In the far interior of the Rejang, the Bintulu, and all through the Baram districts, are the numerous tattooed tribes, as the Kayans and the Kineahs; the mongrel villagers called Kanowits; and the wildest of wild tribes, the Punans and Pakatans. As yet none of these tribes have made their mark either in the field of battle or in any industry, except in the working of iron ores or their products, but it is comparatively lately that they have come under the influence of the English. The Sarawak Government appears to have a very intelligent Resident in Baram, Mr Hose. The Chinese will no doubt gradually fill up the different districts of Sarawak, but the progress is slow. They do not seem to take kindly to Borneo in general, probably because wages are low, the native seldom receiving more than twenty-five cents or sixpence a day, though the wages of the Chinese are doubtless considerably higher. In many villages, however, where they are permitted to settle, you will be sure to find Chinese shopkeepers, who carry on a thriving trade. They have the reputation of not being very honest dealers, as false weights are too often resorted to, in order to enable them to pay a price nominally higher than the market rate, which renders fair competition impossible. I could never understand why restrictions were so often placed on their settlement among the interior tribes, except where the Dyaks themselves objected to their presence. It is true they are not very honest, but in my time we found the natives a match for them in this line, as they used to insert stones into the large lumps of gutta-percha. As might be expected from the low class of Chinese who immigrate into Sarawak, the principal occupants of the prisons are found among their ranks. Limbang and Trusan, to the north of the Sultan’s capital, are the latest acquisitions of Sarawak. They contain a mixed population of Kadayans, Muruts and Bisayas, with no very marked characteristics. I am loath to write anything which may appear as an adverse criticism of the conduct of the present Rajah, with whom I have been friends for over fifty years, but unless we are to adopt the principle that ‘the end justifies the means,’ it is difficult to approve the action of Sarawak in seizing by force any part of the Sultan’s dominions. A little gentle, persevering diplomacy would have secured Limbang without violating any principle of international law. I am convinced, however, that the present Rajah was deceived by someone as to the political position of that district, as he wrote that, for four years previous to his action, Limbang was completely independent of the Sultan, which his officers subsequently found was not the case.