Needless To State Neither Javanese Nor Malays Are Stupid.

They learn quickly to do efficient routine work in office or shop, but when something new demands attention they are at a loss and appear awkward.

Their intelligence, especially as regards the Javanese, is sometimes beyond the ordinary. Dr. J.C. Koningsberger, who at the time was director of the Botanic Garden at Buitenzorg, Java, told me that an "inlander" once applied to him for a position. He was able to read a little, but the doctor said: "I cannot employ you because you cannot write." A week later he returned and demonstrated that he had mastered the obstacle, having been taught by a friend in the evenings by lamplight. When clever, the Javanese are very clever.

The different tribes of Dayaks known to me are also quick of perception, intelligent, and, though varying in mental ability, some of them, as the Kahayans and the Duhoi, undoubtedly are capable of considerable attainment if given the opportunity. The Dutch missionary in Kasungan told me of a sixteen-year-old youth, a Duhoi, who was very ambitious to learn to read. Although he did not know the letters to start with, the missionary assured me that in two hours he was able to read short sentences.

It was always a pleasure to meet the unsophisticated Dayaks, and on leaving them I invariably felt a desire to return some day. What the future has in store for them is not difficult to predict, as the type is less persistent than the other with which it has to compete in this great island domain. Ultimately these natives, who on the whole are attractive, will be absorbed by the Malays; the latter, being naturally of roving disposition, travel much among the Dayaks, marry their women, and acquire their lands. The Malay trader takes his prahus incredibly far up the rivers. No place is so remote that beads, mirrors, cotton cloth, bright bandannas, sarongs for women, "made in Germany," etc., do not reach the aborigines, often giving them a Malay exterior, however primitive they may be in reality. The trader often remains away a year, marries a woman whom he brings back, and the children become Malays. In its assumed superiority the encroaching race is not unlike the common run of Mexicans who insidiously use the confiding Indians to advance their own interests. As Mohammedans, the aggressors feel contempt for the pork-eating natives, many of whom gradually give up this habit to attain what they consider a higher social status, at the same time adopting a new way of living, and eventually disappear.

In this manner a change is slowly but surely being wrought in the Dayaks, who regard the Malays as superior and are influenced accordingly; but the influence is not beneficial. Malays have been known to incite them to head-hunting, using them as tools for their own ends, and when entering upon one of their frequent revolutions always manage to enlist the support of Dayaks whom they have deceived by promises. The late comers have already occupied most of the main courses of the great rivers, and are constantly pressing the rightful owners back into the interior.

The Dutch officials, be it said to their credit, are helping the latter against the intruders, and at times the government has limited the activities of the Malays on some rivers. But it is difficult, and apparently impossible, to stop a process of absorption that began centuries ago. The ultimate extinction of the Dayak is inevitable because the Malay is not only stronger, but has the additional advantage of being more prolific.

SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES TO THE TRIBES IN DUTCH BORNEO VISITED BY THE AUTHOR

KAYANS

The Kayans of Dutch Borneo are not numerous. Outside of Long Blu on the Mahakam they are found chiefly on the Kayan River in the large district of the northeast called Bulungan. They occupy the lower course, reaching not quite to Long Pangian, though having settlements there. Three subtribes are known to exist here, Oma-Gaai, Oma-Laran, and Oma-Hiban. The first named, also called Segai, live in Kaburau, Bruen, and Long Pangian. They appear somewhat different from the rest in language, and they abstain from rusa (deer) as food, while the others eat it. They file off ten teeth in the upper front jaw. At the headwaters of the Kayan River in Apo Kayan lives a subtribe, Oma-Lakan, said to number about 400; these do not file the front teeth. In Chapter IX is described a recent head-hunting raid by the Kenyahs on these Kayans.

KENYAHS

The Kenyahs are found only within the Bulungan district on the Kayan River. They are settled principally at the headwaters in Apo Kayan and at the sources of a northern tributary, the Bahau, in Podjungan. In these two regions it is estimated that they number altogether about 25,000. Down the river they have a few kampongs below Long Pangian, in the same vicinity; west of it are a few more, as mentioned in the description of my journey. On attempting to ascend the river further one would soon reach a vast extent of country entirely uninhabited except around the headwaters. The Bahau, too, is inhabited only at its source, and both rivers pass through wild, picturesque regions.

On that portion of the Kayan called Brem-Brem the river presents a formidable array of kihams which defeated the government's attempt to establish communication between Apo Kayan and the debouchure of the river. This was desirable for the sake of provisioning the garrison. An officer of the Dutch army in Borneo told me that from military reports and the testimony of Kenyahs he estimated that the Brem-Brem is a continuous stretch of kihams for thirty kilometres. The Kenyahs had told him that they walked two days and he thought that for four kilometres the river ran underground. These difficult conditions compel the Kenyahs to take another route in their travels to Tandjong Selor, marching over the watershed to the Bahau River, where they make new prahus and then continue the journey.

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