MUKA
In 1856, the Honourable G. W. Edwardes had been appointed Governor of
Labuan; Mr. Spenser St. John being Consul-General at Bruni. The Governor
was known to have imbibed all the prejudices and antipathies fostered in
England by Mr. Gladstone and his tail; and he was eager in everything to
hamper the development of the little State of Sarawak. He was not,
however, authorised to interfere in the relations between Bruni and
Sarawak, nor in the internal affairs of these States, where he had no
jurisdiction; but when the Consul-General left on leave early in 1860,
the Consular Office was handed over to him, and he was then placed in a
position to give vent to his bias, and, as Sir Spenser St. John remarks,
"he was delighted to get a chance of giving a blow to Sarawak." With
regard to Sherip Masahor, "he acted against his better judgment," and
with regard to the subsequent events at Muka "against the strong advice
of his own experienced officers."[254]
Sherip Masahor, after having been driven out of Sarawak, retired to
Muka, and, having established his family and numerous followers there,
passed on to Bruni to lay his case before the Sultan. Consul-General St.
John was then on the point of leaving, but before his departure he
received information from the Sultan which left little doubt "that
Masahor had instigated the murder of—had, in fact, by his paid agents,
murdered—Messrs. Fox and Steele."[255] On his way to England Mr. St.
John visited Kuching, and there obtained evidence which quite convinced
him of the Sherip's guilt, and he then wrote to the Sultan, calling upon
him to deliver up the Sherip to the Sarawak Government. But this letter
passing into acting Consul-General Edwardes' hands was suppressed by
him. He had seen the plausible Sherip, who had been sent to him by the
Sultan, and not only declined to believe in his guilt, but advised the
Sultan that his detention was not justifiable, and that he should be
permitted to return to Muka; there to watch and if needs be oppose the
aggression of the Rajah's nephews. To add fuel to the flame, he led the
Sultan to believe that prosperous Sarawak would soon be restored to
Bruni—a tempting prospect for the covetous and plundering nobles.
Writing to the Tuan Besar, under date July 4, 1860, Governor Edwardes
says:—
After careful consideration of the documents sent, and examination
of the case, I am unable to arrive at the conviction that Sherip
Masahor is guilty of instigating the murders of Messrs. Fox and
Steele, or of such complicity to justify me to induce his Highness
to surrender him.
His Highness, and the Rajahs, have expressed the most earnest desire
to further the ends of justice, and to afford every assistance to
the Sarawak Government. I have full confidence in their sincerity.
I have not hesitated to inform his Highness and the Rajahs that I
consider the evidence insufficient and that he (Sherip Masahor)
could not with justice be surrendered.
As regards the Tuan Muda's actions in attacking and driving Sherip
Masahor out of Sarawak, Mr. Edwardes wrote that these "have greatly
prejudiced the British name and character in this country, and have
engendered a strong feeling of hostility to this colony (Labuan)."
In obedience to instructions the poor Sherip had gone to Kuching from
Serikei, taking certain Government monies and properties. In the Sarawak
river he had met the Tuan Muda coming down, and he then received orders
to follow him and join in an attack on Sadong. He obeyed, and on
entering the Sadong river brought up and anchored, the Tuan Muda going
on. The same evening the Tuan Muda dropped down, anchored close to his
prahu, sent and _borrowed_ his small boat, and the next morning
unexpectedly fired upon him. This is the story the Sherip told the
Governor at Bruni, and this is the story the Governor found it suitable
to his purpose to believe, though he _hoped_ it was not true, and that
he would be able "to clear away so great a stain upon the British
name."[256]
The energetic Sherip, before he left Muka had stirred up his
brother-in-law, the sleepy Pangiran Nipa, in charge there, to
reconstruct and strengthen the defences of the place, and there he was
joined by his Igan and Segalang people. No Sarawak traders were allowed
to enter the port to obtain raw sago, and the Muka people were forbidden
to have any commercial dealings with Kuching. A vessel chartered by a
Madras trader, a British subject, was prohibited under the heaviest
penalties from entering the Sarawak river, and two of his companions,
also British subjects, were detained as hostages against his doing so. A
fleet of twenty-five Sarawak vessels had been forced to collect at
Bruit, permission having been refused to enter Muka to load sago; and
the sago factories in Kuching were rendered idle.
From Bruni two agents had arrived at Muka, the Bandari Samsu and Makoda
Muhammad, whose sole business was to spread false reports for the
purpose of stirring up feelings of hostility against the English in
Sarawak. A spear (the usual token of a call to arms) had been sent
through the Sea-Dayak countries under Sarawak rule by the Sherip to
order the Dayaks in the names of the Bruni Rajahs to repair to Muka, and
that would have led to the coast, from Rejang to Bintulu, under the
Sultan's rule, being ravaged by thousands of Dayaks, and the heads taken
of every man, woman, and child met by them; fortunately, however, the
Sarawak officials were able to keep the Dayaks in.
The Tuan Muda had received a letter from the Pangiran Temanggong couched
in the most friendly terms, repudiating the acts of Nipa, and informing
him that the Muka river was to be opened for trade to all alike; but in
the meantime the Bruni Court, always playing a double game, had
despatched the two agents above mentioned, with an order that the
Sarawak nakodas were not to be allowed to fly the Sarawak flag at Muka,
nor to trade directly with the Muka people, but only through the Bruni
Pangirans.
Acting upon the Temanggong's assurance, the Sarawak vessels had gone to
Muka, but off the mouth the nakodas had been warned that they would be
fired on if they entered, and the bearer of a friendly letter from the
Tuan Besar to the Pangiran Nipa was refused admittance. With the aid of
the Temanggong's letter, the Tuan Besar determined to try by friendly
negotiations to get Pangiran Nipa to be reasonable, and failing that to
send the Tuan Muda on to Bruni to complain to the Sultan.
In June, 1860, they anchored off the bar, and a Sambas Malay, the nakoda
of a vessel flying Dutch colours, was commissioned to take in a letter
saying that the Tuan Besar had come as a friend, and as bearer of a
letter from the Pangiran Temanggong of Bruni, to the effect that Muka
was not to be closed to Sarawak traders. No reply was vouchsafed, and
with telescopes it was observed from the gunboats that earthworks were
being thrown up at the mouth of the river. The Tuan Besar then decided
to take up the message himself, and two small boats were sent in to
sound the bar, upon which a large war prahu came out and fired at them.
This was a declaration of war, and the Tuan Besar resolved to let them
have what they invoked.
The following is an account of the affair as given by the Tuan Muda in
his book, _Ten Years in Sarawak_, 1866:
We plainly perceived that the enemy was preparing in earnest for
opposition. Temporary stockades were being erected at the entrance
and many hundreds of people were collecting heaps of wood in various
places on the shore; these were to be burnt, and their intention was
to raise a strong breeze to drive us from our anchors and drift us
on to the coast. The idea of the effect was correct, that excess of
heat would produce a vacuum, and cause an inshore current of air.
However, their fires were not sufficient, and the expected effect
did not follow.
[Illustration]
The town of Muka lies about two miles up the river of the same name, and
is situated on both banks of that river and of another, the Telian,
smaller in volume, that here flows into it. At the mouth was not only
the usual bar, the channel through which had been staked to obstruct the
entrance, but also a long sandy finger of land on the north side, which
at that time deflected the tortuous stream. Behind the gunboats was a
fleet of traders impatient to enter and obtain their cargoes; for which
they were more eager than for exposure to danger.
We had received an announcement of a large party among the enemy
being in favour of at once making peaceful overtures; and even the
headman's brother, Pangiran Lada, advised the opening of their
river, and admission of our boats to trade; but the headman himself,
Pangiran Nipa, was firm in the grasp of Sherip Masahor's mother and
sister, who were hostile to any approach to friendly relations. Many
of our people had relatives among the enemy, some even had wives
living in Muka. A council of war was held on board the _Venus_[257]
in the evening, at which all the chiefs and Europeans were present.
It was decided that an advance should be made next morning for the
entrance to the Muka river. A landing party was appointed to cut off
the narrow point which extends to the mouth. By landing there and
making a demonstration, the enemy would give up their lower
stockade, and the pinnaces might then have free ingress over the bar
and through the narrow channel.
The Tuan Besar took charge of the landing party, which, however, could
not effect much, as it was so small, and a despatch was sent off to
Kuching to hurry up reinforcements. The Tuan Muda was in command of the
little fleet of three small gunboats.
Morning came, and we were on the alert before the sun had given any
signs of approaching the horizon, and within a few minutes we were
gliding along (the Tuan Muda aboard the _Venus_), with a light
though full breeze steering to the nearest point for crossing the
bar; then we again came to anchor. Our first work was to draw the
spikes, which were soon shaken with bowline knots let down to their
base. We opened a passage wide enough for an entry, and with one
boat in tow we advanced towards the mouth. The sea was as calm as a
pond, and the morning bright without a cloud. We had crossed over
the bar with only six inches under our keel, and a stake had dragged
along under our bottom without doing injury even to the copper.
One boat, commanded by a gallant native, Penglima Seman (who has so
often been mentioned before), was ahead of us, and drawing towards
the enemy's stockades, at which we opened fire directly we were
within range. The enemy soon abandoned this position and made off up
the river as fast as boats would carry them. We then entered the
river, and anchored about half-way between the mouth and the enemy's
fortifications to await further orders, and become better acquainted
with the position of what forts and obstacles they might have thrown
in our way, to allow time also for the remainder of our flotilla to
join us. We inspected the enemy's fortifications in the afternoon,
and found that they were holding a high and formidable-looking
stockaded house of two stories, the lower having port-holes for
large guns, and the upper pierced with small apertures for the
firing of lelahs (brass ordnance of native manufacture). There were
also small stockades, protected with sacks full of raw sago.
The position was well chosen, and had thorough command of a long
reach in the river. A few yards below the fort were two large booms
fastened across the river, with no apparent passage for boats to
pass through.
A landing party was despatched in the morning to reconnoitre the
enemy's position, and a temporary enclosure was then thrown up by
our party beyond the range of the enemy's guns, to form a basis for
active operations, from which nearer stockades could be fed and
watched,—
that is to say, advanced stockades could be thrown up and kept supplied
with men and ammunition.
The Tuan Besar was at the head of two hundred men, but on a good many of
these no reliance could be placed. After having established a basis of
operations on the spit of land at the mouth, he was to advance in the
direction of the town. This was done, and as the force approached it was
saluted with fire from the guns in the stockades and houses, but that
did little damage, and the party set to work intrenching itself. "Nearly
the first shot fired entered a prog-basket and smashed a bottle of gin.
A few only were wounded, and the escape from further casualties was
surprising."
The Tuan Muda was now resolved on running the gauntlet past the town, up
the river, so as to place it between himself and the land force under
the Tuan Besar, whose position was in danger. It would be a hazardous as
well as a daring attempt, but he prepared for it in an ingenious manner,
by constructing a stockade round the _Venus_. Long beams were placed
across the schooner, and to them a framework was attached horizontally,
and upon this frame a stockade was erected, screening the deck and the
sides to the water's edge, so that the _Venus_ assumed the appearance of
a monstrous "Jack in the Green" or haystack. The thick planks reached to
five feet above the bulwarks, and were pierced with holes through which
the guns could play on the enemy's fortified houses as the _Venus_
drifted up-stream with the tide. This took two days to accomplish.
Meanwhile on shore the land party had thrown up a bank for protection,
and further the natives had dug pits about two feet deep in which they
lay after duty, and were thus completely protected from the enemy's
shot.
But no progress up the river could be effected till the booms had been
removed, and this would not be an easy matter, as they were commanded by
the forts. It could be effected only at night, and by expert and daring
swimmers. The Tuan Muda, Pangiran Matusin, and a nakoda, undertook the
task. Under cover of the darkness, in a small canoe, they stole softly
up the bank, unobserved, and then the pangiran and nakoda entering the
water, with their swords set to work to sever the rattans that held the
booms in place. These rattans had been twisted together to the thickness
of a hawser cable, and had to be cut under water. It was an anxious time
for the Tuan Muda, as any moment might have brought a volley on their
heads.
In an hour they were severed. Towards the latter part of the time,
the enemy were on the alert, and one boom moved slightly with the
tide, when a few harmless shots ensued, which we heard pass over our
heads among the leaves. At length the two men returned, and the
enemy cried out, "Our booms are adrift," and forthwith banged away,
but never caught sight of us. Matusin was so exhausted that I had to
assist him into the boat, and at first I thought he was wounded.
The tide was ebbing, and the booms, now disengaged, floated downwards
towards the sea. The passage was clear for the venture upwards of the
_Venus_. Messrs. Watson and John Channon accompanied the Tuan Muda, who
had a crew of nine Europeans, besides the Malay complement.
On that night the attempt was to be made, anchor to be raised half an
hour before midnight, when the tide was flowing. Happily the weather
favoured, as a thick mist and drizzling rain set in.
We triced up the awnings and up anchor, when the tide swept us on so
swiftly that I soon found it would be hopeless trying to turn the
vessel, so we drifted stern first, with two oars out on each side to
assist in steering. Our guns were loaded and ready, and not a voice
was to be heard as we silently and swiftly drifted along. I stood on
the top of the stockade to pilot the vessel. We were soon off the
camp (of the land force under the Tuan Besar), from which I was
hailed to look out as the enemy would fire on us directly. I replied
"All right," and then stepped on deck to be under cover. Just as I
was so doing, a shot was fired from the bank close abreast of us.
Another five minutes, and we were fairly in the fray. I heard the
enemy call "Look out, the pinnace is drifting up," and they blazed
on us volley after volley, as we lay within five or six yards of
their fortifications. Watson watched to fire as the enemy opened
their ports, but the haze was far too dense for us to discern
anything at all; I soon found, however, that we were not
progressing, and had fouled something. We swung to and fro, at times
close under the enemy's guns, and then away into the centre of the
stream.
We let go our anchor and hauled it up again, but all to no purpose,
and we were at a loss to know what had fouled us. We then laid out a
kedge and hove it home, without moving clear, and every now and then
we blazed our 6-pounder of grape into the enemy, while they peppered
us incessantly. The position was far from pleasant with guns banging
all around and the fog and smoke so dense as to preclude a
possibility of making out our position. At length I found that a
large rattan made fast to one of the booms which had been cut adrift
was holding us. The rattan was across the river, and the enemy had
evidently entertained the intention of reconstructing their booms
that night. I ordered a plucky young native[258] to jump down and
cut it, which he did with two strokes of his sword. This had been
holding us now for more than two hours under the enemy's fire.
Directly the rattan was gone, the schooner swung sufficiently to bring
the guns to bear on a lofty building whence most of the firing had come,
and, after a round of grape, the wailing of women was heard issuing from
it, and the enemy's fire was silenced. Next morning it was ascertained
that the Pangiran Lada, brother of Pangiran Nipa, and some of his
followers had been killed. The tide was still flowing, and the _Venus_
drifted on above the town, and anchor was cast within range of all the
houses. Only one small stockaded place continued to fire on her.
Four hours had elapsed since we started; for three we had been
exposed to fire. When we had passed the danger, our men gave three
hearty cheers, which was answered by the party in the camp. At
daylight we found a goodly mess on our decks, shot, pieces of iron,
and nails in bucketfuls; our spars and ropes had been considerably
damaged and cut about. The awnings were riddled with grape and
nails; scarce a square foot had escaped uncut, but only two men were
wounded, one, an Englishman, in the face. The other was struck in
the leg by a splinter; but the barricading of wood had most
effectually saved us all; without it, I don't think one would have
lived to tell the story.
After an hour's work, the deck had been cleared, and then we opened
fire upon the enemy's village, or rather on the headman's house
(Pangiran Nipa's), which had guns mounted on the roof. The women and
children had all been taken up a small stream on which the village
is situate.[259] The only return was kept up by the small stockade
which had troubled us on the previous night, and this place must
have been guarded by some very determined fellows.
The whole country—if only we had an available force with us—was in
our hands. To all appearance the place was deserted, and it provoked
us beyond measure not to be able to take the initiative. In the
course of the afternoon we determined to pull higher up the river,
and take up a position to communicate with our force at the mouth.
We should also be above the enemy's fortifications, and enabled to
receive and support those who were inclined to favour our cause.
Here the Tuan Muda was constrained to remain for over a month, as was
also the Tuan Besar below the town, waiting for reinforcements from
Kuching.
Desultory fighting, firing at the forts and from them, and attempts made
to waylay those who passed between the camp and the _Venus_ occupied the
tedious interval, but at length the desired help came; and those who
arrived were divided between the force under the Tuan Besar, which would
be engaged in a frontal attack on the town, whilst the other force,
under the Tuan Muda, would march inland to make a flanking movement.
Everything being ready, the Tuan Muda started, drawing with him a
6-pounder gun. The Englishmen of his party numbered nine. The advance
was by no means easy. The ground was rough and treacherous, full of
bog-holes, and the enemy hovered around, and kept blazing at the party
from every cover.
"Pangiran Matusin was indefatigable; no weight seemed too heavy for his
powerful limbs to lift, and although a man of rank, he worked as one of
his slaves. At midnight we fitted our 6-pounder brass gun, and fired one
shot to see that it was ready. The enemy fired all night, and the
quantity of ammunition expended must have been considerable."
On the morrow, at daybreak, all preparations were made for a further
advance, when a messenger arrived from the Tuan Besar ordering the
cessation of further hostilities, as Mr. Edwardes, Governor of Labuan,
had arrived off the mouth of the Muka in the H.E.I.C.'s steamer
_Victoria_, had peremptorily forbidden them, and had threatened, unless
he were instantly obeyed, that he would fire a broadside upon the
Sarawak camp. He further sent a messenger into Muka to inform the
Pangiran Nipa that he and his were taken under British protection, and
to forbid any more hostilities whilst the Sarawak forces were
withdrawing.
The indignation and consternation produced by this interference can be
better imagined than described. The Tuan Muda was of course obliged to
withdraw and descend the river, jeered at by the enemy at every point,
who, regardless of the orders of the Governor of Labuan, continued to
fire at the party, which fire they did not venture to return.
We reached the headquarters shortly after mid-day, and I was present
at a discussion before the Governor, an old and infirm man, who most
doggedly attempted by every means in his power to bring disgrace on
our little State. He expressed himself with marked favour towards
the Sherip Masahor and his followers here, notwithstanding that they
had been the murderers of two Englishmen only the year before. The
Governor held interviews in the houses of the natives of Muka (our
enemies), and reports were listened to, even credited, of the
demands and deceits of the Sarawak government. None but the most
blind and prejudiced could have entertained a doubt of the absurdity
of these assertions, but the Governor's duty appeared to be a
preconcerted business to disgrace our flag,[260] and to defeat our
objects, which were, firstly, to open trade; secondly, expel Sherip
Masahor and his myrmidons, and establish some creditable government
that would enable traders to hold their property and lives in
safety.
He found fault with the proceedings of Pangiran Matusin, and was
startled when told the man in question was sitting opposite him. A
few papers were immediately produced by the Pangiran to justify his
acts. The signatures of the Rajahs of Bruni were attached to the
documents, and the old Pangiran's quiet, gentle voice, under as
resolute an eye and countenance as could be seen, softened the
Governor's heart towards him.
If this untimely interference had not taken place, the country would
have been in our hands in three days.
Under protest, and with an intimation that the matter would be referred
to the Foreign Office, the Sarawak force retired, followed by boatloads
of the more peaceful inhabitants, who entreated not to be left to Sherip
Masahor's vengeance.
Governor Edwardes informed the Tuan Besar that he had received power
from the _Sultan_ to interfere, and then called upon him in the name of
the _Queen_ to retire from Muka; he was acting as a minister of Bruni as
well as a British official.
The Tuan Besar was unwilling to risk a collision.
He need not have paid any attention to the Governor's summons, and
it is probable that had he refused to listen to it, Mr. Edwardes
would not have dared to interfere with violence. But Captain Brooke
took the wise course of withdrawing his force and appealing for
justice to the British Government. For this conciliatory and prudent
step he received Lord Russell's thanks. I will not enlarge on Mr.
Edwardes' conduct, but his constant association with the murderers
of his countrymen was very much commented upon.[261]
Protesting against the action of the Governor "as seriously affecting
British trade and compromising the safety of British subjects," the
Singapore Chamber of Commerce wrote to Lord John Russell, October 5,
that the Governor was actuated by jealousy of Sarawak, "the interests of
that colony (Labuan) being in some degree opposed to that of the
settlement of Sarawak, the latter having attracted to it a large trade,
part of which might but for the existence of Sarawak be expected to find
its way to Labuan."
Before the Tuan Besar left Muka, the Governor, both by word and in
writing, pledged himself not to leave Muka until all the forts there had
been demolished, and he guaranteed that trade should be opened, and that
all those, both at Muka and Oya, who had sided with the Sarawak
Government should not in any way be punished. But these were promises he
had no intention to perform, neither had he any power to do so, for he
returned to Labuan the day after the Tuan Besar had departed, and left
Sherip Masahor under the ægis of the British flag to work his own sweet
will on the people. By a significant coincidence the Sherip's arrival
there had been simultaneous with his own.
Furthermore, Mr. Edwardes had brought down with him a Bruni minister,
the Orang Kaya de Gadong, the head of the Council of Twelve, known as "a
consistent opponent of any intercourse with Christian nations; and when
forced by business to sit and converse with Europeans, the expression of
his face is most offensive, and he was one of the few natives I have met
who appeared to long to insult you. He was one of the most active of
those engaged in the conspiracy to assassinate the Rajah Muda Hasim,
partly on account of his supposed attachment to the English
alliance."[262] This was the man who was to act as the Sultan's agent,
and when the Governor had left he cruelly vindicated his authority in
the usual Bruni fashion. He levied heavy fines which he wrung from these
poor people, returning to Bruni with many thousand dollars' worth of
property, and taking with him the names of thirty _rebels_ to be
submitted to the Sultan as deserving of death. But rebels against the
Sultan they were not. They had heard three years before the Sultan's
mandate empowering the Rajah to guard and guide their affairs, ordering
peace, and authorising the Rajah to punish any breach of it; they had
heard the Rajah pledge himself to punish any who by their actions should
disturb it. Now for forming a party in favour of peace and order, and
for holding themselves aloof from the real disturbers of peace, they
were handed over for punishment to the latter by a British official.
These unfortunate people could not resist. Resistance was rendered
impossible, as the Orang Kaya and the Sherip had come down backed by a
man-of-war, which represented a power which they well knew was far
stronger than the Sarawak Government, to which they would have otherwise
looked for help.
This, however, was not the only evil caused by the wanton and capricious
act of Governor Edwardes. The whole country was disturbed. The peaceably
disposed were filled with apprehension, and all the restless and
turbulent Sea-Dayaks encouraged by reports, which, though exaggerated,
were but the natural consequence of the Governor's action, coupling his
name and the Sherip's together as the real Rajahs of the country,
prepared to protect the enemies of the Sarawak Government with
men-of-war. The Sherip's henchman, Talip, the actual murderer of Steele,
led a large force of Kayans down the Rejang river, attacked the Katibas,
and destroyed fourteen Dayak villages. This was done because these
Dayaks had been staunch to the Tuan Muda against the Sherip. The Malays
at Kanowit were seized with a panic, and the Tuan Besar seriously
entertained the idea of abandoning the station, which would have meant
the sago districts being again exposed to the raids of the Dayaks.
Sherip Masahor was left at Muka, with all the prestige of having the
Governor on his side, to reorganise his plots, with tenfold more power
to do mischief than before; and just as confidence had been again
established after the late troubles, the lives of the Europeans were
again endangered. The sago trade was ruined. The Sarawak vessels had to
return empty; the factories in Kuching to suspend work; and the
Singapore schooners to sail without cargoes.
Whilst the Tuan Besar returned to the capital to direct affairs there,
the Tuan Muda remained on the coast to oppose any aggressive action the
Sherip and his Bruni colleagues might conduct against those within the
borders, as also to counteract their growing influence. The Melanaus of
Rejang village, who were not safe where they were, to the number of
2000, he saw safely moved to Seboyau. Numbers of Muka, Oya, and Matu
people also abandoned their homes, and shifted into Sarawak territory.
The Kalaka Malays, although in Sarawak territory, were so near the
borders that they did not deem themselves safe, and sent an urgent
message to the Tuan Muda for protection whilst they made their
preparations for moving. He at once went to them, remained with them
until they were ready, and then in the _Venus_ escorted them to Lingga.
All these wretched people had to abandon their sago estates and gardens,
but they deemed anything preferable to constant danger to life and
liberty, and to being ground down to supply the rapacity of the Bruni
nobles.
Fearing that many of their people would be led astray by the agents of
Sherip Masahor, who were now all over the country withdrawing people
from their allegiance to the Government, the well-disposed Dayak chiefs
of the Kanowit earnestly begged that an English officer should be
stationed there. The Tuan Muda visited Kanowit without delay, and with
the aid of the people built a new fort in a better position. Having
obtained the sincerest promises from the Dayaks to protect and support
him, the Tuan Muda left young Mr. Cruickshank in charge, and then
returned to Sekrang. Active measures had also to be taken against a
large party of Dayaks in the Saribas who had fortified themselves in
preparation for the coming of the Sherip, and these were driven out. But
the Saribas Malays were surprisingly staunch. "Enemies were numerous up
the rivers Sekrang, Saribas, Kalaka, Serikei, and Kanowit, numbering
many thousands of families, all of whom relied on the support of Sherip
Masahor,"[263] and these had to be watched and kept in check by punitive
forces despatched in different directions. The heads of these rivers
have one watershed, and the focus of the malcontented Dayaks was
Rentap's reputed impregnable stronghold on Sadok. Owing to its
situation, almost in the centre of this watershed, it was at once a
support and a refuge to those Dayaks, and around it they gathered. The
powers of the Government during the past few years had been taxed to
their utmost, so that Rentap of necessity had been left undisturbed, and
with the munitions of war supplied by the Sherip, and the staunch
support of the Kayans his power had increased. But the Tuan Muda was not
to be denied, and his fall was near.
In November, 1860, the Rajah left England, and with him went the
Consul-General, Mr. S. St. John, and Mr. Henry Stuart Johnson[264] to
join his uncle's service. After a short detention in Singapore waiting
for the _Rainbow_, he arrived at Kuching on February 12, 1861.
The Consul-General now officially informed the Council of Sarawak that
the British Government disavowed and totally disapproved of Governor
Edwardes' proceedings. But though they reprimanded him, they supported
him in office. His term as Governor was, however, very shortly to
expire, but not till he had seen, what must have been gall and
bitterness to his soul, as it certainly was to his backers in England,
the cession by the Sultan to Sarawak of Muka and all the region of the
sago plantations, the produce of which he had hoped to secure for
Labuan, and the banishment of Sherip Masahor from Borneo.
Mr. St. John went on to Bruni and relieved Mr. Edwardes of his position
as Consul-General, and was the tactful and just medium for arranging the
difficulties produced by the conduct of the latter. He says:
I established myself in the capital, to find the Sultan sulky at the
failure of Mr. Edwardes' promises. I remained quiet for a few weeks,
when I found his Highness gradually coming round, but it was long
ere I was again established first adviser to the Crown, for Mr.
Edwardes' promises had either been great, or had been misunderstood,
and they thought that the British Government was about to remove the
English from Sarawak, and return the country to them.[265]
In April the Rajah went to Bruni. The Sultan and the wazirs received him
warmly, and the good understanding between the two countries was
established anew. The Sultan was now anxious to place Muka and the
intermediate places under the Rajah's rule, but the latter waived this
consideration until hostilities were over. The Rajah then went to Oya,
Mr. St. John accompanying him, also the Sultan's envoy, Haji Abdul
Rahman, bearing private letters and messages from the Sultan pressing
Pangiran Nipa not to fight. Here the principal chiefs were seen, and the
Sultan's commands that hostilities should cease and that Sherip Masahor
was to be banished were read to them.[266]
Mr. St. John then went to Singapore to obtain a man-of-war from which to
deliver the Sultan's decree at Muka, and the Rajah made every
preparation to assume the offensive against Muka, as it was not expected
that the Sherip would quietly submit to even the Sultan's mandate.
Masahor had defied both the Sultan and the Bruni Rajahs, and had heaped
insults upon them so often before when in the plenitude of his power in
the Rejang, where he had been practically an independent prince, with
the dreaded and powerful Kayans and the Dayaks at his back, that his
submission was doubtful. This was no idle supposition, as one writer has
suggested, for when, two months after Mr. Edwardes' ill-advised action
at Muka, the _Victoria_, conveying Messrs. A. C. Crookshank and L. V.
Helms (of the Borneo Company), again visited Muka, to endeavour once
more by peaceable means to re-open trade with Kuching, these gentlemen
and the captain, who had foolishly gone up to the town unarmed and
without a guard, met with a hostile reception on the part of the Sherip,
and would have fared badly at his hands, had not his adherents been
prevailed upon to desist by the wiser counsel of Pangiran Nipa.
Mr. St. John went to Muka in H.M.S. _Charybdis_, and with Captain Keane
and an armed force of 200 blue-jackets and marines proceeded up to the
town. The Sultan's _titah_ (decree), "advising a cessation of
hostilities, and that Sherip Masahor and his men were to leave the
country," was read, and both Pangiran Nipa and the Sherip promised
obedience. They were told that Mr. Edwardes' interference had not met
with the approval of her Majesty's Government, and "Captain Keane's
judicious conduct in taking an overpowering force up the river to the
middle of the town showed them that Mr. Edwardes' support was no longer
to be relied upon."[267]
The Rajah then went to Muka with a large force to ensure that there
should be no resistance, and Muka was surrendered to him. Pangiran Nipa
and the Bruni aristocracy were sent to Bruni, and Sherip Masahor was
deported to Singapore. The Rajah wrote: "He will never trouble Sarawak
more, and I am not lover enough of bloody justice to begrudge him his
life on that condition. He deserved death, but he was a murderer for
political ends."
The Rajah now established himself at Muka, and spent a month working to
bring order into the district, so torn by civil war and crushed by
oppression that everything was in confusion, and where there had been no
protection for either person or property, and justice had not been
administered. The effect of opening the port was immediate. Numbers of
vessels entered bringing goods from Kuching to traffic with the natives
for raw sago.
Early in August the Rajah went to Bruni again, and for the last time.
The concession to Sarawak of the coast and districts from the Rejang to
Kedurong point was then completed. For many years the Sultan had derived
little or no revenue from these parts, for what had been squeezed out of
the natives by the pangirans went to fill their own pockets, and he was
more than satisfied to receive a sum down and an annual subsidy, which
would be paid into his own hands. And the natives rejoiced, for they
were now freed from the rapacity of these Bruni pangirans.
"And thus," says the Tuan Muda, "were about 110 miles of coast annexed
to the Sarawak territory—valuable for the sago forests, but in a most
disturbed state, owing to a prolonged period of the worst anarchy and
misgovernment. Its inhabitants had many redeeming qualities when once
relieved from the Bruni tyranny and oppression, as they were industrious
and clever in different trades, particularly that of working wood, and
the rougher kinds of jungle labour. But they required a severe hand over
them, although one that was just, and were scarcely able to appreciate
kindness. They had considered it a merit to a certain extent to be the
Sultan's slaves, although they had many times smarted under the foulest
injustice, and been deprived of their wives and daughters; the majority
of the latter class were often taken for the Bruni Rajahs' harems.
"The women were considered better looking than most others on the coast,
having agreeable countenances, with the dark open rolling eye of
Italians. The men are cleanly and generally well dressed, but not so
nice looking as those of many other tribes."
After the Rajah had laid the foundations of good government, he
appointed Mr. Hay as Resident,[268] and in a few years the aspect of the
place, the condition of the people, and even their character was changed
for the better. A fort had also been planted at Bintulu, then at the
extreme north of the coast now under the sway of the Rajah, and a
Resident appointed there.
Sherip Masahor, exiled to the Straits Settlements, lived the rest of his
life in Singapore. He was granted a small pension by the Sarawak
Government, which he eked out by boat-building, and died in February,
1890. To the end he continued to intrigue, through his relatives, in
Sarawak affairs, but to no purpose.
He was an arch-fiend, and the murderer of many of his countrymen. He
butchered in cold blood the relatives and followers of Pangiran Matusin;
he executed his own trusted agents in the murder of Fox and Steele to
silence their tongues. One further instance of his cruelty may be
quoted. Jani, a noted Sea-Dayak chief of Kanowit, visited Sherip Masahor
at Muka, and told him that Abang Ali had sent him to murder him,
Masahor, treacherously, which was absolutely false, and that he revealed
the fact to convince the Sherip of his own loyalty to his person.
Masahor bade him prove his loyalty by attacking the fort at Kanowit.
Jani promised to do this, but asked to be given a head so that he might
not return empty-handed to his people. The Sherip ordered up a young
lad, the adopted son of a Malay of rank, a follower of the Sarawak
Government, whom he had already mutilated by cutting off his hands, and
he bade Jani then and there decapitate the poor boy and take his head.
This is but one instance of his ruthlessness. Backed by his Segalangs he
had always been a terror to the Malays and Melanaus of the Rejang.
The Rajah's work was now done. What he had come out to do had been
accomplished, and his failing health led him to seek peace and repose at
his refuge, Burrator. "I am not strong, and need to be kept going like
an old horse," he wrote to the Tuan Muda. After publicly installing the
Tuan Besar, Captain Brooke-Brooke, as the Rajah Muda and his heir, he
sailed towards the end of September, leaving the government with
confidence in the hands of his nephews.
Shortly after his arrival in England the Rajah received the good news of
the fall of Sadok, and the remaining cause of anxiety was removed from
his mind. "Though confident of the result, the great difficulty of the
undertaking, and the chances of war, caused me some anxiety. It is well
over, and I congratulate you upon this success, which will lead to the
pacification of the Dayaks and the improved security of Sarawak. You
have the warm thanks of your Rajah and uncle, who only regrets he has no
other reward to bestow but his praise of your ability, zeal, and
prudence. You deserve honour and wealth as the meed due to your merit,"
so wrote the Rajah to the Tuan Muda on receipt of the news.
The Serikei and Nyalong Dayaks had received due punishment at the hands
of the Tuan Muda, and peace now reigned along the coast and in the
interior. The Kayans alone remained to be humbled, and the remaining
actual murderers of Steele and Fox, Sakalai, Sawing, and Talip, whom
they were harbouring, to be punished.
In the beginning of February, 1862, after a month's detention in Kuching
suffering from jungle fever, the Tuan Muda left for England. After an
arduous journey to the head-waters of the Batang Lupar and overland to
the Katibas, by which river and the Rejang he returned, his health had
broken down, and it became necessary for him to return to Europe to
recruit. He had now been in Sarawak for nearly ten years, for the
greater part of the time at Sekrang, and had been engaged in many very
trying expeditions.
I left Sekrang and Saribas in perfect confidence in Mr. Watson's
ability to manage affairs during my absence, and felt sure the
natives would support him to the uttermost. For a few days
previously I had conferred with all the Dayak chiefs, and begged
them to desist from head-hunting and prevent their people running
loose as in former times. They spoke well, and assured me of their
staunch support.
Amongst the many who had collected to bid him farewell was the
octogenarian Sherip Mular, the intrepid enemy of former days, but who
had long since become a peaceful member of society, and a friend of the
Tuan Muda.
-----
Footnote 254:
_Life of Sir James Brooke._
Footnote 255:
_Idem._
Footnote 256:
Extracted from Governor Edwardes' letter to the Tuan Besar of May 25,
1860.
Footnote 257:
A sailing gunboat of 50 tons, just launched, and manned with a crew of
twelve Englishmen and twenty Malays.
Footnote 258:
Dagang, a brave Balau Dayak, who subsequently filled many positions of
trust, as Police Sergeant and native officer, now retired on pension.
Footnote 259:
The Telian.
Footnote 260:
Under the pretext of "having a proper regard for British interests,
and the honour of my country."—Governor Edwardes to the Tuan Besar,
July 31, 1860.
Footnote 261:
St. John, _op. cit._
Footnote 262:
St. John, _Life in the Forests of the Far East_.
Footnote 263:
_Ten Years in Sarawak._
Footnote 264:
Youngest son of the Rev. Charles Johnson. He was at first styled _Tuan
Adek_ but this was afterwards changed to the more correct Malay title
of Tuan Bongsu, now held by the present Rajah's third son. (Adek =
younger brother; bongsu = youngest born.) He served principally in the
Saribas, until 1868, when his health having broken down he retired. He
became Deputy-Governor of Parkhurst and Chatham Prisons in succession,
and then Chief Constable of Edinburgh. He died March 31, 1894.
Footnote 265:
St. John, _Life of Sir James Brooke_.
Footnote 266:
From a letter to the Tuan Muda of May 5.
Footnote 267:
St. John, _op. cit._
Footnote 268:
He retired in 1863.