224 PAGAN TRIBES OF BORNEO chap. 



marriage, which takes place continually in some 

 degree, and, on the other hand, to the adoption of 

 the customs and beliefs and traditions and to the 

 imitation of the arts and crafts of one natural group 

 by communities properly belonging to a different 

 group. The main groups seem to us to be 

 separated from one another by differences of two 

 kinds : some by racial or ethnic differences, which 

 involve differences of physical and mental constitu- 

 tion, as well as by cultural differences ; others by 

 differences of culture only, the racial characters being 

 hardly or not at all differentiated. 



We propose in this chapter to attempt to justify 

 these main distinctions, and to define more nearly 

 their essential nature and grounds. This attempt 

 must involve the statement of our opinion as to the 

 ethnic affinities of all the principal tribes. We are 

 fully aware that this statement can be only of a 

 provisional nature, and must be liable to modifica- 

 tion and refinement in the light of further observa- 

 tion and discussion. But we think that such a 

 statement may serve a useful purpose ; namely, that 

 it may serve as a basis upon which such corrections 

 and refinements may later be made. 



The most speculative part of this statement must 

 necessarily be that which deals with the affinities of 

 the tribes of Borneo with the populations of other 

 areas ; but even here we think it better to set down 

 our opinion for what it may be worth, not conceal- 

 ing from the reader its slight basis. We state in 

 the following paragraph the main features of the 

 history of the tribes of Borneo as we conceive it. 



The wide distribution of remnants of the Negrito 

 race in the islands round about Borneo and in the 

 adjacent parts of the mainland of Asia renders it 

 highly probable that at a remote period Negritos 

 lived in Borneo ; but at the present time there 

 exist no Negrito community and no distinct traces of 



