798 SIR WILLIAM TURNER, THE CRANIOLOGY OF THE NATIVES OF BORNEO, 



GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON BORNEO CRANIA. 



Owing to the limitation in number of the skulls and the restricted area in the island 

 in which they were collected, the material at my disposal is not adequate to permit a 

 comprehensive survey, based on my own observations, of the craniology of the natives 

 of the whole of Borneo. Sufficient have, however, been examined to enable me to state 

 that in North Borneo, Brunei and Sarawak the crania of the natives are not uniform 

 in character, but show diversities in form and proportion, which justify the conclusion 

 that the island is inhabited by different races. Attempts have been made from time to 

 time, amongst others, by MM. De Quatrefages and Hamy, Mr C. Hose and the 

 naturalists who have studied the people of Sarawak along with him, and by Nieuwen- 

 huis and Kohlbrugge, from observations on the people of Dutch Borneo, to differentiate 

 the several races, the period when they populated the island, and the order of their 

 immigration. 



In an ethnographical survey of the great islands in the Malay Archipelago one cannot 

 overlook the possibility of the presence in them of a Negrito element, characterised 

 by pigmy stature, black skin, and short woolly black hair, either pure or cross-bred with 

 another race or races. The Semangs in the adjacent Malay Peninsula, the Mincopies of 

 the Andaman Islands, and the Aeta Pigmies in some of the Philippine Islands are well- 

 known examples of Negritos occupying countries in more or less close proximity to 

 the great islands of the Archipelago. 



In Borneo itself apparently the most primitive people are the Punans, or, to employ 

 the name given by Bock, as used in south-east Borneo, the Orang Poonans. They are 

 the Forest people who live in the jungles and dense forests in the mountains at the head 

 waters of the big rivers. Hose and Bock regard them as the aboriginal inhabitants ; 

 they do not cultivate the soil, but live by hunting and on the products of the jungles, and 

 are nomadic in their habits. If a Negrito element existed one would expect it to be 

 met with in these tribes. Bock described those seen by him in Dutch territory as 

 yellow in colour, the women being much lighter than the men, the hair long and black 

 and the stature moderate, all of which do not conform with Negrito characters. Hose 

 recognises their fair skin and also large-boned, strong physique. Haddon says that the 

 Punans are broad-headed, with an average cephalic index 81. 



The physical characters therefore in important particulars do not accord with those 

 of the Negritos, although, if Haddon's statement be correct, they approximate to them in 

 the relations of the breadth to the length of the head. It should be stated that the 

 Punans are not head hunters and do not build houses. There is also no evidence that 

 the Ukits, also nomadic, who live in the Kay an country in Sarawak, are to be associated 

 with the Negritos ; probably they are a branch of the Punans. 



The river valleys and the adjoining hill ranges in Borneo are peopled by tribes 

 bearing various names, e.g. Sebop, Melanau, Kadayan, Kalabit, Ot Danum, Ulu 



