BISAYA

also spelled Bisayah, indigenous people of northwestern Borneo, in Malaysia, concentrated above the Padas River and below Beaufort in Sabah state, and in northern Sarawak state. They are of Malay stock and possibly related to the Visayan of the Philippines. The Bisaya speak Murut, leading some to believe they were once one of the branches of the Murut peoples. They numbered about 5,000 in the late 20th century. Their villages, comprising houses set on piles, are built along the banks of rivers. Traditionally slash-and-burn cultivators of dry rice, sago palms, vegetables, and rubber, they are increasingly growing wet rice. Bisaya kinship is organized in ranked ambilineal descent groups, in which the form of marriage ceremony determines whether the child is a member of the mother's or father's clan. Their religion is a mixture of traditional beliefs and Islam, and they also practice a form of black magic.