140 
THE KAYANS OF THE NORTH-WEST OF BORNEO. 
By Robert Burns, E*q, 
This people inhabit the interior of the country, comprised 
between the mouths of the rivers Baram anti Rajang. These, 
with the smaller ones intervening, are the only rivers by which 
the Kayans have egress to the sea from the north-west divi¬ 
sion of the Island. Their boundary and high road, southward 
from the Rajang, is marked by the Jinian river, which is the 
main tributary of the former. Their confluence takes place 
above the town of Siriky, and thence the Jinian traverses the 
country angularly, to near the head of the Kapwas branch of 
the Pontianak river, in the vicinity of which its source is. 
Northward, the Kayans have latterly made conquest of the 
upper parts of the river Bruni, to within two days' journey 
(about forty miles) of the city of that name, driving down 
before them the fugitive Murats or Dyaks, greatly to the 
alarm of the lieges of his Highness the Sultan. Thirty miles 
inland from the coast, the greater portion of the country is 
low, and densely covered with forests, but generally not swara_ 
py. After this it becomes very mountainous, and rises most” 
irregularly in ridges to the centre of the Island, about which 
is the situation of the great mountain of Tibang, said to be 
exceedingly high, and from or in the vicinity of which, rise the 
majority of the great rivers of the Island, namely the Kayan 
or Tidan, flowing eastward and falling into the Straits of Ma¬ 
cassar, the Goti flowing to the south-east, the Banjar to the 
south, the Pontianak to the south-west, and lastly the Rajang, 
which though little spoken of by writers on Borneo, is the 
finest river that flows to the north-west coast, and perhaps the 
largest on the Island. It has six outlets, the principal of 
which, called the Rajang, is the most important, being easy 
of entrance, and having sufficient water for the largest vessels. 
On the bar, at low water, there is a depth of three fathoms, 
with a rise and fall of ten feet, and inside a depth of from 
eight to ten fathoms. It is navigable as far as the influence 
of the tide, which flows to the foot of the Great Rapids, a 
distance of from ninety to an hundred miles. The Rapids are 
fully two miles in length, and are formed by the river passing 
between two ridges of hills. Their ascent is attended with 
much difficulty and danger, from the many rocks and Islands, 
over and around which the river rushes with fearful velocity. 
This will present an almost insurmountable hindrance to the 
developement of the vast magazines of coal and iron found 
above. From the Great Rapids to Balaga, a distance of 
