THE NATIONAL, GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



127 



IvAND DAYAK WOMEN IN AEE THEIR PINERY AWAITING THE ARRIVAL OE A 



GOVERNMENT PARTY 



Many of the young people of this tribe are finely developed physically. The discomfort 

 which the women endure by confining their arms, legs, and waists with great coils of heavy 

 brass wire is the price which Sarawak femininity uncomplainingly pays to be in style. 



and subdued them. In 1882 the Baram 

 River was ceded to Sarawak, and thus 

 the remaining Kayans came under the 

 control of the government. 



• Next to the Rejang, the Baram is the 

 largest river in Sarawak, but, unfortu- 

 nately, it has a shoal bar at its mouth, ex- 

 posed to the monsoon, which makes it 

 unsuitable for schooners and open only 

 to steamers of light draft. Two such 

 steamers now carry on trade with Claude- 

 town — or Merudi, the native name — ■ 

 about 60 miles above the mouth. 



THRIEUNG PRACTICES OE NATIVE 

 NAVIGATORS 



Entering the Baram, especially during 

 the bad weather of the monsoon, is an 

 experience not always entirely devoid of 

 excitement. It is not unusual for the 

 little steamer to run aground on the bar 

 and be washed over by successive waves 



into deep water on the other side — a 

 method of navigation that does not ap- 

 pear to disturb the Malay pilots in the 

 least. 



Along the lower reaches of the Baram, 

 as far as the sea water is carried by the 

 flood tide, the nipa palm, interspersed 

 with mangrove swamps, forms a monoto- 

 nous and almost continuous wall on each 

 muddy bank. For miles scarcely a tree 

 rises above the high tops of the palms to 

 break the monotony of the swampy, al- 

 luvial plain through which the river 

 winds. 



Before Claudetown is reached the nipa 

 palm gives place to great jungle trees, 

 the banks of the river are higher, and 

 houses of Malays and Dayaks begin to 

 appear. 



Occasionally one passes the ruins of 

 abandoned houses, whose former occu- 

 pants have moved away in the search of 



