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

SEA DYAK IN SARAWAK 331
for planting paddy on. What the Sea Dyaks like is to
be allowed to remove to some country with plenty of
wooded hills. They prefer planting paddy on the hills
to clearing the lowland jungle, and waiting till the
swampy land is fit for planting. The old sequence of
events will repeat itself. The new land, rich virgin soil
at first, will, under his devastating hand, soon become
exhausted and worn out. It does not take long to im-
poverish land if no attempt is made to enrich it.
never be ful-
That these melancholy forebodings may
filled must be the earnest wish of all who have in some
way or other come into contact with the Sea Dyak —a
warm-hearted, hospitable, cheery figure, satisfied with
little, living in the present, with no thought of the future,
quite content if he have food to eat and tobacco to smoke,
and yet, for this very reason, because he is so satisfied
with his lot, most unwilling to admit new ideas, seemingly
for ever unconscious of the significance of his life, and
ignorant of the infinite possibilities for good
which exist in him.
or evil