CHINESE SHOPS. KUCHING.
North Borneo has prospered beyond Lord Brassey's expectations; but the country is burdened with a heavy debt.
Early in 1900, the veteran, the Hon. Sir Henry Keppel, G.C.B., then Admiral of the Fleet, paid his final visit to Sarawak. His last visit had been in 1867, and we have noticed (Chap. III. p. [89]) how he had been impressed by the changes he saw, but considerable as the progress had then been, he must have found some difficulty in recognising the town in 1900, and in discovering familiar landmarks.
The regard and friendship which the old Admiral bore for the late Rajah was extended to his "old friend and shipmate," the present Rajah, whom he has described as being "quiet, reserved, and gentlemanlike, with a determination not to be surpassed, and with a keen sense of justice—qualifications fully appreciated by the chiefs."
The last letter he wrote to the Rajah just before his death three years later will be of interest to our readers.
Many thanks, my dear Rajah, for your kind letter. I was wondering when or whether we were to meet again. I should like to see my most promising Mid again and shake him by the hand before I depart hence. Our late profession is disappearing, and few will ever see or know what we knew. May you long live to increase doing good, and few will have led a happier or more useful life.... Our last meet was in London when you were off to the country to look after your hunters, and with the coronation in view I hardly expected to see you again. I am here enjoying the climate I love so well, and care not at my age if I never return, but must I suppose put in an appearance in England, although unfit to attend the coronation. I am uncertain in my movements, and am afraid I shall be unable to pay you a visit; and for the few months I may be allowed to live I can form no future plans.
Sarawak had no more faithful, no truer friend.
Partly on account of her having to superintend the education of her sons, and of having to make for them a home in England, but mainly owing to her health rendering any long sojourn in the tropics inadvisable, the Ranee has not been able to reside in Sarawak for some years, a matter of deep regret to all. Her last visit was one of six months, after an absence of eight years, and of this visit the Sarawak Gazette says: "universally popular as her Highness always has been amongst all classes, her visit has done much to maintain and increase the native contentment and appreciation of the rule of an Englishman over the country." Indeed her presence in Sarawak has always been greatly valued by all, natives and Europeans alike. In the former she took the deepest interest, an interest which has not been discontinued since her departure from the country. To her the absence of most of the pleasures and luxuries of a civilised life was more than counterbalanced by the interests that occupied her time and thoughts in her adopted country, and of her adopted people, amongst whom she was always happy and at home, even under trying circumstances. She was the moving spirit in the promotion of the social and industrial welfare of the women and children, and was always an honoured and welcome guest at the social functions of the Malays, to whom her receptions at the Astana were always open. Writing of a levée at the Astana, Beccari[[349]] says:—
It is pleasant to record the general reciprocity of good feeling which is such a characteristic of the Sarawak community, cordially uniting Europeans and natives in bonds of mutual consideration and esteem. The barriers of race and rank are obliterated in this mutual and cordial goodwill. Together with representatives of the people, there was at the Astana a large sprinkling of the Malay aristocracy, which has always shown itself faithful to the enlightened government of the Brookes, even at the most critical times.
