Ch. XI.] liESECEATION OF EUEOPEAN GEAYES. 179 



they extract through it whatever the grave may contain 

 which excites their cupidity. They rarely remove the body, 

 though it appears the bones (simply as bones) have some- 

 times been found missiag ; but the cause of the desecration 

 is somewhat obscure. It has been suggested to me by some, 

 that having observed the luxurious modes of living to which 

 the Europeans are accustomed, they believe that we must 

 carry some valuables with us into the grave ; more especially 

 as it is the custom of their own people to bury rings, jewels, 

 &c., with the body in their graves. But if this were the case, 

 it would seem strange that they have not, ere this, learned 

 the fallaciousness of the idea ; for, notwithstanding that no 

 valuables are ever buried in European graves, the desecra- 

 tion of them sooner or later still seems an inevitable evil. 



Another suggestion has some probability also, namely, 

 that the graves are robbed for the sake of the skull. It is 

 said that the Dyaks of Borneo are the offenders, with whom 

 it is a custom to collect heads, and among whom the man is 

 great according to the number of heads he possesses. It is 

 asserted that the heads thus taken from graves are treated 

 like other heads, and the jfiction established that such heads 

 have been taken in fight. But there are difficulties on this 

 theory, for the heads of their victims are usually dried while 

 still fresh, whereas the graves are often undisturbed until 

 long after interment, and bare skulls only can remain. If it 

 be supposed, however, that the Dyaks, knowing the smaU- 

 ness of the European population in Labuan, make periodical 

 nocturnal incursions for the purpose of taking heads from 

 the graves, an explanation might be found in the supposition 

 that they would search all the graves filled since the last 

 visit, securing, however, only such heads as they might find 

 suitable for their purposes. 



N 2 



