22 
AN EXPEDITION TO THE BAH COUNTRY. 
always taken by anybody receiving a drink that the man 
who offered the drink should first take a sip, so as to 
show that it was not poisoned, as these interior people 
are great adepts at removing their enemies in this 
treacherous manner; the poison being concealed under 
the finger-nail, and this is casually dipped into the 
drinking-bowl. None of the Kalabits with me could 
join in the drinking, as if they did so before the 
peace-making had been performed, they would render 
themselves liable to die some most horrible death. 
The next morning embassies from the Pa Brian 
and Pa Utak arrived, so preparations for the peace¬ 
making were hurried forward. In the afternoon the 
different parties began to collect in the spacious verandah 
of Ballang Maran’s house. All the friendly Kalabits to 
the number of some seven or eight hundred collected 
at one end of the house, whilst at the other end were 
about a thousand of the erstwhile foe, and in between, 
to act as a barrier in case of either party being carried 
away by their feelings, were seated the Baram Ivayans 
and Ivenyahs. The proceedings were opened by Ballang 
Maran making a speech informing the different parties 
as to the objects of the meeting and he trusted that 
the peace-making would be carried through by mutual 
good feeling and, pointing to the Sarawak Hag hanging 
over his head, hoped that their future life under that 
flag would be one of prosperity and peace. This was 
followed by a speech by the Kay an chief, Tama Wan 
Bayer, who pointed out the benefits of living under 
the Sarawak Government, that they could go about 
unarmed in the fields and in the jungle, and sleep 
peacefully at night, and have no fear of the treacherous 
foe lurking behind trees and in brushwood, and their 
customs and religion would be undisturbed, and they 
would receive justice in their disputes. And for all these 
benefits the only thing the Government demanded of 
them was that they should make peace with their neigh¬ 
bours and give up the life of indiscriminate raiding 
and killing, in which they had hitherto indulged. This 
w^as followed by speeches from the chiefs of the hitherto 
hostile tribes, who said that they w r ere prepared to 
make peace w r ith one another and give up the custom 
of going on the warpath, and in case any of them w ? ere 
killed by enemies in the future, they would trust to the 
