OF THE SARAWAK RIVER. 295 



forty houses. From this village, a beautiful view of 

 the whole of the country of Sarawak, towards the sea, 

 is obtained ; and from this height (900 feet,) the 

 Mountains of Sadong, of Lingah, and the mouth of 

 the Batang Lupar are easily discernible. At the foot 

 of the hill, is situated the now decaying village of 

 Seniawan, the seat of the war which ravaged the 

 country on Mr. Brooke's arrival, the particulars of 

 which may be found in Captain Keppel's work. The 

 few Chinese who now reside here, subsist by the 

 cultivation of vegetables, which they sell to the Malays, 

 who pass the place on their way to the Dyaks' villages 

 for the purposes of trade. Seven miles below Senia- 

 wan, the western branch of the river is joined at 

 Ledah-tanah, or the tongue of land by that from the 

 southward ; and, together, they form the fine stream on 

 which the town is built, about fourteen miles below their 

 confluence. 



The southern branch of the Sarawak river has its 

 sources in the Gunong Penerissen : the highest land 

 in this part of the island. Penerissen, or Besuah, as it is 

 sometimes called, is a table-topped mountain, about 

 4,700 feet in height, situated between sixty and seventy 

 miles from the coast in a direct line. One of the 

 tributary streams of the great Sangow River, which 

 itself is but a branch of the still larger Pontianak, 

 flows past its southern base ; where also the Dyak 

 tribe, S'Impio, who belong to the Pangeran, at 

 Karang-an-Amas, a Malay village, two days' down 

 the stream. The Pangeran is a vassal of the Rajah 

 of Sangow, himself a tributary to the Sultan of Pon- 



