MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES, &C. 
xxxr 
led to hope that the statement already made public of their 
reckless search after human beings merely for the purpose 
of obtaining their heads will be found to be exaggerated if 
ivot untrue, and that the custom elsewhere as here and at 
Lundu, will be found to be more accordent with our know¬ 
ledge of other wild tribes, and to be regarded merely as a 
triumphant token of valour in the fight or ambush ^similar 
indeed to the scalps of the North American Indian.” 
Again vol 2 p 197— w The tribes of Serebas and Sakarran, 
whose rivers are situated iu the deep bight between Tanjong 
Sipang and Tanjong Sink, are powerful communities and 
dreadful pirates who ravage the coasts with large fleets and 
murder and rob indisct iminutely j bat this is by no wteaws to 
be esteemed a standard of Dyck charact' j r, We would 
again ask Mr Burns to reconcile these passages with his 
charge of exaggeration anck we may remark that he has 
studied these works either too little or too much . 
Mr Low the only other Sarawak historian, in a work re* 
plete with valuable information though compiled in haste, 
draws the same broad distinction between the predatory 
tribes of Serebas and Sakarran and the other Dyaks of the 
N. W Coast. In writing of Serebas and Sakarran he says 
« The passion for Head hunting which now characterizes 
these people was not formerly deeply rooted as at present” 
and he adds—“In a limited extent the custom is probably 
as ancient as their existence as a nation. * 
At page 3 *3 of bis work Mr Low states that (( the custom 
of head taking as it has been before noticed is not so deeply 
rooted in the habits of those people as to prevent our hope 
of its being easily eradicated \ hough amongst the sea Dyaks 
it will probably be long before this desirable result be ob¬ 
tained. 
Does Mr Burns detect any discrepa ncy or extravagance 
in these statements, or can he point out in the works of the 
only two gentlemen who have written of Sarawak any 
passages to justify him in using the term “ extravagant” to 
persons far better informed and far more experienced than 
himself? . 
Although the Malays of Borneo differ as much one com¬ 
munity from another as the Dyaks, yet Mr Burns, who is 
evidently fond of abusive terms, has decided on the expe¬ 
rience ef a few months, that they are all ‘‘mongrels “atro¬ 
cious” and “servile.” Will he explain how they are more 
“mongrels” than the British ? What peculiar atrocities have 
f Sarawak p, 168. 
