The problem of the Indonesians is
far from solved, nor is it known who the original inhabitants of Borneo
were, Negritos or others, and what role, if any, the ancestors of the
Polynesians played remains to be discovered.
The generally accepted idea has been that the Malays inhabit the coasts
and the Dayaks the interior. This is not strictly correct because the
racial problems of the island are much more complicated. Doctor A.C.
Haddon recognises five principal groups of people in Sarawak, Punan,
Kenyah-Kayan, Iban or Sea Dayak, Malay, and the remaining tribes he
comprehends under the noncommittal name Klemantan. He distinguishes two
main races, a dolichocephalic and a brachycephalic, terming the former
Indonesian, the latter Proto-Malay.
Doctor A.W. Nieuwenhuis, who about the end of the last century made
important researches in the upper parts of the Kapuas and Mahakam Rivers
and at Apo Kayan, found the Ot-Danum, Bahau-Kenyah, and Punan to be three
distinct groups of that region. Doctor Kohlbrugge and Doctor Haddon
consider the Ot-Danums as Indonesians, to whom the former also consigns
the Kayans and the Punans. [*] Doctors Hose and McDougall, who in their
Pagan Tribes of Borneo have contributed much to the ethnology of the
island, have convincingly shown that the Ibans (Sea Dayaks) are recent
immigrants, probably of only two hundred years ago, from Sumatra, and are
Proto-Malays. They hold the view that the Kayans have imparted to the
Kenyahs and other tribes the "principal elements of the peculiar culture
which they now have in common."
[Footnote *: Quoted from Pagan Tribes in Borneo, II, p. 316]
The Malays undoubtedly were the first to employ the word Dayak as a
designation for the native tribes except the nomadic, and in this they
have been followed by both the Dutch and the British. The word, which
makes its appearance in the latter part of the eighteenth century, is
derived from a Sarawak word, dayah, man, and is therefore, as Ling Roth
says, a generic term for man. The tribes do not call themselves Dayaks,
and to use the designation as an anthropological descriptive is an
inadmissible generalisation. Nevertheless, in the general conception the
word has come to mean all the natives of Borneo except the Malays and the
nomadic peoples, in the same way as American Indian stands for the
multitude of tribes distributed over a continent. In this sense, for the
sake of convenience, I shall myself use the word, but to apply it
indiscriminately to anthropological matters is as unsatisfactory as if one
should describe a certain tribe in the new world merely as American
Indian.
CHAPTER III
BANDJERMASIN, THE PRINCIPAL TOWN IN DUTCH BORNEO - NORTHWARD ALONG THE
EAST COAST - BALIK PAPAN, AN OIL PRODUCING CENTRE - SAMARINDA - TANDJONG
SELOR - THE SULTAN-UP THE KAYAN RIVER
Fifty miles from land the sea assumes a different aspect through the fresh
water of the great Barito flowing on the surface. Its red hue is produced
by particles of soil brought from the inland of Borneo. In the beginning
of December I arrived at Bandjermasin, the principal town in Dutch Borneo,
inhabited for the most part by Malays and Chinese. It is the seat of the
Resident of the vast South and Eastern Division and has a garrison. The
sea loudly announces its presence here, the tide overflowing much of the
low ground, hence the Malay name, bandjir = overflow, masin = salt
water. Large clumps of a peculiar water-plant float on the river in
Bandjermasin in great numbers, passing downward with the current, upward
with the tide, producing a singular, but pleasing sight. It is originally
a native of America and has attractive light-blue flowers, but multiplies
to such an extent that the growth finally may interfere with traffic. In
India I saw a lagoon completely choked with it.
There is one hotel where the table is fair and the beds are clean, but
blankets are considered unnecessary, and only sheets are provided. The
climate was not as hot as I expected, nights and mornings being
surprisingly cool. Early in July of the following year the morning
temperature was about 73 F. (23 C). Malaria is rare here, but there are
frequent indications of beri-beri.
Friends invited me to go on an excursion to a small island, Kambang, where
there are a number of monkeys to whom Malays who desire children sacrifice
food. On our arrival the animals came to meet us in a way that was almost
uncanny, running like big rats in the tall grass on the muddy beach. Many
remnants of sacrificial offerings were strewn about.
Two years later I was again in Bandjermasin, when an elderly American and
his wife appeared upon the scene-tourists, by the way, being very unusual
here. At the breakfast table they asked a young Dutchman the whereabouts
of the church and museum, and he replied that he did not think there was
either in the town. As a matter of fact there is a small wooden Dutch
church hidden away in a back street. Moreover, in 1914 the Resident, who
at that time was Mr. L.F.J. Rijckmans, had a house built, in Malay style
of architecture, for the safekeeping of Bornean industrial and
ethnological objects which had been on view at the exhibition at Samarang
in Java, thus forming the nucleus of a museum which at some future time
may be successfully developed. The Kahayan Dayaks, not far away to the
north, make exquisite cigar-cases from rattan, while the Bugis weave
attractive cotton goods, resembling silk, with an original and pleasing
colour combination.
The Europeans have a lawn-tennis court where they usually play every
afternoon.
