In the heterogeneous society of the state of Sabah, formerly the British colony of North Borneo and since 1963 a state of Malaysia, the Murut tribe has had a special place. A series of censuses showed that the country’s indigenous population as a whole was rowing at a slow rate, so that in the year of the most recent count, 1960, the average density of population was no more than 16 persons per square mile–only an eighth of that of Malaya. The decline of the Murut people was a well recognized phenomenon locally, not least by the Muruts themselves. It was investigated from time to time and aroused considerable comment, but no good diagnosis ever resulted, and by 1960 the most recent investigation had petered out in discouragement. [Download]