Notes on the Sian (Sihan) of Belaga

Why called Sian?** Salik Gawit said:— In ancient time all human beings come from one race. It happened at Ulu Kadjang in those days many groups of people wished to cross the river. Unfortunately, none of them were able to swim, therefore they made a huge bridge from rattans. After it had been made, each group began to walk across it. The Punan, the Kayan, the Kejaman, the Skapan, the Lannan and the Sian walked first. After them came many others who broke the bridge. In due course, these peoples such as the Iban, the Malays, the Chinese and the European flowed down the river. The European who flowed further down became white, their hair silvery and their eyes bluish due to the coldness of the water. The Sian and others who already reached the other side of the river before the bridge was broken, remained in the upper waters till this day. I do not know why my race is called Sian. There is no river of that name that had been inhabited by our ancestors. I can assure that my race are not foreigners. We are the people who are the origins of this place. According to our ancestral saga, in ancient time we Sian lived at Nanga Tiau in the Mujong, one of the tributaries of Baleh River. It was in the Mujong that we Sian were separated. One party migrated eastward to live in the Pontianak River, while we moved nomadically to live in the Pilla River, a left tributary of the Rejang, now being occupied by the migratory Iban. As we lived nomadically, we depended upon the Pantu flour as essential food: from the Pilla we moved to the Bungan River. After exhausting the Pantu palms from there we moved to the upper Seggam. It was after we settled here