174 RELIGION AND SUPERSTITIONS. 



have been able to learn, not nearly so much so as 

 amongst the land Dyaks, and never so much but that 

 the tribes belonging to this division, situated most 

 distant from each other, are prevented from the most 

 free communication. This greater similarity of dialect 

 amongst these many villages, than prevails amongst 

 the land tribes, may easily be accounted for, by the 

 greater friendship and intercourse which has subsisted 

 perhaps from the time of their separating from each 

 other : as far as is known, at no period of their history 

 were they ever at war with each other, but were always 

 the foes of the Kyans and land Dyaks in their vicinity ; 

 the land tribes, on the contrary, appear always to have 

 been at war with all the tribes in their neighbourhood, 

 which, though perhaps they did not cause the yearly 

 average of a single death, effectually prevented all 

 friendly communication. 



The religious observances of these people are very 

 little known, but in their state of civilization it cannot 

 be supposed to extend beyond a few superstitions 

 and belief in spirits of woods and mountains ; their 

 chief deity is called Batara, a pure Sanscrit term for 

 God, but this appears to be the only relic left them 

 of their former intercourse with the Javan Hindus, 

 who seem never to have possessed so much influence 

 over the sea Dyaks as over the land tribes, none of 

 the peculiar Hindu customs of these latter obtaining 

 among them. The doctor and priest of the village, 

 who is termed manang, is a very curious and mys- 



