125 
NATURE 
[ DECEMBER 10, 1896 
THE NATIVES OF SARAWAK AND BRITISH 
NORTH BORNEO) 
NTHROPOLOGISTS are again indebted to Mr. 
Ling Roth for presenting to them, in a convenient 
form, the results of wide reading and diligent compilation. 
It is by such well-directed enthusiasm that the labours of 
the student are materially lightened ; for not only has the 
author, in this instance, marshalled a portentous array 
of accurately acknowledged quotations, but he has 
sedulously collected illustrations of objects preserved in 
numerous museums and private collections, in order to 
fully illustrate the descriptions that he quotes. It is per- 
fectly evident that this has necessitated an immense 
amount of painstaking labour, which of itself is sufficient 
to raise the book from the rank of a mere compilation to 
————— 
SSSS—= 
Lene 
Fic. 1.—Sea-Dyak Women (Sakarang Tribes). |The corsets are composed « 
with innumerable diminutive brass links. 
that of a work containing original research. It 
that Mr. Ling Roth has borrowed illustrations from other 
authors; but he has supplied a large number of well- 
chosen figures, most of which are clever pen-and-ink 
sketches by Mr. C. Preetorius. 
Owing to Mr. Ling Roth’s conscientious method of 
giving verbatim quotations from numerous authors, the 
book has rather a patchwork appearance which is slightly 
distracting, and may even be somewhat repellent to certain 
readers ; but this plan is to the advantage of the student, 
who can thus read the original traveller’s observations in 
his own words. The accounts are at times at variance ; 
is true 
1 “The Natives of Sarawak and British North Borneo.” By H. Ling 
Roth; with a prefac e by Andrew Lang. 2 vols. 8vo, with over 550 illustra- 
tions. Pp. xxxii + 4645 ccxl + 302. (London: Truslove and Hanson, 1896.) 
NO. 1415, VOL. 55] 
of cane hoops covered 
but this may be due to the tribes not being always clearly 
discriminated, and it is well known that local differences 
are of common occurrence, and there is always the 
idiosynerasy of the recorder to be taken into account : 
when there are many observers, there are likely to be 
some discrepancies. 
Some of the most satisfactory portions of the book are 
the various essays or detailed descriptions which have in 
some instances been published before, such, for example, 
as Archdeacon Perham’s memoir on the “Sea Dyak 
Gods,” and the papers by S. B. J. Skertchly, “On Fire- 
making in North Borneo” and ‘‘On some Borneo 
Traps,” or the translation of Dr. Schwaner’s. ethno- 
graphical notes. The author has also contributed others, 
among which may be mentioned “Alleged Native 
Writing in Borneo” and “ Negritoes 
in Borneo.” The first “ Appendix” 
consists of 160 pages of vocabularies, 
but, considering the amount of space 
devoted to lists of words, the chapter 
dealing with language is meagre ; the 
construction of a language is of more 
importance than the actual words 
employed, interesting and suggestive 
as these often are. 
The Land Dyaks, who occupy the 
south-west corner of the Raj of 
Sarawak, are a small, slightly built, 
untattooed people, with skin and hair 
similar to that of the Malays; some 
tribes burn their dead. Their lan- 
guage is quite distinct from that of 
other groups, and they substitute the 
letter ~ for 7, The Sea Dyaks live 
further to the east; they are more 
stoutly built, well-proportioned, and 
tattoo slightly on the arms. They 
live in long houses along the river- 
banks, and bury their dead. Both 
peoples consult birds as omens. The 
term “ Dyak” should be restricted to 
these two peoples ; even now there is 
some obscurity as to its exact signi- 
ficance. It is probably derived from 
dayah, the generic name for “ man” 
the Malays, and later the Pie 
learned to call certain peoples Dyaks 
on account of their general term for 
men, but the latter never used it asa 
collective name for themselves. Rajah 
Sir James Brooke was the first to 
divide the Dyaks into Land and Sea 
Dyaks. Some have suggested that 
the term is derived from a word 
meaning “inland,” that is, the people 
of the interior. 
The Milanaus are a_ very fair, 
quiet, sago-cultivating people who 
inhabit the greater part of the coast of Sarawak 
east of the land of the Sea Dyaks. Interior to these 
is the large territory of the allied Kayans. The 
Kayans are very hospitable, and, like the Hill Dyaks, of 
the most scrupulous integrity ; but the Dyaks are braver, 
more truthful, less treacherous, and a finer-looking and 
superior people. Also quite different from, and bigger 
than the Dyaks, are the Muruts, an inland tribe of very 
low social scale. The Ukits pass a wandering life among 
the hills, and do not build houses ; they live by hunting, 
and use the swmfztan or blow-pipe. The Muruts extend 
into the west of British North Borneo ; in the centre are 
the Dusuns, an ill-favoured folk who, according to some 
travellers, have probably resulted from an infusion of 
Chinese blood with the aboriginal race of North Borneo. 
