26o PAGAN TRIBES OF BORNEO chap. 



the Rajah, visiting the Sultan at Bruni, found him 

 willing to cede Muka and the basins of the adjoin- 

 ing rivers, the Oya, Tatau, and Bintulu, in return 

 for a perpetual annual payment of 16,000 dollars, 

 an arrangement which was accepted and which 

 still holds good. Thus the intrigues of the Malay 

 nobles, which for a time had seriously threatened 

 the stability of the Rajah's government, resulted 

 in the addition of an area of some 7000 square 

 miles to the Sarawak territory. 



The basin of the Rejang, the largest river of 

 Sarawak, was the next region to be added to the 

 Raj. Here Sir James Brooke's government first 

 came into contact with the Kayans (in the year 

 1863). The reputation of the Kayans as a dominant 

 tribe of warriors, whose raids were feared even as 

 far as Bruni, had rendered them proud and self- 

 confident and unready to appreciate the benefits of 

 the Rajah's government. Their continued hostility 

 rendered advisable a demonstration offeree. Accord- 

 ingly in the year 1863 the Tuan Muda (the present 

 Rajah, H. H. Sir Charles Brooke) led an expedition of 

 some 10,000 or more native levies, consisting chiefly 

 of Sea Dayaks and Malays, up the Rejang as far 

 as the mouth of the Baloi Peh, a spot some 250 

 miles from the mouth of the Rejang and in the edge 

 of the Kayan country. The Kayans could not 

 withstand so large a force and retreated farther up 

 river after but little show of resistance. Several 

 of their long houses were destroyed, and a message 

 demanding their submission to the Rajah's govern- 

 ment was sent by a captive to Oyong Hang, the 

 most influential of the Kayan chiefs. The messenger 

 carried a cannon-ball and the Sarawak flag, and 

 was instructed to ask Oyang Hang which he would 

 choose ; to which question the chief is said to 

 have returned the answer that he wanted neither. 

 Although the expedition failed to secure the submis- 



