In the performance of their engagements and oaths, they are most scrupulous.  They seem to have some idea of a future life, and that on the road to their elysium they have to pass over a long tree, which requires the assistance of all those they have slain in this world.  The abode of happy spirits is supposed to be on the top of Kini Balu, one of their loftiest mountains, and the portals are guarded by a fiery serpent, who does not suffer any virgin to pass into the celestial paradise.

Polygamy does not exist among them, but they have as concubines slaves, who are captured in their wars or rather predatory expeditions.  If a wife proves unfaithful to her husband, he kills several of his slaves, or inflicts upon her many blows, and a divorce may be effected by the husband paying her a certain price, and giving up her clothes and ornaments, after which he is at liberty to marry another.  The women, however, exercise an extraordinary influence over the men.

[Headhunting.] But of all their peculiar traits, there is none more strange than the passion they seem to indulge for collecting human heads.  These are necessary accompaniments in many transactions of their lives, particularly in their marriages, and no one can marry unless he has a certain number of heads; indeed, those who cannot obtain these are looked upon with disdain by the females.  A young man wishing to wed, and making application to marry her for whom he has formed an attachment, repairs with the girl’s father to the rajah or chief, who immediately inquires respecting the number of heads he has procured, and generally decides that he ought to obtain one or two more, according to his age, and the number the girl’s father may have procured, before he can be accepted.  He at once takes his canoe and some trusty followers, and departs on his bloody errand, waylaying the unsuspecting or surprising the defenceless, whose head he immediately cuts off, and then makes a hurried retreat.  With this he repairs to the dwelling of his mistress, or sends intelligence of his success before him.  On his arrival, he is met by a joyous group of females, who receive him with every demonstration of joy, and gladly accept his ghastly offering.

Various barbarous ceremonies now take place, among which the heads undergo inspection to ascertain if they are fresh; and, in order to prove this, none of the brain must be removed, nor must they have been submitted to smoke to destroy the smell.  After these preliminaries, the family honor of the bride is supposed to be satisfied, and she is not allowed to refuse to marry.  A feast is now made, and the couple are seated in the midst naked, holding the bloody heads, when handfuls of rice are thrown over them, with prayers that they may be happy and fruitful.  After this, the bridegroom repairs in state to the house of the bride, where he is received at the door by one of her friends, who sprinkles him with the blood of a cock, and her with that of a hen.  This completes the affair, and they are man and wife.