A Journey to Crete Costantinople Naples and Florence: Three Months Abroad

Seventeen Years Among the Sea Dyaks of Borneo by Edwin Herbert GomesNTRODUCTIONWith the establishment of Rajah Brooke’s government in Sarawak the different races of its native population gradually became known to English people and at length the Dyakland of Borneo has found a definite place and shape in the English mind much as the Zululand of Africa has done. The Sea Dyak soon appeared in print; travellers mentioned him sometimes only as a simple savage; men who have spent some time in the country like the late Sir Hugh Low and the late Sir Spenser St. John described something of his life; missionary reports had him in their pages; European residents and civil administrators and others wrote of him in various papers and periodicals. But most if not all of these accounts were unavoidably brief partial and sketchy for it did not come within the scope of their purpose to set forth a full and systematic statement of all things Dyak. Mr. Ling Roth collected all the notes about Dyaks he could find from various sources and published his harvest of accumulations in two large volumes. It is a monument of industrious collecting; but his work is that of the scissors rather than of the pen a compilation rather than a writing; and in the extracts being the productions of various writers at different periods we see much overlapping and repetition and some confusion; and necessarily such a book was too bulky to obtain a general circulation. More recently Miss Eda Green has given[viii] to English readers a little book about Borneo wonderful in its general accuracy and vivid in its descriptions; but it is meant especially for missionary circles and missionary reading—in fact it was written expressly for the Borneo Mission Association whose objects it has done much to promote. But it is a book about the Mission rather than about the Dyaks and it does not profess to give a complete account of the entire field of Sea Dyak life.This is Mr. Gomes’s object and he attains it. His book is not a mere personal narrative of life in Sarawak. We have in it a very full systematic and comprehensive description of Sea Dyak life—its works thoughts sentiments superstitions customs religion beliefs and ideals. Our attention is not directed to the magnificent beauties of Bornean tropical scenery and luxuriant flora nor to the wonders of the insect life with which the land simply abounds. Mr. Gomes sees Dyaks and Dyaks only in his mind. The “brown humanity” of the country not its natural history occupies his attention. He knows that humanity intimately and writes from the storehouse which he has accumulated in long years of experience and observation. And he puts all within manageable compass and volume. His book is I believe the first which contains a complete picture of Sea Dyak life in all its phases yet in moderate dimensions. And from my own experience of some twenty years in Sarawak I can testify to the truthfulness of every page.Possibly it is sometimes thought that the missionary is not the best man to write about the people to whom he appeals; that he may be easily biassed in one direction or another and may think too ill or too well of them and may allow his judgment to be overcoloured by his religious purpose. A little experience among the people of any race especially where the language is not well[ix] known may easily result in limited views and imperfect conceptions. But when his residence has extended over many years and he knows the language as well as his own.