MY LIMBANG JOURNAL--_Concluded_.
Stopped for a Day--Five start for Provisions--The Sick
Men left behind join us--No Shoes--Weakness from want of
Food--Leeches--Stop again--Collect Food--Anecdote of Female
Orang Utan and Murut--Again construct Rafts--Present of
a Cup full of Rice--Start on the Rafts--Abandon them--A
Bear--The River--Immense Pebbly Flats--Long Walks--Traces
of the Advance Party--Wild Fruit--Sour Oranges--Recognize a
Hill--Fruit of the Jintawan, or Indian-rubber Plant--Find
Remains of Bees’-nest--The British Flag--Reach the
Madihit--Bad Conduct of the Advance Party--Food nearly all
consumed--An unfeeling Father--Proposed Punishment--Ravages
of the Bears--Anecdote of Ahtan--Return in the Boats--The
Herd of Wild Cattle--Wound a Bull, but do not get it--A
slight Supper--Start in a Sampir--Ahtan ill--The last of
the Food--News from Brunei--Reach the Town--Arrival of the
rest of the Party--Bornean Travelling--Measure Distance by
Fatigue--Slow Progress necessary--Active Murut--Average
Rate of Advance--Great Mistakes made in the Estimates of
Distance--Instances--Mr. Motley’s Account of his Advance up
the Limbang--Mr. De Crespigny’s Mistake in the Latitude of the
River Damit and Position of the Mountain of Molu--Remarks on
the Map--Causes of the continued Health of my Followers--The
Tents--Mistake in trusting to Native Huts--Native
Geographical Information tested--Found correct--Arrival of
the Orang Kaya Upit--Tragical Death of Pangeran Mokata, the
Shabandar--Two Years after--Sad Fate of a Party of Adang
Muruts--Murder by Orang Kaya Gomba--Head-hunting--Heads
valued, but none seen--Incident of meeting Head-hunters--No
Treacherous Designs--Inefficient Government--Desecration of
the Graveyards--Chinese Secret Societies, or Hués--Ahtan
joins one--Robbery of the Iron Chest from the Consulate--The
Sultan’s Method of extorting a Confession--Obstinacy of
Ahtan--Officers of the Secret Society--Chest restored--Prisoners
released--The Hué broken up--Treatment of Prisoners--Musa and
the Priest--Threats--Personal Regard for some of my Followers.
_9th._--This morning Musa was very feverish, so the men asked me
to stop a day to collect provisions. To this I unwillingly assented,
but they did little else than lie down. About nine a.m. five of the men
proposed that I should allow them to leave their muskets and all their
baggage, and push on as fast as possible to the boats, while I moved on
quietly with the sick and sore-footed. I consented, on the condition
that they would stay at the boats no longer than would be necessary to
cook a meal; that then they were to return laden with provisions. To
this they agreed, and then left us. The two who stayed behind the day
before yesterday came up with us; it was for them I was anxious. During
the ascent of the steep mountain on the 8th the last remnant of my
shoes was carried away, and yesterday I attempted to protect my feet by
fastening some goats’ skin over them in the form of moccassins. To-day
I am trying to improve them, but with very little success.
_10th._--Musa having shaken off his fever, was enabled to start;
but all the men are weak, and many are ailing. Though perfectly well
in health, I find that, having only had for yesterday’s dinner a glass
of rice-water with the palm-cabbage, I am not fit for very long walks,
particularly as my moccassins are cut to pieces by the rough stones and
thorns, and I am compelled to walk bare-footed. My greatest torment
are the leeches getting between my toes and crawling up my trousers,
reaching even to my waist, where the tight belt prevented their farther
progress. Squeezing a little tobacco-juice made them drop off, but I
could not be continually stopping to do this.
_11th._--We stopped all day. The industrious cut down some
Loba-palms, and made a little sago; the lazy collected a few cabbages.
I tried a little of the former; it was indeed delicious.
Some of the men, who wandered farther than the others in search of
wild fruits, reported seeing some very large monkeys, which they said
might be orang-utans, and whilst speaking of them I was reminded of
the various stories told of people being carried off by them. I have
referred to this subject in my account of my journeys among the Sea
Dayaks, but although many stories are related of the male orang-utan
carrying off young Dayak maidens into the jungle, yet it is seldom
that we hear of the female orang-utan running off with a man. But the
Muruts of Padas tell the following narrative, which, they say, may
be believed. Some years ago, one of their young men was wandering in
the jungle, armed with a sumpitan, or blow-pipe, and a sword. He came
to the banks of a pebbly stream, and being a hot day, he thought he
would have a bathe. He placed his arms and clothes at the foot of a
tree, and then went into the water. After a time, being sufficiently
refreshed, he was returning to dress, when he perceived an enormous
female orang-utan standing between him and the tree. She advanced
towards him, as he stood paralyzed by surprise, and seizing him by the
arm, compelled him to follow her to a branching tree and climb up it.
When he reached her resting-place, consisting of boughs and branches
woven into a comfortable nest, she made him enter. There he remained
some months jealously watched by his strange companion, fed by her on
fruits and the cabbage of the palm, and rarely permitted to touch the
earth with his feet, but compelled to move from tree to tree. This life
continued some time, till the female orang-utan becoming less watchful
permitted the Murut more liberty. He availed himself of it to slip down
the trunk of the tree and run to the place where he had formerly left
his weapons. She, seeing his attempted escape, followed, to be pierced,
as she approached him, by a poisoned arrow. I was told if I would
ascend the Padas river as far as the man’s village, I might hear the
story from his own lips, as he was still alive.
_12th._--Walked on a mile, the men excessively lazy. Finding the
river smooth, they proposed trying rafts; so we stopped to construct
them. One of the men, observing that I was dining on a cabbage-palm
boiled in a little rice-water, presented me with a cup full of uncooked
rice. I was very grateful to him for it; but we put it by, in case the
palms should fail us, as they do in some districts.
_13th._--About nine, we pushed off, and got on very well for
two hours. Found one of the rafts smashed up against a rock, and the
men away walking. Continued till about one o’clock, when ours also
became fixed on a rock, and our men were too dispirited to get it off;
and saying that the rapids ahead of us were dangerous, they proposed
walking to-morrow. We should have thought nothing of such paltry
difficulties a week ago, but the men were losing their courage with
their strength. I refused, however, to stop till to-morrow, and walked
on for a couple of hours. In crossing a ravine to-day, we disturbed a
female bear, which, however, dashed with her cubs into thick brushwood,
so without dogs it was useless following her. She roared in a manner
worthy of an animal double her size.
_14th._--The river still full of rapids; but the hills are
gradually receding from the banks, giving it more space, and it
sometimes spreads out into extensive sheets of water, with immense
pebbly flats. Islands are also beginning to appear. It was again
proposed to build rafts, but I steadily refused, and kept walking
till nearly five. After sunset, the last stragglers overtook us. We
continually came upon the traces of the advance-party. At one of their
resting-places, we found the bones of a fine fish, which by some means
they had secured. Our old Pakatan declared they had either found it
stranded, or else had startled a kite from his prey. It proved to be
the former, though the latter had happened to us once.
_15th._--Yesterday and to-day the character of the forest has
altered. We are now marching through the old farming grounds of the
Muruts; found some of their fruit trees; among others, one covered
with fine-looking oranges, but intolerably sour. I secured the opium
bottle to-day, intending to take a dose to deaden the pangs of hunger,
but I put it off till the evening, thinking it might interfere with my
walking. I noticed near the orange-tree above mentioned that the whole
ground was a mass of water-worn pebbles, evidently the ancient bed of
the stream; it was now at least a hundred feet above the water’s edge.
At half-past four p.m. I brought up for the night, and after bathing
stretched myself on my back, munching a great lump of cabbage, when my
eyes, wandering over the scene, fell on a hill about three miles ahead
of us. I sat up and looked at it again; and, turning to my companions,
said, “Why, that reminds me of the high land near the mouth of the
Madihit;” but we agreed that it was impossible, as our five men had
been gone six days, and we felt assured that we should have met them
ere this if we were so near our boats as that, particularly as we, both
yesterday and to-day, had made very long walks. Since we have had a
bearing of Molu, we have been keeping generally in a west course, but
the river has taken some very extraordinary windings.
Having secured some fruit of the Jintawan, or Indian-rubber plant,
and some cabbages, I was enabled to satisfy my hunger before going to
sleep, so put off taking any laudanum, to which I had a very great
dislike. The Jintawan fruit is very pleasantly acid, about the size of
a very large pear, and of a deep orange colour. It consists of a thick
rind full of Indian-rubber, surrounding some pulp-covered seeds. One
of the plants we came across was very handsome, growing in the most
luxuriant manner over a lofty tree with few branches. The Jintawan
is a creeper, and this one had extended itself at least forty feet
up the trunk and had covered the outspreading boughs. It was loaded
with fruit, but my men had so lost heart that not one would climb the
tree, but contented themselves with picking up the over-ripe produce
which had fallen on the ground below. We had another very happy
find to-day, for while passing under a fine tapang-tree, we noticed
the remains of a bees’ nest scattered about, and every particle was
eagerly appropriated. From the marks around it appeared as if a bear
had climbed this lofty tree and torn down the nest to be devoured by
its young below, as there were numerous tracks of the smaller animals
around, but whether the comb had been sucked by the bears or not was
very immaterial to our men, who rejoiced in securing the little honey
still clinging to it.
_16th._--Started early. About half my followers had so delayed
us by their constantly lagging behind, that I determined to wait for
them no longer, but to push on with such men as would follow me with
all their strength. We felt that it would be impossible to walk many
days farther on our scanty fare. The lazy ones having heard of our
arrangement, tried to keep up with us, and did do so till eight, when
I heard a shout from the foremost man, “Bandera! bandera!--the flag!
the flag!” We rushed down the side of the hill like madmen, the fellows
shouting for joy. Sure enough, there was the British flag hoisted, and
our small boats at the mouth of the Madihit, with our five men looking
fat and well beside my pale and famished followers. The rascals having
left my guns and all the baggage in the jungle, and all being in good
health, had managed to reach the Madihit in three days, and then set
to work to eat and drink as much as possible.
We arrived to find the provisions nearly gone; they said the bears had
found out our cache and destroyed everything, and the only provisions
left were those we put into the garei. I could only divide a cupful of
beans to each man, as the five had managed to consume thirty pounds of
sago and forty-two pints of beans in the course of four days, and they
confessed to have daily caught very fine fish. But what angered the men
most was the signs of waste around, where, having only half finished
a plate of sago, they had thrown the rest away. I saw some picking up
the burnt pieces that had not been washed away by the rain. I asked
why, according to their agreement, they had not come back to meet us,
knowing that we had several sick men. They put the blame on each other:
one man, a Javanese, had left his sick son with us, but he unfeelingly
observed that he was old enough to look after himself; that son had
given us more trouble than any one else, both in going and returning.
I searched their baskets, and found that they had not only hidden some
more beans, but had stolen some of my cloth, though I could not fix
on the man. I determined to punish them, so told them to go back and
fetch the things they had left in the forest; or, on my return, I would
submit the case to the Sultan, whether they had not forfeited wages by
their unfair abandonment of their sickly companions. They started off,
but their cowardly hearts failed them, and before night they came back.
The ravages of the bears were distressing. They destroyed a Deane’s
pistol-case, tore open my box of books, and ruined them; reduced the
cloth to shreds, and tumbled it into the mud, where the white ants
afterwards finished the spoiling; opened the tin boxes containing the
sugar and biscuits, and of course devoured them; so that I have nothing
left but coffee and arrack. After Musa had cooked a meal, a very frugal
one, he went off with a party to fetch the garei, hoping to find a
little sago left, but was disappointed.
In the evening caught a few fish, but they were not much among so many.
About seven, a most satisfactory savour rose to my nostrils. I found
that Ahtan, having discovered a jar of pork fat, was preparing some
cakes. I divided them, but he said, “No; you, sir, have the larger
body, therefore should have the larger share.” I am not much given to
emotions, but I never felt so thankful as when, stretched in the old
Kayan hut, I watched them preparing an evening meal, and thought of all
the dangers we had gone through without a single accident. True, we had
lost guns, and goods, and ruined instruments of some value; but what of
that?--there was no one the worse for his exertions. What was hunger
now we were so near home?
_17th._--Started early; and, as we have had no rain for two days,
the river was quiet, and we only reached an island about fifteen miles
from the Madalam. It shows the difference, however, between ascending
and descending a river. About two a.m., our garei being well ahead, we
saw before us a herd of wild cattle, quietly picking at a few blades
of grass on a broad pebbly flat. I landed with a couple of men, to
get between them and the jungle. I was within twenty yards of the
nearest, a piebald, and was crawling through the tangled bushes to get
a sight of him, whom I could hear browsing near me, when there arose a
shout, then a rush, and the cattle were off dashing close to me, but
perfectly concealed by the matted brushwood. It was the crew of one
of the newly-arrived boats that, regardless of the warnings of their
companions, had thus lost us a chance of a good dinner. I felt that,
if my gun had been charged with shot, I could almost have peppered
them. Shortly after I shot a pig through the back as he was crossing
the river; but as all my men were Mahomedans, it was not worth while
tracing him in the jungle. He bled so profusely in the water that he
could not have run far.
About five, we were passing down a rapid at a great pace, when one
of the men touched me and pointed. I looked up, and there was a
magnificent bull, three parts grown, standing within fifteen yards
of me. To put up my gun and let fly was the work of a moment; but,
before we had dashed on many yards, the beast, which had fallen on his
forehead, was up and away. After a little time, we managed to stop the
garei; and, landing, found traces of the beast’s blood. My feet were
so painfully wounded that I could not manage to follow it, but left it
to my men. A couple came up with him, as he stood with his legs well
stretched out, bleeding profusely. He took no notice of them, even when
they were within spearing distance; but all their nerve was gone, and
they were afraid to thrust their weapons into him. They waited till
the whole mob of hunters arrived, when the bull apparently recovering
himself, dashed away into the jungle.
Having secured the boats under the islands, I divided a tablespoonful
of beans each, with a little pork fat to those who would take it.
Musa told me that most of the men wanted to stay behind and follow
the wounded Tambadau; but that, if I wished to go on, there were five
volunteers who would pull straight to Brunei, now about a hundred miles
off by river. To this I agreed.
_18th._--I get away at daylight in a sampir with five men. Ahtan
with an attack of fever and ague. The reaction was too much for him, so
I stopped at an island about five miles from the Madalam to cook. I now
produced my secret store of beans, and the cupful of rice that I had
treasured up since it was given us on the 12th. The beans I gave to the
men, and the rice I had boiled into a thin sort of gruel for Ahtan. I
thought his feverish symptoms arose principally from over fatigue and
hunger. In fact, after he had swallowed a strong dose of quinine, and
taken half the gruel, he felt much better; the rest of it I gave to the
men, as I wanted to give them sufficient strength to pull to Pengkalan
Jawa. I would not take anything myself, as I did nothing but sit all
day. I reserved my powers for the food I knew the Chinese trader there
would quickly prepare for us.
As we approached the more frequented parts of the river, we met some
Muruts, who told us that the report of my death had brought forty
steamers to the capital to revenge it, and that if I did not turn up
the place was to be burnt. I knew this was one of the usual stories
that arise from very little, but still I was anxious to get home; but
with all our exertions we did not reach the Chinese trader’s house
till 7 p.m. He received us most hospitably, produced tea, sugar-candy,
biscuit, and dried fish, to stay our appetites, while a proper meal was
prepared. In about an hour this appeared, and we managed to consume a
very large fowl each, with an amount of rice that even startled the
Baba. Before leaving at midnight, I made arrangements that a plentiful
meal should be provided for the garei’s crew.
_19th._--After pulling about fourteen hours, we reached Brunei
by 2 p.m., to find the people beginning to wonder at our absence. The
forty steamers proved to be Captain Cresswell, of the _Surprise_,
who had visited the capital about ten days before with Mr. Low. The
latter was beginning to be uneasy about my absence, and was preparing a
party to come and search for me.
_20th._--My boats now arrived, having failed to get the Tambadau.
They said they followed him by the blood till mid-day, when they lost
his traces among those of a herd which he had joined. I suspect they
did not follow him very far.
Thus ends my journal.
As I have now made many journeys in Borneo, and seen much of forest
walking, I think I can speak of it with something like certainty. I
have ever found, in recording progress, that we can seldom allow more
than a mile an hour under ordinary circumstances. Sometimes, when
extremely difficult or winding, we do not make half a mile an hour. On
certain occasions, when very hard pressed, I have seen the men manage a
mile and a half; but, with all our exertions, I have never yet recorded
more than ten miles progress in a day through thick pathless forests,
and that was after ten hours of hard work. Of course we actually walk
more than we record, as one cannot calculate the slight windings of
the way; but allowing for all this, I have the strongest suspicion
that Madame Pfeiffer measured her miles by her fatigue. She talks of
twenty miles a day as a common performance of hers; and another visitor
to this island beats her, recording walking thirty miles in one day
through Bornean forests--an utter impossibility.
There was an Adang man among the wax-hunters, the one who accompanied
our guide for a short distance, who was pointed out to me as a model of
activity, and he certainly appeared so; well built, strong, but light,
he skimmed the ground; and the story is told of him, that on receiving
information of the illness of his child, he started home, leaving
everything behind him but his spear and a little food, and walked from
forty to forty-five miles in two days. No European that I have ever
seen would have had a chance with him in his own forests.
Six miles a day is quite enough for any man who wishes to take his
followers long journeys, unless specially favoured by the ground and
the paths; Galton, in speaking of African travelling, says three miles
a day with waggons, horses, and cattle, and he is of some authority.
I have often thought that we must have walked twenty miles, but the
bearings have always proved to me that we have seldom done half that
distance. It requires great experience not to judge distance by the
fatigue we feel.
Whilst referring to the mistakes in the estimates of distance, I may
notice the very remarkable errors into which two visitors to the
Limbang have fallen. Mr. Motley[9] mentions exploring that stream to
an estimated distance of one hundred and fifty miles, by the windings
of the river, and about fifty in a general south-west direction. He
reached the Limbuak village, which by my measurement is under twenty
miles in a straight line from the mouth: fifty miles in a direct line
to the south-west, would have nearly brought him to the Baram, across
numerous ranges of hills, and several navigable streams, and a hundred
and fifty miles up the river would have brought him nearly to the
farthest point I reached, long past the limestone districts. It proves
how impossible it is to trust to estimates.
The next curious mistake I may notice, was made by Mr. de Crespigny;
he ascended the river Limbang as far as the river Damit. I have seen
a sketch map of his, and he places the mouth of that stream in north
latitude, 3° 48’, and the mountain of Molu to the north-east of it, in
latitude 4° 3’, whereas Molu Peak is a little to the westward of south
from the Damit, and nearly twenty-five miles distant in a direct line.
In drawing attention to these errors, I by no means claim immunity from
them in the map of the Limbang and Baram rivers which accompanies
this volume; but I think they will be found free from gross errors.
The course of the latter river was taken down by Captain Brett of the
_Pluto_, and observations of the latitude and longitude of the
town of Lañgusan were made by many of the officers on board. In my land
journeys, I had very inferior compasses, as I was unable to take with
me the valuable levels and other instruments obligingly lent me by Dr.
Coulthard, on account of their weight and size; but I used them as long
as I was in my boats, to lay down the position of the mountains; and
in order to enable me to correct my own errors, I put down the day’s
observations on a rough map every evening during the journey, except
after we had shot the cascade and wetted the paper too much to permit
it being handled roughly.
I may add, that of the whole party of nineteen, none after our return
suffered severely from the exposure and privations we had undergone,
and I believe the real reason was, that we always were dry at night.
For many years we trusted during our expeditions to the leaf huts the
natives are accustomed to construct for us and for themselves; but
although with sufficient time, and when good materials are plentiful,
they manage to make them tolerably watertight, yet they are never
so good as the simple tents we always took with us during our later
expeditions. With proper ropes and everything fitted to enable us to
raise these tents on cross poles in ten minutes, the two did not weigh
more than twenty pounds, and afforded comfortable accommodation for our
whole party of nineteen people, with all our baggage, and on occasions
our six guides took advantage of them also.
I had suffered severely from exposure on former expeditions,
particularly when we ascended the Sakarang, and were eight days
sleeping in the leaf huts hastily erected by our followers. Of the
seven Englishmen who slept on shore, I believe only one escaped without
some severe attack of illness, and I remember the late Mr. Brereton
mentioning that on his return from a visit to the Bugan country, where
his men had been greatly exposed, a fourth of his party died of various
diseases. Another precaution I took was to carry myself a few night
things, as a light silk jacket, a pair of loose sleeping drawers of
the same material, a jersey, and a dry towel, so that if my men lagged
far behind, I was not kept for hours in my wet clothes; and whilst
travelling in these forests you are always wet, as if there be no rain
there are sure to be many rivers to ford.
On my return, I tried to remember the geographical information that
was given me before starting. I was told it would take six days from
Blimbing to Madihit: leaving out the two days’ detention from freshes,
it took us about three hours over the six days. Even the walking
distance was really correct; it was only two days from the Adang
landing-place, and seven from Madihit; as, although we took ten, yet
for the first five days we did not do a fair half-day’s work on any of
them. We were warned that it would be impossible to use rafts, and that
the banks were almost impassable, and we indeed found it so.
Many months before starting, I was told that if I wished to penetrate
far into the interior, to try the Trusan, and not the Limbang, as
the former was inhabited, the latter not. I went up the Trusan a few
miles, but found it so small, I had no idea it penetrated to so great a
distance. The fact is, that the rains run off very fast, and that the
ordinary states of the rivers give no idea of the amount of water they
bring down, but had we taken that route, we should have reached our
farthest point with comparatively little fatigue.
The Orang Kaya Upit arrived at his house November 13th, twenty-five
days after I reached Brunei; so that it is fortunate I did not wait
for him. I may add, that on November 20th, some Bisaya chiefs set upon
pañgeran Makota, the shabandar, and killed him. They were wearied
with his exactions. The immediate cause of his death was seizing the
daughters of seven Orang Kayas, one of whom he had in his curtains when
attacked, and this caused his death. The girl pointed him out to her
father, trying to escape in a small canoe. The alarm was given, and
his boat tilting over while he tried to avoid the shower of spears and
stones, he fell into the stream and was drowned; for he was the only
Malay I ever heard of who could not swim. Such was the end of this
clever bad man. The Sultan was furious, but his fury was not shared
by his four viziers; so that the affair ended by a dozen lives being
taken, instead of the hundreds the Sultan desired.
* * * * *
_Brunei, February 8th, 1861._--Above two years have passed since
I wrote this journal. The scheme of building a fort at the Madalam
mouth did not succeed, as the Sultan, after the shabandar’s death,
was very unwilling to assist any of the aborigines. I was away during
the year 1860, and in the course of that time, a party of the Muruts,
from the upper Trusan, came over and encamped at the mouth of the
Salindong stream, and from thence sent on three men in a bark canoe
to tell their friends of their presence. These men met the Orang Kaya
Gomba, a Bisayan, at Batang Parak, and were treacherously slain by
him. The Muruts waited a long time at Salindong, hoping to be fetched
away by their friends. They could not walk the whole distance, as they
had their women and children and all their worldly goods with them,
intending to remove to the lower Limbang, and live with the Orang Kaya
Upit.
While thus detained, they were surprised by a large party of Kayans,
and every one taken or slain. However, one of the prisoners afterwards
managed to get away, and reached his friends, bringing this sad tale.
The Orang Kaya Gomba declares that he mistook the three for Kayans,
which is almost impossible, as no head-hunter would have been found
paddling down a hostile stream in a bark canoe. Neither the Sultan nor
any of the viziers will make the least inquiry into this affair, but
the memory of it is treasured up in the hearts of the Muruts, and Orang
Kaya Gomba may yet meet with a bloody death.
I have remarked that during all our wanderings near Kina Balu we only
at one place found the dried heads of enemies hung up in the villages
there, and during my journeys up the Limbang, I do not remember
noticing any, and yet Orang Kaya Gomba’s murderous action shows they do
value them, which is confirmed by pañgeran mumin making a present of
the head of the man he killed to the Gadang Muruts; and during my stay
in Brunei, I have met small parties of head-hunters, but seeking only
the heads of their real enemies. Yet I have always avoided spending a
night in their immediate neighbourhood, and have kept our arms ready
for instant service.
One evening, during a heavy squall, we took shelter in a little river
to the south of Point Kitam, in the Limbang Bay, and to our exceeding
discomfort found a Murut boat with eighteen armed men in ambush round
a short turn of the stream; we knew they were not waiting for us,
but having only four men, and a couple of fowling-pieces, we did not
feel secure in their neighbourhood. As we rowed past them they took
no notice of us, but no sooner had we anchored, than they pulled off
towards our boat; but we should have felt little discomfort, had they
not had their mat coverings stowed away, while all the Muruts had their
arms ready for action. I told my men to show no sign of alarm, but
keeping our guns within reach, waited their coming.
It was a great relief to find that they only came to ask for a little
tobacco, but some of us had been accustomed to the neighbourhood of
the Seribas and Sakarang Dayaks, who on head-hunting expeditions spare
none, if of a weaker party. We found they were on the look-out for
some of the Tabuns, who, flying before the Kayans, had established
themselves at Batu Miris, near the entrance of the Limbang river, and
with whom they had an ancient feud. To show the apathy of the Bornean
Government, I may mention that it permitted these skirmishes to take
place close to the capital, and one day some of my men who were cutting
wood near the Consulate, were startled by seeing two Tabuns rushing
frantically past them; in a few minutes five Trusan Muruts appeared in
full chase, and eagerly inquiring the direction taken by the fugitives,
hurried at full speed on a false track purposely pointed out by my
Manilla men.
Another fact I may mention is that many Bisaya labourers who go over
to our colony of Labuan to seek for work have actually attempted to
disinter the bodies of those of our countrymen and women who have been
buried there. They have tried this to the great grief and discomfort
of their surviving friends, but the Bisayas have generally, if not
always, been disappointed by the great depth of the graves, and their
inefficient tools. It appears a disgusting thing that there should be
any necessity to watch over the graves of one’s friends to prevent them
being desecrated.
I shall have occasion hereafter to mention the Secret Societies
established by the Chinese, but as an illustration of the influence
the members exercise over each other, I will tell the following
story:--Perhaps those who have read my journeys to Kina Balu, and this
Limbang journal, may be interested in the fate of my boy Ahtan, and I
am sorry to say his conduct ultimately made me lose all interest in
him. In the year 1858 the Chinese in Brunei started a Secret Society,
called there a Hué; they said they were a branch of the Tienti, or
Heaven and Earth Society, that has ramifications in nearly all the
countries in which the Chinese have spread. At first but few joined it,
but by threats and cajolery they at last induced nearly all but the
head traders to enter it, and on one of the great Chinese religious
feasts, Ahtan asked my permission to go to it.
When he returned, it appeared to me he had a very hang-dog look, and
next day I noticed he was very busy about my medicine-chest, and I
found my laudanum bottle on the table. Being very much engaged at the
time preparing my letters for the mail, I took no particular notice of
his movements, but immediately after dinner, having taken coffee, I
felt drowsy, and had scarcely entered my mosquito room, when I fell on
the sofa, and remained in a stupefied sleep for thirteen hours. On my
recovery, Ahtan came with a scared look, and said somebody had stolen
my heavy iron chest, and it proved to be the case, but as I had six
dogs, one of whom was a savage mastiff, my suspicions instantly fell
upon my own people, and passing over my household servants, I fixed on
my boatmen as the culprits.
The Sultan, however, sent and begged I would leave the matter in his
hands, and on my expressing my willingness, instantly arrested two
of my servants, Ahtan and a Manilla Christian named Peter. They were
separated, and at dead of night the Sultan went himself with a drawn
kris in his hand to the latter, and said if he would confess he would
save his life, but if not----; he did not finish the sentence, as
Peter instantly fell on his knees, and clinging to the Sultan’s feet,
begged that his life might be spared and he would explain all. It
appeared that while he held and quieted the mastiff, Ahtan had taken
a blacksmith and a carpenter to the chest, and they had carried it
off. As these men were constantly employed by me, it explained the
silence of the other dogs; but though he could tell how the chest was
carried off, he knew nothing of what had since become of it. The Sultan
then left him and went to Ahtan, but no threats or entreaties had the
slightest effect on him, as he had sworn in the most solemn manner
to be faithful to the members of the Tienti Hué, and would confess
nothing. The two accused were seized, and as they also belonged to the
Secret Society, suspicion was directed to it. I sent for the chief and
the other officers of the Hué, and told them the whole story, and said,
if the chest unbroken, with the 80_l._ in it, and all the papers,
were not placed on the ground before my house within forty-eight hours,
I would turn the Sultan’s attention on them. They protested their utter
ignorance of the robbery, which was probably true, but they well knew
how to influence all their members, and before the forty-eight hours
were over, the chest, untouched, was thrown on the mud just above my
house. Finding after a fortnight that the prisoners were receiving
treatment totally at variance with English ideas of justice, I sent and
begged the Sultan to pardon them, and turn his attention to getting rid
of the Secret Society from his dominions. He complied, and it merely
required a warm recommendation on his part to the chief officers to
break up the society, to induce them to do it, as he declared that
every robbery in future should be laid at their door, and every crime
committed should be avenged on them. As the officers were men doing
a good business at the time, they quickly got rid of their banners
and meeting house, and I heard no more of the Hué during the rest
of the time I remained in Borneo, but during my last visit I found
the chief officers of the society reduced to comparative poverty, as
their partners and agents in Singapore, happening to be real British
subjects, had refused to have anything further to do with them when
they knew of their conduct.
I requested the Sultan to let the prisoners go, as all except Ahtan
were kept in the stocks in an open verandah, exposed to sun and rain,
and tormented the whole day by boat boys, who delighted in torturing
those whom they considered as infidels: in Brunei they have no prisons
whatever. Ahtan was better treated, as he was known to have been a
favourite servant, though his conduct was very bad, particularly in
dosing me with opium, yet I could not forget his kindness to me during
our wanderings in the interior, and asked for his liberty on that plea.
The Sultan’s answer was,--“The plea is good, but the stubbornness of
that boy in refusing to confess when all the others had acknowledged
their crime, deserves death.” I heard a few months ago that he was
keeping a small shop in Labuan.
A man in whom I felt a very great interest, and was very sorry to part
with, was Musa, my Manilla steersman and coxswain; as a boy he had
been educated as a Christian, but having been captured very young
and sold by the Balignini pirates to the Mahomedans, he had been
circumcised, and joined their communion. He had a particular antipathy
to Signor Cuarteron, who returned the dislike, and used gravely to
assure me that my quiet, respectful follower had a design to massacre
him. When the priests first came to Brunei, all my Manilla men attended
mass, but were suddenly disgusted with something which took place;
and on my inquiring the cause, one of them said, “We don’t like to be
told that if we don’t again join the Padre’s religion, he will send
for a Spanish man-of-war to take us all off prisoners to Manilla.” If
he really did threaten them, he made a great mistake, as some of them
never went near the church again. Musa, though modest and gentle in his
manner, was as brave as a lion, and would have followed me anywhere.
Though very short, he was squarely built, and exceedingly strong; a
very powerful swimmer, and good boatman. Many of these men excite a
personal regard, and I have always felt that for Inchi Mahomed, my
Malay writer, who was entrusted with the charge of the Consulate during
my lengthened absences, and he well deserved the trust.