A History of Sarawak under Its Two White Rajahs 1839-1908Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
History
A History of Sarawak under Its Two White Rajahs 1839-1908
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Charles, Rajah of Sarawak, 1829-1917; James, Rajah of Sarawak, 1803-1868; Sarawak (Malaysia) -- History
(The Pengulu Dalam, Munan)]
A Sea-Dayak is a clean built man, upright in gait, not tall, the average
height being 5 ft. 3 inches. The nose is somewhat flat, the hair
straight with no curl in it. The face is generally pleasing from the
frankness and good nature that show in it. The women have good figures,
light and elastic; well-formed busts, with interesting, indeed often
pretty, faces; the skins are, as already stated, of so light a brown as
to be almost yellow. They have lustrous dark eyes and black, straight
hair.
The Dayaks are very fond of their parents, brothers, sisters, and of
their children, and often a strong attachment exists between man and
wife that lasts for life. The Dayaks have each but one wife, but it does
not follow by any means that the first union lasts. A young couple may
find incompatibility of temper after a week or two, and the union is
dissolved on the plea of a dream inimical to its continuance.
Incest is considered to be the worst of crimes, bringing a curse on the
country. Both incest and bigamy were formerly punishable by a cruel
death, now by heavy fines, but for the former offence the fine is far
heavier than for the latter.
The Sea-Dayaks are most hospitable, indeed a breach of hospitality is
regarded as a punishable offence. They obtained their designation from
the English who first came in contact with them, on account of their
skill in navigating the sea along the coast, although living inland, and
to differentiate them from the Dayaks of Sarawak proper, who were styled
Land-Dayaks, because these latter were inexpert boatmen, and very few of
them could paddle or swim. As shown farther on, Dayak really signifies
an _inland man_.
The Sea-Dayak is now the dominant race in Sarawak, and in time will
become so over the whole of the north-west of Borneo. The spread of this
stock in former years appears to have been slow, owing to continual
intestine wars, but since the advent of the white man, the
discontinuance of these feuds, and the forced adoption of a peaceable
life, these people have increased enormously in numbers. Fifty years ago
there were but few of them to be found outside the Batang Lupar,
Saribas, and Kalaka river-basins, but now, though the population on
these rivers has grown considerably, it is less than that of the same
race on the Rejang alone, and they are spreading into the Oya, Muka,
Tatau, and Baram river-basins. The Melanau population of the two
first-named rivers live entirely either on the coast or near to it, and
the Dayaks found the upper reaches unoccupied.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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