officer in charge of Rejang, in a week's time after
our return from Matang, with instructions to him to proceed to Kapit,
200 miles up river in the interior, without delay, as a small wooden
fort was being erected at that place, and required supervision. Such
an opportunity was not to be lost, and we gladly availed ourselves of
the Raja's offer to accompany the expedition.

Such a journey undertaken at our own cost and responsibility would
have been next to impossible, for, apart from the danger of travelling
among unknown tribes without a guide, we should have lost all the
valuable information we were able to obtain from the Resident. Of the
Dyak language I had a slight knowledge, but this is practically
useless at Kapit and in the interior, the natives around being, both
in language and customs, totally unlike Dyaks.

Daybreak on the 16th of June saw us on board the _Aline_, _en route_
for Sibu. Arrived at the latter place, we were to leave the _Aline_
and proceed in the little launch _Ghita_; for although, as I have
said, the Rejang is navigable for large vessels for a distance of over
150 miles, the stream above Kanowit (our first halting-place after
Sibu) being very swift, renders it dangerous for ships of any size.

We arrived off the mouth after a pleasant run of seven hours along the
coast, and entered the river Rejang, which is here four miles broad.
On the right bank stands the little village of Rejang, and lying off
it was a large Portuguese sailing vessel, loading "bilian" or iron
wood. This is a tedious business. The wood is cut a considerable
distance up river and floated down in rafts, an operation which
sometimes detains a ship here for three or four months. Deaths are
frequent on board these timber ships, as the country for miles round
is one dismal mangrove swamp, and very productive of fever. A great
quantity of this timber is exported yearly to China direct from
Rejang, and it must be a lucrative speculation for the shippers, as
the cost is merely a nominal charge of 1 dol. per ton to Government,
and it fetches a considerable price in the Chinese market.

We anchored at sundown off Sarikei, a lonely-looking place, twenty
miles from the mouth, consisting of four or five tumble-down Malay
houses on a mud bank, and starting next day at daybreak reached our
destination at ten o'clock a.m.

Sibu is a clean-looking Malay town of some 30,000 inhabitants. All
Malays living here are exempt from taxation