The Malohs of Kapuas in Dutch Borneo formerly had a large village at Kanowit, but nearly all have returned to their own country, and the tribe is now represented by a sprinkling only among the Sea-Dayaks. They are wonderfully skilled workers in brass and copper, and manufacture the peculiar brass corsets worn by the Sea-Dayak women, and their armlets, anklets, leg and ear-rings, and other personal ornaments; and they have been known to turn their talents to making counterfeit coin. They bear a great reputation for bravery, and are dangerous men to cross.
The Lanans live amongst the Kayans, to whom they are allied, in the Balui, and have seven or eight villages.
The Sebops and Madangs are Kenyah sub-tribes.
The Melanau, a large and most important tribe inhabiting the coast between Kedurong point and the mouths of the Rejang, is also of Indonesian stock, though, like the Malays, but in a lesser degree, they are of mixed breed. In speech these people are allied to the Kayans, and are regarded by some as a branch tribe. Certain of their customs are similar, and if they differ from the Kayans in many respects, this is due partly to environment, but mainly to the majority of them having embraced Muhammadanism, and to their having intermarried with the Malays, with whom they are now to a certain extent assimilated in customs. They cultivate sago on a large scale, and since the exit of their old Bruni rulers—or rather oppressors—are able to enjoy the fruits of their labour, and have increased their plantations considerably. At Bruit, Matu, Oya, Muka,[[25]] and Bintulu, there are jungles of sago palms, and these places supply by far the largest proportion of the world's consumption of sago. The people being industrious and thrifty are well off. The above-named places are now large towns, and Muka is as large as Bruni. The Melanaus are skilled in working iron, are good carpenters, and excellent boat builders. Though they are by nature, like the cognate Kayans, vindictive and quarrelsome, serious crime is not common among them, and they are a law-abiding people. Formerly among the Kayans and Melanaus when one of their houses was about to be built, a hole was dug in the ground, a slave woman together with some beads placed in it, and the first iron-wood supporting post was levered up, and then driven through her into the ground. This was an oblation to the Earth Spirit.
The Kadayans do not appear to be allied to any of the races in N.W. Borneo; those in Sarawak have migrated from Bruni within recent times to escape oppression. They are a peaceful and agricultural race, and many of them are Muhammadans.[[26]]
MURUTS.
The Muruts and Bisayas are considerable tribes inhabiting the Limbang, Trusan, and Lawas rivers in Sarawak, and beyond. They are of Indonesian stock, and of them a full and interesting account has been given by Sir Spenser St. John in his Life in the Forests of the Far East.
The heads of all these tribes are dolichocephalic or boat-shaped. They are yellow-stained, with hair either straight or slightly waved.
The Land-Dayaks, so named by Europeans in consequence of their not being accustomed to go to sea, or even to the use of boats, either for trading or piratical purposes, number several tribes, with some variations in language. They occupy localities up the rivers Sadong, Samarahan, Sarawak, and Lundu. The remains found among them of Hinduism, such as a stone-shaped bull,[[27]] and other carved monumental stones, and the name of their deity, Jewata, as also the refusal among them to touch the flesh of cattle and deer, and the cremation of their dead, show that they must have been brought into intimate contact with the Hindus, probably at the time when the Hindu-Javanese Empire of Majapahit extended to Borneo.[[28]] In customs and appearance they differ considerably from the other tribes. They have a tradition that they arrived from the north in large ships, possibly from Siam or Cochin-China. Having been oppressed and persecuted and hunted for their heads by the Sea-Dayaks they have retreated to the tops of hills and rocky eminences.