DYAK DISEASES. 305 



though opthalmia, in various forms, is very frequent, 

 and sometimes occasions the loss of sight, from cataract, 

 though a weakening discharge is the most common 

 appearance. The skin diseases, common to the nations 

 of the other islands, are also prevalent here. They 

 are not infectious, and appear to be caused by bad 

 and insufficient food. Several persons having been 

 affected with them, on entering the service of the 

 Europeans have soon lost the disease, though the 

 marks and the discolouration of the skin remain. 



At Sennah, I observed a small hut erected in a 

 Rhambut-an tree, far above the ordinary houses of 

 the village, and though in sight of, at some distance 

 from them. I was told that it contained two persons 

 afflicted with a loathsome disease, which caused large 

 pieces of their flesh, particularly from the extremities, 

 to drop away. Whether this was one of the forms of 

 leprosy, or some other disgusting disease, I cannot tell. 

 These two unfortunates, a man and woman, were 

 debarred the society of the tribe, and were never 

 permitted to descend from their aerial habitation ; but 

 were constantly supplied with food by their relations 

 from the houses below. The loathsome diseases of the 

 bazaars are unknown amongst the Dyaks, as far as I 

 could ascertain; but madness is said to be not uncommon 

 among them: this may arise in some measure from the 

 practice almost constantly adhered to, of marrying from 

 their own tribe, which though they avoid it as carefully as 

 possible, amongst their immediate relations, must make 

 the whole of the inhabitants one family in the course of 



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