178 PAGAN TRIBES OF BORNEO chap. 



highlands wandering through the upper parts of the 

 basins of all the large rivers ; here and there they 

 range into the lowlands, and in rare instances they 

 even reach the coast. The Ukits, on the other 

 hand, confine themselves to the interior, and are 

 found chiefly in the upper parts of the basins of the 

 Kotei, the Rejang, the Kapuas, and Banjermassin 

 rivers. The Bukitans inhabit chiefly the upper 

 basins of the rivers of Sarawak. Although these 

 nomads wander perpetually in the forests, moving 

 their camp every few weeks or months, any one 

 group attaches itself to a particular area, partly 

 because they become familiar with its natural 

 resources, partly because they establish friendly 

 relations with the villagers of the region, with whom 

 they barter jungle-produce to the advantage of both 

 parties. The settled tribesmen of any region find 

 this trade so profitable that they regard the harmless 

 nomads with friendly feelings, learn their language, 

 and avoid and reprobate any harsh treatment of 

 them that might drive them to leave their district. 

 In fact they look upon them with a certain sense of 

 proprietorship and are jealous of their intercourse 

 with other tribes ; the nomads, in fact, rank high 

 among the many natural products of the jungle that 

 render any particular region attractive to the tribes- 

 men. 



Of all these nomad groups the Punans are the 

 most numerous and we have seen more of them 

 than of any others. We therefore describe their 

 peculiar mode of life ; but it may be understood that 

 what we say of them holds good in the main of the 

 other groups of nomads with but little modification. 



From the point of view of physical development 

 the Punans are among the finest of the peoples of 

 Borneo. They resemble the Kenyahs more closely 

 than any other tribe ; that is to say, they are of very 

 pale yellow colour, of short stature with long body 



