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. Natives, Native Implements, &c. ( Frontispiece).

2. Keni Balu Mountain.
3. Kuching, Sarāwak.
4. Ceremony of Hoisting the British Flag on the Island of Labuan.
5. Dyak Suspension Bridge, Sarāwak.
6. View from Mr Brooke's Bungalow, looking down the River Sarāwak.
7. The Phlegethon and Boats of Sir Thomas Cochrane's Squadron.
8. View from Mr Brooke's Bungalow, looking up the River Sarāwak.
9. Bird's-eye View of the City of Brunè, from the Jalan Subuk.
10. View in the Jungle, Singapore.
11. Dyak Village, Borneo.
12. View of a Coal-seam on the Island of Labuan.
13. View of Santubong Mountain, Sarāwak.
14. Cutting the Boom at Malludu.
15. View from Mr Brooke's Bungalow.
16. Flagstaff Point, Labuan.
17. View looking down the River, Borneo Proper.
18. Dyak Bridge, Sarāwak.
19. Jungle View, Sarāwak.
20. Mr Brooke's Bungalow.
21. View of Singhi Mountain, Sarāwak District.
22. Santubong, from Tanjong Po.
23. Singapore, from the Esplanade.
24. Mr Brooke's First Residence.
25. 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, J. A. ST JOHN.

Regent's Park.
September 6th, 1847.
 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 north-
east 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 Cochin-
Chinese, 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 re-
awakened, 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 steam-
engine 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)