IN BORNEAN FORESTS [chap, iv 



Rajah, and had not given up head-hunting. The Sibuyo Sea- 

 Dyaks live on the Lundu river, near the westernmost point 

 of Borneo. This tribe is said to have migrated from the lake 

 region on the frontier of Sarawak, between the Batang-Lupar and the 

 Kapuas river. 1 



The Sea-Dyaks are usually of middle height or rather small ; 

 the taller men rarely exceed 5 ft. 5 in., and 5 ft. 3 in. may be 

 considered their average stature. They are stoutly built, with broad 

 chests and well-proportioned limbs, although not usually showing 

 any great muscular development (Fig. n). The skin is brown and 

 often a shade lighter than in the Malays ; the face broad, with very 

 prominent cheek-bones ; but the lower jaw is weak and the chin 

 pointed. Their expression, however, is calm and resolute. The 

 eyes are straight and not sunken ; the nose is always snub, but not 

 depressed, often straight, but with very wide alse. They have no 

 hair on the face ; that on the head, black and smooth, is worn tied 

 up into a knot or else very long and loose behind, but cut more or 

 less in front. 



The women are always smaller than the men, and have the nose 

 somewhat more flattened, and the forehead narrower. Even when 

 quite young, they are less elegantly shaped than the men, and always 

 rather clumsy in their gait ; they are, however, often well formed 

 and have a pleasing face, but very Mongoloid in its character 

 (Fig. 13). They usually wear the bedang, a kind of short 

 petticoat, wrapped tightly round the waist, and hardly reaching the 

 knees ; it consists merely of a piece of dark-coloured cotton cloth 

 of their own make. At times they also wear a jacket or 

 baju. The strangest part of the dress of the Dyak women is 

 the collection of rings of thick brass wire, for which rings of rotangs 

 (rattans) are substituted in the poorer classes. These are worn in 

 great profusion round the waist, and besides fixing the bedang, 

 effectually cover the abdomen. 2 The head is usually uncovered, 

 but on festive occasions special head-dresses are to be seen, such as 

 the highly characteristic " sisir " of silver worn by the Seribas girls 

 (Fig. 12). Often necklaces of glass beads and bracelets of silver 

 are worn, but more commonly the forearm up to the elbow is 

 covered with a spiral of close-fitting rings of thick brass wire. 



The usual dress of the men consists merely of the " jaw at" a 

 piece of cloth passed between the legs and secured round the waist, 

 hanging with the ends in front and behind. This cloth is at the 

 present day usually of European manufacture, but many still wear 



1 Low. Sarawak, p. 167. 



2 A similar costume is worn by the Kachin women in Burma, and the 

 Karin, who have so many traits in common with the Dyaks, cover the body and 

 limbs with big spirals of brass wire. (Fea, Quattri anni fra i Birmani, pp. 204, 

 465,466, figs. 152, 153. Milano, 1896.), 



44 



