" Another of
his many picturesque sayings seems worth recording: "Your Rajah may
govern the down-river people; they are inside the Sultan's fence and
he had the right to hand them over. But over us he had no authority;
we are the tigers of the jungle and have never been tamed." He had
frequently threatened to attack the fort; and when he had sent to the
Resident a message to that effect in the usual symbolic language,
the latter's only reply had been to go up to his house with two or
three men only, and to spend five days there as Aban Jau's guest,
and to persuade him to come down to Claudetown to meet the Rajah.
The evening was spent in discussing the prospects of the expedition
with Juman and other chiefs, some of whom took a gloomy view. The
following morning the steam-launch was sent downriver, and we took to
the boats and paddled a short stage to Bawang Takun, another large
Kayan village, where we stayed over-night to give the people time
to prepare their boats and the Resident the opportunity for some
judicial inquiries. There was heavy rain throughout the night,
and in the morning the river, which in this part of its course
runs between limestone cliffs, was rushing so rapidly that we
could only make progress by repeatedly crossing the river to seek
the slack-water side of each reach.
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