“The general reader will find much that is entertaining in ‘The Childhood of Man,’ while the student cannot afford to overlook it.”—Dr. A. C. HADDON in _The Nation_. SEELEY & CO. LTD. * * * * * * [Illustration: A DYAK GIRL DRESSED IN ALL HER FINERY TO ATTEND A FEAST She has in her hair a comb decorated with silver filigree work. Round her neck is a necklace of beads. The rings round her body are made of hoops of cane, round which little brass rings are arranged close together so that none of the cane is visible. These hoops are worn next to the body above the waist, and over the petticoat below. The silver coins fastened to this brass corset, and worn as belts round it, are the silver coins of the country. The petticoat is a broad strip of cloth, sewn together at the ends and having an opening at the top and bottom. It is fastened at the waist with a piece of string.] SEVENTEEN YEARS AMONG THE SEA DYAKS OF BORNEO A Record of Intimate Association with the Natives of the Bornean Jungles by EDWIN H. GOMES, M.A. And an Introduction by the Reverend John Perham Formerly Archdeacon of Singapore With 40 Illustrations & a Map London Seeley & Co. Limited 38 Great Russell Street 1911 TO MY WIFE TO WHOSE HELPFUL ENCOURAGEMENT I OWE MUCH INTRODUCTION With the establishment of Rajah Brooke’s government in Sarawak, the different races of its native population gradually became known to English people, and at length the Dyakland of Borneo has found a definite place and shape in the English mind, much as the Zululand of Africa has done. The Sea Dyak soon appeared in print; travellers mentioned him, sometimes only as a simple savage; men who have spent some time in the country, like the late Sir Hugh Low and the late Sir Spenser St. John, described something of his life; missionary reports had him in their pages; European residents and civil administrators and others wrote of him in various papers and periodicals. But most, if not all, of these accounts were unavoidably brief, partial, and sketchy, for it did not come within the scope of their purpose to set forth a full and systematic statement of all things Dyak. Mr. Ling Roth collected all the notes about Dyaks he could find, from various sources, and published his harvest of accumulations in two large volumes. It is a monument of industrious collecting; but his work is that of the scissors rather than of the pen, a compilation rather than a writing; and in the extracts, being the productions of various writers at different periods, we see much overlapping and repetition, and some confusion; and, necessarily, such a book was too bulky to obtain a general circulation. More recently Miss Eda Green has given to English readers a little book about Borneo, wonderful in its general accuracy, and vivid in its descriptions; but it is meant especially for missionary circles and missionary reading—in