LANGUAGE OF SEA DYAKS. 173 



tened on the outside, being closed when they are at 

 their farms by the mortar in which their rice is 

 cleaned, and which always stands outside the door in 

 the verandah, or some other heavy piece of wood 

 being merely placed against it. The whole of their 

 buildings, though of so substantial and good appear- 

 ance, are formed and fastened together without the 

 assistance of nails, their place being supplied by rat- 

 tans and other cordage. 



The language of the sea Dyaks, though altogether 

 different in such parts as having not been adopted 

 from the Malay, is merely a less refined dialect of the 

 language spoken over all Polynesia, and its connexion 

 with that of the other wild tribes, particularly those of 

 Sumatra, is easily to be traced. It is not nearly so 

 melodious in sound, or so copious in its extent, as the 

 Malay, though the Dyaks do not scruple to extend it 

 by adding foreign words whenever they find it neces- 

 sary, so that a great portion of the words of their 

 vocabulary are from the Malay : the intercourse, which 

 has been generally friendly, between the two nations 

 has also encouraged this adoption of foreign terms. 

 Specimens of their language are given in the work of 

 Captain Keppel, from the vocabularies of Mr. Brooke, 

 and as I can vouch for their correctness, it is not 

 necessary to repeat them here. The different tribes 

 into which the sea division of the Dyaks is again sepa- 

 rated have each dialects, which differ in a trifling 

 measure from that generally spoken, but as far as I 



