In the exceeding paucity of the elements of Indian culture it stands in remarkable opposition to Java, and even to Celebes and the Philippines, whilst the Mahometan influences are extended but little beyond the large towns and the coast. Hence the central parts are Malay in the most unmodified form; even as the Batta districts of Sumatra are Malay.
Our knowledge, however, has by no means been proportionate to the number and variety of facts capable of being elicited. Indeed, with the exception of New Guinea, Central Africa, and parts of South America, Borneo has been, to the ethnologist, the darkest area in the world. That there were Mahometan Malays in the towns, that there were pirates on the coast, and that there were Dyaks in the interior has, until lately, been the sum of our information. As far as it goes this is true. In addition, however, there has been (and continues to be) a belief in the existence of Blacks in the more inaccessible parts of the mountains, especially the Kenebalow range.
As to the vocabularies, scanty as they were (and are), they have always been sufficient to prove a Malay origin, for such tribes as they represented. Whether, however, the population was homogeneous throughout, or whether there was a second (so-called) race, analogous to the Samangs of Malacca was uncertain.
The publication of the observations of the Rajah of Sarawak, and of his visitors, has dispelled much darkness. Still the light is imperfect; or, rather, it is partial. What we now know we know in detail, and on authoritative evidence; our knowledge being, chiefly, for the north-western coast, from Pontianak, on the Equator, to the parts round the Kenebalow mountain on the northern extremity of the island.
I shall just give so much of Sir J. Brooke's observations as bear upon those points wherein the ethnology of Borneo either explains or differs from that of Sumatra.
The Borneo equivalents to the Battas of Sumatra are the Dyaks; a term applied by the Mahometan Malays to the non-Mahometan portion of the population. The utter absence of an alphabet is the first point of distinction. The comparative absence of a Hindoo mythology is the second. Fragmentary and distorted as is the Hindu Pantheon in Sumatra, it has had still less influence in Borneo. However, it exists in the terms Jowata and Battara (at least), and in certain real elements of the Dyak creed as well. These names are connected with the cosmogony—when Jowata took the earth in both hands, and the right handful became man, the left, woman. Below the earth is Sabyan; where the houses are fitted up with moskito curtains, and where there are other creature-comforts besides. Euhemeristic elements are superadded. The memory of great chieftains is held in superstitious reverence; Beadum being one of them. Numerous details in the way of superstitions, regarding charms and omens, and the ceremonies attendant upon births, deaths, and marriages, fill up the picture of the paganism of Borneo. I am not aware, however, that any of them, curious as they are, are of sufficient importance to indicate either new ethnological affinities in respect to the tribes that adopt them, or to induce us to refine upon old ones. Indeed, the customs, as between tribe and tribe, are far from being uniform; as, for instance, in regard to the burial of the dead. Some burn the corpse, but without any ceremonies. Others place it in a light coffin, suspended on the bough of a tree, and so leave it. In some cases the forms are few or none. In others they are preeminently elaborate.
As a mark of distinction between different tribes, two customs take a prominent place: the habit of tattooing, and the use of the sumpitan.
The first is either general, or limited to certain parts of the body. In some tribes it is not adopted at all.
The second is a pipe, about five feet long; with an arrow made of wood; thin, light, sharp-pointed, and dipped in the poison of the upas-tree. As this is fugacious, the points are generally dipped afresh when wanted. At least five arrows can be discharged in the time required for loading and firing a musket. For about twenty yards the aim is so true, that no two arrows shot at the same mark will be above an inch or two apart. The utmost range is one hundred yards. The poison is virulent, but not deadly.
In many cases the use of the sumpitan (which is by no means universal) and the habit of tattooing go together.