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The Baram District

The great Baram River is the 2nd longest river in Sarawak and is the lifeline for numerous tribes living in the interior. The Orang Ulu (or Interior People) is a generic name that includes various tribes such as the Kayan, Kenyah, Kelabit, Punan or Penan, Berawan, Lun Bawang, Saban amongst other smaller tribes. The tribes' infamy was known far and wide amongst other rather genteel tribes. The Orang Ulu were fearless warriors, priding themselves in bringing home the heads of enemies especially warriors as trophies after bloody battles. The tribes were indeed forces to be reckoned with. They fought over territories that spanned thousands of hectares. The villages each had scouts scouring and protecting their territories. If found that an enemy had trespassed into their area to hunt and fish in their rivers, a war would break out and the victorious tribe would take such situations to expand territory, take in prisoners as slaves and collect trophy heads.

The Baram district was under the sovereignty of the Sultan of Bruni (Brunei) until 1882. The Sultan was by then finding much difficulty in controlling the continual feud and blood letting of these ferocious tribes in the Baram area. The battles and the expansion of tribal lands by the late 1800’s had reached to a distance which was uncomfortably close to his capital and was becoming a threat to his personal security. The Sultan’s authority had never before been exercised in this territory spanning an area of some 10,000sq miles . Their fear of the wrath of the Kayan tribe, the Malays never ventured into the interiors of Baram. Hence, when Rajah Brooke pushed his authority deeper into the upper reaches of Baram, The Sultan was happy to relinquish his hold of the area for a lump sum of 6,000dollars per annum of which the Foreign Office in England had agreed to, believing it to be a fair price for the handover.

Marudi and The Baram Regatta

Charles Brooke fretted over such barbaric methods conducted by his subjects, deciding to end these blood feuds and headhunting habits once and for all. He got all the tribes together in a contest, initiating cock fight activities amongst the tribes but that didn’t quite go down well with the losing parties and another brawl broke out. Back to the drawing board, Resident Charles Hose decided to host a regatta instead at Marudi.

Marudi (or Claude town as it was known then, named after the previous resident of Baram, Claude Champion de Crespigny), was the central trading town for the Baram district. Charles Hose stationed his sentries atop a knoll that overlooked the river. He believed that the Baram Regatta would be a solution to their predicament. And having hosted the first regatta, called the Sarawak Regatta in Kuching in January 1871, Rajah Brooke mooted the idea and decided to promote it to the tribes living in the interior. Hose realised that with the exception of the Penans, all other tribes in Borneo utilise rivers extensively to traverse and to create boundaries as they expand their lands. The idea was taken on eagerly and soon felling of large forest trees was seen and war boats were carved from a single tree trunk, normally from the engkabang tree that could seat 30 warriors. The tree trunk was normally hollowed out with the use of fire and adze. Its masthead was shaped into a head of the majestic hornbill, given that the hornbill is highly revered in the Orang Ulu culture, regarded as a vessel for the spirits to communicate with the people.

An excerpt from gives a point by point narration of this first race:

‘At daybreak the racing-boats set off for the startingpost four miles up river. The Resident had given strict orders that no spears or other weapons were to be carried in the racing-boats, and as they started up river we inspected the boats in turn, and in one or two cases relieved them of a full complement of spears; and then we followed them to the post in the steam-launch. There was a score of entries, and since each boat carried from sixty to seventy men sitting two abreast, more than a thousand men were taking part in the race. The getting the boats into line across the broad river was a noisy and exciting piece of work. We carried on the launch a large party of elderly chiefs, most. of whom were obviously suffering from "the needle," and during the working of the boats into line they hurled commands at them in language that was terrific in both quality and volume. At last something like a line was assumed, and on the sound of the gun the twenty boats leaped through the water, almost lost to sight in a cloud of spray as every one of those twelve hundred men struck the water for all he was worth. There was no saving of themselves; the rate of striking was about ninety to the minute, and tended constantly to increase. Very soon two boats drew out in front, and the rest of them, drawing together as they neared the first bend, followed hotly after like a pack of hounds. This order was kept all over the course. During the first burst our fast launch could not keep up with the boats, but we drew up in time to see the finish. It was a grand neck-and-neck race all through between the two leading boats, and all of them rowed it out to the end. The winners were a crew of the peaceful down-river folk, who have learnt the art of boat-making from the Malays of the coast; and they owed their victory to their superior skill in fashioning their boat, rather than to superior strength. When they passed the post we had an anxious moment -- How would the losers take their beating? Would the winners play the fool, openly exulting and swaggering? If so, they would probably get their heads broken, or perhaps lose them. But they behaved with modesty and discretion, and we diverted attention from them by swinging the steamer round and driving her through the main mass of the boats. Allowing as accurately as possible for the rate of the current as compared with the rate of the tide at Putney, we reckoned the pace of the winning boat to be a little better than that of the 'Varsity eights in racing over the full course.’

more on trip up Baram River and the Regatta...

There are several Budget Hotels in Marudi. The Grand Hotel (RM80 - RM140) ~ Tel: , Alisan Hotel (RM60 - RM100) ~ Tel: , Mount Mulu Hotel ~ (RM77 - RM120)

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