tried to work up two young men (natives) in my service, during the day time, so as to fit them to help others in the evening. This has answered for a beginning; but I am intent on a mode for effecting permanent assistance. I have applied to the resident magistrate who so kindly volunteered to aid me in my work, to obtain for me from two to six young native lads, to be boarded and instructed by me. These I desire to keep for at least three years. I intend to teach these boys during certain hours of the day, so as to fit them for assisting me in the adult school in the evening. At the same time I intend to make them useful by employing them in gardening and joinering; so as to give them a taste for industrial and mechanical operations. It is indispensably necessary for every missionary to seek help for himself. Help from the European population he cannot get, and that for many reasons. Help from Christian natives, trained at other stations by different missionaries, he cannot secure for any time; for the natives become closely attached to those who have been to them as fathers, and in whom they repose unshaken confidence. The missionary must, if he will do anything, train his own teachers, mould his own instruments. In my movement to this end I have been so successful as to secure the promise of three native lads. Their parents have, I believe, consented to their coming; and I am in daily expectation of seeing them. I look forward to their arrival with great pleasure, as I expect them to be of great assistance after a short time, and to impart to my work a new feature. The pupils in the evening I have no hold on, but on these I shall have. . . . I am prompted to this course by the impression which I have received from the native boys at Ekukanyeni, that youths of a suitable age may be soon fitted for efficient teachers among their own people.

The work at St. Mary's will, I trust, in time open itself. It is difficult at present to see what really can be done. I would fain gather in the idle groups of natives which surround the church daily, and impart to them instruction, or give them a short lecture; but it is a question whether I should be doing right. Most of them are sitting there waiting to do business in some of the offices, and are liable to be called. I must wait, inquire, and see how far to go. Such a plan may be worthy of trial some future day. My first desire is to effect an impression on those at present under my charge. It is remarkable how greatly the tone and manner of the natives change after they learn to read a little. It seems to raise them in their own estimation, and they begin to have confidence in the Umfundesi or teacher. I believe the only effectual way of gaining the interest of the Kafir is, first to lead him perseveringly to read. From that, I have little doubt, he might easily be drawn to converse on higher things.

A daily Infant-school has been in existence ever since the Bishop's return to the colony. Mrs. Rethman (an intelligent married woman, well fitted for the work) conducts it. It is opened for coloured children. This has now been removed to the native church (St. Mary's), and is daily held there. The children number ten only. It

is difficult at present to say whether there are many native children in the city who do not attend school. The Wesleyans have had a native day-school for some years, which is supported by the Government and is numerously attended. I should very much like to see a flourishing day-school at St. Mary's; but whether it be possible is yet to be seen.

In connexion with my duties at St. Mary's, I also act as chaplain to the native prisoners in the gaol. I hold a service every Sunday morning in one of the cells, at ten o'clock. This is a melancholy, though interesting duty. Sometimes there are as many as twenty prisoners present, from different parts of the country. I was much gratified the other evening in recognising the face of one of the prisoners among my pupils. It appears that his time of imprisonment had expired three days before; and so being at liberty, he availed himself of the privilege of attending school.

I believe I have now given a full, though a hurried account of the little which has been done in connexion with St. Mary's native church during the first month of my labours there. I have also given a scanty outline of what I desire and purpose for the future, God giving me grace and strength to perform it. The experience of the few past weeks enables me to look forward and take courage; and, with God's blessing, and the prayers of devoted followers of Christ, interested in the welfare of the native population of this city, I will press forward, seeking no other commendation than that he hath done what he could."

THE DYAKS OF BORNEO.

THE following is extracted from a letter addressed to the Warden of St. Augustine's College, by the Rev. W. Chalmers, dated "Mission House, Peninjauh, Upper Sarawak, Feast of St. Michael, 1858." It appears in No. 35 of Occasional Papers from St. Augustine's College :

I promised in my last letter to give you some account of a proposed tour among the Dyaks of the upper districts. This tour I accomplished in health and safety, in the company of my kind friend, Charles T. C. Grant, Esq., of Belidah Fort, a gentleman who has afforded me more assistance in beginning my missionary life here than any one in the country. I was absent from Sarawak one month; during that time we went over a great deal of ground, and saw much of the people ; and in this letter I will endeavour to jot down a little of 'what I saw among the Dyaks.'. . .

Of course, I cannot pretend, in one letter, to give you any full or connected account of my month's wanderings. I will therefore give you some general account of their extent, and then copy from my diary such descriptions and incidents as I think likely to prove interesting. About five or six miles below Belidah Fort (which is just across the

river from Mount Peninjauh or Serambo, my present residence), the River Sarawak divides itself into two branches; and it is on the right hand that Belidah is situated. Mr. Grant's plan was to descend this branch to the junction, and then for us to make our way up the left branch to the source, visiting all the tribes living by the side of or near the river; then to cross the country between the left and right branches, visiting the various tribes, and finally to descend the right branch on the same plan. By God's mercy, we were able to fulfil our intentions in health and safety; and I am sure both he and myself will ever look back on our month's wanderings as a time both of pleasure and profit. I must say, however, that the object of the tour was political and not missionary. As the Governor of this district, Mr. Grant paid visits to all the Dyaks under his rule, and I simply accompanied him as a friend, to improve myself in Sarawak pedestrianism, and to get acquainted a little with the Dyaks, their language, and

customs.

On the left branch we visited in succession nine tribes-the Sempro, Segu, Simpok, Setang, Sentah, Sibungo, Brong, Serin, and Senna. In the country intervening between the two branches, four tribes, namely, Tebiak, Sumbaw, Tringgus, and Gumbang. On the right branch, one tribe, the Saü, which is very large and powerful, having no less than five villages, at some distance from each other, two of which have each a population of at least 600 souls. This left four tribes on the right branch still unvisited, namely, the Singgi, with a population of at least 1000, and the Peninjauh, Bombok, and Serambo tribes, whose villages are all situated near each other on Mount Serambo, and among whom I am now residing. I have not yet visited Singgi, but hope to do so early next year, at a time when the population are likely to have returned from their farms in the jungle. Though we reached the sources of each branch of the Sarawak, yet our journeyings were far more on land than on water; during the twenty-nine days we were absent from Belidah, we passed only portions of nine in our boats; all the rest were spent in walking from one village or tribe to another, on Dyak paths through a perfect wilderness of magnificent jungle, the greater part of which had never before been trodden by European foot. But I will now endeavour to put my notes before you in something like order.

The whole Dyak population belonging to the government of the upper Sarawak is between 14,000 and 15,000; in the early part of last year it was one-tenth more; the whole country having since been decimated by a cholera visitation. You must not imagine, however, that this is the whole of the Rajah's Dyak population; it is only that of one of the eight or nine considerable rivers embraced in the territory of Sarawak, and that also of a river which in size is comparatively small and insignificant. These people are divided into sixteen tribes: seven on the left branch (two of the tribes we visited on that branch belong to the government of the river Samarahan), four in the cross country, and five on the right branch. Each tribe possesses from one to five villages or tompoks,' according to its size in point of popula

tion. As a people they are certainly as moral, peaceable, and welldisposed as any known race of semi-savage heathens in the world. All their internal disputes are settled amicably among themselves, and they give little or no trouble to the Rajah's government. A Dyak in prison is almost unknown.

Each tribe manages its own affairs, and has its own chiefs or head men, which are as follows: first, the 'Orang Kaya' or chief; under him is the 'Pengara,' who in external affairs is the 'mouth' of the tribe; then the Panglima,' or 'Commander-in-Chief,' an office now dying out. The Orang Kaya and Pengara are elected by the suffrages of the 'lâki-bîni' or married men, subject to the approval of the Rajah's Government, which, by one of its officers, publicly invests them, by giving them a jacket and head-handkerchief, to be worn on state occasions. Moreover, each long house in a village is under the charge of a 'tuah,' or old man; and all the tûahs act as a sort of council to the Orang Kaya. The Orang Kaya and this council are the magistrates; they try, and punish offences (chiefly by fines), and settle where the 'ladangs' or farms for the year are to be made. The wealth of a family or tribe is generally estimated by the number of gongs, jars, cups, pigs, fowls, and fruit-trees it possesses. Each family or 'lang' pays a tribute of two 'passus' of rice, or three rupees in money, to the Government. A 'lang' consists of a married couple and their family; the Orang Kaya, widowers, widows, bachelors, and unmarried women pay nothing. Each 'lang' has a separate 'romîn,' or apartment in one of the long houses, and the children and unmarried girls of the family sleep in this room, which is sometimes pretty large, with the heads of the family; the lads of the village, as soon as they are old enough to work on the farms, have to take up their quarters at night in the 'pangah' or head-house. Both men and women, and the children when old enough, work at the farms; in the domestic economy the women are 'the hewers of wood and the drawers of water; and the men look for relishes to their rice, in the shape of pigs, deer, snakes, monkeys, and esculent roots, in the jungle; and also, occasionally, make ends meet by doing a little fishing.

Of their religion I will not say much, as I am not quite certain on many points. They believe in a supreme God, variously called 'Dewata,''Tuppa,' and 'Sing.' But of them it may be truly said, οὐκ ἐδοκίμασαν τὸν Θεὸν ἔχειν ἐν ἐπιγνώσει; and they are entirely given up to the fear of 'Antus.' These, according to them, are the causes of sickness, death, ill-luck, and misfortune of every kind; and they try to appease them with small offerings of rice, &c., and to drive them away by gonging and shouting. Beyond setting aside a portion of rice, &c., for 'Dewata,' and invoking him to give them plenty and good luck, at their various feasts, they seem to have no religious worship.

But the great persons in each tribe are the doctors or 'borieh.' These are chiefly women, and I have come to the conclusion that they are wilful impostors, for the sake of the gain which they obtain from the fears of the Dyaks, whenever they are called upon to 'berôbat' or

doctor. They are supposed to hold intercourse at will with Dewata ; occasionally to die and come to life again; and at the 'Makan Taum' or harvest feast, they always pretend to bring down paddy, rice, and grass from heaven, as a token of Dewata's favour. This they do in

the presence of the whole tribe, and the deceit must be cunningly contrived and executed. Their services are called for in cases of sickness, and their doctoring consists in killing a fowl or pig, and ordering a 'pamali' (which is like the 'taboo' of the South Sea Islanders), during which no one but the family of the sick man can enter the house. They have also some formula which they chant to a monotonous and melancholy strain on this and other occasions when their services are required. They are also in request at the sowing and harvest festivals. A few days ago I went down to the Peninjauh village to a sowing feast. On my arrival at the chief's house I found a raised stage of yellow bamboo, perhaps eight or ten feet high, on which were laid small offerings for Dewata' and the 'Antus,' erected in front of the house. By the side of this was disposed in bags all the paddy of the tribe intended for sowing, each family having brought its share; and over the whole collection two 'borieh' were waving two tufts of fine grass stained yellow, and chanting their mysterious strain, the effect of which was supposed to be the casting out of every evil influence from the paddy, and thus securing for it a healthy and productive growth. The 'borieh' were women, and wore gay jackets, petticoats, and caps, profusely ornamented with beads; and attached to their petticoats was a vast number of 'grunong,' or small hawkbells, which tinkled loudly at their every movement. The 'pamâli' is also used in case of sickness or death; before sowing the paddy; or in case of sickness in the young paddy, or of its being devoured by rats or vermin, on account of hearing bad birds' on successive days, and on many other occasions, perhaps, which I have as yet neither seen nor heard of.

·

Were I asked what is the religion of the Dyaks, I should say they have none worthy of the name, but their religious observances may be classed as follows:

1. The killing and eating of fowls and pigs, of which a portion is set aside for the Deity.

2. The propitiation of 'Antus' by small offerings of rice, &c.

3. The Pamâli.

4. Obedience to the 'Borieh,' and belief in their pretensions.

5. Dancing (of which I will speak hereafter).

6. The use of omens from the notes of various birds, the principal of which are obtained from a bird called the 'Kusha.'

If a Dyak be proceeding on a journey, and he hears the voice of this bird before or behind him, he will return home immediately. If in front, it is a sign that sickness, death, or an enemy is in the place to which he is going; if behind, that one or the other will come to his country if he be absent. When heard on the right or left hand, it is a good omen. The tradition on this point is, that an ancestor of the Dyaks married an 'Antu;' and, soon after, the 'Antu' became