This also prevents them from being very
industrious in seeking for the "mias," though I have offered a high
price for full-grown animals. The old men here relate with pride how
many heads they have taken in their youth, and though they all
acknowledge the goodness of the present Rajah's government, yet they
think that if they could still take a few heads they would have better
harvests. The more I see of uncivilised people, the better I think of
human nature on the whole, and the essential differences between
so-called civilised and savage man seem to disappear. Here are we, two
Europeans surrounded by a population of Chinese, Malays, and Dyaks. The
Chinese are generally considered, and with some truth, to be thieves,
liars, and careless of human life, and these Chinese are coolies of the
very lowest and least educated class. The Malays are invariably
characterised as treacherous and bloodthirsty, and the Dyaks have only
recently ceased to think head-taking an absolute necessity. We are two
days' journey from Sarawak, where, though the Government is European,
yet it only exists by the consent and support of the native population.
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