Hornbills Buceros in Borneo: Can they continue to co-exist?

Helmeted Buceros vigil and rhinoceros B. rhinoceros hornbills are large, conspicuous birds in the forests of northern Borneo. Both are of enormous importance in local culture, being the subject of legends, ceremonies and beliefs. Tail feathers of both species are used in traditional costumes and dancing. Both are also hunted for their meat. Changes in access, technology and rural lifestyles mean that hunting is causing populations to decline or become locally extinct. The birds breed slowly and occur at low natural densities. Thus, hunting levels must be extremely low to be sustainable. A single team of traditional dancers uses about 400 rhinoceros hornbill feathers, which involves killing 40 birds. To hunt these sustainably, and to re-supply new feathers every five years, about 205 km² of forest is needed. Hunting levels currently exceed this in almost all forests in northern Borneo. A series of measures is needed to ensure that these birds survive in Borneo's forests, and not just in legend and in the form of a few decaying artefacts.

Sex involve in Ngayap?

According to Padoch (1982:p92-3)

“The exact age of Iban at first sexual union is a topic difficult to explore, partially because of the usual reticence of women to discuss the subject, but mostly because of the impossibility of determining precise chronological ages. It is probable that among women in the Engkari region, courtship commences at about sixteen or seventeen years of age, while among men a somewhat later age, of eighteen or nineteen, is indicated. I have found no reason to assume that ages at which courtship begins in Bintulu are different. Whether there has been any change over time in the ages at which young Iban begin to court is uncertain. Several older women assured me that the age at first courting has declined, but there is no possible way of verifying this allegation”.

Gomes (1911)

“The mode of courtship among the Dyaks is peculiar. No courting goes on by day, but at night, when all is quiet, a young lover creeps to the side of the curtain of his lady-love, and awakes her. The girls sleep apart from their parents--sometimes in the same room, but more often in the loft. He presents her with a roll of sireh leaf, in which is wrapped the betel-nut ingredients the Dyaks love to chew. […] This nightly courtship is, in fact, the only way a man and woman can become acquainted with each other, for such a thing as privacy during the day is quite unknown in a Dyak house. If the girl be pleased with her lover, he remains with her until close upon daybreak, when he leaves with her some article as a pledge of his honour, such as a bead necklace, or ring, or a headkerchief, or anything else which he may have about him. This act of leaving some gift with the girl is considered as a betrothal between the two parties, and the man who refuses to marry the girl after doing so is considered guilty of breach of promise of marriage, and liable, according to Dyak law, to a fine”.

Komanyi (1973:p81-2): “An Iban girl may marry when she is fifteen or sixteen years old. Now, however, as educational opportunities improve, marriages tend to occur at a slightly later age, such as eighteen to twenty-two. A period of courtship, called ngajap , which is a uniquely Iban custom, precedes the betrothal”.

Padoch:

“The traditional Iban patterns of courtship (ngayap) , which involve nocturnal visiting of women by men, are a topic mentioned frequently by earlier writers (Roth 1896,I:109-11), among whom there is disagreement on the frequency or occurrence of sexual intercourse during the visiting. A more recent account of the practice (Beavitt 1967), and all informants I encountered, concurred that sexual relations take place often, although not always. It is reported that ngayap is now being replaced among someIban groups, particularly those converted to Christianity, by other forms of courtship not involving sexual union (Beavitt 1967:p409-10). However, the traditional form prevailed in all the communities that were studied during the period of field research”.

“... when a girl reaches maturity, and if there is a suitor, her parents will arrange for her to settle down. Normally, an Iban girl marries when she is seventeen years of age. When a girl attains her spinsterhood, her mother teaches her the ways employed to protect herself. She must be taught to behave and speak courteously to boys who court her at night. She is aware that it has been a tradition for a boy to court a girl. However, the question of getting her to offer herself to the boy depends very much on the girl herself, because he cannot force her to give consent unless they love each other through his kindness and winning ways. These are secretly explained to her by her mother. The mother also emphasises the methods in which her daughter can judge whether or not the boy is sincere enough to marry her”

Pua Kumbu of Sarawak

Southeast Asia has had a long history of producing local vegetable fibre textiles and later, locally grown handspun cotton textiles introduced by early traders from the Indian subcontinent. As Srivijaya evolved into a Maritime kingdom in the 7 th century, merchants from India, China, Persia and Arab came to trade on Malay soil. Among other goods, they brought silk threads, gold and textiles for trade. The new textiles and materials provided a new dimension to weaving in Malaysia. When Europeans arrived in Melaka towards the late 14 th century, the frame loom was introduced.


In the early centuries of maritime trading, Indian traders brought the back-strap loom to Southeast Asia and introduced cotton as an alternative to bark-cloth textile. This primitive back-strap loom requires little effort in setting up. There is no rigid framework thus; the warp beam can be set up wherever there are two parallel upright poles. Often women are seen working at the verandah, in between house and field chores. The back-strap loom is portable, which befits the nomadic requirements and simplistic lifestyle of these communities. Most of the motifs and designs of the ancient forms of vegetable fibre textiles are connected to ceremonial rites and animistic values. Among the most renown and sought after textile are the cotton blankets called Pua Kumbu of the Iban tribe of Sarawak. The Iban tribe's lifestyle and beliefs are intricately woven into their textiles. As in many societies, weaving was always the work of women and her status in the community can be revealed from the type of motifs weaved. In the olden days, motifs with humanoid figures or anthromorphs (engkaramba) can only be weaved by wives and daughters of chiefs. These figures with raised arms and out-turned legs are representations of deities of the Iban's animistic religion and serves as a talisman to protect the wearer from danger as well as to ensure a bountiful harvest for the season. Although difficult to interpret, the motifs and colouring are usually inspired by the environment and reveal a lot about the Iban's rituals and beliefs. While most motifs are visual representations of animals, plants and even daily activities, others are more complex and abstract. Intricate patterns on the pua are often traditional and hereditary.

natural dyes

Kept as family heirlooms, these patterns are passed from mother to daughter. Like a personal stamp, the Iban women infuse much of their creativity in their weaving and decorative style. The most popular is the ikat or tie-and-die method. The warp patterns are created by selectively dyeing the longitudinal threads prior to weaving. This is also known as resist dyeing. When the dyed yarns are woven with a plain weft, the warped patterns emerge fuzzy and indistinct. To enhance the motifs, some weavers introduce embroidery, tapestry weaving, brocade weaving or supplementary weft embroidery. Old beliefs of misfortunes and death befalling upon them, however, kept weavers from straying from traditional motifs and methods of weaving.

Penan,the nomad of Borneo

How do they live? The Penan are nomadic hunter-gatherers. Although many have now been settled, about 300 Penan still lead a completely nomadic life in the forest. Even the settled Penan continue to rely heavily on the forest. The Penan have a gentle and egalitarian society without any hierarchy. Sharing is taken for granted in Penan society: a hunter must not eat a single bite more than he gives to others, however small his prey. The forest is essential to the Penan, providing them with everything they need to survive. In particular, they rely heavily on sago, which they use for building houses, making baskets and to eat – the Penan love to eat it fried in pig fat and mixed with blood. What problems do they face? Since the 1970s, all the tribal peoples of Sarawak have had their land taken to make way for logging, dam construction and oil palm plantations – driving them into towns where they are reduced to abject poverty. The Penan have been told by the government that they have no rights to land at all until they ‘settle down’ or start farming. The logging industry has a particularly devastating impact. The Malaysian government claims that Sarawak is being logged sustainably – but in fact its forests are being destroyed at one of the fastest rates in the world. As the forests are logged, the rivers are silted up, killing the fish. The game is being scared deeper into the few remaining forests. Since 1987, the Penan have been fighting back by blockading the logging roads – and suffering acute food shortages as a result. Many Penan have been arrested for holding these peaceful blockades. Some have managed to prevent the companies from entering their land, but others have seen much of their forest devastated. Where all of the valuable trees have been cut down, the companies are starting to remove the forests completely in order to establish oil palm plantations.

Empalang...genital piercing of Borneo

The empalang or ampallang is a form of male genital body piercing that penetrates horizontally through the entire glans of the penis. The piercing may betransurethral (passing through the urethra). A variant on this piercing is the shaft ampallang, which penetrates the shaft of his penis horizontally at any point along its length. A vertical piercing through the entire glans of the penis is known as an apadravya, and is a completely different piercing. The combination of an ampallang and an apadravya is sometimes referred to as the magic cross.

This is an advanced piercing, and the procedure can be extremely painful. Full healing usually takes between four and six months, but can take a year or more.

This piercing, once healed, is often extremely pleasurable to the bearer because it stimulates the internal penis tissues ^[1]. It can be sexually stimulating to the receiving partner during sexual intercourse, usually due to stimulation of the G spot

History and culture

Historically, this piercing was performed in various

Polynesian cultures, specifically the Dayak people of Borneo, who wore this and/or the apadravya (they don't usually distinguish between them) to emulate the rhino, which has a similarly equipped penis courtesy of nature.

Urban legend holds that an ampallang passing through the corpus cavernosum can leave the wearer bleeding to death, but this is not true unless the piercing is done as a dermal punching, in which case all bets are off and you are in for serious bleeding for weeks (although death is still an exaggeration).

This piercing originated by Bjorn Burke amongst the

Dayak people. In some cultures, having an ampallang may be seen as a pre-requisite for marriage. In contemporary society, it became popularized along with the many genital piercings practiced amongst the gay BDSM community prior to the establishment of the body piercing industry in the '80s and '90s. Due to its legitimate primitive origins, this piercing is closely associated with the modern primitive movement.

According to urban legend, should this piercing penetrate the corpus cavernosum penis, the recipient could bleed to death. This is not true, although should the piercing penetrate the corpus cavernosum, it may bleed even more heavily, both initially and during the healing process, than it normally would.

Placement

Standard ampallangs (versus shaft ampallangs) are done in one of two placements, either transurethral or not. A transurethral ampallang passes through the urethra. The advantage to this is that the urine helps keep the piercing clean, and because the piercing is effectively divided in half, it's almost like healing two shorter piercings. Also, piercing through the urethra makes this piercing less likely to migrate due to sexual use of the piercing. Some piercers believe that the non-urethral placement feels better for the client, but it also takes longer to heal and is more prone to rejection. Should the wearer also have a PA, this will likely result in hellacious pinching.

Procedure

The ampallang can be performed using either a standard clamp-and-pierce method, a freehand method, or a scalpelling method. For any method, proper jewelry size should be determined pre-procedure by measuring the penis while erect. The piercer should keep in mind the angle and placement of the jewelry when taking these measurements. Many piercers will also take this measurement and add a small amount to ensure that the jewelry is not too short. For this piercing in particular it is much easier to deal with jewelry that has too much room over jewelry that is too short. Also, it should be noted that piercings through the male glans are possibly the most painful piercings for a male to receive. This is not a piercing to enter into lightly and the discomfort level should not be mistaken for that of a Prince Albert Piercing or Frenum Piercing.

Clamp-and-Pierce

After acquiring appropriately sized jewelry, the area should be cleaned and prepped. This typically involves the use of a surgical scrub or similar. It is also common during this piercing to clean the front side of the scrotum in addition to the glans in order to eliminate problems with subsequent contact between the penis and scrotum. A single-use marking instrument should then be used to mark the placement of the piercing. At this point, the head of the penis is lightly clamped and the needle goes through the head. After piercing the tissue, the clamps are removed and the jewelry is transferred into the piercing. It is common for this piercing to bleed (sometimes heavily) for several minutes after the piercing. Many piercers will ensure that the bleeding is controlled and proceed to bandage the piercing to prevent staining of pants. Because the glans of the penis is a high blood flow area this piercing may also bleed in small amounts for several days after the procedure.

Freehand Method

The only change between the Freehand Piercing method and the clamp-and-pierce method is during the piercing of the head. Instead of clamping the tissue it is held firmly and carefully in one hand and pierced with the other.

Scalpelling Method

Scalpelling methods are often employed when starting an ampallang at 4 gauge or larger. Scalpelled piercings, especially of this nature, should be left to a well qualified practitioner.

Healing and aftercare

Ampallangs and apadravyas are generally considered the "toughest" male genital piercings. They are some of the most painful to get done, and can take, depending on the subject, between 2 and 6 months, or longer, to heal. A last warning: Withdrawing before going flaccid is a very good idea, and a very necessary one in some applications.

Long term health issues

A very important detail: this piercing, contrary to a tremendous amount of hype, is not a good choice for making most female partners happier. Good technique aside for a minute, the nature of the placement rules out direct pleasurable stimulation, and in fact has been known to be "catchy, irritating and just too much" for a good deal of people, never mind the possible hardships imposed on the back teeth and the soft palate. As with most piercings, these need to be left in, so seriously consider all possible outcomes before embarking on such a big journey.

Jewelery

The initial jewelry is almost always a straight barbell between 12 gauge and 8 gauge (although larger gauges are definitely possible, and this is sometimes done as a scalpelled piercing).