444 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 



To the ethnologist, aboriginal races lose interest in proportion 

 to the extent in which they have adopted modem customs and 

 ideas. If we except the changes in customs necessarily brought 

 about by the suppression of the head-hunting and piracy, it is safe 

 to say that the Dyaks of Borneo are to-day j)recisely what they 

 were when Europeans first landed on the island. They have mildly 

 but effectually resisted the best efforts of the missionaries— Protes- 

 tant, CathoHc, and Mohammedan alike — and, being unalterably de- 

 voted to jungle Hfe, there exists between them and the white race 

 a gulf which the latter cannot bridge and the former will not. 

 AVise Dyaks ! Neither commerce, education, nor religion can in the 

 least add to their happiness, and so long as they hold their pres- 

 ent attitude all those influences combined cannot exterminate them. 



By reason of their adherence to all their former traditions, cus- 

 toms, and suri-oun dings, except those mentioned above, and on 

 other accounts as well, the Dyak (by the natives pronounced Dyah) 

 tribes of Borneo are especially interesting. In some respects they 

 are the most remarkable people living, and their condition is well 

 worth study. 



As may be inferred from the geographical position of Borneo, 

 the Dyaks are descendants of the Malay race, which has peopled 

 nearly all the islands of the Malay Archipelago with the exception 

 of New Guinea. At present it is impossible for any one to offer 

 more than vague speculations respecting the advent of the aborigi- 

 nal tribes in Borneo, and than such speculation nothing could be 

 more unprofitable. No one can say whence this vast island was 

 originally peopled, although there are some facts which seem to in- 

 dicate that the progress of the great Kyan tribe has been from 

 Kotei northwestward. There are well-defined traces of Hindoo 

 influence among the Hill Dyaks in the west, and of Chinese influ- 

 ence in the extreme north ; but not a siugle representative of 

 either race exists in Borneo at the present day, except a few late 

 arrivals. Both the Hindoos and Chinese of past centuries have 

 either been completely exterminated by various influences, or swal- 

 lowed up by affiliation with the aborigines. The traces of Hindoo- 

 ism are particularly iu significant, consisting mainly of the idea 

 amongst the Hill Dyaks of a Supreme Being of some kind named 



virtues of civilization withoiit being weakened bj its vices are not extermi- 

 nated, but are substantially benefited, and go from strength to strength. It is 

 not charged that the evils of civilization go %nth the missionary and the teacher 

 —far from it— but it is a sad fact that they follow closely after. 



