are commonly made by the Muruts on the Lawas and
the Limbang rivers, and it is also still used by the Dusan
villagers on the Tampassuk, notwithstanding their skill
in preparing, weaving, and dyeing the “ Lamba” fibre.
The native women inland wear short “ sarongs ” of
Lamba cloth reaching from the waist nearly to their
knees, and a profusion of stained rattan coils, brass wire,
coloured beads, and other trinkets around their waists,
and heavy rings of brass on then- legs, or cods of brass
wire on their plump and dusky arms. The younger ones
wear a strip of dark cloth across the breast. All have
glossy black hair and dark eyes. Some of the Murut
women are fine muscular creatures, and either in boats
or afield they appear to be as strong and active as the
men. Their hair is often very gracefully wreathed up
with a string of red or amber-coloured beads, sometimes
with a strip of the pale yellow nipa leaf in its young state,
and the colour contrast is then very effective. The
physique of the inland tribes, especially of the Dyaks,
Kayans, and Muruts, is superior to that of the Malays.
The Kayans and Muruts are especially lithe and active—
bronzy, straight-limbed, and statuesque. This is the
result of an active life spent hunting in the forest, climb-
ing after gutta, rubber, jungle-fruit, or beeswax, or in
cultivating the clearings around their dwellings, or in
fishing in the rivers. The aboriginals are active, while,
as a class, the Malays are lethargic and luxurious, and
rarely exert themselves or make long foot journeys unless
actually compelled to do so, and the richer ones spend
much of their time in opium smoking or with their women
instead of trying to ameliorate the condition of their
poorer neighbours, who in one way or another have to
“ pay the piper.”
It is sad to see such a lovely and fertile island impoverished
to a great extent by the avaricious Malays, who
ought to encourage the natives to improve themselves
and the country in which they live, instead of which they
wring their property from them whenever possible under
all manner of pretences. The harsh treatment to which
the aboriginals, and even the poorer of the Malays, were
formerly subjected by the petty chiefs and Pangerans, is
now much moderated, as many natives have visited
Labuan, and it has now become known as a sanctuary
from their unjust oppressors.
The climate of Borneo although hot and wet, is fairly
healthy, especially on the hills inland, where the air is
much fresher and cooler than on the lowlands near the
coast; the mean annual temperature is about 84°. The
hot and dry monsoon lasts from December to May, and
the cool and wet one from June to November; the rainfall
is very heavy, especially on the hills. The economic
products for which the soil and climate are suitable are
coffee, cinchona, cocoa, cotton, tobacco, sugar-cane,
indigo, gambier, cocoa-nuts for oil, and manilla hemp.
Fine timber, gutta, caoutchouc, rattans, and camphor, are
the indigenous products of the forests primjeval. Among
the introduced fruits which succeed well are oranges,
limes, pomoloes, mangoes, pine-apples, and bananas.
The animal products are edible swallows’ nests, ivory,
sea-slug or beche de mer, (Holothuria), fine fish of many
kinds, pearls, and pearl-shell. Among minerals, coal,
antimony, cinnabar, and gold seem the most promising;
diamonds, tin, copper, plumbago, and iron are reported ;
and if one may judge of the iron by the old weapons,
such as krisses, parongs, and spears as made by the
Bruneis and the Kayans, it must be of excellent quality.
I made a pen and ink sketch of a Kayan war knife
which I saw in the collection of native weapons in the