We left Singapore at ten o’clock of the morning of December 10th, on the Vorwärts, and arrived at Kuching about 1.30 on the 12th. The voyage up the twenty-three miles of the Sarawak river was charming as the steamer glided along between the fringe of nipa palms and other luxuriant vegetation.

Immediately on landing I called on the Honourable C. A. Bampfylde, the Resident of the division, and who was acting for the Rajah, who was then in England. He kindly invited us to stay with him for a few days, and we had luxurious quarters in a most lovely garden, with a lawn that would not disgrace a Cambridge college, surrounded by choice shrubs and trees, conspicuous among the latter being a kind of areca palm that has a brilliant red stem.

The various members of the British population were very kind and hospitable, and did their best to render our stay in Kuching enjoyable, and we look back upon our visit to Kuching with considerable pleasure.

Dr. A. J. G. Barker, the principal medical officer of Sarawak, entertained Seligmann, and the two doctors had great talks about the tropical diseases in which they were both so keenly interested. Sarawak is to be congratulated on having so able and enthusiastic a medical officer as Dr. Barker unquestionably is. Seligmann took advantage of his stay in Kuching to visit a friend in the Land Dayak country.

Ray stayed at the hotel and spent most of his time in studying the Malay language.

Mr. R. Shelford put me up, and we both enjoyed talking about Bornean natural history and over mutual Cambridge friends. As there was no chance of our getting away from Kuching for nearly three weeks, I devoted my time to work in the museum and in laying a foundation for a study of the decorative art of the natives of Sarawak. I photographed nearly a hundred Sea Dayak fabrics, and recorded the names of a large number of the designs on them.

The Resident gave his customary usual Christmas Eve dinner to his colleagues and friends, to which we were invited, and Mr. Smith, the then Manager of the Sarawak branch of the Borneo Company, invited us to his usual New Year’s Eve dinner, when we again met “everybody,” and saw the old year out in the orthodox fashion. Mr. Smith’s garden is on a height that overlooks Kuching and the river. In a township of beautiful gardens this was noted for its orchids, and the plants in Mr. Smith’s garden truly were a sight to behold, especially one avalanche of the trailing flower spikes of an Arachnanthe Lowii, which reached a length of some fourteen feet.

The annual regatta took place on Monday, the 2nd of January. The poop deck of the Vorwärts was the grand stand, and most of the white inhabitants were there.

It was a very gay and animated scene, on the shore crowds of quiet people in all kinds of gay dress and undress. On the water were boats of every size, from a tiny dug-out canoe that could scarcely support even a light native to canoes cut out of giants of the forests that would hold fifty to sixty men two abreast. These darted about hither and thither, smoothly gliding like fish or rampaging with flashing paddles and spurting spray.

The natives in the boats gave themselves up to exuberant pleasure, and there was no lack of shouting and merriment. There were large numbers of roofed boats in which one could get occasional glimpses of bedecked and bejewelled women and girls; nor were they ill provided with good things to eat. We could imperfectly see one gorgeously dressed woman in one of the covered boats eating her tiffin with a metal spoon. Some native nurses on board the steamer, who were looking after the children, were greatly interested to discover who could be showing off in this way by eating like a white woman, and they threw pieces of cake at the boat in order to attract the attention of the woman, who was hidden under the low roof of the boat. At length their tactics were successful, and on her showing herself they made grimaces at her.

I took some snapshots of the scene and of some of the races, but the day was dull; in the morning there was rarely a gleam of watery sunshine, and it rained all the afternoon.

All the white inhabitants, the half-castes, and the more important Malays and Chinamen lunched in the court-house. The races lasted from 9 a.m. till 4.30 or 5 p.m. A sort of comic side-show was provided in the shape of a greased boom along which competitors had to walk in order to secure a small flag that was stuck at the end. The successful as well as the unsuccessful fell into the water, a matter of no moment to the amphibious people.

Kuching, the capital of Sarawak, is only a small town. On the left bank of the river, and situated in beautiful grounds, is the Astana, the simple residence of the Rajah. Separated from it by a gully are the fort and the barracks, the headquarters of the miniature Sea Dayak army of Sarawak. On the right bank of the river is the town itself. At the entrance to the wooden wharf at which the steamers tie up is the custom-house, beyond is a square in which are grouped all the Government offices. Immediately opposite the custom-house and for a short distance down stream is the large bazaar or Chinese quarter, where everything required for native or European use can be purchased at reasonable rates. The comparatively large establishment of the Borneo Company is at the extremity of the business end of the town. To the right, beyond the Government offices, is the Malay town.

The few Europeans, who are all Government officials or connected with the Borneo Company or the missions, live in the bungalow surrounded by charming gardens well stocked with varied and beautiful shrubs and trees. From most of the houses one obtains interesting views of distant isolated mountains uprising from the somewhat flat country, and the sunset effects with the lowering clouds of the rainy season are often very fine.

Despite the strange tropical vegetation, the township has a peculiar home-like appearance, due to the prevalence of carefully trimmed lawns, green hedges, and well-built roads. There is an air of neatness and quiet beauty which was very refreshing after much wandering on watery ways and the glare and bustle of some tropical towns and the frank unfoliaged ugliness of others. The rampant verdure of luxuriant vegetation is here kept within due bounds, though not without some difficulty. By day there is the sweet singing of birds, and at night myriad insects chirp with varied note, ranging from crude stridulation to what may be termed a musical song.

A very good native band plays twice or thrice a week in the evening in a public garden, and gives an excuse for social foregathering. The social centre for the white man is naturally the club. Deserted during the day, it wakes up in the evening, and about six o’clock members begin to drop in; but all leave shortly before eight, to bathe, and dress for dinner. There are a couple of tennis courts, but during the rainy season very little tennis is possible. Generally one or two members play billiards, but the great game is American bowls; this gives plenty of exercise, and is really a fine game for the tropics.

On the hill is a large reservoir, formed by a dam thrown across an irregular depression. The winding shore of this artificial lake, embowered with rank vegetation, makes a most lovely walk. By the side of the reservoir is the ice factory, which had only very recently been completed, but now ice is regularly supplied at a cheap rate by the Government.

On the slope of the same hill is the museum, and the picturesque house of the curator. Close by is the large demesne of the Anglican Church, with the bishop’s house, rectory, and official buildings. A considerable part of the grounds is taken up with a cricket field for the Mission boys, and with golf-links; but new golf-links have recently been laid elsewhere.

Owing to the sporting proclivities and fondness of horses of the present Rajah, Kuching possesses one of the most picturesque racecourses in the Far East. The roads, too, in and around the town are in excellent condition, and they extend for a considerable distance into the country in various directions.

The museum is a very pet institution of the Rajah’s, which he has wisely and liberally endowed. In his address on the occasion of the opening of the museum on the 4th of August, 1891, the Rajah admitted that it had cost a good deal both of trouble and money, “but,” he continued, “I consider that every country worthy of being called a country should have a museum, and I hope that ours will be equal, at any rate in time, to any other country in the East, including even India. It has been for many years a great wish of my heart to see a good museum established here, and at last I hope that wish is accomplished.”

The building is an attractive edifice, built in Queen Anne style, consisting of three lower and three upper rooms, built in the form of an H. It is very well lighted, and at the same time there is an abundance of wall space. The foundation of the ethnographical collections was the very valuable Brooke Low Collection, which the Rajah bought in England and reshipped to its native land. This has been added to from time to time, and although there is a good deal to be done before all the arts and crafts of the natives of Sarawak are adequately represented, the museum contains the best and most instructive collection extant illustrating the ethnography of Sarawak. The fauna of Sarawak is also most fully represented. All the specimens are well labelled and attractively set out. Dr. G. D. Haviland was the first curator. He was succeeded by Mr. E. Bartlett, and Mr. R. Shelford, the present curator, was appointed in 1897.

The museum is a favourite resort for natives, and every day numbers of Chinese, Malays, and Dayaks come to have a look round. Often women and children come too, and very picturesque are some of the groups, as fortunately the natives retain their own costumes, and do not ape European clothing, which, whatever its effect when worn by ourselves, is ugly and incongruous when adopted by most native races. The Dayak men often have very little on, but that is an advantage, as one can then admire their shapely limbs. Their “chawats,” or loin cloths, are varied in colour, and however bright they may be, they always harmonise with the beautiful deep cinnamon-coloured skin of the wearer.

Mr. Shelford has a Chinese clerk or assistant, who speaks English well and has a very good knowledge of the zoology of Borneo. He is a Catholic, and beats the big drum of the Catholic band with gusto. It is also amusing to see a Dayak boy, clothed only in a small chawat, sorting and drying bird skins. Several Dayak collectors are attached to the museum, and they continually bring in all kinds of zoological specimens. When I was working in the museum two of them got into trouble, one for carrying pig-meat through the bazaar, and the other for firing off crackers on Christmas Day at an unauthorised time. Pork may be carried along the high-roads, but not along the smaller streets of the bazaar, on account of the sentiments of the Mohammedans.

The enthusiastic curator had quite a menagerie in and under his house. On one occasion when I was staying with him he had nine hornbills in one cage, three different species being represented. In another cage were four lemurs (Nycticebus). He had also a binturong, and another small carnivore, three chained-up monkeys, one being a gibbon, and an owl. There were always a lot of live jungle insects about, and in the dining-room were a number of gigantic stick insects unceasingly munching away at leaves; the allied mantidæ are insectivorous. Mr. Shelford is anxious to induce the Rajah to add a small zoological garden to the other attractions of the museum.

We left Kuching early on January 4th in the Adeh, a small but comfortable coasting steamer. The morning was fine, but it rained all the afternoon when we were ascending the Rejang. As soon as it was dark we anchored, as it is against standing orders for the steamers to sail in the rivers between six o’clock in the evening and six o’clock in the morning.

By ten o’clock next day we reached Sibu, ninety miles up the river. On landing we called on the Resident, the Honourable H. F. Deshon. Mr. Johnson took us to the bazaar, the Malay town, and round the small, low island that forms the central station of the large and important Rejang district.

In the afternoon we went down river in a Government boat to see some Kanauit natives at Saduan who made beautiful baskets. I was anxious to see them at work, and to learn their names for the patterns; but our boatmen made a mistake, and took us to see a Sea Dayak house at Sanamari. It was a hopelessly wet afternoon, but still it was an enjoyable little trip.

We visited a native cemetery on the way back. Sheds were built over the graves, and under wall-less shelters were numerous pots, baskets, articles of clothing, and all sorts of objects that appealed very strongly to my collecting instincts, which, however, were rigorously kept under control. Most of the objects appeared to me to have been old and probably useless. Under one shed, or mausoleum as I suppose one ought to call it, was an old Kayan shield and a tiny model of another shield, also a mancala board. Mancala, the national game of Africa, is played with pebbles, or similar objects, on a board provided with parallel rows of depressions; the game has travelled nearly all over the world, the extent of its distribution depending upon negro or Arab influence. I think this is the first record from Borneo, though it is known in the Philippines.

Over another grave was an imitation parang with a wooden blade. A parang is a locally made steel sword, which is used for cutting down the jungle, chopping wood, and as a sword when fighting. Apparently the survivors considered that the spirits would be satisfied in some cases with the essence of things offered to them. The cemetery was bountifully decorated with parti-coloured red and yellow flags; there were also two long poles covered with what appeared to be straw decorations.

We had tea at Mr. Deshon’s on our return to Sibu, and some Sea Dayak women came, by appointment, to show me some patterns. The remainder of the evening was very pleasantly spent at the Residency.

The steamer started at 5 a.m. next morning, and we reached the sea at one o’clock, and proceeded on our eastward journey.

Unfortunately, we had arrived at the season when it is impossible to cross the bar at the mouth of the Baram River, so we had to continue our journey to Limbang, and thence to proceed by a long overland détour to our destination.

The station at Limbang is situated at a bend of the river on its right bank below the range of the Kaban Hills. In coming up the river one first passes the Malay town, built as usual on piles, the houses being either near the water’s edge or, as the Malays seem to prefer, actually over the running water. Here were several sago factories. Later we passed the bazaar, or Chinese quarter, for nearly all the shopkeepers in Sarawak are Chinamen. Then we arrived at the fort, a two-storied wooden building, in which are the Government offices; beyond were the barracks, stables, and other outbuildings.

On the spur of the hills behind and above the fort is the Residency, a commodious house, with a very large deep verandah, from which an extensive view is obtained of all the lower valley of the Limbang as far as the Brunei Hills.

Mr. O. F. Ricketts takes a great interest in his garden, and has laid it out very tastefully in well-mown grassy terraces with flower-beds, flowering shrubs, areca palms, and other tropical foliage. Mr. Ricketts has a large selection of cannas and hibiscus, so that there are always some bright flowers open. He has a delicate violet hibiscus brought from Celebes, which I believe is a very rare variety; he has also raised a colias with deep brown leaves that do not show a trace of green. He procures all his canna seeds from England!

One evening we went up to the top of Kaban Hill, known popularly as Mount Pisgah, and had a magnificent panoramic view from Mount Mulu in one direction to Labuan in the other. The great swampy plains were intersected by the sinuous courses of several rivers. By the aid of a glass we could see part of the town of Brunei fringing Brunei Lake, and at the horizon were the Brunei Hills. (Plate XXIII., B, p. 280.)

A very considerable portion of Sarawak appears to be low-lying land; in some places the hills come down to the coast, but for about a hundred miles inland the country is flat and more or less swampy. Here and there solitary mountains rise above the level, and these are sculptured into peaks and precipices. It seems as if relatively recently the country as a whole has been slightly raised from the sea. Before this upheaval the isolated mountains had been islands which have since been embraced by the advancing land. Thus Sarawak would still be a land in the making, to which the rivers contribute their quota of alluvial soil.

The river banks in the interior, with their layers of pebbles, alluvium, and leaf beds, tell an unmistakable tale, and the spit at the mouth of Baram River demonstrates the gradual extension of the land into the sea. The innumerable gigantic tree trunks floated down by the river are deposited by the action of prevailing winds and currents mainly on the eastern or right side of the estuary, and river sediment and leaf deposits are entangled in the natural breakwater, and so by the conjoint efforts of the river and the sea the spit gradually grows. The swampy soil is soon rendered more coherent by the growth of casuarinas and other trees, and as the spit advances, so marches the appropriate vegetation behind it in marshalled order.

The river scenery in the low lands is somewhat monotonous. As far as the influence of salt water extends, palisades of nipa palms usually line the banks. These trunkless palms, whose long leaves spring from the water’s edge, are of varied use to man, for their leaves are utilised as thatch, their sap produces sugar, and, when burnt, their ashes provide salt.

Behind the serried array of nipa palms are swamp trees, and beyond these again, on firmer soil, are tall jungle trees. When one paddles up the creeks a greater variety of vegetation manifests itself, and many beautiful vistas open out which the wealth and luxuriance of the tropical jungle tempt one to explore. We had our first experience of this at Sibu.

Immediately on our arrival Mr. Ricketts had sent messengers by jungle tracks to Mr. Hose, to acquaint him of our arrival, so that he might send boats to meet us on his side of the spur of Mount Mulu. As all this would take time we were obliged to remain at Limbang for some days, and a very enjoyable time we had there in the beautiful Residency, thanks to the kindness and hospitality of our host. I cannot refrain from once more remarking on the wonderful generosity and friendliness that was exhibited to us throughout our travels. Any verbal acknowledgment can but feebly express the gratitude we feel to those numerous friends who assisted and cheered us on our way.

We devoted one morning to visiting a small Malay sago factory by the side of the river. At the edge of the river bank were several lengths of the stems of sago palms, and beside them was a heap of bark that had been stripped off the trunks.

Under a shed, roofed with nipa palm leaves and supported on two horizontal poles, was a peeled log of sago, part of which had been scraped away by means of a long spiked rasp. A Malay showed us how their grating was done, and on the floor were two heaps of the triturated pith of the sago palm.

The man then removed some of the coarse powder to a mat on a neighbouring platform, which more or less overhung the river, and trod the grated pith, pouring water on it from a kerosene tin which was suspended by a cord from the end of a long, slender pole. This contrivance for scooping up water from the river is similar to the shaduf so extensively employed in Egypt and the East, and is doubtless another example of indirect Arab influence.

The dancing of the man separates, so to speak, the chaff from the wheat, and the farinaceous water pours into an old canoe that lies alongside of the platform. This canoe is covered over to prevent extraneous matter from getting into the sago, and the lower end is boarded up. The canoe thus forms a trough in which the sediment is deposited, while the superfluous water dribbles away from one end into the river.

The sago thus crudely manufactured by the Malays is sold to the Chinese factors, who give it extra washings and strain it through a fine cloth. The fine mud is spread out to dry in the sun. The white impalpable sago powder is packed in bags and shipped to Europe viâ Kuching. The granulation of the sago is a subsequent process. A considerable portion of the sago consumed at home must come from Borneo. The amount of sago flour exported from Sarawak in 1899 was 228,989 piculs (or over 12,000 tons), the value being $790,583 (or £79,058), which brought in an export duty to the Sarawak Government of $19,503.01 (£1,950).

The 14th of January was a memorable day for us, as the Resident invited us to accompany him to Brunei, which is one of the oldest of Malay towns. It was first described by Pigafetti, who visited “Bornei” in July, 1521. Even then the town was large and important, and the Sultan was powerful and wealthy; consequently the Malays must have been established in the country for at least five hundred years.

The former sultans held nominal sway over a considerable portion of northern Borneo; but though the Malays brought with them a relatively high civilisation, they only affected the coastal population, no influence was exercised for the improvement of the condition of the interior natives. The Malay traders have always been adventuresome, and they introduced various trade goods up the rivers; but the up-river tribes, such as the Kayans and Kenyahs, do not appear to have acknowledged the authority of the sultans, or to have paid them tribute.

The power of the sultans and of their subordinates, from the highest to the lowest, has for a long time been exerted to extract the maximum amount of revenue out of those unfortunate coastal tribes who, by their propinquity, could not escape from their cruel and rapacious neighbours. Whatever it may have been in the past, the history of the Brunei administration for the last half-century has been marked by rapine, bloodshed, extortion, injustice, and utter hopelessness.

The fall of the power of Brunei is probably owing to causes that have hastened the fall of other empires and cities. The State was founded by a civilised and even a polished people, expert in the arts of life; but success and power became undermined by wealth, luxury, and sensuality, which destroyed the energy that created those conditions in which alone they could thrive. Strength of character sunk into aimless cruelty.

The isolation of the town also prevented that intercourse with different peoples which affords the necessary stimulus for advancement. It is true that there were trading and diplomatic relations with China even in very early times, but that was in the days when Brunei was a living force, as it also must have been when centuries ago a Sultan of Brunei conquered the Philippines and the neighbouring islands.

Founded by a pagan, the State soon became converted to Islamism, and the religious fervour of the converts, backed by belligerent tenets of their faith, were doubtless important factors in the building up of the power of Brunei. But all that is now past, and Brunei has sunk into senile decay.

The name Brunei is variously spelt Bruni or Brunai; an old form of it was Brauni or Braunai, and another was Burni. Pigafetti called it Bornei. Voyagers, applied the name of the town to the island as a whole; but the name of Borneo is unknown to the natives of Sarawak, who call it Pulo Kalamantan.

Most Europeans derive the term Kalamantan, or Klamantan, from an indigenous sour wild mango, which is called Kalamantan; but Hose believes this term is a corruption of lemanta, “raw sago.” There is no obvious reason why Borneo should be known as the island of an inconspicuous wild fruit, while it is very appropriately “the island of raw sago.”

Owing to an ineffective and rapacious system of government, great dissatisfaction with the Sultan has for a long time been felt by the natives, and as a result the Sultanate has shrunk to the small triangular area which constitutes the drainage basins of the Balait, Tutong, and Brunei rivers. At the present time natives of the Balait and Tutong have hoisted the Sarawak flag, and are urging the Rajah to take them over. It is obvious that the days of Malay dynasty in Borneo are numbered.

Owing to their having taken territory from him, the Rajah of Sarawak and the British North Borneo Company pay the Sultan a yearly tribute as cession money of about $30,000 (£3,000), paid half-yearly in advance, and practically this is the main source of his revenue.

Unfortunately we had for our excursion a dull day, unredeemed by a single glint of sunshine, and it drizzled during part of the morning. We went down the Limbang in the Government steam launch, the Gazelle, and owing to the tide being low we stuck for an hour and a half in a sandbank near the mouth of the river. When the tide turned we left the Limbang and entered the mouth of Brunei River. Owing to the hills on the left bank of the lower reaches of this river the scenery is much prettier than that of the corresponding portions of other rivers of Sarawak. The right bank is merely the coast of a large alluvial island deposited in the combined delta of the Limbang, Brunei, and Kadayan rivers.

About six miles from its present mouth Brunei River extends into a sort of elongated lake. The town is situated along the left or northern shore, and opposite to it is some high land. The waters of the Brunei and Kadayan rivers pass between this hill and the range of hills behind the town. In other words Brunei is situated at the conjoint mouths of the small Brunei and Kadayan rivers, and in close proximity to the large Limbang River. Originally this spot was on the coast of the Brunei Bay, but the growth of the largest of the delta islands, which is mainly due to the action of the Limbang, has made the site of Brunei appear as if it were actually up a river.

The situation of Brunei was extremely well chosen, as it is very sheltered, and would have been easily defended in the old days.

The town of Brunei has been so often described that there is no need to add one more account, especially as there is no reason to believe that it has essentially altered in its character since the days when it was first visited by Europeans, though it has probably become reduced in size, and it must surely have also become meaner of aspect.

At first sight one is wonderfully impressed with the town. Some houses are built on the bank, others on islets, but the vast majority form great compact masses standing in piles in the shallow estuary. The groups of pile-dwellings are intersected by broader or narrower waterways, along and across which dart small canoes like so many skaters or other aquatic insects that skim along the surface of our ponds.

On closer acquaintance, however, a good deal of the town presents rather a dilapidated appearance. This is, doubtless, partially due to the houses being built of wood, and thatched and usually walled with palm leaves. We saw it on a dull, damp day, however, and the impression on my mind was that it would take a great deal of time and material to put the town into a good state of repair.

We rowed about the town and visited the small Chinese bazaar, but we did not land for long as our time was limited and there did not appear to be much that we could do. We took several snapshot photographs, but were too low down in the water to get very good views. Although the place looked poverty-stricken, I was informed there were a large number of ancient and valuable objects in the houses of the important people, such as gold, bronze, and brass work, Chinese vases and embroidery.

We should have greatly liked to call on the Sultan, but we were prevented from doing so as we were on a Sarawak steamer, and there had been recently a little friction between the Sultan and the Rajah’s Government. The Resident had on board the half-yearly cession money and rent for Brooketon, which was then due from the Rajah to the Sultan; but the cession money was $1,000 short, for that sum had been paid by the Sarawak Government as indemnity to some natives in the Limbang who had been raided by some Brunei Malays.

On our arrival at Brunei word was sent to the Chamberlain, and soon that distinguished functionary came to receive the dollars. He was an elderly, fat man, with a clever, diplomatic face. There was a good deal of conversation and documents were read, and finally the rent for Brooketon was taken, as there was no dispute about that; but the Chamberlain had to return to the Sultan to confer about the remainder. Finally the Sultan refused to accept the diminished cession money, as he still claims ownership of the Limbang, and on that ground the raided were his own subjects, consequently, according to his position, the Sarawak Government had no right to interfere.

In his recent life of Rajah Brooke, in the “Builders of Greater Britain Series,” Sir Spenser St. John writes (p. 216): “The Sultan is the Suzerain Lord of all the possessions of the present Rajah, with the doubtful exception of Sarawak proper, and Great Britain is the Protector of Sarawak and Brunei alike.”

The story of the first Rajah Brooke is most fascinating, and has several times been told, so that it is superfluous to repeat it here, but I shall content myself by merely alluding to the most prominent events.

Sir James Brooke first landed at Kuching from his schooner yacht Royalist on August 15th, 1839, and made acquaintance with Muda Hassim, the Rajah of Sarawak. Pirates swarmed at the mouth of the Sarawak river, the Rajah was not on friendly terms with his neighbours the Dutch, and the population of Upper Sarawak was threatening him with a hostile force. Trade was at a standstill, and people in and about the capital were subjected to oppression and extortion from every petty officer of the State.

As a friend of the Rajah, Sir James Brooke at once commenced his great work. His first achievement was a bloodless victory over the rebel army, which, after months of manœuvring and negotiation, was disbanded. For this assistance he was offered the Governorship of Sarawak, which, after some delay, he undertook, and at once set to work to clean out the Augean stables of wrong and oppression and to reform irregularities, always, however, regarding the customs and existing laws and rights of the people. He was confirmed as Rajah in 1842.

Warlike expeditions to protect and avenge his subjects had to be made against the wilder tribes of the interior, and to repress the pirates, who, whilst they existed, were a constant source of trouble, disorganising by one raid a whole district, which had perhaps taken years to settle down since a previous raid.

When all things seemed to be progressing favourably the great Chinese rebellion broke out in February, 1857, the story of which has been so well told by Sir Spenser St. John. One result of this calamity was to prove how well grounded Rajah Sir James Brooke was in the affection of the Malays and Sea Dayaks, and, thanks to their loyalty, zeal, and bravery the Chinese were completely routed after they had actually taken and burnt Kuching. The country soon settled down and became even more prosperous.

The “Old Rajah” died in England on the 11th June, 1868, and he was succeeded by his nephew Charles Johnson Brooke, Rajah Muda of Sarawak, who had long been in the country, and had distinguished himself in his uncle’s service.

The Rajah is an absolute monarch who consults the Supreme Council on important matters. This Council is composed of the Rajah, three senior English officers, and four native chiefs of Sarawak proper. There is also a General Council composed of the more important chiefs of various districts and certain English officers. The General Council meets about once a year, and on this occasion the Rajah makes an address and states his policy and proposed changes in the administration or finance.

The Raj is divided into five main districts under English Residents: Sarawak, Batang Lupar, Rejang, Baram, and Limbang. The mere enumeration of these names shows what accessions to the original Raj of Sarawak proper have been made in the progress of events. Limbang was annexed on the 17th March, 1890.

There are various Government officials in Kuching, each of whom has usually various duties to perform, but the practical administration of the country is in the hands of the Residents and Assistant Residents. A Resident is at the same time a governor and a magistrate, and his powers depend upon his rank; but his influence depends upon his personality. An energetic Resident who goes among the people can exercise an immense power for good, but for this is required a knowledge of the languages spoken in the district and a sympathy for the people themselves.

When Rajah Sir James Brooke first took over Sarawak it was with the intention of administering the country for the benefit of the natives rather than for personal aggrandisement, and ever since this has been the central idea of the Government.

It has often been objected to the rule of the late and of the present Rajah that they have not endeavoured to “open up” the country, and have thrown obstacles in the way of those who desired to develop it. To a certain extent this is true. So far as I understand it, the policy of the Government has consistently been to let the growth of the country take place slowly and, as far as practicable, naturally. Neither for the Civil List, nor for official salaries, nor even for administrative purposes and public works have the natives been exploited or the soil alienated. Probably few countries are financed so economically; perhaps in many cases the salaries of officials are too low, and there is at present a tendency to save a few dollars by petty economies; but these are faults of which the natives can scarcely complain. Life and property are safe, and there is perfect freedom in religion and custom, provided that the latter does not infringe on the life or belongings of others. These are advantages which the natives did not formerly possess and which are now thoroughly appreciated by them. The taxation, which is very light, is collected with discretion, and falls hard on no one. There is no difficulty in getting it paid by those heads of families who have but recently come under the Government, for they realise that the benefits of a settled government and of a secure outlet for their trade are more than compensated for by the annual payment of a couple of dollars. The amount of the “door” tax varies, but four shillings a year is what is usually levied. In certain cases, half or the whole of this is remitted in return for right to impress temporary labour. This system is very light, and is entirely suited to local conditions.

There would be a grave danger to the natives if Sarawak was “opened up” according to the desires of certain financiers or corporations whose sole idea is to make money. The “development” of a country does not necessarily mean the welfare of the original inhabitants; too often it spells their ruin or extermination. The hustling white man wants to make as much money as he can within the shortest possible time; but rapid exploitation is not development, and in many tropical countries it has meant that if the aborigines will not work as hard for the foreigner as the latter desires, their place must be taken by coolies from elsewhere.

According to one point of view, a country belongs to its inhabitants; but according to another, which is prevalent among Europeans, it should belong to those who can extract the most from it. The Sarawak government is based upon the former theory, and so far as I have observed it honestly endeavours to help the people to govern themselves and assists them towards a gradual bettering of their condition.

Sir Spenser St. John says: “The government of Sarawak is a kind of mild despotism, the only government suitable to Asiatics, who look to their chiefs as the sole depositary of supreme power. The influence of the old Rajah still pervades the whole system, and native and European work together in perfect harmony.” This is the judgment of one whose opinion must always carry weight.