THEIR SUPERSTITION. 253 



unless they willingly misled me, of which I do not 

 think them capable. Nevertheless, some remnants of 

 the ancient language of Java may be found amongst 

 the people of Banjar, as from the more frequent 

 occurrence of Hindu remains in the southern parts 

 of the island, that religion has evidently been more 

 prevalent there than in other places ; but if the language 

 is still preserved, it is curious that the customs have 

 so entirely disappeared, for, so far as I have been 

 able to learn, no indications of their former existence 

 are to be found amongst the southern tribes; and I 

 am inclined to think that the ancient religion of Java 

 was confined, in the southern parts of the island of 

 Borneo, to the colonists from that country, and never 

 had any considerable influence on the customs or habits 

 of the aboriginal tribes. 



Though the Dyaks, excepting on festival occasions, 

 pay but little reverence to their divinities ; in situations 

 in which they consider themselves particularly exposed 

 to their pow r er, they are much in dread of the malig- 

 nant spirits. Their fear of disturbing the repose of 

 these on the tops of mountains has been previously 

 alluded to ; and in such situations we seldom slept 

 until they had recounted many stories concerning them. 

 On the ' Gunong Matang,' a mountain about eight 

 miles from the town of Sarawak, was a path beaten, 

 probably by wild animals, to the very peak of the hill, 

 which had never been previously ascended by the 

 Dyaks : they pointed this out to me as the road 

 leading to the residence of the Kamang, and which 



