XXII 



GOVERNMENT 261 



sion of any large number of the Kayans and Kenyahs, 

 it established the Rajah's authority as far as it had 

 penetrated ; for a number of Klemantan villages 

 settled in the middle reaches of the Rejang accepted 

 the offer of peace, and a number of their chiefs 

 brought the Sarawak flag down river and celebrated 

 the traditional peace-making rites with the Rajah's 

 representative. The Kayans have never since 

 attempted to raid the lower reaches of the river ; but 

 it was not until the early eighties, during the Resi- 

 dency of the late Mr. H. B. Low, that the bulk of the 

 Kayans of the Rejang acknowledged the Rajah's 

 authority and began to co-operate in his administra- 

 tion, a result achieved without any repetition of the 

 large expedition of 1863. From that time (about 

 1885) the Baloi or Upper Rejang may be regarded 

 as having formed part of Sarawak. 



In the year 1882 the northern boundary of 

 Sarawak was again pushed forward by the cession to 

 the Rajah by the Sultan of Bruni of the basin of the 

 Baram, an area of some 10,000 square miles, on con- 

 dition of a perpetual annual payment of 6000 dollars. 

 This was an area in which, except along the coast, 

 the Sultan's authority had never been exercised, and 

 which had been kept closed to trade and the depreda- 

 tions of the Malays, by the fear of the Kayans. For 

 the Kayans, who dominated all the middle waters 

 of the Baram, had in the past threatened even 

 Bruni. The Sultan was no doubt glad to see the 

 Rajah undertake the task of controlling his formid- 

 able neighbours, who, dwelling within striking 

 distance of his capital, were a perpetual menace 

 to his power and even to his personal safety. The 

 Baram district has been brought completely under 

 the Rajah's rule without the introduction of any 

 armed force from outside ; and as the process of 

 establishing peace and order has there followed a 

 normal and undisturbed course, and is familiarly 



