A few large vases of Chinese porcelain, usually covered with elaborate
designs in colour, are to be found in most of the houses of the other
peoples (Pl. 47).



CHAPTER 5

The Social System

The Kayans constitute a well-defined and homogeneous tribe or
people. Although their villages are scattered over a wide area,
the Kayan people everywhere speak the same language and follow
the same customs, have the same traditions, beliefs, rites, and
ceremonies. Such small differences as they present from place to
place are hardly greater than those obtaining between the villagers
of adjoining English counties. Although communication between the
widely separated branches of the people is very slight and infrequent,
yet all are bound together by a common sentiment for the tribal name,
reputation, tradition, and customs. The chiefs keep in mind and hand
down from generation to generation the history of the migrations of
the principal branches of the tribe, the names and genealogies of the
principal chiefs, and important incidents affecting any one branch. At
least fifteen sub-tribes of Kayans, each bearing a distinctive name,
are recognised.[38] The word UMA, which appears in the names of each
group, means village or settlement, and it seems probable that these
fifteen sub-tribes represent fifteen original Kayan villages which
at some remote period, before the tribe became so widely scattered,
may have contained the whole Kayan population. At the present time