THE COMING OF THE WHITE RAJAH--THE MISSIONARIES
I have told you, in the last chapter, what kind of people the Dyaks
were, and how in the old days a great deal of their time was spent in
piracy and in warfare against neighbouring tribes. Now I want to tell
you of the coming of the White Rajah--James Brooke--to Borneo, and what
he did there. I think every English boy and girl should know the
remarkable and romantic story of how an Englishman came to be a King in
Borneo, and to rule over the part of it called Sarawak.
James Brooke was born on April 29, 1803. His father was a member of the
Civil Service of the East India Company, and spent a great many years in
India. He followed his father's example, and entered the Company's
service, and was sent out to India in 1825. Not long after his arrival,
he was put in command of a regiment of soldiers, and ordered to Burmah,
where he took part in the Burmese war. He was badly wounded, and had to
return to England on leave. For over four years his health prevented him
from rejoining his regiment, and when at last he started, the voyage
took such a long time, owing to a shipwreck and other misfortunes, that
he found on his arrival that his furlough had expired, and that his post
had been given to someone else. He quitted the service in 1830.
In that same year he made a voyage to China and was struck by the
natural beauty and fertility of the islands of the Indian Archipelago,
and he felt sad when he thought of the tribes who inhabited these
beautiful islands. They were continually at war with one another, and
many of them were pirates. James Brooke conceived the grand idea of
rescuing these races from barbarism, and of putting down piracy in the
Eastern Archipelago.
On the death of his father he inherited a large sum of money, and found
himself in a position to carry out his schemes. He bought and equipped a
yacht, the _Royalist_, and for three years he cruised about, chiefly in
the Mediterranean, training his crew of twenty men for the hard work
that lay before them.
On October 27, 1838 he sailed from the Thames on his great adventure,
travelled slowly on the long journey round the Cape of Good Hope, and
reached Singapore in 1839. It took the _Royalist_ five months to reach
Singapore, but that was in the days before the Suez Canal was made. The
journey from England to Singapore can be made in a steam-ship at the
present time in less than a month.
On arriving at Singapore, James Brooke met a shipwrecked crew who had
lately come from Borneo. They said that they had been kindly treated by
Muda Hassim--a native Rajah in Borneo--and they asked Mr James Brooke to
take presents and letters of thanks to him, if he should be going
thither in his yacht. Mr Brooke had not decided which of the many
islands of the Eastern Archipelago he would visit, and he was as ready
to go to Borneo as to any other; so, setting sail, he made his way up
the Sarawak river, and anchored off Kuching, the capital, on August 15,
1839. The country was nominally under the rule of the Sultan of Brunei,
but his uncle, Rajah Muda Hassim, was then the greatest power in the
island. As he was favourable to English strangers, Mr Brooke paid him a
visit and was most kindly received. The Rajah was at this time engaged
in war with several fierce Dyak tribes who had revolted against the
Sultan, but his efforts to subdue them were vain. He told Mr James
Brooke his troubles, and begged him to help him to put down the
insurgents, and implored him not to leave him a prey to his enemies.
James Brooke consented to help him, and began the difficult task of
restoring peace in the country. With his help the rebellion, which the
Malay forces were too feeble to subdue, was brought to an end. Brooke
led the crew of his yacht, and some Malay followers against the
insurgents, and defeated them. Muda Hassim was very pleased to see that
order was restored in the country, and he conferred on James Brooke the
title of Rajah of Sarawak. It was some little time before the Sultan of
Brunei would consent to confirm the title, but in 1841 the Government of
Sarawak and its dependencies was formally made over to James Brooke, and
he became the first English Rajah of Sarawak. He ruled till 1868, when
he died and was succeeded by his nephew, Charles Johnson Brooke, who is
ruling Sarawak to-day.
When James Brooke became king, he set to work to improve the condition
of his subjects. He saw clearly that the development of commerce was the
best means of civilizing the natives, and, in order to do this, it was
necessary to put down piracy, which not only appealed to the worst
instincts of the Dyaks, but was a standing danger to European and native
traders in those seas. In the suppression of piracy he found a vigorous
ally in Captain (afterwards Admiral) Keppel, who, in command of H.M.S.
_Dido_, was summoned from the China Station in 1843 for this purpose.
The pirates were attacked in their strongholds by Captain Keppel. They
fought desperately, but could not withstand the superior forces of their
enemies. Many of them were killed, and many escaped and fled into the
jungle. In this way James Brooke put an end to Dyak piracy.
The practice of head-hunting was also dealt with by James Brooke. He
declared it to be a crime. As soon as he heard that a party had gone on
the war-path, a force was immediately despatched by Government to
endeavour to cut them off and to fine them heavily. In the event of
their having secured human heads, these had to be given up, and the
Dyaks were asked to pay a large fine. Some refused to follow the
directions of the Government. These were declared enemies, and were
attacked and had their houses burnt down. This course he steadily
pursued for years, and by his rigorous treatment of head-hunting
parties, James Brooke dealt the death-blow to this horrible national
custom.
After his strenuous life in Sarawak, James Brooke paid a visit to
England in 1847, when many honours were showered on him. He was
graciously received at Windsor by Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort.
The British Government recognizing the work he had done, appointed him
Governor of Labuan, and made him a K.C.B.
The putting down of piracy, and the suppressing of the terrible custom
of head-hunting among the Dyaks, were the first steps that Sir James
Brooke took in civilizing his subjects. But he knew that as long as the
Dyaks held to their old superstitious beliefs in evil spirits, there
would always be a danger of their returning to their evil ways. So he
began to think of establishing a Christian Mission in Sarawak. He knew
that it was not enough to put down evil customs: if the Dyaks were to
improve, they must have the true Faith planted in their hearts.
When Sir James Brooke was in England in 1847, he appealed to the two
Universities of Oxford and Cambridge and also to the two great
Missionary Societies--the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in
Foreign Parts, and the Church Missionary Society--to help him, but none
of them were able to do so as they had not the funds. So a new
Association, chiefly supported by his friends, was started, called the
"Borneo Church Mission." This Association sent out a few missionaries,
the first of whom was the Rev. F. T. McDougall, who was consecrated the
first Bishop of Labuan and Sarawak in 1855.
After a few years the Borneo Church Mission flagged for lack of support,
and in 1854 the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign
Parts came to the rescue, and took up the work, and has ever since been
responsible for the Mission Work in Borneo. My father, the Rev. W. H.
Gomes, B.D., worked under Bishop McDougall as a missionary among the
Dyaks of Lundu from 1852 to 1867, and I myself have worked, under Bishop
Hose, as a missionary in Sarawak for seventeen years.
When McDougall arrived at Kuching, the capital of Sarawak, in 1848, the
Rajah welcomed him kindly, and gave him a large piece of ground. On this
site were built a church, a school house, and a house for the Bishop to
live in.
Rajah Brooke was anxious that the Dyaks, who lived far from the town and
had their home in the jungles, should also be taught. Both he and Bishop
McDougall were sorry to think of their heathen state, and they wanted to
save them from becoming converts to Mohammedanism. So they sent for more
helpers from England, and these missionaries went and lived among the
Dyaks in the jungles. They built their houses, churches and schools at
distant up-country stations, and they won the love and esteem of the
Dyaks, who came to them, not only to learn to read and write, but to
listen to the wonderful "Old, Old Story" the missionaries had to tell of
a God, Who loved them, and came to earth and died for them, and rose
from the dead, and ascended up to Heaven, and Who wanted the whole world
to learn of His love and become His faithful followers.