THE DUSUNS. 505 



plies, according to Mr. Brooke, that they are an agricul- 

 tural people, having a peculiar dialect of their own. In 

 person, the Dusuris are about the average stature of Ma- 

 lays and Dyaks, that is below the height of the generality 

 of Europeans, and their forms appeared to me very sym- 

 metrical and well-proportioned, particularly when con- 

 trasted with the large-headed, bow-legged Malays, who 

 seemed to regard them with supreme contempt, not per- 

 mitting them to enter and join in their conference. The 

 colour of their skin struck me as being very peculiar, 

 being of a dark, blackish, dull brown, more resembling 

 that of the natives of some parts of Hindostan than of 

 Malays and Dyaks in general ; their countenances have 

 a very mild, agreeable, and open expression, quite different 

 either from the sharp cunning peculiar to the tribes of 

 Serebus and Sekarran, or the grotesque good humour of 

 the wild, broad-faced Orang Sagai ; their eyes are large, 

 clear, and expressive; their noses straight and promi- 

 nent, but having the ala3 considerably developed; and their 

 mouths well formed, and not too large ; their teeth are 

 filed straight, concave externally, and stained black. In 

 those I saw, the hair was worn long behind, and flowing 

 down the back, cut straight in front across the fore- 

 head, and confined by a single fillet of white bark- 

 cloth. I did not observe that the bodies of any among 

 them were tattooed. The most extraordinary peculi- 

 arity, however, about these indigines, was the circum- 

 stance of their thighs, arid loins, in particular, being 

 encircled by great numbers of thick, bright, polished, 

 wire rings, which rattled as they moved, and gave them 



