286 PAGAN TRIBES OF BORNEO chap. 



boats. We were joined at Long Lutin by Laki Lah 

 and a boatful of his Kayans, made a rapid passage 

 to Long Pata (the spot where the Pata joins the 

 Baram), and resumed the toilsome ascent of the main 

 river to reach the Akar. That evening we reached 

 a Kenyah village at Long Lawan, and as usual we 

 were hospitably entertained with the fatted pig and 

 brimming cups of rice-spirit. The weather was now 

 brilliantly fine and the river of only normal swift- 

 ness, and we passed the night in a Kenyah house 

 in the Akar. Here we spent two days awaiting the 

 arrival of a party of Kayans from the upper Akar. 

 The Kayans having arrived, another general dis- 

 cussion of the plan of operations was held ; and on 

 the third day the expedition returned to the Baram, 

 and after surmounting the difficulties presented by 

 many rapids and a narrow gorge at Batu Pita, 

 entered the Silat on the 28th. The Silat is the 

 uppermost of the large tributaries of the Baram 

 (PL 200). It descends from the Madang country, 

 winding round the foot of the Batu Tujoh, a lime- 

 stone mountain of 5000 feet. All this country is at 

 a considerable height above sea-level (1000 feet and 

 more), and the climate is much cooler and more 

 bracing than that of the lower levels. It is a land 

 of many streams and hills. All the lower slopes have 

 been cleared and cultivated by the Kenyahs, so that 

 it presents a more open and smiling aspect than 

 the lower country, where the clearings are but tiny 

 islands in the vast ocean of gloomy forest. The 

 river itself is even more beautiful than the other 

 tributaries of the Baram, lovely as all these are in 

 their upper reaches. This was not the first explora- 

 tion of the Silat, for the Resident had twice before 

 journeyed up its lower reaches ; but on this occasion 

 it was necessary to penetrate to its very head, in 

 order to reach the villages of the principal Madang 

 chiefs, Saba Irang and Tama Usun Tasi. So for 



