242 MAN : PAST AND PRESENT. [CHAP. 



Most of the aborigines dispense with all clothing except the 

 universal sarong, which amongst some of the east coast Dusuns 

 bears a curious resemblance to the Scotch kilt, both in its pattern 

 and the way it is worn. All, even the inland river and forest 

 tribes, live in pile dwellings often of picturesque design, the space 

 underneath serving as pigstyes. The balai, or Council-house, 

 occupied by the young men at night, is generally of immense 

 size, several hundred feet long or round, for both forms are 

 affected. Even the bejiatong, or ordinary dwelling of long shape, 

 will often accommodate twenty or more families, " each family 

 having its separate apartments, the doors opening on to a sort 

 of covered corridor." 



Mr Pryer finds that it is difficult to say where Dusun ends 

 and Dyak proper begins, adding that as we pene- 



Indonesian . . , , _ .. 



Element in trate from the east coast inland the first tribe met is 

 the Buludupi, many of whom have "strangely Cau- 

 casian features, or at all events departing largely from the ordinary 

 Mongolian type 1 ." This points at the presence of an Indonesian 

 element, which is supported by other evidence, such as the 

 account given us by Mr Creagh of the so-called "Dusuns" of 

 Banguey Island, visited by him in 1892, and described as differing 

 widely in speech, religion, and customs from all other Dusun 

 tribes. Like others met by Mr Bock in the interior, these is- 

 landers have a priestess, who is able to keep the numerous spirits 

 in Banguey in order, " for she is acquainted with their ways and 

 knows the future as well as the past." She nominates and trains 

 her successors, but all must be widows, and wear black robes, and 

 wooden knives, these last being used for making the incisions in 

 the calves of bride and bridegroom, when a drop of blood has to 

 be transferred from one to the other at the wedding ceremony 2 . 

 Amongst the tribes of the neighbouring mainland the notion of 

 the after-life is that the dead have to clamber up the rugged slopes 

 of Kina Balu, highest peak in Borneo (nearly 14,000 feet), so high 



is despatched more expeditiously, all subscribers to the purchase grasping a 

 long spear simultaneously, and thrusting it through him at once (ib.). 



1 Pryer, p. 232. 



2 British North Borneo Herald, Dec. 1892. 



