MR. EARL UK THE SAKARUANS. 203 



for A moment longer, keep his own witness " in 

 tbo box/* 



His frientlSi the Dyaks, while only beheading towns, 

 slmll, aa suggested by Lord Palmoi-ston, be engaged in an 

 ** amiable pursuit— n^erely intertribal war," if we may just 

 ajsk Mi% Earl another qviestion, — Whether tliey do not 

 occasionally rar?/ their amusement, and combine the 

 business of plunder with the pleasures of assassination? 



Mr. Earl replies—" They do/* 



" The north-west coast, from Point Batu to Jiorneo 

 Proper, an extent of nearly tliree hundred miles, is scarcely 

 known to the native trader, although it is held to be as 

 rich m natural productions as any other part of the islantl 

 The country is occupied by several powerful Dyak tiibcs, 

 differing only in dialect, who here, as elsewhere, are 

 engaged in perpetual warfare. The mast advtminrom 

 of the tribes is that of Sakarran. a spot about a hundred 

 'miles to the eastward of Saiuwalv, the people of which 

 are said by the Malays to be of a more lofty stature than 

 the others — ^a statement which I suspect means only that 

 the tribe is more powerful. They sometimes make long 

 voyages down the coaist, and their murderous visit to 

 Sambas has already been mentioned. The Dyaks, 

 however, are not the sole occupants of tins part of the 

 coast, for the Lajtu^cs, a piratical people from the island of 

 Magindano, are established in several of the bai'bours, 

 wbero they live clilefly in their praluia, which are from 

 twenty to sixty tons burtlicn. During the south-east 



