PECULIARITIES 205 



bearance, seems to be maintained without the direct 

 support of their religious beliefs. 



The high moral level attained by individuals 

 among the Kayans and Kenyahs, and less frequently 

 by Klemantans, is, we think, best exemplified by the 

 enlightened and public-spirited conduct of some of 

 the principal chiefs. It might have been expected 

 that the leading chiefs of warlike and conquering 

 peoples like the Kayans and Kenyahs, which, until 

 the advent of the European governments, had never 

 encountered any resistance which they could not 

 break down by armed force, would have been 

 wholly devoted to conquest and rapine ; and that 

 a chief who had acquired a high prestige and found 

 himself able to secure the adhesion in war of a 

 number of other chiefs and their followers would 

 have been inspired with the barbarous ideals of an 

 Alexander, a Napoleon, a Chaka, or a Cetewayo. 

 But though some of them have shown tendencies of 

 this kind, there have been notable exceptions who 

 have recognised that chronic hostility, distrust, and 

 warfare, which had always been characteristic of the 

 relations between the various tribes and villages, 

 were an unmixed evil. Such men have used their 

 influence consistently and tactfully and energetically 

 to establish peaceful relations between the tribes. 

 Unlike some savage chieftains of warrior tribes in 

 other parts of the world, such as some of those 

 produced by the Bantu race, or those who 

 established the great confederation of the Iroquois 

 tribes, they have not sought merely to bring about 

 the combination of all the communities of their own 

 stock in order to dominate over or to exterminate 

 all other tribes. They have rather pursued a policy 

 of reconcilement and conciliation, aiming at estab- 

 lishing relations of friendship and confidence between 

 the communities of all languages and races. One 

 such powerful Kenyah chief of the Baram district, 



