THE CHINESE IN BORNEO.
Intercourse between China and the Northern Part of
Borneo--References to the Chinese--Names of Places and
Rivers--Sites of Gardens and Houses--One of the original
Settlers--The Sultan’s Recollections--Chinese numerous in
his Youth--Reasons for their Disappearing--Anecdote of a
Murut Chief--Aborigines speaking Chinese--Mixed Breed--Good
Husbands--Chinese at Batang Parak--At Madihit--Pepper
Planters--Origin of the Borneans--Chinese Features observed
also among the Aborigines--Careful Agriculture--A remnant of
Chinese Teaching--Traditions of a Chinese Kingdom--Effect of
Treaty with Brunei--Unsuccessful attempt to revive Pepper
Planting--Chinese scattering on the North-west Coast--A Spark
of Enlightenment--Attempt to prevent Intercourse between
the Chinese and Aborigines--Decay of Junk Trade--Cochin
Chinese--Conduct of the Chinese--Papar--Anecdote--Fatal
Result of Insulting a Woman--Skirmish--Misrepresented
in Labuan--Question of British Protection to the
Chinese--Their Insolence--Anecdote--Unpleasant Position--A
Check--Difficulty of obtaining Information--Cause
of former Disputes--Insurrection of the Chinese of
Brunei--Sarawak--Early efforts of the Chinese to establish
themselves there--Lawless Malays--A Murder--Retaliation--Defeat
of the Chinese--Arrival of Sir James Brooke--Mixed Breed
in Sambas--Form Self-governing Communities--Defeat of the
Dutch Forces--Subjugation of the Chinese--The Pamangkat
Agriculturists--Flight into Sarawak--Change in the appearance
of the Country--Mission School--Visit the Interior--Kunsis,
or Gold Companies--Appearance of the Country--Method of
Gold-working--The Reservoir--The Ditch--The Sluice--Wasteful
method of working--Abundance of Gold--Impetus--Failure of
first Agricultural Schemes--A great Flood--Troublesome
Gold-workers--Successful Scheme--Disturbance in Sambas--Flight
of Chinese--Illiberal Regulation--Tour through the Chinese
Settlements--Agriculture--Siniawan--Chinese workings--Hot
Spring--Gold at Piat in Quartz--Antimony Works--Extensive
Reservoirs--Arrival of Chinese from Sambas--Denial by the
Kunsi--Hard Work at the Gold Diggings--Scenery--Path to
Sambas--Chinese Station--Numbers of the Chinese before the
Insurrection.
The first thing that strikes an inquirer into the intercourse which
was formerly carried on between China and the northern part of Borneo,
is the prevalence of names referring to these strangers. They are
called in Malay, Orang China; by the Land Dayaks of Sarawak, Orang
Sina; and by the Borneans, Orang Kina, men of China; and north of the
capital, we find Kina Benua, the Chinese land, in Labuan; Kina Balu,
the Chinese widow, the name of the great mountain; Kina Batañgan, the
Chinese river, on the north-east coast; and we have Kina Taki, the
name of a stream at the foot of Kina Balu and Kina Bañgun, a name
of a small river of the north north eastern coast. Around Brunei we
continually come across terraces cut on the sides of the hills, where
the pepper-plant was grown, particularly on the eminence below the
Consulate: and the places where the Chinese had levelled the ground on
which to build their houses are often to be met with; one of the most
distinct was in my own garden. Their graves are also numerous, and may
easily be traced on the slopes of the hills, though time has worn down
their edges, and left but a slightly swelling mound.
My object is not to write a history of the Chinese intercourse with
Borneo, but to notice what impress it has left on the manners and
thoughts of the people, and what remembrances of them may still be
gathered. At present there are scarcely any of the original settlers
left. I only remember one very old man, who cultivated a garden a few
miles above the town; and although he had lived there for sixty years,
arriving as a child, he had not mastered the language of the country,
and could only say that in old days the Chinese were numerous.
The reigning sultan used often to converse on the subject, and told
me that his own father was the nobleman appointed to superintend the
Chinese; and that about fifty years ago they were very numerous to
the westward of the town, and that when he was a youth, he was fond
of strolling in their pepper and vegetable gardens. He did not know
“how many there were, but there were many.” He accounted for their
almost total disappearance by saying that for the last sixty or seventy
years they had received no recruits from China, and that the Chinese
gardeners near the town seldom had wives, but those up the country and
in the neighbouring districts lived among the Murut and Bisaya tribes,
and that their descendants had mixed with the native population and
adopted their dress and habits.
An occurrence which took place whilst I was in Brunei tended to confirm
this. A Chinese pedlar, married to a Murut girl, came to me one day to
complain of the conduct of a Bornean nobleman who had been oppressing
the aborigines. I sent him with the Malay writer attached to the
Consulate to explain his case to the sultan, as I could not interfere
myself.
The following week the chief of the Murut tribe arrived to support the
complaint, and went with the pedlar into the shop of the principal
Chinese trader in Brunei, baba Masu, who began questioning him
in Malay. The man answered in a stupid manner, as if he scarcely
understood him, upon which the baba turned to the pedlar and said
in Hokien Chinese, “What is the use of your bringing such a fool
to support your case?” The chief’s face brightened directly, and
he observed, in good Chinese, “I am not such a fool, but I don’t
understand Malay well.” The trader, very much surprised to be thus
addressed in his own language by a Murut, made particular inquiries,
and found that this was the grandson of an immigrant from Amoy, who
had settled among the aborigines, and had taught his children his own
language, and his eldest son marrying the daughter of an orang kaya,
their son had succeeded to the chieftainship of the tribe.
Subsequently, I questioned some of the Chinese pedlars who were
accustomed to trade in the districts on the coast to the north of the
capital, which are known by the general name of Saba, and they found
there were many of the Bisayas and Muruts of Kalias, Padas, Membakut,
and Patatan, who could speak Chinese very fairly, and who acknowledged
their mixed descent from the Chinese and the aborigines. Wherever the
former settle, they always seek wives among the people, though few
comparatively have the good fortune to procure them. However, when they
do, the women soon become reconciled to them as husbands, and find a
manifest improvement in their condition, as the Chinese do not like
to see their wives do more than the real domestic work of the house,
performing all the more laborious duties themselves, even to cooking
the dinner.
My friend, the orang kaya of the village of Blimbing, on the Limbang,
said he remembered the Chinese living at a place called Batang Parak,
about eighty miles from the mouth of the river. He himself could only
call to mind seven who were cultivating pepper-plantations in his time,
but his father had told him that before the insurrection the whole
country was covered with their gardens. Of this insurrection, I could
obtain few particulars, though they pointed out a hill at the mouth of
the Madalam where the Chinese had built a fort, but had been defeated
by the Bornean forces.
A hundred and fifty miles up the Limbang, on the banks of the Madihit
branch, and beyond all the worst rapids, the Muruts told us the
Chinese formerly had very extensive pepper-plantations; but within
the remembrance of their oldest men, they had all died away, no new
recruits joining them, and their descendants were lost among the
surrounding tribes.
There is but one objection to the theory that the Borneans derive their
origin in great part from the former Chinese settlers: it is that they
are even darker than the other Malays; otherwise, the squareness and
heaviness of feature, particularly observable among the lower classes,
would seem to mark them as descendants of the labouring Chinese who
form the bulk of the emigrants from China, though I have often
observed that many of the children of the undoubtedly mixed breed were
very dark. I have noticed in my account of our first expedition to Kina
Balu the fact of the young girls at the village of Ginambur having
the front of their heads shaved after the manner of the Chinese. I do
not remember having seen any female of the other tribes of aborigines
disfigured in the same way. When we were at the village of Kiau, at the
base of Kina Balu, we continually remarked faces which showed distinct
indications of being descended from the celestials.
I have before noticed the superior style in which the natives to the
north of Brunei carry on their agricultural operations. I find my
description of the method pursued by the Bisayas of Tanah Merah in
cultivating pepper exactly agrees with that of the Chinese mentioned by
Forrest in his account of Borneo Proper. And the natives of Tawaran and
Tampasuk cultivate their rice as carefully as the Chinese, following
their example of dividing the fields by low embankments, so as to be
able to regulate the supply of water; and in no other part of Borneo
are to be found gardens as neat as those we saw on the plain of
Tawaran. It is evident they have not yet forgotten the lessons taught
to their forefathers by the Chinese, though their improved agriculture
appears to be almost the only impress left on the people. Instead of
their following the more civilized race, the latter appear to have
completely blended with and become lost among the numerous population
around.
The tradition is still well known among the natives, of the whole
country being filled with those immigrants; and they say that in very
ancient days there was an empire ruled by one of the strangers, and
the Sulus have still the tradition current among them that in former
days these islands formed a part of a great Chinese kingdom, whose seat
of government was in the north of Borneo. Forrest having mentioned
that the Sulus in his day had such a tradition, drew my attention to
it, and it may refer to the time subsequent to the invasion of the
country by Kublai Khan’s general. The following is an extract from
the genealogy of the sovereigns of Borneo, which is in the possession
of the pañgeran tumanggong:--“He who first reigned in Brunei, and
introduced the religion of Islam, was his Highness the Sultan Mahomed,
and his Highness had one female child by his wife the sister of the
Chinese rajah, whom he brought from Kina Batañgan (Chinese river), and
this princess was married to Sherif Ali, who came from the country of
Taib, and who afterwards governed under the name of his Highness Sultan
Barkat (the Blessed), and it was he who erected the mosque, and whose
Chinese subjects built the Kota Batu, or stone fort.” This appears to
refer to some kind of a Chinese kingdom.
In 1846 there was scarcely a Chinese left in the capital; but no
sooner was our treaty made in 1847, than traders from Singapore
began to open shops there. At first, it appeared as if a valuable
commercial intercourse were about to commence, as it was supposed the
Chinese, as of old, would soon begin to form pepper-plantations, and
the expectation was partly fulfilled. A rich shopkeeper obtained
permission from the sultan, and a grant of land having been made,
he set to work to form a garden. He planted fruits, vegetables,
and pepper, the last grew luxuriantly, though the soil appeared
unpromising; but no sooner was it known to be yielding, than crowds
of idlers from the capital flocked there, and soon stripped it of
everything eatable. In despair, he gave up his project, and no one has
had the courage to try again; in fact, it would be useless as long as
the present system of government holds.
Since our colony of Labuan was established in 1848, a few Chinese
have left it to spread along the coast. As yet they have had little
effect, since most of them have married into native families, and done
little else than carry on a petty trade, or manufacture arrack. Lately,
however, a few have commenced pepper-gardens, but the districts are
too unsettled to promise much, yet it is a movement to be encouraged.
When I have asked the Chinese why they did not emigrate there, the
invariable answer has been, “Will you afford us protection? if not,
as soon as our plantations are productive, the nobles will force the
produce from us.”
The sultan, in a moment of enlightenment, determined to encourage
planters, and actually sent for a dozen from Singapore, paid their
expenses to Brunei, and promised a monthly allowance till the produce
of their vegetable-gardens enabled the Chinese to support themselves.
These regular payments, however, soon became very distasteful to him,
and every month be gave them less, till at last from want of food they
all dispersed, and the experiment has not been tried again.
The Brunei government makes every effort to prevent the Chinese mixing
with the aborigines, as it tends to destroy the monopoly of trade they
seek to establish, and they fear also the teaching of the Chinese,
who would never counsel submission to oppressive rulers, though when
employed by the nobles as agents, they can be more systematically
grinding than the Malays.
It is evident that the intercourse between Borneo and China, which
undoubtedly was once very active, has been decreasing for above a
hundred years, and the cause was doubtless the anarchy into which the
country fell and the consequent want of protection. Fifty years ago,
the junk trade appears entirely to have ceased; and even in 1775 it had
been reduced to about seven a year, although they continued to build
vessels at Brunei.
With regard to the accounts of old travellers, that the north of
Borneo was formerly peopled from Cochin China, I have heard nothing to
support the theory, beyond the tradition that in ancient days a great
trade was carried on between Annam and the north-west coast, when many
Cochin Chinese settled in Borneo. In fact, in the Champa country, in
the southern portion of the Kambodian peninsula, there is a people
whose language contains a considerable number of Malay words; so that
the effect on these two countries may have been mutual, though Champa,
doubtless, was more influenced by settlers from the Malay peninsula.
I have before alluded to the Chinese wandering from our colony of
Labuan to settle in small numbers in the districts on the coast to
the north of that island. A favourite place was Papar, as the Dusuns
there were wealthy, and, being numerous, cared little for their nominal
ruler, pañgeran Omar; and among the Chinese settlers were two men, who
lived in a small house on the banks of the river. One day, early in the
year 1859, the wife of the chief of a neighbouring village was passing
that way, when one of these men attempted to pull off her petticoat,
which constituted her only covering. Her screams bringing some friends
to the spot, the man let her go and ran into his house. In the evening,
the chief came to demand satisfaction for this very gross insult, but
said, as the offender was a stranger, and perhaps did not know the
customs of the country, he should only fine him the value of a goat.
The two Chinese ordered him to leave their house, and, to enforce it,
took up their carrying-sticks, with which the one who had insulted
the woman struck him. The Dusun chief, who had his spear in his hand,
stabbed the offender and wounded his companion, who came up to join in
the attack. This affair caused great commotion in the district, and all
the Chinese clamoured for vengeance.
Pañgeran Omar inquired into the case, fined the Dusun, and ordered
the amount to be paid over to the dead man’s friends. They were
not, however, satisfied with the amount of the fine, and determined
to revenge themselves. Collecting a body of about twenty of their
countrymen, on the pretence of a pig hunt, they marched to attack the
chief’s village; upon which the Dusuns, beating the alarm gong, soon
apprised their neighbours that they were in danger; and the Chinese,
as usual, arrogant when there was no opposition, but cowards in
circumstances of peril, immediately on finding their first volley did
not frighten their enemies, fled with precipitation, and were pursued
by the Dusuns, and the larger portion of them killed.
The case was misrepresented in Labuan, and some demands were made for
satisfaction; but it was evident the Chinese had brought this disaster
on themselves; and I know of no worse policy than to consider all
those, whether British subjects or not, who leave our colony to settle
on the coast as entitled to our protection. If we can be of service
to them, it is as well to use our influence to insure them the best
treatment, but we should never let the Chinese imagine we intend to
give them the protection of the British flag on all occasions. Yet it
is a subject which requires delicate handling, for, if we entirely
abandoned their interests, they would be plundered and massacred;
and without them there will never be any progress on the coast, or
developement of trade and agriculture on a large scale; and if we claim
them as British subjects, which a few are in reality, their insolence
to the natives is often unbearable.
I have generally found that those Chinese who come direct from their
own country are better adapted to succeed with the native chiefs
than those who have resided long in our own settlements, where they
acquired an independence almost amounting to lawlessness. I once
nearly lost my life through the reckless conduct of one of these
Singapore Chinese, who had been accustomed to treat the Malays there
with great contumely. When he arrived in Brunei, he did the same
thing with a crazy man belonging to the Pablat section of the town,
and the Chinese quarter was thrown into confusion. I sent both men to
the sultan, but in the meantime the report spread among the Malay’s
relatives that the Chinese had ill used him, and 150 men immediately
came down, shouting that they would run amuck among the Chinese. A
respectable Bornean trader came hastily into my room, saying, if I
did not immediately go down to the scene, there would be a massacre.
I caught up my sword and hurried to the Chinese village, to find the
Pablat men in the act of assaulting the strangers; and had one wound
been given, there would have been no stopping the mischief.
I need not dwell on all the particulars, but it was with the greatest
difficulty I turned the Malays back from their purpose. To me they
behaved with great civility, after the first excitement was over; but
the glare their chief gave me, when I put the hilt of my sword to his
breast to prevent him using his spear on an unfortunate Chinese trader,
who had nothing to do with the quarrel, was a very savage one. His hand
in a moment sought his kris; but on my saying, in a very quiet tone,
“Don’t draw your kris on me,” he dropped his intention at once, and
although his followers drew their weapons and urged him to the attack,
he began to explain to me the reason of his coming with that force at
his back. I knew if I could check the rush for five minutes, things
would be safe, as by that time some friends, who were staying at the
house, would be down with all my armed followers; and so it proved.
But the insolence of the Chinese was effectually checked by this
demonstration, and I had no further trouble with them, as they thought
I might not always be there to stand between them and death.
This is but a meagre account of the results of that extensive Chinese
intercourse with the northern portion of Borneo, which was carried on
for so many hundred years; but in a country so uncivilized there are no
antiquities; and although the tradition exists among the people that
formerly numerous immigrants arrived and settled, still they can relate
few facts concerning them. There can be little doubt, judging from the
character of the two people, that the nobles would endeavour to squeeze
out of the foreign planters as much as possible; that they would fine
them heavily for very slight faults, till they would drive the Chinese
to resistance, and insurrections would as surely follow among a people
who always unite against other races. They are no match for the Malays
and Dayaks in wild warfare; and it is only their organization which
enables them to offer any resistance to the desultory attacks of their
enemies.
It has been said that in the great insurrection of the Chinese the
Muruts joined them, and that the Borneans were compelled to seek the
assistance of the Sulus to repress it, but I did not hear any mention
of the latter statement, and it appears improbable. Internal dissention
is the more likely cause of the failure of the attempt to throw off
the yoke of the Malays, the Muruts being bribed to leave their allies.
At all events, the Bisaya tribes were engaged in its suppression, as
the grandfather of the orang kaya of Blimbing assisted in taking the
fort at the entrance of the Madalam river. The Chinese insurgents,
driven from the lower country, attempted to make a stand on a rounded
hill there, but lost their fort, either by a panic or by treachery, my
informant did not appear certain which.
Between Brunei and Sarawak the Chinese do not appear to have
established themselves; but to the latter country the gold-workers of
Sambas occasionally sent parties of men to try the soil, as auriferous
ore was reported to be plentiful. But during the distractions
consequent on the civil war, they found it impossible to pursue their
peaceful industry, and those who were successful in obtaining gold were
exposed to the attacks of lawless Malays.
One man, who is now a very respected member of society, a haji of
mark, who has for the last twenty years conducted himself in the most
exemplary manner, was once tempted to commit a crime by the report that
a party of Chinese was returning to Sambas with sixty ounces of gold.
He and a few of his relations waylaid the travellers, and, surprising
them in the dark forest, murdered them and obtained the treasure.
This naturally aroused the anger of their countrymen, and an expedition
was fitted out at Sambas to revenge the deed. They marched into
the Sarawak territory, and advanced nearly as far as the town of
Siniawan, then occupied by Malays, but found a strong stockade built
across the path. The Chinese numbered about seven hundred men, while
their opponents were at first scarcely twenty, but protected by their
position and numerous guns. Confident in their numbers, the assailants
rushed to the attack, almost reaching the foot of the defences,
but receiving a severe fire from the guns in position, loaded with
nails, bits of old iron and shot, they were beaten back. The Malays
acknowledge the Chinese kept up the attacks all day; but, after their
first repulse, they principally confined themselves to a distant fire,
though they occasionally made attempts to turn the position, but were
repulsed by the ever-increasing numbers of the Malays.
Towards evening the Chinese withdrew to the banks of the river, and
made preparations to pass the night; while the Malays, who had been
reinforced by many of their friends, determined to try the effect of
a surprise. They were commanded by the gallant patinggi Ali, whose
exploits and death are recorded in the _Voyage of the Dido_; and
just at sunset they started in their light boats with a gun in each,
and pulled with an almost silent stroke towards the Chinese encampment,
where they found their enemies cooking rice, smoking opium, or shouting
or talking, in fact, making so great a noise as to prevent the
possibility of hearing the sound of paddles, cautiously pulled.
When all were ready, patinggi Ali gave the signal to fire, and the next
moment they yelled and sprang ashore. The startled Chinese fled, and
were pursued relentlessly by the Dayaks, who had come down from the
hills to share in the struggle. It is said half the invading force was
destroyed, and that the old, dried skulls I had noticed in the Dayak
villages were the trophies of the fight.
Being thus exposed to every kind of ill-treatment, it is not surprising
that the Chinese did not care to settle in the country; but, after
Sir James Brooke was established in Sarawak, they began to increase
in numbers, though always inclined to be troublesome. When I arrived,
in the year 1848, it was considered there were about six hundred
living there, mostly engaged in gold-working, and even these were much
inclined to have an _imperium in imperio_, though too weak to
carry out their views. They had formed themselves into an association
called the Santei Kiu kunsi, or company.
I must notice that these Chinese are not the pure emigrants from China,
but the half-breeds, descendants of the early settlers, who obtained
Malay and Dayak wives, and are more warlike in their habits than the
pure Chinese, and many have much of the activity of the aborigines.
Settled in Sambas before the arrival of the Europeans in those seas,
they gradually formed self-governing communities among the weak Malay
States around, and by intermarriage with the women of the Dayak tribes
in their neighbourhood, formed both political and social alliances with
them.
It was not to be expected that this state of things could long exist
without serious disputes arising with the Malay chiefs; however, they
generally managed to prevent a total estrangement; but when backed by
the Dutch officials, the Sultan of Sambas endeavoured to coerce them
into submission, the Chinese gold-working communities refused to obey,
attacked the small force sent against them, captured the forts, and
drove the Dutch troops to their steamers, and left in their possession
little more than the town of Sambas. This, of course, roused the
officials, and a strong expedition was sent from Java, which within
a year subdued the refractory Chinese, who, in fact, submitted with
very little opposition. But during their success they managed to give
Sarawak a considerable lift.
At the mouth of the Sambas river there is a place called Pamañgkat,
where several thousand Chinese agriculturists were engaged in raising
fine crops of rice. These men had not joined their countrymen in their
resistance to the Sambas Government, and were therefore marked out for
punishment during their brief success. In their alarm, the Pamañgkat
Chinese fled to Sarawak, arriving in great numbers during the year
1850, whilst I was absent with Sir James Brooke on his mission to Siam;
some came by sea, others fled overland to Lundu and to the interior.
I found on my return in October, after nearly a year’s absence, that a
great change had taken place in the appearance of the town of Kuching:
dozens of fresh houses were built and building, while the surrounding
forest was falling rapidly before the axes of the fugitives. Many of
them had arrived destitute of all property, and I learnt that three
hundred and ten families were entirely supported by the food and money
furnished by the Sarawak government, besides hundreds of others having
received presents of tools and temporary assistance. It was calculated
at the time that about three thousand had arrived, many of whom
immediately joined the gold-workers in the interior. We found also that
the mission school had received a great addition in the form of about
twenty remarkably intelligent-looking little boys and girls, whose
destitute parents had gladly handed them over to the care of the clergy.
Sir James Brooke, hearing that there was much confusion in the
interior, from the numerous freshly-arrived Chinese, and from the
Dayaks being alarmed by this sudden influx into their neighbourhood,
started with a party to visit it. We soon reached Siniawan, the little
Chinese trading town I have previously described, which was but now
advancing to importance. We continued our course up the river to
Tundong, where there is a ghàt used by the gold-working company to land
their supplies. Nearly all the gold that is worked in Borneo is done by
kunsis, or companies, which sometimes numbered several thousand men;
in fact, they say that at Montrado nearly the whole of its Chinese
population and that of the neighbourhood, estimated at 50,000 men,
were included in one kunsi. Generally, however, they consisted, as
at Sarawak, of a few hundred members, though they might still be in
connexion with the parent company. The great influx of Chinese had now,
however, swelled the Santei Kiu kunsi to inconvenient dimensions.
At Tundong we found a few store-houses and a very tolerable path
leading over to Bau, the principal Chinese settlement. The views
on either side of us, as we advanced, were sometimes exceedingly
picturesque; for, as we reached the summits of low hills, a fine
undulating country was spread out beneath us. The path led through
shady forests, then open Dayak clearings, along the sides of hills, and
over pretty streams spanned by very primitive bridges.
As we approached the town of Bau we met a band of Chinese musicians
who had come forth to greet us, and gun after gun was discharged in
honour of the rajah’s visit. Our procession was a very motley one, half
a dozen Englishmen, followed by a long line of Malays, Chinese, and
Dayaks, marching in Indian procession, some carrying spears, others
muskets, or flags.
At last we reached the kunsi’s house, prettily situated in the valley
of Bau, which was on two sides flanked by black-looking perpendicular
hills. The house itself was a substantial one, built of ironwood posts
and good planks, and roofed with excellent ironwood shingles.
I will describe one of their gold-workings. They dammed up the end
of the valley at the back of the kunsi’s house, thus forming a large
reservoir of water, perhaps a quarter of a mile in length. The dam was
very neatly constructed, being completely faced with wood towards the
water, and partially on the outside, to enable it to resist the very
heavy rains which fall in this country. A ditch, about four feet broad,
was cut from the reservoir towards the ground which the overlooker of
the company had selected as a spot likely to produce a good yield of
gold, and a well-made sluice-gate was constructed in the dam to supply
the ditch with as much water as might be required; minor sluice-gates
to the main ditch enabled the smaller ones also to receive supplies of
water. When this was all prepared, the sluice-gates were opened, and
the earth in its neighbourhood thrown into the ditch, and the rushing
water carried off the mud and sand and allowed the particles of gold
to sink to the bottom. After three or four months they cleaned out the
ditch and carefully washed the residue, which generally yielded them
sufficient to make a tolerable division among the workmen after all the
expenses had been paid.
It is a very wasteful system of working gold; in fact, when we were
there, all the women and girls, lately arrived from Sambas, had the
privilege given them of washing the earth which had been swept away by
the rushing water, and I believe they obtained as much in proportion to
the number working as was divided among the men, who had had all the
labour of constructing these extensive works. No one has yet taught
them deep sinking; in fact, it is to be regretted that none of their
countrymen accustomed to the method of procuring this precious metal in
our Australian colonies have yet visited Sarawak.
That there is an abundance of gold to be found there I verily believe,
and, as an instance, I may notice that in November, 1848, a great
landslip took place, and the face of the Trian mountain was laid bare.
Some Malays, observing small pieces of gold mixed with the clay, began
a strict search, and having great success, the news soon spread, and
several thousand people flocked to the spot, where they worked till
the heap of earth and stone was cleared away. All had fair success, and
we heard of none who got less than an ounce and a half per month. The
work lasted above six weeks. I saw one nugget picked up, which weighed
about seven ounces.
The influx of the Pamangkat Chinese gave great impetus to the search
for the auriferous ore, and new reservoirs, dams, and ditches, were
appearing in every direction; but yet the new-comers, being only
accustomed to agriculture, did not take very kindly to gold digging.
Sir James Brooke was anxious to remove a large body to some district
which they could cultivate; but they were too poor to be able to
support themselves while waiting for their crops. The gold company
was not willing to part with these people, and promised them every
assistance if they would stay at Bau.
Nearly all the early efforts to assist these immigrants in developing
the agricultural resources of the country had but little success. They
commenced rice farms at Si Jinkat on the Muaratabas, and also at the
foot of the Santubong hill; but though they were supplied with food
and tools by the Sarawak government, they abandoned both attempts, and
scattered themselves either among the gold-workers in the interior, or
removed to the district of Lundu, where, as I have already mentioned,
they made beautiful gardens. It was a matter of regret that they should
have abandoned Santubong, as the soil is of a very fine description. I
believe the non-success, however, arose from defective management and
inefficient superintendence.
Everything appeared to go on very quietly till January 1852, when a
fortnight’s continued rain rather injured their reservoirs, and laid
the country under water. Such a flood, they say, never before or since
came upon them. At Kuching it was necessary in the Chinese town to move
from house to house in boats. At Siniawan it rose to so great a height
that the inhabitants had to abandon their houses, and an unfortunate
Chinese, seeking safety in his garret, was drowned, being unable to
force his way through the roof; and up the country we saw afterwards
the dried grass left by the stream at least forty feet above the usual
level of the river.
In 1853, the gold company gave the government considerable trouble,
and had to be curbed by a great display of armed force; but they
submitted without any necessity of proceeding to extremities. The case
was this: the government had issued an order to the company that they
should not make any fresh reservoirs or gold-workings among the Dayak
lands without obtaining permission from the authorities, as on several
occasions quarrels had arisen between them and the neighbouring tribes,
on account of their taking possession of the best farming ground in the
country.
The Pamangkat Chinese were never quite satisfied with their position as
gold-workers, and constantly made applications to the government for
assistance in order to recommence their old style of living as rice
cultivators. At last they fixed on a good spot, and food and rice were
supplied to several hundreds. This well-managed movement might have
been increased to any extent, as all the late immigrants preferred a
quiet rural life; and by the commencement of 1856 nearly five hundred
were established at a place called Sungei Tañgah, about six miles above
the town.
I may observe that during the four previous years the Dutch had kept
the Chinese within the boundary of their settlements in very strict
order; but, in 1856, some dispute taking place, a Dutch officer and a
party of troops were cut off by the workmen of the Lumar kunsi, one of
the large gold companies, about three hundred of whom escaped over the
borders into the Sarawak territories, while the rest were captured, and
many suffered condign punishment for their crime.
I will notice here a regulation which obtains in the Dutch territories
of Sambas and the other border states, which is so illiberal that
I can scarcely believe it to be authorized by any of the superior
authorities, but must be the work of a very narrow-minded local
official. No Chinese, whether man, woman, or child, can leave the Dutch
territories without first paying a fine of 6_l._; so that as
very few workmen can save that amount they are practically condemned
to remain there all their lives, unless they can evade the blockade
kept upon them, thus running the risk of the cat-o’nine-tails, a fine,
and imprisonment. The reason for this regulation is that no Chinese
in Borneo would willingly remain under Dutch rule who could possibly
escape from it; and if liberty were given to them to leave the country,
nearly every man would abandon it. Therefore, gunboats watch the coast,
and on the frontiers soldiers, Malays, and Dayaks, are ordered to stop
any Chinese who may attempt to escape from the Dutch territories.
In the spring of 1856, I made a tour through the Chinese settlements
established in Sarawak, commencing with the rice plantations and
vegetable gardens established at Sungei Tañgah. I have never seen in
Borneo anything more pleasing to my eye than the extensive cultivated
fields which spread out around the scattered Chinese houses, each
closely surrounded by beds of esculent plants growing in a most
luxuriant manner.
Every day appeared to be adding to the area of cultivation; because,
as the agriculturists became more wealthy, they invited the poorer
gold-workers to join them, and were thus enabled to employ many
labourers. Already the effect of this increase of produce was
perceptible on prices, so that vegetables, fowls, and ducks, were
beginning to be bought at reasonable rates. On the other side, the
right-hand bank of the river, near the little mount of Stapok, about
forty Chinese had commenced gardens without any assistance from
Government, and appeared to be very prosperous. To this spot a road
had been cut through the forest from the town, which afterwards became
memorable in Sarawak annals. Altogether, as I have before observed,
there were about five hundred people assembled here engaged in a war
against the jungle.
Continuing our course towards the interior, we met with no Chinese
houses until we reached the village of Siniawan, at that time governed
by the guns of the little fort of Biledah, admirably situated on a high
point jutting into the river, and on the same spot where the Sarawak
Malays during the civil wars had their strongest stockade. The town
was remarkably flourishing, and we here heard a confirmation of the
reports that a great many Chinese were arriving from Sambas. As we were
anxious to be thoroughly acquainted with the actual condition of the
gold-working population, we determined to walk across from Siniawan to
the head-quarters of the gold company at Bau. The paths were in very
good condition, quite suited for riding over, except when we reached
the bridges thrown across the deep gullies which intersect the country.
From Siniawan all the way to Bau, a distance of ten miles, there was
a constant succession of reservoirs and gold-workings; and judging
from the new houses springing up in every direction, we felt sure the
population was increasing. About a third of the way along the road, a
branch path led to a place called by the Chinese “Shaksan,” where there
was an excellent hot spring, over which Mr. Ruppell had built a little
house. We diverged to this spot to indulge in the unusual sensation
of a hot bath, and found the temperature of the water so warm that it
was almost unbearable; but for any one suffering from rheumatism it
would be excellent. We noticed in the neighbourhood many limestone
rocks water-worn into fantastic shapes, exactly similar to those I
subsequently observed near the base of the mountain of Molu.
There are near the main path some large reservoirs in which very fine
fish are found, and the road being led along the banks, or over the
broad dams, it was very picturesque, particularly near the limestone
hills of Piat, where we found a large party of Malays seeking gold in
the quartz which lines the crevices and the caves of these hills. A
very pretty specimen was shown us with the particles of gold sparkling
as if imbedded in crystal.
As it was my companion’s duty to inspect all the stations, we diverged
to the right to visit the antimony mines of Busu. We found there
upwards of fifty Chinese apparently working at the rock on the steep
face of a hill, burrowing here and there in the limestone. The rocks
were very much like those of the mountain of Molu, and climbing over
their sharp surface into little out-of-the-way corners, we found two or
three Chinese scattered here and there, picking out lumps of antimony
from the crevices of the limestone, or perfectly imbedded in it, and
requiring much labour to procure.
These are not really mines--no vein is found, but merely lumps of ore
scattered in every direction.
Just at the foot of the hill in the forest we came upon two Malays who
had just discovered a lump of antimony weighing several tons which
was but a few feet below the surface, and having cleared away the
superincumbent earth, were now covering it over with dry wood, in order
to split the metal, by first raising the temperature by fire, and then
suddenly reducing it by water.
Near Bau the reservoirs increased in number and extent, while the
population became more numerous, and as at each Chinese house there
were several ferocious dogs kept, it was necessary to be perpetually on
one’s guard. The town of Bau was much more extensive than I could have
supposed; I counted above one hundred shops, and there were many houses
besides.
Our attention was particularly drawn to one long, enclosed shed, filled
with Chinese, who evidently, from their appearance and conduct, were
strangers. On arriving at the gold company’s house, we made inquiries
respecting these late arrivals, and the principal people positively
denied any had reached Bau, which was evidently untrue. These kunsis
are regular republics, governed by officers selected by the multitude:
a common workman may suddenly be elevated to be their leader. They
generally choose well, and look chiefly to the business character of
the man put up for their selection.
Though, perhaps, gold-working pays on the whole more than other labour,
the men are kept so very hard at work that the ranks are not easily
filled; yet they are allowed five meals a day, with as much rice as
they can eat, a good supply of salt fish and pork, and tea always
ready. At their meals the Chinese are very fond of drinking their weak
arrack, or samshu, raw, but as nearly approaching a boiling state as
the lips can endure.
Our tour then led us to the neighbourhood of the antimony mines of
Bidi, where the Bornean company are at present working that metal with
success.
The country here is very picturesque: fine open valleys bordered by
almost perpendicular limestone hills, and with an admirable soil.
Occasionally the whole length of a precipice is undermined, forming
extensive open caves, with huge stalactites hanging down at the
extreme edge, giving a beautiful yet fantastic appearance to these
natural dwellings.
We spent a night at a village of the Sau Dayaks, whose long dwelling
was built on a steep hill on the banks of the Sarawak river; and
from thence on nearly to the borders of the Sarawak territory, was
an admirable path constructed by the Chinese to facilitate their
intercourse with Sambas, but unfortunately for travellers, they had not
completed it to Bau.
A four hours’ walk brought us to the last Chinese station, which was
evidently more intended as a resting place for wayfarers than because
its inhabitants were actually much engaged in gold-working there. We
ascended the hills to the village of the Gombang Dayaks, and heard that
a continual stream of small parties of Chinese was constantly passing
within sight of their village. So there was little doubt that the
Chinese population was increasing.
From all the inquiries we made as to the numbers engaged directly and
indirectly in gold-working, we considered there were nearly three
thousand living between the town of Siniawan and the border. There
were about five hundred agriculturists in Suñgei Tuñgah and its
neighbourhood, and perhaps eight hundred in the town of Kuching, the
sago manufactories, and the surrounding gardens; but these were soon
after recruited by the three hundred fugitives from Sambas, to whom
I have before referred; so that the Chinese population of Sarawak
amounted to above four thousand five hundred before they rose in
insurrection, and while seeking to overthrow the government, ruined
themselves.