How did our ancestors survive in the jungle when there was no proper road, no motorcycle, no car, no handphone?
Before the 1970s, there were no proper road links to many villages in Sarawak. In my place, the Bau District (locals pronounce it as Bauk instead of Bau), there was only one dirt road. Some sections were leveled with quarry stones, while other stretches were just bare soil. That road was originally constructed by the British–Australian armies during the confrontation between Malaysia and Indonesia.
Our ancestors survived mainly through hunting and fishing. They hunted in the dense forest and fished in the small rivers and streams, while also planting padi, tapioca, maize, yam, and other vegetables. Wild edible plants were another important source of food.
During the confrontation period, rice became scarce because people could not go out to plant. Tapioca and sago often replaced rice as the staple food. For cash income, they relied on small plots of rubber or pepper, though in very small quantities.
Life was simple. In the morning, they went to their small farms. At night, some hardworking individuals would venture out into the forest to hunt for mouse deer or to fish in the streams.
Why did people depend on hunting small animals and birds for food in the past?
That was the only way of living that exist at that time. They did not know how to travel far to earn a living such as to Kuching City or to Miri City. They can’t speak malay well, English well, they can’t write and can’t even read. If the letter A knocked their head, they would not know. So, the only way they know how to live is by doing primitive farming style and hunting for animals and birds. That was why they depend on hunting to survive. Chicken were raised but sometimes the eagles will come and catch their chicken. Their rearing chicken can only become their foods, perhaps once a year, or sometime when there are visitors. The other animal they rear was pig. Some of them rear pig in the special pig stye but some of them let the pig roam around the house compound. Pig were slaughtered for festival such as during Gawai day or during other celebration such as wedding. They were pagan and they can take pig for their foods.
What tools did we use for hunting ?
They use catapult as well as set up trap for animal, bird as for fish in the river. Some or most kampung folks have their gun, a Shot Gun. I am not sure how they can have the shot gun but from what I understand, the Government of Malaysia at that time issue them license and they can buy gun to protect their farm from naughty animals such as monkey, wild boar, deer and others that come to destroy their plants in the garden. Anyway, all these animals were our exotic foods as well. We can’t kill the wild boar using a catapult but shoot them using their shot gun.
What did we eat when bigger animals were no longer available in the jungle?
Those days, when I was at the age that able to hunt animal, those large animals such as wild boar were no longer available in plenty as well as large deer with their horns were no longer available in numbers. Only those small mouse deer are still available in numbers besides bird and fish for food. So, we eat what we trap, what we kill during hunting and what we trap. Those were the exotic foods we have those days. Those day, we would not prefer the chicken meat from town as it taste funny to us, no taste. The taste of kampung Chicken suit our taste buds. Even the taste of pig mean from town is also tasteless but kampung self-reared pig or those pig that roamed the jungle taste much better those days.
Changes Over Time
Now, after 30, 40 or 50 years has passed, there are goods road networks, telecommunication networks and technology in our home and palms, live has changed drastically ever since, but no culture shock as the changes took place over time, so around 50 year periods, but the good old days memory is still fresh in my head. I still remember how we escape from primary school, hunting, trapping, playing games and what not.
Until then, I have not seen anyone put the catapult around their neck like a neck tie like those old days. I have not seen anyone carrying their shot gun walking around or else he will get caught by the authority. I have not seen people going to the river to set a fish trap but only seen many modern fish ponds in many places. The availability of road networks and telecommunication system have greatly change the life style of the village people. Even those mak-cik and pak-cik staying in the kampung are now holding a smart phone doing some businesses and marketing online. The advance of the road and telecommunication have greatly change the village life and stop us from killing the wild animal such as deer or birds.
Is modern life making us forget jungle survival knowledge?
For me, it has not made me forget jungle survival as for so many years I have been joining a group for jungle trekking, and on and off I still go to the jungle. Jungle survival skill, I think, it is a must as we will never know what will happen tomorrow. We will never know when will we need it and the time we need it in these days would be at an “Emergency” time. We will never know our sky will be full of missiles, fighter jets and drone. The world is getting crazier and crazier!.
I believed most people, especially the younger generation that were born in the late 80s, 90s, 2000 and above certainly may think jungle survival knowledge is not clicking in the mind. Many of them won’t know the types of trees or vegetation in the jungle. They could be mistaken a rambutan tree is a durian tree !. They would not know that the bird egg is as edible as chicken egg. I know many younger generations could not even walk in the jungle bare footed and crossing the single-wood bridge. And what they know is to take the photo of themselves crossing the bridge for their social media posting !. Hey ..Look at me..I am crossing a single wooded bridge..but infact, they just took the selfie and walk somewhere else without crossing the single-wooden bridge.
But for a fact…yes, undeniably. modern life make us forget the jungle survival skill and knowledge.
Why do we now see hunting as “wrong,” when in the past it was survival?
After for 20, 30, 40 years, we have been living and staying in the big cities, we now see hunting of animal is something that is WRONG to do. I still remember someone,, a friend, used to publish his hunting trip and at one time he stand beside his catch, a very large wild boar and one of his leg was on the wild boar in a social media…so I commented that people should stop shooting at wild animals anymore because we have plenty of foods that the market can offer…he responded by “scolding” me with some four letter words etc…., after that incident, I stopped commenting further and never comment on his hunting activities post in the social media. After few years, I saw him walking in town with his walking style was changed.. I found out that he was suffering with stroke, and the pity thing was that he was still at his prime age. Anyway, this is not related to his hunting activities but just a coincidence.
Now, I see it we should not hunt and kill the wild animals that are harmless to human life but you can shoot and kill the crocodiles or dangerous snakes.
Conservation & Responsibility
After years of reading, watching and thinking what other societies around the world, were doing, as well as the modernization of society, We should protect small animals like the squirrels, mouse deer and jungle birds today. If squirrels eat your fruits, feed them or protect your fruit using a way that will not harm the animal. Perhaps using ultra-sonic sound. ..However, if it is too much…yes..just shoot them or else you will lose all your “merchandise”. Hoping the people will not hunt mouse deer or the birds anymore, they are lovely animals and birds.
From what I read as well as when common sense comes to play,
The earth ecosystem may just collapse as every species plays their part in making the earth ecosystem runs as it should be. If one of the species extinct, it will be gone forever, as these species come with their unique genetic code. It has come from million of years of evolution. It will have a cascading effect as every species plays their role in one way or another in supporting the existence of this earth. For example, the extinct of bird can disrupt the pollination process of our food crop supply chain. Many bird species are crucial for spreading seeds and ensuring the growth of forest and vegetation. If this is not done, we will be out of vegetation, trees and other plant that will also disrupt the source of oxygen and carbon storage. This is just the other part of it. It’s a wide topic that has no end to it. In short, birds and animals are a part of the ecosystem.
Reflection & Deeper Prompts
The shift from a primitive way of life to a more sophisticated and modern ways reveals about our growth as a species, evolution and “upgraded”. The advanced of technology that already forcing it ways into our life has changed our lifestyle and the way we see thing. It reflects lots of changes in our relationship with the nature around us, invoke our self-awareness and define our progress in itself. It has made us from being a simple food gatherer to a food production chains instead, at least at village level. ..i.e from survival driven exploitation to a conscious stewardship…managing the growth.
And now, we have come to the idea of, we should have a proper foods production such as planting vegetables, rearing animals and fish farming, and this is about sustainability to feed the ever-growing population. Perhaps certain parts of the world have done this since thousands of years ago but it is a fact that not every part of the world progress grow at once on the same level of achievement, but replicated the success of changes albeit very slowly according to how fast our brain network can take it.
When come to remembering about the past, though we may not be as great as the others, we are proud that we can evolve from the primitive lifestyle onto the “world stage” . When people use computer, we are also using it. When people fly on an airplane, we have done it as well. When a Japanese spoke, we do not understand but certainly we can know what they are talking about as we can also use the tech to translate it.
This is what the once village people has gone through. The life before the road and handphone, how we survive and survive well that majority of the new generation did not experience, in short, we survive the “dark” age and we also survive the “brighter” age. We have the jungle skill as well as the supermarket skill that you may only have the supermarket skill !.
