ted and volcanic, the lighter. In Africa, it is
the low alluvia of rivers that favour the Negro configuration.
Mountains or table-lands, on the other hand, give us red or yellow
skins, rather than sable.

The Dyaks, then, are light-coloured Pagans, speaking languages allied to
the Malay; little touched by Arabic, and less by Hindu influences; with
manners and customs that, more or less, re-appear amongst the Battas (or
ruder tribes of Sumatra), and the so-called Harafuras of Celebes--and
not only here but elsewhere. In other words, in all the islands, where
Indian and Arabic civilization have not succeeded in wholly changing
the primitive character, analogues of the _Orang Binua_ are to be
found; their greatest differences being those of stature and
complexion--differences upon which good judges have laid great stress;
but differences which will probably be found to coincide with certain
geological conditions in the way of physical, and with a lower level of
civilization in the way of moral causes--these moral causes having
indirectly a physical action.

The Dyaks, in general, use the _sumpitan_, or blow-pipe, about five feet
long; out of which some tribes shoot simple, others poisoned arrows. The
utmost distance that the sumpitan carries is about one hundred yards. At
twenty it is sure in its aim. The differences between the Dyak weapon,
and one in use with the Arawaks of Guiana is but trifling--perhaps it
amounts to nothing at all.

Some Dyak tribes tattoo their bodies; others do not.

Before a Dyak youth marries he must lay at the feet of the bride-elect
the head of an enemy. This makes _head-hunting_ a normal item of Dyak
courtship.

Traces of the Indian mythology--measures of the Indian influence in
other respects--just exist amongst the Dyaks--_e.g._, _Battara_ is a
name in their Pantheon, and this is an alteration of the Brahminic
_Avatar_.

The pirates who harass the coasts of Borneo and the Chinese
Seas--destined, at some future time to be, like the Kaffres, but too
well-known to the English tax-payers--are Malays rather than _Orang
Binua_, or their equivalents; the navigation of the Dyaks being chiefly
confined to rivers.

The particular tribes of Sarawak are the following--the Lundu, the
Sarambo, the Singe, the Suntah, the Sow, and the Sibnow. It is almost
unnecessary to name the great fountain-head for all our recent knowledge
of Borneo--Sir James Brooke.

The Dyak type predominates amongst the _O