30 
SOME REMARKS ON THE DYAKS OP BANJAR3IASSUN.* 
The Dyaks are, in many respects, a very interesting people. 
Very different in character from the cringing, fawning Malays, 
who here, and more particularly on the west coast of the Island, 
come in contact with them, they meet us with a free and open coun¬ 
tenance, and express their opinions and wishes, although not always 
off hand, yet without subterfuge or cloak. They have much natu¬ 
ral sense and a sound judgement, so that, in the most difficult and 
camplicated affairs, they often know how to assist with surprising 
ability and sagacity. The persons of the Dyaks arc more graceful 
than those of the Malays, and their colour is much fairer than that of 
the Javanese. Tatooing is very general amongst them,-f and the 
flowers, circles and other dark figures which they paint with great 
care, give a good effect to their slender and mostly muscular per¬ 
sons, which are wholly divested of all clothing. The only thing 
which a yet unpolished Dyak wears is a headkerchief and a small 
piece of cloth,—or from want of it, a small strip of soft beaten 
bark,—around his loins, with which hh conceals his shame. Both 
ends hang down in the manner of lappets, one in front and one 
behind ; a circumstance which has probably given rise to the sin¬ 
gular assertion “that some of them are furnished with tails. ? 
Far in the interior the women also arc but scantily clothed: a 
very narrow garment, which scarcely reaches from the waist to 
the knees, is usually their only dress. 
In the middle of the island the people live, as it were, wholly 
in a state ©f nature; and neither men nor women appear to have 
any conception of shame. I myself have seen, in the Kapus river, 
that the women with their children bathe naked in the presence of 
many men, and without any one perceiving the least impropriety 
or evil in it.f In proportion to the Dyak’s indifference respecting 
his dress, is his passion for various ornaments, particularly Agate 
« Translated for this Journal from the Tijdschrift voor Noerlands 
Indie. Negende Yaargang, lweeds aflevering. 
-p The Dyaks in the North West of Borneo do not tatoo although the 
Kayans do.—E d. 
i Mr. Brcoke says “Even the Malays speak highly of the ehastity ot the 
Dyak women ; yet they are by no means shy under the gaze of strangers, 
and used to bathe before us in a stale of nudity.’'— KeppePs Expedilionlo 
EornoOj voU 1< p> —Ed, 
