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The Singè Dyaks are the most powerful and numerous in my territory, and the only ones who have not been attacked and plundered by the Sakarrans. "At Lundu are the Sibnowan Dyaks, under the Orang Kaya Tumangong; and the Lundu Dyaks, once a flourishing tribe, now, by ill-treatment of all sorts, reduced to twenty persons.
I accordingly started immediately after breakfast, and reached Seru after mid-day. Here we found a small Malay fishing village, with two or three stray Dyaks of the Sibnowan tribe; and, on inquiring, we were told by them that their country was far away.
"I must add, that this day, when so many of my friends are destroying partridges, I have had my gun in my hand, to procure a few specimens. "2d. To continue my account of the Sibnowan Dyaks.
The language of Sakarran and Sarebus is the same as the Sibnowan; and with all the word God, the Allah Talla of the Malays, is expressed by Battara, from which we may infer that their notion of the Deity, as probably was all the religion of these regions, was derived from the Hindoos.
Yet, when I say this, I mean, of course, only when their minds shall have been raised by education; for without previous culture I reckon the labors of the missionary as useless as endeavoring to read off a blank paper. I doubt not but the Sibnowan Dyaks would readily receive missionary families among them, provided the consent of the Rajah Muda Hassim was previously obtained.
While here, a boat, with a Dyak family, came alongside, consisting of a father, his son, and two daughters. They belonged to the Sibnowan tribe, and had a 'ladang, or farm, on the Samarahan, toward the sea. The women were good-looking; one, indeed, handsome, plump, and intelligent. They were naked to the waist, and ornamented with several cinctures of brass and colored rattans scraped very thin.
The Sibnowan Dyaks Their Town of Tungong. Their Physical Proportions, and Words of their Language. Their Customs. Skull-trophies. Religious Ceremonies and Opinions. Their Ornaments. Appearance of both Sexes. Dress and Morals. Missionary Prospects of Conversion, and Elevation in the Social Scale. Government, Laws, and Punishments. Dances. Iron Manufacturing. Chinese Settlement. Excursion continued.
Overhead, about seven feet high, is a second crazy story, on which they stow their stores of food and their implements of labor and war. Along the large room are hung many cots, four feet long, formed of the hollowed trunks of trees cut in half, which answer the purpose of seats by day and beds by night. The Sibnowan Dyaks are a wild-looking but apparently quiet and inoffensive race.
Got sights in the afternoon; and, leaving our Dyak friends, we dropped down to the mouth of the river, where we slept. "4th. At 2 A.M. got under weigh for the Samatan river, which we reached at 8 A.M. I had been given to understand that the Lundu and Sibnowan Dyaks were to be found on this river; but on arriving, I was informed we must proceed to Seru, where we should see plenty of Dyaks.
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