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Kayans make up 95% of the population of Long Bedian.
When Kayan people exhausted their land in the Apau Kayan area in Kalimantan, they migrated north into Sarawak where they settled in their present locations - midway on the Baram River, the upper Rejang River and the lower Tubau River (where they can still be found in their longhouses).
Kayan women are distinguishable by tattoos on their hands and their legs. It is considered a form of feminine beauty. The tattooing is carried out when a girl is about ten to twelve years old. Men and women used to perforate their earlobes. The men wear leopard's teeth through the perforation and the women wear brass or other types of material through the earlobes in order to extend them.
As with all Orang Ulu tribes, the Kayan are great craftsmen. They are well-known for their boat making skills, which they carve from a single block of belian tree - the toughest tropical hardwoods.
The Kayan population in Sarawak is about 15,000. Although many Kayan have become Christians, some are still pagans, unspoilt by Western religions.
The
Kelabit people
The Kelabit, are inhabitants of the Sarawak highlands - the remotest and
highest of Borneo's mountains. The elevation here is slightly over 1,200
meters. Because there are few roads and the area is largely inaccessible
by river because of rapids, the highlands, the Kelabit highlands are relatively
untouched by modern western influences. One major western influence that
did penetrate this remote ethnic group was the arrival of Christian missionaries.
The Kelabit are now predominantly Christians.
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