The Pagan Tribes of Borneo by Charles Hose;William McDougall
page 46 of 687 (06%)
page 46 of 687 (06%)
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descendants, the population of Borneo may be described as falling
naturally into two great classes; namely, on the one hand those who have accepted, nominally at least, the Mohammedan religion and civilisation, and on the other hand the pagan peoples. In Bruni and in all the coast regions the majority of the people are Mohammedan, have no tribal organisation, and call themselves Malays (Orang Malayu). This name has usually been accorded them by European authors; but when so used the name denotes a social, political, and religious status rather than membership in an ethnic group. With the exception of these partially civilised "Malays" of the coast regions and the imported elements mentioned above, all the natives of Borneo live under tribal organisation, their cultures ranging from the extreme simplicity of the nomadic Punans to a moderately developed barbarism. All these pagan tribes have often been classed together indiscriminately under the name Dyaks or Dayaks, though many groups may be clearly distinguished from one another by differences of culture, belief, and custom, and peculiarities of their physical and mental constitutions. The Mohammedan population, being of very heterogeneous ethnic composition, and having adopted a culture of foreign origin, which may be better studied in other regions of the earth where the Malay type and culture is more truly indigenous, seems to us to be of secondary interest to the anthropologist as compared with the less cultured pagan tribes. We shall therefore confine our attention to the less known pagan tribes of the interior; and when we speak of the people of Borneo in general terms it is to the latter only that we refer (except where the "Malays" are specifically mentioned). Of these we distinguish six principal groups: (1) Sea Dayaks or Ibans, (2) the Kayans, (3) Kenyahs, (4) Klemantans, (5) Muruts, (6) Punans. |
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