176 SARAWAK TO Mert. 
opposite bank an extensive plain extends to the sea, and, T should 
think, to the northward as far as the Baram river, the mouth of 
which is visible from the sea-shore here. We anchored off Meri 
village, which bears a similar appearance to other Malay villages on 
the coast. 
Meri village consists of ten houses, and is under Orang Kaya 
Setia Raja. I landed on the right bank of the river, accompanied 
only by my boy, and crossing over the plain to the sea, bathed and 
spent some time in strolling about, C being busy with the 
steamer. I found the natives quiet and obliging, and I felt just 
as much at home here as if I had been at Oya. The villagers 
appear to keep a good many buffaloes, I counted as many as fifty 
head. 
Ju the evening an old Brunei Chief came on board and said it was 
all up with the Brunei people, as the Chinese had got into the 
Baram and were giving the Kayans $40 per pikul for gutta, while 
they had been paying a lower price. It is very evident that, if the 
Chinese obtain a footing in this river and come into direct contact 
with the Kayans, the Brunei dealers’ occupation is gone. 
The two Chinese who were in the village paid us a visit. They 
belonged, they said, to Sarawak, and were awaiting the return of two 
friends from the Baram who had gone trading in the company of 
some Brunei men; these Chinese seemed quite contented and satis- 
fied with Meri. 
I gathered from the conversation at night that Meri village, 
where we were, was only the Malay Kampong, the Milanos were to 
be found only a day’s pull up the river. The entire population 
—Malays and Milanos—in the Meri river was estimated at 1,000 
souls. 
There was formerly a Milano village below the present one of 
Meri, the posts of which attracted my attention as we ascended 
the river. This village was abandoned in times gone by, as the 
natives were so harassed and ravaged by Dayaks and Kayans, that 
they bad to move their quarters, and they are now scattered over 
the different rivers in the neighbourhood. 
Our Nakodah’s son and his nephew had just returned from 
Brunei, and gave C-——— and myself some curious information as to 
the immorality prevailing in the Brunei capital. 
