THE ABORIGINES OF BOENEO. 447 



by being the farthest removed from ci\ilization and by the jiractice 

 of svmdry barbarous and sometimes cruel customs ; by tattooing ; 

 by the use of the sampitan, or blow-pipe, and poisoned arrows ; by 

 ■wearing sleeveless jackets made of padded cloth or skins of bear, 

 leopard, monkey, or orang-utan ; by the bui'ial of their dead, es- 

 pecially of their chiefs, in coffins or vaults raised high on jDOsts ; 

 and lastly (and most strangely of all), by then- ability to smelt iron 

 ore, and to use both forge and bellows in the manufacture of their 

 weapons, which are of good quality and strangely ornamented. In 

 addition to the above distinguishing characteristics, mention may 

 be made of their war shields, of hard wood, ornamented on the 

 front with tufts of hair, sometimes dyed in vai'ious colors, taken 

 from the heads of slain enemies. 



For making forays in great force and suddenly attacking de- 

 fenceless villages of real or fancied enemies for the purpose of ob- 

 taining heads, slaves, and j^lunder, the Kyans proper and various 

 other sub-tribes have always been famous. They have thus ac- 

 quired a gi'eat reputation for bravery and enterprise in war, but 

 very few facts have been recorded which really justify it. In their 

 head-hunting forays, the Kyans always went in numbers sufficient 

 either to completely overwhelm the attacked or else to insure a re- 

 treat, in good order, from the enemy's stockade. Kajah Brooke 

 declares with the disgust natural to the leader of an expedition 

 against an enemy who would not stop to fight, " The Kyan war- 

 riors never fought when they could flee." 



With the exception of the check which the Kyans proper ex- 

 perienced when they encountered the finest warriors in Borneo, 

 the Sea Dyaks of Sakarrau and Seribas, they have steadily driven 

 all other tribes before them in their progress northward from the 

 interior. The Sibuyau Dyaks were forced to migrate bodily from 

 the head-waters of the Batang Lupar and settle nearer the coast, 

 while the poor Bisayas and Mumts have been driven from one set- 

 tlement to another on the Limbang River, in Borneo proper, until 

 they are greatly weakened and impoverished. The Kyans often 

 destroyed a whole settlement of Muruts at a single blow. 



One of the Kyan sub-tribes of Kotei, the Trings, some members 

 of which were interview'ed by Mr. Cai-1 Bock, has the reputation of 

 being not only head hunters, but cannibals, nor did either their 

 chief or priestess deny the charge.* The Bugis kapitan who vis- 



* Head-Hunters of Borneo, p. 135. 



