ETHNOLOGY OF BORNEO 233 



all or most of the characteristic culture that we 

 have described. But from what part exactly 

 of the mainland, and by what route, they have 

 come, and how long a time was occupied by the 

 migration, are questions in answer to which we 

 cannot do more than throw out some vague 

 suggestions. 



We believe that the Kayans migrated to Borneo 

 from the basin of the Irrawadi by way of Tenas- 

 serim, the Malay Peninsula, and Sumatra ; and that 

 they represent a part of the Indonesian stock which 

 had remained in the basin of the Irrawadi and 

 adjacent rivers from the time of the separation of 

 Borneo, there, through contact with the southward 

 drift of peoples from China, receiving fresh infusions 

 of Mongol blood ; a part, therefore, of the Indo- 

 nesians which is more Mongoloid in character than 

 that part which at a remote period was shut up in 

 Borneo by its separation from the mainland. During 

 this long period the Kayans acquired or developed 

 the type of culture characterised by the cultiva- 

 tion of padi on land newly cleared of jungle by 

 burning, the building of long houses on the banks 

 of rivers, the use of boats, and the working of 

 iron. 



The way in which in Borneo the Kayans hang 

 together and keep touch with one another, even 

 though scattered through districts in which numerous 

 communities of other tribes are settled, preserving 

 their characteristic culture with extreme faithfulness, 

 lends colour to the supposition that the whole tribe 

 may thus have been displaced step by step, passing 

 on from one region and from one island to another 

 without leaving behind any part of the tribe. The 

 passage of the straits between the Peninsula and 

 Sumatra, and between Sumatra and Borneo, are 

 the parts of this tribal migration that are the most 

 difficult to imagine. But we know that Kayans do 



