Views In The Eastern Archipelago

Views - in the Eastern Archipelago Borneo, Sarāwak, Labuan, &c. &c. &c.1

from drawings made on the spot by Captn Drinkwater Bethune, R.N.C.B.2 Commander L.G.Heath, R.N.3 and others4.

The Descriptive Letter-press by James Augustus St John Esqr5 author of Manners & Customs of the Ancient Greeks

Drawn on stone by J.W.Giles6.

LIST OF PLATES.7 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25.

Natives, Native Implements, &c. ( Frontispiece). Keni Balu Mountain. Kuching, Sarāwak. Ceremony of Hoisting the British Flag on the Island of Labuan. Dyak Suspension Bridge, Sarāwak. View from Mr Brooke's Bungalow, looking down the River Sarāwak. The Phlegethon and Boats of Sir Thomas Cochrane's Squadron. View from Mr Brooke's Bungalow, looking up the River Sarāwak. Bird's-eye View of the City of Brunè, from the Jalan Subuk. View in the Jungle, Singapore. Dyak Village, Borneo. View of a Coal-seam on the Island of Labuan. View of Santubong Mountain, Sarāwak. Cutting the Boom at Malludu. View from Mr Brooke's Bungalow. Flagstaff Point, Labuan. View looking down the River, Borneo Proper. Dyak Bridge, Sarāwak. Jungle View, Sarāwak. Mr Brooke's Bungalow. View of Singhi Mountain, Sarāwak District. Santubong, from Tanjong Po. Singapore, from the Esplanade. Mr Brooke's First Residence. View of Matang Mountains, Sarāwak District.

TO THE

RIGHT HON. LORD VISCOUNT PALMERSTON8, Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, &c. &c. ======================== MY LORD, For many years, misconception of a Treaty concluded in 1824 between Great Britain and the Netherlands prevented our making. any settlements. in the Eastern Archipelago, though it was felt by the few who turned their attention to the subject that a large and lucrative trade might easily be created in that part of Asia. The natives were well inclined towards us, partly from a preference for our manufactures, and partly because the integrity and business-like habits of our merchants inspired them with confidence. Still, a variety of reasons, the force and value of which no one can better appreciate than your Lordship, he1d the British Government from exercising its most legitimate rights; and among these the principal was, an unwillingness to give umbrage to an Ally inferior in power, and therefore doubly jealous and sensitive. Immediately on the accession of the present Cabinet to office9, you perceived, my Lord, that the time was come for putting an end to this state of things, and resolved, as a commencement, on taking possession of Pulo10 Labuan. All the great and numerous results which will probably flow from this measure, cannot as yet be calculated or foreseen. Some small portion of them, however, we have already witnessed in the establishment of free ports in Celebes and Sumatra, and in those important modifications of the commercial policy of the Netherlands which are at this moment obviously in progress. Other and more remarkable proofs of your Lord-ship's political wisdom may yet be looked for in that quarter; and if I hesitate to shadow them forth, it is because in introducing to the public a series of picturesque views and illustrations it might appear very much out of place to do so. How affairs have been conducted to their present position, it may be more conformable to the nature of this work to explain. Several English-men,among whom by far the most distinguished is Mr Brooke11 of Sarāwak, sharing the views and inheriting the enterprising spirit of Sir Stamford Raffles, have settled in the Indian Archipelago, and begun to instruct the natives in the means of developing the resoures of their country A link, [[Page]] however, connecting with Europe the efforts which were making in the further East, was still wanting, when Mr Henry Wise12 stepped forward to supply it. He, from 1842 to 1846, kept the question incessantly before Government, and the public here at home, - but would probably have laboured in vain, had not the external relations of the empire fallen by great good fortune into your Lordship's hands. By referring to the official correspondence * relating to Borneo affairs, it will be seen that a very few days after the formation of the present Cabinet, the order destined to emancipate Insular Asia from piracy and barbarism was on its way to Borneo. History, my Lord, will not fail to record this remarkable fact. Half the merit of the most sagacious policy consists in the promptitude and decision with which it is translated into action; and if there be any one quality for which your Lordship's public services are distinguished more than another, it is the celerity with which a resolution wisely formed is invariably executed. Other European nations have been settled in the Eastern Archipelago for centuries, and their presence ha been found very compatible with the universal prevalence of ignorance and sloth. The world will, now that England has planted her standard there, witness the contrast. Singapore, founded in the jungle in 1819, and at present a great city, imparted a powerful impulse to civilisation, and created an immense trade. Labuan will prove a second Singapore, and, as it prolongs, will likewise strengthen that chain of posts and settlements by which our industry and enterprise have nearly belted the world. The force of piracy has already begun to wither at our * Vide Borneo Papers, page 101.

approach; while the peaceful trader, hitherto restrained by the fear of violence and servitude, traverses the seas with confidence, relying on the protection of the British Flag. These circumstances, my Lord, must impart a double interest to the beautiful groups of Islands which it is the object of the present work to illustrate. As time rolls on, our knowledge of them will increase; we shall explore their forests and mountains, and develop, it is to be hoped, with rapidity, the riches they contain; but no enlargement of our knowledge or multiplication of our commercial dealings in those parts will ever make us or our descendants forget that the first great step towards the accomplishment of the whole was taken by your Lordship. I have the honour to be, My Lord, Your most humble and obedient servant, 9 North Bank, Regent's Park. September 6th, 1847.

J. A. ST JOHN.

KINI-BALU-MOUNTAIN. NORTH COAST OF BORNEO (Altitude 12,000 Feet)

Drawn by L.G.Heath R.N.

London, Thos. McLean, 26 Haymarket

on Stone by J.W.Giles

KENI BALU. IN commencing a series of illustrations designed to familiarise the public with the Eastern Archipelago, we very naturally fix our attention on Keni Balu, the loftiest mountain in Insular Asia. According to the most accurate calculations, its height falls very little short of that of Mont Blanc13, while in grandeur of appearance it far surpasses it, rising, like Etna or Teneriffe, almost immediately from the level of the sea, and lowering, not by gradual slopes but by an abrupt and nearly perpendicular ascent above the region of the clouds. To those who sail up and down the China Seas, or round the northern coast of Borneo, it forms a most stupendous object of admiration, especially when the sun, rising behind it, invests its jagged summits with a golden halo. The circumstance, moreover, that it has never to our knowledge been scaled by the foot of man, imparts to it additional interest; and it is perhaps for this reason that the Orang Idan,14 a Dyak tribe inhabiting the hilly country at its southern foot, imagine the dwelling of their gods and of all happy spirits to be situated on its cool and airy summit. The ascent to this Eastern Olympos is guarded they say, by a fiery dog, the mythological counterpart of the Cerberos of the Greeks, which repels from the entrance those souls which are deemed unfit for celestial society; and these, strange to say, are the souls of maidens who in their lives have imitated the nuns and vestals of the West. The large tracts of country which skirt the roots of Keni Balu are, if we may credit the accounts of the natives, the most remarkable in Borneo, and perhaps in the whole Archipelago; but till they shall have been explored by Europeans we must necessarily speak of them with much reserve. At the same time, the descriptions we have received are perfectly in keeping with the ideas we are led to form of the region from its general aspect. A great lake, it is said, the source of all the principal

rivers in the island, stretches southward from the foot of the mountain, and in its dimensions resembles an inland sea, the land on one side not being visible to him who stands upon the other. The surface of this vast expanse of water is sprinkled with numerous isles, verdant and picturesque, which are probably inhabited only by aquatic birds. As the shores of the lake are highly fertile and beautiful, they are said to have attracted a considerable population, and to be covered with villages and hamlets. It would be difficult to imagine more beautiful scenery. We know with what profuse luxuriance vegetation shoots forth in all parts of the Archipelago, to what enormous height the trees ascend, how abundant are the parasites and creepers, how endless are the species of flowers, and what brilliance of colours and variety of forms they put on: if, therefore, the Orang Idan who dwell round the Keni Balu lake possess any thing of that taste which seems indigenous in all Asiatic nations, and more especially in that strange people from whom they are supposed to have descended, we may venture to picture to ourselves, in this part of Borneo, a series of landscapes scarcely rivalled for loveliness in the world. Little stress can perhaps be laid on the traditions of a people plunged in the depths of barbarism like the Orang Idan. Still, it may not be altogether uninteresting to learn what they think of their own origin. According to the legends prevalent among them, they are descended from the Chinese, who colonised this portion of the great island under very extraordinary circumstances. An immense serpent, they say, evidently akin to those which figure in the story of Sinbad, inhabited the shores of the lake, and guarded in his treasury a precious stone of inestimable value. The Emperor of China, hearing of this marvellous gem, sent a vast number of his people in junks to the nearest port in Keni Balu, where landing immediately, they joined hands and stretched in one uninterrupted file from the anchors of their vessels to the serpent's cave. There finding apparently the monster asleep, they stole the jewel, and passing it from hand to hand with an adroitness which would have done credit to our most skilful practitioners, it was on board before its [[Page]] scaly guardian could start from its broken sleep and reconnoitre the enemy. But the Celestials had not calculated on the wisdom or agility of the serpent. As soon as the jewel had been shipped, the junks put to sea, unceremoniously leaving behind all the honest people who had aided in stealing it. This barbarous stratagem, however, was not crowned with success. The serpent, darting like an arrow over the waves, soon overtook the fugitives, and recovering his treasure, returned with it to the borders of the lake, where we suppose he still resides, coiled in watchful folds around the gem. Not being of a vindictive character, he did no injury to the deserted Chinese, who having, we suppose, brought their wives along with them, peopled all the districts round Keni Balu, and thus became the progenitors of the Orang Idan. The Dutch, in their estimate of the population of Borneo, give no credit to the accounts of English travellers. Possessing through our forbearance or remissness the southern parts of the island, they congregate in their fancy nearly all its inhabitants there, attributing about half a million of souls to their own dependencies, while over the remaining provinces they suppose about a hundred and fifty thousand people to be thinly scattered. Our own countrymen, on the other hand, speak of the regions round Keni Balu as the most densely peopled. Leaving this question to be determined by future travellers, I may remark that the productions of the province of Keni Balu are of the richest and most valuable kind, while its climate, as may be gathered from the fair complexion and nuber of its inhabitants, is more temperate and salubrious than that of any other province. It contains mines of rock crystal and gold, the best known of which lie near Tampāsuk, and supplies an abundance of bees'-wax, rattans, sago, tortoiseshell, and camphor, of the finest quality. The timber is perhaps unequalled in the Archipelago; many of the trees, from twenty to forty feet in circumference, towering to the height of eighty or ninety feet before they throw out a single branch. . The whole region, moreover, abounds with goats and cattle, and in one of the circumjacent islands is found the edible bird's-nest, so much prized by the Chinese as to be frequently purchased for its weight in gold. This variety is of a red colour; the price it bears in the Celestial Empire is not stated but as the excellence of the article is generally throughout the East supposed to be in proportion to its whiteness and transparency, we ought probably to regard the red

nest as of an inferior quality. Until recently, all the ports and harbours lying between the spurs which Keni Balu puts forth into the sea were the haunts of pirates, who constituted a sort of maritime community, the rival of the Dutch power in the Archipelago. Our appearance in those seas, and the chastisement we have inflicted on several of these piratical States, have already checked and circumscribed their depredations; and our settlement on Labuan will in a short time complete the process. Several tribes that formerly subsisted on the plunder of the merchant have begun to addict themselves to commerce, and find the gains of industry sweeter than those of rapine and violence. But, of course, the change in their manners and ideas cannot be effected all at once. Besides, it will be difficult for them to pursue a regular and honest course of life while the buccaneers of the Sulu group are permitted to infest the neighbouring seas, and to land in great force on their coasts for the purpose of carrying off their women and children into slavery. One of the great objects of our settlement on Labuan must be to put a period to this state of things, which the Dutch have patiently tolerated for centuries, either because they were too weak to cope with the evil, or because in some clandestine way they profited by it. Whatever opinion we may entertain upon this point, it will obviously be a reproach to us if we any longer suffer this beautiful province of Borneo Proper to continue a prey to barbarous pirates, whom it would be easy for us to suppress if we undertook the task in earnest. It would then be an enterprise of little risk to explore the recesses of Keni Balu, whose precipices are on some points so near the coast that a vast cataract which tumbles down them is visible from the sea. The Orang Idan would probably offer us no obstruction, especially when they should learn that in Sarāwak and elsewhere the influence of Great British has been actively exercised for the improvement and preservation of their race.

Kuching, Sarāwak, Borneo The settlement founded by James Brooke Esq

Drawn by L.G.Heath R.N.

on Stone by J.W.Giles

SARAWAK. ============== SHOULD European civilization ever make way in Borneo, this spot must always be looked upon with peculiar interest. "Here," the Dyaks will say, pointing to the site of Mr Brooke's residence, "the first Englishman that ever settled among us took up his abode; and from hence his countrymen diverged and advanced inland, carrying a knowledge of the arts of peace, the pledge of our deliverance from oppression, along with them." In the history of this singular little settlement, we have an example of the way in which new States are founded. Hitherto all that has been done must be regarded in the light of an experiment, which, if it succeed, must entirely owe its success to the influence of causes operating at an immense distance from Sarāwak. Here, in fact, in the capital of the commercial world, may the destinies, not of Sarāwak only, but of Borneo and the whole Eastern Archipelago, be said to be at this moment weaving. If we extend the strong arm of our protection over the efforts which a few adventurous Englishmen are making to enlarge the circle of our trade in that part of the world, and at the same time to impart to the natives a knowledge of those truths which constitute the real sources of human happiness both here and hereafter, the efforts which have already been made will ripen and bear fruit; otherwise the tide of events will roll on, and in the course of a few ages will obliterate from the recollection of mankind the fact that towards the middle of the nineteenth century, the policy and philosophy of the West kindled and displayed their light for a moment amid the thick darkness of the Indian Archipelago. Throughout the world, it is the footsteps of man that confer interest and significance upon the material landscape. There is, no doubt, a certain beauty in external nature, altogether independent of human associations. Newly-discovered islands and regions for the first time explored, inspire a vivid delight when they bare their virgin bosoms to the eye. But the pleasure is transient: no particular spot links itself to our memory; we seem rather to be dreaming than waking, and time easily effaces the impressions which nameless places, however magnificent, make upon us. But when, pointing to any locality, we can say, "A great action was performed there; a distinguished man. was born or perished near that spot; that rock or glen was illuminated by some remarkable

display of love or benevolence;"a halo of reverence immediately invests the place, it passes into the records of the human race, and the remembrance of it becomes imperishable. At least nothing short of the destruction of our planet can efface the charm of Marathon or Cressy, or cover with forgetfulness the strand which received the pilgrim fathers when they first landed in America. And should the religion and civilization which constitute the ark of our strength ever take root in Borneo, and elevate the natives to the place they ought to occupy in the great human family, time will cast a similar spell over Sarāwak, and embody the love of the natives for England in the sentiment of respect and veneration with which they will regard that spot. In itself, the site of the future capital of the province excites no particular admiration. It resembles the bank of any other tropical river, clothed with superb vegetation, undulating though not elevated, and over-canopied by a bright sky. The soil is alluvial and exceedingly prolific. Unknown plants and trees diversify the greensward, or meet together in the jungle, rising into rank luxuriance, bespeaking the absence of the husbandman. Botany [[Page]] has already begun to investigate the flora of the province, and our gardens and hothouses bear striking testimony to the fact, since amongst the most gorgeous and brilliant flowers we possess, are several species apparently peculiar to Borneo, and first discovered in the woods of Sarāwak. When Muda Hassim was in possession of the Raj, and had his family and retainers around him, the town of Sarāwak could boast of nearly fifteen hundred inhabitants, in part, if not chiefly, Malays. Of this population, which was always understood to be fluctuating, I know not exactly how large a portion remains, though in all likelihood a majority of the Mohammedans will have followed their chiefs to the capital. Nor is this fact much to be regretted. The Dyaks, left to themselves, and to the care of their English Governor, will probably thrive and prosper much more surely when delivered from Malay influence. Still we are as yet by no means in a condition to determine what course events will take in Sarāwak, because nearly everything must depend on the degree of wisdom and firmness with which its affairs are permanently administered. That the whole province abounds with the elements of wealth, it is impossible to doubt. Its mines of antimony ore are probably inexhaustible; and in the ranges of mountains which connect it with the interior we may very reasonably expect to discover rich veins of gold. Here also, as everywhere else in Borneo, the camphor tree is found in the forest, with the teak and the sago palm; ebony, and other timber and fruit trees, in endless variety. The rich alluvial plains lying between the mountains and the sea would seem well adapted to the cultivation of the sugar cane and indigo plant; while on the uplands, which are for the most part of moderate elevation, coffee and cotton might be grown in great perfection. With regard to the more delicate and costly spices, it may be hitherto premature to hazard an opinion. Borneo enjoys in many respects the same climate as the Moluccas; but the ripening of particular fruits depends on a combination of so many causes,- upon soil, water, exposure, elevation above the level of the sea, the presence or absence of certain natural manures, the dryness or moisture of the atmosphere, together with other things which probably elude the grasp of our apprehension,- that nothing but a long series of experiments can ultimately decide the point. But the prosperity of a country fortunately depends much less on gems, or gold, or spices, than on the coarser and more ordinary processes of agriculture. If the cotton shrub and coffee plant flourish properly on the hills, and rice and other grain on the level lands, we shall, in these circumstances, have a better guarantee for the future civilization of the country than if it were found to be a second Potosi15 or Golconda16. That is the finest gold which springs from the furrow and bends before the sickle. But, in whatever light we may view these matters, we evidently as a people display unnecessary reluctance to aid the inhabitants of Borneo in developing the riches of their country. This slowness on our part has sometimes been attributed to political considerations; but as no European Government possesses the shadow of a claim on any portion of Borneo, if we except some few scattered points towards its southern extremity, our objections to engage in the enterprise must rather be of an economical than of a diplomatic nature. That capital, however, is well employed which produces speedy and ample returns, and it would be difficult to name any part of the world not already in our possession where a more productive harvest might be reaped than in

Borneo. To the beauty of the island, as well as of the whole Archipelago, all travellers bear testimony: it rises like a verdant Alp from the waves, and although in making way for civilization the plough must disforest it, enough of vegetation will always remain to render it one of the Paradises of Asia.

Ceremony of Hoisting the British Flag on the Island of Labuan. N.W Coast of Borneo.

By Captain Rodney Mundy, H.M.Ship Iris. 24th December 1846

Drawn by L.G.Heath R.N.

London, Thos. McLean, 26 Haymarket

on Stone by J.W.Giles

Ceremony of Hoisting the British Flag on the Island of Labuan. ============== WITH the island of Labuan, of which possession has now been taken for the Crown, the English may be said to have formed their first connexion in 1775, when, having been driven out of Balambangan17 by the Sulus, they, with the permission of the Sultan of Bruni, took refuge there. Since the period above mentioned, the tables have been strangely turned in the Eastern Archipelago. Then, weak and few in number, we were too happy to receive the protection and countenance of the Sultan of Borneo, of whom the buccaneers of the Sulu group seemed to have stood in awe. Now the Sultan is our humble ally and dependant, and but for the British flag which waves in his neighbourhood and the treaty he has concluded with us, might any hour in the twenty-four be seized

in his capital by the Sulus, or any other piratical tribe, and sold like the humblest individual into slavery. With respect to the Sulus themselves, they tremble at the name of Great Britain, though they have put into circulation a sort of Thrasonical18 saying, meant at once to express their courage and the impregnable nature of their fortifications. "It took the English," they observe, "one hour to render themselves masters of Borneo, and three hours to take Maluda from the Illanuns; but they will not be able to reduce Sulu in less than forty years." They nevertheless think differently, I suspect; at least when their king was informed that our countrymen meant to pay him a visit, he immediately betook himself to strengthening the defences of his capital, which he otherwise feared might not be able to withstand us for forty minutes. The island of Labuan, probably destined to rival Singapore in importance, is about twenty-five miles in circumference, and occupies a commanding position at the mouth of the Borneo river. It rises in places to the height of nearly seventy feet above the level of the sea, and is almost entirely covered with a dense forest. Of the different species of trees it possesses little is known, except that some of them attain to a great magnitude, and that on several points of the shore the species of laurel which produces camphor is found. The island is traversed by numerous streams, of which some are of considerable dimensions, though two only appear to flow at all seasons of the year. The rest are torrents, which become dry in the depth of the hot season. Water, however, is found everywhere, by digging, in great abundance, and of the most excellent quality. In several places the streams are found running over beds of coal, and in a ravine, or small valley, towards the north, there exists a fine waterfall. On this part of the coast the woods stretch down to the very edge of the sea, whose waves roll inward and break against the shore beneath their outstretched boughs. The "rattans," from which the natives make cordage for their boats, are very numerous and valuable. The sea in the vicinity of the island abounds with fish of a superior quality, and between two and three hundred men, who subsist entirely by fishing, constituted before our arrival its only population. Their numbers are at present increasing rapidly, and when the coal mines begin to be worked, and the land is laid under cultivation, Labuan will swarm with inhabitants. For some years before our appearance in those seas, the natives had been deterred by fear of pirates from properly carrying on their fishing operations, and are loud in their expressions of gratitude for the protection we afford them. All the small [[Page]] craft engaged in the coasting trade already touch at Labuan, where merchants from every part of the East will settle, as soon as permission to do so can be obtained from the British Government. In laying out the new city, it is to be hoped that European ideas will not be suffered to over-rule the dictates of experience. Reasoning from imperfect analogies, we are too apt to infer that fashions which suit very well the northern division of the temperate zone are equally adapted to the tropics; and instead of securing to ourselves the greatest possible amount of shade, and creating numerous currents of cool air, we seem to court exposure to the burning sun by building broad straight streets, and houses with bare façades, where the bricks are a second time baked in the wall. The Orientals in this respect, at least, are wiser than we. They build their streets narrow and tortuous, and, besides, cover them over at top, so as entirely to exclude the sun's rays; and whoever has entered the gates of an Eastern city, and escaped from the fiery glare without the walls, must have felt exceedingly thankful that architecture in that part of the world is not regulated by the same laws which govern it here. A cool, refreshing current circulates perpetually through the winding avenues, where the sight moreover is relieved and refreshed by a pleasing degree of obscurity. Wherever, as in squares or open spaces about fountains or mosques, the fronts of houses are necessarily left open to the sun, the architect contrives by drooping and projecting eaves, by penthouses, corbels, and fenestral ornaments, to ensure at nearly all hours the presence of large masses of shadow, which are at once beautiful and useful. To return from these suggestions. The British flag was hoisted on the island of Labuan, December 24, 1846, by Captain Rodney Mundy, of Her Majesty's ship Iris, and commanding the squadron on the Coast of Borneo. To witness the ceremony, many Malay chiefs of distinction had come to the island from Borneo with numerous and showy retinues, and followed by a multitude of

the natives, who, quite unconscious of its import, were sanctioning, by their presence, the first step towards their own emancipation from barbarism. It was a cheerful, animating sight. Several flags were stuck up; tents were pitched on the clear spaces between the trees; the marines were drawn up in imposing array along the beach; the yards, masts, and rigging of the Iris and Wolf were decorated with small flags and streamers; and repeated discharges of musketry and artillery sent forth clouds of white smoke, which were lifted up and dispersed by the breeze. The natives, grouped together on a slightly rising ground, looked on with pleasure, not altogether, perhaps, unmixed with apprehension. Unused to the processes of civilization, they could not be aware that the strip of ground before them was destined soon to become the site of a great commercial emporium, inhabited by merchants and politicians from the West, thronged with population and riches, and encircled by those invisible ramparts of law and imperial power which afford her far more unfailing protection than whole mountains of masonry. That day will be a memorable one in the annals of Labuan. When all who beheld that enlivening ceremony shall have passed away, the flag of England will still be there waving over the head of new generations, who will probably convert the whole of Labuan into a garden. We are much indebted to the officers engaged in that service, particularly to Captain Bethune and Commander Heath, for the light which has been thrown on the character and productions of the island, which has been much more carefully explored than in so short a time we had any reason to expect. If their example be followed by those who succeed them, Labuan will be as familiar to the British public as the island of Bombay, with the topography of which many untravelled Englishmen are as well acquainted as with Hampstead Heath.

Dayak Suspension Bridge, Sarāwak

Drawn by Captn..Bethune R.N.C.B.

London, Thos. McLean, 26 Haymarket

on Stone by J.W.Giles

DYAK SUSPENSION BRIDGE, SARĀWAK. ============== IT would be beside the purpose of the present work to enter into any detailed account of the Dyak tribes who constitute the aboriginal population of Borneo. Hitherto what ever has been written on them may be regarded as in a great measure conjectural, since no one has acquired a sufficient knowledge of their language, or lived with them on such terms of familiarity as would enable him thoroughly to understand the reasons of their customs or the motives to many of their actions. Some progress has nevertheless been made towards forming a rough appreciation of the rude arts of which they are found to be in possession, Their skill in weaving and dyeing has been described; and we have obtained some insight into their system of domestic architecture, which, from whatever point of view examined, displays considerable ingenuity. Other occasions will present themselves of describing their villages and habitations, as also perhaps of estimating the advance they have made in the primary arts of civilisation. I shall now confine myself to a rapid delineation of the contrivances by which they pass the rivers and torrents of their country, and keep open a communication between different villages of the same tribe. In nearly all parts of the Indian Archipelago, the most remarkable feature by which the scenery is

distinguished, is the luxuriance of vegetation. Nature observes no measure in her productions. Even in the wilds of Africa, where a rank soil, abundant moisture, and the genial heat of a vertical sun combine to impart the most lavish development to the germs of plants and trees, we scarcely witness so rich, vast, and fantastically-varied a flora; and this observation, applicable everywhere, is more particularly so to the banks of rivers, where the active causes of fertility operate with double force. Here the trees usually attain their greatest size, and when, undermined by floods or by time, they fall and cast their huge trunks across the stream, may be said to form natural bridges, and to have originally suggested the idea of supplying their place by art in situations where they were wanting. However this may be, the Dyaks, like most other Asiatics, exhibit much boldness of conception in the construction of their bridges. In the deep rocky gorges and ravines of the Himalaya Mountains, the traveller witnesses the most daring contrivances for traversing the impetuous torrents which separate small districts and villages from each other, and, but for the inventive genius of the people, would render all internal traffic impossible, and hold the population for ever in the lowest depths of barbarism. Far in the interior of Borneo similar audacity of conception may be displayed; but amid the low hills and alluvial plains of Sarāwak, no room is found for so much courage or originality of design. Still, as will be seen from the accompanying representation, the Dyak Suspension Bridge is a curious structure. Formed of cane-work, and elevated to a great height above the water, it seems at first view to hang in the air, the means by which it is supported only becoming visible on minute inspection. Where the banks of the river are low, the ends of the bridge abut upon the trunks of large trees, to which the whole fabric is suspended by grass ropes; though occasionally, as in the case before us, one end only rests against a tree, while the other reposes on the solid rock. As often as a tree is made use of to support the bridge, the ascent to it is effected by means of deep notches cut in the trunk, which serve the agile Dyaks in lieu of a flight of steps. It may seem extraordinary that the Dyaks should think of constructing their bridges at so great a height above the stream. The cause is to be sought for in the nature of [[Page]] tropical rivers, which, swollen by the rains that fall in the mountains, often rise twenty or thirty feet in a single night, and sweep away before them everything within their reach, overthrowing enormous trees, submerging hamlets and villages, and wholly obliterating, to a considerable distance inland, all signs of the husband-man's labours. When, in search of the pirates, our countrymen ascended one of the rivers of Sarāwak they observed, on a native bridge, marks of the waters having risen full twenty feet above the level at which it then was; which probably, however, was trifling, compared with the rise in other rivers, where the banks are high and steep, and afford but a narrow channel for the streams. We know that the Tapti, on the western coast of India, sometimes rises forty feet in the course of twenty-four hours; and, in some old accounts of Australia, we read that the Hawkesbury had been known to rise to the astounding height of fifty feet above its ordinary level. We need no longer wonder, therefore, at the aerial bridges of the Dyaks, which can only be regarded as safe when placed above the reach of the highest floods. From the ingenuity these tribes display in their bridges, their boats, their habitations, and their manufactures, a favourable idea may be formed of their aptitude for civilisation; though there are circumstances in their condition, and peculiarities in their manners and habits, which lead me to view them in a less favourable light than that in which they are contemplated by some writers. There is a tendency in us all to believe what we strongly desire, and Mr Brooke, therefore, may be pardoned if, in fixing the place which the aborigines of Borneo ought to occupy in the scale of humanity, he should exhibit an inclination unduly to raise rather than contemptuously to depress it. Truth, however, is to be preferred even before philanthropy; and I cannot, therefore, conceal my conviction that the fondness of the Dyaks for remaining in the jungle, the tame subserviency they exhibit towards the Malays, and the pertinacity with which they lie in wait for each other's heads during the existence of their clan feuds, indicate a more ferocious and intractable character than has recently been attributed to them.

VIEW FROM MR. BROOKE'S BUNGALOW, LOOKING DOWN THE RIVER, SARĀWAK.

Drawn by Captn..Bethune R.N.C.B.

London, Thos. McLean, 26 Haymarket

on Stone by J.W.Giles

VIEW FROM MR BROOKE'S BUNGALOW LOOKING DOWN THE RIVER SARĀWAK. ============== WHEN Gibbon first read Volney's Travels through Syria and Egypt, he observed that it would be an advantage to the public were it possible for the same bold and speculative individual to travel through all parts of the world. If I might be allowed, I would apply nearly the same observation to Captain Bethune. I wish he had visited all parts of the Indian Archipelago, and employed his pencil in representing those soft and exquisite landscapes which bewitch the eye in almost every portion of it. The present view on the Saräwak river, taken from a point which may be said to have been arbitrarily fixed, causes nearly the same pleasure as is afforded by a pure work of art. Nature has pleasantly grouped all the objects in the fore and middle ground; and had she supplied a distance - a background to complete the picture, we should have had a scene that might have invited some Oriental Claude to fix it on the canvass for ever. When we come to examine the component parts of the prospect, we find ourselves to be gazing on a tropical wilderness encircling some few scattered

habitations of man. It reminds us of descriptions perpetually recurring in the "Arabian Nights." There is a lavish exuberance of plants and trees, green open spaces, placid water, and an unclouded sky. Mr Brooke, writing with all the objects around him, describes his residence and its environs as follows:"I may here mention our house, or, as I have fondly styled it, our palace. It is an edifice fifty-four feet square, mounted upon numerous posts of the Nibong palm, with nine windows in each front; the roof is of Nepa leaves, and the floor and partitions are all of plank; - furnished with couches, tables, chairs, books; and the whole is as comfortable as man could wish for, in this out-of the-way country; and we have, besides, a bathing-house, cook-house, and servants' apartments detached. The view from the house to the eastward comprises a reach of the river, and to the westward looks towards the blue mountains of Matang; the north fronts the river, and the south the jungle; and but for the uncertainty of our affairs, I would have had a garden ere this, and found amusement in clearing and improving. Our abode, however, though spacious, cool and comfortable, can only be considered a temporary residence, for the best of all reasons - that in the course of a year it will tumble down, from the weight of the superstructure being placed on weak posts. The original plan was to have had a lower story: but about this I am now indifferent. The time here passes monotonously, but not unpleasantly. Had we but the animation of hope, and the stimulus of improvement, time would pass rapidly, though without a companion to converse with." The character of the country on the banks of the Sarāwak river forms a striking contrast with that of the mountainous regions by which Keni Balu is surrounded. In the north all is stern grandeur. Precipices, shaggy defiles, ridges of cerated crags, conduct the traveller's eye from the summit of the Borneon Alps to the rich undulating plains stretching away interminably toward the south, or to the precipitous magnificent coast on the east and west. In the Southern Province, which now Courts the acceptance of Great Britain, everything puts on a mild and quiet aspect. The mountains, [[Page]] though sometimes far from being of slight elevation, are beautifully rounded, and sink to the plains by almost imperceptible declivities. The champagne country expands before the eye like a sea of verdure; while here and there along the shore, or on the banks of streams, rise huge masses of rock, which once constituted so many isles, but are now joined to the mainland by the perpetual projections seaward of the alluvial soil. Near the capital, the land, it will be seen, is low; but it lies within sight of the mountains, which will seem to be brought nearer when glades and avenues shall have been opened up through the jungle by the axe.

THE STEAMER PHLEGETHON AND THE BOATS OF REAR ADMIRAL SIR THOMAS COCHRANE'S SQUADRON. Repelling an Attack from the Forts of Borneo Proper July 8, 1846

Drawn by L.G.Heath R.N.

London, Thos. McLean, 26 Haymarket

on Stone by J.W.Giles

THE PHLEGETHON AND BOATS OF SIR THOMAS COCHRANE'S SQUADRON. ============== THOUGH the River of Bruné has been frequently ascended by Europeans within the last three hundred and twenty years19, no elaborate description of the picturesque scenery on its banks has yet been written. The reason, perhaps, may be that the place has never yet been visited by a real traveller. When men's minds are occupied by the momentous interests of politics, commerce, or war, they have no eyes for external nature, and would thread the windings of the Bosphorus or traverse the site of Egyptian Thebes without being conscious of the presence of the magnificent

objects around them. In this consideration we must discover our countrymen's apology for neglecting to render us better acquainted with that succession of singular landscapes which occur within the ten miles that separate Bruné from the sea. Even in his despatches to Government, however, where his business is to describe those hostile movements which through his ability and promptitude rendered us masters of Bruné and placed its Sultan at our feet, Sir Thomas Cochrane 20 pauses to observe that the scenery is picturesque. I purposely avoid entering here into minute historical details, and shall content myself with making a passing allusion to the circumstances which led to our demonstration against Borneo. The present Sultan, Omar Ali, had an uncle, Muda Hassim, formerly Rajah of Sarāwak, and, from a combination of mixed motives, attached to the English. On leaving his Government in the South and returning to the capital, he was entrusted with the office of Wezeer or Minister, and immediately began to exert his authority for the advancement of civilisation, by discouraging piracy and affording all the favour and protection in his power to legitimate traffic. This course of proceeding naturally created him many enemies in a community deeply imbued with piratical notions, and consisting, in great part, of professional buccaneers. The Sultan, whom all authorities agree in representing as a weak man, was easily prejudiced against his uncle, and persuaded to implicate himself with the party which had been formed to thwart his measures. Much plotting and counterplotting would appear to have taken place, the friends of piracy endeavouring to overbear or destroy the Minister, while the latter exerted all the courage and ingenuity he possessed to defeat them, and secure to his country the advantages of honest trade. Matters soon came to extremities, and Muda Hassim was murdered, together with his natural brother Budredeen, and many of their family and followers. What part the Sultan himself took in this tragedy has never been correctly ascertained. He, probably in conformity with the ideas prevalent among the Malays, and, too generally, throughout the East, looked upon the taking off of his relatives as an allowable, or, perhaps, as a praiseworthy step, since it appeared to restore to him that freedom of action of which the policy of his Minister seemed to deprive him. Muda Hassim, however, had represented the interests of Great Britain in Borneo, and his assassination was the first step towards a return to piracy and hostility against all legitimate commerce. In fact, the Sultan at the same time broke the treaty he had concluded with us, and, in conjunction with the Illanuns, set our power at defiance. It consequently became necessary to send up a small force to Bruné for the purpose of bringing this barbarous chief to reason, either by convincing him of his errors or by punishing his want of faith. The assassination of Muda Hassim, from whatever motives perpetrated, it was no part of our duty to revenge; and they who have taken a different view of the matter must have lost sight altogether of the relative position of the parties. Had Omar Ali remained in his Capital, quietly awaited our approach, and justified the barbarous measures he had taken on his own peculiar views of state necessity, we should have been compelled to acquiesce in his reasoning. He had done nothing but what was conformable to custom. In the West, Ministers are set aside when their services are no longer required; in the East they are put to death. Such is the regular order of things; and though we might condemn the morality of the practice, we could not have assumed to ourselves the right to judge and condemn the chiefs or princes among whom it has always prevailed. But Omar Ali made it evident that the blow was aimed at us, and that he designed to effect his escape from the irksome conditions of the treaty into which he had entered, by opening his batteries against our ships as they ascended the river. He had, however, greatly miscalculated his own strength and ours. The Hon. East India Company's steamer . "Phlegethon," moving in the van, and sounding all the way, towed after her a number of gunboats, which immediately answered the fire of the batteries. These boats were under the command of Captain Rodney Mundy, who, landing a party of sailors and marines, drove the enemy from their works, spiked their guns, and tumbled them over the walls. By way of insult, the Sultan's officer in command of the battery displayed at the outset the flag of Muda Hassim; which, on board our ships, created the belief that peace was intended to the

very moment the firing commenced. Another occasion will present itself for describing the scenery immediately around the Capital. The approach to it, represented in the accompanying view, is exceedingly magnificent, - lofty forest trees descending in many places the abrupt declivities of the hills close to the water's edge, while elsewhere we observe clear, open spaces covered with long grass, amid which, in some cases, the rude graves of the natives are discovered. Piles of verdure or masses of rock tower to a great height on the left hand, while in the distance are perceived the peaks of mountains which close the view. Civilised visitors, accustomed to look everywhere for traces of human labour, object to the banks of the Bruné River that they wear too savage an aspect. It was not, however, always so. In times past, a colony of industrious Chinese, impelled by the active instincts of their race, introduced the arts of gardening and husbandry, and covered the accessible slopes of the hills on all sides with pepper plantations and orchards. But oppression has long driven them out of the country; and the spots which they formerly reclaimed from the jungle are covered again with brushwood, or with the tall wiry grass called Lalan, far more difficult to be extirpated than forest trees.

VIEW FROM MR. BROOKE'S BUNGALOW, LOOKING UP THE RIVER SARĀWAK.

Drawn by Captn.Bethune R.N. C.B.

London, Thos. McLean, 26 Haymarket

on Stone by J.W.Giles

VIEW FROM MR. BROOKE'S BUNGALOW, LOOKING UP THE RIVER SARĀWAK. ============== WHEN the first part of this work made its appearance21, Mr Brooke, from the front of whose Bungalow we are now looking up the River of Sarāwak, was out of the country, and his return still problematical. He is now amongst us22, and his presence has imparted a double interest to every thing connected within the Indian Archipelago, and more especially to the Province of Borneo Proper, which he has for so many years made his residence. Externally this Bungalow has little to distinguish it from that of a Malay Chief; but, within, it contains all the elements of European civilisation, the treasures of literature and science, and the active living energy to which Providence has entrusted the duty of turning all these to account for the benefit of mankind. This circumstance it is, that will for ever confer on the banks of the Sarāwak an interest not possessed by any other part of Borneo. Still it would be difficult to exaggerate to ourselves the natural beauties of the scene.

Contemplated as a mere landscape, it may perhaps be imperfect, constituting, as it does, but a very small portion of those stupendous expanses which Nature encloses within her frame when she composes a picture. But we have wood and water, grassy slopes, undulating banks, a sprinkling of human dwellings, and a brilliant sky. Everywhere, however, in the Indian Archipelago, what principally strikes us is the infinite variety of the vegetation, which develops itself in the most graceful and magnificent forms, and clothes itself in colours of unparalleled gorgeousness and splendour. Every branch, every leaf, every pendent fruit-bunch in the foreground of this landscape is in itself a picture. What a multiplicity of beautiful curves - what elegance of shape - what luxuriance of development - what contrasts - what intermixture of the fragile and robust! In such spots, the fanciful wanderer of Western Asia who should visit them for the first time might, not unreasonably, look for palaces and gardens, and kiosks, such as we find delineated in 'The Arabian Nights.' Indeed, there can scarcely be a doubt that it was this insular division of Asia, with its towering mountains, forests, lakes, rivers, and thinly-scattered monuments of ancient civilisation, that suggested to the authors of those romantic and seductive tales their most exquisite descriptions. A palace and a garden in Borneo - the former built in the Oriental style of architecture, and the latter laid out according to the principles of taste, which Nature had made conformable to the climate, would constitute an earthly paradise. The imagination can picture to itself nothing richer or more luxuriant than might there be realised Nowhere on the face of the earth are there to be found sweeter or more beautiful flowers, fruits of richer flavour, or trees of statelier growth, or better adapted for yielding that shade which is so grateful beneath the fervid sun of the equator. Hitherto, however, the experiment has not been tried. No one has brought together, within one enclosure, the camphor tree and the melancholy upas, the cocoa palm and the mangustine, the aloes, the nutmeg, the clove, the cinnamon, and the date palm, with all those nameless and infinite species of odoriferous shrubs and creepers which robe the forests of the Archipelago in a tissue displaying all the colours of the rainbow. Time has not permitted Mr Brooke to indulge his taste for these harmless luxuries. He has been too much absorbed by watching over the interests of the province - by counteracting intrigues at Bruné, by repressing inroads from hostile territories, by forming and carrying out plans for the extirpation of piracy, and by all the other exigencies of diplomacy - to think of laying out grounds, and [[ Page ]] enjoying repose beneath the shade of melancholy boughs. This, however, it is to be hoped, will come hereafter, now that Great Britain has taken up its stand in the Archipelago, and render difficult, as it will henceforward be dangerous, for any irregular or marauding power, small or great, to interrupt the development of civilisation in that part of the world The banks of the Sarāwak River will then be covered with a succession of gardens and plantations. One great step towards this consummation has already been taken by Mr Brooke, who has for some time given encouragement to the Dyaks to clear away the jungle and plant groves of cocoa-nut trees in its place, he himself furnishing the young plants and every other assistance in his power. Many of the spots covered with trees in the accompanying view have already been completely reclaimed from the forest, and are thickly sprinkled. with houses, the first rudiments of the future capital. Improvement, it is to be hoped, will thence extend over the province, while an impulse will likewise be communicated to the entire population of the island.

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE CITY OF BRUNE, FROM THE TALAN SUBUK.

Drawn by Captn Bethune R.N.C.B.

London, Thos. McLean, 26 Haymarket

on Stone by J.W.Giles

BIRD'SEYE VIEW OF THE CITY OF BRUNE, FROM THE JALAN SUBUK. ============== THE City of Brune, of which we have been presented with a view of great beauty from the pencil of Captain Bethune, seems to have been first visited by Europeans in 1521, when the companions of Magellan, after undergoing innumerable toils and hardships, were returning westwards, having traversed the Pacific and threaded the narrow seas of the Archipelago. The Spaniards found the Sultan of Bruné in a condition very different from that which he occupies at present. He was then possessed of great power and riches, kept a splendid court, and displayed his taste for hospitality and munificence by sending two elephants superbly caparisoned to bear the Spanish Captain and his attendants to his capital. It seems highly probable that the Spaniards, viewing the city with eyes of wonder and astonishment, greatly exaggerated its extent, as they supposed it to contain about twenty-five thousand houses, which, reckoning six individuals to each dwelling, would give it a population of a hundred and fifty thousand souls. Bruné, however, has greatly degenerated since that period, and as the nature of its edifices is peculiarly frail and transient, we can expect to find no traces of the magnificence spoken of by the Spaniards, either in its actual condition or in the remains of former days. A city erected on piles and posts on a river might dwindle away altogether, and leave behind it no ruins. Its name, imperfectly pronounced by the early navigators, was gradually corrupted into Borneo, and applied to the island, which has never been known to the natives by any other name than that of Kalamantan. The Portuguese, Spaniards, and Dutch, who preceded us in the career of Eastern adventure, rivalled each other in eagerness to share in, if not to monopolise, the trade of this city, which, being seldom visited by strangers, was soon invested by the imagination with fabulous splendour and magnificence. Maffei,23 for example, misled by an imperfect tradition, speaks of the city as adorned by sumptuous buildings, and surrounded by walls. In the first year of the seventeenth century, the Dutch, after having long cruised about in the neighbourhood, attempted to ascend the river for the purpose of trading in Bruné; but the deceits and machinations which they themselves have since so successfully put in practice throughout the Archipelago shipwrecked their enterprise, and sent them to plot and traffic elsewhere. Chinese,

Malays, and Portuguese conspired cordially together to defeat them. An enterprising adventurer who, for piracy or some other venial offence, had been driven from the "Flowery Land," and settled in Patane, found himself tempted by the comfortable appearance of the Dutch craft to undertake something in the way of his ancient profession. He had previously cut the throats of some five or six Portuguese on his way from the Malay Peninsula to Borneo, and the advent of Oliver van Noort's vessel suggested the desirableness of continuing his calling. It is just possible that the intelligence of the horrible màsacre perpetrated by the Netherlanders at Madura, where they polluted the sea with the blood of hundreds of Javanese,- men, women and children,- who had come forth in holiday trim to meet and welcome them in their gay prahus, had reached Bruné, and suggested the idea of retaliation. But this supposition is not absolutely necessary to explain the project of the Borneons. They have, in all ages, had a tendency towards piracy, and easily persuaded themselves that the merchandise of Oliver van Noort would be quite as safe in their keeping as in his; but the Dutch Admiral was not to be taken off his guard, and, though he failed in visiting the capital of the island, contrived to defeat all the projects of the ancestor of our ally, and to sail away eastward without incurring the loss of his property. [[Page ]] Of the city itself it would have been difficult to form any idea from the relations of the older navigators, who had no leaning towards the picturesque, and but little taste for exact researches. The legitimate excuse in their case may have been, that when permitted to enter the place, which they seldom were, their minds were far too much occupied by thoughts of gain, or solicitude for their own safety, to permit them to observe external objects or to institute statistical inquiries with equanimity. Forrest,24 who successfully accomplished everything he undertook, visited Borneo during the latter half of the eighteenth century, and found it a place of much greater wealth and consequence than it is at present. It carried on a great trade with China, and numerous junks of five and six hundred tons burden might generally be seen lying at anchor in the canals between the houses. To say that Bruné resembles Venice might possibly suggest a false idea of its aspect and grandeur, yet in some respects they may be compared, both being situated in the midst of the waters, which constitute at once their greatest ornament and convenience. But here the likeness ends. Venice abounds in all parts with lofty churches and palaces - with piazzas, domes and cupolas, which, even in decay, suggest the idea of extraordinary magnificence; while in Bruné you discover nothing but an assemblage of humble habitations of wood or mats, ascended to by common ladders. A number of liquid streets traverse the city in all directions, and are usually crowded with boats and prahus conveying the inhabitants from house to house on business or pleasure. The river is divided into two great branches, and a large portion of the houses stands on the tongue of land by which they are separated. On one of these main channels the market is held in boats, which for a space equalling that between London and Westminster bridges cover for many hours the whole surface of the stream, some passing perpetually to and fro, others fastened by ropes to the house-ladders, or to strong posts set up in the river for the purpose. These boats are filled with all the produce of the neighbourhood habitually consumed by the inhabitants, such as poultry, fish, fruits, vegetables, and such articles of coarse manufacture as enter into daily use. The boatmen wear immense hats of plaited cane, which shelter their whole bodies like umbrellas, as they sit on their heels, smoke, sing, or chat with their customers, who, passing up and down the stream, make their purchases at their ease. In all Eastern countries people are exceedingly fond of visiting the bazaar or market, where a stranger may notice all the most remarkable traits of their character. Throughout the countries of Western Asia, a bazaar usually supplies as much entertainment as a theatre. Here you observe a buffoon cracking jokes or relating stories, there a perambulating auctioneer, carrying his goods in his hands, vociferously offering them for sale, and naming the bidding which he has just had, or pretends to have had, for them. Close beside him, perhaps, you find a dancing girl or wandering Derwish, a vender of Korans or charms against evil spirits, a pipe-seller, a serpent-charmer, or a scribe, who, with his inkstand in his girdle and pen in hand, stands at the receipt of custom ready to indite letters of love or business to the fairest lady in the neighbourhood, or to the most antiquated

money-dealer, who would part with anything short of his soul to Eblis25 for a proper consideration in gold. At Bruné also, when in its glory, one might no doubt have witnessed many rich displays in the market-place; and even now, though the political power of the state be in its last decrepitude, the external signs of mirth and vivacity are not wanting. People engaged in buying and selling will wrangle and laugh as usual, especially in so warm an atmosphere and beneath so bright a sky as we enjoy at Bruné. The aspect of the place on such occasions is peculiarly striking: galleries and verandahs crowded with people, innumerable boats glancing to and fro below, dripping ladders, and nibong posts stretching every way in long perspectives, with dusky expanses of water beneath the houses, disturbed perhaps by an alligator, who, mistaking some accidental obscurity for the approach of evening, thrusts up his head into the upper world to reconnoitre. The frequenters of this market or fair are themselves as varied as the productions they display, Malays, Dyaks, Chinese, Bugis, Illanuns, Balanini, with all the other tribes and races known in that part of the East. Of late, no doubt, the trade and prosperity of the place have greatly fallen off. Dread of piracy has, in many instances, deterred strangers front visiting it, and the Chinese settlers, who formerly gave life to its industry, have nearly disappeared. Standing, nevertheless, on the Jalan Subuk, and looking down upon Bruné, we cannot fail to be struck with the aspect of the scene; the broad stream, the thousands of houses which seem to float upon its bosom, each [[Page]] surmounted by its streamer; the hills, green and wooded, rising from the water's edge and stretching away in undulating masses to the line of the horizon; and over all a rich, warm sky, faithfully reflected from the waters beneath. What is wanting, is the charm of historical associations. Here and there, perhaps, we behold the upas towering over a cluster of graves, there broad patches of lalang waving over the site of deserted pepper plantations, and on some few points cottages or farmhouses nestling in the skirts of the everlasting forests, which, with little interruption, would appear to extend across Borneo to the straits which divide it from Celebes. With regard to the population of the city, opinions are very much divided, some estimating it as high as twenty-five thousand, while others fix it as low as ten thousand. As may be inferred from these wide guesses, no certainty is to be arrived at on the subject. Hereafter, however, we may reasonably look for more correct information, as when the settlement in Labuan shall have been made, our intercourse with Borneo will be constant. Captain Bethune's admirable View will meanwhile enable the reader's fancy to transport itself to the spot, and become familiar with its general outline. Other occasions will probably occur for entering into details respecting the interior of the city, and the manners of its inhabitants. One question connected with the fortunes of the state of which Bruné is the capital here forces itself upon our consideration: will the settlement of the English on Pulo Labuan effect the regeneration of the Sultanate of Borneo, or precipitate its downfall? If things in Borneo follow their natural course, the northern division of the island, and ultimately perhaps the whole, will inevitably pass under our sway. There is no vitality in the native states; that wild and irregular life which they formerly displayed is now nearly exhausted in contests with each other. It is everywhere felt by the natives that their only chance of avoiding ultimate extinction lies in inviting the protection of the English, to whose authority nearly all the tribes, whether along the coast or in the interior, are ready to submit. The Sulus, when led by circumstances to abandon their territories in Borneo, relinquished the dominion of them to us; and though it has not hitherto suited our policy practically to avail ourselves of that cession, the day is probably fast approaching when it will become our duty to repair the error, if it ought to be so regarded, which we have hitherto committed. Borneo in this case will cease to be an independent state and pass into our hands. In some neighbouring countries this may probably be regarded as an undesirable event, but with those exceptions the whole civilised world will be glad to see us entrusted with the principal keys of the Indian Archipelago: for were we masters even of the northern division of this great island, piracy, it cannot be doubted, would speedily disappear from the neighbouring seas, while all the multiplied and varied resources of some of the most prolific regions in the world would be rendered easily accessible to commerce.

It might be hazardous to attempt to anticipate to what uses the soil of this part of Borneo may be most successfully applied; but, among other things which it is calculated to grow, there seems good reason to conclude that cotton is one; and should this really prove to be the case, no limit can be assigned even by the imagination to the civilisation and prosperity of the island. We are apt at first sight to be dazzled with accounts of gold and diamond mines, of odoriferous gums and costly spices. But all these things are in reality of little value compared with the wool of the cotton plant, which, if of superior excellence, may be looked upon as the noblest mine the riches of which human ingenuity can ever hope to unfold. It is at the same time confidently believed by those who have paid most attention to the subject, that coffee, nutmegs, cloves, and cinnamon, equal to any found in the East, might by cultivation be produced in Borneo. Its camphor, we know, is superior to any found elsewhere; and in the article of edible birds'-nests, so highly esteemed by the Chinese as to be sometimes sold for their weight in gold, the provinces about Keni Balu yield to none in the Archipelago. Should all these sources of national wealth be thrown open, Borneo may in reality rise to be an Oriental Venice, and constitute the brightest ornament of a colony far surpassing in extent and riches the territories of that republic in its greatest prosperity.

VIEW IN THE JUNGLE, SINGAPORE.

Drawn by Mr. H. Williams. Min: Sur:

London, Thos. McLean, 26 Haymarket

on Stone by J.W.Giles

VIEW IN THE JUNGLE, SINGAPORE. ============== IT would be out of place here to attempt anything like a history of the Settlement of Singapore. It was founded in 1819, by Sir Stamford Raffles, who may be regarded as the great original pioneer to all our achievements in the Indian Archipelago. An extremely timid spirit then pervaded the councils of this country, so that it was some years before we recognised the act of our public servant, and acknowledged ourselves to be masters of the valuable possession he had acquired for us. Gradually, however, the importance of the place dawned upon the ministers of the day, and led them to despise the unfounded complaints of the Dutch Government, which until very recently was suffered to interfere far too much with our movements beyond the Straits of Malacca. While we were doubtful whether we should retain or abandon it, Singapore grew to be a great emporium, and one of the principal centres of the commerce of the Eastern World. It then became impossible to resist the force of circumstances; England fearlessly hoisted her flag on the southern extremity of the Malay Peninsula, and as it waved and fluttered in the breeze, it communicated hope and confidence to the whole native population of the Archipelago, if we except pirates and evil-doers. The Dutch, who had hitherto enjoyed something like a monopoly of the trade of the twelve thousand islands, felt exceedingly uneasy at this sign of our advance eastward, and from that day to

this have never ceased in their endeavours to misrepresent our policy and obstruct our progress. Singapore, however, increased rapidly in wealth and population. Enterprising settlers from every part of the further East crowded towards it; buildings sprang up on all sides; the city spread into the country; the jungle was cleared away, and fields, and gardens, and villas, and farm-houses appeared upon sites which, a few years before, had been embedded, as it were, in the eternal forest. Nothing could be more instructive than a minute and faithful account of the growth of this settlement, which ought to be looked upon simply as an illustration of what great things may be effected in that part of the world. What has happened there, will be repeated in Labuan, in the Sultanate of Borneo, and throughout the whole northern division of Kalamantan, as soon as circumstances enable us to direct the development of the resources of those places. We are only on the threshold, as it were, of the further East; and few, very few, if any, are yet aware of what, by a wise and vigorous policy, may be effected in that part of Asia. Reverting to the glimpse of the jungle which the pencil of the artist has afforded us, we perceive how very beautiful are the forms which Nature assumes in those regions. The wealth of the vegetable kingdom is there endless. Sometimes, as in the scene before us, the trees ascend slender and branchless, like so many gigantic spear-shafts, towards the sky, and have only a tuft of vegetation at their summits, which, spreading and intermingling with the branches of other trees, forms a leafy roof, sometimes impervious for miles to the rays of the sun. Elsewhere, a luxuriant and hardy under-growth, and endless families of creepers, occupy the spaces between the trees, and present to the eye a sea of undulating blossoms, of brilliant hues and overpowering fragrance, or shoot aloft over trunk and branches, and stretch in festoons, or depend like lamps of infinitely brilliant flowers. It is greatly to be regretted that where Nature displays her power on so vast a scale, man should too frequently dwindle and become insignificant. He seems almost like an intruder in the Indian Archipelago, and only shows himself at intervals and by stealth. The normal state of the islands is that of a forest. Trees of stupendous growth, plants of infinite variety, and animals of colossal magnitude, such as the rhinoceros and the elephant, abound on mountain and plain; and where man [[Page]] actually makes his appearance, it is as the last birth of Nature - as one, to use St Paul's expression, born out of due time. He accordingly feels his nothingness in the vast dwelling-place which has been provided for him, and has never yet even aspired to become the master in his own world. The energy of the European character will soon, however, it is to be hoped, turn the tables, as it were, upon Nature - pierce her solitudes, hew down her forests, and render those incalculable powers of the earth, which have hitherto run to waste, subservient to the purposes of human life. Even on the little island of Singapore, there is far more land than its present inhabitants can cultivate; and its fertility suggests the idea that while Western Asia, from Aden to the Mediterranean, and from the Indus to the Red Sea, presents the appearance of a worn-out continent, which time has reduced to the state of a skeleton, India, within and beyond the Ganges, and the whole extent of the Indian Archipelago, are yet endowed with youthful freshness and inexhaustible powers of production.

DYAK VILLAGE, BORNEO.

Drawn by Captn. Bethune R.N.C.B.

London, Thos. McLean, 26 Haymarket

on Stone by J.W.Giles

DYAK VILLAGE, BORNEO. ============== IN introducing the reader into the interior of a Dyak village, I shall make use of the able pen of Captain Bethune, who has kindly placed the following narrative at my disposal. It stands in need of no preface; though I ought, perhaps, to remark that Captain Bethune's excursion took place in the beginning of 1845, in company with Mr Brooke. "We found," he says, "a large party of Dyaks waiting to convey our baggage; and half an hour was spent in dividing and arranging their packs. They carry all goods on their backs in small baskets, and, on the present occasion, displayed considerable ingenuity in slinging the various articles with which we were furnished, consisting of clothes and food for five days. The rain fell heavily, but we resolved to move on. The march was conducted in Indian file, the path being very narrow, and generally lying along trunks of trees, notched slightly to give the foot a firmer hold. We soon came to a bridge of a single tree, thrown across a ravine, which put our talents to the test. The rain rendered the footing very insecure: no accident, however, occurred. We next traversed what had been a farm two years ago, yet in some places the new jungle was thirty feet high. About four o'clock we reached the foot of the hill on which the village was perched, and found the ascent rather trying: in about half an hour, however, we were all assembled, and, after the ceremony of feet-

washing, were ushered into the Head-house, or house where the heads are kept, in which all strangers are lodged and entertained. The form of this building was octangular, with a pointed roof and a fireplace in the centre. Round the low wails were couches, on which the attendants having arranged out mats and pillows, we were soon divested of our wet garments and made comfortable. There was only one head in this house, and that was a very old one: indeed, I fancy that the habit of taking them will soon disappear when they find they can live in peace under Mr Brooke's protection. This tribe is named Sunta.26 They have, like others, been much harassed and hunted by the Sakaran27 and Sarebas Dyaks, under Serif Sahib. For the last three years, however, they have been left in peace, and are rapidly increasing in wealth. This being the first tribe of Dyaks we met with, I shall give a description of their dress and manner of receiving strangers, which will equally apply to all other tribes. The men wear a narrow cloth bound round the loins, and passing betwixt the legs, with one end hanging down in front and the other behind. A yard or two of the same stuff is bound carelessly round the head in form of a turban the original material was cloth made from the bark of trees, but in proportion as European manufactures are introduced calico is substituted for that primitive fabric. The cottons most affected are blue, with stripes of white and red at either end. On the right side are suspended a knife, and a little basket for their sirik, or betel; on the left, a sword, or parang, which is their only tool. They wear two or three brass rings under the knee, and often have the arms covered with rings of brass wire* or cocoa-nut fibre. They always squat on their hams before a superior. The women wear nothing but a cloth hitched round the hips, which descends to the knee; ornament their waists with coils of rattan, coloured red and black, and pass over the cloth a broad girdle of brass wire. Their arms are ornamented, like those of the men, with brass wire, and rings made of shells. The upper part of the body is completely exposed. They are fond of ornamented caps of bead-work, surmounted, perhaps, by two or three shells. The very little boys are entirely [[Page]] naked. The female children wear a girdle, and a diminutive plate of metal in front: at four or five years old they are furnished with the cloth, like their mothers. The men have but one wife, and both appear very fond of their children. “The lodging or village consists of one long building, erected on posts, at least six feet from the ground: the apartments are contiguous, each family having one. A covered gallery conducts to all rooms in front, and outside is a platform of variable width. New-married couples live in separate huts till they are rich enough to add a house to the general building. In the gallery all the work is carried on, such as making mats, drying corn, &c. The Head-house is a distinct building, in which strangers are lodged, councils held, &c. The unmarried men and boys likewise sleep in it; the girls are kept with their parents. Until recently, the sites of villages were chosen as inaccessible as possible, to avoid the attacks of their enemies; but they are now gradually feeling more secure, and are leaving their fastnesses. The approaches to the houses are over notched trees; at one village (Stang) the ascent was nearly twenty feet perpendicular. "The Tuan besar, or Great Lord (the title by which Mr Brooke is spoken of) had his feet washed in cocoa-nut milk; he then killed a fowl, and allowed the blood to run into the basin. This mixture is supposed to be good to produce great crops. My feet were washed, a white fowl brought, which was first waved by the principal man (Orang Kaya) over all the people, then by the Datu, one of the Jaraooh28 chiefs, and lastly by Mr Brooke. A quantity of rice was then brought and sprinkled with some yellow mixture by means of a chaplet of beads. While this was going on, small bells were tied round the waists of the chiefs, both men and women continually drawing our hands through both theirs 'to extract the virtue.' "We left the village about midday, Mr Brooke having first received a visit from the head-man of the next tribe (Stang). He came bearing a Sirik box, having a white cloth on his head, accompanied by a white banner. The walk was a short one of about four miles, three of which lay along trees. There being no Head-house at Stang, we spread our mats in the gallery. The women here are much prettier than at the last place. The wife of one of the head-men was very pretty; she was delicate, and came to Brooke that he might rub her side. Her husband, an old man, kindly remarked, that ` it * See Frontispiece

was better to die than to be always ill. 'A sick wife is felt very much, as the women do all the household work. We saw here part of the feast suspended on a branch of bamboo, as an offering to their god Joata.29 The Orang Kaya mumbled some words over it while suspended. When we had dined, a dance was gone through. The first performer entered, the body bent, the hands joined: uttering a piercing yell, she advanced to the head guest, and took his hand in both hers, and then conveyed the virtue to her face and bosom. Then half rising up and extending her arms, she kept one foot fixed, moving the other slowly forward, making meanwhile a quarter turn, and keeping time to the music of tom-toms with her hands, bending them up and down from the wrist. Having completed her gyration, she began with the other foot, turning in an opposite direction. The body and arms are moved in as graceful an attitude as possible; and thus she proceeded slowly along the room, then right about face and back again. Occasionally, as the dancers passed us, they screamed and drew more virtue. Men and women mingled indiscriminately. Many of the latter are very graceful. The lady who professed to be in delicate health was one of the most graceful, and displayed so much vanity by keeping immediately in front of us, that she underwent a reprimand from one of the head-men, who imitated her style of dancing, to the great amusement of our party and all the natives. We next proceeded to Morabanok,30 inhabited by the Sigu tribe. The first part of the walk was through a complete thicket, where we were a little annoyed by leeches. Here we fell in with a party of the Sigus coming to meet us. The Dyak is seen to great advantage in the wild jungle, presenting altogether a very picturesque appearance. We then passed over some newly-cleared farms. The agriculture practised by the Dyaks is as follows:- The jungle is cut down, and a favourable opportunity is taken for firing it. The seed (rice) is then dibbled in; sometimes Indian corn is sown and rice dibbled in between the plants. The clearing season extends from August to October, and the harvest is reaped about February. The Dyak, at this time, living at his farms, is but rarely seen in the villages. The rice thus grown is called hill rice, in contradistinction [[Page]] to the wet rice. The crop gathered the farm is deserted for at least seven years, and a new spot is chosen and cleared. The rice grown off the uplands possesses the advantage of keeping longer, and is more valued than that grown in the bottoms. Query, is it of another quality?31 No sooner is the crop reaped, than a grass called 'lalang' springs up, in its character more pernicious than couch, no means having yet been found of eradicating it. However, this grass perishes at the end of seven years. The fruit season in Sarāwak is in November and December; at Bruné, in September and October. In the course of our excursion, we passed through several very romantic dells, and the country in general was very well watered. That which is called the Sacred Grove is highly picturesque. "To be properly appreciated the Dyaks should be seen at home. One of their great characteristics is their politeness; to which I may add, their great honesty and trust in their chief. They are very fond of their children, and faithful to their wives. Instances of infidelity are very rare. Among the Sakarans, when two young people form a mutual attachment, they cohabit by permission of their parents: if they have children, they must marry; if not, they separate. Their women when taken by Europeans become affectionate and fond of their protectors.” Thus far Captain Bethune. Not only in the Sultanate of Borneo, but throughout the whole island, the Dyaks constitute a majority of the population. In manners they may perhaps be said to resemble each other; but in character and propensities the several tribes vary considerably, according to the circumstances in which they are placed. Far in the interior, where the governments are purely indigenous they display great energy, and often live under the sway of princes who are able to bring large armies into the field. Offering the most striking contrast to the scattered and cringing hordes living under the pressure of Malay tyranny, those mountain tribes display a fierce spirit of independence which proves them to have belonged originally to a generous race. Over their origin, however, the greatest possible obscurity prevails; some, supported by their own traditions, supposing them to be descended from the Chinese; while others, for other reasons, believe them to be of Hindú origin. Whoever may have been their progenitors, one extraordinary fact seems to be unquestionable; namely, that they are a people that, having once been highly civilised, have dwindled in power, and degenerated by degrees, until in certain provinces and

districts they would almost appear to be on a level with the lowest savages. In their manners and practices, in their fearful and fantastic penances, in their ferocity, in their ignorance, you perceive the marks of a race emerging from the primeval forest, and that dense obscurity which seems everywhere to encircle the cradle of mankind. But in certain arts which they possess, in certain beliefs and opinions, and in certain religious structures, scattered through the most remote and secluded parts of their country, you discover indisputable proofs that they have in the course of ages descended from a higher level of civilisation, and come to occupy a station of which their ancestors were wholly ignorant. Some philosophers have doubted whether the general level of civilisation has not from the beginning of the world been gradually rising everywhere, in consequence of the deposits, as it were, of acquisitions which our species are compelled to make in self defence. But this theory cannot be reconciled with experience. Looking over the whole surface of humanity,we find it greatly to resemble that of the globe; and that parts which once towered like pinnacles into the skies, have in lapse of time been depressed, flattened, and beaten down into unseen depths; while others, which were once so low as to be scarcely visible, have risen more or less rapidly, till they have reached the topmost heights of society, to be again depressed and overwhelmed in their turn. If the Dyaks were once Hindús, they probably left the continent before Brahmanism had hardened into a fixed systems and the destructive doctrines of castes had poisoned the sources of life, as they seem to entertain no ideas analogous to those now prevalent throughout India. But however this may be, we are not as yet in a condition to offer anything beyond mere conjectures respecting their origin, their general character, or their arts and manners as a people. Few have penetrated beyond the outskirts of their society, where Malay domination may be reasonably supposed to have exerted a deteriorating influence. When the interior of Pulo Kalamantan is thrown open to us - when we have traversed it from north to south, and from east to west - and when the Dyaks shall have become our fellow-citizens, and yield willing obedience to British laws and British magistrates, as they shortly will throughout the North of [[Page]] Borneo, - we may be able to indulge in speculations respecting them which it would now be altogether absurd to venture upon. One thing, however, we may always be said to know, namely, that the Dyaks are an ingenious and adroit people, able to make rapid proficiency in the useful arts, and willing to be instructed in them, though they have hitherto been slaves to superstitious opinions, which in the course of time would probably suffice wholly to depopulate the great island they inhabit. But into any disquisition on these opinions, and the practices to which they give birth, it would, in a work like the present, be impossible to enter. I shall only add, therefore, in this place, that were the Dyaks converted to Christianity, and properly instructed in their social duties, the population of Borneo would increase rapidly, until in the course, perhaps of a few generations, it might rival that of the Japanese Empire; that is to say, exceed by far the present population of the whole Indian Archipelago.

VIEW OF A COAL-SEAM ON THE ISLAND OF LABUAN.32

Drawn by L.G.Heath R.N.

on Stone by J.W.Giles

VIEW OF A COAL-SEAM ON THE ISLAND OF LABUAN. ============== IT will scarcely be credited in this age of Railways and Steamers, how our adventurous Countrymen, some seventy years ago, navigated the intricate straits and seas of the Indian Archipelago. Many of the most extraordinary voyages ever recorded were performed in vessels which one would imagine were totally unfit to encounter the storms that occasionally sweep around the islands. Captain Forrest, an intrepid navigator, affords a noble example of what may be done with very small means. In 1774, he sailed from Balambangan, visited the Sulu group, made his way through the then almost unknown sea which separates Celebes from Jilolo, continued his route through the Spice Islands, and finally accomplished the object of his voyage by exploring a portion of New Guinea. On his return, he again passed through the Moluccas, and sailing by the eastern coast of Jilolo, arrived at Mindanao; from thence he continued his voyage to Balambangan; skirting the north-eastern coast of Kalamantan, he passed Labuan, visited the city of Borneo, and at length, after a voyage of eighteen months, reached Acheen. He endeavoured to proceed to Fort Marlborough, but was compelled to abandon the attempt, his vessel being so leaky that it was

impossible to navigate her. It is scarcely to be credited that Captain Forrest performed this long and dangerous voyage, through unknown seas, filled with diminutive islets, concealed rocks, and dangerous sandbanks, and swarming with fierce and desperate pirates, in the Tartar, a galley of only ten tons burden. Steam, however, has removed the necessity or excuse for Government's employing such vessels on important public services. Wherever a native boat can sail, an iron steamer can follow. We regard the discovery of coal upon the Island of Labuan as one of the surest indications of the prosperity of the new settlement. Lying as it does in quite a central position, and almost in the route of vessels engaged in the China trade, it cannot fail to attract a considerable number of these ships, particularly in the season of typhoons, when a harbour of refuge, so long desired, will be near at hand. The benefits to be derived from the occupation of Labuan cannot be overrated. Coal was discovered in the bed of the Kianga in the neighbouring district on the main about 1837, and Captain Bethune and Mr Wise, on visiting Labuan in the year 1845, obtained there some specimens which proved of very excellent quality.33 Guided by what had previously been done, Commander Heath determined to explore the northeastern portion of the island, in order to discover, if possible, whether there were extensive coal formations, and how far the supply might be relied on. On arriving at the out-crop on the northeast point, the idea suggested itself to him that the stratum extended further inland in a direct line. Being disappointed at first in his expectation, he brought a native fisherman to the spot, and showing him the coal, bade him carefully examine it. He then directed him to search the jungle, to discover, if possible, whether there were any more of the mineral to be found; promising, should he be successful, to reward him handsomely. In a very few days, the native brought several specimens to the ship, which he had picked up in the woods; he then led Commander Heath, by a circuitous path, to a spot where a running stream had laid bare a large surface of coal. Finding by the compass that the dip and strike agreed with those of the outcrop, he made his way in that direction, and discovered five more patches of this valuable article. From subsequent examinations, Commander Heath was satisfied it was the same seam which extended so far inland. The advantages to be derived from the discovery are too numerous to be dwelt on at length in the present notice, but we may pause to inquire into the quality of the mineral. Without entering [[Page]] upon the various experiments, we may insert the following testimony, which, though short, is extremely valuable: - "The Honorable Company's steam-vessel Nemesis anchored within one hundred and twenty yards of the shore in three and a half fathoms water, low water, spring tides, at the northeast end of Labuan, and received forty tons of coals, bringing it from the mouth of the pit, and shipping it with our own crew, without difficulty. The coal appears to belong to the kind called cannel, and contains a quantity of resin; we find it kindle easily; in burning it ran into cakes or formed together into a solid mass; emitting a great deal of heat and flame, and leaving a small quantity of light white ashes, and no clinkers are found on the bars. The fires, after being once made, did not require raking or poking, and were only cleared out once every four hours, usually done once every two hours with English, and more frequently with Indian coal. The quantity burnt is fourteen or fifteen tons in twenty-four hours, or at the same rate as English coal received on board at Singapore. Steam is easily kept up. I have no hesitation in stating that the coal received at Labuan is equal to any English coal I have seen on board steamers in the East, and decidedly better than any worked in India for similar purposes." The iron steamers which will be required for the suppression of piracy, and protecting commerce from those depredations to which it has been too long exposed, will now be enabled to obtain fuel without those tedious delays which have prevented their acting with their usual effect in the China Seas. It is impossible to extirpate piracy without their aid; the native prahus, built for swiftness, elude our men-of-war by running near the shore, and escape our boats by their swiftness. Our steamers, however, will be enabled to follow them everywhere, up the shallowest rivers and over the most formidable bars. The Nemesis, although a vessel of very great size, when engaged on active service, draws but five feet of water. Such craft will prove the most formidable opponents the

Sulus or Illanuns have ever met with. The chastisement lately inflicted by this noble iron steamer will tend to increase the dread universally felt by the natives for these unusual and almost unknown engines of warfare. It will be perceived from the accompanying lithograph that the scenery to be found on the island is highly picturesque. On approaching the shores from the north, one cannot fail to be struck by the beauty of Labuan, appearing like an emerald rising from the sea, being clothed from the water's edge to the summit of the little eminences which occasionally arise with a noble forest of the richest hue; the landscapes to be found within the island are not majestic, but they afford all the variety that can be possibly expected from the combination of waterfalls, limpid streams, magnificent trees, and the richest vegetation ever discovered on the surface of the globe. In fact, the beauty of the island can only be equalled by the importance it will acquire as a British settlement.

VIEW OF SANTUBONG MOUNTAIN, SARĀWAK DISTRICT.

(Altitude 2712 feet)

Drawn by Mr. H. Williams. Min Sur

on Stone by J.W.Giles

VIEW OF SANTUBONG MOUNTAIN, SARA WAK. ============== IT is certainly no easy task to delineate, under any circumstances, a rich tropical landscape, so as firmly to impress its features on the mind; but the difficulty is much enhanced when, as in Sarāwak, the face of the country may be said to resemble a dissolving view, all its minute characteristics being in a constant state of change under the hand of Mr Brooke. Some years ago, the whole surface of the province was covered with a virgin forest: now, however, in several districts agriculture is making its appearances and the rudiments of villages and the smoke of new cottages meet the eye of the traveller at intervals as he journeys along. Any picture, therefore, which I may now draw will speedily become obsolete, save where Nature has erected her imperishable monuments, as in Mount Santubong, which will continue to look down on all the changes and chances of civilisation among

the Dyaks till time shall sweep their remotest descendants from the scene. When Sarāwak was made over to Mr Brooke in 1842, the condition of the Dyaks appeared to be quite as hopeless as it had been for many hundred years. Nothing had occurred to ameliorate their habits - nothing to create the hope that, by their own efforts or those of their native rulers, they would be led to make the slightest progress. Their superstitions were traditional, their customs and manners unchanged. Long beyond the memory of man, they had been accustomed, through the instrumentality of petty feuds, to hunt down each other like wild beasts; and when they had succeeded in destroying an enemy, their practice was to decapitate him and suspend his head in a circular edifice, where it was smoked and preserved as a propitiatory offering to certain malevolent spirits which, they believed, would otherwise ravage their corn-fields and prevent the ripening of their fruits. One of the first measures of their white Rajah was to put a stop to this practice. He undertook, like the philosopher in Rasselas, the regulation of the seasons, and rendered himself responsible to his subjects for the safety of their orchards and corn-fields. If any man, after this, took off the head of his neighbour to propitiate the spirits of the atmosphere, Mr Brooke caused it to be universally understood that he would immediately put him to death. This order produced the desired effect; the Dyaks at once relinquished the practice of head-hunting, which is now entirely unknown, save in the traditions of the villagers, throughout the whole province of Sarāwak. This single measure must produce a considerable effect on the growth of the population, which has hitherto been far too scanty to struggle with the force of the vegetable kingdom. Trees, plants, and grasses spring up with a rapidity which defies the hostility of the Dyaks; they find themselves grown up, as it were, in the forest, and ousted gradually from one spot after another by the irresistible spread of vegetation. Mr Brooke's laws will put a period to this state of things, and gradually enable his Dyaks to subjugate Nature. Other and more powerful causes of depopulation have now also been removed: I mean piracy and the slave-trade, which can no longer be said to affect the condition of Sarāwak. Formerly the Sakarans, the Balanini, and the Illanuns landed in great force upon the coast, and carried off the inhabitants of whole districts in a day; but the presence of our steamers and cruisers in the Eastern Seas has now rendered these periodical visitations impracticable, so that the country, whose luxuriance and beauty it is impossible to behold without admiration, will soon be peopled and reclaimed from the jungle. There is another circumstance which tends much to strengthen this expectation. Greater security for life and property is enjoyed in Sarāwak than anywhere else in Borneo; and when this fact becomes known, as it gradually will, in the neighbouring provinces, immigration must inevitably [[Page]] take place; consequently those limpid brooks and streams which now run through woods and solitudes, and slake the thirst of nothing but wild animals, will afford refreshment to industrious and civilised men, and reflect from their placid surfaces the images of churches and happy cottages, and be ploughed by the keels of barks and steamers. The previous mention of churches reminds me of one of the most remarkable features of our civilisation. I have observed in another work, * that a country derives half its beauty from its religion; and I am sure no one can have travelled either through the South of Europe, or through the Mahommedan countries of the East, without being convinced of the truth of this observation. Convent or chapel, mosque or saint's tomb, is there sure to be beheld glittering amid stupendous rocks, or on the summit of airy promontories - in the recesses of woods, or on the banks of rivers. Who does not remember the hospices and monasteries which hallow the solitudes of the Alps, and the delicate cupolas, with glittering crescents, which impart additional beauty to the green expanses of the Delta, and the rocky precipitous ridges of the Upper Nile? When the Dyaks shall have adopted our faith, the landscape which now surrounds the foot of Santubong will be dotted with church spires, and the architectural splendour of cathedrals will aid in kindling their imaginations. They already exhibit that docility and gentleness which pave the way to easy conversion. One of the young gentlemen belonging to the establishment at Sarāwak, frequently without arms or precautions of any kind, ascends the river, takes up his quarters in a Dyak village, and spends whole days *The History of the Manners and Customs of Ancient Greece

among the natives, without experiencing the slightest apprehension or incurring any danger. In dealing with such races, the great difficulty is to overcome their indolence, and make them feel the necessity of progress. When people are contented, they stagnate. It is ambition or cupidity, the lust of power or the thirst of gain, that urges man to exertion: they must eagerly desire something, or it must be obvious they will undergo no toil and face no danger to obtain it. Commerce, however, and the example of their white rulers, may produce a beneficial effect upon their minds, and, by teaching them that they have wants which, in their present state, they cannot gratify, and rights which, while they remain ignorant, they cannot enjoy, may by degrees awaken their mental powers, and render them worthy to become the fellow-citizens of Englishmen. To this period I confidently look forward: numerous influences are now combining to hasten its approach; statesmen and ministers of religion, merchants and men of science, are all holding out the hand to the natives of Borneo, and from various qualities in their character, and various circumstances in their situation, I am inclined to hope and believe that the benevolent designs of Great Britain in their behalf will not be frustrated. .

CUTTING THE BOOM AT MALLUDU.

Drawn by Captn. Bethune R.N.C.B.

on Stone by J.W.Giles

CUTTING THE BOOM AT MALLUDU. ============== IN nearly all parts of Pulo Kalamantan, but more especially in the Sultanate of Borneo, a race of Muslim adventurers from the West, calling themselves Sheriffs, and claiming to be descended from the Arabian Prophet, have for centuries exercised a powerful influence over the native tribes. The lives of these men have generally been marked by extraordinary vicissitudes. Arriving for the most part poor and obscure, they have, by the mere force of character, acquired friends, surrounded themselves with opulence and laid the foundation of a power which in some instances has been equal to that of kings. At first, perhaps, the sway of these men, though arbitrary, may have been beneficial to the natives, whom, to a certain extent, they instructed and withdrew from the practices of savage life, by imparting to them a knowledge of the Koran and the civilised institutions of El Islam. Afterwards, however, falling upon evil courses, and acting with pirates, or becoming pirates themselves, they have mainly co-operated in checking the progress of civilisation, and have now for many years placed themselves in the position of enemies to the people of the island, as well as to legitimate commerce.

This fact has been placed beyond doubt by the experience of Mr Brooke, who found it altogether impossible to establish tranquillity in Sarāwak, to check the growth of piracy, to establish English influence at Bruné, or, in short, to effect one useful purpose, till the power of the Sheriffs in the North and on the North-West coast had been altogether annihilated. Hence that series of destructive expeditions against the small Mohamedan settlements within the sultanate, accounts of which have already been laid before the public. Properly speaking, perhaps, the Mohamedan chiefs were actuated by no religious feeling, and would have viewed with equal jealousy the rise of a Muslim Rajah in Sarāwak had his policy been inimical to their interests; but yet, in the struggles which have taken place, the spirit of fanaticism seems to have awakened amid the Sheriffs' followers, and to have betrayed them into many of those excesses of obstinacy, rage, and vengeance, which have marked the close of their political career. Everywhere in the East the civilisation of Christianity may be said to be engaged in a conflict of extermination with that of El Islam; and though the theatre presented by the Twelve Thousand Islands be in this respect confined and obscure, we shall probably witness on a smaller scale all those phenomena which accompanied the downfal of the Mogul Empire in India. For some reason or reasons which it might be difficult to explain, the Dutch seem by no means to find it impracticable to hold divided sway with the Muslims, whose power they insensibly under-mine, and whom they overthrow and extirpate only when the blow seems to have been rendered imperatively necessary. It is different with the English. The instinct of empire seems to be strong in us; we impatiently admit of rivalry; we thrust before us the laws of civilisation, require uncivilised races to obey them, and if we meet with resistance overbear it at once by force. This may be praiseworthy or otherwise, according to the results [[Page ]] produced; but few, I think, who have witnessed the progress made by the spirit of tranquillity and trade in the Archipelago will question the wisdom of the policy we have pursued. Among the Arabian adventurers who have recently made a figure in the history of Borneo, Sheriff Osman, of Malludu, may be regarded as one of the most remarkable, having gathered around him a number of desperadoes from all parts of the Archipelago; he encouraged and practised piracy on a large scale, and without reserve kept the Sultan and the capital in awe, and offered considerable obstruction to the development of Mr Brooke's judicious policy. It therefore became necessary to attack him in his stronghold, and Captain Talbot, of the "Vestal," was directed by the Commander-in-Chief on the station to undertake this service. Of Captain Talbot's operations the only account extant is given in his own official letter to the Admiral. "At daylight on the 29th (August, 1845), we proceeded up the river in two divisions. After advancing about two miles, I was informed by the Bruné pilots that we were nearing the town; I therefore went ahead with Captain Lyster to reconnoitre. On coming to an abrupt turn in the river, about three miles higher, we found ourselves suddenly in front of the position, which consisted of two stockaded forts, of eight and three guns each, commanding the reach. About 200 yards behind the forts was a boom across the river, apparently well constructed. The forts appeared to us to stand on a tongue of land, from which we were separated by the river, which at that point divided into two branches, and the pilots declared that to be case; that turning to the right we observed was still further defended by a floating battery: there appeared, therefore, to be no means of carrying the position but by forcing the boom. “On rejoining the force, arrangements were made for the gun-boats to advance to the boom to cover the party appointed to cut through it, the remainder of the force to hold itself in readiness to act when ordered. We had approached the boom to within 100 yards, when a flag of truce was observed coming towards us. Conceiving the object of the enemy was merely to gain time, I sent back a message that unless Sheriff Osman came to me in half an hour, I should open fire. This being conveyed to the fort, the flag returned with an offer to admit me with two boats, that I might visit the Sheriff. I declined, and the flag retired. The moment it was clear of the line of fire, the three-gun battery opened, and the cannonade became general on both sides. "The boom was composed of three large-sized trees, each supporting a chain cable equal to ten or twelve inches, firmly bolted and secured around the trunk of a tree on each bank: a cut in the

right bank allowed a canoe to pass, but was impassable to any of our boats. "One hour nearly elapsed before we could in any way remove the obstacle, during which time the fire of the enemy was well sustained, all the guns being laid for the boom. I need hardly mention it was briskly returned from our side, both from guns and small arms, and some rockets well thrown by a party which had been landed on the right bank appeared to produce considerable effect. "As soon as the passage was open for the smaller boats, they passed through rapidly, and embarked the marines from the large boats across the boom; ultimately the whole force passed through. The enemy immediately quitted their defences, and fled in every direction. The marines and small-arms men having cleared the bank, the former were placed as a covering party, and parties of seamen were pushed up both banks of the river, but met with no opposition. At the same time preparations were made for spiking the guns, and destroying the stockades and town. In a short time these were accomplished, and the whole in flames, as well as three large prahus and several smaller ones. "When Captain Mundy next year visited the place, he found it entirely in ruins, and it is believed that the Arab Chief Sheriff Osman, who had been severely wounded during the attack, afterwards died in the jungle.

VIEW FROM MR. BROOKE'S BUNGALOW.

Drawn by Mr. H. Williams. Min Sur

on Stone by J.W.Giles

VIEW FROM MR BROOKE'S BUNGALOW. ============== NOTWITHSTANDING the richness and variety of tropical vegetation, and the charms possessed by every fresh combination of greensward, wood, and water, there is a feeling of sameness about all landscapes taken from a plain in the torrid zone. The trees are graceful, but they are monotonous. Their upward tendency, their straight slender trunks, their comparative paucity of boughs, present an unfavourable contrast with the irregular, fantastic, spreading masses of foliage which the constant vicissitudes of the climate produce in temperate latitudes. In some parts of the East, no doubt, we meet with a mixture of tropical and northern appearances. The richness of the soil and the warmth of the atmosphere cause many trees to shoot up luxuriantly, and attain to an immense height; while the dryness of the atmosphere checks the growth of others, and allows the sap to flow slowly in various directions, which may possibly cause that picturesque appearance which the sycamore and some other trees display in Egypt.

But in Borneo the extreme moisture which perpetually prevails, acted on by the general heat, developes so rapidly the vegetation of the plains, that it almost of necessity assumes a monotonous character. Everywhere there is luxuriance; everywhere a green, rich, rank exuberance. Nature seems to be overladen with her own wealth, and steaming exhalations from the soil envelop the jungle in a warm, relaxing mist. It is only when we escape from the lowlands, and get among the gorges of the mountains, that we discover the genuine splendour of the tropics. There we escape from what may properly be termed jungle, and behold the real forest of the torrid zone, intermingled with rocks, torrents, and waterfalls, and intersected by numerous openings, rendered luminous and almost transparent by the purest light. I long to see scenes like these reproduced by the pencil, and brought home to Europe like revelations from another world. There is nothing so magnificent, nothing so beautiful in our Hyperborean regions. Our landscapes want that resplendent golden sunshine which imparts vitality to the South; at the same time, it must be confessed that the opinion is well founded which represents the natives of those climates as all but indifferent to the glorious nature of the scenes lying around them. It is we from the North who truly admire the forms which Nature puts on there; who enter, as it were, into the metaphysics of the landscape, and interpret the meaning of the thousand lights and shades which invest those Alpine chains that glow beneath the sun of the equator. I have often, while wandering through the desert, indulged the belief that the grand scenes I beheld before me must be intended to excite pleasure and inspire admiration in other beings than man, since the few wandering inhabitants who pass over its surface appear to be wholly incapable of comprehending its sublimity. Even travellers from Europe, ripened by civilisation, and possessing minds stored with all the associations which history, poetry, and art have scattered over the earth, seem never to realise to [[Page]] themselves one hundredth part of the majesty with which Nature invests herself in the tropics. Our incapacity to penetrate into her designs often induces us to speak of her arrangements as capricious and wild. We behold eternal sterility placed side by side with the most prolific productiveness; we see the barren waste clasping some green paradise, as the ocean encircles an island; we gaze on immeasurable expanses of golden sand, loose, light, everlastingly rolling before the wind, - now, gently and almost imperceptibly along the surface of the waste, and then surging upwards like the smoke of half a continent above the level of the clouds, and darkening the whole face of the earth. I could scarcely therefore imagine, when witnessing such phenomena, that they were designed solely to amuse the fancy of some chance traveller like myse1f, whom idle curiosity had tempted to the spot. Scenes so grand and so exciting must be created to impart delight to higher intelligence, who may hover, perhaps, over the scene for ages in rapt contemplation of its mysterious beauty. Some conviction of this sort has driven the Mohammedans to presume the existence of various races of spirits, the Ginn, the Marids, the Efreets, the Ghouls, each adapted by its tastes and predilections to relish the several departments of Nature, some enjoying the light and sunny, others revelling in the gloom, and passing eternally round the earth in the tempests which vex and darken it. Future inquiry will, perhaps, discover to us what interpretation the Dyaks of Borneo put upon the infinitely-varied phenomena by which they find themselves encompassed. Some few glimpses we have already obtained into the structure and character of their minds through the aid of Mr Brooke, whose philosophical curiosity has led him to investigate with patience the nature of their opinions; but a full and satisfactory knowledge can only be the result of length of time, though I know of no man better calculated than he to penetrate into the mental idiosyncrasies of a wild people. Hereafter, perhaps, he may be able therefore to reveal to us the strange creeds and superstitions which people the wildernesses of Borneo, and lend the charms of poetry to scenes which must in a great measure be dumb and unintelligible to the stranger. As I have often repeated, the physical landscape is but half the thing; and to understand and enjoy this properly, we must be masters also of the moral landscape, which is invisible to the uninitiated, and can only be laid open by patience and inquiry.

What Mr Brooke beholds from the window of his bungalow, presents itself to his eye only; others see the husk - he penetrates to the kernel, and blends the past and the future upon that narrow spot, arid renders it classical by his hopes, his aspirations, and the yearnings of his honourable ambition.

FLAGSTAFF, POINT LABUAN. N.W. COAST OF BORNEO.

Drawn by L.G.Heath R.N.

London, Thos. McLean, 26 Haymarket

on Stone by J.W.Giles

FLAGSTAFF, POINT LABUAN. ============== ON the character and prospects of Pulo Labuan I have already spoken. The City of Victoria, to be erected on and near the spot where the flagstaff now stands, will in all likelihood prove a second Singapore. It should have been called Palmerston, in honour of the great statesman who first recognised the political and commercial value of the island, especially as there are already several other cities in the East denominated Victoria, which will occasion endless confusion in geography. Thus we have Victoria on the Indus, Victoria in Hong Kong, and so on; a practice which indicates the extreme poverty of invention in those who have the regulation of our urban nomenclature. By whatever name the place may be called, it will in all likelihood prove an important settlement, in the history of which I cannot but take a strong interest, since one of my own sons 34 will probably be present at the actual founding of it. Up to the present moment, Labuan, as most persons are now aware, has been a favourite haunt of pirates from the more eastern groups of the Archipelago, who have lain concealed along its wooded shores for the purpose of intercepting vessels entering or quitting the Brunè river. But these dangerous parasites of navigation have already disappeared, and no persons are seen on or near the

island but British sailors, or native traders or fisher men, or collectors of coal or camphor. It is pleasant to look forward to the debarkation of the crew of the "Meander," on the spot represented in the lithograph; the running up of temporary dwellings; the laying out of streets, squares, and gardens; the erecting of churches, of schools and colleges, of government offices, and hotels, and theatres, and bazaars, and music-halls, and whatever else, for instruction, trade, or amusement, a British settlement requires. For some time the sounds of the English language will be predominant on the isle; but as the attractions of gain are multiplied, that turbulent, intriguing, grasping, selfish, sensual, indefatigable people, the Chinese, will throng towards the spot and overwhelm the European element of society. This, at least, has hitherto proved the case everywhere in the Archipelago. But one suggestion respecting the admission of these people I would here throw out, viz. that none should be allowed to settle who did not bring women along with them. I am aware it is contrary to the laws of China for females to emigrate; but whoever is acquainted with the character of the Mandarins who govern along the coast, and with the facilities which exist for eluding the laws of China, must perceive that it would be quite easy for Chinese emigrants to take their wives along with them; and till this shall be done,they would always prove restless and worthless settlers, intent on amassing money by all means lawful or unlawful, that they may return to their country and their families. If under present circumstances they abandon this hope, and take wives from among the daughters of the land, they and their offspring appear at once to degenerate - I mean in most cases, for instances do occasionally occur in which the half-caste Chinese formed trustworthy and peaceful settlers. Of the other classes of inhabitants who may be expected to establish themselves in [[Page ]] Labuan, the Malays are likely to prove the most numerous; and next to them the Bugis and CochinChinese, who habitually leave their homes in great numbers, and settle in nearly all the western parts of the Archipelago. Among all these races the greatest evil will at first be the paucity of women, without whose presence there can be no feeling of home. In fact, until security and commerce attract them to a settlement, the men are little better than fierce marauders, who never think of fixing themselves permanently, but roam about in search of gain, pleasure, or pillage, according to their inclinations. Women are the heart of all new societies, the nucleus around which all strong and useful associations are twined. For this reason, it would be far better that Labuan should be peopled slowly, than that it should be infested by lawless and homeless vagabonds chiefly from the Celestial Empire, who will bring with them and diffuse through the colony the seeds of a fearful demoralisation, which may never perhaps be wholly extirpated. No doubt, the Dyaks from Borneo will migrate to the island by degrees, especially as the work of the missionaries prepares them for mixing with Europeans and profiting by the contact. These comparatively harmless people, who have hitherto been oppressed by their Malay rulers, and kept in an extreme state of barbarism, are likely to exhibit much industry and many good qualities under English rule; and as the result of our present policy will probably be the occupation of the whole of the northern division of Kalamantan at no very distant day, the emancipation of the Dyaks may be regarded among the contingencies of our own times. Meanwhile, people from Great Britain and other parts of the West should be encouraged to emigrate into the Archipelago, not as artisans or labourers, but as settlers with small capital who may expect to enrich themselves by directing the labours of others. Nowhere does there exist a more encouraging field for enterprise. In nearly all parts of Borneo Proper, cotton, coffee, the sugar-cane, and all the finer spices may be cultivated with success, though there be some few species which are found to reach perfection nowhere but in the Moluccas. Labuan itself is too small to be regarded otherwise than in the light of a garden, which, in proportion as the city acquires its natural development, it must necessarily become, The water-channels provided by Nature will be cleansed and deepened, and the whole surface of the island, which consists of a light dry mould, will be drained and rendered apt for the mattock or the spade. This task in all likelihood will be delegated to the Chinese, who, in spite of their evil qualities, are the most hardy and laborious people in the East. It is from the great island opposite

that the riches of Labuan must proceed. Even in the mere article of coal, the greatest store is found in Pulo Kalamantan, which contains, besides, almost every element that can go to the building up of a nation's opulence. The warehouses erected on Flagstaff Point, where now we behold nothing but grass and trees, will here-after contain the gums and spices, the minerals and precious stones, the magnificent timber, the costly woods, the pearls, the tripang,35 and the birds' nests collected along the shores or in the forests of the greatest island in the world. This prospect must stand to Flagstaff Point in lieu of the picturesque, to which it can lay no claim.

VIEW LOOKING DOWN THE RIVER, BORNEO PROPER.

Drawn by L.G.Heath R.N.

London, Thos. McLean, 26 Haymarket

on Stone by J.W.Giles

VIEW LOOKING DOWN THE RIVER, BORNEO PROPER. ============== IT will be long before Europe acquires a just notion of the territories or inhabitants of the Sultanate of Borneo. When we speak of Omar Ali, the Sovereign of the north-western division of the island, people figure to themselves a powerful prince with a settled revenue, considerable forces by sea and land, and a large population of Malays and Dyaks obedient to his authority, and pursuing their various callings and avocations under the protection he affords them. Nothing, however, could be further from the truth than this notion. The person whom we denominate Sultan of Borneo is merely one chief among many others, of whom some perhaps are more powerful than himself, though he has inherited from his ancestors a sort of loose claim to supremacy over them. But on every navigable river there exists a species of independent political system, with a Rajah acting at its head, who, partly by industry, partly by piracy, contrives to subsist the population under his sway. For several hundred miles from Saräwak, northwards, the Rajahs pay a doubtful allegiance to the Sultan, who, should they prove refractory, however, would not be able to enforce it. They, in fact, as often as it suits their purpose, collect together their forces and attack each other, or unite in hostile league against some neighbouring Rajah whose policy they dislike, or whose domains they covet. To this state of things the influence, it is to be hoped, of Great Britain in Borneo will speedily put an end. Up to the present moment the natives have little or no idea of the power of European States, which have seldom interfered with them unless when bent upon the punishment of some act of piracy; but when this is the case, it can scarcely be said that they comprehend the motives by which the people from the West are actuated. Looking upon all questions of morals and politics from a peculiar point of view, and considering it to be their paramount duty to provide for the maintenance of their own subjects, the Rajahs of Borneo esteem piracy to be an honest and lawful avocation, for following which it is consequently unjust to punish them. In their eyes we are nothing better than pirates ourselves, when we come upon them in their fastnesses, destroy their defences, burn their

villages, and devastate their corn-fields and cocoa-groves. Nor will it be easy to deliver them from their error. They cannot, however well inclined, carry their minds into the sphere of our ideas, and learn to contemplate things from a European point of view, because, of all the various elements of civilisation, they literally, up to the present hour, possess none. These facts I mention, not to justify, but to render intelligible the opposition we have met, and are likely to meet, in our attempts to civilise Borneo. Of course we must not suffer our progress to be arrested by the crude notions and illogical reasonings of barbarians, who, in defending their country against our approach, imagine, perhaps, that they are performing acts of patriotism, though in reality [[Page]] engaged in propagating crime and misery. Mr Brooke, on whom their destiny will probably for some time longer depend, takes fortunately a correct view of their position, and while all his sympathies are with the people, determines to support the honest and praiseworthy chiefs in the assertion of their authority. Brune river, whose picturesque banks are now before us, was until recently rendered almost inaccessible by the weakness and wickedness of Omar Ali, who, allying himself with the Illanuns and other pirates, endeavoured to enrich himself by driving all legitimate commerce from his country. For this reason, comparatively few European vessels have ascended the river to the capital. Even the commanders of ships of war had their lives sometimes put in jeopardy by the arts and machinations of the Bornean chief, who, though imbecile in understanding and contemptible in power, was always ready to provoke the anger of a people before whom he could not, when it came to the proof, keep the field a single hour. There are, unfortunately, no associations connected with the picturesque spots we behold, when engaged in opening up new countries to the curiosity of the public. Everything, historically speaking, is a blank. We cannot say in this house, on the summit of yonder hill, or near the point of that promontory, lived and died such or such a great man, was fought such or such a battle, or struggled and fell such or such a patriot. We see the trees rise, the precipices frown, or the clear sparkling spring burst from its hiding place in the rock; but except in as far as we sympathise with mute Nature, discover nothing more fully to arrest our attention, or give to any spot a romantic value in our eyes. In the Brune river to be sure, at least in the immediate neighbourhood of the capital, we discover, whether looking up or down, spots rendered interesting by the dwelling places or footsteps of man, houses hanging over the rapid stream, ladders descending into the water, windows, doors, verandahs, platforms crowded with human beings, or boats and canoes rowed hither and thither, and filled with rude merchandise for the consumption of the inhabitants. But beyond this, there is little or no interest attached to the city, and less still, if possible, to the banks of the river, unless what the frequent visits of Mr Brooke, or the knowledge that British war-steamers have grazed the shores, and British launches and gun-boats sustained the fires of numerous batteries, may communicate to them. Hereafter, as our influence developes itself in Borneo, the margins of its rivers will have more significance for us, in proportion as the number of families is rapidly multiplied who have sons or daughters located on them. Already I learn to look with affection at the jungle, mountains, and streams of that part of the world, as the probable home for years of one of my children.* And what is true in my case will shortly be equally so in that of many others. With Mr Brooke's name a hundred rivers and headlands, a hundred creeks and bays, are already connected intimately. As we glance along the coast, "here," we exclaim, "did he direct the destruction of the pirate fleet, here his native followers slew the Illanun panglima; here the buccaneer Budrudeen was made prisoner; and there, in the little quiet villa of Santah, he spends, after months of fatigue and toil, a few quiet days in retirement." And in this way will the historical geography of Pulo Kalainantan be formed. "Here," we shall be able to say, "is a Chinese Kunsi; there, a gold or diamond mine, and further on a missionary settlement with church and school for the instruction of the Dyaks." Slender white spires will ascend through the forests, and a thousand sacred associations be clustered round them, and *Spenser B. St John: Mr Brooke's Private Secretary.

then will the banks of the rivers be beautiful in the eyes of civilisation, which will have wrought a good work in reclaiming the savage and his country from the civil curse which now rests upon both.

DYAK BRIDGE, SARĀWAK.

Drawn by Captn. Bethune R.N. C.B.

on Stone by J.W.Giles

DYAK BRIDGE, SARĀWAK. ============== IN a former part of this volume there is the representation of a bridge, constructed by the Dyaks, which almost looks as if it were suspended by magic in the air, so slight are the supporters at either end. We have here another specimen of their rude art, which has the appearance at least of being more substantial, though nothing can exceed its simplicity. Had the channel of the stream been narrower, the architect would have been under the necessity of augmenting considerably the height of his structure, because the mountain torrents in Borneo, swollen by sudden rains, often rise in the course of an hour or two to the summit of their channels, sweep away everything before them, and spread destruction and alarm on all sides. When, as in the present instance, the channel allows for a considerable spreading of the stream, there is no necessity for giving the bridge so bold an elevation as is sometimes observed in ravines high up among the mountains, and as we also find to be constantly the case in the Himalaya ranges. When about to construct a bridge, the Dyaks are guided in their operations by observing what may be denominated high-water mark on the trees growing within reach of the stream or torrent. They then cut their poles or bamboos to suit the necessities of the locality, and fixing them in the

earth or the bed of the stream after the manner represented in the lithograph, give them the proper inclinations for crossing each other above, and on the upper part of the traversing point lay the long plank or trunk of a tree which is to form the terrace of their bridge. Occasionally they erect a slight balustrade on one side to support the passengers; but in most instances perhaps this precaution is omitted, and the traveller has to make his way over the best way he can, sometimes when the foaming waters are rushing down but a few inches below his feet. Similar contrivances are often resorted to in Wales, where I have crossed rushing mountain streams over a single plank not a foot wide, with the turbid water twenty-five or thirty feet beneath. In the valleys also of the higher Alps precisely the same sort of rude bridges are found, especially where the peasants, few in number, and little connected with the world or given to locomotion, only construct a bridge to render practicable the rare intercourse which takes place between hamlet and hamlet, or one cluster of chalets and another, during the few summer months of the Alpine year. In Borneo there is no winter, and scarcely perhaps a day in the twelvemonth, save during the tempestuous rains of the monsoons, in which the Dyaks cannot undertake such journeys as are required by the habits of their life. Here and there, when the storms have been more violent or frequent than usual, the waters mount suddenly to an extraordinary height, and submerge and carry away the bridges of an entire district, and thus cut off all communication till the floods have subsided and allowed the reconstruction of the bridges or the fording of the streams. This latter method, however, is never made use of, particularly towards the plains, where it can be by any means avoided, because in the pools and deep places of the rivers alligators of formidable size and ferocity lie in wait for the unwary wayfarer. As civilisation advances, bridges of a more solid construction will be erected; while the alligators, which now infest almost every stream, will gradually become [[Page]] fewer, or disappear altogether, as they have for many hundred miles up the course of the Nile. Formerly, as we know from the testimony of old travellers, crocodiles, as well as the hippopotamus, were found close to the city of Damiatta, where they have been caught and killed; whereas, at present, it is not until you approach Manfaloot, high up the valley, that you encounter the crocodile, - and not until you have more than half traversed Nubia, at Faras el Bahr, that the hippopotamus presents itself. Similar effects will no doubt be produced in Pulo Ka1amantan, especially in Sarāwak, which to the other provinces of the island will be a sort of intellectual Goshen.36 The slowness or rapidity with which the process of refinement must proceed, will depend on the greater or less facility with which capital finds its way into Borneo, whether from China, India, or Great Britain. If the spirit of enterprise, which has for the present received a check, be again reawakened, and the working of the gold mines, and the raising of spices, and the cultivation of cotton, draw numbers of Englishmen into the country, the whole face of nature will assume a new aspect, and the Dyaks will be delivered from the necessity of relying on their own surefootedness to escape from death in traversing their torrents. Stone bridges will gradually be made, and it is scarcely perhaps too much to anticipate that the working of the gold mines and other operations of European industry will some day lead to the construction of railways.37 Meanwhile, the Dyaks must be left to rely on their own resources and dexterity, in which they are certainly by no means deficient. Courage also they display when the occasion calls for it: and we remember a story told by a traveller, which represents them as laughing at our countrymen for hesitating to trust themselves on the trunk of a tree rendered slippery by rain, where one false step would in all likelihood have been followed by fatal consequences. The barefooted savages' freedom from fear depended on skill and practice, while their English companions, imprisoned in boots or shoes, followed their wild guides with reluctance. Savages, on all such occasion, feel keenly the consciousness of their superiority over civilised men, whose great art consists in rendering the processes of life easier, and not in conquering by perseverance and patience the difficulties of primitive contrivances. The wild man faces the danger because he knows not how to remove it; the civilised man substitutes security for danger, and is thus enabled to dispense with the courage and skill on which the savage prides himself. For this reason civilised men are most powerful in masses;

while the savages, regarded singly, often display decided superiority. In society, however, the correct course is not that which most effectually trains the individual, but that which ameliorates the condition of the masses, and deprives them of that individual development which, by rendering men independent of each other, attaches them to the savage state.

JUNGLE VIEW, SARĀWAK.

Drawn by Captn. Bethune R.N.C.B.

on Stone by J.W.Giles

JUNGLE VIEW, SARĀWAK. ============== IN all parts of the world the view of a forest produces agreeable sensations. We attach ideas of romance to the ancient and majestic tree, which has taken centuries to attain the development we witness, which has afforded shade and shelter to several generations, and still promises to continue erect, flourishing and beautiful, until many more shall have come and passed away. This is particularly the case in the woods of the tropics, where the luxuriance and variety of vegetation, apparently unchecked by the laws which govern it in colder latitudes, suggest the idea that Nature there labours with a superabundant vitality, and bursts into strange and fantastic forms, under the influence of a capricious fancy. The jungles of Saräwak have been hitherto but partially explored, though we have already found in them upwards of sixty species of timber trees, including the balean or iron wood (generally used as posts of houses), the ebony, the camphor tree, and the oak. Various kinds of palms also grow scattered among the timber of the forest, as the nibong, the nipa, the areca or betelnut palms; and beside these are occasionally beheld the wild cinnamon and the upas. To look down from a height upon the verdure, is like gazing upon green meadows from a distance. The matted summits of the forest appear so close, that you would imagine you could walk upon them as upon an undulating

grassy plain, where the rising and falling of the level only render your progress more pleasant. On the eastern side of the island the resemblance to meadow land is so striking, that navigators have been deceived into the belief that they were approaching a cultivated country; and frequently it is only when they have been close in-shore that they have discovered the supposed grassy plains to be the summit of a dense jungle, elevated, perhaps, a hundred feet above the surface of the soil. It is greatly to be hoped that, as population pours into the province and clearances begin to be made, the greatest care will be taken to guard against the wholesale destruction of these primitive forests. Mr Brooke, a man of taste and judgment, as well as of political reach and humanity, will, as far as the influence of a wise ruler can effect the purpose, see that this is done: but it will be hard to keep in check the recklessness and improvidence of the natives, who will not easily be made to understand the value of timber, and the necessity of respecting what they have until now perhaps, been accustomed to regard as a nuisance. Hitherto the presence of the woods is felt everywhere. Beginning with the mangrove swamps, on the edge of the sea, they stretch inland, ascend the mountains, descend the valleys, throw their meeting boughs over rivers, until they traverse the whole breadth of the island to where their progress is again arrested by the sea. Yet, in the midst of this lavish vegetation, there is no deficiency of animal life. Even man himself is far less scantily distributed over the land than might at first be supposed; for, upon a close inspection, you find the summits of hills, which from a distance appear to form part of the wilderness, occupied by the sites of small towns and villages, whose inhabitants have there sought a retreat from the oppression of their Malay rulers. Even the fiercest tribes and clans, though professedly engaged in piracy, are tempted by [[Page]] the prolific nature of the soil to apply themselves to agriculture, to lay out gardens, plant groves, and cultivate spacious fields with rice or other grain. Here, then, the empire of the jungle is encroached upon, and something like the earliest rudiments of civilisation make their appearance, often under the superintendence of Muslims from Western Asia, generally Arabs. With these self-constituted chiefs, who seldom content themselves with the gains of honest industry, it will be long before Mr Brooke can hold any other than a hostile intercourse, the growth of his influence being altogether incompatible with the continuance of theirs. Better the Dyaks should remain, therefore, in their primitive ignorance, than that two conflicting agencies, European civilisation and Mohammedanism, should be pitted against each other in Sarāwak. Mr Brooke represents Great Britain in that part of the world, and it will be much better for the Dyaks that he should lead them from one step to another in refinement, though both his progress and theirs should be slow, than that sherifs and others should appear to co-operate with him, while, in truth, all their efforts must be directed towards thwarting the development of his designs. I have already alluded to the value of the Sarāwak jungle, in a commercial point of view. Should the railway system ever be developed in India, wood for sleepers, superior, apparently, to any produced on the Asiatic continent, might be obtained in inexhaustible quantities from Sarāwak and the rest of Pulo Kalamantan, where it resists the attacks of the white ant, and has never been known to decay either in water or beneath the surface of the earth. Great care should, therefore, be taken that this trade is left unshackled, and that no means are devised to obstruct Mr Brooke's plans for developing the resources of his own territories. In all countries, however, agriculture must constitute the real basis of prosperity. Whatever materials, therefore, the forests supply to the foreign trade of Sarāwak, the great point will be to provide for the speedy clearance of the woods, and the introduction of such forms of cultivation as are suited to the climate and the wants of the people. I have already briefly alluded to what is taking place in the immediate neighbourhood of Sarāwak, the capital of the province, where large patches of land have been covered with cocoa-nut groves, which the proprietors will find highly productive. But as soon as a greater amount of English capital finds its way into the country, the cultivation of the sugar-cane, of coffee and cotton, and other useful products, will succeed to that of the cocoa-

nut. Mr Brooke's policy, however, is not to force the Dyaks into premature efforts at civilisation. He will lead them gradually forward by education, example, and encouragement, so that the habits they acquire may become rooted in their character, and bear the fruit which a wise and humane man would desire to see them produce. Meanwhile, nothing can be more pleasant than a ramble in the cool of the morning through the Sarāwak forests, such as they now are, abounding with every tropical species of beautiful tree, plant and flower, filled with deer, wild hogs, monkeys, squirrels, and innumerable varieties of birds of magnificent plumage. Here and there, through ravines and hollows, the water of the mountains rushes down impetuously, now forming cataracts and cascades, now spreading into small lakes encircled with trees, and now creeping through narrow tortuous channels, completely obscured by overhanging boughs. Formerly, such a walk could not have been enjoyed without danger, because the Dyak was in the habit of taking the heads of those whom he encountered in his forest domains. From this atrocious practice he has been partially, if not wholly, reclaimed by Mr Brooke's government, and probably there is not in the whole extent of Sarāwak a single tribe or clan which would wish to revive it. A white man at least runs no risk of being decapitated in the woods; though, when feuds break out between different villages, the native ferocity of the savage may still occasionally lead to the infraction of the law.

MR. BROOKE'S BUNGALOW, SARĀWAK.

Drawn by H. Williams. Min. Sur.

on Stone by J.W.Giles

MR BROOKE'S BUNGALOW, SARĀWAK. ============== THE site which Mr Brooke has selected for his present residence is one of extraordinary beauty, as the reader will perceive from the accompanying lithograph. Trees of various species are scattered over the foreground, while the skirts of the forest encompass the whole, leaving only a narrow space between them and the river's margin; and it were difficult to imagine greater grace and elegance than are displayed by these out-dwellers of the jungle, some of which remind us of the hanging cliffs of the Alps, while others transport our fancy to the warm landscapes of Italy, where, beside the Arno, the Mineio, or the Ticino, we behold the combinations of tufted and feathery trees which beautify Mr Brooke's grounds on the banks of the Sarāwak. No people are more partial than the English to gardens. In what part soever of the world an Englishman may find himself, he fixes upon the site of his residence almost always with reference to the aptitude of the encircling ground for a garden, and there, whether it be in the tropics, or on the borders of the Antarctic circle, he

endeavours to solace his imagination by the aid of that art which carries back his ideas most frequently to his native home. Nowhere on earth are there so many beautiful gardens as in England; for though the climate of other countries be often much better adapted to horticulture than ours, the ingenuity and taste displayed by the inhabitants of these islands more than supply the deficiencies of Nature, and create paradises, which the South might envy, fifty-two degrees of North latitude. Something similar may be said of the order of the Jesuits, who seem everywhere to have displayed a fondness for gardening. They love to meditate beneath shady trees, whatever may be the subject of their thoughts, and to inhale the scent of shrubs and flowers, that mitigate, perhaps, the force of that fiery ambition which, in the great members of the order, swallow up all other passions, and serves as more, perhaps, than a substitute for them. Far in the interior of China, and formerly in the most picturesque parts of Japan, the Jesuit had his little dwelling and his garden, where he projected the conversion of empires, and occasionally their subjugation also. All men, in fact, who hope to exercise a powerful influence on the minds of others, stand in need of those occasional communings with themselves, which give them the desire and the strength to do so. Nature comes in, as it were, to their aid, and diffuses over their minds that freshness, that animation, fervour, and vivacity, which, when combined with the forms of benevolence, captivate and subdue mankind. [[Page ]] Mr Brooke does not make much display of his love of external nature, because he knows that for more than half a century it has been a prevailing affectation with all those who would be thought to possess a romantic or poetical temperament. But the bursts of strong feeling which escape from him in the jungle, the ardour with which he explores new scenes, the enjoyment with which he looks upon the aspect of the sea, his lonely, meditative life, all unite to prove that his choice of a situation for a residence at Sarāwak was not the result of chance. With respect to the bungalow itself, it is a wooden edifice, thatched, like the dwellings of the natives, with the leaves of the Nipa palm, and erected on posts ten or twelve feet high, which, by enabling the air to pass beneath it in currents, keeps the apartments always cool, and likewise preserves the inmates from the effects of those deleterious miasmata which, in tropical climates, usually hang low over the surface of the soil. Around the whole building extends a neat verandah, in which the Rajah and his friends often spend their leisure moments, enjoying conversation and a cigar. I am tempted to introduce in this place a light sportive poem, written many years ago by Mr Brooke, when he was still in the military service of the East India Company. It is addressed to the cigar, and jocularly expresses the merits of that cloud-diffusing powers How little of joy in this world can we know, Short moments of pleasure and ages of woe; But the comfort of comforts, life's Polar star, Is the vapoury smoke of a fragrant cigar. Mighty spirit of smoke, derived from a cloud, Thy image is seen when the battle roars loud; The soldier defies the dread chances of war, He thinks not, he cares not, but for his cigar. Thou friend of the traveller, for oft times he blows Thy soft curling smoke around his red nose; He dreams, or he thinks of friends that are far, And sinks to repose from his pleasant cigar. Thou ridest the ocean with hearts light as air, Both lighter and gayer if thou art but there; And stuck in the mouth of a brave British Tar, What service more proud for a fragrant cigar?

In the camp - in the ship - 'midst danger and toil, An Irishman's light amid Donybrooke's broil; His head may be broken, his teeth set ajar, What cares he if puffing his blazing cigar? I love thee - I love thee, for thou art the light, A guide to my path, ever shining and bright; Sour claret and garlic in vain try to mar If I, smoking, enjoy the delicious cigar.

VIEW OF SINGHI MOUNTAIN, SARĀWAK DISTRICT. (Altitude 1965 Feet)

Drawn by Mr. H. Williams. Min. Sur.

London Thos.McLean, 26 Haymarket

on Stone by J.W.Giles

VIEW OF SINGHI MOUNTAIN, SARĀWAK DISTRICT. ============== AMONG the Dyak tribes of Sarāwak, the Singhi have rendered themselves remarkable by the opposition they formerly offered to the government of Mr Brooke. Knowing themselves to be numerous, and supposing they were therefore formidable, they attacked one of the peaceful tribes, and after collecting a number of heads and a quantity of plunder, retreated to their mountain, which, lofty, steep, and scarped, was of the most difficult ascent. Here, in a strongly-fortified village, consisting of ten divisions, they set the Rajah of Sarāwak at defiance, and expressed their intention of persevering, under the orders of their chiefs, in making war upon the Sanpros and other peaceful nations, to whom Mr Brooke owed protection in return for the cheerful obedience they paid to his government.

This state of things was not to be endured, and therefore the English Rajah, having gathered together a small force, sent it, under the command of two native chieftains, either to extort from the Singhi an engagement to remain at peace with their neighbours, or, failing in this, to storm their mountain, and in case of protracted resistance, to sack and destroy their stronghold. The two Patingis, or chiefs, having received their orders, immediately moved forward on the expedition. The warfare, though on a diminutive scale, was conducted in due form, the native leaders rigidly carrying out the plan traced for them by European intelligence. Arriving at the foot of the mountain, they threw up a small detachment, which, encountering a spirited resistance, judged it prudent to halt. On the other hand, the Singhi chiefs began to be alarmed, and acting on the instinctive policy commonly pursued by great and small throughout the East, endeavoured to mitigate the hostility of the English Rajah's Dyaks by a bribe. Before mentioning the nature of this bribe, it may be useful to state an extraordinary fact, which has perplexed several writers who treat of the affairs of the Indian Archipelago. For many ages the princes and opulent chiefs of those islands have greatly prided themselves on the possession of a rare sort of vase or jar, manufactured at a remote period of antiquity by some people and in some country now altogether unknown. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries these jars were in great request among the Japanese, who purchased them at prices which remind us of the luxury of citron tables and murrhine vases at Rome. Time and accident have now of course augmented the rarity and value of the jars, which, from their ornaments and the nature of the clay they are made of, are supposed to trace their origin to China during the sway of the Ming dynasty. Whether this conjecture be well-founded or not, certain it is that the present of a jar has often put an end to hostilities between princes and tribes, and knit together two nations previously divided by the fiercest prejudices. Aware of these circumstances, Parimban and Pa Tummo, the chiefs of the Singhi, sent down a jar to the leaders of the assailing force, with a view of purchasing a cessation of hostilities, or at least a short respite. But the manoeuvre was unsuccessful. The Patingis, [[Page]] knowing whom they served, and that his object was tranquillity, not plunder, refused to listen to any terms but those of absolute submission, and pushing forward with vigour and alacrity, speedily reached the summit of the mountain, where the Singhi had made preparations to receive them. But an unseen influence operated upon the minds of these wild people, who, though induced by their leaders to make a brief display of courage, no sooner beheld the agents of the English Rajah than they took to flight, carrying away along with them their Wives and children. But Mr Brooke's design, it will readily be conceived, was neither to injure the persons nor destroy the property of these misguided people, who, in the atrocities they had committed against the Sanpros, had only obeyed the orders of those chiefs whom they considered it their duty to obey. It was consequently against these alone that the present expedition had been undertaken. As soon, therefore, as Mr Brooke himself came up, he caused it to be made known that he only desired the punishment of Parimban and Pa Tummo, and that the rest of the tribe might remain where they pleased in peace. He expressed his intention, however, of occupying the summit of the mountain till the leaders should deliver themselves up, even if it were necessary to remain there for years. Meanwhile his followers began to hew down the cocoa palm, and the betel tree, and he beheld with regret their tall and graceful forms give way before the axe. But it was impossible altogether to restrain the destructive habits of the Dyaks, who having for ages been accustomed to the free indulgence of their passions in war, were not to be all at once reclaimed. While these scenes were in progress, a number of Dyaks from the further bank poured over the river with the design of wreaking their long-pent-up vengeance on the Singhi, who,' having devastated their fields and taken the heads of many of their friends, could expect no mercy at their hands. Flying. therefore, from the jungle, and from their fierce and vindictive countrymen, they returned to the mountain, preferring an appeal to the justice and benevolence of the civilised men to the chances of a struggle with their neighbours. Mr Brooke adhered to his original terms, that is, insisted on the condign punishment of Parimban and Pa Tummo, who, with the full consent of their

tribe, were seized and carried to Sarāwak, where they were tried and executed. This series of events may be said to have conferred a sort of celebrity on the Singhi mountain, which, rising to the height of nearly two thousand feet, stands conspicuous in the distance, of which it constitutes the principal ornament. Future times will look back with interest to these beginnings of Sarāwak history, which, wild and almost lawless at first, will speedily, under the direction of a superior intellect, acquire a different character, and receive the impress of science and civilisation. Of the old events, curious and characteristic no doubt, which have taken place among these hills and valleys, no record remains, because there are neither bards nor annalists in Kalamantan to bestow glory on the acts of their countrymen. The scene is now changing before our eyes, and I am not altogether without hope that it may be in the designs of Providence to assign to one of the members of my own family the filling up of some parts of the picture designed upon so bold and grand a scale by Mr Brooke.38

SANTUBONG, FROM TANJONG PO.

Drawn by H. Williams. Min. Sur.

on Stone by J.W.Giles

SANTUBONG, FROM TANJONG PO. ============== THIS highly beautiful scene reminds us of views in Western Asia, by the graceful forms of the mountains, the vegetation the rocks, and the aspect of every portion of the shore. Even on the Upper Nile I have beheld something similar, where broad reaches of the river resemble lakes, over which the mountains of Nubia tower in dreary grandeur. When Sarāwak comes to be thickly inhabited, Tanjong Po will doubtless be a favourite resort.39 It is in all respects a pleasing spot. The cliffs and blocks of stone, resembling the fragments of ruins; the wooded hills, descending gradually to the water..the small sharp headlands running out into the bay, in the entrance to which lie two or three dark crags, rising but little above the surface of the waves; - all these elements, admirably combined by nature, compose a piece strongly resembling the creation of a landscape-painter. Almost the first point of land the voyager touches upon arriving from the East is Tanjong Po, the name of which will hereafter, therefore, frequently occur in the relations of navigators and travellers. To the readers of Mr Brooke's Journals it must already be well known, and gradually, as

publications on that part of the world multiply, this and other names will become impressed on the memory of Europe. It has been frequently remarked, that in countries little if at all civilised, the most lovely spots excite only a passing emotion of pleasure, such as arises habitually out of the contemplation of the picturesque. The religio loci must always trace its origin to a different source, to the development of human thoughts, passion, or virtue; to the great or glorious actions of man, which alone make the surface of the earth pregnant with meaning, and give to mere points of latitude and longitude an imperishable hold upon the heart. While living men are engaged in collecting the materials of history, few spectators are able to attach the proper meaning to their actions, or to extend to the scenes of what they achieve that proper feeling of interest which we all experience in historical spots which have been thrown, as it were, into the distance, and rendered beautiful and sacred by time. Men of kindred minds, however, sympathise with the authors of great enterprises even while they live, and do not wait for the grave to stand between them and those who should be the object of their admiration in order to accord it to them. The present age, upon the whole, is an age of justice, in which men are frankly inclined to acknowledge the merits of their contemporaries, in spite of that envy which disables little minds from acknowledging the existence of a greatness beyond their comprehension. Exceptions no doubt there are; but in Mr Brooke's case the public has voluntarily performed its duty, and bestowed on him all the admiration he could desire. Sarāwak will for ever be associated with his name, and in all likelihood every promontory and headland - every valley, mountain and stream - will be rendered dear to the memory of Englishmen by some exploit of one of our countrymen. It was opposite the rocky islands of Tanjong Po, beneath a beautiful cluster of fir trees, that Lieutenant Mathews, one of the companions of Captain Mundy, found a grave, beside one of his shipmates. To many, therefore, a melancholy interest belongs to the rocks of Tanjong Po. All those who loved [[Page]] Lieutenant Mathews in life, will remember that his grave hallows this wild spot; and even in the humble cottages which contain the relatives of the seaman Chandler, the name will long continue to awaken powerful though painful emotions. In this way partly, but partly also, it is to be hoped, in ways more pleasing and cheerful, the several districts of Sarāwak will make themselves a home in the minds of the people of this country. In India a thousand and a thousand spots possess a melancholy charm for numerous families in England. At Belgaum rises the cenotaph of some beloved relative; some noble mother can never forget that she lost a son on the banks of the Sutlej, or on the burning plains of Hindostan. To others the names of Loodianah and Ferozeshah bring sadness, while the mention of the same places lightens up the cheeks of others with the recollections of glory or Success. It will hereafter be the same with the various provinces of Pulo Kalamantan, and especially with Sarāwak, where the seeds of empire were first sown for us by Mr Brooke. Doubtless it will require time to smooth away the barbarous singularities of the uncouth names, to familiarise our imaginations with the geography, to individualise the rivers, and to attach to the several tribes something like a distinct character. At present we regard them as a race of gloomy savages, roaming hither and thither in quest of heads, dwelling in habitations perched on the tops of poles, and preserving in their nameless wildernesses a life of aimless danger or unmitigated brutality. As we approach the spot nearer through the aid of knowledge, the obscurity partly disappears, and the figures which at first seemed diabolical put on the aspect of man. Time will do as much for us as for the Dyaks; and while it enlightens and humanises them, will awaken in us a Christian sympathy for their involuntary ignorance.

SINGAPORE, FROM THE ESPLANADE.

Drawn by Captn. Bethune R.N. C.B.

on Stone by J.W.Giles

SINGAPORE, FROM THE ESPLANADE. ============== SIR STAMFORD RAFFLES, whose name will always be associated with the history of Singapore, as well as with that of the Indian Archipelago, formed, in the year 1818, a plan for founding a new settlement somewhere in the neighbourhood of the Malacca Straits. His idea was approved of by the Marquis of Hastings, then Governor General of India, and early in the year 1819 he set out, in company with Colonel Farquhar, in search of a suitable site for the projected emporium. They found Rhio, towards which their attention was first turned, to have been already taken possession of by the Dutch, upon which they proceeded to the Karamon Islands, and having carefully examined their situation and approaches, determined on continuing their search. The next place visited was the site of the ancient city of Johore, rendered famous in the annals of the further East by the part which its Sultans performed during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Fortunately, the insalubrity of the spot, and the incommodiousness of its situation, lying as it does ten miles up the river of the same name, induced Raffles and his companions to relinquish Johore. Colonel Farquhar, who had probably read Hamilton's40 "New Account of the East Indies," now suggested the propriety of visiting the island of Singapore, of which, so far back as the beginning of the eighteenth century, the able and enterprising Captain Hamilton wrote as follows:"In anno 1703, I called at Johore on my way to China; and the King treated me very kindly, and made me a present of Singapore; but I told him it could be of no use to a private person, though a proper place for a company to settle a colony on, lying in the centre of trade, and being accommodated with good rivers and safe harbours, so conveniently situated that all winds served shipping both to go out and come into those rivers. The soil is black and fat; and the woods abound in good masts for shipping and timber for building. I have seen large beans growing wild in the woods, not inferior to the best in Europe for taste and beauty, and sugar-cane, five or six inches round, growing wild also." Mr Crawfurd,41 formerly Governor of Singapore, treats as altogether fabulous what Captain Hamilton here says of the beans and sugar-cane, - but probably without reason, as many things may exist in the jungle, and be seen by the explorer of one tract of country, which altogether escape those who examine contiguous districts. At all events, we here see that the great commercial value of Singapore was thoroughly understood and recognised as far back as the very beginning of the eighteenth century, and it is scarcely too much to conjecture that Colonel Farquhar had read Hamilton. But whether this was the case or not, the English gentlemen who were in quest of a settlement put into the harbour of Singapore, and entering immediately into negotiations with the chiefs, obtained, for a sum of money to be paid in the shape [[Page]] of pensions, the cession of the whole island in perpetuity to Great Britain. At this time the only inhabitants of the place consisted of a few hundred Malay fishermen, who, when not engaged in their calling, betook themselves to piracy. The British flag was hoisted on the site of Singapore on the 29th of February, 1819, apparently without any of that pomp and ceremony which accompanied our taking possession of Labuan. A change in the aspect of the island immediately took place. The jungle was cleared away, houses and streets and squares were erected, and population flowed so rapidly towards the spot, that in little less than four months the city contained upwards of five thousand inhabitants, chiefly Chinese. As the proceeding had taken place in an irregular way - that is to say, without direct authority from home - the British Government of the day, ignorant of the value of the place, and unwilling to embroil itself with the Netherlands, refused during three whole years to recognise the act of its public servant. It was at his own peril, therefore, that Sir Stamford Raffles kept possession of Singapore; though, in his letters home, he strenuously urged upon the authorities the necessity of affording him their aid and countenance. At length, through the influence partly of public opinion, the acquisition of Singapore was properly recognised, and in the Treaty of 1824 Holland formally relinquished all claim to it. From that day forward the place has gone on increasing in importance, augmenting its population, multiplying its commercial transactions, and extending its influence over the industry and civilisation of the further East. Sir Stamford Raffles, who was a man of great ability and foresight, indulged in the highest expectations of this new colony, attributing to it, however, with pardonable partiality, an importance which it never can possess. He considered it of greater value than territorial acquisition, and anticipated from it more than an imperial revenue. On one point, nevertheless, he was right, namely, that the possession of Singapore would tend to strengthen our influence both in China and Japan; though it will do this rather mediately than immediately. Towards the latter empire at least we seem destined to approach gradually, and unless forced by some energetic statesman to do otherwise, shall in all likelihood make our way to Yedo 42 step by step, as we take up successive stations in the Indian Archipelago. Mr Brooke is now throwing open an unexplored Japan to us in Pulo Kalamantan, on whose north-western coast Labuan will probably prove a second Singapore, from which we may proceed to Balambangan and

other islands, till we stand on the very threshold of Japan, when the ports of that country will open voluntarily to our trade. Recent events in China tend strongly to show the advantage of our multiplying settlements in that part of the East, since they may be said to render us neighbours to the great half-civilised communities, by supplying whose wants and stimulating whose improvements we may enlarge our Eastern commerce tenfold. It behoves us to cherish no visions respecting the strength or permanence of our Eastern power, to prop up which will require all the sagacity of the ablest statesmen we possess. We ought to fortify our continental empire by innumerable outworks, in which we may store up our military force, our ships and munitions of war, to be ready to be brought to bear at the shortest notice on any point that may be threatened by accident. Singapore has already been of immense service to humanity in the East, by breaking the force of piracy, and fostering the peaceful and industrious habits of all the surrounding nations - the Siamese, the Peguans, the Kambodians, the Malays, and the Cochin-Chinese, who all repair to the British Settlement for purposes of traffic, and there acquire, little by little, some tincture of the civilisation of the West. Millions, therefore, have reason to bless the memory of Sir Stamford Raffles, who in his day was what Mr Brooke of Sarāwak is now - the benefactor of nations, and the great pioneer of British trade and industry.

MR. BROOKE'S FIRST RESIDENCE. SARĀWAK

From a Sketch by Captn. Bethune R.N.C.B.

on Stone by J.W.Giles

MR BROOKE'S FIRST RESIDENCE. ============== THE view before us presents to the eye nothing like a landscape. We have a strip of water, a strip of land sprinkled with houses, and a strip of forest; and yet no one, who understands anything of the career of the adventurous and distinguished individual who formerly inhabited it, can look upon the spot without a deeper interest than any mere charms of scenery could excite. It was there that he conceived and ripened those plans, the carrying out of which will probably occupy the remainder of his life, and wean him from that meditative sadness which, in his earlier days, gave birth to poetry full to overflowing with melancholy. As an example of the thoughts which crowded his mind in former years, I introduce here one of those touching and beautiful poems which he composed during his second voyage to India, before he had formed for himself any definite purpose in life, and was intellectually and socially floating hither and thither as fortune or accident determined. The stanzas would not have been misplaced in "Childe Harold." They are, however, but a fragment, though a fragment full of suggestion. The future hath no dream of joy to give,

Sad Memory vainly clings unto the past: Ah ! wherefore should the wretched wish to live ? Sweet hope is gone, and life is ebbing fast A shatter'd wreck, that yields to every blast Of stormy passion, or of wild despair, Full soon to be what all must be at last, A clod of earth, an unknown thing, or air, Wildly to roam in space, and fix its wandering - Where? Where shall the spirit rest, when wholly free, That soar'd too boldly for its mortal clay, When all it long'd to know, yet fear'd to see, Bursts o'er the senses in their full array Of boundless knowledge and unfading day? Bright fancy roams, till, madden'd with the thought, Stern reason reels - reflection turns away: In vain the secrets of the grave are sought We still can only know that human dust is nought. Who hath not long'd to ope the ponderous gate, To tear the veil from off the hidden scene, To read at once the stern decrees of Fate, And know what we shall be, or may have been, Ere yet the soul dwelt in its mortal sheen? But I must cease - in vain I would explore Where clouds and darkness blackly intervene, And, like a seaman on an unknown shore, Leap to the laughing earth, and quit the drifting oar. Hath not the verdant world enough for man, With its o'erflowing store of joy and ill? Must he, yet boldly soaring, strive to scan The mystery of the Creator's will, Or madly long for what is hidden still? Creature of pride! thy wishes are in vain; Ope wide the book of Nature, take thy fill; Earth, air, sea, sky, are all thine own to gain, Then wherefore wildly seek what thou shalt ne'er attain? [[Page]] Little need be said of the landscape or dwelling which occupies a portion of the foreground. It is the white inhabitant from the West that must excite our interest. I have elsewhere sketched the history of the recent growth of Mr Brooke's capital - formerly Kuching, now Sarāwak - which, from having been a small straggling village, containing at the most some few hundreds of inhabitants, has now swelled, as if by magic, into a city with a population of fifteen or sixteen thousand. What the future fortune of the place may be, will altogether depend on its fitness to become the commercial emporium of that part of Kalamantan. This, however, can only be ascertained by experience; though, considering the nature of the site, the character of its approaches, and the resources of the surrounding country, I feel disposed to augur favourably of it. Still, all who have watched the ebbs and flows of commerce must be aware that there are few cities in the world which are so situated as to command permanent prosperity. At one time historians and political speculators declaimed on the profound sagacity of the Macedonian conqueror for his choice of the site of Alexandria, which during many ages was a flourishing place,

and grew into vast importance in population. A single geographical discovery extinguished its greatness and glory almost at once. No military devastator like Timoor or Jenghis Khan, with half the hordes of Asia at his heels, could have destroyed Alexandria so completely as did the pacific Vasco de Gama by discovering the passage to India round the Cape of Good Hope. From that moment Egypt sank gradually in wealth and civilisation, till another discovery in another science came to restore to it a portion at least of its importance. The application of the steam-engine to navigation suggested the idea of returning to the old route of India by the Red Sea, and Alexandria is once more rising from its ashes, increasing in population, spreading its buildings over the neighbouring sandhills and gardens, and promising in the lapse of a few ages to become once more a mighty city. Other places, as Constantinople, Smyrna, London, and Canton, seem to be so admirably situated for trade, that scarcely any changes in the world's affairs can devote them to neglect. Whether Sarāwak stand or not in this fortunate category, it is impossible to foresee; though, if we diligently study the whole geography of Pulo Kalamantan, we shall possibly discover that it contains points of greater importance. By study, I do not here mean an attentive examination of the map, or a comparison and calculation of distances - but an inquiry into the conformation, commodities, and capabilities of the island - of the aptitude of certain provinces for agriculture, of the position of mines and coal-seams, of the course of the inner waters, of the distance or proximity of valuable timber forests, and a thousand other circumstances which insensibly contribute to build up the greatness of a city. Much also must be set down to the partiality of neighbouring nations for a particular place, which we are apt at first sight to denominate prejudice, though upon investigation it will always be found that all the permanent preferences of mankind are based on solid foundations. It is our ignorance that suspects the world of caprice in these matters. Merchants and navigators are determined in their choice by certain advantages or disadvantages which they perceive by a power resembling instinct, operating in a manner almost imperceptible, but still operating irresistibly. As far, however, as Sarāwak is concerned, it will matter little for the present whether it be the best site in Borneo or not, since circumstances will for some time to come inevitably give it the preference over most others. In the districts about Brunè, the want of adequate security will repel the foreigner, and prevent the production of those articles which would create an extensive trade; while in Sarāwak natives and foreigners alike live under the protection of equal laws prudently administered, which to merchants and traders is the greatest accommodation any place can possibly possess.

VIEW OF MATANG MOUNTAIN, SARĀWAK DISTRICT.

(Altitude 3168 Feet )

Drawn by Mr. H. Williams. Min. Sur.

on Stone by J.W.Giles

VIEW OF MATANG MOUNTAINS, SARĀWAK DISTRICT. ============== As I have already in many other places observed, views of scenes with which no associations are attached can excite only a temporary interest, unless they be so highly picturesque in themselves as to resemble the compositions of a landscape painter. The Matang Mountains, as represented in the accompanying lithograph, do not come within this predicament. They are merely conical elevations, which, rising as they do almost abruptly from the plains, and assuming, from the luminousness of the atmosphere, the appearance of being covered with snow, suggest a transient feeling of grandeur. To give permanence to this, we should be presented with a series of views bringing us nearer and nearer to the mountains, and at length introducing us into their gorges and ravines over-shadowed by cliffs and impending forests, and threaded by impetuous torrents such as we encounter amid the

chasms of the highest Alps. Hitherto, however, we have obtained only glimpses of the picturesque character of Borneo, though these glimpses suffice to reveal to us much of the magnificence found in its lofty solitudes. Mr Williams has displayed great taste in selecting subjects for the pencil, and much graphic skill in the delineation of them. I wish his pursuits had allowed him sufficient leisure to reproduce numerous scenes which are to be found in almost every district of Sarāwak, from the swampy mangrove flats on the margin of the sea to the point where it borders upon the interior highlands, the unexplored home of the Dyaks. The Matang Mountains are visible from the city of Sarāwak itself, and must often suggest to its European residents, at least to those who have traversed Switzerland, the idea of those Alpine ridges which one beholds from one's windows at the foot of the Signall. One great difference, however, there is between the high ridges of the Archipelago and those of Central Europe: the latter, from whatever point contemplated, suggest the idea of cold and dreariness; dripping pine forests render the near approach uncomfortable, and from a distance the constant glare of the snow affects you like looking upon a chilly cloud. In the Indian Archipelago the scene is wholly different. Brilliant light and a cheerful warmth of atmosphere encircle the peaks, and in traversing the loftiest chains you experience no depression of spirits from the vicinity of glaciers. Forests for the most part clothe the mountains to their summits, where you either meet with soft verdant platforms from which you may behold the wilderness of ravines, gorges, vales, and plains below, or avenues of ancient trees disposed in arcades and affording a shelter from the burning sun. In many places the Dyaks have selected the tops of scarped mountains for the sites of their villages, in the hope of enjoying there additional security from the assaults of insidious enemies. But this is the case only with cones and ridges of moderate elevation. Beyond a certain height the dwelling upon the roofs of mountains would be attended by too many inconveniences even for the rudest [[Page]] savages, who would soon grow weary of having miles to traverse daily in order to reach their cultivated fields, In several parts of the island the plains are already preferred before the fastnesses of the mountains; and if the poor Dyaks cared to construct lasting habitations, future travellers would find scattered over the summits of chains and precipices ruins which would bespeak the state of the arts and civilisation among those who raised them. But the habitations of the natives of Pulo Kalamantan are frail, and leave behind them, on the surface of the earth, as few traces as those who erect them. The cane and timber walls soon give way to the weather, which during the stormy season of the monsoons is exceedingly boisterous; and the rank and rapidly-growing jungle soon springs up on every deserted spot, and obliterates every trace of the footsteps of man. Perhaps the part of a Dyak settlement which longest retains its character is the cemetery, which among all nations, however rude and barbarous, commands a large amount of care from the survivors. The Dyaks pay much reverence to the dead; and, consequently, in traversing the interior of the island, you most easily discover the sites of deserted stations by the cluster of graves in which the ancestors of the migratory tribes are laid. In some places, the solemn, melancholy upas diffuses its fabulous poison around the tomb, or innumerable tribes of creepers invest the whole space with a network of brilliant and variegated flowers. Here and there the mias pappan43 from his lofty nest in the trees, is heard grumbling over the fallen dwellings of man; or the rhinoceros, with portentous strength and lumbering gait, is beheld standing over the spot, overturning decayed posts, and ploughing up the narrow houses of the Dyaks with his armed snout. As the blessings of civilisation are diffused, far other sights and sounds will present themselves. The voice of labour will be heard on the slopes of the hills, and along their feet the fiery steamengine will hiss and roar as it flies over the iron road. Already have many steps been taken towards this result; several companies being formed and in the course of formation for cultivating the uplands with coffee and cotton, for working the diamond and gold mines, for collecting the precious gums of the forest, the vegetable tallow, the gutta percha, the rattans, the edible bird's nest, and a thousand other natural riches, which nowhere abound in greater profusion.

1 No publication data is given but the volume was reported as 'just published' in the Illustrated London News of Oct 9, 1847. Some bibliographic references give the publisher as Whittaker, Thomas and Whittaker and Co., others as MacLean (the publisher on some, but not all, the plates) This document has been transcribed and annotated by Martin Laverty from a copy in the John M.Echols Collection at Cornell University [http://digital.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=sea;idno=sea140]. The images are made available according to the Cornell University Library Guidelines for using public domain materials. - December 2010. 2 Charles Ramsay Drinkwater Bethune (1802-1884). The name Bethune (pronounced Beaton) was added. He was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath (C.B.) for service in the first Anglo-Chinese war 3 Leopold George Heath (1817-1907). Subsequently rose to be Admiral Sir L.G.Heath. 4 The only 'other' was Hiram Williams (1816-1872), sent out by the Admiralty to advise Bethune on coal deposits. He had been a land and mineral surveyor in Swansea, S.Wales, and went on to administer and manage various English mines. The quality of his 'beautiful water-colour drawings' was remarked on in the Singapore Free Press and abstracted in the Cambrian, the Swansea weekly newspaper, of 22 May, 1846 under the title, 'Native Talent'. 5 James Augustus St John (1795-1875) was born James John in Laugharne, S.Wales. He was father of Spenser St.John 6 JW Giles was a prolific engraver ...had a stationery shop in Aldersgate Street in 1851.... 7 The Views appear to have been issued either in smaller groups or individually before being combined into this volume of 24, plus a decorative frontispiece. There is no clear order. Worldcat has 8 entries for the book: in the USA, a digital copy; a microfilm; New York (10 pages and 6 plates); Newport, Virginia (54 pages and 2 plates);Gottingen (film); Leiden (1page 1 plate); Australia (Canberra and Sydney). Copac shows UK copies at Cambridge, Oxford, BL (x3), The attributions are not uniform only twelve have a publisher attribute (McLean, M below) in addition to the names of artist (B, H, or W, below) and lithographer. Ten are by Bethune, and eight each by Heath and Williams; all are lithographed by Giles. The likely original drawing of a coal seam in Labuan by Heath is in Mundy Many of them have been reproduced subsequently, with different colouring, including: 1 2 (H M) Periplus p , ; NMM PU0018 3 (H) 4 (H M) Rutter (P) p234 5 (B M) Periplus 6 (B M) 7 (H M) Rutter (P) p216; NMM PU5893 8 (B M) Payne p33 9 (B M) 10 (W M) 11 (B M) Roth II,2; Tate p118 12 (H) 13 (W) 14 (B)B-G&B p15; Rutter (P) p198; NMM PU5889 15 (W) Rutter p106; Periplus p35 16 (H M) NMM PU0019 17 (H M) 18 (B) 19 (B) 20 (W) Rutter p38; Runciman p129 21(W M) 22 (W) 23 (B) NMM PU0003 24 (B) B-G&B p61; NMM PU0017 25 (W) Some have been copied: Saunders, (1988 ) has a similar view to Heath's flag raising (15 above), from the review of this book in The Illustrated London News of 9 Oct 1847 (engraving, with the flags all blowing the other way) H.H. the Dayang Muda's (1929) has a similar view to Williams' view upstream from the Rajah's bungalow (20 above), attributed to 'an old print'

Ooi (1997) has 'Kuching in 1840', a very similar view to Bethune's view of 'Mr Brooke's first residence' (24 above), with no attribution References Baring-Gould, S & Bamfylde (1907) A History of Sarawak H.H. The Dayang Muda of Sarawak (1929) Relations and Complications Mundy, Rodney (1848) Narrative of Events in Borneo and Celebes National Maritime Museum, Greenwich Ooi Keat Gin (1997) Of Free Trade and Native Interests Payne, Robert (1960) The White Rajahs of Sarawak Periplus [guide] (1997) East Malaysia and Brunei Roth, Henry Ling (1896) The Natives of Sarawak and British North Borneo Runciman, Steven (1960) The White Rajahs Rutter, Owen (1930) The Pirate Wind Rutter, Owen (1935) Rajah Brooke & Baroness Burdett-Coutts Saunders, Graham (1994) History of Brunei Tate, D.J.M. (1988) Rajah Brooke's Borneo 8 Henry John Temple (1784-1865) became Viscount Palmerston in 1802. MP 1806-1865 He believed in increasing Britain's power in the world. 9 Lord John Russell (1792-1878) became Prime Minister in July 1846; the priority was the potato famine in Ireland. 10 Pulau is the Malay for island. 11 James Brooke (1805-1868), Rajah of Sarawak 1841-1868, Governor of Labuan 1847-1852 12 Henry Wise (1802-1866), London agent to James Brooke 1842-1848. 13 Edward Belcher (1799-1877) in 1846 (“The position of the highest pinnacle was computed to be in Latitude 6 8' 24" N., and Longitude 116 33' E., the mean height resulting from the three best stations giving 13,698 feet above the mean level of the sea.” Samarang II:139) Mundy shows Kinna Ballou as 14000 ft. Kinabalu is now put as 4,095 metres (13,435 ft) and Mont Blanc is 4,810 m (15,781 ft) 14 Idan, or Idaan,: Belcher and Brooke thought this term used by Dalrymple to be a mishearing for Kadayan (Sam,II,141) 15 Potosi – a town in Bolivia fsamed for its silver mines 16 Golconda – a town in India famed for its diamond mines 17 Balambangan had been set up as a trading post by the East India Company in 1761, but abandonned ... 18 Boastful: Thraso was braggart soldier in the comedy Eunuchus by Roman playwright Terence (died 159BC) 19 Brunei was first visited by Magellan's Spanish ships in 1521, as recorded by the Italian, Pigafetta 20 Sir Thomas John Cochrane (1789-1872) went on to become Admiral of the Fleet. He was a cousin of his namesake (1775-1860) famed for naval exploits in the Napoleonic wars, political scandal, and then commanding the Brazilian, Chilean, and Greek navies. 21 This indicates that the Views were issued in sets, or perhaps individually. This may account for the lack of publication information and pagination. The British Library has one of the plates individually catalogued. 22 James Brooke returned to England in 1847 23 Giovanni Pietro Maffei (1533-1603) ? 24 Thomas Forrest (1729?-1802?) Author of “A voyage to New Guinea, and the Moluccas, from Balambangan : including an account of Magindano, Sooloo, and other islands; ..” 25 Iblīs is the primary Devil of Islam 26 Suntah, or Sentah, .... 27 Sakaran, often rendered Skrang, was the river where these marauding Sea Dyaks came from 28 Jaraooh ? 29 Joata, or Dewata, a dyak and Malay word for god, indicative of a Hindu origin from the Sanskrit word deva 30 Morabanok = Muara Bunuk 31 This query appears to have been printed rather than answered! 32 A slightly different version of this drawing appears in Mundy's book (1848). It lacks the people and some bushes are moved around. 33 It is curious that there is no mention of Hiram Williams, who had been sent by the Admiralty specifically to look for coal: especially as this volume contains seven of his drawings! 34 Spenser became James Brooke's Private Secretary at the time that Brooke was appointed first Governor of Labuan 35 Trepang, beche-de -mer, or sea cucumber, a delicacy used fresh, dried, or as a medicine. 36 Goshen, a biblical reference to the land where .... 37 A railway has operated in Sabah since 1896. In Sarawak, Charles Brooke built a 10 mile long railway from Kuching which operated for passengers from 1915-1933, but until 1945 for goods. A major new railway project was announced in 2008 for the 'Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy' between Similajau in Bintulu Division and Tanjung Manis in Mukah division

38 Horace St John (1830-1888) was first to oblige with “The Indian Archipelago” in 1853 ; Spenser wrote from experience in 1862, when he was in the Caribbean 39 The Bako National Park was gazetted in 1957. 40 Alexander Hamilton (1689-1723) 41 John Crawfurd (1783-1868) took over from Stamford Raffles 42 Yedo, or Edo, is an old name for Tokyo 43 Mias is the local name for the Orang utan which is now recognised as a single species (Pongo pygmaeus)