DEP SAS DYAKS OF BORNEO 
ie: 
DYAK GIRL, SPINNING 
She is seated on a mat, in a characteristic attitude, and 1s making yarn out of the 
cotton, using a primitive spinning-wheel. 
wearer can hardly bend the body. 
Borneo,” by Edwin H. Gomes. 
is the same as that of the veranda, and 
is made of split palm or bamboo tied 
down with cane. The floor is swept 
after a fashion, the refuse falling through 
the flooring to the ground underneath. 
But the room is stuffy and not such a 
pleasant place as the open veranda. The 
pigs and poultry occupy the waste space 
under the house. 
From the bilik there is a ladder which 
leads to an upper room, or loft (sadaw), 
where they keep their tools and store 
their paddy. If the family be a large 
one, the young unmarried girls sleep in 
this loft, the boys and young men sleep- 
ing outside in the veranda. 
CATCHING FISH WITH POISON 
The Dyaks have many varieties of 
fish-traps, which they set in the streams 
The corset must be very uncomfortable, as the 
From “Seventeen Years Among the Sea Dyaks of 
J. B. Lippincott Co. 
and rivers. Most of these are made of 
split bamboo. 
They also have nets of various kinds; 
the most popular is the jala, or circular 
casting-net, loaded with leaden or iron 
weights in the circumference, and with 
a spread sometimes of 20 feet. Great 
skill is shown by the Dyak in throwing 
this net over a shoal of fish which he 
has sighted. He casts the net in such a 
manner that all the outer edge touches 
the water almost simultaneously. The 
weights cause it to sink and close to- 
gether, encompassing the fish, and the 
net is drawn up by a rope attached to its 
center, the other end of which is tied to 
the fisherman’s left wrist. The thrower 
of this net often stands on the bow of 
a small canoe, and shows great skill in 
balancing himself. The jala is used both 
