A few photos of Punan saluong or salong "burial hut"

Fig.1 - This saluong contained the remains of first Kanyan Nyipa and later also include a few others including his half-brother Keseng Nyipa. The white structure, a modern, concrete form of 'saluong' on the foreground was the tomb of Bilong Keseng. Photo: Google Images.

A former Rejang Resident, Hugh Brooke Low, referring the many saluong or salong scattered on the Pila plain noted, "it Kayan institution foreign to the land" in his diary "Trip Up the Rejang in 1882" (see Low, 1882). This, subsequently taken as evidence to suggest that 'saluong' originates from the Apau Kayan areas. 

There are two types of saluong built by Punan. The first type is called 'saluong' that oddly called 'burial hut' although there is no burial involved. The deceased coffin instead of being buried was stored in a hut supported by a single or double post made of belian, a tropical hardwood scientifically known as "Eusideroxylon zwageri". 

Another photo of Kanyan, Keseng and others saluong at Punan Kaku village. The white structure in the foreground is Bilong Keseng tomb, built in the early 1990s. Photo: Flickr

Salong along Tatau and Kakus

What Low and many didn't know was that long before the Kayan, in the Tatau basin this custom had already been common. Remnants of saluong could be found scattered along the Kakus, Upper Tatau (today Anap) and Tatau River.  

On the upper Kakus, salong, kludan and may include klirieng were found near Lungun River to Biak River (Beyak on certain map). On the Upper Tatau or known as Anap River today, ancient cemetery scattered in between Takan to Muput all had salong once. Along the main Tatau River channel, the highest concentration of klirieng and salong was once found on both banks of Tatau River from Buan River downstream to Jelai River. 

In fact, the present-day Tatau Malay village was the site of ancient Punan and Tatau people graveyard until the nineteenth century. There was still one klirieng found in the area in 2016. The Malay (including Melanau/Vaie) only started to settle in Tatau fairly recently. Bintulu Resident, Q.A. Buck reported there was no Malay/Melanau settlement in the area until 1887 (see Buck 1887).

Among the Punan chiefs interred into a saluong in Kakus were, Kanyan Nyipa. He was the chief of Punan Kaku, succeeding his father Penghulu Nyipa Lidom, who died in 1909 (Sarawak Gazette 1909). Kanyan died at a young age, still in his early 30s, reportedly being poisoned by an Iban man. After his brother died, Keseng who was living with his wife, Livan Bato (sister of Berasap) at Pandan, consequently returned to Kakus to become chief of the Punan Kaku. 

Keseng died sometimes in the late 1950s, of old age and duly interred into the same saluong with Kanyan. Keseng was Nyipa son from his marriage to Merau, while Kanyan was from his third marriage to Glamed Jiui, the daughter of Jiui Punan Tepeleang chief. Nyipa's salong was located a short distance downstream.

 

Punan Salong along Rejang

This saluong was built in the mid-nineteenth century for Tipuong and Bulan Balieng (Fig. 1), according to Low by Liak (or Liah), the husband of Kemala (Low, 1882). Along the Rejang, before the ban on klirieng custom was totally enforced, saluong was relegated to be the tombs of the "lesser-aristocrat" ("panyien jian"). However, near the turn of the twentieth century, after klirieng was banned, saluong becomes the only form of a tomb even for aristocrat (laja).

Fig. 3 - Tipuong Balieng and Bulan Balieng saluong at Susou, near Punan Ba village Belaga. The sisters were the granddaughters of Selawik Kavuk Uko Taken 2019.

Among known Punan aristocrat interred in a saluong was Oman Siut, that Brooke Low called "Aman Siut" a Punan chief at Biau. His saluong located near the mouth of Lesai River, on the opposite bank from Punan Sama village had toppled down long ago, probably in the early 1980s. A few more were found in between Sama River, Bungan to Menamoang (Mamong on map) River - an area occupied by the Punan Sama, Punan Ba and Biau intermittently in the eighteenth through to the twentieth century.

Punan Saluong along the Kemena

Along the Kemena saluong built by Punan people are found near Pandan River and farther upriver along the Jelalong River. There used to be a few located near Labang bazaar. Punan resettled in the Kemana basin towards the end of the eighteenth century, led by Kulan. The group was originally from Mamong River, downstream from Belaga along the Rejang. 

Fig. 4 - This saluong was attributed to Makup, situated near Sebuang River, along the Jelalong River. Makup was hailed from Punan Sama of Belaga District. "Architecture of Life and Death in Borneo" by Robert. L. Winzeler

They migrated to Tubau during the early years of Kayan incursion into Upper Rejang River. Initially, they settled along the Tubau River. Later they gradually drifted downstream and settled a Labang or Laveang as it called in Punan approximately in the early decade of the nineteenth century. 

The last saluong built by Punan along the Kemena was in 1967, for Berasap Emang (Berasap Yat Emang), the chief of Punan Pedan. His community is today known as "Rumah Nyipa Tingang" administratively, or "Punan Pedan" to all the Punan. Sadly not many of the saluong near Pandan could be seen today. Many had toppled over several decades ago.

Location map of saluongs mentioned in Fig. 1 - 4 above is marked by the yellow pin.

Some people just could not tell the difference between a salong and klirieng. Mahmud Yussop said, "In the not too distant past, the Kayans of Sarawak used to inter ( bury) their dead in special burial huts called " Salong". Today while visiting the Sarawak Museum grounds, I had a closer look at two tall Salongs, made from the hardest timber of Sarawak called the 'belian'."

The klirieng that Mahmud Yussop labelled as single pole "salong" actually in 1925 also noted as "Kayan salong or totem pole" in a report (see Sarawak Gazette 1925). That is not a salong but a klirieng. It was taken from Lo'o Pila, today known as Nanga Pila. Yes, the monument he labelled double trunk "salong" is indeed a salong - see our post "Salong Tipuong Tului". However, some called it as 'double klirieng' today.