DECEMBER 10, 1896] 
NATURE 
129 
The eastern part of the territory is inhabited by Sulus. 
The northern coast contains mongrel populations, the 
most interesting of whom are the Bajaus, or Sea Gypsies, | 
a curious, wandering, irresponsible sort of race of low 
culture, who dwell almost entirely in boats. They are 
supposed to have come from the Straits of Malacca, and 
they profess Islamism. 
The Sea Dyak girls receive their male visitors at night, 
as privacy in the day is out of the question.. About nine 
or ten at night, the lover quietly opens the door and 
goes to the mosquito curtains 
of his beloved, gently awakens 
her, and they sit conversing 
together. Of course, if this noc- 
turnal visit is frequently re- 
peated, the parents do not fail 
to discover it, although it is a 
point of honour to take no notice 
of him ; if they approve, matters 
take their course, but if not, they 
use their influence with their 
daughter to say to him, “Be 
good enough to blow up the 
fire,’ the usual form of dis- 
missal. These nocturnal visits 
but seldom result in immorality. 
The natives of Borneo appear 
to be a very moral people, on 
the whole, both before and after 
marriage. A good deal of 
freedom is permitted among 
some tribes to the lover, as a 
precaution against a sterile mar- 
riage, but marriage almost in- 
built on piles eight or ten feet high; the latter is also 
a Kayan custom. A very wide-spread custom of the 
natives of Borneo is that of depositing the relics of their 
dead in a jar. In many places slaves or others are 
sacrificed at the funeral of an important man, in order to 
attend him in the future life. Some tribes have the cheerful 
practice of dancing round a tied-up slave, and as each man 
slightly wounds him they send messages to their deceased 
relatives, but the wounds are sufficiently numerous to 
cause his death. One tribe now substitutes a pig fora man. 
variably follows pregnancy. Sy eh 
Often a girl will commit Gre Wyat Few 
suicide rather than face the N Yoni pnt 
disgrace of an unacknowledged 
child. Usually the bridegroom 
lives with or near his father-in- 
law (whom he often treats with 
more respect than his own 
father), and works for his 
benefit. Polygamy is rare. 
Divorce is very frequent, and 
may be obtained for a large 
number of causes or pretexts 
—bad temper, gossiping, lazi- 
ness, unfaithfulness, any of 
which are deemed sufficient 
reasons for divorce without 
incurring a fine, as are also 
troublesome dreams and various 
omens ; but, on the whole, the 
marital relations are satis- 
factory. The couvade is in 
force among both the Land 
and Sea Dyaks. At a birth 
the husband is confined to his 
house for eight days, and may 
eat only rice and salt, and for 
one month he ought not to go 
out at night. 
The Kanowits follow the 
Milanau custom of sending much of a dead man’s | 
property adrift in a frail canoe on the river; they 
talk of all his property, but this is exaggeration. 
Mr. St. John, after describing the display of a dead 
chief's worldly possessions, goes on to say: ‘‘As I 
expected these valuables were not sent adrift, but 
merely a few old things, that even sacrilegious strangers 
would scarcely think worth plundering.” Burning of the 
dead is confined to the Land Dyaks ; the Sea Dyaks | 
Sy dp; 
Nii 
} 
Fic. 2.—Kenniah Shield from Sarawak (length 483 inches), Edinburgh Museum, 
There are two explanations of the notorious custom of 
head-hunting, which is by no means confined to the 
Dyaks. There can be little doubt that one of the chief 
incentives to getting heads is the desire to please the 
women. Among some tribes it is said to be indispensably 
necessary a young man should procure a skull before he 
gets married, and the possession of a head decapitated 
by himself seems a pretty general method of a young man 
ingratiating himself with the maiden of his choice. Some 
either bury theirs, or place the coffin ina miniature house | tribes believe that the persons whose heads they take 
NO. 1415, VOL. 55] 
