The pagan tribes of Borneo - Get a Free Blog Here

42 PAGAN TRIBES OF BORNEO chap, m
of Borneo is the great diversity of language obtaining
among them. The migratory habits of the
people and the consequent mingling of communities
of different stocks within the same areas, far from
having resulted in the genesis by fusion of a
common language, have resulted in the formation
of a great number of very distinct dialects ; so
that in following the course of a river, one may
sometimes find in a day's journey of a score of
miles half a dozen or more villages, the people of
each of which speak a dialect almost, or in some
cases quite, unintelligible to their neighbours. A
necessary consequence of this state of affairs is
that, with the exception of the Sea Dayaks, almost
all adults speak or at least understand two or more
dialects or languages, while most of the chiefs and
leading men speak several dialects fluently and
partially understand a larger number. The language
most widely understood by those to whom it is not
but since the recent spread
of trade through large areas under the protection
of the European governments, a simplified form
of the Malay language has been rapidly establishing
itself as the lingua franca of the whole country.
In Sarawak, where, during the last fifty years, the
Sea Dayaks have spread from the Batang Lupar
district and have established villages on all the
principal rivers, their language, which seems to be
a bastard and very simple branch of the Malay
tongue, is very widely understood and is largely
used as a common medium.
native is the Kayan ;
Note on the use of the term Klemantan. The Malay name for Borneo is
Pulu Klemantan, and we have adopted this name to denote the large group
of allied tribes which in our opinion have the best claim to be regarded as
representing the indigenous population of the island.