92 
ETHNOLOGICAL NOTES. 
them. Spenser St. John* makes a few references to 
Tabuns (an offshoot of the Trengs) whom he met once 
or twice on the Limbang River, and that appears to be 
all that is recorded of them.f In Sarawak territory this 
once important tribe has been greatly reduced and is 
now in immediate danger of complete extinction. I 
make this my excuse for putting on record the following 
scanty notes, fully conscious of their meagreness but 
trusting that even this small amount will be considered 
better than nothing, since in a few decades, or years even, 
none will be obtainable. 
Mr. R. S. Douglas, for the last 14 years Resident at 
Baram, has very kindly provided me with the main 
portion of these notes; to these I have added a few 
observations made by myself on two journeys up the 
Limbang River in 1910 and 1911. 
The Trengs are closely allied to the Kalabits, with 
whom they probably shared the country mentioned 
above, until their IvSnyah and Kayan enemies dispersed 
them. It was probably on this account that the) 7 became 
divided into three main tribes later on, known as the 
Long Patas, Pa Liits and Tabuns. 
The Long Patas moved down the Pata River into the 
main Baram River and came in contact with the Kenyah 
Pohun of that river, whilst the Pa Liits lived in the 
Tutau River near Long Tepin and the Tabuns in the 
Malinau River. Here the latter two tribes were attacked 
by the Kayans from Baram and the Tabuns ran away 
to the Madalam River, a tributary of the Limbang. The 
Pa Liits under their chiefs, Tawi Layoh and Pong Saron, 
held out for a long time in a fortress they built at Long 
Maap, but were at last overcome by treachery. They 
were, however, saved from extinction by Orang Ivaya 
Tumanggong, the Long Pata chief, who had now re¬ 
turned to the Tutau River, and they lived there for some 
time. Orang Kava Tumanggong then moved over with 
all his people and the Pa Liits to the Limbang River, 
where he was shortly afterwards attacked bv a Govern- 
ment force in 1895 ; the Pa Liits, however, under their 
chief Ovau Blawing, did not suffer, having already 
* Life in the Forests of the Far East, by Sir Snenser St. John, 1863, 
2nd Ed., Vol. II., pp. 26, 159. 
f I have not been able to consult Dutch literature on the subject. 
