50 PAGAN TRIBES OF BORNEO chap. 



The effect produced is of course a flattening of 

 brow and occiput and a broadening of the whole 

 head. The motive seems to be the desire to enhance 

 the beauty of the child by ensuring to it a moon-like 

 face, which is the most admired form. The Malanaus 

 seem to be by nature peculiarly round-headed ; the 

 question whether this is due to the effects of head- 

 flattening practised for many generations, must be 

 left to the investigations of the Neo-Lamarckians. 

 They are also a peculiarly handsome people, and 

 it seems more likely that, taking a pride in their 

 good looks, they have, like so many other peoples, 

 sought to enhance the beauty of their children by 

 accentuating a racial peculiarity. 



Houses 



All the tribes except the Punans build houses of 

 one type ; but the size and proportions, the strength 

 of the materials used, and the skill and care displayed 

 in the work of construction, show wide differences. 

 The houses of the Kayans are perhaps better and 

 more solidly built than any others and may be 

 taken as the type. Each house is built to accom- 

 modate many families ; an average house may 

 contain some forty to fifty, making up with children 

 and slaves some two or three hundred persons ; 

 while some of the larger houses are built for as 

 many as a hundred and twenty families, or some 

 five to six hundred persons. The house is always 

 close to a river, and it usually stands on the bank 

 at a distance of 20 to 50 yards from the water, 

 its length lying parallel to the course of the river. 

 The plan of the house is a rectangle, of which the 

 length generally much exceeds the width (PL 34). 



Its roof is always a simple ridge extending the 

 whole length of the house, and is made of shingles 

 of bilian (ironwood) or other hard and durable kind 



