Although the Sultan had no real authority over the Kayans and Kenyahs there still existed among them a certain regard for him, and of this the Bruni Government took advantage. These races had never been subdued by the Sultans by force of arms. They never had voluntarily tendered submission. The restraint exercised over them was due mainly to the fact that the Brunis held the mouths of the rivers and consequently controlled the trade, and that trade was one in the very necessaries of existence. It was inevitable that the rulers of Bruni should resent, and resist to the utmost, the opening of the rivers to Sarawak traders, which would involve, as they well saw, the drying up of the source of their wealth. The natives on the Baram had an exaggerated opinion of the power of Bruni, but this illusion was dispelled after a feeble attack made on the Kayans in September, 1870, which resulted in ignominious failure. Still, they were prepared to submit to such demands which, though extortionate, custom had taught them to regard as the Sultan's due, and they could not do without the imports, which they were precluded from obtaining elsewhere and from others, than Bruni and the hands of pangirans. But the rapacity of the pangirans became at last intolerable; and we will here give two instances illustrative of the methods adopted by them, which were connived at by the Sultan. In 1873, a mixed party of Dayaks, Tanjongs, and Bukitans from the Rejang river, working produce in the Baram, were attacked by the Kayans. Six were killed and one escaped. The survivor stated that the party had been treacherously attacked; but on the other hand the Kayans asserted that the behaviour of the strangers had been so suspicious that they had satisfied themselves that they were a head-hunting party. The Rajah complained and demanded redress. The Sultan sent an agent in his small steamer to impose a fine, which in itself was excessive. The agent proceeded to the house of the chief of the lower Baram Kayans, although these people had nothing to do with the killing of the subjects of the Rajah, but it was as far up as he dared to venture, and levied the fine upon them, demanding double the amount he had been instructed to impose, the difference, of course, to go into his own pocket. The Rajah had fixed the fine, but the Sultan had put on his price as well, so that he might have his pickings out of the affair, and now his agent doubled that sum. It was in vain for the chief to protest that neither he nor his people had been concerned in the murders. The Sultan's agent threatened the chief that if he did not pay, the Rajah would send several men-of-war, that others would be despatched from Labuan, and more from Bruni, and that all their country would be laid waste and their villages burned. After a stormy interview, the chief succeeded in beating the agent down to a fine amounting to $8000, just thirty times more than the amount demanded by the Rajah as compensation to the