Rajah Brooke

by Sir Spenser St. John

At the end of November the weather began to improve, as the north-east monsoon made itself felt, and the Meander fortunately arrived, and Keppel insisting, Sir James and some of his staff were embarked on board, and we sailed along the north-west coast on the way to Balambangan Island, where an English vessel had been wrecked. Finding her burnt to the water’s edge, Sir James decided to proceed to Sulu and visit the Sultan.

At Sugh, the capital, we found both coolness and hesitation. Some Dutch vessels had lately bombarded the town, and the Sultan had not forgotten our attack on Sherif Osman of Marudu Bay. This chief had married a relative of his, and his death after the engagement with the English was still remembered. Besides, there were some survivors and many relatives of those killed in the engagement in May 1847, against whom it was necessary to take every precaution.

Whatever was the motive, the Sultan got over his soreness of heart, and determined to see the great white chief whose fame had long since reached his ears. He and the people were soon assured that the English had no hostile intentions, and shortly after our arrival a reception was arranged.

The Sulu Islands were claimed by the Spaniards, but they had never made good their claim, for although they had sent several expeditions against the Sultan, which were followed by treaties, these were seldom observed by either side. The islands themselves are as beautiful as, perhaps more beautiful than, any others I have ever seen, well cultivated and producing all the food the natives required, but their commerce appeared very limited. They were the principal rendezvous of the Balignini and Lanun pirates, and consequently a slave emporium. The products of the sea, such as pearls and mother-of-pearl—bêche de mer—so prized by the Chinese, were the most valued articles of trade, a large portion of which, however, came from the islands further east. The proceeds of the plunder sold by the pirates were too often invested in guns and powder.

Sulu is nominally governed by a Sultan and a council of nobles, who, however, possess but limited authority over the population of the thousand and one isles.

The Sultan and his nobles received us in such state as they could manage in a hurry, since after the late attack on them by the Dutch their valuables had been sent to the mountains. Their reception of the English envoy was most kind. As Sir James did not wish to introduce business during this visit, our intercourse was purely formal, and after mutual inquiries as to the state of our health, and a curious reference made by the Sultan to the recent revolution in France, we took our leave. The Sultan was a young man, pale and emaciated, the result, it was said, of too much indulgence in opium.

The Meander soon sailed from Sulu, and after calling at Samboangan, the Spanish penal settlement in the island of Mindanau, we returned to our colony of Labuan, where we were pleased to find that all the officers were well, and that they had removed from the swampy plain to the higher land behind it. There was, however, but little progress visible, as the fever panic still prevailed. We did not stay long here, as the Rajah was anxious to begin operations against the Seribas and Sakarang pirates, who had again commenced to ravage the coast. We reached Sarawak on the 16th February. A daring attack of the Seribas Dyaks on the Sadong district, when they captured over a hundred heads, made us move out with our native fleet to pursue them, but a return of the north-east monsoon drove us to shelter. Later on, accompanied by the boats of the steamer Nemesis, we destroyed some of their inland villages, and thus kept them quiet for a time.

To crush these pirates, however, we required a stronger force, and had to wait for the arrival of one of Her Majesty’s ships. In the meantime, in order to save the independence of Sulu, threatened both by the Dutch and the Spaniards, Sir James determined to proceed there in the steamer Nemesis and negotiate a treaty. After calling in at Labuan, we continued our course to the Sulu seas. We were received by the Sultan and nobles in the most friendly manner, and Sir James had no difficulty in negotiating a treaty which, had it been ratified and supported, would have effectually preserved the independence of the Sultan. Our intercourse with these people was most interesting. Preceded by his fame, Sir James soon made himself trusted by the brave islanders, and one proof was that the Sultan asked him to visit him in a small cottage, where he was then staying with a young bride. I was among those who accompanied our Rajah, and on the darkest of dark nights we groped our way there. The Sultan was almost alone, and he soon began to converse about his troublesome neighbours, the Dutch and the Spaniards, expressing a strong hope that the English would support him.

Sir James explained to him our position in Labuan, and cordially invited his people to come and trade there, assuring him that the English had no designs on the independence of their neighbours, but that they only wanted peace and the cessation of piracy. One or two nobles dropped in, and the conversation turned on the subject of hunting, and our hosts proved themselves eager sportsmen, and invited us to return when the rice crop was over and they would show us how they hunted the deer, both on horseback and on foot. The Sultan, during the evening, took a few whiffs of opium, whilst the rest of the company smoked tobacco in various forms. The women were not rigidly excluded, as they came and looked at us whenever they pleased; but we could not see much of them, and it is a form of politeness to pretend not to notice their presence. After a very enjoyable evening, we bade farewell to the Sultan, as we were to sail the following day.

Sir James Brooke had intended to return there, establish himself on shore for a month, and join the nobles in their sports, and thus acquire a personal influence over them. He thought he could wean them from intercourse with the pirates and turn them into honest traders. It must be confessed that when we were there we had abundant evidence that the Balignini and Lanun pirates did frequent the port to sell their slaves and booty and lay in a stock of arms and ammunition. Sir James was, however, persuaded that if British war steamers showed themselves every now and then in Sulu waters, the pirates would abandon these seas. The moment was propitious; the Spaniards had just destroyed the haunts of Balignini, capturing many and dispersing the rest. The sanguinary defeat of eleven of their vessels in 1847, by the Nemesis, was not forgotten, and it required but a little steady patrolling to disgust the nobles with this pursuit; in fact, many had sold their war vessels and guns, saying, that now the English steamers were after them, it was no longer the profession of a gentleman. I never met natives who pleased me more; the young chiefs were frank, manly fellows, fond of riding and hunting, and our intercourse with them was very pleasant. It was always a matter of regret with me that I never had an opportunity of visiting them again.