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DYAKS, or DAYAKS

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 743 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DYAKS, or DAYAKS , the name given to the See also:wild tribes found in See also:Borneo by the See also:Malays on their first See also:settlement there. Whether they are the See also:aborigines of the See also:island or the successors of a Negrito See also:people whom they expelled is uncertain. If the latter, they are descendants of an See also:early pre-Malayan See also:immigration. In any See also:case, though regarded by the Malays as aliens, the Dyaks are of the same stock as the Malays. For themselves they have no See also:general name; but, broken as they are into numerous tribes, they are distinguished by See also:separate tribal names, many of which seem to be merely those of the See also:rivers on which their settlements are situated. See also:Sir Harry See also:Keppel, who attempted to See also:form a See also:classification of the Dyaks according to their ethnographical See also:affinity, divides them into five See also:principal branches. The first of these, which he calls the See also:north-western, includes the natives of Sadong, See also:Sarawak, Sambas, Landak, Tayan, Melionow and Sangow. They all speak the same See also:language, and are remarkable for their dependence on the See also:Malay princes. The second See also:branch, which is called emphatically the Malayan from its greater retention of Malay characteristics, occupies the north See also:coast in Banting, Batang-Lupar, Rejang and See also:part of the valley of the Kapuas. To the third or Parian branch belong the Dyaks of the rivers Kuti and Passir, who are said to speak a language like that of See also:Macassar. The See also:fourth consists of the Beyadjoes, who are settled in the valley of the Banjermassin; and the fifth and lowest comprises the Manketans and Punans, who are still nomadic and ignorant of See also:agriculture. Physically the Dyaks differ little from the Malays except in their slimmer figure, lighter See also:colour, more prominent See also:nose and higher forehead.

In disposition they are as cheerful as the Malay is morose. The typical Dyak is rather slightly built, but is active and capable of enduring See also:

great fatigue. His features are distinctly marked and often well formed. The forehead is generally high, and the eyes are dark; the cheek-bones are broad; the See also:hair is See also:black, and the colour of the skin a pure reddish See also:brown, frequently, in the See also:female, approaching the See also:Chinese complexion. The See also:beard is generally scanty, and in many tribes the men pull out all the hair of the See also:face. Both sexes See also:file, dye, and sometimes See also:bore holes in the See also:teeth and insert See also:gold buttons. In See also:dress there is considerable variety, great alterations having resulted from See also:foreign See also:influence. The See also:original and still prevailing See also:style is See also:simple, consisting of a waistcloth, generally of See also:blue See also:cotton, for the men, and a tight-fitting See also:petticoat for the See also:women, who acquire a See also:peculiar mincing gait from its interference with their walking. The favourite ornaments of both sexes are See also:brass rings for the legs and arms, hoops of rattan decorated in various ways, necklaces of See also:white and black beads, and See also:crescent-shaped See also:ear-rings of a large See also:size. The lobes of the ears are distended sometimes nearly to the shoulders by disks of See also:metal and bits of stick. See also:Tattooing is practised by most of the tribes, and the skulls of infants are artificially deformed. The men usually go See also:bare-headed, or See also:wear a See also:bright-coloured kerchief.

The See also:

custom of betel-chewing being most universal, the betel-pouch is always worn at the See also:side. The weapons in use are a curved See also:sword and a See also:long See also:spear. The See also:bow is unknown, but its See also:place among some tribes is partly supplied by the See also:blowpipe, in the See also:boring of which they show great skill. When going to See also:war the Dyak wears a strong padded jacket, which proves no See also:bad See also:defence. A curious custom among some tribes is the imprisonment of See also:young girls for two or three years before See also:puberty, during which See also:time they are not allowed to see even their mothers. The Dyak is decidedly intelligent, has a See also:good memory and keen See also:powers of observation, is unsuspicious and hospitable, and honest and truthful to a striking degree. The various tribes differ greatly in religious ceremonies and beliefs. They have no temples, priests or See also:regular See also:worship; but the See also:father of each See also:family performs See also:rites. A supreme See also:god, Sang-Sang, seems generally acknowledged, but subordinate deities are supposed to See also:watch over See also:special departments of the See also:world and human affairs. Sacrifices both of animals and fruits—and in some cases even of human beings—are offered to appease or invoke the gods; See also:divination of various kinds is resorted to for the purpose ofdeciding the course to be pursued in any emergency; and criminals are subjected to the See also:ordeal by See also:poison or otherwise. Offerings are made to the dead, and there is a very strong belief in the existence of evil See also:spirits, and all kinds of calamities and diseases are ascribed to their malignity. Thus almost the whole medical See also:system of the Dyaks consists in the application of appropriate charms or the offerings of conciliatory sacrifices.

Many of those natives who have had much intercourse with the Malays have adopted a See also:

kind of See also:mongrel Mahommedanism, with a mixture of See also:Hindu 'elements. The transmigration of souls seems to be believed in by some tribes; and some have a system of successive heavens rising one above the other very much in the style of the Hindu See also:cosmogony. In the treatment of their dead much variety prevails; they are sometimes buried, sometimes burned, and sometimes elevated on a lofty framework. The Dyaks have no exact calculation of the See also:year, and simply name the months first See also:month, second month, and so on. They calculate the time of See also:day by the height of the See also:sun, and if asked how far distant a place is can only reply by showing how high the sun would be when you reached it if you set out in the See also:morning. In agriculture, See also:navigation, and manufactures they have made some progress. In a few districts a slight sort of plough is used, but the usual See also:instrument of tillage is a kind of cleaver. Two crops, one of See also:rice and the other of See also:maize or vegetables, are taken, and then the ground is allowed to See also:lie See also:fallow for eight or ten years. The inland Dyaks collect -the See also:forest products, rattan, See also:gutta-percha, beeswax and edible birds' nests, and See also:exchange them for clothing or ornaments, especially brass See also:wire or brass guns in which consists the See also:wealth of every See also:chief. They spin and weave their own cotton, and dye the See also:cloth with See also:indigo of their own growing. Their See also:iron and See also:steel See also:instruments are excellent, the latter far surpassing See also:European wares in strength and fineness of edge. Their houses are neatly built of bamboos, and raised on piles a considerable height from the ground; but perhaps their most remarkable constructive effort is the erection of suspension See also:bridges and paths over rivers and along the front of precipices, in which they display a boldness and ingenuity that surprise the European traveller.

In the centre of most villages is the communal See also:

house where the unmarried men live, which serves as a general See also:assembly See also:hall. Some have a See also:circuit of no less than r000 ft. One on the See also:banks of the Lundi was 600 ft. long and housed 400 persons. The Dyaks have always been notorious for See also:head-See also:hunting, a custom which has now been largely suppressed. It is essentially a religious practice, the Dyak seeking a See also:consecration for every important event of his See also:life by the acquisition of one or more skulls. A See also:child is believed See also:ill-fated to whose See also:mother the father has not at its See also:birth presented skulls. The young See also:man is not admitted to full tribal rights, nor can he woo a See also:bride with any See also:hope of success, until he has a See also:skull or more to adorn his hut; a chief's authority would not be acknowledged without such trophies of his prowess. The strictest rules govern head-hunting; a See also:period of See also:fasting and See also:confession, of See also:isolation in a See also:taboo hut, precedes the expedition, for which the Dyak clothes himself in the skins of wild beasts and puts on an See also:animal See also:mask. The Dyak curiously enough prefers the head of a See also:fellow-tribesman, and the See also:hunt is usually one of See also:ambush rather than of open combat. Among some tribes it was not sufficient to kill the victim. He was tortured first, his See also:body sprinkled with his own See also:blood, and even his flesh eaten under the eyes of priests and priestesses who presided over the rites. Skulls, especially those of enemies, were held in great veneration.

At meals the choicest morsels were offered them: they were supplied with betel and trbacco: fulsome compliments and prayers for success in See also:

battle addressed to them. Head-hunting at one time threatened the very existence of the See also:race; but in spite of their See also:reformation in this respect the Dyaks are not on the increase, a fact for which A. R. See also:Wallace accounts by the hard life the women See also:lead and their consequent slight fecundity. The Dyaks speak a variety of dialects, most of which are still very slightly known. The tribes on the coast have adopted a great number of pure Malay words into See also:common use, and it is often hard to ascertain their own proper synonyms. The See also:American missionaries have investigated the dialects of the See also:west coast (Landak, &c.), and their Rhenish brethren have devoted their See also:attention to those of the See also:south, into one of which (that of Pulu Petak) a See also:complete See also:translation of the See also:Bible has been made. Mr Hardeland, the translator, has also published a Dyak-See also:German See also:dictionary.

End of Article: DYAKS, or DAYAKS

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