Having landed the treasure at Hong Kong, and completed stores and provisions, I sailed from Macao on the 21st June, and working down against the monsoon, arrived at Singapore on the 18th July. I here found letters from Mr. Brooke, stating that the Sakarrans had been out in great force; and although he was not aware of any danger to himself or his settlement, still, by coming over quickly, I might have a fair chance of catching and crushing them in the very act of piracy. I lost no time in preparing for another expedition. The government at Calcutta had become fully sensible of the necessity of protecting the native trade to Singapore, and had sent down the Phlegethon steamer, of light draught of water, and better adapted to service in the straits or rivers than any of her majestyʼs larger vessels. She was, moreover, fitted in every way for the peculiar service on which she was to be employed, with a zealous, experienced, and active commander, F. Scott,[1] as well as a fine enterprising set of young officers. I lost no time in making application for her to the resident counselor, Mr. Church (in the absence of Colonel Butterworth, the Governor of the Straits), who immediately placed her at my disposal; and with such means, I was anxious to commence operations as speedily as possible, leaving the Vixen and Wolverine to perform the other duties of the station.
Thursday, 25th July.—Sailed from Singapore, having dispatched the Phlegethon the previous night, with orders to rendezvous at the entrance to the Morotaba, which we entered in the evening of the 29th; and anchoring the ship inside the river, I went on in the steamer to within four miles of Sarāwak, when I pulled up in my gig, accompanied by the Didoʼs pinnace, that I might, by firing her carronade as a signal, be enabled to give notice of our approach, not feeling myself quite secure from a shot from the forts, which were very judiciously placed so as to command the last reach approaching the town, as I knew that before Mr. Brookeʼs return they had been put in a state of defence, and a regular watch kept, by self-appointed officers, sleeping on their arms. I, however, got up without accident, in time to receive a hearty welcome, about daylight.
Not expecting to revisit Borneo during the period that the ship had to run before completing her usual time of commission, it was gratifying for me to read in my friendʼs journal, alluding to my former visit; “I came myself in the Dido; and I may say that her appearance was the consummation of my enterprise.” “The natives saw directly that there was a force to protect and to punish; and most of the chiefs, conscious of their evil ways, trembled; Muda Hassim was gratified, and felt that this power would exalt his authority both in Borneo and along the coast, and he was not slow in magnifying the force of the Dido. The state in which Captain Keppel and his officers visited the rajah all heightened the effect; and the marines and the band excited the admiration and the fears of the natives. I felt the rajahʼs hand tremble at the first interview; and not all the well-known command of countenance, of which the natives are masters, could conceal his emotion.”
Gentle reader, excuse my vanity if I continue a little further with my friendʼs journal, although it gets rather personal:
“I believe the first emotion was anything but pleasurable; but Captain Keppelʼs conciliatory and kind manner soon removed any feeling of fear; and was all along of the greatest use to me in our subsequent doings. The first qualification, in dealing with a Malay, is a kind and gentle manner; for their habitual politeness is such that they are hurt by the ordinary brusquerie of the European.
“I shall not go over the chase of the three boats of the Balagnini pirates, or the attack made on the Didoʼs boats by the Sirhassan, people, except to remark, that in the latter case, I am sure Lieutenant Horton acted rightly in sparing their lives and property; for, with these occasional pirates, a severe lesson, followed by that degree of conciliation and pardon which shall best insure a correction of their vices, is far wiser and preferable to a course of undistinguishing severity.”
I found Sarāwak much altered for the better, and the population considerably increased. Mr. Brooke had established himself in a new house built on a beautiful and elevated mound, from which the intriguing Macota had just been ejected on my first visit. Neat and pretty-looking little Swiss cottages had sprung up on all the most picturesque spots, which gave it quite a European look. He had also made an agreeable addition to his English society; and a magazine of English merchandise had been opened to trade with the natives, together with many other improvements.
On the other hand, Seriff Sahib, not deterred, as I had anticipated he would be, by the example I made of his neighbors in the Sarebus, had taken measures for withdrawing from the adjoining river of Sadong, where he had been living in a comparatively unguarded state, and had, during the last nine months, been making busy preparations for fortifying himself at a place called Patusen, up the Batang Lupar. He had lately got things in a forward state, had called out a large fleet of Sakarrans as an escort; and being puffed up with his own power and importance, had thought proper to prolong the performance of his voyage, of about 100 miles, from his residence in Sadong to his fortified position at Patusen, for three weeks or a month, during which time he had dispatched small parties of his fleet, which consisted of upward of 150 war-prahus, on piratical excursions. These robbers had, in addition to their piracies on the high seas, scoured the coast in all directions, and committed the greatest atrocities, attended with some of the most cruel murders. One sample will be sufficient to show their brutal character:—A detachment of three of their boats, having obtained information that a poor Dyak family, belonging to a tribe in Mr. Brookeʼs territory, had come down from their mountain to cultivate a small portion of land nearer the coast, and, for their better security, had made their dwelling in the upper branches of a large tree on the outskirts of the forest, determined to destroy them. Their little children were playing in the jungle when the pirates were seen approaching the tree with their diabolical war-yells. As the poor man did not descend immediately on being summoned, he was shot; when other ruffians, to save their ammunition, mounted the tree, murdered the woman, and returned in triumph to their boats with the heads of both victims. The children, who had witnessed this from their hiding-places, succeeded in getting to Sarāwak.
Taking advantage of Mr. Brookeʼs unusually long absence, Sarāwak itself was threatened, and open defiance hurled at any European force that should dare approach Patusen. Reports, too, had been industriously spread that Mr. Brooke never intended to return; and when he did get back to his home, he found the town guarded and watched like a besieged city. With his usual nerve and decision he withdrew his men from the forts, and sent to Seriff Sahib to inform him that he should suffer for his temerity.
A letter I received from him is so characteristic, and gives so lively a description of these events, that I am tempted to print it.