300 TRAVELS m TBE EAST INDIAN ABCtllPELA^. 



changing scene of endless, bloody strife* The same 

 custom prevails over the greater part of the interior 

 of Borneo among many tribes known as Dyaks, the 

 Malay word for " savage," There only the heads of 

 men are valued, and new ones mnst be obtained to 

 celebrate every birth and faneral, as well as mar- 

 riage. I have seen a necklace of human teeth made 

 in that island by those people. Small holes had 

 been drilled in several scores of them, which were 

 then strung on a wire long enongh to pass two or 

 three times round the neck of the hero who wore it. 

 When a head is secured, the brains are taken out, 

 and it is placed over a fire to be smoked and dried. 

 Duiing this process, tbe muscles of the face contract 

 and change the features until they assume a most 

 ghastly grimace. 



Tiie dance being finished, we conversed with 

 them as well as we could about their customs, for 

 none of them could speak but a few words in Malay. 

 On the piece of paper-like bark which hangs down 

 in front, each warrior makes a circle when he cuts 

 oif a head. Some had one or two of these cii'cles ; 

 but one man had four, and I gave him to understand 

 that I knew what they meant by drawing my hand 

 four times across my throat, and then holding up 

 the fingers of one hand, and instantly he hopped 

 about as delighted as a child, thinking that of course 

 I was regarding him as the bravest of the brave, 

 while I looked at him in mute astonishment, and 

 tried to realize what a hardened villain he was. 

 Our North American savages are civilized men com- 

 pared to these fiends in human form. 



