Vanishing World : The Ibans of Borneo [first edition]

Sarawak is one of two Malaysian states on the island of Borneo. Known as Bumi Kenyalang ("Land of the Hornbills"), Sarawak is situated on the northwest of the island, bordering the Malaysian state of Sabah to the northeast, Indonesia to the south, and surrounding Brunei. It is the largest state in Malaysia. The Ibans, part of the Dayak tribe in Malaysia, live mostly in Sarawak. Ibans were renowned for practising headhunting and tribal/territorial expansion and had a fearsome reputation as a strong and successful warring tribe in ancient times. In 1842, the Sultan of Brunei appointed James Brooke to rule Sarawak. The Brooke dynasty ruled Sarawak for a hundred years and became famous as the "White Rajahs". The Ibans of today maintain their curious and attractive customs, as fascinating for the general reader as for the specialist in neolithic survivals. In this book, over 100 photographs, including 28 pages in color, brilliantly record the world of the Ibans in its social, sexual, and religious aspects. As the photographs and the text, written by a longtime observer of Borneo, demonstrate, the traditional way of life of the Ibans is being eroded as the modern world forces its way into Sarawak. An uncertain future awaits the Ibans, but it is certain - as this book so aptly shows - that they live in a vanishing world.