THE ABORIGINES OF BORNEO. 455 



form of religion, a state of things which we are often told is impos- 

 sible. In this condition they are happy and prosperous, which, 

 after all, is the great end of human existence. 



The Mongol Dyaks. 



The Mongol Dyaks, whom I regard as the fourth division of the 

 Dyak tribes, are composed of the Ida'ans, or Dusuns, who inhabit 

 the northeastern portion of the island ; the Kadyans, who inhabit 

 the hills in the vicinity of Brunei, the capital of Borneo proper ; 

 and the Muruts and Bisayas, who are the sole inhabitants of a long 

 strip of territory lying between the country of the Baram Kyans 

 on the south and the Ida'ans on the north, and stretching from 

 near the coast of Borneo proper perhaps three-fourths of the dis- 

 tance across the island. While it is certain that future explora- 

 tions of the interior of Sabah will add to the above several clans 

 now wholly unknown to us, it will be noticed that the Bajus and 

 Lanuns of the north coast are excluded from the Mongol Dyak 

 tribe. The former are Sea Gipsies, of mixed breed, and no partic- 

 ular nationality, while the Lanuns, formerly the most famous pi- 

 rates in the East Indies, came to the north coast of Borneo from 

 Mindanau, one of the most southern islands of the Philippine group. 



For the most definite and reliable information attainable con- 

 cerning these sub-tribes we are indebted to Mr. Spencer St. John's 

 admirable work, " Life in the Forests of the Far East," from which 

 the following facts are drawn. 



The Ida'ans are the farthest advanced toward civilization of aU 

 the aboriginal sub-tribes in Borneo, and from the fact that the 

 language of the other three sub-tribes is nearly identical with theirs, 

 and that they have all been greatly influenced by contact with the 

 Chinese in former years, which influence still affects them, I con- 

 sider it both convenient and desirable to group them together 

 under the title of Mongol Dyaks. The Ida'ans, who number about 

 forty thousand souls, and constitute perhaps more than four- fifths 

 of the proposed tribal group, certainly differ very strikingly in 

 many respects from the other Dyak ti'ibes ; while the thi*ee sub- 

 tribes which we associate with the Ida'ans, certainly resemble them 

 more than they do any others. 



The Muruts and Bisayas are. in many respects, similar to the 

 Sea Dyaks, and it is highly probable that they once belonged to 

 that tribe ; but, by the onward march of the warlike and aggres- 



