And, with exceptions, the Governors of Labuan were always more or less hostile to Sarawak, because jealous of it. Labuan was stagnant and Sarawak steadily advancing in vigorous life.
In April, 1872, the Rajah, accompanied by a staff of English and Malay officers, visited Bruni in the Government steamers Heartsease and Royalist. It was perhaps not unnatural that this visit was at first regarded with suspicion as being in the form of a demonstration against Bruni, to back unheeded protests against the maltreatment of Sarawak subjects, and the nonfulfilment of treaty engagements. But this impression was soon dispelled, and the Rajah was received by the Sultan, "a fat, kindly-faced old man of some eighty years of age," with cordiality and honour. The Rajah's main object in visiting Bruni was to obtain an effective guarantee that his subjects trading in Bruni territory should not be molested and unwarrantably interfered with. A treaty conceding all that the Rajah asked for was accordingly drawn up and ratified by the Sultan, and was satisfactory enough on paper. The Sultan solemnly undertook the redressing of injuries, guaranteed protection to traders, and the imposition of fair and moderate customs duties only.
But this treaty, owing to the Sultan being powerless to enforce its provisions outside the capital, soon became worse than useless; for, relying on it being observed, Sarawak traders again ventured into the Bruni ports, only to meet with the same treatment as before. The extortion of outrageous customs dues went on as formerly. The Bruni nobles, "the most useless race that ever encumbered the earth,"[[309]] set themselves deliberately to frustrate every object aimed at in the treaty, and, so that they might keep the trade with its enormous profits to themselves, they plundered, and even killed those who ventured to compete with them. But their day was not to last for ever. The Kayans, driven to exasperation by the heavy fines and other extortions imposed upon them, eventually rose against these tyrants, and drove them out.
THE SULTAN'S PALACE.
Next to the Rejang, the Baram is the largest river that flows into the sea on that coast. In its basin are congregated large populations of Kayans and Kenyahs.
In 1872, the Rajah, accompanied by the Ranee, visited this river to ascertain for himself how far it would be safe for Sarawak subjects to trade there. He steamed a long way up the river, and was everywhere well received by the natives, who had been much depressed by extortion and were eager to be relieved from the thraldom in which they were held by Bruni. There had been no encouragement given to them to work the jungle produce in which their country was rich, except to purchase necessaries, and these could be obtained through their Bruni masters alone, and that at exorbitant prices. There was in consequence little trade at the time. But what this river is capable of producing may be shown by its trade returns at present. The exports, entirely of jungle produce, after the district had been for twenty years under Sarawak, amounted in 1906 to $272,223.
Although the Sultan had no real authority over the Kayans and Kenyahs there still existed among them a certain regard for him, and of this the Bruni Government took advantage. These races had never been subdued by the Sultans by force of arms. They never had voluntarily tendered submission. The restraint exercised over them was due mainly to the fact that the Brunis held the mouths of the rivers and consequently controlled the trade, and that trade was one in the very necessaries of existence. It was inevitable that the rulers of Bruni should resent, and resist to the utmost, the opening of the rivers to Sarawak traders, which would involve, as they well saw, the drying up of the source of their wealth.
The natives on the Baram had an exaggerated opinion of the power of Bruni, but this illusion was dispelled after a feeble attack made on the Kayans in September, 1870, which resulted in ignominious failure. Still, they were prepared to submit to such demands which, though extortionate, custom had taught them to regard as the Sultan's due, and they could not do without the imports, which they were precluded from obtaining elsewhere and from others, than Bruni and the hands of pangirans. But the rapacity of the pangirans became at last intolerable; and we will here give two instances illustrative of the methods adopted by them, which were connived at by the Sultan.
In 1873, a mixed party of Dayaks, Tanjongs, and Bukitans from the Rejang river, working produce in the Baram, were attacked by the Kayans. Six were killed and one escaped. The survivor stated that the party had been treacherously attacked; but on the other hand the Kayans asserted that the behaviour of the strangers had been so suspicious that they had satisfied themselves that they were a head-hunting party. The Rajah complained and demanded redress. The Sultan sent an agent in his small steamer to impose a fine, which in itself was excessive. The agent proceeded to the house of the chief of the lower Baram Kayans, although these people had nothing to do with the killing of the subjects of the Rajah, but it was as far up as he dared to venture, and levied the fine upon them, demanding double the amount he had been instructed to impose, the difference, of course, to go into his own pocket. The Rajah had fixed the fine, but the Sultan had put on his price as well, so that he might have his pickings out of the affair, and now his agent doubled that sum. It was in vain for the chief to protest that neither he nor his people had been concerned in the murders. The Sultan's agent threatened the chief that if he did not pay, the Rajah would send several men-of-war, that others would be despatched from Labuan, and more from Bruni, and that all their country would be laid waste and their villages burned. After a stormy interview, the chief succeeded in beating the agent down to a fine amounting to $8000, just thirty times more than the amount demanded by the Rajah as compensation to the relatives of those killed. And this fine the chief was constrained to pay.