Seventeen years among the Sea Dyaks of Borneo; a ... - Sabrizain.org

262 DYAK FOLKLORE
and the Dyak, and yet, when we come to consider their
proverbs, we find that they join hands and stand on
common ground. Allowing for difference in environ-
ment, and consequent difference of similes, the ideas
expressed in many Dyak proverbs is precisely
similar to
that of some well known among the English.
The three following examples, taken from among many
others, which are often used by the Dyaks of the present
day, will illustrate what I mean :—
Bemaung di rumah, rawong di tanah ("A tiger in the
house, [but] a frog in the field "). A lion in council, but
a lamb in action.
Kasih ka imbok, enda kasih ka manok ("To show kind-
ness to the wild pigeon, [but] not to show kindness to the
domestic fowl "). Charity begins at home.
Lari ka ribut nemu ujan, lari ka sungkup nemu
pendant (" Running from the hurricane, he encounters
the rain ;
1 tinning from a tombstone, he finds himself
in a graveyard"). Out of the frying-pan into the
fire.
Necessarily, a great deal in human life changes
as the
years roll on. Science grows, knowledge increases,
society makes its way to new forms of organization, and
the outward fashions of life pass away, and new ones take
their place. All this is obvious and inevitable. And so
there must of necessity be many points
of difference
between primitive races and races high up in the scale of
civilization. Yet in human life there are certain things
which are always the same. Underneath what is variable
in man there is that which never changes. Now and
again we catch glimpses of this as we read some ancient
author, and find that across the gap of ages lived one
who, thousands of years ago, in some respects, at least,