It must not be imagined that either the Malays or the
native Borneans are the bloodthirsty savages they are
sometimes made out to be. The Malays generally are
courteous, dignified, and hospitable. Many of them have
made long journeys for purposes of trade, and have a
tolerably good idea of the manners and customs of Europeans.
Others have taken to the use of European commodities
after observing them used by the Chinese
traders and settlers, and one can rarely visit a native of
any consideration without finding him the hospitable
possessor of a chair or two, plates, dishes, water bottles
and glasses, and very often of excellent brandy and
cigars. They are most sensitive, innately polite and gentle
in manners, and very quick to understand and appreciate
any little courtesies or civilities one may offer them. All
but the poorest carry their national weapon, “ the murderous
crease,” a sort of long sinuous-edged dagger,
generally as sharp as a razor, and most deadly when
wielded by a skilful hand. In many cases where the
owners are rich or of high rank these weapons are beautifully
finished—rarely damascened—and the handles of
ivory or gold set with pearls, diamonds, and other precious
stones. The running “ amok,” so often cited as an
instance of their savage bloodthirsty nature is really a
very rare occurrence, and is generally attributed to the
excessive use of opium, or to some great disappointment
or dishonour having befallen the frantic creature who,
drawing his kriss, rushes at friend and foe alike until either
shot down like a mad dog or run through the body with
a spear. Jealousy is the main cause of all the bloodshed
of which the Malays are guilty. The co-respondent in
Borneo must either have a tacit understanding with the
husband or rather proprietor of the frail one, or his
adventures may end very suddenly. I saw one man in
f
the hospital at Labuan who paid the penalty of his indiscretion.
One night a kriss or spear had been driven
into his thigh through the interstices of the floor of the
house in which he was sleeping with his Helen, and with
such force that the bone was completely severed. It is
possible the weapon was poisoned, at any rate he died
some little time afterwards, notwithstanding all that surgical
skill could suggest. In the case of the Malays their
women are, as a rule, secluded from the gaze of strangers
in private apartments, but in the interior the women of
the aboriginal tribes enjoy equal freedom with the men,
and often join in discussions and trading difficulties with
great tact. Monogamy is the rule with the Borneans
and polygamy with the Malays. In Borneo, as in Europe,
the female exceeds the male population, and here, too,
the women do a large proportion of the field labour in
addition to their domestic duties.
Some of the little villages of the native tribes inland
present a pleasant and prosperous exterior. Little palm-
leaf houses stand here and there beneath groves of cocoa-
nut trees, betel-palms, tree-ferns, or graceful willow-like
bamboo. Breadths of fresh greensward occur among the
clumps of low brush or scrubby vegetations, the remains
of the old jungle, and here buffaloes or goats, and occasionally
other cattle, browse around the houses. Pigs,
bees, and poultry are domesticated, and are often very
abundant. The houses are built on piles, and a sloping
hill-side or knoll is generally selected as a site, so that
all superfluous surface water may readily escape. The
fowls are caught every evening and placed in open-work
baskets of either rattan or bamboo, suspended beneath
the eaves of the houses. This care is essential in order
to guard them from the attacks of large snakes and
iguanas, or other poultry-stealing saurians.