XXI ETHNOLOGY OF BORNEO 249 



up to the time of the suppression of piracy by the 

 British and Dutch half a century ago. It was from 

 this association with the sea and with coast-pirates 

 that the I bans became known as the Sea Dayaks 

 by Sir James Brooke ; and to this encouragement 

 of their head-hunting proclivity by the Malays is 

 no doubt due their peculiarly ruthless and blood- 

 thirsty devotion to it as to a pastime, rather than 

 (as with the Kayans and other tribes) as to a 

 ceremonial duty occasionally imposed upon them 

 by the death of a chief 



It seems to us probable that the greater part of 

 the ancestors of the Ibans entered Borneo in this 

 way. But there is reason to think that some of 

 them had settled at an earlier date in this part of 

 Borneo and rather farther southward on the Kapuas 

 River. The Bugaus, Kantus, and Daus, who dwell 

 along the southern border of Sarawak, and some 

 other I ban tribes in the northern basin of the Kapuas 

 River, are probably descendants of these earlier 

 immigrants of Proto-Malay stock. In most respects 

 they closely resemble the other I ban tribes, but they 

 are distinguished by some peculiarities of language 

 and accent ; their manners are gentler, their bearing 

 less swaggering ; they are less given to wandering, 

 and they have little skill in the making and handling 

 of boats. These are recognised by themselves and 

 by other Ibans as belonging to the same people ; 

 but they are a little looked down upon by Ibans 

 of the other tribes as any home -staying rural ^ 

 population is looked down upon by travelled 

 cosmopolitans. 



This conjectural history of the immigration of 

 the Ibans explains the peculiar fact that, although all 

 the Ibans of all parts are easily distinguishable from 

 all the other peoples, and although they all recognise 

 one another as belonging to the same people, they 

 have no common name for the whole group. They 



