Of another family and of a very different type was the bluff old Datu Temanggong Mersal, with the reputation of having been a pirate in the bad old days, but who had "a fine spirit of chivalry which made up for a hundred faults."^[352] He was a stout and staunch servant. Of him the late Rajah, referring to the Datu's Court, humorously wrote:—

The old Temanggong is likewise a judge in Israel, and sometimes he breaks into the Court, upsets the gravity of all present by laying down his law for a quarter of an hour—Krising and hanging, flogging and fining all offenders, past, present or future, and after creating a strong impression vanishes for a month or two.

Absolutely fearless as himself were his sons Abang Pata and Muhammad Hasan. How the former distinguished himself we have already noticed. On the death of his father in 1863 the latter succeeded him as Datu Temanggong. He was a tall, handsome man of a distinct Arab type. Though a good Muhammadan, he was the least bigoted of a broad-minded class, and owing to his liking for their society he was probably the most popular with Europeans of all the datus, and at their club he was a constant and welcome guest. He died on the haj at Mecca in October, 1883.

Other native officials, whose names will ever live in the annals of Sarawak, are some who served in the out-stations, and these have been already noticed. The qualities which distinguished these men, and which brought them to the fore, were grit, sound common-sense and fearlessness, and upon their shoulders fell the hardest task of managing the Sea-Dayaks and other interior tribes, a task fraught with danger and discomfort, and one that gave them little rest, but which they shared with their white leaders faithfully and without a murmur.

Sarawak has been exceptionally fortunate in having been able to draw upon a good class of men capable of supplying the State with servants fitted by intelligence and rank to become native officers. Though, autre temps, autre mœurs, the type is changing, yet the people generally are jealous of their country, and honour its traditions. Contented, they seek no change, and they are ready to uphold their Rajah and to maintain their independence as vigorously now as they have done in the past—an independence which Lord John Russell had many years ago graciously intimated they were at liberty to achieve and maintain as far as it lay in their power; though he declined to hold out a helping hand. These are wholesome and promising indications that good men will always be found worthy to take the places which their forefathers so nobly filled.

Sarawak owes its prosperity, and the people their rights and liberty, to the Brookes, and to the Brookes alone. Equality between high and low, rich and poor, undisturbed rights over property, freedom from the bonds of slavery and from harsh and cruel laws are blessings which but for the Brookes in all probability would have been denied them for many more weary years of desolating tyranny.

In a country like Sarawak, peopled by Easterns of so great a diversity of races, customs and ideas, an union of the people for their common weal is an impossibility. For them the best and only practical form of government is that which they now enjoy, a mild and benevolent despotism, under a Ruler of a superior and exotic race, standing firm and isolated amidst racial jealousies, as no native Ruler could do, and unsuspected of racial partiality; a Ruler upon whom all can depend as a common friend, and a Ruler who has devoted his life to their common welfare.

Strength of character and integrity of purpose, tact and courage, firmness and compassion, combined with a thorough knowledge, not only of their languages and customs, but of the innermost thoughts of his people, to be gained only by a long experience, are qualities without which a despotic Ruler must fall into the hands of the strongest faction, and, eventually bring disaster on himself and his country; but are those which have enabled the Rajah to tide over many political troubles, to consolidate the many and diverse interests of his people, and to guide the State to its present position of prosperity and content.