quite puzzled me. They then showed me a number of other tricks with
pieces of string, which seemed a favourite amusement with them.

Even these apparently trifling matters may assist us to form a truer
estimate of the Dyaks' character and social condition. We learn
thereby, that these people have passed beyond that first stage of
savage life in which the struggle for existence absorbs all of the
faculties, and in which every thought and idea is connected with war
or hunting, or the provision for their immediate necessities. These
amusements indicate a capability of civilization, an aptitude to
enjoy other than mere sensual pleasures, which night be taken
advantage of to elevate their whole intellectual and social life.

The moral character of the Dyaks is undoubtedly high--a statement
which will seem strange to those who have heard of them only as
head-hunters and pirates. The Hill Dyaks of whom I am speaking,
however, have never been pirates, since they never go near the sea;
and head-hunting is a custom originating in the petty wars of village
with village, and tribe with tribe, which no more implies a bad moral
character than did the custom of the slave-trade a hundred years ago
imply want of general morality in all who participated in it. Against
this one stain on their character (which in the case of the Sarawak
Dyaks no longer exists) we have to set many good points. They are
truthful and honest to a remarkable degree. From this cause it is
very often impossible to get from them any definite information, or
even an opinion. They say, "If I were to tell yon what I don't know,
I might tell a lie;" and whenever they voluntarily relate any matter
of fact, you may be sure they are speaking the truth. In a Dyak
village the fruit trees have each their owner, and it has often
happened to me, on asking an inhabitant to gather me some fruit, to