Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 4.djvu/68

58 and, from their political influence, the Arabs and the Dutch.

The Dyaks, Dayaks, or Dayakkers are generally regarded as the most aboriginal. For themselves they have no general designation ; but, broken as they are into numerous tribes, they are distinguished by separate tribal names, many of which seem to be merely the names of the rivers on which their settlements are situated. Though regarded by the Malays as aliens, and looked down upon as almost beneath humanity, they belong to the same race. Separation, how ever, must have taken place at a very early date. Kessel, who has attempted to form a classification of the Dyaks according to their ethnographical affinity, divides them into five principal branches. The first of these, which he calls the north-western, includes the natives of Sadong, Sarawak, Sambas, Landak, Tayan, Melionow, and Sangow. They all speak the same language, and are remarkable for their dependence on the Malay princes. The second branch, which is called emphatically the Malayan from its greater retention of Malay characteristics, occupies the north coast in Banting, Batang-Lupar, Rejang, and part of the valley of the Kapuas. To the third or Parian branch belong the Dyaks of the rivers Kuti and Passir, who are said to speak a language like that of Macassar. The fourth consists of the Beyadjoes, who are settled in the valley of the Banjermassin ; and the fifth and lowest comprises the Manketans and Punans, who are still nomadic and ignorant of agriculture. In stature the Dyak is rather above the Malay, while still considerably shorter than the average European. He is rather slightly built, but is active and capable of enduring great fatigue. His features are dis tinctly marked and often well-formed, though the cheek bones are higher and the nose more retrousse than agrees with the European standard. The forehead is generally high, and the eyes are dark ; the hair is black, and the colour of the skin a pure reddish brown, that frequently, in the female, approaches to a Chinese complexion. In general neither beard nor whiskers are present, but this does not hold of all the tribes. In dress there is con siderable variety, great alteiations having resulted from foreign influence. The original and still prevailing style is very simple, consisting of a mere chaivat or waistcloth, generally of blue cotton, for the men, and a tight-fitting petticoat for the women, who acquire a peculiar mincing gait from its interference with their walking. The favourite ornaments of both sexes are brass rings for the legs and arms, hoops of rattan decorated in various ways, necklaces of white and black beads, and crescent-shaped ear-rings of a large size. Tattooing is commonly practised by most of the tribes. The men usually go bare-headed, or wear a bright-coloured kerchief. The custom of betel-chewing being almost universal, the betel-pouch worn at the side is a necessary part of the equipment. The weapons in use are a klewary or curved sword and a long spear. The bow is unknown, but its place among some tribes is partly sup plied by the sumpitan, or blowpipe, in the boring of which they show great skill. When going to war the Dyak invests himself with a strong padded jacket, which proves no bad defence. Not only is it a custom with many tribes to preserve the skulls of their slaughtered enemies as trophies of their success in war ; but, as the possession of a certain number of human heads is necessary before a man can be admitted to some of the most important of his social privileges, it is usual for the young men to go out on private head-hunting excursions. The custom, however, is dying out before the influence of civilization. The Dyak is decidedly intelligent ; his memory is tena cious, and his powers of observation good. Unacquainted in his natural state with both reading and writing, his aptitude for acquiring these arts is greatly praised by missionaries. In moral character he is far superior to the civilized Malay, being unsuspicious and hospitable, and honest and truthful in a striking degree. The various tribes differ greatly in religious ceremonies and beliefs, and it is hard to give a satisfactory idea of them. They have no temples, priests, or regular recurrence of worship ; but the father of each family performs such rites as the exigencies of each day demand. A supreme god seems generally acknowledged, but subordinate deities are supposed to watch over special departments of the world and human affairs. Sacrifices both of animals and fruits and in some cases even of human beings are offered to appease or invoke the gods ; divination of various kinds is resorted to for the purpose of deciding the course to be pursued in any emergency ; and criminals are subjected to the ordeal by poison or otherwise. There is a very strong belief in the existence of evil spirits, and all kinds of calamities and diseases are ascribed to their malignity. Thus almost the whole medical system of the Dyaks consists in the applica tion of appropriate charms or the offering of conciliatory sacrifices. Many of those natives who have had much intercourse with the Malays have adopted a kind of mongrel Mahometanism, with a mixture of Hindu elements. The transmigration of souls seems to be believed in by some tribes ; and some have a system of successive heavens rising one above the other very much in the style of the Hindu cos mogony. In the treatment of their dead the same variety prevails as in other things they are sometimes buried, sometimes burned, and sometimes elevated on lofty frame work. The Dyaks have no exact calculation of the year, and simply name the months first month, second month, and so on. They calculate the time of day by the height of the sun, and if asked how far distant a place is can only reply by showing how high the sun would be when you reached it if you set out in the morning. In agriculture, navigation, and manufactures they have made some progress. In a few districts a slight sort of plough is used, but the usual instrument of tillage is a kind of cleaver. Two crops, one of rice and the other of maize or vegetables, are taken, and then the ground is allowed to fallow for eight or ten&quot; years. They spin and weave their own cotton, and dye the cloth with indigo of their osvn growing. Their iron and steel instruments are excellent, the latter far surpassing European wares in strength and fineness of edge. Their houses are neatly built of bamboos, and raised on piles a considerable height from the ground ; but perhaps their most remarkable constructive effort is the erection of sus pension bridges and paths over rivers and along the front of precipices, in which they display a boldness and in genuity that surprise the European traveller. {{ti|1em|The Dyaks speak a variety of dialects, most of which are still very slightly known. The tribes on the coast have adopted a great number of pure Malay words into common use, and it is often hard to ascertain their own proper synonyms. The American missionaries have investigated the dialects of the west coast (Landak, ttc.), and their Rhenish brethren have devoted their attention to those of the south, into one of which (that of Pulu Petak) a complete translation of the Bible has been made. Mr Hardeland, the translator, has also published a Dyak-German dictionary. (See Vocabularies in St John s Life in the Forests.} On the authority of the sultan of Bruni, who in 1824 visited Singapore, Crawfurd asserts that of the forty wild tribes that inhabit Bruni, eight had completely, and five partially, adopted the Malay speech. The dialect of the Kayans seems to be one of the purest, nine-tenths of its words hav ing no cognates in the other languages of the archipelago.}}

For an account of the Malays the reader must be referred to a separate article, but the Chinese require more particular notice. They seem to have been the 