Borneo shamanism
Borneo shamanism PrefaceCHAPTER 1CHAPTER 2CHAPTER 3CHAPTER 4CHAPTER 5CHAPTER 6CHAPTER 7CHAPTER 8CHAPTER 9CHAPTER 10CHAPTER 11CHAPTER 12CHAPTER 13CHAPTER 14CHAPTER 15FIGURE 79CHAPTER 16CHAPTER 17CHAPTER 18CHAPTER 19CHAPTER 20CHAPTER 21CHAPTER 22NOTESCopyright
Borneo shamanism
Charles Hose, William McDougall
Preface
In writing this book we have aimed at presenting a clear
picture of the pagan tribes of Borneo as they existed at the close
of the nineteenth century. We have not attempted to embody in it
the observations recorded by other writers, although we have
profited by them and have been guided and aided by them in making
our own observations. We have rather been content to put on record
as much information as we have been able to obtain at first hand,
both by direct observation of the people and of their possessions,
customs, and manners, and by means of innumerable conversations
with men and women of many tribes.The reader has a right to be informed as to the nature of the
opportunities we have enjoyed for collecting our material, and we
therefore make the following personal statement. One of us (C. H.)
has spent twenty-four years as a Civil Officer in the service of
the Rajah of Sarawak; and of this time twenty-one years were spent
actually in Sarawak, while periods of some months were spent from
time to time in visiting neighbouring lands — Celebes, Sulu
Islands, Ternate, Malay Peninsula, British North Borneo, and Dutch
Borneo. Of the twenty-one years spent in Sarawak, about eighteen
were passed in the Baram district, and the remainder mostly in the
Rejang district. In both these districts, but especially in the
Baram, settlements and representatives of nearly all the principal
peoples are to be found; and the nature of his duties as Resident
Magistrate necessitated a constant and intimate intercourse with
all the tribes of the districts, and many long and leisurely
journeys into the far interior, often into regions which had not
previously been explored. Such journeys, during which the tribesmen
are the magistrate's only companions for many weeks or months, and
during which his nights and many of his days are spent in the
houses of the people, afford unequalled opportunities for obtaining
intimate knowledge of them and their ways. These opportunities have
not been neglected; notes have been written, special questions
followed up, photographs taken, and sketches made, throughout all
this period.In the years 1898 — 9 the second collaborator (W. McD.) spent
the greater part of a year in the Baram district as a member of the
Cambridge Anthropological Expedition, which, under the leadership
of Dr. A. C. Haddon, went out to the Torres Straits in the year
1897. During this visit we co-operated in collecting material for a
joint paper on the animal cults of Sarawak;[1] and this
co-operation, having proved itself profitable, suggested to us an
extension of our joint program to the form of a book embodying all
the information already to hand and whatever additional information
might be obtainable during the years that one of us was still to
spend in Borneo. The book therefore may be said to have been begun
in the year 1898 and to have been in progress since that time; but
it has been put into shape only during the last few years, when we
have been able to come together for the actual writing of
it.During the year 1899 Dr. A. C. Haddon spent some months in
the Baram district, together with other members of the Cambridge
Expedition (Drs. C. G. Seligmann, C. S. Myers, and Mr. S. Ray); and
we wish to express our obligation to him for the friendly
encouragement in, and stimulating example of, anthropological field
work which he afforded us during that time, as well as for later
encouragement and help which he has given us, especially in reading
the proofs of the book and in making many helpful suggestions. We
are indebted to him also for the Appendix to this book, in which he
has stated and discussed the results of the extensive series of
physical measurements of the natives that he made, with our
assistance, during his visit to Sarawak.We have pleasure in expressing here our thanks to several
other gentlemen to whom we are indebted for help of various kinds —
for permission to reproduce several photographs, to Dr. A. W.
Nieuwenhuis, the intrepid explorer of the interior of Dutch Borneo,
who in his two fine volumes (QUER DURCH BORNEO) has embodied the
observations recorded during two long journeys in the interior; to
Mr. H. Ling Roth for the gift of the blocks used in the preparation
of his well-known work, THE NATIVES OF SARAWAK AND BRITISH NORTH
BORNEO, many of which we have made use of; to Dr. W. H. Furness,
author of THE HOME LIFE OF BORNEO HEAD-HUNTERS (1902), for several
photographic plates made by him during his visits to the Baram in
the years 1897 and 1898; to Drs. C. G. Seligmann and C. S. Myers
for permission to reproduce several photographs; to Mr. R.
Shelford, formerly Curator of the Sarawak Museum, for his
permission to incorporate a large part of a paper published jointly
with one of us (C. H.) on tatu in Borneo, and for measurements of
Land Dayaks made by him; to Mr. R. S. Douglas, formerly Assistant
Officer in the Baram district and now Resident of the Fourth
Division of Sarawak, for practical help genially afforded on many
occasions.Finally, it is our agreeable duty to acknowledge our
obligation to H.H. the Rajah of Sarawak, who welcomed to his
country the members of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition,
and without whose enlightened encouragement of scientific work on
the part of his officers this book would never have been
written.
CHAPTER 1
Geography of BorneoBorneo is one of the largest islands of the world. Its area
is roughly 290,000 square miles, or about five times that of
England and Wales. Its greatest length from north-east to
south-west is 830 miles, and its greatest breadth is about 600
miles. It is crossed by the equator a little below its centre, so
that about two-thirds of its area lie in the northern and one-third
lies in the southern hemisphere. Although surrounded on all sides
by islands of volcanic origin, Borneo differs from them in
presenting but small traces of volcanic activity, and in consisting
of ancient masses of igneous rock and of sedimentary
strata.The highest mountain is Kinabalu, an isolated mass of granite
in the extreme north, nearly 14,000 feet in height. With this
exception the principal mountains are grouped in several massive
chains, which rise here and there to peaks about 10,000 feet above
the sea. The principal of these chains, the Tibang-Iran range, runs
south-westward through the midst of the northern half of the island
and is prolonged south of the equator by the Schwaner chain. This
median south-westerly trending range forms the backbone of the
island. A second much-broken chain runs across the island from east
to west about 1[degree] north of the equator. Besides these two
principal mountain chains which determine the main features of the
river-system, there are several isolated peaks of considerable
height, and a minor ridge of hills runs from the centre towards the
south-cast corner. With the exception of the northern extremity,
which geographically as well as politically stands apart from the
rest of the island, the whole of Borneo may be described as divided
by the two principal mountain chains into four large watersheds. Of
these, the north-western basin, the territory of Sarawak, is
drained by the Rejang and Baram, as well as by numerous smaller
rivers. Of the other three, which constitute Dutch Borneo, the
north-eastern is drained by the Batang Kayan or Balungan river; the
south-eastern by the Kotei and Banjermasin rivers; and the
south-western by the Kapuas, the largest of all the rivers, whose
course from the centre of the island to its south-west corner is
estimated at 700 miles. Although the point of intersection of the
two principal mountain chains lies almost exactly midway between
the northern and southern and the eastern and western extremities
of the island, the greater width of the southern half of the island
gives a longer course to the rivers of that part, in spite of the
fact that all the six principal rivers mentioned above have their
sources not far from this central point. The principal rivers thus
radiate from a common centre, the Batang Kayan flowing
east-north-east, the Kotei south-east by east, the Banjermasin
south, the Kapuas a little south of west, the Rejang west, and the
Baram north-west. This radiation of the rivers from a common centre
is a fact of great importance for the understanding of the
ethnography of the island, since the rivers are the great highways
which movements of the population chiefly follow.In almost all parts of the island, the land adjoining the
coast is a low-lying swampy belt consisting of the alluvium brought
down by the many rivers from the central highlands. This belt of
alluvium extends inland in many parts for fifty miles or more, and
is especially extensive in the south and south-east of the
island.Between the swampy coast belt and the mountains intervenes a
zone of very irregular hill country, of which the average height
above the sea-level is about one thousand feet, with occasional
peaks rising to five or six thousand feet or more.There seems good reason to believe that at a comparatively
recent date Borneo was continuous with the mainland of Asia,
forming its south-eastern extremity. Together with Sumatra and Java
it stands upon a submarine bank, which is nowhere more than one
hundred fathoms below the surface, but which plunges down to a much
greater depth along a line a little east of Borneo (Wallace's
line). The abundance of volcanic activity in the archipelago marks
it as a part of the earth's crust liable to changes of elevation,
and the accumulation of volcanic matter would tend to make it an
area of subsidence; while the north-east monsoon, which blows with
considerable violence down the China Sea for about four months of
each year, may have hastened the separation of Borneo from the
mainland. That this separation was effected in a very recent
geological period is shown by the presence in Borneo of many
species of Asiatic mammals both large and small, notably the
rhinoceros (R. BORNIENSIS, closely allied to R. SUMATRANUS); the
elephant (E. INDICUS, which, however, may have been imported by
man); the wild cattle (BOS SONDIACUS, which occurs also in
Sumatra); several species of deer and pig (some of which are found
in Sumatra and the mainland); several species of the cat tribe, of
which the tiger-cat (FELIS NEBULOSA) is the largest; the civet-cat
(VIVERRA) and its congeners HEMIGALE, PARADOXURUS, and ARCTOGALE;
the small black bear (URSUS MALAYANUS); the clawless otter (LUTRA
CINEREA); the bear-cat (ARCTICTIS BINTURONG); the scaly ant-eater
(MANIS JAVANICUS); the lemurs (TARSIUS SPECTRUM and NYCTICEBUS
TARDIGRADUS); the flying lemur (GALEOPITHECUS VOLANS); the
porcupine (HYSTRIX CRASSISPINIS); numerous bats, squirrels, rats
and mice; the big shrew (GYMNURA); several species of monkeys, and
two of the anthropoid apes. The last are of peculiar significance,
since they are incapable of crossing even narrow channels of water,
and must be regarded as products of a very late stage of biological
evolution. Of these two anthropoid species, the gibbon (HYLOBATES
MULLERI) is closely allied to species found in the mainland and in
Sumatra, while the MAIAS or orang-utan (SIMIA SALYRUS) is found
also in Sumatra and, though not now surviving on the continent,
must be regarded as related to anthropoids whose fossil remains
have been discovered there.[2]The zoological evidence thus indicates a recent separation of
Borneo and Sumatra from the continent, and a still more recent
separation between the two islands.The climate of the whole island is warm and moist and very
equable. The rainfall is copious at all times of the year, but is
rather heavier during the prevalence of the north-east monsoon in
the months from October to February, and least during the months of
April and May. At Kuching, during the last thirty years, the
average yearly rainfall has been 160 inches, the maximum 225, and
the minimum 102 inches; the maximum monthly fall recorded was 69
inches, and the minimum .66, and the greatest rainfall recorded in
one day was 15 inches. The temperature hardly, if ever, reaches
100[degree] F.; it ranges normally between 70[degree] and
90[degree] F.; the highest reading of one year (1906) at Kuching
was 94[degree], the lowest 69[degree]. Snow and frost are unknown,
except occasionally on the summits of the highest mountains.
Thunder-storms are frequent and severe, but wind-storms are not
commonly of any great violence.The abundant rainfall maintains a copious flow of water down
the many rivers at all times of the year; but the rivers are liable
to rise rapidly many feet above their normal level during days of
exceptionally heavy rain. In their lower reaches, where they
traverse the alluvial plains and swamps, the rivers wind slowly to
the sea with many great bends, and all the larger ones are
navigable by small steamers for many miles above their mouths: thus
a large steam launch can ascend the Rejang for 160 miles, the Baram
for 120, and some of the rivers on the Dutch side for still greater
distances. The limit of such navigation is set by beds of rock over
which the rivers run shallow, and which mark the beginnings of the
middle reaches. In these middle reaches, where the rivers wind
between the feet of the hills, long stretches of deep smooth water
alternate with others in which the water runs with greater violence
between confining walls of rock, or spreads out in wide rapids over
stony bottoms. The upper reaches of the rivers, where they descend
rapidly from the slopes of the mountains, are composed of long
series of shallow rapids and low waterfalls, alternating at short
intervals with still pools and calm shallows, bounded by rock walls
and great beds of waterworn stones, which during the frequent
freshets are submerged by a boiling flood. The whole river in these
upper reaches is for the most part roofed in by the overarching
forest.Practically the whole of Borneo, from the seacoast to the
summits of the highest mountains, is covered with a dense forest.
On the summits this consists of comparatively stunted trees, of
which every part is thickly coated with moss. In all other parts
the forest consists of great trees rising to a height of 150 feet,
and even 200 feet, and of a dense undergrowth of younger and
smaller trees, and of a great variety of creepers, palms, and
ferns. Trees of many species (nearly 500) yield excellent timber,
ranging from the hardest ironwood or BILIAN, and other hard woods
(many of them so close-grained that they will not float in water),
to soft, easily worked kinds. A considerable number bear edible
fruits, notably the mango (from which the island derives its Malay
name, PULU KLEMANTAN), the durian, mangosteen, rambutan, jack
fruit, trap, lansat, banana of many varieties, both wild and
cultivated, and numerous sour less nutritious kinds. Wild sago is
abundant in some localities. Various palms supply in their
unfolding leaves a cabbage-like edible. Among edible roots the
caladium is the chief. Rubber is obtained as the sap of a wild
creeper; gutta-percha from trees of several varieties; camphor from
pockets in the stem of the camphor tree (DRYOBALANOPS AROMATICA).
But of all the jungle plants those which play the most important
parts in the life of the people are the many species of the rattan
and the bamboo; without them more than half the crafts and most of
the more important material possessions of the natives would be
impossible, and their lives would perhaps nearly conform to the
conventional notion of savage existence as something 'nasty, dull,
and brutish.' The jungle of Borneo is, of course, famous for its
wealth of orchids, and can claim the distinction of producing the
largest flower of the world (RAFFLESIA), and many beautiful
varieties of the pitcher plant.The forests of Borneo harbour more than 450 species of birds,
many of them being of gorgeous colouring or strange and beautiful
forms; especially noteworthy are many hawks, owls, and eagles,
fly-catchers, spider-hunters, sun-birds, broad-bills, nightjars,
orioles, miners, pigeons, kingfishers, hornbills, trojans, magpies,
jays, crows, partridges, pheasants, herons, bitterns, snipes,
plovers, Curlews, and sandpipers. Amongst these are many species
peculiar to Borneo; while on the mountains above the 4000-feet
level are found several species which outside Borneo are known only
in the Himalayas.Besides the mammals mentioned above, Borneo claims several
species of mammal peculiar to itself, notably the long-nosed monkey
(NASALIS LARVATUS); two species of ape (SEMNOPITHECUS HOSEI and S.
CRUCIGER); many shrews and squirrels, including several flying
species; a civet-cat (HEMIGALE HOSEI); a deer (CERVUS BROOKII); the
bearded pig (SUS HARBATUS); the curious feather-tailed shrew
(PTYLOCERCUS LOWII).Reptiles are well represented by the crocodile, which abounds
in all the rivers, a long-snouted gavial, numerous tortoises and
lizards with several flying species, and more than seventy species
of snakes, of which some are poisonous, while the biggest, the
python, attains a length of thirty feet. The rivers abound in
edible fish of many species; insects are of course numerous and
varied, and, aided by the multitude of frogs, they fill the island
each evening at sunset with one vast chorus of sound.
CHAPTER 2
History of BorneoThe Pagan tribes of Borneo have no written records of their
history and only very vague traditions concerning events in the
lives of their ancestors of more than five or six generations ago.
But the written records of more cultured peoples of the Far East
contain references to Borneo which throw some small rays of light
upon the past history and present condition of its population. It
has seemed to us worth while to bring together in these pages these
few historical notes. The later history of Borneo, which is in the
main the story of its occupation by and division between the Dutch
and English, and especially the romantic history of the acquisition
of the raj of Sarawak by its first English rajah, Sir James Brooke,
has often been told,[3] and for this reason may be dismissed by us
in a very few words.The coasts of Borneo have long been occupied by a Mohammedan
population of Malay culture; this population is partly descended
from Malay and Arab immigrants, and partly from indigenous
individuals and communities that have adopted the Malay faith and
culture in recent centuries. When Europeans first visited the
island, this population, dwelling for the most part, as it still
does, in villages and small towns upon the coast and in or near the
mouths of the rivers, owed allegiance to several Malay sultans and
a number of subordinate rulers, the local rajahs and pangirans. The
principal sultans had as their capitals, from which they took their
titles, Bruni on the north-west, Sambas in the west, Pontianak at
the mouth of the Kapuas river, Banjermasin in the south at the
mouth of the river of the same name, Pasir at the south-east
corner, Kotei and Balungan on the east at the mouths of the rivers
of those names; while the Sultan of Jolo, the capital of the Sulu
islands, which lie off the north coast, claimed sovereignty over
the northern end of Borneo. But these Malay sultans were not the
first representatives in the island of culture and of civilised or
semi-civilised rule; for history preserves some faint records of
still earlier times, of which some slight confirmation is afforded
by surviving traces of the culture then introduced.In spite of all the work done on the history of the East
Indies, most of what occurred before and much that followed the
arrival of Europeans remains obscure. There are several Asiatic
nations whose records might be expected to contain valuable
information, but all are disappointing. The Klings, still the
principal Hindu traders in the Far East, visited the Malay
Archipelago in the first or at any rate the second century after
Christ,[4] and introduced their writing[5] and chronology. But
their early histories are meagre and unsatisfactory in the extreme.
The Arab culture of the Malays, which took root in Sumatra in the
twelfth century, is of course of no assistance in regard to events
of earlier date, and does not give trustworthy and detailed
accounts until the fifteenth century. The Chinese, on the other
hand, always a literary people, carefully preserved in their
archives all that could be gathered with regard to the "southern
seas." But China was far away, and many local events would possess
no interest for her subjects. Under the circumstances, the official
historians deserve our gratitude for their geographical
descriptions and for the particulars of tribute-bearing missions to
the Son of Heaven, though they have little else to
tell.The first account we have been able to find referring to
Borneo is a description of the kingdom of Poli from the Chinese
annals of the sixth century. Poli was said to be on an island in
the sea south-east of Camboja, and two months south-east of Canton.
The journey thither was made by way of the Malay Peninsula, a
devious route still followed by Chinese junks. Envoys were sent to
the Imperial court in A.D. 518, 523, and 616. "The people of this
country," our authority says, "are skilled in throwing a
discus-knife, and the edge is like a saw; when they throw it at a
man, they never fail to hit him. Their other arms are about the
same as in China. Their customs resemble those of Camboja, and the
productions of the country are the same as of Siam. When one
commits a murder or theft they cut off his hands,[6] and when
adultery has been committed, the culprit has his legs chained for
the period of a year. For their sacrifice they choose the time when
there is no moon; they fill a bowl with wine and eatables and let
it float away on the surface of the water; in the eleventh month
they have a great sacrifice. They get corals from the sea, and they
have a bird called s'ari, which can talk." A later reference to the
same place says: "They carry the teeth of wild beasts in their
ears, and wrap a piece of cotton round their loins; cotton is a
plant of which they collect the flowers to make cloth of them; the
coarser kind is called KUPA, and the finer cloth T'IEH. They hold
their markets at night, and cover their faces…. At the east of this
country is situated the land of the Rakshas, which has the same
customs as Poli."[7]This is an interesting account in many ways, and tallies very
closely with what other evidence would lead one to suspect. For
there is reason to think that Bruni, before it became Mohammedan,
was a Bisaya kingdom under Buddhist sovereigns and Hindu influence;
and nearly all the particulars given with regard to the people of
Borneo are true of one or other of the races allied to Bisayas and
living near Bruni to-day. The discus-knife, a wooden weapon, is not
now in use, but is known to have been used formerly. The wild
Kadayans sacrifice after every new moon, and are forbidden to eat a
number of things until they have done so. The Malanaus set laden
rafts afloat on the rivers to propitiate the spirits of the sea.
The very names of the two kinds of cotton, then evidently a novelty
to the Chinese, are found in Borneo: KAPOK is a well-known Malay
word; but TAYA is the common name for cotton among the Sea Dayaks,
though it is doubtful whether it is found in Sumatra at all, and is
not given in Marsden's great Dictionary. The use of teeth as
ear-ornaments may refer to Kenyahs. If these identities are
sufficient to show that Poli was old Bruni, we have an almost
unique illustration here of the antiquity of savage customs. That
an experience of fourteen hundred years should have failed to
convince people of the futility of feeding salt waves is a striking
demonstration of the widespread fallacy, that what is old must
needs be good.Poli had already attained a certain measure of civilisation,
and even of luxury. The kingly dignity was hereditary, and the
Buddhist monarch was served with much ceremony. He was clad in
flowered silk or cotton, adorned with pearls, and sat on a golden
throne attended by servants with white dusters and fans of peacock
feathers. When he went out of his palace, his chariot, canopied
with feathers and embroidered curtains, was drawn by elephants,
whilst gongs, drums, and conches made inspiriting music. As Hindu
ornaments have been found at Santubong together with Chinese coins
of great antiquity, as the names of many offices of state in Bruni
are derived from Sanskrit, and the people of Sarawak have only
lately ceased to speak of "the days of the Hindus,"[8] there is
nothing startling in the statement that the kings of Poli were
Buddhist.Whatever Poli may or may not have been, there is little
question that Puni, 45 days from Java, 40 from Palembang, 30 from
Champa, in each case taking the wind to be fair, was Bruni. The
Chinese, who have neither B nor double consonants in their
impoverished language, still call the Bornean capital Puni.
Groeneveldt says that the Chinese consider Puni to have been on the
west coast of Borneo. This state is mentioned several times in the
annals of the Sung dynasty, which, though only ruling over Southern
China, had a complete monopoly[9] of the ocean trade for three
centuries (960 to 1279 A.D.). Puni was at that time a town of some
10,000 inhabitants, protected by a stockade of timber. The king's
palace, like the houses of modern Bruni, was thatched with palm
leaves, the cottages of the people with grass. Warriors carried
spears and protected themselves with copper armour. When any native
died, his corpse was exposed in the jungle, and once a year for
seven years sacrifices were made to the departed spirit. Bamboos
and palm leaves, thrown away after every meal, sufficed for
crockery. The products of the country, or at least such as were
sent as tribute, were camphor, tortoiseshell, and
ivory.[10]In the year 977, we are told, Hianzta, king of Puni, sent
envoys to China, who presented tribute with the following words:
"May the emperor live thousands and tens of thousands of years, and
may he not disapprove of the poor civilities of my little country."
The envoys presented a letter from the king. This was written on'
what looked like the very thin bark of a tree; it was glossy,
slightly green, several feet long, and somewhat broader than one
inch; the characters in which it was written were small, and had to
be read horizontally. In all these particulars the letter resembled
the books of magic which are still written by the Battas of inland
Sumatra.[11] The message ran: "The king of Puni, called Hianzta,
prostrates himself before the most august emperor, and hopes that
the emperor may live ten thousands of years. I have now sent envoys
to carry tribute; I knew before that there was an emperor, but I
had no means of communication. Recently there was a merchant called
Pu Lu, whose ship arrived at the mouth of my river; I sent a man to
invite him to my place, and he told me that he came from China. The
people of my country were much delighted at this, and preparing a
ship, asked this stranger to guide them to the court. The envoys I
have sent only wish to see Your Majesty in peace, and I intend to
send people with tribute every year. But when I do so I fear that
my ships may occasionally be blown to Champa, and I therefore hope
Your Majesty will send an edict to that country with orders that,
if a ship of Hianzta arrives there, it must not be detained. My
country has no other articles,[12] and I pray Your Majesty not to
be angry with me." The envoys were entertained and sent home with
presents. In 1082 A.D., a hundred years later, Sri Maja, king of
Puni, sent tribute again, but the promise of yearly homage was not
kept. Gradually the Sung dynasty declined in power, and East Indian
potentates became less humble.In the thirteenth and the early part of the fourteenth
centuries Bruni owed allegiance alternately to two powers much
younger than herself, Majapahit in Java, and Malacca on the west
coast of the Malay Peninsula. Both these states were founded in the
thirteenth century.[13] Majapahit, originally only one of several
Javan kingdoms, rapidly acquired strength and subjugated her
neighbours and the nearest portions of the islands around. Malacca,
formed when the Malay colony of Singapore was overwhelmed by
Javanese, became the great commercial depot of the Straits and the
chief centre of Mohammedanism in the Archipelago. The two powers
therefore stood for two faiths and two cultures: Majapahit for
Brahminism and Hindu influence, Malacca for Islam and the more
practical civilisation of Arabia.In the earliest years of the fourteenth century Bruni was a
dependency of Majapahit, but seems to have recovered its
independence during the minority of the Javan king. It is to this
time that the tradition of the Kapuas Malays ascribes the arrival
of the Kayans in Borneo.[14] Then Angka Wijaya extended the power
of Majapahit over Palembang in Sumatra, Timor, Ternate, Luzon, and
the coasts of Borneo. Over Banjermasin he set his natural son. In
1368 Javanese soldiers drove from Bruni the Sulu marauders who had
sacked the town. A few years later the ungrateful king transferred
his allegiance to China, and not long afterwards, with calculating
humility, paid tribute[15] to Mansur Shah, who had succeeded to the
throne of Malacca in 1374 A.D.An extraordinary incident occurred at the beginning of the
fifteenth century, which again — and for the last time — draws our
attention to the Chinese court. The great Mongol conquerors,
Genghis and Kublai Khan, had little to do with the Malay
Archipelago, though the latter sent an unsuccessful expedition
against Java in 1292. But the Ming emperors, who were of Chinese
blood, came to power in 1368 and soon developed the maritime
influence of the empire. For a few years there was a continual
stream of East Indian embassies. During the last twenty years of
the century, however, these became more rare, and in 1405 the
Chinese emperor found it necessary to send a trusted eunuch, by
name Cheng Ho, to visit the vassal states in the south. This man
made several journeys, travelling as far as the shores of Africa,
and his mission bore immediate fruit. Among others, Maraja Kali,
king of Puni, although Cheng Ho does not appear to have called on
him in person, sent tribute in 1405; and so pleased was he with the
embroidered silk presented to him and his wife in return, that he
visited the Son of Heaven three years later. Landing in Fukien, he
was escorted by a eunuch to the Chinese capital amid scenes of
great rejoicing. The emperor received him in audience, allowing him
the honours of a noble of the first rank, and loaded him with
gifts. The same year, having accomplished his one great ambition of
"seeing the face of the Son of Heaven," this humbled monarch died
in the imperial city, leaving his son Hiawang to succeed to the
throne of Puni. Having induced the emperor to stop the yearly
tribute of forty katties of camphor paid by Puni to Java, and
having agreed to send tribute to China every three years, Hiawang
returned home to take up the reins of government. Between 1410 and
1425 he paid tribute six times, besides revisiting the Chinese
Court; but afterwards little Puni seems to have again ignored her
powerful suzerain.It is probable that the Chinese colony in North Borneo which
gave its name to the lofty mountain Kina Balu (Chinese widow) and
to the Kina Batangan, the chief river which flows from it, was
founded about this time. Several old writers seem to refer to this
event, and local traditions of the settlement still survive. The
Brunis and Idaans (a people in the north not unlike the Bisayas)
have legends differing in detail to the effect that the Chinese
came to seize the great jewel of the Kina Balu dragon, but
afterwards quarrelled about the booty and separated, some remaining
behind. The Idaans consider themselves the descendants of these
settlers, but that can only be true in a very limited sense. Both
country and people, however, show traces of Chinese
influence.There is good evidence that the Chinese influence and
immigration were not confined to Bruni and the northern end of the
island. In south-west Borneo there are traces of very extensive
washings of alluvial gravels for gold and diamonds. These
operations were being conducted by Chinese when Europeans first
came to the country; and the extent of the old workings implies
that they had been continued through many centuries. Hindu-Javan
influence also was not confined to the court of Bruni, for in many
parts of the southern half of Borneo traces of it survive in the
custom of burning the dead, in low relief carvings of bulls on
stone, and in various gold ornaments of Hindu
character.The faith of Islam and the arrival of Europeans have
profoundly affected the manners and politics of the East Indies,
and now it is difficult to picture the state of affairs when King
Hiawang revisited China to pay homage to the Emperor. In 1521,
within a hundred years of that event, Pigafetta, the chronicler of
Magellan's great exploit, was calling on the "Moorish" king of
Bruni, in the course of the first voyage round the world. The
change had come. Of the two new influences, so potent for good and
evil, Mohammedanism made its appearance first. The struggle for
religious supremacy ended in the complete victory of the Prophet's
followers in 1478, when Majapahit was utterly destroyed, thirty
years before the capture of Malacca by the Portuguese.How early the Arab doctrines were taught in Bruni is
impossible to state with any precision. Local tradition ascribes
their introduction to the renowned Alak ber Tata, afterwards known
as Sultan Mohammed. Like most of his subjects this warrior was a
Bisaya, and in early life he was not a Mohammedan, not indeed a
civilised potentate at all, to judge by conventional standards; for
the chief mark of his royal dignity was an immense chawat, or
loin-cloth, carried as he walked by eighty men, forty in front and
forty behind. He is the earliest monarch of whom the present Brunis
have any knowledge, a fact to be accounted for partly by the
brilliance of his exploits, partly by the introduction about that
time of Arabic writing. After much fighting he subdued the people
of Igan,[16] Kalaka, Seribas, Sadong, Semarahan, and Sarawak,[17]
and compelled them to pay tribute. He stopped the annual payment to
Majapahit of one jar of pinang juice, a useless commodity though
troublesome to collect. During his reign the Muruts were brought
under Bruni rule by peaceful measures,[18] and the Chinese colony
was kept in good humour by the marriage of the Bruni king's brother
and successor to the daughter of one of the principal
Chinamen.Alak ber Tata is said to have gone to Johore,[19] where he
was converted[20] to Islam, given[21] the daughter of Sultan Bakhei
and the title of Sultan, and was confirmed in his claim to rule
over Sarawak and his other conquests.[22]Sultan Mohammed was succeeded by his brother Akhmad,
son-in-law of the Chinese chief, and he was in turn succeeded by an
Arab from Taif who had married his daughter. Thus the present royal
house of Bruni is derived from three sources — Arab, Bisaya, and
Chinese. The coronation ceremony as still maintained affords an
interesting confirmation of this account. On that occasion the
principal minister wears a turban and Haji outfit, the two next in
rank are dressed in Chinese and Hindu fashion, while the fourth
wears a chawat over his trousers to represent the Bisayas; and each
of these ministers declares the Sultan to be divinely appointed.
Then after the demonstration of loyalty the two gongs — one from
Menangkabau, the other from Johore — are beaten, and the Moslem
high priest proclaims the Sultan and preaches a sermon, declaring
him to be a descendant of Sri Turi Buana, the Palembang chief who
founded the early kingdom of Singapore in 1160 A.D., who reigned in
that island for forty-eight years, and whose descendants became the
royal family of Malacca.The Arab Sultan who succeeded Akhmed assumed the name Berkat
and ruled the country with vigour. He built a mosque and converted
many of his subjects, so that from his reign Bruni may be
considered a Mohammedan town. To defend the capital he sank forty
junks filled with stone in the river, and thus formed the
breakwater which still bars the entrance to large ships. This work
rose above the water level, and in former times bristled with
cannon. Sultan Berkat was succeeded by his son Suleiman, whose
reign was of little consequence.Neglecting Suleiman, we come now to the most heroic figure in
Bruni history, Sultan Bulkiah, better known by his earlier name,
Nakoda Ragam. The prowess of this prince has been celebrated in
prose and verse. He journeyed to distant lands, and conquered the
Sulu islands and eastern Borneo. Over the throne of Sambas he set a
weak-minded brother of his own. He even sent an expedition to
Manila, and on the second attempt seized that place. Tribute poured
into his coffers from all sides. His wife was a Javanese princess,
who brought many people to Bruni. These intermarried with the
Bisayas, and from them it is said are sprung the Kadayans, a quiet
agricultural folk, skilled in various arts, but rendered timid by
continual oppression. Some have settled recently in the British
colony of Labuan, and others in Sarawak round the river Sibuti,
where they have become loyal subjects of the Rajah of
Sarawak.Nakoda Ragam's capital at Buang Tawa was on dry land, but
when he died, killed accidentally by his wife's bodkin, the nobles
quarrelled among themselves, and some of them founded the present
pile-built town of Bruni. It was to this Malay capital and court
that Pigafetta paid his visit in 1521 with the surviving companions
of Magellan. His is the first good account from European sources of
the place which he called Bornei, and whose latitude he estimated
with an error of less than ten miles.[23]It is easy to see from Pigafetta's narrative[24] that at the
date of his visit the effects of Nakoda Ragam's exploits had not
evaporated. The splendour of the Court and the large population the
city is said to have contained were presumably the result of the
conquests he had made in neighbouring islands. The king, like the
princes of Malacca before the conquest, had his elephants, and he
and his courtiers were clothed in Chinese satins and Indian
brocades. He was in possession of artillery, and the appearance and
ceremonial of his court was imposing.From this time onwards the power of Bruni has continuously
declined. Recurrent civil wars invited the occasional interventions
of the Portuguese and of the Spanish governors of the Philippines,
which, although they did not result in the subjugation of the Malay
power, nevertheless sapped its strength.The interest of the later history of Borneo lies in the
successive attempts,[25] many of them fruitless, made by Dutch and
English to gain a footing on the island. The Dutch arrived off
Bruni in the year 1600, and ten days afterwards were glad to leave
with what pepper they had obtained in the interval, the commander
judging the place nothing better than a nest of rogues. The Dutch
did not press the acquaintance, but started factories at Sambas,
where they monopolised the trade. In 1685 an English captain named
Cowley arrived in Bruni; but the English showed as little
inclination as the Dutch to take up the commerce which the
Portuguese had abandoned.At Banjermasin, on the southern coast, more progress was
made. The Dutch arrived there before their English rivals, but were
soon compelled by intrigues to withdraw. In 1704[26] the English
factors on the Chinese island of Chusan, expelled by the imperial
authorities and subsequently driven from Pulo Condar off the Cochin
China coast by a mutiny, arrived at Banjermasin. They had every
reason to be gratified with the prospects at that port; for they
could sell the native pepper to the Chinese at three times the cost
price. But their bitter experiences in the China seas had not
taught them wisdom; they soon fell out with the Javanese Sultan,
whose hospitality they were enjoying, and after some bloody
struggles were obliged to withdraw from this part of the
island.In 1747 the Dutch East India Company, which in 1705 had
obtained a firm footing in Java, and in 1745 had established its
authority over all the north-eastern coast of that island, extorted
a monopoly of trade at Banjermasin and set up a factory. Nearly
forty years later[27] (1785), the reigning prince having rendered
himself odious to his subjects, the country was invaded by 3000
natives of Celebes. These were expelled by the Dutch, who dethroned
the Sultan, placing his younger brother on the throne; and he, in
reward for their services, ceded to them his entire dominions,
consenting to hold them as a vassal. This is the treaty under which
the Dutch claim the sovereignty of Banjermasin and whatever was
once dependent on it. In this way the Dutch got a hold on the
country which they have never relaxed; and, after the interval
during which their possessions in the East Indies were administered
by England,[28] they strengthened that hold gradually, year by
year, till now two-thirds or more of the island is under their flag
and feels the benefits of their rule. If there are still any
districts of this large area where Dutch influence has even now
barely made itself felt, they will not long remain in their
isolation; for the Controleurs are extending their influence even
into the most remote corners of the territory.To turn again to the north-western coast and the doings of
Englishmen, in 1763 the Sultan of Sulu ceded to the East India
Company the territory in Borneo which had been given him when he
killed the usurper Abdul Mubin in Bruni. In 1773 a small settlement
was formed on the island of Balambangan, north of Bruni; and in the
following year the Sultan of Bruni agreed to give this settlement a
monopoly of the pepper trade in return for protection from piracy.
In the next year, however, Balambangan was surprised and captured
by the Sulus. It was reoccupied for a few months in 1803, and then
finally forsaken.Towards the end of the eighteenth century the Malays of
Bruni, Sulu, and Mindanao, with native followers and allies,
inspired we may suppose by the example of their European visitors,
took to piracy — not that they had not engaged in such business
before, but that they now prosecuted an old trade with renewed
vigour. English traders still tried to pay occasional visits, but
after the loss of the MAY in 1788, the SUSANNA in 1803, and the
COMMERCE in 1806, with the murder of the crews, the Admiralty
warned merchants that it was CERTAIN DESTRUCTION to go up river to
Bruni. For forty years this intimation was left on British charts,
and British seamen followed the humiliating counsel. Not until the
early forties was peace restored, after an event of the most
romantic and improbable kind, the accession of an English gentleman
to the throne of Sarawak.Of this incident, so fateful for the future of the western
side of Borneo, it must suffice to say here that James Brooke, a
young Englishman, having resigned his commission in the army of the
British East India Company, invested his fortune in a yacht of 140
tons, with which he set sail in 1838 for the eastern Archipelago.
His bold but vague design was to establish peace, prosperity, and
just government in some part of that troubled area, whose beauties
he had admired and whose misfortunes he had deplored on the
occasion of an earlier voyage to the China seas. When at Singapore,
he heard that the Malays of Sarawak, a district forming the
southern extremity of the Sultanate of Bruni, had rebelled against
the Bruni nobles, and had in vain appealed to the Dutch
Governor-general at Batavia for deliverance from their oppressors.
Under the nominal authority of the Sultan, these Bruni nobles, many
of whom were of Arab descent, had brought all the north-western
part of Borneo to a state of chronic rebellion. They had taught the
Sea Dayaks of the Batang Lupar and neighbouring rivers to join them
in their piratical excursions, and, being to some extent dependent
upon their aid, were compelled to treat them with some
consideration; but all other communities were treated by them with
a rapacity and cruelty which was causing a rapid depopulation and
the return to jungle of much cultivated land.Brooke sailed for Sarawak in August 1839, and found the
country torn by internal conflicts. The Sultan had recently sent
Muda Hasim, his uncle and heir-presumptive to the throne of Bruni,
to restore order; but this weak though amiable noble had found
himself quite incapable of coping with the situation. Brooke spent
some time surveying the coast and studying the people and country,
and gained the confidence of Muda Hasim. After an excursion to
Celebes, Brooke sailed for a second visit to Sarawak just a year
after the first, and found the state of the country going from bad
to worse. Muda Hasim besought him to take command of his forces and
to suppress the rebellion. Brooke consented, and soon secured the
submission of the rebel leaders on the condition that he (Brooke),
and not any Bruni noble, should be the governor and Rajah of
Sarawak. Muda Hasim had offered to secure his appointment to this
office as an inducement to him to undertake the operations against
the rebels; Brooke therefore felt himself justified in granting
these terms. And when later Muda Hasim, no longer threatened with
disgrace and failure, showed himself disinclined to carry out this
arrangement, Brooke, feeling himself bound by his agreement with
the rebel leaders, whose lives he had with difficulty preserved
from the vengeance of the Bruni nobles, insisted upon it with some
show of force; and on September 24, 1841, he was proclaimed Rajah
and governor of Sarawak amid the rejoicings of the populace. Muda
Hasim, as representative of the Sultan, signed the document which
conferred this title and authority; but since he was not in any
proper sense Rajah of Sarawak, which in fact was not a raj, but a
district hitherto ruled or misruled by Bruni governors not bearing
the title of Rajah, this transaction cannot properly be described
as an abdication by Muda Hasim in favour of Brooke. Brooke
accordingly felt that it was desirable to secure from the Sultan
himself a formal recognition of his authority and title. To this
end he visited the Sultan in the year 1842, and obtained from him
the desired confirmation of the action of his agent Muda Hasim. The
way in which the raj of Sarawak has since been extended, until it
now comprises a territory of nearly 60,000 square miles
(approximately equal to the area of England and Wales), will be
briefly described in a later chapter (XXII.).The northern end of Borneo had long been a hunting-ground for
slaves for the nobles of Bruni and Sulu, whose Sultans claimed but
did not exercise the right to rule over it. In 1877 Mr. Alfred
Dent, a Shanghai merchant, induced the two Sultans to resign to him
their sovereign rights over this territory in return for a money
payment. The British North Borneo Company, which was formed for the
commercial development of it, necessarily undertook the task of
pacification and administration. In 1881 the company was granted a
royal charter by the British Government; and it now administers
with success and a fair prospect of continued commercial profit a
territory which, with the exception of a small area about the town
of Bruni, includes all of the island that had not been brought
under the Dutch or Sarawak flag. In 1888 Sarawak and British North
Borneo were formally brought under the protection of the British
Government; but the territories remained under the rule of the
Rajah and of the company respectively, except in regard to their
foreign relations. In the year 1906 the Sultan of Bruni placed
himself and his capital, together with the small territory over
which he still retained undivided authority, under the protection
of the British Government; and thus was completed the passing of
the island of Borneo under European control.
CHAPTER 3
General Sketch of the Peoples of Borneo
It is not improbable that at one time Borneo was inhabited by
people of the negrito race, small remnants of which race are still
to be found in islands adjacent to all the coasts of Borneo as well
as in the Malay Peninsula. No communities of this race exist in the
island at the present time; but among the people of the northern
districts individuals may be occasionally met with whose hair and
facial characters strongly suggest an infusion of negrito or
negroid blood.
It is probable that the mixed race of Hindu-Javanese
invaders, who occupied the southern coasts of Borneo some centuries
ago, became blended with the indigenous population, and that a
considerable proportion of their blood still runs in the veins of
some of the tribes of the southern districts (E.G. the Land Dayaks
and Malohs).
There can be no doubt that of the Chinese traders who have
been attracted to Borneo by its camphor, edible birds' nests, and
spices, some have settled in the island and have become blended
with and absorbed by the tribes of the north-west (E.G. the
Dusuns); and it seems probable that some of the elements of their
culture have spread widely and been adopted throughout a large part
of Borneo. For several centuries also Chinese settlers have been
attracted to the south-western district by the gold which they
found in the river gravel and alluvium. These also have
intermarried with the people of the country; but they have retained
their national characteristics, and have been continually recruited
by considerable numbers of their fellow countrymen. Since the
establishment of peace and order and security for life and property
by the European administrations, and with the consequent
development of trade during the last half-century, the influx of
Chinese has been very rapid; until at the present time they form
large communities in and about all the chief centres of trade. A
certain number of Chinese traders continue to penetrate far into
the interior, and some of these take wives of the people of the
country; in many cases their children become members of their
mothers' tribes and so are blended with the native stocks.
Among the Mohammedans, who are found in all the coast regions
of Borneo, there is a considerable number of persons who claim Arab
forefathers; and there can be no doubt that the introduction of the
Mohammedan religion was largely due to Arab traders, and that many
Arabs and their half-bred descendants have held official positions
under the Sultans of Bruni.
During the last half-century, natives of India, most of whom
are Klings from Madras, have established themselves in the small
trades of the towns; and of others who came as coolies, some have
settled in the towns with their wives and families. These people do
not penetrate into the interior or intermarry with the
natives.
With the exception of the above-mentioned immigrants and
their descendants, the population of Borneo may be described as
falling naturally into two great classes; namely, on the one hand
those who have accepted, nominally at least, the Mohammedan
religion and civilisation, and on the other hand the pagan peoples.
In Bruni and in all the coast regions the majority of the people
are Mohammedan, have no tribal organisation, and call themselves
Malays (Orang Malayu). This name has usually been accorded them by
European authors; but when so used the name denotes a social,
political, and religious status rather than membership in an ethnic
group. With the exception of these partially civilised "Malays" of
the coast regions and the imported elements mentioned above, all
the natives of Borneo live under tribal organisation, their
cultures ranging from the extreme simplicity of the nomadic Punans
to a moderately developed barbarism. All these pagan tribes have
often been classed together indiscriminately under the name Dyaks
or Dayaks, though many groups may be clearly distinguished from one
another by differences of culture, belief, and custom, and
peculiarities of their physical and mental constitutions.
The Mohammedan population, being of very heterogeneous ethnic
composition, and having adopted a culture of foreign origin, which
may be better studied in other regions of the earth where the Malay
type and culture is more truly indigenous, seems to us to be of
secondary interest to the anthropologist as compared with the less
cultured pagan tribes. We shall therefore confine our attention to
the less known pagan tribes of the interior; and when we speak of
the people of Borneo in general terms it is to the latter only that
we refer (except where the "Malays" are specifically mentioned). Of
these we distinguish six principal groups: (1) Sea Dayaks or Ibans,
(2) the Kayans, (3) Kenyahs, (4) Klemantans, (5) Muruts, (6)
Punans.
A census of the population has been made in most of the
principal districts of Sarawak and of Dutch Borneo; but as no
census of the whole country has hitherto been made, it is
impossible to state with any pretence to accuracy the number of the
inhabitants of the island. Basing our estimate on such partial and
local enumerations as have been made, we believe the total
population to be about 3,000,000. Of these the Chinese immigrants
and their descendants, who are rapidly increasing in number,
probably exceed 100,000. The Malays and the native converts to
Islam, who constitute with the Chinese the population of the towns
and settled villages of the coast districts, probably number
between three and four hundred thousand; the Indian immigrants are
probably not more than 10,000; the Europeans number perhaps 3000;
the rest of the population is made up of the six groups of
barbarians named in the foregoing paragraph.
Any estimate of the numbers of the people of each of these
six divisions is necessarily a very rough one, but it is perhaps
worth while to state our opinion on this question as follows:
Klemantans, rather more than 1,000,000; Kenyahs, about 300,000;
Muruts, 250,000; Sea Dayaks, 200,000; Kayans, 150,000; Punans and
other peoples of similar nomadic habits, 100,000 — I.E. a total of
2,000,000.
(1) Of all these six peoples the Sea Dayaks have become best
known to Europeans, largely owing to their restless truculent
disposition, and to the fact that they are more numerous in Sarawak
than any of the others. They have spread northwards over Sarawak
during the latter half of the last century, chiefly from the region
of the Batang Lupar, where they are still numerous. They are still
spreading northward, encroaching upon the more peaceful Klemantan
tribes. They are most densely distributed in the lower reaches of
the main rivers of Sarawak, especially the Batang Lupar and Saribas
rivers, which are now exclusively occupied by them; but they are
found also in scattered communities throughout almost all parts of
Sarawak, and even in British North Borneo, and they extend from
their centre in Sarawak into the adjacent regions of Dutch Borneo,
which are drained by the northern tributaries of the Great Kapuas
River.
The Sea Dayak is of a well-marked and fairly uniform physical
type. His skin is distinctly darker than that of the other peoples
of the interior, though not quite so dark as that of most of the
true Malays. The hair of his head is more abundant and longer than
that of other peoples. His figure is well proportioned, neat, and
generally somewhat boyish. His expression is bright and mobile, his
lips and teeth are generally distorted and discoloured by the
constant chewing of betel nut. They are a vain, dressy, boastful,
excitable, not to say frivolous people — cheerful, talkative,
sociable, fond of fun and jokes and lively stories; though given to
exaggeration, their statements can generally be accepted as founded
on fact; they are industrious and energetic, and are great
wanderers; to the last peculiarity they owe the name of Iban, which
has been given them by the Kayans, and which has now been generally
adopted even by the Sea Dayaks themselves.
The good qualities enumerated above render the Iban an
agreeable companion and a useful servant. But there is another side
to the picture: they have little respect for their chiefs, a
peculiarity which renders their social organisation very defective
and chaotic; they are quarrelsome, treacherous, and litigious, and
the most inveterate head-hunters of the country; unlike most of the
other peoples, they will take heads for the sake of the glory the
act brings them and for the enjoyment of the killing; in the
pursuit of human victims they become possessed by a furious
excitement that drives them on to acts of the most heartless
treachery and the most brutal ferocity.
All the Sea Dayaks speak one language, with but slight local
diversities of dialect. It is extremely simple, being almost devoid
of inflections, and of very simple grammatical structure, relying
largely on intonation. It is closely allied to Malay.
(2) The Kayans are widely distributed throughout central
Borneo, and are to be found in large villages situated on the
middle reaches of all the principal rivers with the exception of
those that run to the north coast. They occupy in the main a zone
dividing the districts of the lower reaches of the rivers from the
central highlands from which all the rivers flow.
They are a warlike people, but less truculent than the Sea
Dayaks, more staid and conservative and religious, and less
sociable. They do not wantonly enter into quarrels; they respect
and obey their chiefs. They are equally industrious with the Sea
Dayaks, and though somewhat slow and heavy in both mind and body,
they are more skilled in the handicrafts than any of the other
peoples. They also speak one language, which presents even less
local diversity than the Sea Dayak language.
(3) The Kenyahs predominate greatly in the highlands a little
north of the centre of Borneo where all the large rivers have their
sources; but they are found also in widely scattered villages
throughout the Kayan areas. In all respects they show closer
affinities with the Kayans than with the Sea Dayaks; as regards
custom and mode of life they closely resemble the Kayans, with whom
they are generally on friendly terms; but they are easily
distinguished from the Kayans by well-marked differences of bodily
and mental characters, as well as by language. Physically they are
without question the finest people of the country. Their
skin-colour is decidedly fairer than that of Sea Dayaks or Kayans.
They are of medium stature, with long backs and short, muscular,
well-rounded limbs; a little stumpy in build, but of graceful and
vigorous bearing. They are perhaps the most courageous and
intelligent of the peoples; pugnacious, but less quarrelsome than
the Sea Dayak; more energetic and excitable than the Kayan;
hospitable and somewhat improvident, sociable and of pleasant
manners; less reserved and of more buoyant temperament than the
Kayan; very loyal and obedient to their chiefs; more truthful and
more to be depended upon under all circumstances than any of the
other peoples, except possibly the Kayans.
The Kenyahs speak a number of dialects of the same language,
and these differ so widely that Kenyahs of widely separated
districts cannot converse freely with one another; but, as with all
the peoples, except the Sea Dayaks, nearly every man has the
command of several dialects as well as of the Kayan
language.
(4) The Klemantans. Under this name we group together a
number of tribes which, though in our opinion closely allied, are
widely scattered in all parts of Borneo, and present considerable
diversities of language and custom. In physical and mental
characters they show affinities to the Kenyahs on the one hand and
to the Muruts on the other. They are less bellicose than the
peoples mentioned above, and have suffered much at their hands.
They are careful, intelligent, and sociable, though somewhat timid,
people; skilful in handicrafts, but less energetic than the Kayans
and Kenyahs, and inferior to them in metal work and the making of
swords and spears and boats. The blow-pipe is their characteristic
weapon, and they are more devoted to hunting than any others,
except the Punans.
Klemantans are to be found in every part of the island, but
most of their villages are situated on the lower reaches of the
rivers. They are most abundant in the south, constituting the
greater part of the population of Dutch Borneo; in the north they
are few, their place being filled by their near relatives, the
Muruts. The latter constitute the principal part of the population
of the northern end of the island, predominating over all the other
peoples in British North Borneo, and in the northern extremities of
Sarawak and of Dutch Borneo.
(5) The Muruts are confined to the northern part of Borneo.
They resemble the Klemantans more closely than the other peoples.
They are comparatively tall and slender, have less regular and
pleasing features than the Klemantans, and their skin is generally
darker and more ruddy in colour. Their agriculture is superior to
that of the other peoples, but they are addicted to much drinking
of rice-spirit. Their social organisation is very loose, their
chiefs having but little authority. Besides those who call
themselves Muruts, we class under the same general name several
tribes which we regard as closely allied to them; namely, the
Adangs in the head of the Limbang; the Kalabits about the head of
the Baram; the Sabans and Kerayans at the head of the Kerayan
river; the Libuns; the Lepu Asings at the head of the Bahau; Tagals
and Dusuns in the most northerly part; the Trings of the Barau and
Balungan rivers on the east.
(6) The Punans, among whom we include, beside the Punans
proper, the Ukits and a few other closely allied but widely
scattered small groups, are the only people who do not dwell in
villages established on the banks of the rivers. They live in small
groups of twenty or thirty persons, which wander in the jungle.
Each such group is generally made up of a chief and his
descendants. The group will spend a few weeks or months at a time
in one spot (to which generally they are attracted by the presence
of wild sago), dwelling in rude shelters of sticks and leaves, and
then moving on, but generally remaining within some one area, such
as the basin of one of the upper tributaries of a large river. They
are found throughout the interior of Borneo, but are difficult to
meet with, as they remain hidden in the depths of the forests.
Unlike all the other peoples, they cultivate no PADI (rice), and
they do not make boats or travel on the rivers. They support
themselves by hunting with the blow-pipe, by gathering the wild
jungle fruits, and by collecting the jungle products and bartering
them with the more settled peoples. In physical characters they
closely resemble the Kenyahs, being well-built and vigorous; their
skin is of very light yellow colour, and their features are regular
and well shaped. Mentally they are characterised by extreme shyness
and timidity and reserve. They are quite inoffensive and never
engage in open warfare; though they will avenge injuries by
stealthy attacks on individuals with the blow-pipe and poisoned
darts. Their only handicrafts are the making of baskets, mats,
blow-pipes, and the implements used for working the wild sago; but
in these and in the use of the blow-pipe they are very expert. All
other manufactured articles used by them — cloths, swords, spears —
are obtained by barter from the other peoples. Unlike all the other
peoples, they have no form of sepulture, but simply leave the
corpse of a comrade in the rude shelter in which he died. They sing
and declaim rude melancholy songs or dirges with peculiar skill and
striking effect. Their language is distinctive, but is apparently
allied to the Kenyah and Klemantan tongues.
