X WAR 191 



the Sea Dayaks have been bitterly hostile to the 

 Kayans ever since the tribes have been in contact ; 

 and the I ban is a great romancer. It will be found 

 that many of the alleged instances of torture by 

 Kayans have been described by Sea Dayaks ; and 

 we think there is good reason for hesitating to 

 accept any of these. But we would point out that, 

 if some of these accounts have been founded on 

 fact, the Sea Dayak victims, or their companions, 

 have in all probability provoked the Kayans to 

 severe reprisals by their atrocious behaviour, and 

 may be fairly said to have deserved their fate. 



It is true that Kayans have been guilty of leaving 

 a slave or captive bound upon a tomb until he has 

 died from exposure to the sun. We know also 

 of one instance in which a Murut slave, having 

 treacherously murdered the only son of a great 

 Kayan chief in the Baram, at the instigation of 

 Bruni Malays, was killed by a multitude of small 

 stabs by the infuriated Kayan women, on being 

 brought captive to the house. 



But such occurrences as these by no means 

 justify the statement that it is the practice of Kayans 

 to torture their captives ; and we have heard of 

 no well-attested instances that give any colour to 

 it. As we have said above, Kayans commonly 

 treat their captives so kindly that they soon become 

 content to remain in the households of their captors. 

 The Kayan feeling about torture is well illustrated 

 by the fact that the Kayan village responsible for 

 the exposure of the slave mentioned above was 

 looked at askance by other Kayans. The spot 

 was regarded with horror by them, and they regard 

 as a consequence of this act the failure of the line 

 of the chief of that village to perpetuate itself. 



We have to admit that some of the Klemantans 

 cannot be so whole-heartedly defended against the 

 charge of torturing their captives. But we believe 



