In the evening of the following day the Madangs prepared a feast for all present, and afterwards a great deal of rice-spirit was drunk and some very good speeches made, former troubles and difficulties being explained and discussed in the most open manner. Each chief spoke in turn, and concluded his speech by offering drink to another and singing a few phrases in his praise, the whole assembly joining in a very impressive chorus after each phrase and ending up with a tremendous roar as the bamboo cup was emptied.
The following day the Madangs collected a quantity of rubber for their first payment of tribute to the government, namely, $2.00 per family, and as we had no means of weighing it except by guesswork, it was decided that Tama Bulan and two Madang headmen should act as assessors, and decide whether the piece of rubber brought by each person was sufficiently large to produce $2.00. It took these men the whole day to receive it all, and much counting was done on the fingers and toes.
On taking our departure from the Madang country, most of the women presented us with a small quantity of rice for food on our homeward journey, but as each little lot was emptied into a large basket, the giver took back a few grains so as not to offend the omen-birds, who had bestowed on them a bounteous harvest, by giving the whole away to strangers. Presents of considerable value were given on both sides, and all parted the best of friends. The two principal Madang chiefs accompanied us for a day's journey, their followers carrying the whole of our baggage. On parting I promised to arrange a similar peace-making at Claudetown, at which most of the Baram chiefs would be present.
We add an account of the peace-making previously published by one of us.[216]
The peace-making that I am going to describe was organised in order to bring together on neutral ground, and in presence of an overwhelming force of the tribes loyal to the government, all those tribes whose allegiance was still doubtful, and all those that were still actively hostile to one another, and to induce them to swear to support the government in keeping the peace, and to go through the formalities necessary to put an end to old blood-feuds. At the same time the Resident had suggested to the tribes that they should all compete in a grand race of war canoes, as well as in other races on land and water. For he wisely held that in order to suppress fighting and head-hunting, hitherto the natural avenues to fame for restless tribes and ambitious young men, it is necessary to replace them by some other form of violent competition that may in some degree serve as a vent for high spirits and superfluous energy; and he hoped to establish an annual gathering for boat racing and other sports, in which all the tribes should take part, a gathering on the lines of the Olympic games in fact. The idea Was taken up eagerly by the people, and months before the appointed day they were felling the giants of the forest and carving out from them the great war canoes that were to be put to this novel use, and reports were passing from village to village of the many fathoms length of this or that canoe, and the fineness of the timber and workmanship of another.
In order to make clear the course of events, I must explain that two large rivers, the Baram and the Tinjar, meet about one hundred miles from the sea to form the main Baram river. Between the peoples living on the banks of these two rivers and their tributaries there is a traditional hostility which just at this time had been raised to a high pitch by the occurrence of a blood-feud between the Kenyahs, a leading tribe of the Baram, and the Lirongs, an equally powerful tribe of the Tinjar. In addition to these two groups we expected a large party of Madangs, a famous tribe of fighting men of the central highlands whose hand had hitherto been against every other tribe, and a large number of Sea Dayaks, who, more than all the rest, are always spoiling for a fight, and who are so passionately devoted to head-hunting that often they do not scruple to pursue it in an unsportsmanlike fashion. So it will be understood that the bringing together in one place of large parties of fully armed warriors of all these different groups was a distinctly interesting and speculative experiment in peace-making.
The place of meeting was Marudi (Claudetown), the headquarters of the government of the district. There the river, still nearly a hundred miles from the sea, winds round the foot of a low flat-topped hill, on which stand the small wooden fort and court-house and the Resident's bungalow. Some days before that fixed for the great meeting by the tokens we had sent out, parties of men began to arrive, floating down in the long war canoes roofed with palm leaves for the journey. On the appointed day some five thousand of the Baram people and the Madangs were encamped very comfortably in leaf and mat shelters on the open ground between our bungalow and the fort, while the Sea Dayaks had taken up their quarters in the long row of Chinamen's shops that form the Marudi bazaar, the commercial centre of the district. But as yet no Tinjar folk had put in an appearance, and men began to wonder what had kept them — Were the tokens sent them at fault? Or had they received friendly warnings of danger from some of the many sacred birds, without whose favourable omens no journey can be undertaken? Or had they, perhaps, taken the opportunity to ascend the Baram and sack and burn the Kenyah houses now well nigh empty of defenders? We spent the time in foot-racing, preliminary boat-racing, and in seeing the wonders of the white man. For many of these people had not travelled so far downriver before, and their delight in the piano was only equalled by their admiration for that most wonderful of all things, the big boat that goes up stream without paddles, the Resident's fast steam-launch.
At last one evening, while we were all looking on at a most exciting practice-race between three of the canoes, the Lirongs, with the main mass of the Tinjar people, came down the broad straight reach. It was that most beautiful half-hour of the tropical day, between the setting of the sun and the fall of darkness — the great forest stood black and formless, while the sky and the smooth river were luminous with delicate green and golden light. The Lirongs were in full war dress, with feathered coats of leopard skin and plumed caps plaited of tough rattan, and very effective they were as they came swiftly on over the shining water, sixty to seventy warriors in each canoe raising their tremendous battle-cry, a deep-chested chorus of rising and falling cadences. The mass of men on the bank and on the hill took up the cry, answering shout for shout; and the forest across the river echoed it, until the whole place was filled with a hoarse roar. The Kenyahs ran hastily to their huts for their weapons, and by the time they had grouped themselves on the crest of the hill, armed with sword and shield and spear and deadly blowpipe, the Lirongs had landed on the bank below and were rushing up the hill to the attack. A few seconds more and they met with clash of sword and shield and a great shouting, and in the semi-darkness a noisy battle raged. After some minutes the Lirongs drew off and rushed back to their boats as wildly as they had come; and, strange to say, no blood was flowing, no heads were rolling on the ground, no ghastly wounds were gaping, in fact no one seemed any the worse. For it seems that this attack was merely a well understood formality, a put-up job, so to say. When two tribes, between whom there is a blood-feud not formally settled, meet together to make peace, it is the custom for the injured party, that is the tribe which has last suffered a loss of heads, to make an attack on the other party but using only the butt ends of their spears and the blunt edges of their swords. This achieves two useful ends-it lets off superabundant high spirits, which, if too much bottled up, would be dangerous; and it "saves the face" of the injured party by showing how properly wrathful and bellicose its feelings are. So when this formality had been duly observed everybody seemed to feel that matters were going on well; they all settled down quietly enough for the night, the Resident taking the precaution to send the Lirongs to camp below the fort; and the great peace-conference was announced to be held the following morning.
Soon after daybreak the people began to assemble beneath the great roof of palm-leaf mats that we had built for a conference hall. The Baram chiefs sat on a low platform along one side of the hall, and in their midst was Tama Bulan, the most famous of them all, a really great man who has made his name and influence felt throughout a very large part of Borneo. When all except the Tinjar men were assembled, of course without arms, the latter, also unarmed, came up the hill in a compact mass, to take their places in the hall. As they entered, the sight of their old enemies, the chiefs of the Baram, all sitting quietly together, was too much for their self-control; with one accord they made a mad rush at them and attempted to drag them from the platform. Fortunately we white men had placed ourselves with a few of the more reliable Dayak fortmen between the two parties, and partly by force and partly by eloquence we succeeded in beating off the attack, which seemed to be made in the spirit of a school "rag" rather than with bloody intent. But just as peace seemed restored, a great shout went up from the Baram men, "Tama Bulan is wounded"; and sure enough there he stood with blood flowing freely over his face. The sight of blood seemed to send them all mad together; the Tinjar people turned as one man and tore furiously down the hill to seize their weapons, while the Baram men ran to their huts and in a few seconds were prancing madly to and fro on the crest of the hill, thirsting for the onset of the bloody battle that now seemed a matter of a few seconds only. At the same time the Dayaks were swarming out of the bazaar seeking something to kill, like the typical Englishman, though not knowing which side to take. The Resident hastened after the Tinjars, threw himself before them, and appealed and threatened, pointing to the two guns at the fort now trained upon them; and Tama Bulan showed his true greatness by haranguing his people, saying his wound was purely accidental and unintended, that it was a mere scratch, and commanding them to stand their ground. Several of the older and steadier chiefs followed his example and ran to and fro holding back their men, exhorting them to be quiet.
The crisis passed, the sudden gust of passion slowly died away, and peace was patched up with interchange of messages and presents between the two camps. The great boat race was announced to take place on the morrow, and the rest of the day was spent in making ready the war canoes, stripping them of their leaf roofs and all other superfluous gear.
At daybreak the racing-boats set off for the startingpost four miles up river. The Resident had given strict orders that no spears or other weapons were to be carried in the racing-boats, and as they started up river we inspected the boats in turn, and in one or two cases relieved them of a full complement of spears; and then we followed them to the post in the steam-launch. There was a score of entries, and since each boat carried from sixty to seventy men sitting two abreast, more than a thousand men were taking part in the race. The getting the boats into line across the broad river was a noisy and exciting piece of work. We carried on the launch a large party of elderly chiefs, most. of whom were obviously suffering from "the needle," and during the working of the boats into line they hurled commands at them in language that was terrific in both quality and volume. At last something like a line was assumed, and on the sound of the gun the twenty boats leaped through the water, almost lost to sight in a cloud of spray as every one of those twelve hundred men struck the water for all he was worth. There was no saving of themselves; the rate of striking was about ninety to the minute, and tended constantly to increase. Very soon two boats drew out in front, and the rest of them, drawing together as they neared the first bend, followed hotly after like a pack of hounds. This order was kept all over the course. During the first burst our fast launch could not keep up with the boats, but we drew up in time to see the finish. It was a grand neck-and-neck race all through between the two leading boats, and all of them rowed it out to the end. The winners were a crew of the peaceful down-river folk, who have learnt the art of boat-making from the Malays of the coast; and they owed their victory to their superior skill in fashioning their boat, rather than to superior strength. When they passed the post we had an anxious moment — How would the losers take their beating? Would the winners play the fool, openly exulting and swaggering? If so, they would probably get their heads broken, or perhaps lose them. But they behaved with modesty and discretion, and we diverted attention from them by swinging the steamer round and driving her through the main mass of the boats. Allowing as accurately as possible for the rate of the current as compared with the rate of the tide at Putney, we reckoned the pace of the winning boat to be a little better than that of the 'Varsity eights in racing over the full course.
The excitement of the crowds on the bank was great, but it was entirely good-humoured — they seemed to have forgotten their feuds in the interest of the racing. So the Resident seized the opportunity to summon every one to the conference hall once more. This time we settled down comfortably enough and with great decorum, the chiefs all in one group at one side of a central space, and the common people in serried ranks all round about it. In the centre was a huge, gaily painted effigy of a hornbill, one of the birds sacred to all the tribes, and on it were hung thousands of cigarettes of home-grown tobacco wrapped in dried banana leaf. Three enormous pigs were now brought in and laid, bound as to their feet, before the chiefs, one for each of the main divisions of the people, the Barams, the Tinjars, and the hill-country folk. The greatest chiefs of each of these parties then approached the pigs, and each in turn, standing beside the pig assigned to his party, addressed the attentive multitude with great flow of words and much violent and expressive action; for many of these people are great orators. The purport of their speeches was their desire for peace, their devotion to the Resident ("If harm come to him, then may I fall too," said Tama Bulan), and their appreciation of the trade and general intercourse and safety of life and property brought them by the Rajah's government; and they hurled threats and exhortations against unlicensed warfare and bloodshed.
As each chief ended his speech to the people he turned to the pig at his feet, and, stooping over it, kept gently prodding it with a smouldering fire-brand, while he addressed to it a prayer for protection and guidance — a prayer that the spirit of the pig, soon to be set free by a skilful thrust of a spear into the beast's heart, should carry up to the Supreme Being. The answer to these prayers might then be read in the form and markings of the underside of the livers. So the pigs were despatched, and their livers hastily dragged forth and placed on platters before the group of chiefs. Then was there much anxious peering over shoulders, and much shaking of wise old heads, as the learned elders discussed the omens; until at last the Resident was called upon to give his opinion, for he is an acknowledged expert in augury. He was soon able to show that the only true and rational reading of the livers was a guarantee of peace and prosperity to all the tribes of the district; and the people, accepting his learned interpretation, rejoiced with one accord. Then the Resident made a telling speech, in which he dwelt upon the advantages of peace and trade, and how it is good that a man should sleep without fear that his house be burnt or his people slain; and he ended by seizing the nearest chief by the hair of his head, as is their own fashion, to show how, if a man break the peace, he shall lose his head.
This concluded the serious part of the conference, and it only remained to smoke the cigarettes of good fellowship, taken from the hornbill-effigy, and to drink long life and happiness to one another. So great jars of "arack" were brought in and drinking vessels, and each chief in turn, standing before some whilom enemy, sang his praises in musical recitative before giving him the cup; and after each phrase of the song the multitude joined in with a long-drawn sonorous shout, which, while the drink flowed down, rose to a mighty roar. This is a most effective way of drinking a man's health, and combines the advantages of making a speech over him and singing "For he's a jolly good fellow"; moreover, the drink goes to the right party, as it does not with us. It should be adopted in this country, I think. By many repetitions of this process we were soon reduced to a state of boisterous conviviality; and many a hard-faced old warrior, who but the day before had drawn his weapons against his enemy, now sat with his arms lovingly thrown about that same enemy. When this state of affairs was reached, our work seemed to be accomplished, and we white men retired to lunch, leaving one chief in the midst of a long-winded speech. As soon as the restraint of the Resident's presence was removed, the orator began to utter remarks of a nature to stir up the dying embers of resentment; at least so it seemed to one wily old chief, a firm supporter of the government, who bethought him to send one of his men to pull away the palm-leaf mats from above the indiscreet orator, and so leave his verbosity exposed to the rays of the mid-day sun. No sooner said than done, and this was the beginning of the end; for others following suit made a rush for the mats that would be so useful in making their camps and boats more rain-proof. There was a mighty uproar that brought us headlong to the scene, only to see the big hall melt away like a snowflake as hundreds of hands seized upon the mats and bore them away in triumph. So the great peace conference was brought to an end amid much laughter and fun.
It only remained for the chiefs to pay in the taxes for the year — the two dollars per family which it is their business to collect from their people, and which is the only tax or tribute claimed by the Rajah. This business was got through on the following morning; and then we said many kind farewells, as the various parties set out one after another in the great war canoes on their long up-stream journey; some of them to battle for many days against the swiftly flowing river, and after that again for many days to pole their boats through the flashing rapids and over the lovely quiet reaches, where the rare gleams of sunlight break through the overarching forest; until, coming to their own upland country, where anxious wives and children are waiting, they will spread even in the remotest highlands the news of the white man's big boat that goes of itself against the stream, of the great boat-race, and of how they came wellnigh to a fearful slaughtering, and how they swore peace and goodwill to all men, and how there should be now peace and prosperity through all the land, for the great white man who had come to rule them had said it should be so, and the gods had approved his words.
The foregoing account of the journey to the Madang country and of the subsequent events would constitute the last chapter of any history of the pacification of the Baram. Since the time of those incidents, there has been no serious disturbance of the peace; and there seems to be good reason to hope that, so long as the Rajah's government continues to be conducted along the same lines, there will be no recrudescence of savagery. The last case of fighting on any considerable scale occurred in 1894, when Tama Bulan's people, resenting the offensive conduct of bands of Sea Dayaks who had penetrated to their neighbourhood in search of jungle-products, turned out and took the heads of thirteen of the Dayaks. It was only after prolonged negotiation that the Dayaks were persuaded to resign their hopes of a bloody revenge and to accept a compensation of 3000 dollars, which was paid by the Kenyahs at the Rajah's order.
It has not always been possible to make peace prevail by wholly peaceable procedures. The Baram was fortunate in that the Sea Dayaks had not established themselves anywhere within its borders. In the Rejang, on the other hand, large numbers of them were allowed to settle, coming in from the Saribas and the Batang Lupar in the early days of the Rajah's government. And since the Kayans and Kenyahs were already in possession of the upper river and considered themselves the dominant tribes and lords of the land, it was inevitable that there should grow up a keen rivalry which could hardly fail to lead occasionally to armed conflict. For the Sea Dayaks had been accustomed to adopt a somewhat swaggering and domineering attitude towards the Klemantan tribes, and could not easily learn to modify it when they came in contact with the prouder and less submissive Kayans and Kenyahs. This rivalry has been the source of most of the troubles of the Rejang, where, since the big expedition of 1863, the Rajah and his officers have on several occasions found it necessary to subdue recalcitrant tribes or communities by leading armed forces against them.
As an illustration of these sterner methods we add a brief account of one such expedition led by one of us (C. H.) in the year 1904, in his capacity of Divisional Resident of the several Rejang districts; an expedition which, there is reason to hope, may prove to be the last of the series. The purpose of this expedition was to reduce to order a small community of Sea Dayaks that was established upon Bukit Batu, an almost impregnable mountain which rises up almost perpendicularly on all sides at the head of the Bali, one of the eastern tributaries of the Rejang. This community had been formed in the manner to which legend assigns the foundation of ancient Rome, namely, by the gathering together in this strong place of various outlaws and violent characters who for one reason or another had quarrelled with and defied the government. The same spot had been similarly occupied many years before; and though it had been forcibly cleared of its defenders, its natural advantages had, in the course of years, led to the growth of a new community of the same kind.
This band had raided the surrounding country, slaying and robbing people of several tribes, and generally had been having a "gorgeous time." They had repeatedly refused to yield even when threatened by armed force. And when the Resident sent them a peremptory message, commanding them to appear to surrender themselves at the nearest government station within one month, they returned an impudent answer, saying that they had so far accepted orders from no one, and asking — Who was he that they should obey him? Steps were at once taken to enforce obedience. Since to storm the hill might well cost many lives, it seemed preferable to try to lure its defenders from their stronghold. The Resident, without giving the brigands further warning, went up the Rejang with a single boat's crew to a point about 150 miles above the mouth of the Bali, the tributary that flows past Bukit Batu. At this point another tributary, the Bukau, coming from near the opposite side of Bukit Batu, joins the Rejang. Here he collected a force of some 200 Kayans and Klemantans, and led them up to the head of the Bukau and then on foot through the jungle to the neighbourhood of Bukit Batu. The route by which the brigands usually passed to and from their fastness was at a spot near the river, where rude ladders of wood and rattan had been fixed to facilitate the ascent and descent of the precipitous foot of the hill. Near this spot the force was divided into two parties, which were stationed in the jungle at some little distance from the ladders, right and left of the path to the river; and a party of ten active men was detached, with instructions to hang about the foot of the ladders and to retreat along the path to the river if they were attacked. On the second day the Ibans on the mountain snapped at the bait. About forty of them descended stealthily and then rushed upon the small party, hoping to hunt down in the jungle all whom they could not strike down on the spot, and thus to secure ten heads and enjoy the frenzy of slaughter. The ten decoys fled swiftly down the path, and the supporting parties, guided by the yells of the Ibans, closed in from both sides and fell upon them. A few of the rebels were killed, without any fatal casualties to the Resident's party. The rest fled through the jungle and many of them were afterwards arrested. Those who remained on the hill promptly drew up the ladders and hurled down rocks. To have carried the hill by storm would still have been most difficult and costly, and, as it proved, a needless feat. The Resident therefore contented himself with destroying all the property of the brigands that was within reach, including a number of valuable jars and gongs which they had secreted in a cave at the foot of the hill, and the fields of young PADI on which they were largely dependent for their food-supply. For he well knew that this procedure would render the spot hateful to the Ibans; for the scene of a disaster, especially one where they have been worsted in fight, becomes an object of superstitious dread. The Resident therefore led back his party by the way they had come, dismissed them to their homes, and returned down river to Sibu, after sending a command to those remaining on the hill that they should present themselves forthwith at Kapit. The order was obeyed; fines, pledges, and compensations to relatives of their victims were paid in; and the principal men were ordered to reside for a year in the neighbourhood of Sibu Fort and afterwards to return to their native districts.
It should be added that these Ibans frankly acknowledged that the Resident had been too clever for them, and that they bore him no ill-will; and that some of them, accompanying him on later excursions, proved themselves willing helpers and agreeable companions.
Other and larger expeditions of armed forces have in the past been led against tribes or villages, generally on account of their having refused to surrender to the government members guilty of taking heads or of attacking other villages wantonly and without permission. In all cases the government officers have relied almost exclusively upon the services of bodies of natives under the immediate charge of their own chiefs and armed only with their native weapons. In some cases the offending parties have fled from their villages without offering active resistance; and in these cases the government force has usually been content to inflict punishment by burning down their houses and taking what property was left in them.
It is perhaps too much to hope that no cases of taking heads or of wanton attack on jungle parties or on weak villages will ever again occur. But such incidents have become very infrequent and the offenders have seldom escaped punishment; for, unlike our own population, many thousands of whom live detached from all local bonds as isolated floating units unknown to the government and to those among whom they dwell, every man in Sarawak, with the partial exception of the nomad jungle-dwellers, is a member of some local group which is held responsible by the government for his good behaviour; thus in every district every man is known, if not as an individual, at least as a member of some community; and every stranger (or party of strangers) is expected to be able to give a satisfying account of himself; and any who wish to work in the jungle of any district other than their own are required to have government permission. It is thus impossible for any criminal to conceal himself for any length of time from the government; and so sure is it of effecting arrest, when necessary, that accused persons are frequently allowed to attend to their farms and follow their ordinary occupations pending the time of their trial. Even when a man accused of a serious offence flees across the border to Dutch territory, he is generally apprehended by the Dutch officers sooner or later and sent round to Kuching by sea.
The raising of the taxes from the people to defray the expenses of government has raised no difficulties. The door-tax of two dollars[217] per door (I.E. per family or household) is the only direct tax laid on the tribes. When once the initial reluctance has been overcome, this has been collected and regularly paid in by chiefs and PENGHULUS, including the headmen of the nomad groups. In times of misfortune, whether individual or collective, such as the loss of crops or of a house by fire, the tax is remitted; and no tax is expected from men over sixty years of age, from cripples or invalids, or from widows.
The Sea Dayaks alone pay a door-tax of one dollar only, it having been understood from the early days, when they were the only fighting tribe with which the Rajah was intimately acquainted, that they are liable at any time to be called upon by the government to render assistance in punitive expeditions or in other public works, such as procuring timber for government buildings. But this holds good only for those who remain in the districts in which they have long been settled.
The sum raised by direct taxation forms now but a small part of the total revenue of the State of Sarawak; for the development of trade and agriculture, especially the cultivation of pepper and sago and rubber, and the growing capacity and facilities for the purchase of imported goods by the people even of the remotest parts, enable the government to raise a considerable revenue by indirect taxation in the form of customs duties.
The minerals, worked in the main by the Borneo Company,[218] principally gold, antimony, and mercury, have also been an important source of revenue. The recent discovery of supplies of petroleum promises to result in an important addition to the wealth of the country.[219] But these various commercial and industrial developments affect hardly at all the lives of the pagan tribes, So far as they are concerned, the work of the government may be summed up by saying that it has suppressed the chronic warfare which kept them all in a state of armed hostility and uneasy distrust of one another; that it has suppressed head-hunting and crimes of violence, has rendered life and property secure, and has administered justice with a firm hand and a strict regard to the customs and traditional sentiments of the people; that it has wellnigh extinguished slavery; that it has opened the whole country to trade, and, by thus improving the facilities for sale of the jungle produce, has increased the purchasing power of the people, while bringing within the reach of all of them the products of civilised industry that they most value; and that while it has strictly regulated the sale of those products, such as fire-arms and strong liquor, which have proved detrimental to so many other peoples of the lower culture, it has encouraged the people to cultivate a greater variety of vegetable products, especially sago, coconuts, pepper, and rubber, and to improve the methods of cultivation of PADI. Lastly, the government has rendered possible the establishment of a number of excellent mission schools in older stations, where considerable numbers of children of the pagan tribes have been made Christians and trained to fill subordinate posts in the administrative service, or to return to leaven the native villages with a wider knowledge and a better understanding of the principles which underlie the white man's conduct and culture. The missionaries have exerted also among the Sea Dayaks a strong influence making for peace and order; but they have hardly yet come into contact with Kayans or Kenyahs. Mention must also be made of the Malay schools which the government has instituted and supported in the principal stations, and in which many young Malays receive the elements of a useful education.
In all its undertakings the success of the government has only been rendered possible by the high prestige that the white man everywhere enjoys; and this in turn has been acquired and maintained, not so much by his command of the mechanical resources of western civilisation, as by the fact that, with very few exceptions, the white men with whom the natives have had intercourse have been English gentlemen, animated by the spirit and example of the two white Rajahs, and keenly conscious of their individual and collective responsibility as representatives of their race and country in a foreign land.[220]
We have dwelt at some length on the government of the Rajah of Sarawak in its relation with the pagan tribes, and, if we dismiss in a few words the administrative labours of the Dutch and of the British North Borneo Company in their respective territories, it is not because we regard those labours as of less interest and importance or as less successful, but because in the main they have run on similar lines and have achieved similar results to those of the government of Sarawak, of which alone we have intimate knowledge. Dutch Borneo comprises roughly two-thirds of the whole island, a very large territory which comprises the basins of the largest rivers and hence, the rivers being the only highways, the most inaccessible parts of the island. The Kapuas River, for example, is estimated to be nearly 700 miles in length; and the necessity of ascending these hundreds of miles of river-way, much of it difficult and dangerous, has rendered the process of establishing control over the tribes of the interior slow and laborious. For this reason the process is not yet completed; although the Dutch have had stations in Borneo since the early years of the seventeenth century, when they expelled the Portuguese from Bruni and Sambas. But it was not until 1785 that they came into possession of any considerable territory, namely, the Sultanate of Banjermasin, and not till after the return to them of their East Indian rights in 1816 that they extended their territorial possessions to their present large proportions.
The Dutch settlement and possessions in Borneo were for many years administered by traders and a trading company whose prime object was, of course, profitable trade. The problems of native administration no doubt seemed to them at first of minor importance and interest, and they made many mistakes.[221] But, as with our own great company in India, it became increasingly necessary, if only for the sake of trade, to study the art and policy of administering the affairs of the native population. This has now been done to good effect, and, stimulated possibly by the example of wise paternal government afforded by the Rajahs of Sarawak, the Dutch have established a system of Residents or district officers who have successfully invoked the co-operation of the native chiefs in a manner very similar to that practised in the neighbouring state. And the Dutch officers have of late years shown themselves willing and able effectively to co-operate with those of Sarawak in all matters of common interest, especially in the settlement of troubles on the boundary between their territories. The enlightened interest of the Dutch Government in the welfare of the tribes of the far interior and in the promotion of ethnographical knowledge has been strikingly manifested in the opening years of this century by the despatch of two successive expeditions, under the leadership of Dr. Nieuwenhuis, to study the people, their customs and conditions, and by its generous expenditure upon the publication of the handsome volumes in which he has embodied his valuable reports.[222] On the second journey this intrepid traveller penetrated to the head of the Batang Kayan, and there made the acquaintance of the same Kenyahs who had recently visited the Resident of the Baram. In this way the spheres of Dutch and of British influence have been made to overlap in these central highlands.
The Physical Characters of the Races and Peoples of Borneo
A. C. Haddon
Introduction
The following sketch of the races and peoples of Borneo is based upon the observations of the Cambridge Expedition to Sarawak in 1899 and those of Dr. A. W. Nieuwenhuis in his expeditions to Netherlands Borneo in 1894, 1896 — 1897, and 1898 — 1900 (QUER DURCH BORNEO, Leiden, vol. i., 1904, vol. ii., 1907).
It is generally acknowledged that in Borneo, as in other islands of the East Indian Archipelago, the Malays inhabit the coasts and the aborigines the interior, though in some these reach the coast while Malayised tribes have pushed inland up the rivers, a sharp distinction between the two being frequently obliterated where they overlap. The condition, however, is much more complicated as we can now distinguish at least two main races among the aborigines.
We have no evidence as to who were the primitive inhabitants of Borneo. One would expect to find Negritos in the interior, as these black, woolly-haired pygmies inhabit the Andamans, parts of the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, the Philippines, New Guinea, and possibly Melanesia. No authoritative evidence of their occurrence in Borneo is forthcoming, and one can confidently assert that there are no Negritos in Sarawak. Nor are there any traces of Melanesians. It is generally admitted that, assuming the Australians to be mainly of that race, a Pre-Dravidian element should occur in the Archipelago, and the cousins Sarasin have noted this strain among the Toalas of Celebes and Moszkowski among the Batins of Sumatra; in this connection it is of interest that Nieuwenhuis discovered ten Ulu Ayars and two Punans with straight hair and a "black or blue-black" skin colour; Kohlbrugge,[223] who records this observation, offers no explanation.
Dr. E. T. Hamy in 1877 recognised a primitive element in the Malay Archipelago, for which he adopted the term Indonesian, a name previously invented by Logan for the non-Malay population of the East Indian Archipelago. De Quatrefages and Hamy further established this stock in their CRANIA ETHNICA (1882), and de Quatrefages in his HISTOIRE GENERALE DES RACES HUMAINES (1889) boldly states that these high- and narrow-headed peoples are "un des rameaux de la branche blanche allophyle" (L.C. pp. 515, 521). Keane terms the Indonesians "the pre-Malay Caucasic element in Oceania" (MAN PAST AND PRESENT, 1899, p. 231). Various investigators[224] have studied skulls obtained from this region which prove the wide extension of dolichocephaly. Kohlbrugge (1898), who investigated the Teriggerese, Indonesian mountaineers of Java, says: "Les Indonesiens sont dolichocephales, les Malais brachycephales ou hyperbrachycephales. Le sang indonesien se decele donc par la longueur de la tete: plus celle-ci se rapproche du type dolichocephale, plus pur est le sang indonesien." Volz confirms Hagen's observations of the existence among the Battak of North Sumatra of two types, a dolichocephalic Indonesian and a brachycephalic type.
The term Indonesian may now be regarded as definitely restricted to a dolichocephalic, and the term Proto-Malay to a brachycephalic race, of which the true Malays (Orang Malayu) are a specialised branch.
The next point to discuss is the presence of these two races in Borneo. The Dutch Expedition found three distinct types in the interior of Netherlands Borneo, the Ulu Ayars (Ulu Ajar)[225] or Ot Danum of the upper Kapuas, the Bahau-Kenyahs (Bahau-Kenja) of the middle or upper Mahakam (or Kotei) and the upper waters of the rivers to the north, and the Punans, nomadic hunters living in the highlands about the head-waters of the great rivers. The first of these may be classed as predominantly Indonesian and the others as mainly Proto-Malay in origin. According to Nieuwenhuis the Bahaus and Kenyahs both remember that they came from Apo Kayan at the headwaters of the Kayan river; they were formerly known as the Pari tribes. In all the tribes of this group the social organisation is in the main similar, and this affinity is borne out by their material culture, thus they may be regarded as originally one people. Tribes calling themselves Bahau now live along the Mahakam above Mujub and include one Kayan group; on the upper Rejang are Bahau tribes under the name of Kayan, and a small section has advanced into the Kapuas area and settled on the Mendalam which again includes Kayans and kindred tribes. All the tribes still in Apo Kayan call themselves Kenyah, as also those of the eastward flowing Tawang, Berau and Kayan (or Bulungan) rivers and those of the upper Limbang and Baram flowing northwards. The Kenyahs of Apo Kayan live along the Iwan, a tributary of the Kayan river (or Bulungan); to the north-east is another tributary called the Bahau which seems to have been the original home of the Bahau people since the tribes of Borneo habitually take their names from the rivers along which they live.[226]
Nieuwenhuis came to the conclusion that the three chief tribes measured by him represented three main groups of the population of Central Borneo, physically and culturally. Mr. E. B. Haddon drew attention (MAN, 1905 No. 13, p. 22) to the close similarity of the results published by Kohlbrugge (1903) with those published by me (1901). I recognised five main groups of peoples in Sarawak: Punan, Klemantan (or, as Dr. Hose and I then spelled it, Kalamantan), Kenyah-Kayan, Iban or Sea Dayak, and Malay. The Ibans are not referred to by either of the Dutch ethnologists, who, like myself, merely alluded to the Malay element. Kohlbrugge and I included the Bakatan or Beketan and the Ukit or Bukat in the Punan group, and also bracketed together the Kayans and Kenyahs. In Sarawak there are numerous and often small tribes which it is frequently very difficult or quite impossible to differentiate from one another, although the extremes of the series can be distinguished; we therefore decided to comprehend them under the non-committal term of Klemantan (p. 42). I showed that they were of mixed origin, and stated that, "It is possible that the Kalamantans were originally a dolichocephalic people who mixed first with the indigenous brachycephals (Punan group) and later with the immigrant brachycephals (Kenyah-Kayan group) or the Kalamantans may have been a mixed people when they first arrived in Borneo and subsequently increased their complexity by mixing with these two groups" (L.C. p. 352). I also made it clear that I regarded the dolichocephalic element as of Indonesian stock and the brachycephalic of Proto-Malayan origin. It was with great satisfaction that I found Kohlbrugge had come to similar conclusions and that the Ulu Ayars exhibit such strong traces of an Indonesian origin, stronger perhaps than those of any tribe in Sarawak, with the possible exception of the scarcely studied Muruts and allied tribes.
Kohlbrugge states (1903, p. 2) that he has shown for the interior of Sumatra, Java, and Celebes that there are mesaticephalic peoples distinct in other respects from the coast peoples, but not dolichocephalic. He concludes that the (Ulu Ayar) Dayaks, being the only dolichocephals, are the only pure Indonesians, and the rest (Kayans and Punans) are more or less mixed with Malays. The mean cephalic index of 130 Tenggerese of the interior of Java is 79.7, but the Ulu Ayars constitute a uniform group which ranges from 7 1 to 81.4, of which 9 are 74 or under and 9 are between 74.1 and 76 inclusive, the median of 26 adult males being 74.7.[227] [Although the median Kalabit index in the living subject is somewhat higher, that of the skulls, as well as the cranial index of Muruts and Trings (Table C), is very similar in this respect to that of the Ulu Ayars.]
According to Nieuwenhuis' statistics, as given by Kohlbrugge, there is in the brachycephalic group (Kayans and Punans) a greater range (75 to 93.3, and 1 Kayan woman reaches 97) than in the Ulu Ayars; most fall between 78 and 85, the medians of both being just over 81. There are 8 dolichocephals[228] out of his 43 Kayan men and 4 out of his 25 women, but only I Punan out of 14. In his curve of the Kayan indices there is a drop at 82 [a curve of my data shows a similar drop]. "I leave it an open question," he says (p. 13), "whether this break indicates mixture of a dolichocephalic and brachycephalic group; this can only be decided by the study of more abundant material, and requires confirmation from the geographical and ethnographical standpoint. At all events it may be assumed A priori that if long-headed and broadheaded peoples occur in the interior of Borneo, then mixed peoples will also be met with, and the Kayans might be such." [An examination of my data will show that there is practically no difference between the Kayans and Kenyahs in this respect.]
A comparison is also possible between the bi-zygomatic breadths made by Nieuwenhuis and ourselves. The figures are those of the minimum, median, and maximum. KAYANS (43 [male], N) 126, 139, 153 ; (25 [female], N) 125, 132, 141; (21 [male], H) 132, 141, 150. PUNANS (14 [ERROR: unhandled ♂], N) 132, 138, 145; (19 [male], H) 130, 142, 154. ULU AYARS (26 [male], N) 12 5, 136, 145. LAND DAYAKS (42 [male], S) 122, 136, 145.
Kohlbrugge points out that there seems to be no ground for dividing the "Indonesians" into a taller and shorter group since the differences are slight. If this distinction were drawn, the Ulu Ayars (av. 1.571 m., med. 1.551 m.) would belong to the shorter group as would the Enganese (av. 1.570 m.). His 34 Kayan men (av. 1.584 m., med. 1.582 m.) and 14 Punan men (av. 1.583 m., med. 1.569 m.) and the Gorontalese (1.584 m.) are intermediate between these and the Tenggerese (1.604 m.) and Battak (1.605). I also find this distinction untenable, as our Kayans (av. 1.559 m., med. 1.550 m.) and Punans (av. 1.555 m., med. 1.550 m.) are of the same stature or even possibly shorter than his Ulu Ayars, whereas our 16 Kenyah men (av. 1.597 m., med. 1.608) are taller than his Kayans. He adds that the shorter "Indonesians" live in the plains, the taller in the mountains, but he cannot say for certain whether a mountain climate affects stature as many believe. It is to be regretted that Kohlbrugge extends in this instance the term Indonesian to the Kayans and Punans. Taking our measurements I find that the Kenyahs and the Muruts (av. 1.601 m., med. 1.590 m.) are the tallest groups, then come the Iban (av. 1.590 m., med. 1.585 m.), the Kayan and Punan medians come about half-way between the tallest Klemantans (Long Pokun, med. 1.590 m.) and the shortest (Lerong, med. 1.520 m). The above figures refer to men only, the women are markedly shorter.
Kohlbrugge gives the following information with regard to body measurements: the Kayan women are 14 cm. shorter than the men, usually the difference is 10 — 12 cm. The span is greater than the stature, the proportion is 105.2 : 100 in Kayans, 1034: 100 in Ulu Ayars and 106.5 : 100 in Punans and Tenggerese. In youths it is rather higher than in men. The difference between Tenggerese and Ulu Ayars is due to the latter having shorter arms, especially the upper arms, and the chest of the Bornean peoples is 2 cm. narrower. Other Indonesian peoples have a longer upper arm than the Ulu Ayars, who also have the tibia shorter in proportion to the femur. Kayan and Ulu Ayar men have a comparatively shorter femur than the Punan. The latter thus resemble the Tenggerese, the others have the same relative length as many other peoples of the Archipelago; there is no difference between the Malays and Indonesians in this respect. The Kayan women have relatively a much longer femur than the men. The shorter tibia makes the whole leg of the Bornean peoples shorter than in others — except that the Punans make it up with a longer femur. Women and young people have longer legs than men. The Punans have the fattest calves approximating to the Tenggerese, the other Bornean tribes are more like the Gorontalese. The chest girth of Ulu Ayars and Tenggerese is almost the same, despite the difference in the breadth of the chest, in which the Ulu Ayars resemble the inhabitants of Atchin measured by Lubbers. The proportion of the length of the foot to the stature is 16 : 100 in Kayans of both sexes, 154 : 100 in Ulu Ayars, and 15.2 in Punans. But the Kayan feet are shorter than those of the Gorontalese, who have the longest feet in the Archipelago. The other Bornean peoples are the same as Indonesians who resemble the Malays in this respect. The pelvic breadth of the Kayan men and women is equal (26 cm.), though men have the wider chest; the Punan pelvis is narrower than in the other two tribes; but in all three the pelvis is broader than in the Tenggerese.
We must now turn to the evidence of the crania, of which only a very brief account need be presented here. Owing to the fact that the people are head-hunters the skulls obtained by a traveller in any house are necessarily those of another community, group, or tribe than that to which the occupants of the house belong. Consequently it is necessary for a traveller to learn from the inhabitants the provenience of each cranium, and every one in the house knows it. It is useless for analytical purposes to deal with skulls of which the tribe is not accurately known; the information that a skull was obtained in a certain village or on a particular river is, as a rule, of very little value.
In Table C I give particulars of three head indices of 83 crania, of which the history is known in each case. Fifty-eight of these have been presented by Dr. Hose to the University of Cambridge. I have added to these 5 Murut, 1 Lepu Potong, 1 Kalabit, 1 Tring, 1 Bisaya, and 1 Orang Bukit, which Dr. Hose presented to the Royal College of Surgeons, London, 1 Ukit skull in the same museum, 3 Dusun in the British Museum, and 5 Murut, 3 Maloh, and 3 Kayan, which I measured in Sarawak. I have chosen the cranial length-breadth, length-height, and breadth-height indices, as these are more directly comparable with the corresponding cephalic indices of Table A. A detailed account of these crania must await a more suitable occasion.
The dolichocephalic crania are, as a rule, distinctly akrocephalic, that is, the length-height index is superior to the length-breadth index, but this is not the case with the brachycephals. I find the average length-height index in the living subject of a dozen inland tribes is 72.5 for 131 males and 78.2 for 40 females. That is, so far as our measurements go, the women are more akrocephalic than the men, which is unusual.
The conclusions to be drawn from a somatological investigation are necessarily limited. In my introductory remarks I stated that one could distinguish two main races among the principal groups of the peoples of Sarawak, a dolichocephalic and a brachycephalic, and that the former might be termed Indonesian and the latter Proto-Malay; further, no one group is probably of pure race, though it appears that some may be predominantly Indonesian and others Proto-Malay. I do not for a moment suggest that there was one migration of pure Indonesians and another of pure Proto-Malays which flooded Borneo and by various minglings produced the numerous tribes of that island, though I do suggest that there have been throughout the whole Archipelago various movements of peoples, some of which may have been relatively pure communities of these two races. There can be little doubt that we must look to the neighbouring regions of the mainland of Asia for their immediate point of departure southwards, for we now know that two similar races have inhabited this area from a remote antiquity. The light- (or light-brown) skinned dolichocephals of south-east Asia, assuming for the present that they are all of one race, have frequently been termed Caucasians — for the present I prefer to speak of them as Indonesians — and of these there are doubtless several strains. The light- (or light-brown) skinned brachycephals are usually grouped as Southern Mongols. In the south-east corner of Asia there are probably several strains of these brachycephals which hitherto have been insufficiently studied. Even when an Indonesian element has been recognised in the population of the Archipelago there has been too persistent a practice of terming the brachycephalic element "Malay." The true Malay, Orang Malayu, is merely a specialised branch of a stock for which I prefer the non-committal name of Proto-Malay, even "Southern-Mongol" is preferable to "Malay." The Proto-Malay race has its roots on the mainland. It has yet to be shown how far the brachycephals of this region belong to what is here termed the Proto-Malay race or to what extent other, and doubtless allied, stocks are implicated. If, as is very probable, there have been migrations of differentiated peoples from the mainland into the islands, the Bornean peoples may be of more complex origin than the earlier generalisations might suggest. The dissecting out and the tracing of the migrations of these peoples is the work of ethnography, somatology can be of little assistance; all that I have done is to provide a certain amount of material for the use of students in the future. It must also be remembered that the immigrants from the mainland may have had at one time infusions of Negrito or Pre-Dravidian (Sakai) blood, not to speak of Tibetan, Chinese, or other mixtures. Similarly when the first migrations from the mainland took place the fairer-skinned immigrants probably found an indigenous population of Negritos, Pre-Dravidians, and possibly to some extent of Papuans in various parts of the Archipelago. We know that many of the islands, including Borneo, have been subject to direct migrations from India and China, and there has doubtless been a certain amount of movement of peoples from island to island. The racial history of this region is therefore extremely complex.
Dr. Hose has suggested the following classification[229] of the peoples of Sarawak (exclusive of the Malays), which I have followed in arranging the descriptions given below. For the sake of comparison I have recast the data published by Kohlbrugge concerning the three types studied by Nieuwenhuis; it is unfortunate that our several results cannot be more closely correlated.
A Classification of the Peoples of Sarawak
1. Murut Group:
Murut, Pandaruan, Tagal, Dusun;Kalabit, Lepu Potong;Adang, Tring.
II. Klemantan Group:
1. South-western Group:
Land Dayaks;[Certain tribes of Netherlands Borneo];Maloh.
2. Central Group:
A. Baram sub-group: Bisaya, Tabun, Orang Bukit,Kadayan, Pliet, Long Pata, Long Akar.B. Barawan sub-group: Murik, Long Julan, Long Ulai,Batu Blah, Long Kiput, Lelak, Barawan, Sakapan,Kajaman.C. Bakatan sub-group: Seping, Tanjong, Kanawit,Bakatan, Lugat.
3. Sebop Group:
Malang, Tabalo, Long Pokun, Sebop, Lerong;Milanau (including Narom and Miri).
III. Punan Group:
Punan, Ukit, Siduan, Sigalang.
IV. Kenyah Group:
Madang, Long Dallo, Apoh, Long Sinong, Long Lika Bulu,Long Tikan.
V. Kayan Group.VI. Iban Group: Iban (Sea Dayaks) and Sibuyau.
Descriptions of Peoples
General Remarks on the Methods of Taking Observations
The physical characters and measurements of each individual were noted on a separate card, and the bulk of them have been embodied in the following synopses. As my object has been to give a general impression of each group, I have not burdened the descriptions with superfluous scattered observations. The original records are available in Cambridge for any desirous of consulting them. The statistics given refer to the several recorded observations; where these fall short of the total number it may be taken for granted that as a rule the remainder did not depart markedly from the normal standard of the group in question — the presence of salient characters would be noted, not their absence.
In Table A certain measurements and indices are given of the more important groups in order to facilitate comparisons. Very small groups and half-breeds have been omitted, the object being to summarise the characters of the adults of the larger groups. The median in most cases is practically identical with the average, but where a difference occurs, the median more nearly represents the central type. The indices are based on a calculation to two decimal places; where the second decimal place is under five it is left out of account, and where five or over the first decimal place is augmented by one. This table should be compared with Table C.
In the other tables all the measurements and indices are given.
HEAD: LENGTH, from glabella to most prominent point of occiput; BREADTH, maximum at right angles to above; BI-AURIC BREADTH, from base of the tragus, pressing firmly; CIRCUMFERENCE, greatest circumference immediately above the glabella; AURICULAR VERTICAL ARC, from base of tragus over the vertex; AURICULAR RADII taken with a Cunningham's radiometer from the ear-hole. FACE: TOTAL LENGTH, from nasion to chin; UPPER LENGTH, from nasion to alveolus; BI-ZYGOMATIC BREADTH, from greatest prominence of cheek arches, pressing firmly; INTER-OCULAR WIDTH, between inner angles of the eyes; BI-GONIAL BREADTH, from the angle of the lower jaw, pressing firmly. NOSE: LENGTH, from nasion to angle with lip; BREADTH, between outer curvature of alae, without pressure; BI-MALAR BREADTH, from the outer upper corner of the margin of the orbit, pressing firmly (this was usually marked with a soft pencil); NASO-MALAR LINE, between these points over the bridge of the nose.
The term DOLICHOCEPHALIC is used to designate a cephalic index of 77.9 and under, and BRACHYCEPHALIC one of 78 and over. Heads with a length-height index of 66.9 and under are PLATYCEPHALIC, those of 67 — 69.9 are MESOCEPHALIC, and those of 70 and over are HYPSICEPHALIC. The breadth-height limits are 82.9, 83 — 84.9, and 85. The term CHAMAEPROSOPIC is used where the total facial index is 89.9 and under, and LEPTOPROSOPIC where it is 90 and over, the corresponding limit for the upper facial index is -49.9 and 50+. Owing to the character of the nose it was not easy in most cases to ascertain the exact upper limit of the length, and it is probably owing to this that the indices show such marked platyrhiny. Unfortunately these indices cannot be compared with those obtained by Nieuwenhuis, as he measured to the tip of the nose and not to its angle with the lip as we did. The term LEPTORHINE is used for noses with an index of 69.9 and under, MESORHINE for 70 — 84.9, PLATYRHINE for 85 — 99.9, and HYPER-PLATYRHINE for 100 and over. The profiles of the nose were compared with the figures in NOTES AND QUERIES (1892). In speaking of the EYE, by fold is meant the Mongolian fold which covers the caruncle. All the irises have a brown colour, being either light, medium, or dark. The observations on the EARS were made by means of MS. notes and diagrams drawn up for me by Prof. A. Keith. He recommended that persons under fifteen years of age or over sixty should not be noted, and that as there is a very marked sexual difference, observations on men and women should be kept quite separate. Variations in every race are, within certain limits, so numerous that he suggested that at least a hundred of each sex should be observed; although the numbers examined of the several tribes is usually very small, their total number will probably be found sufficient to give a fair idea of the more common types of ears. The TYPES of ears suggested by Dr. Keith are (1) "European": this applies only to the general shape; the folding, etc., varies enormously. (2) "Negroid": this resembles the "Orang type" but differs in being two-thirds of a circle; that is to say, the Negroid ear has a much greater breadth relative to its height than the ears of Europeans. (3) "Orang": this is the smallest and most degenerate form of ear, seen in its most typical form in the orang utan; it is the common female type. (4) "Chimpanzee": this is the largest and most primitive form of ear, and is found in its typical condition in the chimpanzee; it is commonly, but not always, set at a considerable angle to the head. ANGLE: The ear may be appressed (0), or it may stand out from the head at an angle of less than 30[degree] (1), between 30[degree] and 60[degree] (2), or over 60[degree] (3). LOBULE: This is never totally absent, but when it is 3 mm. or less from the middle of the curved base of the anti-tragus it may be called approximately so (0), when 3 — 10 mm. it is small (1), 10 — 15 mm. medium (2), over 15 mm. long (3). The lobule may be free or adhere partially or totally to the side of the face. DESCENDING HELIX: The degree of folding varies; there may be none (0), under 2 mm. (1), between 2 and 4 mm. (2), between 4 and 6 mm. (3). DARWIN'S POINT: It may be absent (0), or present as a distinct tip (1), as an infolded tip (2), as an inrolled knob (3), or as a slight thickening of the infolded part of the helix (4); the position is constant in the upper posterior segment. TRAGUS: This may be absent (0), otherwise it varies in size measured from base to apex, under 3 mm. (I), between 3 and 5 mm. (2), or 5 to 7 mm. (3). Sometimes it has two apices. ANTI-TRAGUS: This also may be absent (0), or if present the size from base to apex measures as in the tragus under 3 mm. (1), between 3 and 5 mm. (2), or 5 — 7 mm. (3). ANTI-HELIX: It is bent into an angle slightly or not at all (0), the angle does not reach the level of the helix (1), the angle is a little within or a little beyond the level of the helix (2), it is very prominent, distinctly beyond the level of the helix (3). Its prominence is a human feature.
As regards the HAIR, in all cases where there were a number of observations one or two of the oldest men had grizzled or even grey hair. The hair of the head is usually worn long and often attains a length of about two feet, but it is sometimes cut shorter and is occasionally very short. It is usually fairly abundant, but in all groups a few persons have scanty hair. The hair of the face is in all groups either absent or very scanty; the same applies to the body hair. The only scale of SKIN colours we had was that given in the NOTES AND QUERIES ON ANTHROPOLOGY (2nd ed., 1892), but as this was obviously inadequate for the purpose, Dr. Hose prepared a scale for our use in the field, the shades of which have subsequently been as far as possible equated with those of Prof. von Luschan's Hautfarben-Tafel (Puhl and Wagner, Rixdorf); it is these numbers which appear in brackets in the following descriptions, and I have also attempted to describe them in English; the term cinamon is based on the colour of the stick cinnamon of commerce. The colours were usually matched from the inner aspect of the upper arm so as to avoid the darkening caused by the burning of the sun. Besides the information recorded on the cards, a number of additional data on skin colour collected by Dr. Hose are included in the synopses. As regards STATURE the subject is described as SHORT when he measures less than 1.625 m. (5 ft. 4 in.), MEDIUM 1.625 — 1.724 m. (5 ft. 4 in. to 5 ft. 8 in.), and TALL 1.725 m. and over; the subject had his eyes looking towards the horizon.
With the exception of the observations by Mr. R. Shelford, mainly on the Land Dayaks and Iban, which are duly noted, all the data on the living were collected by Dr. W. McDougall and myself, either separately or conjointly, and I have to thank him for permitting me to work up the results. Our thanks are due to Dr. Hose, at whose invitation we went to Sarawak, and without whose zeal, knowledge of the country, and wonderful influence over the natives this work could not have been accomplished. Mr. S. H. Ray also assisted us as amanuensis. Most of the figures were tabulated for me by Miss Barbara Friere-Marreco and the remainder by Miss Lilian Whitehouse, who also has greatly assisted me in drawing up this memoir.
I. Murut Group
Seven KALABIT men and 3 women and 4 MURUT men were measured. No descriptive details of the Muruts are available.
HEAD-FORM: The cephalic indices show 7 to be dolichocephalic and 7 brachycephalic; the 3 women are slightly more dolichocephalic than the men, for whom the median is 78.5. One Kalabit is platycephalic, 1 mesocephalic, and 8 hypsicephalic as regards length-height, and all are hypsicephalic as regards breadth-height. Four Kalabits were noted as having oval heads, in 1 the occiput was prominent, 1 ovoid, and 1 woman ellipsoidal.
FACE: Five Kalabits have pentagonal faces, being rather broad in 3, 2 were long and rather narrow, the jaws are narrow in 2. They show a marked tendency to prognathism, especially dental prognathism. The Kalabits are chamaeprosopic as regards both the total facial and the upper facial indices, with one exception in both respects. The forehead has a slight tendency to be narrow and high. The cheek-bones are moderately prominent in 5 men and 1 woman and not prominent in 2 men and 1 woman. The lips are moderately full. The chin is rather small, and retreating in 3. NOSE: One Murut is leptorhine, 2 Kalabit men are mesorhine, 6 are platyrhine, and 5 hyper-platyrhine. The root is high in 4 Kalabit men, narrow in 3, broad in 4 and 1 woman, and flat in 3 and 1 woman; the base is reflected in 3 of each sex, and straight in 2 men; the alae are small in 4 men and 3 women, moderate in 3 men, and round in 1 of each sex; the nostrils are rounded in 5 men and 3 women, and wide in 2 men. EYES: The aperture is narrow in 1 man, moderately open in 5 men and 1 woman, wide in 1 man and 2 women; it is straight with no fold in 5 men, straight with slight fold in 1 man, more or less oblique with slight fold in 1 man and 2 women, in 1 woman it is straight and the fold is more developed in the right eye than in the left; the colour is medium in 1 man, dark brown in 5 men and 3 women. EARS: Type European in 3 of each sex, Negroid in 1 man, and intermediate in 2 men; angle prominent in 5 men and 3 women, slightly prominent in 2 men; lobule always distended, in 2 men it is adherent; descending helix infolded under 2 mm. in all but 1 man in whom it is under 4 mm.; Darwin's point absent in 3 men and 1 woman, doubtful in 2 men, infolded in 1 man, inrolled in 2 women; tragus under 3 mm. in 2 men, 3 — 5 mm. in the rest; anti-tragus absent in 4 men, and 1 woman, under 3 mm. in 3 men and 2 women; anti-helix below level of helix in 2 of each sex, about at the same level in 5 men and 1 woman.
HAIR: It is straight to wavy in 1 of each sex, wavy in 3 men and 1 woman, wavy-curly in 1 man. The colour is rusty black in 7 men and 3 women. It is moderately abundant and long.
SKIN: Four are lightest cinamon (12), 1 light cinamon (14), 1 cinamon (6), 2 pale fawn (pale 17), 2 dull fawn (17).
Stature: All but 1 Murut man are of short stature, 1 Kalabit man being only 1.485 m. (4 ft. 10 1/2 in.), the 3 women are still shorter, 1 being 1.410 m. (4 ft. 7 1/2 in.), the median for the Kalabits is 1.565 (5 ft. 1 1/2 in.).
II. Klemantan Group
1. South-western Group
(A) Forty-two LAND DAYAK men were measured by Mr. Shelford.
HEAD-FORM: The cephalic indices range fairly evenly from 73.5 to 86.9, 19 men being dolichocephalic; the median is 78.4.
FACE: One is noted as very broad and 2 as prognathous. All but 1 are chamaeprosopic as regards the total facial index and all but 6 as regards the upper facial. NOSE: Nineteen are mesorhine, 17 platyrhine, and 6 hyper-platyrhine; 1 is noted as aquiline, 3 as straight but flat, and 2 have a low bridge; 2 have broad alae, 1 having a very concave nose, broader than long with an index of 116.2, and wide nostrils, it is evidently abnormal. Byes: A fold is mentioned in 18, of which 3 are slight and 2 pronounced, its absence is noted in 3; 5 have medium brown irises.
HAIR: It is noted as straight in 6 and wavy in 2; it is black in 8, and 24 have abundant hair; the hair of the face is absent in 7 and sparse in 8, 1 had a stubbly beard.
SKIN: The colour of the skin is darker than that of other inland tribes, 19 being of a very dark warm cinamon (25) and 4 cinamon (6). It is noted in 1 as much darker when uncovered.
STATURE: None are tall, 7 are medium, the rest short, 4 being under 1.5 m. (4 ft. 11 in.), the median is 1.577 m. (5 ft. 2 in.).
[Thirty-one male and 4 female Ulu Ayar Dayaks were measured by Nieuwenhuis, of these 5 were boys under 17, and all 4 females were girls of 17 and under. See vol. ii., p. 315, note 1.
HEAD-FORM: The cephalic indices range fairly evenly between 71 and 81.4, all but 5 are dolichocephalic, the median being 74.7.
FACE: It is usually of medium breadth; 2 (I.E. 6 per cent) have broad faces. The bi-zygomatic breadth ranges from 125 to 145 mm., the median being 136 mm. NOSE: The breadth-measurements range from 36 to 46 mm., the length-measurements being taken from root to tip are therefore not comparable. Eighteen males and 3 females are noted as having concave noses, 13 and 1 as having broad flat noses, none as straight or narrow, I.E. 60 per cent of the Ulu Ayars have concave ("depressed," "sunken," or "hollow") noses. EYES: The Mongolian fold does not occur. The colour is dark.
HAIR: All had straight hair except 1 man; it is generally rather scanty. The colour is black.
SKIN: The colour is noted as black or blue-black in 10, brown and yellow in 5, light brown in 20.
STATURE: None are tall, 3 are medium, and the rest short, 2 being under 1.5 m. (4 ft. 11 in.); the median is 1.551 (5 ft. 1 in.).]
(B) Seven MALOH men were measured by us.
HEAD-FORM: The cephalic index is essentially dolichocephalic, 3 being low brachycephals, the median 76.8. Two are mesocephalic in the length-height index and none in the breadth-height, all the remainder are hypsicephalic in both respects; 4 are pyriform, 2 oval, and 1 ellipsoidal in shape.
FACE: Two are pentagonal, 2 rather broad, and 2 long; alveolar prognathism is noted in 3, 1 of which has also general prognathism. Two only are leptoprosopic in their total and upper facial indices. The forehead is somewhat narrow and high, the cheek-bones more or less prominent, the lips are usually moderately full, and the chin fairly well developed. NOSE: One is mesorhine, 4 platyrhine, and 2 hyper-platyrhine; the profile is equally divided between straight and concave; the base is reflected in 5, deflected in 2; the alae are rather small and the nostrils wide and rounded. EARS: Type European in 5 (1 doubtful), Negroid in 2; angle prominent in 5, slightly prominent in 2; lobule distended in all; descending helix infolded under 2 mm. in 5, 2 — 4 mm. in 2; Darwin's point absent in 5, inrolled in 2 (1 doubtful); tragus 3 — 5 mm. in 5 (2 doubtful), rather less in 2; anti-tragus absent in 1, doubtful in 1, under 3 mm. in 5 anti-helix below level of helix in 4, about at the same level in 3.
HAIR: The hair is distinctly wavy and long; it is rusty black in 5 and black in 2. There is a moderate amount on the face and none on the body.
SKIN: SIX are dull fawn (17).
STATURE: ALL are short, 1 being 1.47 m. (4 ft. 9 3/4 in.); the median is 1.585 m. (5 ft. 2 1/2 in.).
2. Central Group
BARAWAN SUB-GROUP — This consists of 1 Murik man, 1 Long Ulai man and 1 woman, 8 Long Kiput men, 3 Lelak men, 12 Barawan men and 5 women, 2 Sakapan men, 1 Kajaman, and 4 mixed breeds (I.E. mixed with other Klemantan blood).
HEAD-FORM: Of the longer series the Barawans are the more dolichocephalic, 6 men and 3 women have an index below 78, 1 Long Kiput man and only 4 others being dolichocephalic; the median of the whole series, excluding women, is 79. Most of the men and all the women are hypsicephalic; but 2 Barawans are platycephalic, and 1 Barawan and 2 mixed breeds are mesocephalic in length-height; 1 Long Kiput is platycephalic in length-height and breadth-height, 2 are mesocephalic in both respects, and 1 in length-height only; 1 Lelak is platycephalic in length-height and mesocephalic in breadth-height. The shape is noted as oval in 5 men and 3 women, ovoid in 1 of each sex, round in 3 men.
FACE: Nine men and 3 women have a pentagonal face; it is oval in 1 man and 2 women, rather long in 5 men, square in 2 men, broad in 1 of each sex. All are chamaeprosopic in both respects except 1 Barawan man as regards total facial index and 2 in the upper. The forehead is rounded or prominent in 8 men and 6 women, upright in 4 men and 1 woman, more or less sloping in 4 men, broad and low in 5 men, narrow in 4 men. The cheek-bones are large in 6 men and 1 woman, more or less prominent in 10 men and 3 women, moderate in 11 men and 2 women. The lips vary in thickness, 10 being thin and 7 more or less thick. The chin is fairly well developed except in 6 men. NOSE: One Lelak is leptorhine, 2 Long Kiputs) 3 Barawan men and 2 women and 2 Barawan mixed breeds are mesorhine; 5 Long Kiputs, 2 Lelaks, 6 Barawan men and 1 woman and 1 mixed breed, 1 Long Ulai man and woman and 2 Sakapans are platyrhine; 1 Long Kiput, 3 Barawan men and 2 women, 1 Murik and 1 Kajaman are hyper-platyrhine. The profile is straight in 10 men and 1 woman, more or less concave in 13 men and 5 women, slightly aquiline in 4 men; blunt tips were noted in 2 cases. The root is more or less depressed in 12 men and 4 women, not depressed in 7 men, broad and high in 3, high in 3, narrow in 3. The base is reflected or slightly so in 16 men and 4 women, straight in 9 and 1, slightly deflected in 1 woman; the alae are small in 3 men and 4 women, moderate in 4 men, and wide in 5; the nostrils are round in 7 men and 5 women, oval in 10 and 1, and transversely oval in 2 men. EYES: Aperture is moderate in 11 men and 2 women, small in 10 men, large in 1 man. It is straight with no fold in 3 men and 2 women, straight with a slight fold in 1 woman, slightly oblique with no fold in 8 men and 1 woman, slightly oblique with slight fold in 8 men and 2 women, in 1 Barawan man it is slightly oblique with a very marked fold, 11 Barawans have more or less oblique eyes of which 7 have a fold, 4 are straight, 1 of which has a slight fold. Four men have light brown irises, 2 of each sex dark brown, the remainder are medium. EARS: Type European in 5 Long Kiputs, 2 Lelaks, 8 Barawans and 2 mixed breeds, 1 Kajaman; Negroid in 1 Barawan mixed breed; orang in 2 Barawans. Angle slightly prominent in 1 Long Kiput, 2 mixed breeds and 1 Kajaman, rather more so in 1 Long Kiput, prominent in 1 Lelak, 5 Barawans. Lobule distended throughout, perforated in 2 Barawans, adherent in 1 mixed breed. Descending helix absent in 1 Long Kiput, infolded less than 2 mm. in 4 Long Kiputs, 1 Lelak, 11 Barawans and 2 mixed breeds, 1 Kajaman; 2 — 4 mm. in 1 Lelak, 1 Barawan mixed breed. Darwin's point absent in all except 1 Barawan and 1 mixed breed where it is an infolded tip. Tragus under 3 mm. in 4 Long Kiputs, 1 Lelak, 1 Barawan and 1 mixed breed, slightly more in 1 Lelak, 1 Barawan; 3 — 5 mm. in 1 Long Kiput, 9 Barawans and 2 mixed breeds, 1 Kajaman. Anti-tragus absent in 1 Long Kiput, 3 Barawans; under 3 mm. in 3 Long Kiputs, 2 Lelaks, 7 Barawans and 3 mixed breeds, 1 Kajaman; 3 — 5 mm. in 1 Long Kiput, 1 Barawan. Anti-helix below level of helix in 2 Long Kiputs, 5 Barawans and 1 mixed breed; about at same level in 3 Long Kiputs, 2 Lelak, 6 Barawans and 2 mixed breeds, 1 Kajaman. The 5 Barawan women have ears of European type; angle slightly prominent in 2, prominent in 3; lobule distended in all; descending helix infolded less than 2 mm. in 4, 2 — 4 mm. in 1; Darwin's point absent in all; tragus 3 — 5 mm. in all; anti-tragus absent in 2, under 3 mm. in 3; anti-helix below level of helix in 2, about at same level in 3.