THE MAKING OF SARAWAK
James Brooke was born at Benares on April 29, 1803, and was the son of
Thomas Brooke of the East India Company's Civil Service. He entered the
Company's army in 1819, and took part in the first Burmese war, in which
he was severely wounded, and from which he was invalided home in 1825.
He had been honourably mentioned in despatches for conspicuous services
rendered in having raised a much needed body of horse, and for bravery.
Then he resigned his commission, and visited China, Penang, Malacca, and
Singapore. There he heard much of the beauty and the wonders of the
fairy group of islands forming the Eastern Archipelago, and of the
dangers to be encountered there from Malay pirates; islands rich in all
that nature could lavish in flower and fruit, in bird and gorgeous
butterfly, in diamond and pearl, but "the trail of the serpent was over
them all." Very little was known of these islands, few English vessels
visited them, the trade was monopolised by the Dutch, who sought to
exclude all European nations from obtaining a foothold. They claimed
thousands of islands from Sumatra to Papua as within their exclusive
sphere of influence, islands abounding in natural products which they
exploited imperfectly, and did nothing to develop. This was a
dog-in-the-manger policy to which Great Britain submitted.
The young man's ambition was fired; he longed to explore these seas, to
study the natural history, the ethnology, to discover gaps in the Dutch
imaginary line through which English commerce might penetrate and then
expand.
Mr. Brooke made a second voyage to the East in a brig which, in
partnership with another, he had purchased and freighted for China; but
this venture proved a failure, and the brig and cargo were sold in China
at a loss.
In 1835, Mr. Thomas Brooke died, leaving to his son the sum of £30,000.
James now saw that a chance was open to him of realising his youthful
dream, and he bought a yacht, the _Royalist_, a schooner of 142 tons
burden, armed with six-pounders and several swivels, and, after a
preliminary cruise in the Mediterranean to train his crew, he sailed in
December 1838, flying the flag of the Royal Yacht Squadron, for that
enchanted group of islands—
Those islands of the sea
Where Nature rises to Fame's highest round.[78]
And as he wrote, to cast himself on the waters, like Southey's little
book; but whether the world would know him after many days, was a
question which, hoping the best, he could not answer with any degree of
assurance.
He arrived in Singapore in May, 1839. The Rajah Muda Hasim of Sarawak
had recently shown kind treatment to some English shipwrecked sailors,
and Mr. Brooke was commissioned by the Governor and the Singapore
Chamber of Commerce to convey letters of thanks and presents to the
Rajah Muda in acknowledgment of his humanity, exceptional in those days,
and a marked contrast to the treatment afforded to the crew and
passengers of the Sultana a little later by his sovereign, the Sultan of
Bruni, which is recorded further on.[79] This chance diverted Mr. Brooke
from his original project of going to Marudu Bay, the place he had
indicated as being the best adapted for the establishment of a British
settlement, and took him to the field of his life-long labours.
[Illustration:
"ROYALIST" OFF SANTUBONG.]
He left Singapore on July 27, 1839, full of hope and confidence that
something was to be done, and reaching the West Coast of Borneo surveyed
some seventy miles of that coast before entering the Sarawak river,
which was not then marked on the charts; for of Borneo at that time very
little was known; its interior was a blank upon the maps, and its coast
was set down by guess work on the Admiralty charts; so much so, that Mr.
Brooke found Cape Datu placed some seventy to eighty miles too far to
the east and north, and he was "obliged to clip some hundreds of miles
of habitable land off the charts."
Kuching,[80] the capital of Sarawak, is so called from a small stream
that runs through the town into the main river, that a few miles below
expands and forms a delta of many channels and mouths. The town, which
is seated some twenty miles from the open sea, was founded by Pangiran
Makota, when Bruni rule was established in Sarawak, and he was sent down
as the Sultan's representative a few years previously to the arrival of
Mr. Brooke. At this time the population, with the exception of a few
Chinese traders and other eastern foreigners, consisted entirely of
Bruni Malays to the number of about 800. The Sarawak Malays lived at
Katupong,[81] a little higher up, and farther up again at Leda Tanah,
under their head chief, the brave Datu Patinggi Ali.
A distinction must be made, which it will be as well to again note here,
between the Malays of Bruni and those of Sarawak, in other works
described—the former as Borneans, and the latter as Siniawans. They are
very different in appearance, manners, and even in language. There are
not many Brunis in Sarawak now. Most returned to their own country with
Rajah Muda Hasim when he retired there in 1844, and others drifted
thither later. All the Malays in Kuching, except a sprinkling of
foreigners, are Sarawak Malays, the descendants of the so-called
Siniawans.
The bay that lies between Capes Datu and Sipang is indeed a
lovely one. To the right lies the splendid range of Poé,
over-topping the lower, but equally beautiful, Gading hills;
then the fantastic-shaped mountains of the interior; while to
the left the range of Santubong end-on towards you looks like a
solitary peak, rising as an island from the sea, as Teneriffe
once appeared to me sailing by in the _Mæander_. From these
hills flow many streams which add to the beauty of the view. But
the gems of the scene are the little emerald isles that are
scattered over the surface of the bay, presenting their pretty
beaches of glittering sand, or their lovely foliage drooping to
kiss the rippling waves. There is no prettier spot (than the
mouth of the Sarawak river); on the right bank rises the
splendid peak of Santubong, over 2000 feet in height,[82]
clothed from its summit to its base with noble vegetation, its
magnificent buttresses covered with lofty trees, showing over a
hundred feet of stem without a branch, and at its base a broad
beach of white sand fringed by graceful casuarinas, waving and
trembling under the influence of the faintest breeze, and at
that time thronged by wild hogs.[83]
On August 15, the _Royalist_ cast anchor off the capital, and Mr. Brooke
had an interview with the Rajah Muda, presented the letters and gifts,
and was very graciously received. He was allowed to make excursions to
Lundu, Samarahan, and Sadong, large rivers hitherto unknown to
Europeans, and he added some seventy miles to his survey of the coast;
but as the Malays and most of the Dayak tribes were in insurrection in
the interior, travelling there was unsafe.
The Rajah Muda Hasim, the Bandahara of Bruni and the heir-presumptive to
the throne, was a plain, middle-aged man, with gracious and courtly
manners, amiable and well disposed, but weak and indolent. He was placed
in a difficult position, which he had not the energy or the ability to
fill. The Sultan of Bruni had confided the district of Sarawak some
years previously to the Pangiran Makota as governor, a man utterly
unprincipled, grasping, selfish, cruel, and cowardly, but "the most
mild, the most gentlemanly rascal you can conceive";[84] and by his
exactions and by forced labour at the antimony mines, he had driven the
Sarawak Malays, as well as the Land-Dayaks, into open revolt. They
proclaimed their independence of Bruni, and asserted that submission to
the Sultan had been voluntary on their part, and on stipulated
conditions that had not been carried out. For three years they had
carried on their struggle against the Bruni tyrants, but, though far
from being reduced, it became evident to them that unaided they could
not attain their freedom. Surrender meant death to the chiefs and abject
slavery to the people, and to their womankind something far worse than
either, so in their extremity they appealed to the Dutch. A year before
Mr. Brooke's arrival they had invited the Dutch to plant the Netherlands
flag in their camp, and afterwards had sent an emissary to Batavia to
beg the assistance of the Governor-General, but open assistance was
refused, though the Sultan of Sambas appears to have constantly supplied
the rebels with ammunition and provisions. As Mr. Brooke had warned the
Pangiran Makota, who had reason to fear Dutch aggression, the danger was
not an open violation of their independence, but their coming on
friendly terms—they might make war after having first gained a footing,
not before. The Dutch had made great efforts to establish trade with
Sarawak, in other words, to monopolise it, and through their vassal, the
Sultan of Sambas, had offered assistance to open the antimony mines.
The Sultan of Bruni had sent his uncle, the Rajah Muda Hasim, to reduce
the rebels, but without withdrawing Makota and checking his abuse of
authority. A desultory war had been carried on without success under the
direction of Makota, who was too cowardly himself to lead his Malay and
Dayak levies into action, to storm the stockades of the insurgents, and
to pursue them to their strongholds. The consequence was that anarchy
prevailed, except in the immediate neighbourhood of the capital.
There was something in the frank eye, in the cheery self-confidence of
Brooke that captivated the timid little Rajah Muda, who was not only
unable to cope with the Malays in revolt, but was afraid of his
neighbours, the Dutch, lest they should make the disturbances an excuse
for intervention and annexation, and he hoped in his extremity to obtain
some help from the British.
"Which is the cat and which is the mouse?" he asked in reference to the
rival powers. "Britain is unquestionably the mouser," replied Brooke.
But he did not add that the mouser was so gorged and lazy as only
occasionally to stretch forth a paw.
Mr. Brooke bade his friends good-bye on September 20, after having
received a pressing invitation from the Rajah Muda to revisit him, and
he begged Brooke not to forget him. Leaving the _Royalist_ at
Muaratebas, Brooke visited the Sadong river, where he made the
acquaintance of Sherip Sahap,[85] a powerful half-bred Arab chief and
ruler of that river, who in later days was to give Brooke so much
trouble. He returned to the _Royalist_ on the 27th, and intended to sail
the next morning, but was delayed by a startling incident that gave him
his first experience of the piratical habits of the Saribas Dayaks. The
boat of Penglima Rajah (the Rajah's captain), who was to pilot the
_Royalist_ over the bar, and which was lying inshore of the yacht, was
attacked in the middle of the night, but the report of a gun and the
display of a blue light from the yacht caused the Dayaks to decamp
hurriedly, though not before they had seriously wounded the Penglima and
three of his crew. Mr. Brooke waited until the wounded were sufficiently
recovered to be sent to Kuching, and, after he had paid a flying visit
to that place at the urgent request of the Rajah, sailed for Singapore
on October 3.
The history of his late cruise, to quote Mr. Brooke, had agitated the
society in Singapore, and whilst the merchants presented him with an
address of thanks, the Governor became cooler towards him. The former
foresaw an access of trade, the latter was nervous of political
embarrassments.
_He_ would fain have me lay aside all politics, but whilst I see
such treachery and baseness on one part (the Dutch), and such
weakness, imbecility, and indifference on the other (the English), I
will continue to upraise my voice at fitting seasons. I will not
leave my native friends to be deceived and betrayed by either white
nation, and (what the governor does not like) I will speak bold
truths to native ears.
The Dutch trading regulations weighed on this island as they did on all
others within their influence. Sir Stamford Raffles, in his _History of
Java_, 1830, tells us that by an edict of 1767, trading in opium,
pepper, and all spices was prohibited in the Archipelago to all persons
under _pain of death_, and other severe penalties were imposed upon
those trading in other commodities. The quantity of gunpowder and shot
that might be carried by any vessel was restricted, and the punishment
for carrying more than was permitted was the confiscation of the vessel
and corporal punishment. Vessels were not allowed to sail from any part
of the Java coast where there was not a Company's Resident. Those from
Banka and Beliton could only trade to Palembang (Sumatra). Navigation
from Celebes and Sumbawa was prohibited under pain of confiscation of
vessel and cargo. The China junks were permitted to trade at Batavia and
Banjermasin alone. In all there were thirty-one articles of restriction,
"serving to shackle every movement of commerce, and to extinguish every
spirit of enterprise, for the narrow, selfish purposes of what may be
called the fanaticism of gain." The consequence was that honest traffic
was paralysed, and an opportunity and indirect encouragement given to
piracy. Indeed, the Dutch winked at this as it hampered smuggling by
European and native traders. They resented it only when their own trade
was interfered with by the marauders.
After visiting the Celebes, where he spent four months, Mr. Brooke
sailed for Sarawak from Singapore on August 18, 1840. His kindly feeling
for the Rajah Muda Hasim prompted him to pay another visit to Sarawak,
taking it on his way to Manila and China. He found the condition of the
country as distracted as ever, "with no probability of any termination
of a state of affairs so adverse to every object which I had in view,"
and so decided to quit the scene and proceed on his voyage. On notifying
his departure to the Rajah, he was urgently pressed to remain; every
topic was exhausted to excite his compassion. The Rajah laid his
difficulties before him, and expressed "his resolution to die here
rather than abandon his undertaking—to die deserted and disgraced"; and
it was compassion for his miserable situation that induced Mr. Brooke to
alter his intention.
The rebellion had lasted for nearly four years, and for the efforts made
to quell it might well last for a century, and the whole country, except
Kuching, become independent. Starvation had compelled many of the
Land-Dayaks to submit, but that was the only advantage that had been
gained. Hasim was in ill odour at Bruni because he had effected nothing,
and the Orang Kaya di Gadong, a Bruni minister, had been sent by the
Sultan to stir him up to greater activity. But how to exert himself, how
with cowardly pangirans to come to close quarters with the rebels he
could not see, and in his helplessness and discouragement he caught at
the opportunity offered by the arrival of Brooke.
With some reluctance Mr. Brooke consented to assist Hasim against the
insurgents, and proceeded to Siniawan; but after having been up-river a
short time he returned to Kuching, disgusted by the supineness and
inertness of Makota and the other leaders, and announced his intention
of sailing for Manila. Hasim saw that Brooke's departure would deprive
him of his last chance of reducing the rebels, and that he would have to
return to Bruni in disgrace. Again he urged Brooke to stay, and he
offered him the country if he would return up-river and take command of
his forces. "He offered me," wrote Brooke, "the country of Siniawan and
Sarawak, with its government and trade;" in addition he offered to grant
him the title of Rajah.
Hasim had been placed in Sarawak for a purpose, which he was wholly
unable to effect; as he was heir-presumptive[86] to the throne of Bruni,
he was impatient at what he considered his exile from the capital. Could
the insurrection be subdued he would be reinstated in the favour of his
nephew, and might return to Bruni to defeat the machinations of his
enemies there, leaving the government of Sarawak in the strong hands of
Brooke.
Mr. Brooke hesitated for some time, as the offer had been imposed by
necessity, but finally agreed, and promised the assistance required.
With ten of his English crew and two guns, he joined the Rajah's mixed
force of Malays, Dayaks, and Chinese, and proceeded against the
insurgents. As was their wont, the pangirans in command hung back and
would not expose their precious persons to danger, with the notable
exception of the Pangiran Bedrudin, half-brother to the Rajah Muda
Hasim. This was Brooke's first meeting with Bedrudin. He was greatly
impressed with his frank but overawing and stately demeanour, and a warm
friendship soon sprang up between them, which lasted until the death of
this ill-fated prince, who justly earned a reputation for bravery and
constancy, the only one of the royal princes of Bruni in whom these
qualities were combined.
To Mr. Brooke's regret, Bedrudin was shortly withdrawn by his brother,
and the other pangirans, led by Makota, thwarted him in every forward
movement, to disguise their own cowardice. Finally, after several
bloodless engagements and bombardments, communication was opened with
Sherip Mat Husain,[87] one of the rebel leaders, and he came to see Mr.
Brooke under a flag of truce, which would have received little respect
had it not been for the stern measures taken by the latter. This meeting
led to an interview between the Malay rebel chiefs and Mr. Brooke, and
they submitted, but only on the understanding that Brooke was henceforth
to be the Rajah, and that he would restrain the oppression of the
pangirans. On these terms they laid down their arms, and then it was
with great difficulty that Brooke succeeded in wringing from the Rajah
Muda a consent that their lives should be spared, and that consent was
only reluctantly given on Brooke rising up to bid the Rajah Muda
farewell; but the wives and children of the principal chiefs, to the
number of over one hundred, were taken from them by Hasim as hostages.
They "were treated with kindness and preserved from injury or
wrong."[88]
Some delay ensued in the investiture of Brooke with the governorship.
Hasim was disposed to shuffle, and Makota, who feared his exactions
would be interfered with, used all his power to prevent it. Hoping it
would content Brooke, the Rajah Muda had drawn up an agreement which was
only to the purport that he was to reside in Sarawak in order to seek
for profit, an agreement which the Rajah Muda explained was merely to be
shown to the Sultan in the first place, and that it was not intended as
a substitute for that which had been agreed upon between themselves, and
would be granted in due course. Hasim was between two stools: his duty
in respect to his promise to Brooke, whose friendship and support were
necessary to him; and his fear of the party led by Makota in Sarawak,
but still more powerfully represented in Bruni, who foresaw, as well as
he did himself, the end of their rule of tyranny if once such an
advocate for reform as Mr. Brooke were allowed to gather up the reins of
power.
Brooke accepted this equivocal arrangement, and, trusting in the Rajah
Muda's good faith, to establish trade and communication with Singapore,
went to the expense of buying and freighting the schooner _Swift_ of
ninety tons with a general cargo. On her arrival from Singapore the
Rajah Muda took over the whole cargo, promising antimony ore in
exchange, but this promise also he showed no intention of fulfilling—in
fact it never was fulfilled. After this cargo had been obtained the
Rajah Muda became cool to Brooke, evaded all discussion about the
settlement of the country, and even went so far as to deny that he had
ever made the unsolicited promise to transfer the government to him; and
a plot was attempted to involve him in a dispute with the Dutch at
Sambas.
To ruin Mr. Brooke's prestige with the Land-Dayaks, Malays, and Chinese,
as their protector, a crafty scheme was devised by Makota, to which he
induced the Rajah to grant his consent. He invited a party of 2500
Sea-Dayaks from Sekrang to ascend the Sarawak river and massacre the
Land-Dayaks, Malays, and Chinese in the interior. They arrived at
Kuching, and, with the addition of a number of Malays as guides, started
up the river. But Brooke, highly incensed, retired to the _Royalist_,
and at once prepared that vessel and the _Swift_ for action. This had
the desired effect. Hasim was cowed; "he denied all knowledge of it; but
the knowledge was no less certain, and the measure his own."[89] He
threw the blame on Makota, and, yielding to Brooke's insistence, sent a
messenger up river after the fleet to recall it,—a command that could
not be disobeyed, as Brooke held command of the route by which they must
return. Sulkily and resentfully did the Sekrang Dayaks return, without
heads, and without plunder. And for Makota it was a case of the biter
bit, as he had unwittingly enhanced Brooke's prestige. The oppressed
people now learnt that Brooke was not only determined to protect them,
but that he had the power to do it—a power greater than Makota's; and
this strengthened his hands, for many who had wavered through doubt on
this point and fear of Makota, now threw in their lot with him, as
Makota was shortly to discover to his cost.
"The very idea," wrote Brooke in his Journal, "of letting 2500 wild
devils loose in the interior of the country is horrible. What object
can the Malays[90] have in destroying their own country and people
so wantonly? The Malays take part in these excursions, and thirty
men joined the Sekrangs on the present occasion, and consequently
they share the plunder, and share largely. Probably Muda Hasim would
have twenty slaves (women and children), and these twenty being
redeemed at the low rate of twenty reals each makes 400 reals,
besides other plunder amounting to one or two hundred reals more.
Inferior pangirans would, of course, take likewise."
Mr. Brooke had now been put off for five months, and for six weeks had
withdrawn from all intercourse with Rajah Muda Hasim. As he wrote, "I
have done this man many benefits; and, if he prove false after all his
promises, I will put that mark of shame upon him that death would be
lighter." This was no idle threat, for he sent a final demand to the
Rajah Muda either to perform his promise or to repay him all his outlay,
and a warning that should Hasim do neither he would take sure means to
make him; and the means were at hand, for on his return from Singapore
Mr. Brooke had found the people of Sarawak again at issue with their
ruler, and had once more thrown off their allegiance to the Sultan. They
then offered him that allegiance, and their support to drive Rajah Muda
Hasim and his followers out of the country; this offer was, however,
declined. But a circumstance occurred that precipitated matters. Makota
attempted to poison Brooke's interpreter by mixing arsenic with his
rice. Through the indiscretion of a subordinate the plot was discovered,
and Brooke immediately laid the facts before the Rajah Muda, as well as
"a little treasury" of grievances and crimes against Makota, and
demanded an inquiry. "The demand, as usual, was met by vague promises of
future investigation, and Makota seemed to triumph in the success of his
villainy, but the moment for action had now arrived, and my conscience
told me that I was bound no longer to submit to such injustice, and I
was resolved to test the strength of our respective parties."[91] The
_Royalist's_ guns were loaded, and her broadside brought to bear, and
Mr. Brooke landed with a small armed party. He demanded and immediately
obtained an audience, and pointed out Makota's tyranny and oppression of
all classes, and his determination to attack him, and drive him out of
the country. Not a single man upheld Makota, whilst the Malays rallied
around Mr. Brooke. This was a test of public opinion to which Makota had
to bow, and he was deposed from his governorship. Mr. Brooke's public
installation immediately followed, the Rajah Muda Hasim informing the
people that he was henceforth to rule over them. On the 24th of
September, 1841, a memorable day in the history not only of Sarawak but
of the whole of North-Western Borneo, he was declared Rajah and Governor
of Sarawak, amidst the roar of cannon and a general display of flags and
banners on the shore and the vessels on the river.[92]
On that day he became Rajah of Sarawak, though a feudatory Rajah, a
position which he was not content to hold for long, as such a position
would have proved untenable.
Sarawak was then of very limited extent; it was a little governorship
extending from Cape Datu to the mouth of the Sadong, and included,
besides smaller streams, the Lundu, Sarawak, and Samarahan rivers; and
this district, about 3000 square miles in area, is, with the inclusion
of the Sadong river, now known as Sarawak Proper. In the days of Hasim
Sarawak was not a raj, but a province under a governor. Hasim was not
actually the Rajah of Sarawak, though his high birth gave him the right
to the courtesy title of Rajah. His real title was the Pangiran
Muda;[93] Muda is inseparable from the title, and was not a part of his
name. Pangiran Muda, the heir to the throne, is the correct Bruni title.
Rajah Muda (young Rajah) also means heir-apparent.
The districts from Sarawak up to Bintulu, and beyond, formed separate
provinces, and were under separate governors, but Hasim's high rank
naturally gave him some influence over these officials. Sadong was
governed by Sherip Sahap, his subjects being Land-Dayaks; his power,
however, extended to the head of that river. Sherip Japar of Lingga,
Sherip Mular of Sekrang, and Sherip Masahor of Serikei, held nominal
authority only over the main population of their respective districts
occupied by the Sea-Dayaks, for these people acknowledged no government,
and lived in independence even in the vicinity of the Malays. Such,
moreover, was the case with the Saribas, which was nominally governed by
Malay chiefs. The districts of Muka, Oya, and Bintulu were under Bruni
pangirans, but, having only Melanaus to govern, their control was
complete. In the Baram, a river inhabited by warlike Kayans and Kenyahs,
the Malays, nominal rulers and traders, lived on sufferance alone, and
so it was in the Sea-Dayak countries of the Batang Lupar, Saribas, and
Rejang. Over the Malays, the Land-Dayaks, and the Melanaus, the Bruni
Government had power—the Sea-Dayaks and Kayans scorned it. The sherips,
as the title denotes, are of Arab origin, and they claim descent from
the Prophet. They are half-breeds, and were dangerous men. Earl, in his
_Eastern Seas_, 1837, says:—
"The pirates who infest the Archipelago consist wholly of the free
Mahomedan states in Sumatra, Lingin, Borneo, Magindano, and Sulu
(and he should have added of the Malay Peninsula), those natives who
have remained uncontaminated by the detestable doctrines of the
Arabs, never being known to engage in like pursuits."
Again:—
The genuine Arabs are often high-minded, enterprising men, but their
half-caste descendants who swarm in the Archipelago comprise the
most despicable set of wretches in existence. Under the name of
religion they have introduced among the natives the vilest system of
intolerance and wickedness imaginable; and those places in which
they have gained an ascendency[94] are invariably converted into
dens of infamy and piracy.
Sir Stamford Raffles says "they are commonly nothing better than
manumitted slaves, and they hold like robbers the offices they obtain as
sycophants, and cover all with the sanctimonious veil of religious
hypocrisy."
And such were the sherips of Borneo with whom the English Rajah had to
deal, and whose power he eventually broke. There are many of these to
this day in Sarawak, but they have been converted into harmless members
of the community, and some have been good Government officials, notably
Sherip Putra, who died in June, 1906, after having served the Government
well and faithfully for twenty-two years; and he was the son of Sherip
Sahap, and the nephew of Sherip Mular.
The condition of the country on Rajah Brooke's accession is best
described in his own words. After relating the devastations committed by
the piratical and head-hunting Dayaks of Saribas and Sekrang, the Rajah
goes on to say:—
It is of the hill Dayaks,[95] however, I would particularly write,
for a more wretched, oppressed race is not to be found, or one more
deserving the commiseration of the humane. Though industrious they
never reap what they sow; though their country is rich in produce,
they are obliged to yield it all to their oppressors; though
yielding all beyond their bare sustenance, they rarely can preserve
half _their children_, and often—too often—are robbed of them all,
with their wives.[96] All that rapacity and oppression can effect is
exhausted, and the only happiness that ever falls to the lot of
these unhappy tribes is getting one tyrant instead of five thousand.
Indeed, it is quite useless to try to explain the miserable
condition of this country, where for the last ten years there has
been no government; where intrigue and plunder form the occupation
of all the higher classes; where a poor man to possess beyond his
clothes is a crime; where lying is a virtue, religion dead, and
where cheating is so common; and last, where the ruler, Muda Hasim,
is so weak, that he has lost all authority except in name and
observance.
[Illustration:
LAND-DAYAK VILLAGE.]
And further:—
All those who frequent the sea-shore lead a life of constant peril
from roving Dayaks and treacherous Malays, and Illanuns and
Balaninis, the regular pirates. It is a life of watchfulness,
hide-and-seek, and fight or flight, and in the course of each year
many lose their lives or their liberty.
This is the country I have taken upon myself to govern with small
means, few men, and, in short, without any of the requisites which
could insure success; I have distraction within and intrigue abroad,
and I have the weakest of the weak,[97] a rotten staff to depend
upon for my authority.
To add to his troubles, the season was one of famine following on
intestine troubles. So poor were the people, that, again to quote the
Rajah: "daily, poor wretches in the last stage of starvation float down
the river, and crawl to my house to beg a little, little rice."
One of the first acts of the Rajah was to obtain the return to their
families of the women and children of the late rebel Malay chiefs, who
had been detained by Hasim now for nine months. He then recalled the
Sarawak Malays, who, after submission to Hasim, had retired with their
chiefs to distant parts, not trusting the good faith of their Malay
Rajah and his right-hand man, Makota. The Bruni datus appointed by the
former Governor were displaced, and the old Sarawak Malay datus, who had
been in rebellion against the Bruni Government, and who owed their lives
to Rajah Brooke's intercession, were reinstated, and in their families
the offices remain to this day. Who these chiefs were at that time there
seems to exist some doubt, with the exception of the premier datu, the
Datu Patinggi Ali, who fell gallantly fighting for the Government three
years after he had been reinstated, and the Datu Temanggong Mersal. The
old Datu Bandar, Rancha, had died before this, and no one appears to
have succeeded him directly, but Datu Patinggi Ali's son-in-law, Haji
Abdul Gapur, and his son Muhammad Lana, evidently held office of some
kind as native chiefs. On the Datu Patinggi's death, Haji Gapur
succeeded him in office, and Muhammad Lana became the Datu Bandar. When
Haji Gapur was dismissed in 1854, another son of the Datu Patinggi Ali,
Haji Bua Hasan, was made the Imaum, and a few years afterwards Datu
Imaum, but no one was then, or has since been, appointed to the office
of Datu Patinggi.
On Muhammad Lana's death, his brother Haji Bua Hasan became Datu Bandar,
and, shortly afterwards, another relative, Haji Abdul Karim, was
appointed Datu Imaum, and he was succeeded on his death in 1877 by Haji
Muhammad Taim, the youngest son of the Datu Patinggi Ali. The Datu
Bandar, Haji Bua Hasan, died in harness in 1905, over one hundred years
of age, and has been succeeded by his son, Muhammad Kasim, formerly the
Datu Muda; another son, Haji Muhammad Ali, is the Datu Hakim. These
offices are not hereditary, so this narration will show how well the
family of gallant old Patinggi Ali, the direct descendant of the
original founder of Sarawak, Rajah Jarom, with the sole exception of
Haji Gapur, have earned and retained the confidence of the Government,
and how honourably they have maintained their position.
The Datu Temanggong Mersal belonged to another family, but he and his
sons were not the less staunch; the eldest, brave Abang Pata, rendered
the Government very signal services, and the younger, Muhammad Hasan,
succeeded his father as Temanggong.
The only one who betrayed the trust reposed in him was the Datu Patinggi
Haji Gapur. Of him, as well as the others, we shall hear more in the
sequel.
About the same time that the old chiefs were reinstated the Rajah
instituted a Court of Justice, in which he presided, and was assisted in
dispensing justice by the brothers of Rajah Muda Hasim, and he
promulgated the following simple laws, of which this is a summary:—
James Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak, makes known to all men the following
regulations:—
1. That murder, robbery, and other heinous crimes will be punished
according to the written laws of Borneo;[98] and no man committing
such offences will escape, if, after fair inquiry, he be found
guilty.
2. All men, whether Malays, Chinese, or Dayaks are permitted to
trade or to labour according to their pleasure, and to enjoy their
gains.
3. All roads will be open, and all boats coming from other parts are
free to enter the river and depart without let or hindrance.
4. Trade, in all its branches, will be free, with the exception of
antimony ore, which the Governor holds in his own hands, but which
no person is forced to work, and which will be paid for at a
proper price when obtained.
5. It is ordered that no persons going amongst the Dayaks shall
disturb them or gain their goods under false pretences. The
revenue will be collected by the three Datus bearing the seal of
the Governor, and (except this yearly demand from the Government)
they are to give nothing to any other person; nor are they obliged
to sell their goods except they please, and at their own prices.
6. The revenue shall be fixed, so that every one may know certainly
how much he has to contribute yearly to support the Government.
7. Weights and measures shall be settled and money current in the
country, and doits[99] introduced, that the poor may purchase food
cheaply.
8. Obedience to the ordinances will be strictly enforced.
The Rajah's next step was to redress some of the wrongs to which the
unhappy people had been subjected, and by ameliorating their condition
to gain their confidence. The Rajah Muda Hasim and his brothers were in
his way, "and the intriguing, mean, base Brunis, who depended upon the
support of the pangirans to escape punishment when guilty;"[100] but,
nevertheless, at the end of the year he was able to write that he had
done much good—that he had saved the lives of many people, restored many
captives to their families, and freed many slaves from bondage, and
above all, that he had repressed vice, and had assisted the distressed.
The Rajah had also to safeguard his country; to prepare to take the
offensive against the Malays and Sea-Dayaks of the Sekrang and Saribas;
and to guard against the plots and designs of his neighbours the
sherips, who viewed with no friendly eye the establishment of a
government in Sarawak, having as its principal objects the suppression
of piracy and lawlessness. It was a menace to them, and they knew it,
and to retain their power they were prepared to go to any length.
Already Sherip Sahap and his brother Sherip Mular had sent people
against the Sempro and Sentah Dayaks; and the former had endeavoured to
withdraw the allegiance of the datus from the Rajah, but in this he
failed. As a defensive measure the Rajah built a fort and palisaded his
little town. He also constructed war-boats for the protection of the
coast, and to take the offensive, which he saw must be inevitable.
The Rajah soon showed the Saribas the power of his arm. Thirteen of
their large war-boats appeared off the coast on a piratical cruise, and
these were met and attacked by three of the Rajah's well-armed boats and
driven back with heavy loss. Retaliation was threatened, and the Dayaks
prepared, but it was a long time before they again appeared, and the
terror of Brooke's name kept them off Sarawak. At this time Sherip Sahap
also received a lesson. He had sent a Pangiran Bedrudin to Kuching on a
secret mission, and the pangiran on his way down river fell in with and
attacked a Chinese boat, wounding two of the crew, one mortally. The
Rajah immediately gave chase, and after eight days came up with them.
One of the pangiran's crew, a Lanun penglima, amoked, but was killed by
the Datu Patinggi Ali before he could do any harm; the rest surrendered,
and were taken to Kuching, where the pangiran, and another, a relation
of his, were executed, and the crew imprisoned.
A month later, two Singgi Dayak chiefs, Pa Rimbun and Pa Tumo, for
killing Segu Dayaks within the State, were arrested and executed. These
examples showed his neighbours that the Rajah was determined to protect
his people; and it showed the people that the law would be administered
with an equal and firm hand.
But as yet the ratification of his appointment had not been made, and on
July 14th, 1842, the Rajah left for Bruni to obtain from the Sultan the
confirmation of his nomination by Hasim, and to effect, if possible, a
reconciliation between the Sultan and his uncle, as he was naturally
desirous to get the latter, his brothers, and their Bruni followers,
away from Sarawak, so as to give stability to the Government, and to
prevent a needless drain upon the treasury. Another object the Rajah had
in view was to obtain the release of about twenty-five Lascars belonging
to an English ship, the _Lord Melbourne_, which had lately been wrecked,
and who had found their way to Bruni, where they were being detained in
captivity.
As it happened, another English ship, the _Sultana_, had about eighteen
months previously been wrecked on the N.W. coast, struck by lightning,
and the captain, his wife, two passengers, one a lady, and some English
seamen, had escaped to Bruni in the long boat; the Lascars had landed
farther north, and had been captured and sold into slavery by Sherip
Usman. The Sultan seized these unfortunate people, and robbed them of
their money, some jewels, and their boat. He further compelled them to
sign bonds to himself for considerable sums of money, and he had treated
them with harshness and inhumanity.
[Illustration:
LAND-DAYAK HEAD-HOUSE.]
On hearing of this Mr. Brooke had sent his yacht, the _Royalist_, to
Bruni to obtain their release, but this had been refused by the Sultan,
and then he communicated with Singapore. The East India Company's
Steamer _Diana_ was despatched to Bruni, ran up the river and pointed
its guns on the palace. The Sultan was so thoroughly alarmed that he
surrendered the captives, after a detention of eight months, and the
dread of the "fire-ship" remained on him, so that when the Rajah arrived
he was in a compliant mood, and received him most cordially.
It may be as well here to give a description of Bruni and of its Court.
The Bruni river flows into a noble bay, across which to the north lies
the island of Labuan. Above the town the river is very small, and rises
but some fifteen to twenty miles inland. Where the town is, the river is
very broad, forming a large lake. The town is commanded by hills once
under cultivation; on an island at the mouth of the entrance are the
shattered remains of an old Portuguese fort, which was still standing,
though ruinous, when Hunt visited the place in 1809. The town itself has
been designated the "Venice of Borneo" by old writers, a description to
which the Italian Beccari rightly objected,[101] and is mainly built on
piles driven into the mud on a shallow in the middle of the lake, the
houses occupying wooden platforms elevated some ten feet above the reach
of the tide. Communication between them is effected by canoes, in which
the women daily go through the town selling provisions. It is, in a
word, similar to the palafitte villages found in prehistoric times in
the lakes of Switzerland and Lombardy. A part of the town, including the
houses of the Sultan and the wazirs, is situated on the left bank of the
river. It is the Bruni of Pigafetta's time, though sadly reduced in size
and importance. Then the Sultan's palace was enclosed by a strong brick
wall,[102] with barbicans mounting fifty-six cannon, now it is but a
roughly built barn-like shed. Gone are the richly caparisoned elephants,
and gone too is all the old pride, pomp, and panoply, including the
spoons of gold, which particularly struck the old voyager.[103] Bruni
has no defences now, but, at the period of which we are writing, there
were batteries planted on each side of the inlet commanding the
approach, also two forts on the heights, and one battery on a tongue of
land that looked down the estuary, and which could rake a fleet
advancing towards the town, whilst the batteries on the two banks poured
in a flank fire.
When the tide goes out the mud is most offensive to European nostrils,
as all the filth and offal is cast into it from the platforms, and left
there to decompose. The town at the time of the Rajah's visit, was in a
condition of squalid wretchedness—the buildings, all of wood and leaf
matting, were in a tumbledown state; and the population was mainly
composed of slaves and the hangers on of the Sultan, the nobles, and
other members of the upper classes. The Sultan was a man past fifty
years of age, short and puffy in person, with a countenance indicative
of imbecility. In his journal the Rajah wrote:
His right hand is garnished with an extra diminutive thumb, the
natural member being crooked and distorted.[104] His mind, indexed
by his face, seems to be a chaos of confusion, without dignity and
without good sense. He can neither read nor write, is guided by the
last speaker; and his advisers, as might be expected, are of the
lower order, and mischievous from their ignorance and their
greediness. He is always talking, and generally joking; and the most
serious subjects never meet with five minutes' consecutive
attention. His rapacity is carried to such an excess as to astonish
a European, and is evinced in a thousand mean ways. The presents I
made him were unquestionably handsome, but he was not content
without begging from me the share I had reserved for the other
pangirans; and afterwards solicited mere trifles such as sugar,
pen-knives, and the like. To crown all he was incessantly asking
what was left in the vessel, and when told the truth—that I was
stripped bare as a tree in winter—he frequently returned to the
charge.
The Court at Bruni consisted of the Pangiran Mumin, the Sultan's uncle
by marriage, a fairly well-disposed man, though a friend of Makota, but
of no ability, avaricious, and with the mind of a huckster, who
afterwards became Sultan. There were several uncles of the Sultan, but
they were devoid of influence, and were mostly absent in Sarawak,
whereas the Pangiran Usup, an illegitimate son of Sultan Muhammad
Tejudin, and consequently a left-handed uncle to the reigning Sultan,—a
man crafty, unscrupulous, and ambitious,—held sway over the mind of his
nephew, and induced him to look with suspicion on his uncles of
legitimate birth. This man was in league with the pirates, and a
determined opponent of British interference. Consequently, though
outwardly most friendly, he was bitterly opposed to the white Rajah,
against whom he was already plotting to accomplish his eviction, or his
death. Though Pangiran Usup was well aware of the Rajah's determination
to stamp out piracy and oppression, yet he was not wise enough to
foresee that to measure his strength against a chivalrous and resolute
Englishman, who had even a stronger support behind him than those forces
he was already slowly and surely gathering around himself, must be
futile, and that it would end in his own ruin. Among the Sultan's
legitimate uncles the only man of ability and integrity was the Pangiran
Bedrudin, who had accompanied the Rajah to Bruni, and who was always
frank with him and supported his schemes.
The Rajah had daily interviews with the Sultan, who expressed a great
personal regard for him, and frequently swore "eternal friendship,"
clasping his hand and repeating "_amigo saya, amigo saya_."[105] He
readily confirmed the cession made by Rajah Muda Hasim, being satisfied
with the amount promised as his share of the Sarawak revenue, and said,
"I wish you to be there; I do not wish anybody else; you are my _amigo_,
and it is nobody's business but mine; the country is mine, and if I
please to give you all, I can."
The deed to which Rajah Muda Hasim had affixed his seal on September 24,
1841, was to the following effect:—
That the country and government of Sarawak is made over to Mr.
Brooke (to be held under the crown of Bruni), with all its revenues
and dependencies, on the yearly payment of 500. That Mr. Brooke is
not to infringe upon the customs or religion of the people; and in
return, that no person is to interfere with him in the management of
the country.
The confirmatory deed was executed on August 1, 1842, and was in tenor
and purport similar to that granted by Hasim, with the exception of an
additional clause precluding the alienation of Sarawak by the Rajah
without the consent of the Sultan.
The Sultan also told the Rajah that it would be a delight to him to
welcome both his uncles, Hasim and Bedrudin, back to Bruni, and begged
the Rajah to carry for him a friendly letter to the former, conveying
assurance that he was completely reconciled to him. Bruni, he said,
would never be well until his return. The Lascars of the _Lord
Melbourne_ were at once given up, and the Rajah also procured the
release of three of the _Sultana's_ Lascars, who had been transferred to
Bruni masters. He remained at Bruni for ten days—a period, as he wrote,
"quite sufficient to discover to me the nakedness of the land, their
civil dissensions, and the total decay of their power, internal and
external."
On his return the Rajah received a cordial welcome, for it was believed
that he would certainly be killed in Bruni; and on September 18, the
deed was read appointing him to hold the government of Sarawak. The
ceremony was impressive, but it nearly became tragical. We will give the
Rajah's own description of it. After the deed had been read—
The Rajah (Muda Hasim) descended, and said aloud "If any one present
disowns or contests the Sultan's appointment, let him now declare."
All were silent. He next turned to the Patinggis and asked them.
They were obedient to the will of the Sultan. Then came the other
pangirans. "Is there any pangiran or any young Rajah that contests
the question? Pangiran der Makota, what do you say?" Makota
expressed his willingness to obey. One or two other obnoxious
pangirans, who had always opposed themselves to me, were each in
turn challenged, and forced to promise obedience. The Rajah then
waved his sword, and with a loud voice exclaimed, "Whoever he is
that disobeys the Sultan's mandate now received I will separate his
skull." At the moment some ten of his brothers jumped from the
verandah, and, drawing their long krises, began to flourish and
dance about, thrusting close to Makota, striking the pillar above
his head, and pointing their weapons at his breast. This
_amusement_, the violence of motion, the freedom from restraint,
this explosion of a long pent up animosity, roused all their
passions; and had Makota, through an excess of fear or an excess of
bravery, started up he would have been slain, and other blood would
have been spilt. But he was quiet, with his face pale and subdued,
and, as shortly as decency would permit after the riot had subsided,
took his leave.
The Rajah now ordered Makota to leave the country, an order that could
not be ignored, though he kept deferring his departure on one pretext
after another, and it was not until the arrival of the _Dido_ some eight
months later that he quitted Sarawak, and that suddenly. He then joined
Sherip Sahap at Sadong, and when that piratical chief's power was
broken, he retired along with him to Patusan. Makota was captured after
the destruction of that place in 1844, but, unfortunately, the Rajah
spared his life. He then retired to Bruni, there to continue his plots
against the English, and in 1845 was commissioned by the Sultan to
murder Rajah Brooke, but found that the execution of this design would
be too distinctly dangerous; and, though he bearded the lion in his den,
it was only in the guise of a beggar. At Bruni he rose to power, and, as
already related in chapter II., became a scourge to the natives in that
part of the sultanate. His end was this:—In November, 1858, he headed a
raid at Awang in the Limbang to sweep together a number of Bisaya girls
to fill his harem, when he was fallen upon by the natives at night time
and killed.
The Rajah now set to work in earnest to put the Government on a sound
footing. He made no attempt to introduce a brand new constitution and
laws, but took what already existed. He found the legal code was just
enough on paper, but had been over-ridden and nullified by the lawless
pangirans. All that was necessary was to enforce the existing laws,
modifying the penalties where too cruel and severe, and introducing
fresh laws as occasion required. "I hate," he wrote in October, "the
idea of an Utopian government, with laws cut and dried ready for the
natives, being introduced. Governments, like clothes, will not suit
everybody, and certainly a people who gradually develop their
government, though not a good one, are nearer happiness and stability
than a government of the best which is fitted at random. I am going on
slowly and surely, basing everything on their own laws, consulting all
the headmen at every step, instilling what I think right—separating the
_abuses_ from the customs." The government which he had displaced was so
utterly bad that any change was certain to be accepted by the people
with hope of improvement; and when it was found, that by the
introduction of a wise system of taxation, which actually doubled the
revenue, whilst to the popular mind it seemed to halve their burden—
when, moreover, they found that justice was strictly and impartially
administered in the courts—they welcomed the change with whole-hearted
gratitude. The Rajah associated the native chiefs with himself in the
government, and found them amenable to wholesome principles, and on the
whole to be level-headed men. By this means mutual confidence was
inspired, and the foundation laid of a government, the principle of
which was and has ever since been "to rule for the people and with the
people," to quote the Rajah writing twenty-two years later, "and to
teach them the rights of freemen under the restraints of government. The
majority of the "Council"[106] secures a legal ascendency for native
ideas of what is best for their happiness, here and hereafter. The
wisdom of the white man cannot become a _hindrance_, and the English
ruler must be their friend and guide, or nothing. The citizen of Sarawak
has every privilege enjoyed by the citizen of England, and far more
personal freedom than is known in a thickly populated country. They are
_not_ taught industry by being forced to work. They take a part in the
government under which they live; they are consulted upon the taxes they
pay; and, in short, they are free men.
"This is the government which has struck its roots into the soil for the
last quarter of a century, which has triumphed over every danger and
difficulty, and which has inspired its people with confidence."
The revenue of Sarawak was in utter confusion. Over large tracts of
country no tax could be enforced, and the Rajah, as he had undertaken,
was determined to lighten the load that had weighed so crushingly, and
was inflicted so arbitrarily on the loyal Land-Dayaks—loyal hitherto,
not in heart, but because powerless to resist. To carry on the
government without funds was impossible, and the want of these was now,
and for many years to come, the Rajah's greatest trouble. Consequently
the antimony ore was made a monopoly of the government, which was a fair
and just measure, and to the general advantage of the community, though
it was subsequently seized upon as a pretext for accusing the Rajah of
having debased his position by engaging in trade. But it was years
before the revenue was sufficient to meet the expenditure, and gradually
the Rajah sacrificed his entire fortune to pay the expenses of the
administration.
In undertaking the government he had three objects in view:—
(1) The relief of the unfortunate Land-Dayaks from oppression.
(2) The suppression of piracy, and the restoration to a peaceable and
orderly life, of those tribes of Dayaks who had been converted into
marauders by their Malay masters.
(3) The suppression of head-hunting.
But these ends could not be attained all at once. The first was the
easiest arrived at, and the news spread through the length and breadth
of the island that there was one spot on its surface where the native
was not ground to powder, and where justice reigned. The result was that
the Land-Dayaks flocked to it. Whole families came over from the Dutch
Protectorate, where there was no protection; and others who had fled to
the mountains and the jungle returned to the sites of their burnt
villages.
How this has worked, on the same undeviating lines of a sound policy,
under the rule of the two Rajahs, the following may show. Writing in
1867, on revisiting Sarawak, Admiral the Hon. Sir Henry Keppel said:
It brought back to my mind some four-and-twenty years ago, when I
first came up in the _Dido_ with Sir James Brooke on board, and
gave the first and nearly the only help he had in securing his
position, thereby enabling him to carry out his philanthropic
views for the benefit of a strange race. If he had not succeeded
to the full extent of his then sanguine hopes, still there is no
man living, or to come, who, single-handed, will have benefited
his fellow-creatures to the extent Brooke has. In 1842, piracy,
slavery, and head-hunting were the order of the day. The sail of a
peaceful trader was nowhere to be seen, not even a fisherman, but
along the length of this beautiful coast, far into the interior,
the Malays and Dayaks warred on one another. Now how different!
Huts and fishing stakes are to be seen all along the coast, the
town of Kuching, which on the visit of the _Dido_, had scarcely
800 inhabitants, now has a population of 20,000. The aborigines,
who called themselves warriors, are now peaceful traders and
cultivators of rice. The jungle is fast being cleared to make way
for farms.
Head-hunting, the third aim which Rajah Brooke held before his eyes, was
an ingrained custom of the race which could not be eradicated at once.
The utmost that he could effect at first was to prevent the taking of
heads of any of the subjects under his rule. All the tribes that were in
his raj were to be regarded as friends, and were therefore not to be
molested. Any breach of the peace, every murder was severely punished.
In a short time head-hunting and intertribal feuds amongst the Sarawak
Dayaks were extirpated, and the raj ceased to be a hunting-field for the
Sekrang and Saribas Dayaks; but they continued to haunt the coast
together with the Lanun and Balenini pirates, and the suppression of
piracy was the most serious undertaking of the three, and took many
years to accomplish.
Early in 1843, the Rajah visited Singapore to further the interests of
his raj, and for a change. His main wish, which he had repeatedly
expressed, was to transfer Sarawak to the Crown, and he likewise
impressed upon the Government the policy of establishing a settlement at
Labuan, and of obtaining a monopoly of the coal in the Bruni Sultanate.
He was able to interest the Chinese merchants in the trade of Sarawak.
But the most important matter was the immediate suppression of the
ravages committed by the pirates, both Dayak and Malay; and here
Providence threw across his path, in the person of Captain the Hon.
Henry Keppel,[107] the very assistance he required. Between the white
Rajah and the Rajah Laut (Sea King), the title by which Keppel became
known, and was ever afterwards remembered in Sarawak, a sincere
attachment arose. Keppel was attracted by the Rajah's lovable
personality, and sympathised with his objects; and, being chivalrous and
always ready to act upon his own responsibility, he at once decided to
lend all the support in his power, which any other naval officer might
have hesitated to have done. The aid he so nobly rendered came at an
opportune time, for it not only administered to the pirates a severe
lesson, but also taught those inimical to his rule that the white Rajah
was not held aloof by his own countrymen, and thus consolidated his
power by reassuring the waverers and encouraging the loyal. The kindly
and gallant Keppel stands foremost amongst the friends of Sarawak, to
which State he rendered not only the splendid services to be recorded in
our next chapter, but ever evinced a keen and kindly interest in its
welfare, and in its Rajahs, to whom he was ever ready to lend his able
support and influence, and of whom the Rajah wrote, "He is my friend and
the benefactor of Sarawak."
[Illustration:
THE PART OF KUCHING SHOWN IN HEAD-PIECE OF PRESENT CHAPTER, AS IT NOW
IS.]
-----
Footnote 78:
Camoen's _Lusiad_ (Sir Richard Burton's translation.) Camoen here
refers to the islands of the Malayan Archipelago, which he visited in
his exile some 350 years ago.
Footnote 79:
St. John tells us that a few years before this an English ship that
had put into the Sarawak river to water was treacherously seized; the
Englishmen were murdered, and the Lascars sold into slavery.
Footnote 80:
_Anglice_, cat.
Footnote 81:
A short time before the commencement of this history this place had
been attacked by the Saribas Dayaks, and 120 people were slain.
Footnote 82:
3000 feet.
Footnote 83:
Spencer St. John, _Sir James Brooke_, 1879.
Footnote 84:
Mr. Brooke. He was a good-looking man. Capt. the Hon. H. Keppel gives
his portrait, the frontispiece to vol. i. of his _Expedition to Borneo
of H.M.S. Dido_, which is incorrectly entitled the portrait of Rajah
Muda Hasim.
Footnote 85:
Spelt Sahib by Mr. Brooke in his letters and journals, and by others,
but correctly his name was Sahap. He had a reputation for bravery, and
was styled by the Sekrang Dayaks "Bujang Brani," the brave man.
Footnote 86:
There is no strict law of primogeniture in Bruni, otherwise Rajah Muda
Hasim could not have been heir-presumptive. As he was of royal blood,
and the prince most fitted to succeed, he was looked upon as the heir
to the throne, and was so acknowledged (publicly in 1846) by the
Sultan, and was therefore more correctly heir-apparent. At this time
Sultan Omar Ali had two sons, and the eldest, also named Hasim, must
have been about thirty-five years of age. There was a disgraceful
harem scandal in connection with their birth, which pointed to their
having been the sons of a Nakoda, or merchant. Though this appears to
have been generally credited, Hasim nevertheless became the 24th
Sultan in 1885.
It may be noted here that Omar Ali himself was only _de facto_ Sultan,
as he was never able to obtain the legal investiture which in Bruni
constitutes an election to the throne _de jure_, and which confers
upon the sovereign the title of _Iang de Pertuan_, the Lord who rules,
the most exalted title, and one which he never assumed.
Footnote 87:
Or an abbreviation of Muhammad Husain. In former works he is
incorrectly styled Moksain (for Matsain), following Mr. Brooke's
published letters and journals, which were badly edited in regard to
native names and words.
Footnote 88:
Mr. Brooke.
Footnote 89:
Mr. Brooke.
Footnote 90:
The Bruni, not the Sarawak Malays.
Footnote 91:
Mr. Brooke.
Footnote 92:
_Idem._
Footnote 93:
By which he was generally referred to, both in documents and verbally,
by the Malays of Bruni and Sarawak. "Rajah of Sarawak" was a
complimentary title given to him by Europeans only. He has been
frequently styled _Muda_ Hasim by former writers; this would be
unintelligible to a Malay.
Footnote 94:
Such was this ascendency that they became the founders of the present
ruling dynasties of Bruni (Chap. II., p. 1), Palembang (Sumatra),
Pontianak, Sambas, Mindanau, and Sulu, and probably of other native
states.
Footnote 95:
Land-Dayaks.
Footnote 96:
Shortly before Rajah Brooke's arrival, Sherip Sahap with a large force
of Sekrang Dayaks had attacked the Sau tribe of Land-Dayaks in Upper
Sarawak. Many were killed, their villages plundered and burnt, and
nearly all the surviving women and children, to the number of some two
hundred and fifty, carried off into slavery. The Rajah eventually
recovered nearly all.
Footnote 97:
Meaning Rajah Muda Hasim.
Footnote 98:
Bruni.
Footnote 99:
_Duit_, Malay for a cent.
Footnote 100:
Rajah Brooke.
Footnote 101:
"I admit that Bruni has its points, but what irony to compare for a
moment the city of marble palaces with the mass of miserable huts
which a single match could easily reduce to ashes."—Beccari, _op.
cit._ The Rajah called the place a "Venice of hovels." Mercator in his
Atlas describes it as "being situated on a saltwater lagoon like
Venice," hence probably it became known as the Venice of Borneo.
Footnote 102:
_Kota batu_, stone fort. The name still remains. It was built towards
the close of the fifteenth century by Sherip Ali, the first Arab
Sultan, with the aid of the Chinese subjects his wife's mother had
brought to Bruni. The city was then nearer the mouth of the river. It
was moved to its present position by Sultan Muadin about 200 years
ago.
Footnote 103:
Magellan, _Hakluyt Society_, and the Portuguese Jorge de Menezes, who
visited Bruni five years after Pigafetta, notices that the city was
surrounded with a wall of brick, and possessed some noble edifices.
Other early voyagers describe the sultans and rulers of Malayan States
as maintaining great style, and their equipments,—such as swords of
state, saddles, chairs, eating and drinking utensils—as being of pure
gold. Allowing for some exaggeration, this would still point to a
former condition of prosperity which enabled rulers and nobles to keep
up a pageantry which has long since vanished.
Footnote 104:
This malformation, according to the laws of Bruni, would have
disqualified him for the throne, for these provide that no person in
any way imbecile in mind or deformed in person can enjoy the regal
dignity, whatever title to it his birth might have given him.—Sir Hugh
Low, _op. cit._ p. 108.
Footnote 105:
_Saya_, or more correctly, _sahaya_ (mis-spelt _suya_ in the Rajah's
badly edited journals) is the Malay for I, mine; so _amigo saya_ would
be, My friend. _Amigo_ was one of the few Spanish words the Sultan
had.
Footnote 106:
Established in 1855.
Footnote 107:
Afterwards Admiral of the Fleet. He died, January 1904.
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