Between the Rajang delta and Bintulu the coast is peat swamp and tidal river, and the staple, and the surplus the coast sells, is sago starch, which keeps at sea and feeds passing crews.
The communities at the river mouths are later known as Melanau (with Sibu at the Rajang forks). Each mouth is its own village group; the rivers lead to the Rajang and Baram interior, so the Melanau stand between the upriver peoples and the sea.
Who holds it
- Title
- No overall chief: village or longhouse headmen, elders and war leaders, each answering for their own people
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
Nothing is written about the rulers or headmen of this country for 1200. The structure is read from geography and from ethnography of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
What it holds
- Sago groves and the starch trade
- River mouths and the passage to the interior
- Fishing and salt
Allies and rivals
The Melanau headmen (Melanau heads) answer for the river mouths.
How things stand that morning
Not described for 1200; the villages are presumed to be farming, fishing and selling what the rivers and forests give.
Wealth
Sago starch, fish, salt, forest goods in transit; no figures.
Military
Not known; boats, spears, shields and blowpipes in the later record. No numbers.
Threats
- Feuds and raiding between villages
- Flood, drought or fire
- A change in the trade that comes by sea
Places of note
- Mukah: River-mouth village.
- Sibu: Rajang forks; where seagoing boats give way to river boats (board).
- Bintulu: Coast town at the eastern end (a later name).
Where the sources disagree
- The ethnic names used here (Dayak, Kayan, Kenyah, Iban, Ngaju, Banjar and the rest) are later outsiders' or ethnographic names; the ethnic map of 1200 is not known and differs from the modern one.
Evidence: Geography and later ethnography only; no text of the period describes this country.
On the map: A rough outline of the people's country; the real extent of any village group in 1200 is not known, and nothing here is a border.
Sources and studies
- Background knowledge of Southeast Asian history (Wolters; Hall; Bellwood; Scott; Junker; Reid), recalled and not re-read in this pass
- The OMNIA board (September 2026) note for this place: a lead only, not a source
- The isa regional brief (ISA_BRIEF.md) and assignment ise.txt
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.