BOKNEO 
237 
ducts of the forest, and exchange them for tools, clothing, 
or ornaments, and especially for brass wire, gongs, and 
brass guns, which constitute the wealth of every Dyak 
chief. Earthenware vases and other vessels are also 
greatly prized, and some of the chiefs houses are quite 
full of them. The Dyaks of the interior of Sarawak are 
celebrated for the construction of ingenious bamboo sus¬ 
pension bridges over the rivers, to enable them to cross 
to their plantations or to other villages during floods. 
Mr. St. John tells us that the rivers sometimes rise forty 
feet during a flood, and that even a single heavy shower 
will render the fords impassable. The bridges are gener¬ 
ally placed where large trees overhang the river. These 
are connected by strong bamboos lashed together, and 
supported at several points by cords of rattan. A light 
but shaky hand-rail is fixed a few feet above, but the 
whole is so slender and elastic, and the foothold on the 
smooth bamboo so insecure, that it requires some nerve 
in a European to cross such a bridge. 
It is worthy of note that the Dyaks of the northern 
and north-western part of the island show in many in¬ 
stances a striking resemblance to the Chinese. That the 
latter have been an important factor in the production 
of the race there can be no doubt. They have for 
centuries settled on the coast, and have taken their 
wives from the native women. The Dyak of pure blood 
is only to be found in the interior. A recent writer, in¬ 
deed, declares that in some parts of British North Borneo 
the Dyaks are more than half Chinese. 
Of the date of the arrival of the true Malays in Borneo 
nothing certain is known. From the condition of the 
court of Brunei as described by Pigafetta, it is evident 
that they must at that time have been long established. 
Some centuries must have been needed to build up so 
