446 TWO TEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 



disposition and love of conquest, their skill in building war-boats 

 and conducting naval operations, which has given to them then* 

 name of Orang Laut, or men of the sea ; and also the fact that they 

 never tattoo their bodies or limbs. Inasmuch as the people of 

 this tribe may properly be regarded as the true type of the Dyak 

 race they will be described at some length in the next chapter. 

 Something will first be said, however, respecting the other great 

 tribes. 



The Kyan Tribe. 



The Kyan tribe is numerically the greatest of the four, and it 

 also covers a much greater extent of territory than any other, em- 

 bracing fully one-half of the whole island. Its position is central, 

 extending from the mouth of the Segah Eiver and the lower 

 corner of Kotei across the island to the very sea-coast of Sarawak. 

 The accompanying map shows the extent and outline of the terri- 

 tory occupied by this great tribe, and the positions of its various 

 sub-tribes, or clans, so far as known. We have information of at 

 least eighteen sub-tribes — quite definite information respecting 

 some, though extremely meagre concerning the majority at present, 

 but no one can say how many more sub-tribes that have never even 

 been heard of inhabit the unknown interior. The numerical strength 

 of the Kyan tribe is consequently not known ; and, while it is quite 

 futile to blindly conjecture the number of its jDeople, we may 

 safely believe from the facts we already have that it exceeds two 

 hundi*ed and fifty thousand. 



On the noi-th coast of Borneo the name Kyan is appHed only to 

 the people who inhabit the head-waters of the Eejang and the 

 Baram rivers (about fifty villages in all) ; while the tribe as a 

 whole is named after the IVIilanaus, an insignificant sub-tribe inhab- 

 iting a few miles of sea-coast, a half-civilized offshoot of the 

 true Kyans, who do not practice head-hunting, but according to 

 Rajah Brooke are "exceedingly treacherous." The Milanaus 

 proper are in no sense typical representatives of the sub-tribes 

 usually classed under that name (and even by Rajah Brooke in 

 his "Ten Years in Sarawak," vol. i., p. Tfl) ; therefore, I have 

 adopted the term Kyan as the name of the whole tribe, for the 

 reason that the sub-tribe commonly known by that name is the 

 largest, the most warlike and entex'prising, and in every way most 

 fit to be regai'ded as the type of the whole people. 



Generally speaking, therefore, the Kyan tribe is distinguished 



