showed them how to make "cat's
cradle" with a piece of string. Greatly to my surprise, they knew all
about it, and more than I did; for, after Charles and I had gone through
all the changes we could make, one of the boys took it off my hand, and
made several new figures which quite puzzled me. They then showed me a
number of other tricks with pieces of string, which seemed a favourite
amusement with them.

Even these apparently trifling matters may assist us to form a truer
estimate of the Dyaks' character and social condition. We learn thereby,
that these people have passed beyond that first stage of savage life in
which the struggle for existence absorbs all of the faculties, and in
which every thought and idea is connected with war or hunting, or the
provision for their immediate necessities. These amusements indicate a
capability of civilization, an aptitude to enjoy other than mere sensual
pleasures, which night be taken advantage of to elevate their whole
intellectual and social life.

The moral character of the Dyaks is undoubtedly high--a statement which
will seem strange to those who have heard of them only as head-hunters
and pirates. The Hill Dyaks of whom I am speaking, however, have never
been pirates, since they never go near the sea; and head-hunting is a
custom originating in the petty wars of village with village, and tribe
with tribe, which no more implies a bad moral character than did the
custom of the slave-trade a hundred years ago imply want of general
morality in all who participated in it. Against this one stain on their
character (which in the case of the Sarawak Dyaks no longer exists)
we have to set many good points. They are truthful and honest to a
remarkable degree. From this cause it is very often impossible to get
from them any definite information, or even an opinion. They say, "If
I were to tell you what I don't know, I might tell a lie;" and whenever
they voluntarily relate any matter of fact, you may be sure they are
speaking the truth. In a Dyak village the fruit trees have each their
owner, and it has often happened to me, on asking an inhabitant to
gather me some fruit, to be answered, "I can't do that, for the owner of
the tree is not here;" never seeming to contemplate the possibility of
acting otherwise. Neither will they take the smallest thing belonging to
an European. When living at Simunjon, they continually came to my house,
and would pick up scraps of torn newspaper or c