THE SEA DYAKS OF BORNEO 
a 
TOY 
A 
a 
THE TYPICAL RICE-HULLER OF BORNEO 
It is made of extremely hard wood. The part with the handle fits down over the 
other piece. It is grooved on the inside, and the two pieces fit in together making an excellent 
huller. Photo from B. F. West. 
long ruat is a public place open to all 
comers and used as a road by travelers, 
who climb up the ladder at one end, 
walk through the whole length of the 
house, and go down the ladde- at the 
other end. The floor is carpeted with 
thick and heavy mats, made of cane in- 
terlaced with narrow strips of beaten 
bark. Over these are spread other mats 
of finer texture for visitors to sit upon. 
The length of this covered veranda 
depends upon the number of families liv- 
ing in the house, and these range from 
three or four to forty or fifty. 
Each family has its own portion of 
this ruai, and in each there is a small 
fireplace, which consists of a slab of 
stone, at which the men warm themselves 
when they get up, as they usually do, in 
the chill of the early morning before the 
sun has risen. 
Over this fireplace hangs the most 
valuable ornament in the eyes of the 
Dyak, the bunch of human heads. These 
are the heads obtained when on the war- 
path by various members of the family— 
dead and living—and are handed down 
from father to son as the most precious 
heirlooms—more precious, indeed, than 
the ancient jars which the Dyaks prize 
so highly. 
The posts in this public covered ve- 
