420 THE SAGHAI 



carefully avoiding those who were his enemies. The 

 same chief blew for our satisfaction some sumpits across 

 the river ; the effort appeared to be very great, but the 

 direction of the dart was straight, and its force consider- 

 able. Before using the sumpits, they tip them with fresh 

 poison, and steep them in a small vessel of lime-juice, which 

 increases its virulence and activity. Their helmets, or 

 head-pieces, which are made of strong skin and bamboo, 

 are said to be sumpit-proof; so are also the corselets 

 which cover their breast and back, so that only the arms 

 and legs are left exposed. Many have a large polished 

 pearl-shell appended in front, probably to protect the belly 

 and navel. Their shields are of hard wood, variously 

 painted and ornamented with shells and tufts of human 

 hair. Some of these shields are upwards of four and five 

 feet long, and two broad. 



These men are much better featured than the Ma- 

 lays, having straighter and more prominent noses and 

 higher foreheads. They wear their hair long and straight, 

 but cut short across the forehead. It is coarse and black, 

 and often confined by a white cincture, especially among 

 the women and boys. Cutaneous diseases appeared 

 common among them, particularly a rough, scurfy kind of 

 lepra, which, however, they are said to produce artificially, 

 and consider ornamental.* The women in this part of 

 the island do not appear to wear the ring-stays of stained 



* Mr. Earle observes, that the word ' Dayak' is often used by the 

 Malays to designate a cutaneous disease to which the aborigines of 

 Borneo are very liable, more so than any of the other Polynesian tribes 

 whom I have encountered. I am of opinion that this is the origin of 

 the term Dayak, as applied to the aborigines of Borneo. PRICHARD'S 

 Phys. Hist, of Mankind, vol. v. p. 89. 



