Ethnographic Arms & Armour

[QUOTE=Marc M.;297764] I also thought I read that the mandau's were kept in the men's house, longhouse. No idea if this is correct, can't find the post again.

A.W. Nieuwenhuis «Quer Durch Borneo»
Ergebnisse seiner Reisen in den Jahren 1894, 1896-97 und 1898-1900; Erster Teil

Chapter VII.

...The main weapons of the Kayan are the sword (malat) and the spear (bakir); the blowgun (se̥put) plays only a secondary role as a weapon; only a few understand how to use it at all, and no true Kayan is capable of collecting and preparing poison for arrows. It is mainly descendants of the Punan among them who prefer the blowgun, the original weapon of the nomadic tribes. The sword, on the other hand, is not only the most important weapon for the Kayan in war, but also the most important item in daily life, rivaled only by the small knife (nju, Fig. h, Plate: Swords of the Mendalam Kayan), which is always carried in a special container on the inside of the scabbard. Any work that cannot be performed with a knife or axe is performed by the Kayan with his sword, which therefore never leaves his hand. When working in the fields, however, he uses a simple sword made for this purpose to chop down branches and undergrowth. However, when on long journeys, he uses his war sword both against the advancing enemy and for hewing boards and chopping firewood. No Kayan takes two kinds of sword on expeditions, but everyone ensures that his own can serve all purposes. Therefore, both at Kapuas and Mahakam, simple but well-crafted blades are generally preferred for serious military campaigns, while the beautiful ones decorated with inlaid copper and silver serve only as highly valued ceremonial objects. Only a warlike chief, such as the Pnihing chieftain Bĕlarè, also took beautifully crafted war swords on expeditions, but he may well have used them to fell small trees...