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bondsmen of the Malays, and the Rajahs consider them much in the same light as they would a drove of oxen-i. e. as personal and disposable property. They were governed in Sarawak by three local officers, called the Patingi, the Bandar, and the Tumangong. To the Patingi they paid a small yearly revenue of rice, but this deficiency of revenue was made up by sending a quantity of goods, chiefly salt, Dyak cloths, and iron, and demanding a price for them six or eight times more than their value. The produce collected by the Dyaks was also monopolised, and the edible birds'-nests, bees'-wax, &c. &c., were taken at a price fixed by the Patingi, who, moreover, claimed mats, fowls, fruit, and every other necessary, at his pleasure, and could likewise make the Dyaks work for him for merely a nominal remuneration. This system, not badly devised, had it been limited within the bounds of moderation, would have left the Dyaks plenty for all their wants; or had the local officers known their own interest, they would have protected those upon whom they depended for revenue, and under the worst oppression of one man the Dyaks would have deemed themselves happy. Such, unfortunately, was not the case; for the love of immediate gain overcame every other consideration, and by degrees old-established customs were thrown aside, and new ones substituted in their place. When the Patingi had received all he thought proper to extort, his relatives first claimed the right of arbitrary trade, and gradually it was extended as the privilege of every respectable person in the country, to serra the Dyaks. The poor Dyak, thus at the mercy of half the Malay population, was never allowed to refuse compliance with these demands. He could plead neither poverty, inability, nor even hunger, as an excuse, for the answer was ever ready" Give me your wife or one of your children;" and, in case he could not supply what was required, the wife or the child was taken, and became a slave. Many modes of extortion were resorted to; a favourite one was convicting the Dyak of a fault, and imposing a fine upon him. Some ingenuity and much trickery were shown in this game, and new offences were invented as soon as the old pleas would serve no longer. For, instance, if a Malay met a Dyak in a boat which pleased him, he notched it as a token that it was his property. In one day, if the boat was a new one, perhaps three or more would place their marks on it; and, as only one could get it, the Dyak to whom the boat really belonged had to pay the others for his fault. This, however, was only "a fault;" whereas, for a Dyak to injure a Malay, directly or indirectly, purposely or otherwise, was a high offence, and punished by a proportionate fine. If a Dyak's house was in bad repair, and a Malay fell in consequence, and was hurt, or pretended to be hurt, a fine was imposed; if a Malay in the jungle was wounded by the springs set for a wild boar, or by the wooden spikes which the Dyaks for protection put about their village, or scratched himself and said he was injured, the penalty was heavy; if the Malay was really hurt, ever so accidentally, it was the ruin of the Dyak. And these numerous and uninvited guests came and went at pleasure, lived in free quarters, made their requisitions, and then forced the Dyak to carry away for them the very property of which he had been robbed. This is a fair picture of the governments under which the Dyaks lived; and although they were

often roused to resistance, it was always fruitless, and only involved them in deeper troubles; for the Malays could readily gather a large force of sea Dyaks from Sakarran, who were readily attracted by hope of plunder, and who, supported by the fire-arms of their allies, were certain to overcome any single tribe that held out. The misfortunes of the Dyaks of Sarawak did not stop 'here. Antimony ore was discovered; the cupidity of the Borneons was roused; then Pangerans struggled for the prize; intrigues and dissensions ensued; and the inhabitants of Sarawak in turn felt the very evil they had inflicted on the Dyaks; whilst the Dyaks were compelled, amidst their other wrongs, to labour at the ore without any recompense, and to the neglect of their rice cultivation. Many died in consequence of this compulsory labour, so contrary to their habits and inclinations; and more would doubtless have fallen victims, had not civil war rescued them from this evil, to inflict upon them others a thousand times worse. Extortion had before been carried on by individuals, but now it was systematized; and Pangerans of rank, for the sake of plunder, sent bodies of Malays and Sakarran Dyaks to attack the different tribes. The men were slaughtered, the women and children carried off into slavery, the villages burned, the fruit-trees cut down, and all their property destroyed or seized. The Dyaks could no longer live in tribes, but sought refuge in the mountains or the jungle, a few together; and as one of them pathetically described it" We do not live," he said, "like men; we are like monkeys; we are hunted from place to place; we have no houses; and when we light a fire, we fear the smoke will draw our enemies upon us.'

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These are the people among whom Mr Brooke toiled in his perilous mission, to rescue some portion of the race from misery and annihilation,-partly by offering an asylum to the persecuted; more extensively by the example of justice, and the terror of the British name, with which he inspired their oppressors. In character they are mild and tractable, hospitable when well used, grateful for kindness, industrious, honest, and simple; neither treacherous nor cunning, and so truthful that the word of one of them might safely be taken before the oath of half a dozen Borneons. In their dealings they are straightforward and correct; and so trustworthy, that they rarely attempt, even after a lapse of years, to evade payment of a just debt.' In short, Mr Brooke is evidently over partial to his benighted clients, and has inspired Captain Keppel with his own amiable prepossessions. They are, at all events, a simple and inoffensive people, patient under suffering, grateful for benefit. One custom they have which certainly militates against the idea of Arcadian harmlessness,-that of adorning themselves, not with the scalps, but with the heads of their slain enemies. These trophies are carefully saved, well

*Keppel, vol. ii. p. 178-182.

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seasoned, and highly valued. The operation of extracting the brains from the crown part of the skull with a bit of bamboo, shaped like a spoon, preparatory to preserving, is not a pleasing one. The head is then dried, with the flesh and hair on it, suspended over a slow fire, during which the chiefs and elders of the tribe perform a sort of war-dance.' When visiting a tribe called the Singe Dyaks, in company with Mr Brooke, Captain Keppel witnessed a grand dance of this description :The movement was like all other native dances, graceful but monotonous. There were four men, two of them bearing human 'skulls, and two the fresh heads of pigs; the women bore waxlights, or yellow rice on brass dishes. They danced in line, moving backwards and forwards, and carrying the heads and dishes in 'both hands; the graceful part was the manner in which they half ' turned the body to the right and left, looking over their shoulders, and holding the heads in the opposite direction; as if they were in 'momentary expectation of some one coming up behind to snatch 'the nasty relic from them.' The two friends slept in a circular building adorned with these trophies, which our party named 'the Scullery.'A young chief seemed to take great pride in answering interrogatories respecting different skulls which we took down from their hooks. Among other trophies was half a head, the skull separated from across between the eyes, in the same manner that you would divide that of a hare or 'rabbit to get at the brain-this was their division of the head of an old woman, which was taken when another (a friendly) tribe was present, who likewise claimed their half. I afterwards saw these tribes share a head. But the skulls, the ac-. count of which our informant appeared to dwell on with the 6 greatest delight, were those which were taken while the owners were asleep-cunning with them being the perfection of war'fare.' * As to the religion of the Dyaks, Captain Keppel and Mr Brooke report little beyond a few legends and traditionary observances. Their ideas of a Deity are confused, and seem to vary in the different tribes. Indeed, of the Singé Dyaks Mr Brooke remarks, perhaps rather loosely, that religion they 'have none.' They have an odd belief in augury—that mysterious and widely prevalent superstition. Some birds are in better repute than others. A bird behind a traveller is fortunate; before him, it denotes an enemy in the way. The women aré better treated than among most savage races; nor is polygamy practised. They never intermarry with the Malays. Notwithstanding the simplicity of their habits, they are considerably ad

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* Keppel, vol. ii. pp. 35-37.

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vanced in some of the arts of life. They are celebrated for their skill as workers in iron, and their prahus are constructed in a very skilful style. They practise agriculture also to a respectable extent, but they rarely keep up the cultivation of old lands: their way is to inclose a patch every year from the jungle, cultivate enough to satisfy their wants, and then suffer it to return to its original state.

On Mr Brooke's first visit, Rajah Muda Hassim, a dependant of the Sultan of Borneo, among his other governments, was Lord of Sarawak-a small town and district situated on a navigable river in Borneo, Proper. Mr Brooke entered into negotiations with this Malay Prince, on the subject of commerce; but though Muda Hassim, a weak but well-meaning kind of Asiatic, seemed well inclined to encourage his views, nothing effectual was done. After several months passed in Celebes and elsewhere, and in sickness at Singapore, he returned to his favourite island in August 1840. Muda Hassim was now at war with a confederacy of Dyak tribes, his revolted dependants; and Mr Brooke determined on lending the Rajah his assistance, and that of his brave little crew of the Royalist. The details of the ludicrous warfare which followed, must be read in Mr Brooke's own Journal. Like the warriors of Homer, the contending Borneons attacked each other with big words and loud cries,' but the actual fighting was of the most innocent description. Their grand manœuvre was to build stockades continually in face of each other, and thus the stronger party drove the weaker by degrees from position to position; but they were very shy of assaulting each other's works. Macota, a wily and redoubted chief, had conducted a campaign against the same rebels the former year. They had, according to his account, contests by sea and land; stockade was opposed ' to stockade, and the fighting was constant and severe; but he 'never lost a man killed during the two months, and only boasted ' of killing four of the enemy! The principal danger in Malay warfare, is the Mengamuk-Anglicé, running a-muck-which is the last resource of a desperate man. Yet these wars are perhaps more destructive than those of the fiercest military nations. 'Whilst both weak parties, gradually growing weaker, hold their own ground, the country becomes a desert. First, trade stagnates, agriculture withers, food becomes scarce, all are ruined in finances, all half-starved and miserable; and yet the war drags on, and the worst passions are aroused, effectually preventing the slightest concession, even if concession would avail. 'But each combatant knows the implacable spirit the deep desperation of the other too well to trust them; and if at 'length the fortunes of famine decide against them, they die

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' rather than yield; for a Dyak can die bravely, I believe, though he will not fight as long as life has any prospects."

Among these hosts of unwarlike combatants, the apparition of Mr Brooke and his dozen Englishmen, was like that of the English and French adventurers of old, in the battles of the Italian Condottieri, in which armies encountered without killing a man. The rebels were speedily brought to reason, by more decisive measures than it had entered into the imagination of either party to conceiye. Having reduced them to submission, Mr Brooke's next and most difficult task was to save their lives. Those who know the Malay character will appreciate the difficulty of the attempt to stand between the monarch and his victims. I only succeeded,' says he, when, at the end of a long debate I soliciting, he denying-I rose to bid him farewell, as it was my intention to sail directly, since, after all my exertions in his cause, if he would not grant me the lives of the people, I could only consider that his friendship for me was at an end. 'On this he yielded.'

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: Mr Brooke soon became indispensable to the Rajah, whose authority he had thus successfully maintained. He established his residence at Sarawak, and devoted himself, heart, head, and purse, to the establishment of a trade with Singapore; and to the rescuing the unhappy Dyaks of his neighbourhood from the oppressions under which they laboured. It is impossible for us to do justice to this part of his proceedings: his own Journal must be consulted, to show with what fortitude and patience he wrought his way through all the obstacles interposed by the semi-barbarous craft of his many opponents, the indolence and ingratitude of the Rajah himself, and the treachery of his subordinates. It is difficult to imagine a situation more trying to courage than his, when, in August 1841, having dispatched both his vesselsthe Swift laden with Antimony Ore to Singapore, the Royalist to search for an English ship reported to have been wrecked on the north coast of Borneo-he found himself, with three European companions only, exposed to the intrigues of the contemptible Malays about him; and to the open hostility of the neighbouring pirate chiefs, whose course of oppression he had thwarted. But unbending spirit and sagacity won the day: the Swift returned from her trading cruise, the Royalist from her voyage of humanity. Mr Brooke now again found himself at the head of an armed force; and his projects having enlarged themselves with his experience, he accepted from the Rajah a cession of Sarawak, with its immediate territory, to hold as his own dominion! but whether

* Keppel, vol. i. p. 164.

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