Seventeen Years Among the Sea Dyaks of Borneo: A Record of Intimate Association with the Natives of the Bornean Jungles — John Shaqi
Seventeen Years Among the Sea Dyaks of Borneo: A Record of Intimate Association with the Natives of the Bornean JunglesGomes, Edwin Herbert
History
Seventeen Years Among the Sea Dyaks of Borneo: A Record of Intimate Association with the Natives of the Bornean Jungles
Gomes, Edwin Herbert
Iban (Bornean people); Sarawak (Malaysia) -- Description and travel
The _Milanaus_ are a quiet people who keep very much to themselves. They
are not Mohammedans, although they dress like the Malays. They are an
important tribe, and are to be found in large numbers at Matu, Oya, Muka,
and Bintulu. They plant paddy and cultivate sago on a large scale. They
are skilled in working iron, and are excellent boat-builders. Their
speech is somewhat similar to that of the Kayans, and many of their
customs are alike.
The _Kayans_ and _Kinyehs_, who may be classed together, are a numerous
race inhabiting the upper waters of the Baram and Rejang Rivers. In many
ways they seem to be a more advanced race than the Sea Dyaks. They build
better houses, and are more expert in the manufacture of weapons, being
able to extract their iron from the native ore. Their moral character,
however, is vindictive and cruel, and they are lacking in that spirit of
hospitality which is such a great feature of the Sea Dyak character. A
few years ago a party of Dyak gutta-percha collectors were attacked by
the Punans, and many of them killed. Four young Dyaks managed to escape,
and after wandering for many days in the jungle, arrived destitute and
starving at a Kayan house, and asked for food and shelter. The treatment
they received was horrible in the extreme. The Kayans bound the young
men, and after breaking their arms and legs, handed them over to the
women, who slowly despatched them by hacking them to pieces with little
knives.
The _Muruts_ inhabit the Limbang and Trusan Rivers. Their language and
customs differ entirely from those of the Sea Dyaks.
The _Ukits_, _Bukitans_ (name probably derived from Malay _bukit_, “a
hill”), and _Punans_ are races which inhabit the far interior, and lead a
wandering life in the Kayan country. They do not build houses, but only
make temporary shelters for themselves between the buttresses of large
forest trees. They live by hunting, and are expert in the use of the
_sumpit_, or blow-pipe.
The _Seru_ are a small and fast dying out race. There used to be a
little village of the Seru near my house in Kalaka, where some forty of
them lived in a long house, similar to that built by the Dyaks. The men
wore the Dyak dress, but the women were dressed like the Malays, and wore
a long petticoat reaching to the ankles (_sarong_), and a long jacket
(_kabayah_). They planted paddy, but did not depend entirely on this for
their livelihood. The men were great hunters, and would salt and sell
the wild pig they killed. They were a very secluded people, and kept
very much to themselves. They were not Mohammedans, and did not seem to
have any of the religious rites peculiar to the Dyaks. They told me they
believed in a good Spirit and a bad one, but their religious ideas were
very vague.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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