CHAPTER XIX 



THE NOMAD HUNTERS 



In almost all parts of Borneo there are to be found 

 hidden in the remotest recesses of the jungles small 

 bands of homeless nomad hunters. All these closely 

 resemble one another in physical characters and in 

 mode of life ; but differences of language mark them 

 as belonging to several groups, of which the Punans, 

 the Ukits, the Sians, the Bukitans, the Lugats, and 

 the Lisums are the best known. Hitherto we have 

 designated all these groups by the name Punan, 

 which properly belongs to the largest group only. 

 These groups inhabit different areas, though there 

 is considerable overlapping ; and it seems probable 

 that they are merely local varieties of one stock, and 

 that their differences are mainly the results of 

 geographical separation and of intercourse with, and 

 probably some mingling of blood with, the settled 

 tribes of the regions inhabited by the several groups. 

 For their languages seem to be closely allied ; but in 

 each region the nomads seem to have adopted many 

 words from their settled neighbours, with whom 

 they trade ; and instances are known to us in which 

 the men of the settled tribes have married women 

 of the nomads and have adopted their mode of life, 

 and others in which children of nomad women, 

 married into Kenyah, Kayan, or other villages, 

 have gone back to their mothers* people. 



The Punans proper are found in the central 



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