The pagan tribes of Borneo - Get a Free Blog Here

X WAR 183
have seldom given trouble, after once placing
themselves under the established governments. In
the Baram river, in which the Kayans form probably
a larger proportion of the population than in
any other, no such expedition against them has
been necessary since they accepted the government
of H.H. the Rajah of Sarawak nearly twenty-five
years ago.
In organising such an expedition, the European
governments, especially that of Sarawak, have
usually relied in the main on the services of loyal
chiefs and their followers, acting under the control
of a European magistrate, and supported usually by
a small body of native police or soldiers armed with
rifles. There is usually no difficulty in securing
the co-operation of any desired number of native
allies or volunteers ; for in this way alone can the
people now find a legitimate outlet for their innate
and traditional pugnacity. Sometimes the people
to be punished desert their village, hiding themselves
in the jungle ;
and in such cases the burning
of their houses is usually deemed sufficient punishment.
In cases of more serious crime, such as
repeated wanton bloodshed and refusal to yield to
the demands of the government, it becomes necessary
to apprehend the persons primarily responsible, and,
for this purpose, to pursue the fugitives. These
sometimes establish themselves on a hill-top surrounded
by precipices which can be scaled only
by the aid of ladders, and there defy the government
forces until the hill is carried by assault, or
by siege, or the defenders are enticed to descend.
One such hill in the basin of the Rejang (Sarawak),
Bukit Batu by name, consists of a mass of porphyry
some 1500 feet in height, and several miles in
diameter, with very precipitous sides. This has
been used again and again as a place of refuge by
recalcitrant offenders, being so strong a natural