er than monkeys,
who live in trees, eat without cooking, are hunted by the other tribes,
and would seem to exist in the lowest conceivable grade of humanity. If
we may trust these accounts, these latter people resemble in many
particulars the Orang Benua, or aborigines of the peninsula; but the
Dyaks and Idaans are far superior, living in villages, cultivating
the ground, and possessing cattle. Beside these, likewise, we have
the names of several other tribes or people; and, in all probability,
many exist in the interior with whom we are unacquainted.

There are strong reasons for believing that the Hindoo religion,
which obtained so extensively in Java and Sumatra, and yet survives at
Bali and Lombock, was likewise extended to Borneo; and some authors
have conceived grounds for supposing a religion anterior even to
this. If only a portion of these floating opinions should be true,
and the truth can only be tested by inquiry, we may fairly look for the
descendants of the Hindoo dynasty as well as an aboriginal people. It
never seems to have occurred to any one to compare the Dyaks with the
people of Bali and Lombock. We know indeed but little of the former;
but both races are fair, good-looking, and gentle. Again, respecting
the concluded identity of the Dyaks and the Arafuras, it is clear we
have a very limited knowledge indeed of the former; and, I may ask,
what do we know of the Arafuras?

In short, I feel as reluctant to embrace any preconceived theory as
I am to adopt the prevailing notion on this subject; for it requires
a mass of facts, of which we are wholly deficient, to arrive at
anything approaching a reasonable conclusion. To return, however,
to the proceedings of the Royalist, I would remark, that it depends
greatly on the time passed in Malludu Bay whether our next endeavor
be prosecuted at Abai on the western, or Tusan Abai on the eastern
coast. The object in visiting Abai would he chiefly to penetrate to
the lake, which, on the authority of Dalrymple and Burton, is not
far distant thence, by a water communication; but should any success
have attended similar efforts from Malludu Bay, this project will be
needless, as in that case the enterprise will have been prosecuted to
the westward, and reach to the vicinity of Abai. As Kaminis is the
limit of the British territory to the westward, so Point Kaniungan,
situated to the southward of the bay of Sandakan, forms the eastern
boundary; and a line drawn fro