New-York tribune., 1896-12-06
PEOPLE SPRUNG FROM NOWHERE

what striles the reader at first ana Keeps i'''-
,>raes,ns itself ON his attention is the Indefinite
ss Of tho results after the most palns'aNHiS
collation. Of material gathered by many ih'e>''-
gators He will perhaps, ask VINO were 'ho
original inhabitants Of the isand' ne "ii' NV
learn that from this book. Mr. Ling NUN '
carefully avoided any theoriZins on ms o"" p - -
and the authorities who have Worheu IA ' W
differ The natives themselves nave shoi' '''''''
cries when 1t comes to history. III ''eY can '.N.
a series Of events back to the thhc oi ''N'
preat-grandfathers, that is about az 'l''! "''
able to do Their genealogles are supr''oN "
sllv to reach back to some hero ceieDia'eu III
their songs but the succession Is as oiiho"i' "
trace as that between Odn and the chiels VI '"7
Norsemen or between Wotan ana AiiIeo ''O
Great 1t might innocently be SUPPOSED '""'
they are all one stock. and that any i"puIs 40
to aborigines is needless. But III TACT 'he! "''N'
from each other as much as the Peopie Vi aug
civilized country where immigration 10 'o' ,
Nearly all the tribes that have been subjected
IN observation manifest those traits WHICH III ''ie
Indians of the Amazons and the north coast OF
South America are taken TO mean thal 'i' P0o
p,e are new to their surroundings. Ihey 90
20. s,..,, ,yeu The noises of a communal house
IN North Rorneo are incessant. If, FOR lew
,ninutes there is the quiet of slumber some one
&c SIRE to wake. sound a gong and arouse 'le
rest To hear his dream. or to start alresh uie
round of storytelling and joke and laughter
They age rapidly and they appear. as d ru'e, ~
he short-lived compared with Europeans. 'e'
for physical comforts they may he SAID 10 De do
we'll off as great masses OF the peasah"9 II" "e
civilized world The inference Is tha' as '"oe'
.,o,, have NOT lived long enough in Borneo to be-
come adapted to the climate They are sun
undergoing the harsh process OF na'urai se'e'-
tion. Whole populations. it is tnousht' III Sii'e
of favorable conditions and the ald "hc" "
settled and civilized government can give 'hci"'
are doomed to extinction. This fate is iooh.o loi
in the case Of one of the two main prahcheS "
Dyaks who were long described as 'he ""o'e
native population Of Borneo
The Dyaks are really only an element III 'hc
varied humanity Of the island and those called
Land Dyaks are. it is supposed. rapldN paSSi"s
away. They were 50 long beaten down ana OPP
ssod h,, the aggressive Malay and the astutc
Chinese who had settled along the coast tha'
even the famous English Rajah, Sir James
Brooke could not restore to them their Ola con-
6dence nor teach them habits of settled industi!
that would replace the neglected actViues oi
savaeery With the sO-called Sea Dyaks. VINO
have learned 10 be as expert sailors as 'he
Malays themselves. the case is different. Inc
simple fact that they became perfect IN an ar'
10 which they had hitherto been unaccus'omed
was proof Of their elasticity Since they De-
came sailors they have picked up other ideas
and have begun to show that they are amenaDie
10 civilization. Such race is the despair OF the
student Of tradition. 1t has no longer anything
which it can absolutely call its own. Between
the customs which it had when 1t began 10
borrow from other races and those which IL mas
learned since there is no dividing line. The
mother is the centre Of the family in one place
the father in another; and beside the old COM
munal house rise the independent farmsteacs In
which new families begin a separate existence
In an almost civilized fashion.