188 HEAD TAKING. 



the best native authorities, they are more numerous 

 and thickly inhabited than the villages of the poor, 

 and till recently oppressed, land Dyaks, many of whose 

 women and children have been taken from their homes, 

 and now swell the number of these tribes of their ene- 

 mies. Having always preserved peace amongst them- 

 selves, these two powerful nations have been able to 

 preserve their country from invasion, and to inspire 

 terror wherever they carried their arms. The only 

 exception to this appears to be the Kyans, who have 

 always been able to repel the invasions of these, who, 

 amongst the weaker tribes, have sustained, from their 

 uniform success, the reputation of a courage which they 

 suppose themselves to be incapable of withstanding. 

 The passion for head-hunting, which now character- 

 izes these people, was not formerly so deeply rooted 

 in their characters as it is at present, and many of the 

 inhabitants of Sarawak have assured me that they 

 well recollect the tribes first visiting the sea with that 

 ostensible and avowed object. In a limited extent the 

 custom is probably as ancient as their existence as a 

 nation ; but though other tribes appear to be equally 

 addicted to the practice, there can be little doubt that 

 it is a corruption of its first institution, unless, as 

 Forrest says of the Idaan of the north of Borneo, they 



/ / 



consider human sacrifice the most pleasing to the 

 divinity, and lose no opportunity of presenting it ; but 

 having conversed with the Dyaks frequently respecting 

 this practice, they gave no such reason for it, and merely 



