the elbows, and to the strip of bark at
the waist.  Each of the warriors was armed with a "parang," or cleaver,
which he raised high in the right hand, while on his left arm was a
shield,three or four feet long, but only four or five inches wide, which
he held before him as if to ward off an imaginary blow.

Their dance was merely a series of short leaps forward and backward, and
occassionally whirling quickly around as if to defend themselves from a
sudden attack on the rear.

Their only useful instrument was a rude "tifa," which was accompanied by a
monotonous song from the women, children, and old men.

At first the time of the music was slow, but by degrees it grew quicker
and louder, until all sang as fast and loud as they could.  The dancing
warriors became more excited, and flourished their cleavers and leaped to
and fro with all their might, until, as one of our company remembered,
their eyes were like fire.  It was easy to understand that in such a state
of temporary madness they would no more hesitate to cleave off a head than
to cut down a bamboo.

They are far-famed headhunters.  It is a custom that has become a law
among them that every young man must cut off at least one human head
before he can marry.  Heads,therefore,are in great demand, and perhaps our
realization of this fact made these frenzied savages more shocking
specimens of humanity.  The head of a child will meet the inexhorable
demands ofthis bloody law, but the head of a woman is preferred, because
it is supposed that she can more easily defend herself or escape.  For the
same reason,the head of a man is held in higher estimation, and the head
of a white man is a proof of the greatest bravery, and therefore the most
glorious trophy.

Note: In regards to headhunting, there is no law that a man must obtain a
head before marriage on the island of Buru (this from a later sequence of
the same book).