258 PAGAN TRIBES OF BORNEO chap. 



Brooke established stations in the lower waters of 

 the Saribas and Skarang rivers, and a little later at 

 Kanowit on the Rejang River. This was the first 

 of a series of similar steps by which the area of the 

 Raj has been successively extended, until now it 

 comprises about 60,000 square miles, more than 

 eight times its original extent. In each of these 

 out-stations one or two English officers were 

 appointed to represent the Rajah's government. In 

 each station a small wooden fort was built, and in 

 some cases the fort was surrounded with a stockade. 

 This served as residence for the officer, or officers, 

 and their small band of native police, generally 

 some ten or twelve Malays armed with rifles and 

 a small cannon. The prime duty of these officers, 

 entitled Governors (or later, Residents), was to 

 protect the local population from the oppression 

 and depredations of the Serifs, and generally to 

 discourage and punish bloodshed and disorder. 

 The general policy followed in all these new 

 districts was to elicit the co-operation of the 

 local chiefs and headmen, and, when the people 

 had begun to appreciate the benefits of peace, 

 including the opening of the rivers to Malay and 

 Chinese traders, to impose a small poll-tax to defray 

 the expenses of administration. The area of 

 control was then gradually extended farther into 

 the interior by securing the voluntary adhesion of 

 communities and tribes settled in the tributaries 

 and higher waters of each river. This policy, 

 steadily pursued in one district after another, has 

 invariably succeeded, although the time required for 

 complete pacification has, of course, varied con- 

 siderably ; and it was only during the early years 

 of this century that the process seemed to reach 

 its final stage among the Sea Dayaks in the interiors 

 of the Batang Lupar and Rejang districts. 



The stability of the Rajah's government was 



