The last Basap cave dwellers in the Mangkalikat karst mountains, East Kalimantan--a brief report. (Brief Communications).

Introductory remarks

For three months in 1976 and, again, for another three months in 1978, I was assigned as a consultant on forest ecology to the Governor of Kalirnantan Timur, Abdul Wahab Syahrany. During these six months, I had the opportunity to travel extensively across the regencies of Bulungan, Kutai, and Berau by seaplane, helicopter, speedboat, and on foot. My mission was to promote and support the use of technical and operational methods of "less impact logging" and promote "Indonesian selective cutting" to the logging companies, which, at the time, were operating along the lower rivers. I spent much time in the areas where Basap, Punan, and Berusu tribes were living. I published reports on my experiences there, particularly with the Basap and Punan people, ten years later (Zahorka 1986a,b).

In 1976, when I was visiting a Japanese logging company operating on the southeastern tip of the Mangkalihat Peninsula, I was guided to a cave which was said to be inhabited by Basap cave dwellers. It was situated not far from a logging road in limestone mountains ("karst," formations of porous limestone originating from fossil coral reefs), high above Teluk Sumbang Bay, latitude roughly 1[degrees] N. When we arrived at the cave, however, not a living soul was there. It seemed that the dwellers had hurriedly left, probably in fear of the approach of my not-so-small entourage of logging company employees, forest experts, and military bodyguards. Somebody warned me not to enter the cave because it was infested with fleas. So, standing at the entrance, I looked in and could see a large temp at tidur (sleeping platform) in the cave, rags, and one or more tempayan (large antique ceramic jars).

Eighteen years later, in 1994, I happened to be there again, this time in the company of several friendly native cave dwellers-and obviously welcomed by the old fleas.

The location of Basap settlements in 1976/78 and the environment

Basap, or Bassap, is an exonym. When asked for their tribal affiliation, they professed to be Basap. I found the Basap, of whom two-thirds were settled, and one-third semi-settled, lived throughout the area east of a curved line stretching from Samarinda to Tanjung Redep, but excluding these two cities (see map). Those who were semi-settled lived in solitary huts raised on stilts, which they abandoned after several years of use, while those who were settled lived in villages, in small wooden houses, and had begun shifting cultivation. Only a few coastal settlements, accessible solely by sea, were inhabited by Malays or Bugis, and some offshore islands by Bajau. Bontang at the time consisted of a short row of fishermen's huts and was accessible only by sea.

The Kutai National Park at that time was totally undisturbed, with orangutans, crocodiles and leeches in abundance, and a few semi-settled Basap (Zahorka 1986c). A landing strip existed in Batu Butih, constructed by the former Philippine logging company, P.T. Gonpu Indonesia. Small areas of lowland primary forest had already been selectively logged over. But there were not yet any commercial clearings, let alone the transmigration settlements which dominate the lowland today.

There were a few small Basap villages like Domaring, Batu Lopok, Kampong Baru and others, but I think that the majority of Basap were still living in temporary, small, solitary houses on high stilts, with walls and roofs thatched with nipa palm leaves. These houses were built in the forest on small plots cleared of vegetation and planted with manioc (Manihot esculenta), taro (Colocasia esculenta), sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas), and banana trees. They grew no rice at the time. All the men were keen hunters. Their domestic animals were limited to chickens, cats, and dogs, the latter used for hunting. The people were of short stature and looked a little frail, being accustomed to a protein-poor tuber diet. Most women were practicing a sort of family planning, using panjarang, a medicinal plant (Zahorka 1986a: 51), stating, "we can't afford (to feed) more than two children." The 21 families observed in Talisayan consisted of 65 individuals, including children.

I estimated the total population of Basap in the Berau Regency in 1976/78 to be at least 4,500, twice the official number.

The situation at Teluk Sum bang Bay, 1994

The Japanese logging company had already left many years before 1994, leaving behind large areas of low-growing secondary vegetation, except on the hills, where the extensively overlogged primary forest had recovered rather well.

Some hundred meters above the bay there were a few small houses, overlooking the bay. They stood on short stilts, with walls constructed of wooden boards, and their roofs made of corrugated iron. These houses, built in approximately 1992 (about two years before my visit), were given to the cave dwellers by the government, to improve their living circumstances. But it seemed to me that this location was not very convenient to the settlers. Now they have constructed their own small huts, high up in the mountains in their ladang clearings, where they keep chickens, cats, and hunting dogs. The cave is only used when men are on hunting trips in the area.

The unstudied culture of the Basap

Until today, no systematic research has been undertaken on the Basap. After some mainly geographical publications on the Basap territory by a Dutch officer nearly a hundred years ago (Spaan 1901, 1903, 1918, he spelled Basap "Bassap"), and my reports (Zahorka 1986a,c), there have been no further papers written on the Basap. We do not know much about their language, nothing is known about their spirits, their shamanism, or about their social structure. My reports have mainly documented their hunting culture, house construction, and some aspects of daily family life.

Shortly before the houses were built, an Indonesian Protestant missionary from Kampong Baru, which is close to Batu Butih, came to their cave, baptized them without further ado, and gave them Christian names. This, however, had no lasting consequences. They still hold to their former beliefs and do not use the new names given to them.

Living conditions in the cave

From my earlier experiences with the Basap, I knew that they are an egalitarian society. They do not have institutional chiefs, shamans, or tribal judges (kepala adat) like other, settled Dayaks in Borneo. That is apparently related to the fact that the Basap originally lived independently in solitary houses, and not in villages.

In 1994, I was lucky to meet four men at the cave just preparing to hunt wild boar with blowpipe and poison darts: Dulitap, Bujaam, his son Bujampur, and the wild looking, but gentle, Dayun (Zahorka 2001). They all looked well-nourished. Communication with them was difficult because of the language barrier. Fortunately, there was also a Basap woman with them who could speak a little Bahasa Indonesia. And, with some help from an interpreter, Ibu Bojilbn showed herself to be an excellent informant.

Ibu Bojilbn described her life in the cave. She assumed she had been born there, and she estimated her age now to be 56 years. She had had four children, one of whom had died, and has four grandchildren. Her late (last) husband had been like a spokesman for the group. Now, Ibu Bojilbn seems to have stepped into this same role. Her report:

She had spent her whole life in the cave until about two years ago when the houses were constructed. Up to 30 people, including children, sometimes lived in the cave at the same time. They lived together like a big family. They shared all they had among the group. Generally, it was comfortable. During long periods of rain, however, water dripped from the ceiling. At night, they burned damar resin for illumination. The fireplace just left of the entrance was for everyone's use. Their antique tempayan, which previously were in the cave, are now in their houses.

The everyday life of the cave hunters and gatherers

Their staple foods included manioc, taro, bananas, and wild boar, she said. Depending on the season, they killed one to forty wild boars per month. When Ibu Bojilbn was younger, she liked to go hunting with a blowpipe, accompanied only by dogs. All animals were hunted, including monkeys, orangutans (now extinct), barking deer (Muntiacus spp.), rusa (Cervus unicolor), pangolin (Manis javanica), hornbill species and other birds, snakes, and so on, all for consumption. Rhinos have never been present. A bagged mumbuk (clouded leopard, Neofelis nebulosa) they surely would have consumed, too, but they never got one, she said. They collected rattan for making their own sleeping mats and baskets, and for barter with the coastal Malays at Teluk Suleman, a day's walk away. They requested salt, mandaus (bushknives), and steel points for the blowpipes. Wild bees' honey was also exchanged for fabric for men's loincloths and women's skirts. In earlier times, they used to wear clothes made of barkcloth, which they made them selves. They did not know about gaharu, incense wood (Aquilaria spp.), nor about bezoar stones, the gall stones of monkeys (mostly of the grey langur, Presbytis hosei). Their domestic animals were exclusively dogs for hunting. At that time, they had no cats, no manyuk (chickens, although now they have them), let alone bawi (domestic pigs).

Ibu Bojilbn knows one omen bird, burung sisit, which is small and gray. She confirmed that they never used to tattoo their bodies, or extend their ear lobes. They never possessed boats or gold. Before she was born, Kenyah headhunters, coming down the Bengalon River, raided the Basaps, she said.

Marriage customs, disease and death

Every Basap individual has been married three to four times in his/her lifetime, kadang-kadang bersebelahan ("sometimes side-by-side"), Ibu Bojilbn said. There is nothing like a large brideprice, one wild boar is sufficient. My next question was whether cousins could marry one another. Ibu Bojilbn answered with a clear "Yes." The next question I had to repeat several times: could brothers and sisters marry each other, and could parents many their children? Ibu Bojilbn turned her face away and refused to answer, for a long time. This is most probably a silent consent. Small primitive Punan societies in remote areas of Bulungan, East Kalimantan, who perform "natural incest," have already been documented (Pauwels 1935, Zahorka 1986b).

The Basap believe that sickness is caused by spirits that enter the human body, Ibu Bojilbn said, but they do not know about medicines. Only if the spirit is recognized can it be extracted and taken back to the forest. (In 1976 on a hunting trip with two Basap hunters, we passed by a small carved wooden statue in the forest which I was told not to approach, in order to avoid getting sick.)

What happens if that procedure does not help, I asked. Then the individual concerned will die, she said, laughing. They are very afraid of dead bodies. When someone dies, they immediately carry the body far away and lay it down. Then the body is completely covered with rocks, she explained, so that animals, such as dogs, are kept from it. They have never heard of the use of coffins.

Possibly they do not believe in a life hereafter. The question about what happens after death was answered by Ibu Bojilbn with a short tidak tahu ("we don't know").

Conclusion

Though Ibu Bojilbn, the spokeswoman of the Basap former cave dwellers, seemed to be a reliable source of information, further research with a wider Basap population is urgently called for, particularly on subjects like language, curing methods and interpretation of disease, belief in spirits, rituals, burial customs, social conventions, conflict resolution, etc. The cultural and environmental conditions of this former cave-dwelling group will substantively change as soon as a cement plant, sought by the government, becomes a reality.

A young German ethnology student at the University of Hamburg, Christian Oesterheld, is planning to undertake the first anthropological field survey of this group. Good luck to him!

References

Bojilbn (Basap spokeswoman)

1994

verbal information given to H. Zahorka.

Pauvels, P.C.

1918

Poenans in de Onderafdeeling Boeloengan. Kolonial Tijdschrift (KT) XXIV.

Spaan, A.H.

1918

Een Landreis van Berouw naar Samarinda. Tijdschrift van het Koninklijk Nederlandsch Aardrijkskundig Genootschap (T.A.G.). Leiden.

1903

In het Birang-Stromgebied. T.A.G. Leiden.

1918

De landstrek tuschen Sangkoelirang en Doemaring. T.A.G. 35/2, Leiden.

1986a

Zahorka, H.

Mit Blasrohr und Giftpfeilen durch Borneo--Meine Lehrzeit als Jager und Sammler bei den halbsesshaften Basap im Urwald des Mangkalihat-Gebietes (With blowpipe and poison darts through Borneo--My hunter and gatherer apprenticeship with the semi-settled Basap in the jungle of the Mangkalihat area), pp. 28-59.

1986b

Inzest bei den Punan--Leben und Sterben der letzten nichtsesshaften Urwaldjager Borneos (Incest with the Punan--Life and death of the last non-settled jungle hunters of Borneo), pp. 60-78.

1986c

Unter Orang-Utans, Krokodilen und Blutegeln--Kutai National Park (Among orangutans, crocodiles and leeches--Kutai National Park), pp. 79-85.

[a), b), c) in: Weiglein / Zahorka: Expeditionen durch Indonesien. Neu-Isenburg: ZTV. (163 photogr., 10 maps, 16 drawings).]

2001

Blasrohrjagd auf Wildschweine mit den letzten Basap-Hohlenbewohnern Borneos. Singhofen: Wild und Hund 24/2001: 18-23.