View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by ZENODO Negritoes in Borneo Author(s): H. Ling Roth Source: The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 25 (1896), pp. 262-271 Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2842249 . Accessed: 16/06/2014 17:30 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 91.229.229.210 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 17:30:01 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 262 H. LING ROTH.-NVeg-itoesin Borneo. consists of a knob and handle,and the game dependson the skill with which it is throwrLto a distance. An interesting, description'of this game has also been given by Mr. W. E. Stanbridge,and is important,inasmuch as it differsin some particularsfrom the accounitgiven by Smyth. I hope on a futureoccasion to forwardto the Institute the native name of these tops, and the systemiaticname of the gourdof whichthey are made. Explanation of Photogrqaph. Three tops from the Barroi PRiver,obtained by Mr. W. S. Day. NEGRITOESin BORNEO. By H. LINGROTH. THE quiestion," Are thereany Negritoesin Borneo? " is one of greatinterest, and has been as yet by no means solved. The interestin the question lies in the fact that wlhilein the surroundingcountries the existence of Negritoeshas been moreor less proved,no European has yet met with a Negrito in Borneo. There are plenty of Negritoesin the Philippiine Islands (A. B. Meyer,"Die Philippilien,"II, Negritos;Dresdeln, fol., 1893), and while Alex. Dalryinplesays thereare none in Palawan,Mr. A. Hart Everettsays he could hear nothingof any Negritoesin that partof Palawanivisited by him. Theyexist in the Malay Peninsula. In Sumatra the Kubus had been con- sideredto have at some remoteperiod intermilng,ledwith the Negritoes,while their osteologyleans decidedlyto the Malays. (Dr. Garson,J.A.I., xiv, 132.) In Java and Madura I cannot find that Negiitoes are proved to have existed,althougih the Kalangs are very like them. In Sumbawa there is a race of people of whomalmost nothing is known(F. H. H. Guillemard, "Australasia,"II, 1894,p. 358), but it is notstated they migoht be Nearitoes. "It is highlyprobable that a low and primitive race- did once inhabit Celebes,but if so, it has, so far as we know,completely disappeared" (ibid., p. 288). It was for this reason-namely, widespread surroulnding negriticpopulation-that, when at the meetingof the British Associationat Oxfordin 1894, I pointed out we must suspend our judgmentat to the existence of Negritoesin Borneo,I was told probabilitieswere agailnstme, as Borneo was in the midst 1 "Trans. Ethnol. Soc.. 1861." p. 297. 2 Not necessarilynegritic -nor is this inferredby Dr. Guilleinard.-H. L. R. This content downloaded from 91.229.229.210 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 17:30:01 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions H. LING ROTH.-Negritoesin Borneo. 263 of a negriticcentre. Since then,I find that Dr. A. B. Meyer' had come to the same conclusionas I did, arguingfrom a some- what differentstandpoint to that which I took up. He has gone so thoroughlyinto the matter,that I translatehis state- ment. "Although for a long time past all authors were of the opinionthat the reportsof the existenceof Negritoes in Borneo were not to be trusted,their existence has lately been re- peatedly asserted. Pickering (' U.S. Explor. Exp.,' 1848, ix, 174) notices especially their absence, and Waitz-Gerland ('Anthr.,' 1865, v 47) express themselvesas follows: 'Older reportshave mentionedPapuans whichwere said to have been found in the interiorof Borneo, but W. Earl2 remarksvery correctly(" East Seas," 1836, 256) that no travellerhas himself seen them,Kessel3 also only heard Malay tradersspeak of them ("Z. f. a. Erdk. N. F.,' iii, 379) and Marsden(" Misc.,' 37) only mentions that a small Borneo clhiefspoke of woolly-haired Tammans in the interior; on the. other hand, Schwaner (" Borneo," 1853, i, 64) assuiresus particularlythat with the exceptionof the Papuans4introduced into the north-eastof the country,there are no others. Lateron Earl (" Races Ind. Arch." 1853, 146) found the existence of Papuans in the interiorof Borneo somewhat more probable but still without sufficient foundationin fact.' Earl's accouintin question is held to be credibleby others,but it is practicallya matterof individual opinion whetherone believes it or lnot. It mentionsthat a ship's captain strandedin 1844 on the northcoast of Borneo,at the Berau or Kuran rivers,once met,fifty rniles inland, at the foot of Mount Tabur,17 curlyheaded small men ornamented with cicatrices,at least so the man himnselftold him (Earl), and his evidencemust be consideredsatisfactory. Everythingelse which Earl brings forwardis calculated to weaken rather than to strengthenthe case. The district in question has certainlynot often been travelled over, but now that north Borneo has been traversed several timies,and eveh Mount 1 A. B. Meyer," Die Philippinem,"ii, Negritos. Dresden,fol., 1893, pp. 71-2. 2 Earl only says that no Dvak whomhe met had seen them,notwithstanding that the natives assert theirexistence; but as theyalso assertthe existenceof tailed people,thev must not be believed.-A. B. M. 3 Kessel says that in the interior," namely,in the north-east,"they cultivate the soil. This statementis perfectlyincredible.-A. B. M. 4 These are Papuans fromNew Guinea, whomthe Sulus have broughthome as slaves from their widespread piratical expeditions,or whom they have purchasedelsewhere, as, for in3tance,in the Moluccas. Schwaner says, " the few Papuans which were met in the north-eastof Borneo come from the fatherlandof the Papuans, and have been carried offby the Sulu pirates." le adds also, " that the local traditionsthere speak against the existenceof Negritoes."-A. B. M. T 2 This content downloaded from 91.229.229.210 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 17:30:01 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 264 H. LING ROTH.-Negritoes in Borneo. Kinibalii has been several times ascended, and no traces of Negritoes&have anywherebeen found,one mustvery strongly doubt tlhe credibilityof the statement of a ship's captain. Junghuhn (" Battalander," 1847, i, 220, note) considers it unimaginable that anyone could have overlooked such a specialised race with woolly hair and black skin in Borneo. Everett,who possesses a profoundknowledge of north-west Borneo,leaves the readerin the dark as to whetherhe believes the statementof the captain or not,nevertheless he seems to be more on the side of the doubters(" Nature,"1880, xxi, 588). Giglioli(" ViaggioMagenta," 1875, 253) believes the statemenit, and adds: " Beccarifound no traceof Negritoesin Borneo," cioe vide indegeni coi capelli crespi." UnfortunatelyGiglioli says nothing more,and in tlle year 1876 when he published his " Studi sulla razza negrita" (" Arch.,p. Antr.,"vi, 315), he said nothingnew on the above remark of Beccari; it is therefore only a miatterof casual observationupon which no value can be placed. I think this all the more, because when Zailnetti ("Arch. p. Antr.,"1872, ii, 159), discussing a Dyak skull of Beccari's collection,speaks against the existence of Negritoesin Borneo, he makes no mention of anly contrary opiliion of Beccari's. Finally, Hamy ("Bull. Soc. d'Anthr.," 1876, 116) refersto the above mentionedcaptain's statement, alid describesa skull whichJourdan had received at the Lyons Museum as a Negritoskull fromBorneo; he says (p. 118) that thisskull fullyproves the existenceof Negritoesin the heartof Borlneo. In 1882 Quatrefagesand Hamv (" Cr. Ethn.,"195, figs. 212, 213) publishedan illustrationlof this skull as such; it is, orilamentedwith incised lines such as we know the trophy- skulls collected by the Dyaks of Borneo possess. I do not considerthat in this case the conclusion drawn from certairb anatomicalcharacters on the race are justified. When,more- over,the Bishop of Labuan2 informsus (" Tr. Ethbl.Soc." N.S.,. 1863, ii, 25) that the traditiolnsof the Dyaks of nlorth-west Borneoindicate that a black race had precededthem, one must I See forexample Whitehead (" Expl. Kina Balu," 1893); compare Latham (" Essays," 1860, 192). Treacher (" J. Str. Br. R. As. Soc.." 1890. No. 1, p. 101), says," There are no Negritoesin Borneo." Hose (" Journ.Anthrop. Inst.," 1893, xxiii,p. 156) considersthe Punans, " the nomadictribes foundat the head watersof all the big riversin centralBorneo," as the real aborigines (p. 157): " I have no doubt in my mindthat this wanderingrace of people are the aboriginalsof the country." The Punans are real Malays.-A. B. M. 2 The Bishop's (Dr. McDougall's) words are: "With respectto the races of people, the present occupants were, he thought,the remains of a second wave of immigration. The black race or Papuas, he thought,came in first,and the secondwave of Malay or Dyak race followed; the traditionsof the country refertc such an event,anid the people speak of a black race having been there beforethem. The presentrace were probablyfrom India." (" Trans. Ethno- ooc.,"ii, 1863, p. 26)-H. L. R. This content downloaded from 91.229.229.210 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 17:30:01 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions H.