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 races of the earth with which she has
come in contact. And a cultivated Englishman, with wealth and social
position at command, has been so attracted to them, that he has lavished
both his fortune and his best years in the work of their elevation. The
social condition of the Dyaks has been sufficiently wretched. Subjected
to the Malays, they have been forced to work in the mines without pay,
while they were liable at any moment to be robbed of their homes, and
even of their wives and children. "We do not live like men," said one of
them, with great pathos. "We are like monkeys, hunted from place to