About one o’clock Sir James Brooke left the Meander under a salute, and the manning of the yards; the latter has always a very pretty effect, and rather surprised our native visitors. When the firing was over, the blue jackets gave three hearty cheers, and swarmed down the rigging. Now was the turn of the war-boats, and they kept up a desultory fire for an hour.
The Muaratabas entrance of the Sarawak river is a very fine one, and has a depth of three fathoms and a half at the very lowest water at spring tides; the contrast of the banks is striking: to the right a high bold shore and pretty isolated hills; to the left a low flat plain with mountains showing in the distance.
We pulled up with the flood tide, our way being enlivened by races between the native prahus, but the frigate’s barge had no chance against them; near the entrance is a rock that marks the watering-place; it was here that Sir James made his first acquaintance with the Dayak pirates, who attacked a Malay prahu under the very guns of the Royalist.
With few exceptions the banks of the Sarawak river are uninteresting; for many miles nothing but swampy ground and low jungle of mangrove trees and nipa palms, with occasional glimpses of distant mountains. Near the town, however, it improves, the land becoming dry and bearing heavy jungle; between the mouth and the town there were only a few fishing huts, and not a sign of cultivation. Evening was closing in as we approached Kuching, the capital of Sarawak, and the sun set brilliantly behind the Matang range, gilding as it disappeared as wild and picturesque a scene as I had ever witnessed. Our barge led the way up the broad reach, and was followed by the twenty war prahus, and dozens of Dayak and other boats that had joined the procession:—not a decorous Lord Mayor’s pull on the river, but in the utmost confusion, amid gun-firing, gong-beating, racing, wild and frantic yells of delight, shouts of laughter and of anger, as one prahu ran into another in their eagerness to be in the foremost rank. As we rounded the last point we were surprised to find the whole town brilliantly illuminated, and as all the houses are built on the water’s edge, which reflected back the lights above, the effect was very fine. Crowds were assembled to witness our arrival, and yell, and answering yell, increased the confusion. Having described my first arrival at Sarawak, I will proceed to give a short account of its present position.
Sarawak, including its dependencies, extends from Cape Datu to Kidorong Point, a coast line of about three hundred miles, and presents every variety of surface, from the low fertile soil skirting the river’s banks to the lofty mountains which rise in every direction throughout the various districts.
It is one of the best watered countries in the world, possessing several rivers of the first class, as the Rejang, the Sarawak, and the Batang Lupar; and many of the second, as the Samarahan, the Sadong, the Seribas, the Kalaka, the Egan, a branch of the Rejang, and the Bintulu; rivers of the third class are also numerous, as the Lundu, the Mato, the Oya, and the Muka.
The last three, though small, are still very important, as they run through the great sago-producing districts, possessing forests of that palm, which are as yet perfectly unexplored, having only lately been ceded to Sarawak.
The finest river, however, is the Rejang, which has a deep entrance, not less than five fathoms at high water, and, when inside the bar, never carries less, for above one hundred and thirty miles. A geographical description of the country, however, is not necessary, as I have in previous chapters given an account of the principal districts, nearly all of which I visited in the course of my tours.
Sarawak possesses an immense extent of fertile soil, a very large amount being composed of alluvial deposit stretching for miles on either side of the banks of the Samarahan, the Sadong, the Batang Lupar, and nearly all the rivers before named.
Much of the soil is especially adapted for sugar cultivation, being of a similar quality to that on the banks of the Pontianak, which I have been informed by Dutch officers and planters has been found far superior for sugar cultivation to the best in Java. In fact, nothing but the want of labour has prevented the extensive cultivation of the cane in the Pontianak districts: Chinese could be introduced with facility, but these people have already given the Dutch so much trouble, as to render the Netherlands government very jealous of any increase in their numbers.