THE manners and customs of the aborigines of Borneo have been described
in great detail, and with much fuller information than I possess, in the
writings of Sir James Brooke, Messrs. Low, St. John, Johnson Brooke,
and many others. I do not propose to go over the ground again, but shall
confine myself to a sketch, from personal observation, of the general
character of the Dyaks, and of such physical, moral, and social
characteristics as have been less frequently noticed.
The Dyak is closely allied to the Malay, and more remotely to the
Siamese, Chinese, and other Mongol races. All these are characterised by
a reddish-brown or yellowish-brown skin of various shades, by jet-black
straight hair, by the scanty or deficient beard, by the rather small and
broad nose, and high cheekbones; but none of the Malayan races have the
oblique eyes which are characteristic of the more typical Mongols. The
average stature of the Dyaks is rather more than that of the Malays,
while it is considerably under that of most Europeans. Their forms are
well proportioned, their feet and hands small, and they rarely or never
attain the bulk of body so often seen in Malays and Chinese.
I am inclined to rank the Dyaks above the Malays in mental capacity,
while in moral character they are undoubtedly superior to them. They
are simple and honest, and become the prey of the Malay and Chinese
traiders, who cheat and plunder them continually. They are more lively,
more talkative, less secretive, and less suspicious than the Malay,
and are therefore pleasanter companions. The Malay boys have little
inclination for active sports and games, which form quite a feature in
the life of the Dyak youths, who, besides outdoor games of skill and
strength, possess a variety of indoor amusements. One wet day, in a Dyak
house, when a number of boys and young men were about me, I thought
to amuse them with something new, and showed them how to make "cat's
cradle" with a piece of string. Greatly to my surprise, they knew all
about it, and more than I did; for, after Charles and I had gone through
all the changes we could make, one of the boys took it off my hand, and
made several new figures which quite puzzled me. They then showed me a
number of other tricks with pieces of string, which seemed a favourite
amusement with them.
Even these apparently trifling matters may assist us to form a truer
estimate of the Dyaks' character and social condition. We learn thereby,
that these people have passed beyond that first stage of savage life in
which the struggle for existence absorbs all of the faculties, and in
which every thought and idea is connected with war or hunting, or the
provision for their immediate necessities. These amusements indicate a
capability of civilization, an aptitude to enjoy other than mere sensual
pleasures, which might be taken advantage of to elevate their whole
intellectual and social life.
The moral character of the Dyaks is undoubtedly high--a statement which
will seem strange to those who have heard of them only as head-hunters
and pirates. The Hill Dyaks of whom I am speaking, however, have never
been pirates, since they never go near the sea; and head-hunting is a
custom originating in the petty wars of village with village, and tribe
with tribe, which no more implies a bad moral character than did the
custom of the slave-trade a hundred years ago imply want of general
morality in all who participated in it. Against this one stain on their
character (which in the case of the Sarawak Dyaks no longer exists)
we have to set many good points. They are truthful and honest to a
remarkable degree. From this cause it is very often impossible to get
from them any definite information, or even an opinion. They say, "If
I were to tell you what I don't know, I might tell a lie;" and whenever
they voluntarily relate any matter of fact, you may be sure they are
speaking the truth. In a Dyak village the fruit trees have each their
owner, and it has often happened to me, on asking an inhabitant to
gather me some fruit, to be answered, "I can't do that, for the owner of
the tree is not here;" never seeming to contemplate the possibility of
acting otherwise. Neither will they take the smallest thing belonging to
an European. When living at Simunjon, they continually came to my house,
and would pick up scraps of torn newspaper or crooked pins that I had
thrown away, and ask as a great favour whether they might have them.
Crimes of violence (other than head-hunting) are almost unknown; for
in twelve years, under Sir James Brooke's rule, there had been only one
case of murder in a Dyak tribe, and that one was committed by a stranger
who had been adopted into the tribe. In several other matters of
morality they rank above most uncivilized, and even above many civilized
nations. They are temperate in food and drink, and the gross sensuality
of the Chinese and Malays is unknown among them. They have the usual
fault of all people in a half-savage state--apathy and dilatoriness,
but, however annoying this may be to Europeans who come in contact
with them, it cannot be considered a very grave offence, or be held to
outweigh their many excellent qualities.
During my residence among the Hill Dyaks, I was much struck by the
apparent absence of those causes which are generally supposed to check
the increase of population, although there were plain indications
of stationary or but slowly increasing numbers. The conditions most
favourable to a rapid increase of population are: an abundance of food,
a healthy climate, and early marriages. Here these conditions all exist.
The people produce far more food than they consume, and exchange the
surplus for gongs and brass cannon, ancient jars, and gold and silver
ornaments, which constitute their wealth. On the whole, they appear very
free from disease, marriages take place early (but not too early),
and old bachelors and old maids are alike unknown. Why, then, we must
inquire, has not a greater population been produced? Why are the Dyak
villages so small and so widely scattered, while nine-tenths of the
country is still covered with forest?
Of all the checks to population among savage nations mentioned by
Malthus--starvation, disease, war, infanticide, immorality, and
infertility of the women--the last is that which he seems to think least
important, and of doubtful efficacy; and yet it is the only one that
seems to me capable of accounting for the state of the population among
the Sarawak Dyaks. The population of Great Britain increases so as to
double itself in about fifty years. To do this it is evident that each
married couple must average three children who live to be married at the
age of about twenty-five. Add to these those who die in infancy, those
who never marry, or those who marry late in life and have no offspring,
the number of children born to each marriage must average four or five,
and we know that families of seven or eight are very common, and of ten
and twelve by no means rare. But from inquiries at almost every Dyak
tribe I visited, I ascertained that the women rarely had more than three
or four children, and an old chief assured me that he had never known a
woman to have more than seven.
In a village consisting of a hundred and fifty families, only one
consisted of six children living, and only six of five children, the
majority of families appearing to be two, three, or four. Comparing this
with the known proportions in European countries, it is evident that the
number of children to each marriage can hardly average more than three
or four; and as even in civilized countries half the population die
before the age of twenty-five, we should have only two left to replace
their parents; and so long as this state of things continued,
the population must remain stationary. Of course this is a mere
illustration; but the facts I have stated seem to indicate that
something of the kind really takes place; and if so, there is no
difficulty in understanding the smallness and almost stationary
population of the Dyak tribes.
We have next to inquire what is the cause of the small number of births
and of living children in a family. Climate and race may have something
to do with this, but a more real and efficient cause seems to me to
be the hard labour of the women, and the heavy weights they constantly
carry. A Dyak woman generally spends the whole day in the field, and
carries home every night a heavy load of vegetables and firewood, often
for several miles, over rough and hilly paths; and not unfrequently
has to climb up a rocky mountain by ladders, and over slippery
stepping-stones, to an elevation of a thousand feet. Besides this, she
has an hour's work every evening to pound the rice with a heavy wooden
stamper, which violently strains every part of the body. She begins this
kind of labour when nine or ten years old, and it never ceases but with
the extreme decrepitude of age. Surely we need not wonder at the limited
number of her progeny, but rather be surprised at the successful efforts
of nature to prevent the extermination of the race.
One of the surest and most beneficial effects of advancing civilization,
will be the amelioration of the condition of these women. The
precept and example of higher races will make the Dyak ashamed of his
comparatively idle life, while his weaker partner labours like a beast
of burthen. As his wants become increased and his tastes refined, the
women will have more household duties to attend to, and will then cease
to labour in the field--a change which has already to a great extent
taken place in the allied Malay, Javanese, and Bugis tribes. Population
will then certainly increase more rapidly, improved systems of
agriculture and some division of labour will become necessary in order
to provide the means of existence, and a more complicated social state
will take the place of the simple conditions of society which now occur
among them. But, with the sharper struggle for existence that will
then arise, will the happiness of the people as a whole be increased
or diminished? Will not evil passions be aroused by the spirit of
competition, and crimes and vices, now unknown or dormant, be called
into active existence? These are problems that time alone can solve; but
it is to be hoped that education and a high-class European example may
obviate much of the evil that too often arises in analogous cases, and
that we may at length be able to point to one instance of an uncivilized
people who have not become demoralized, and finally exterminated, by
contact with European civilization.
A few words in conclusion, about the government of Sarawak. Sir James
Brooke found the Dyaks oppressed and ground down by the most cruel
tyranny. They were cheated by the Malay traders and robbed by the Malay
chiefs. Their wives and children were often captured and sold into
slavery, and hostile tribes purchased permission from their cruel rulers
to plunder, enslave, and murder them. Anything like justice or redress
for these injuries was utterly unattainable. From the time Sir James
obtained possession of the country, all this was stopped. Equal justice
was awarded to Malay, Chinaman, and Dyak. The remorseless pirates from
the rivers farther east were punished, and finally shut up within their
own territories, and the Dyak, for the first time, could sleep in peace.
His wife and children were now safe from slavery; his house was no
longer burned over his head; his crops and his fruits were now his own
to sell or consume as he pleased. And the unknown stranger who had done
all this for them, and asked for nothing in return, what could he be?
How was it possible for them to realize his motives? Was it not natural
that they should refuse to believe he was a man? For of pure benevolence
combined with great power, they had had no experience among men. They
naturally concluded that he was a superior being, come down upon earth
to confer blessings on the afflicted. In many villages where he had not
been seen, I was asked strange questions about him. Was he not as old
as the mountains? Could he not bring the dead to life? And they firmly
believe that he can give them good harvests, and make their fruit-trees
bear an abundant crop.
In forming a proper estimate of Sir James Brooke's government it must
ever be remembered that he held Sarawak solely by the goodwill of the
native inhabitant. He had to deal with two races, one of whom, the
Mahometan Malays, looked upon the other race, the Dyaks, as savages
and slaves, only fit to be robbed and plundered. He has effectually
protected the Dyaks, and has invariably treated them as, in his sight,
equal to the Malays; and yet he has secured the affection and goodwill
of both. Notwithstanding the religious prejudice, of Mahometans, he
has induced them to modify many of their worst laws and customs, and to
assimilate their criminal code to that of the civilized world. That his
government still continues, after twenty-seven years--notwithstanding
his frequent absences from ill-health, notwithstanding conspiracies of
Malay chiefs, and insurrections of Chinese gold-diggers, all of
which have been overcome by the support of the native population, and
notwithstanding financial, political, and domestic troubles is due, I
believe, solely to the many admirable qualities which Sir James Brooke
possessed, and especially to his having convinced the native population,
by every action of his life, that he ruled them, not for his own
advantage, but for their good.
Since these lines were written, his noble spirit has passed away.
But though, by those who knew him not, he may be sneered at as an
enthusiastic adventurer, abused as a hard-hearted despot, the universal
testimony of everyone who came in contact with him in his adopted
country, whether European, Malay, or Dyak, will be, that Rajah Brooke
was a great, a wise, and a good ruler; a true and faithful friend--a man
to be admired for his talents, respected for his honesty and courage,
and loved for his genuine hospitality, his kindness of disposition, and
his tenderness of heart.