189G.] oAl [Hiller. 



A Brief Report of a Journey up the Rejang Ricer in Borneo. 



By H. M. Hiller, M.D. 



{Read before The American Philosophical Society, December IS, 1S9G.) 



The Rejang is the largest river in the north and west side of Borneo 

 — if not of the entire island. Rising in the unknown mountains called 

 Apoh Byang, it falls in rapids and torrents until the Belaga adds its 

 waters ; from here it courses a level table land until the cliffs above the 

 mouth of the Balleh are reached and it channels its way through, or 

 dashes over the rocks in a series of rapids and cascades. The stream, 

 from this point influenced by the tide, finds its sluggish way to the sea, 

 confined by low jungle-covered banks, which farther on degenerate into 

 mangrove swamp — and hedges of nipa palms, whose frond-like leaves 

 reach often a height of thirty feet. The general course of the river is 

 from east to west, and, roughly estimating, it is about 270 miles to Belaga 

 — beyond which the distances have not been computed. At Sibu the 

 mile-wide channel breaks into a delta whose mouths extend along the 

 ■coast for fifty mdes. Foreign timber ships enter the deep waters of the 

 delta, while trading schooners and vessels of light draught ascend to 

 Sibu and even to Kappit, a distance of 150 miles — beyond the latter 

 place onljr canoes are possible and these ascend often with great difli- 

 culty, but away in the mountains the Malay and Chinese trader venture 

 in their small canoes. 



Sibu is the second town of importance in the province of Sarawak. 

 Consisting of a Malay village, a Chinese bazaar, a fort and the homes of 

 the officers, it guards the upper river from inroads from the sea. 

 Kanowit and Song are unimportant trading stations. Kappit has the 

 added dignity of a wooden stockade, and protects the people between 

 the falls and the delta from the maurauding excursions of the hill tribes. 

 While the detached fortress at Belaga ineffectually keeps the peace be- 

 tween the warlike mountain tribes whose houses extend as far as the 

 river's source. 



Between the strongholds are the habitations of Dyaks, Kanowits, 

 Tanjongs, Punans, Kayans and other tribes, their houses being built 

 close to the bank of the stream that acts as a highway. Almost every 

 tributary stream is a branch-road leading back to some settlement where 

 the natives have gone in search of virgin jungle wherein they make 

 •clearings for their rice fields. 



Crocodiles infest the muddj' banks and terrorize the natives, whose 

 efforts at cleanliness are often rudely ended by the sudden rush of the 

 treacherous animal. Deer, wild pig and wild cattle roam the jungle 

 almost undisturbed, for the natives are farmers rather than hunters and 

 the duties of rice cultivation and the gathering of gutta and rattans 

 leave little time for the chase. Yet the presence of many dogs, the 



