474 



TWO YEARS IIs^ THE JUNGLE. 



terment or even to see a burial ground, but Mr. Eng Quee told me 

 that the Sibuyaus bury their dead in coffins when they can make 

 them, otherwise without. They put vessels of food beside the 

 grave, and also such of the ornaments of the deceased as are not 

 valuable enough to be earned off by strangers. They formerly 

 buried with their dead many valuable ornaments of gold and silver, 

 but these tempted the low-class Malays to rob the graves, and of 

 late years the custom has been discontinued altogether. The 

 Dyaks select retu-ed spots for burial grounds, never \isit them 

 except when really necessary, are averse to taking strangers to see 

 them, and also to talking about their bui'ial customs. They erect 

 no monuments whatever to mark the resting place of their dead, 

 and make their intennents very quietly. 



Thus ends our brief survey of the Hill and Sea Dyaks, and 

 what does it teach us? In these strange chiklren of nature we see 

 aU the cardinal virtues without a ray of religion, morality without 

 ministers, the Christian gi-aces without Christ or gospel. They 

 keep no sabbaths, pray no prayers, build no temples, worship 

 nothing and nobody, and acknowledge no higher tribunal than the 

 bar of public opinion on one hand, and the Sarawak government 

 court on the other. 



The Dyak is perhaps the most happy and contented human 

 being under the sun. His wants are few, and his native jungle 

 supplies nearly all of them. Thanks to his state of savagery, he 

 has not developed one-tenth of the diseases which so often make 

 the lives of civilized people a burden. His children do not have 

 scarlet fever, diphtheria, croup, or whooping-cough, nor does he or 

 his wife have consumption, pneumonia, dyspepsia, rheumatism, or 

 gout. But for the rascally Chinaman, who years ago taught him to 

 make toddy from the palm tree, and who even now supplies him 

 with arrack, he might to-day be without the means of getting 

 drunk. As is the case with nearly all savages who drink intoxicat- 

 ing liquors, this -sice is the gift o'x civilization. 



In hospitality, human sympathy, and chaiity, the Dyaks are not 

 outranked by any people living, so far as I know, and their morals 

 are as much superior to ours as our intelligence is beyond theirs. 

 If happiness is the goal of human existence, they are much nearer 

 it than we. In this instance, at least, the highest civilization has 

 not evolved the most perfect state of society, and to this extent the 

 fundamental theories of theology, of sociology, and human evolu- 

 tion are utterly at fault. Borneo is no field for the missionary, for 



