for commerce,
there was none for scientific investigations; and only by the
enterprises of commerce or the researches of science do we know of new
and distant countries.

Many races inhabit Borneo; but the Malays and Sea and Land Dyaks greatly
preponderate. The Malays, who came from continental Asia, are the
conquering and governing race. In their native condition they are
indolent, treacherous, and given to piracy. The very name Malay has come
to stand for cruelty and revenge. But well governed, they prove to be
much like other people, susceptible to kindness, capable of affection,
amiable, fond to excess of their children, and courteous to strangers.
The Sea Dyaks are piratical tribes, dwelling on the coasts or borders of
rivers, and subsisting by rapine and violence. The Land Dyaks are the
descendants of the primitive inhabitants. They are a mild, industrious
race, and remarkably honest. One hideous custom, that of preserving the
heads of their fallen enemies as ghastly tokens of victory, has invested
the name of Dyak with a reputation of cruelty which is not deserved.
This singular practice, originating, it is said, in a superstitious
desire to propitiate the Evil Spirit by bloody offerings, has in process
of time become connected with all their ideas of manly prowess. The
young girl receives with proud satisfaction from her lover the gift of a
gory head, as the noblest proof both of his affection and his heroism.
This custom is woven, too, into the early traditions of the race. The
Sakarrans tell us that their first mother, who dwells now in heaven
near the evening star, asked of her wooer a worthy gift; and that when
he presented her a deer she rejected it with contempt; when he offered
her a mias, the great orang-outang of Borneo, she turned her back upon
it; but when in desperation he went out and slew a man, brought back his
head, and threw it at her feet, she smiled upon him, and said that was
indeed a gift worthy of her. This legend shows, at any rate, how fixed
is this habit, not alone in the passions of the people, but also in
their traditional regard. Yet, strange as it may seem, they are an
attractive race. A missionary's wife who has known them well declares
that they are gentle and kindly, simple as children, disposed to love
and reverence all who are wiser and more civilized than themselves. Ida
Pfeiffer concludes that the Dyaks pleased her best, not only among the
races of Borneo, but among all the r