THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
-
HAPPILY HE HAD A STOUT WALKING-STICK, AND AT ONCE FELLED THE REPTILE.
Frontispiec€. Pa^e 16.
SKETCHES
OF
BY
HARRIETTE McDOUGALL.
WITH MAP.
PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE TRACT COMMITTEE.
LONDON:
SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE,
NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, CHARING CROSS, W.C. ;
43, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, E.G. ;
26, ST. GEORGE'S PLACE, HYDE PARK CORNER, s.w.
BRIGHTON : 135, NORTH STREET.
NEW YORK: E. & J. B. YOUNG AND CO.
OS
CONTENTS.
PART I.
CHAPTER PAGE
I. INTRODUCTORY ... ... ... ... 7
II. THE COURT-HOUSE ... ... ... 13
III. COLLEGE HILL ... ... ... ... 21
IV. PIRATES ... ... ... ... 32
V. THE CHURCH AND THE SCHOOL ... ... 45
VI. THE GIRLS ... ... ... ... 58
VII. THE LUNDUS ... ... ... ... 68
VIII. A BOAT JOURNEY ... ... ... 82
IX. CONTINUATION OF THE TRIP TO REJANG ... 92
PART II.
X. RETURN TO SARAWAK ... ...
XL CHINESE INSURRECTION ...
XII. CHINESE INSURRECTION (Continued)
XIII. EVENTS OF 1857 ... ...
XIV. THE MALAY PLOT ...
105
120
139
157
174
IV
CONTENTS.
PART III.
CHAPTER
XV. THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER ..
XVI. ILLANUN PIRATES
XVII. A MALAY WEDDING
XVIII. LAST YEARS AT SARAWAK
XIX. THE ISLAND OF BORNEO
FACE
189
2O4
215
228
239
PART I.
SKETCHES OF
OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
NEARLY thirty years ago I published a little book
of " Letters from Sarawak, addressed to a Child."
This book is now out of print, and, on looking it
over with a view to republication, I think it will
be better to extend the story over the twenty years
that Sarawak \vas our home, which will give some
idea of the gradual progress of the mission.
This progress was often unavoidably impeded
by the struggles of the infant State ; for war drowns
the voice of the missionary, and though the Sara-
wak Government always discouraged the Dyak
practice of taking the heads of their enemies, still
it could not at once be checked, and every expedi-
SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
tion against lawless tribes, however righteous in
its object, excited the old superstitions of those
wild people. When their warriors returned from
an expedition, the women of the tribe met them
with dance and song, receiving the heads they
brought with ancient ceremonies — "fondling the
heads," as it was called ; and for months afterwards
keeping up, by frequent feasts, in which these
heads were the chief attraction, the heathen
customs which it was the object of the missionary
to discourage.
I dare say, when we first settled at Sarawak, we
thought that twenty years would plant Christian
communities, and build Christian churches all over
the country : but it is as well that we cannot over-
look the future ; and perhaps, considering the many
difficulties which arose from time to time, from
the missionaries themselves, and the unsettled
country in which they laboured, we ought not to
expect more results than have appeared. At any
rate we have much to be thankful for, and as every
year makes Sarawak a more important State,
consolidates its Government, and extends civiliza-
tion to its subjects, we may look for more success
for the missionaries, who can now point to the
peace and prosperity of the people, and say, " This
is the fruit of Christianity and Christian rulers."
In giving a short account of our life in Borneo,
I shall avoid alike all political questions, or, as
much as possible, individual histories among the
English community. It is already so long ago
INTRODUCTORY.
since we lived in that lovely place, that events,
trials, joys, and the usual vicissitudes of life, are
wrapt in that mellowing haze of the past, which,
while it dims the vividness of feeling, throws a robe
of charity over all, and perhaps causes actors and
actions to assume a more true proportion to one
another than when we walked amongst them.
I have, however, not depended on memory alone
for the records of twenty years, but have journals
and letters to refer to, which my friends in England
have been good enough to keep for me. Some
parts of " Letters from Sarawak " I shall incorporate
into the present little book, for as it treats of the
first six years we lived there, and was written at
that time, it is sure to be tolerably correct.
In those days, from 1847 to 1853, Sir James
Brooke was very popular in England. The story of
his first occupation of Sarawak, published in his
journals, and the cruizes of her Majesty's ships in
those eastern seas — the Dido and the Samarang —
were read with avidity, and furnished the English
public with a romance which had all the charm of
novelty. However difficult and inconvenient it might
be for the English Government to recognize a native
State under an English rajah, who was at the
same time a subject of the Queen of Great Britain,
this question had not then arisen ; and all classes,
high and low, could applaud a brave and noble
man, who had stepped out of the beaten track to
spend his fortune and expose his life in the cause
of savages. There v/ere many fluctuations of
10 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
sympathy and opinion in after years towards Sir
James Brooke ; but, through evil report and good
report, through difficulty and danger, Sarawak has
still advanced, and is as worthy of the interest of
the best and wisest of mankind as it was in 1847.
At this time, indeed, it seems to me to furnish
a lesson in the management of native races which
might be useful in our own colonies. English
governors always set out with good intentions to-
wards the natives of savage countries, but how is
it that war almost always follows their occupation ?
Surely it is because the settlers go there, not in the
interest of the native race, but their own, and the
two interests are sure to clash in the long-run.
It requires great patience and forbearance to
educate natives up to a rule of justice and righteous
laws ; but that it may be done, and carry the
co-operation of the people themselves, is evident
at Sarawak, where the Malays and Dyaks are
associated in the Government, and have always
stood by their English rajah, even when it was
necessary to punish or exile some of their own
chiefs. I am aware that an English colony cannot
be governed in this way ; nevertheless, the spectacle
of wild natives, rising by the influence of a few
good Englishmen from lawless misrule to a settled
government, where vice is punished without partial-
ity, is very beautiful to philanthropists, and makes
one think better of human nature and its capabilities.
I wish I could portray the hilly and thorny road
by which this has been attained ! It would, me-
INTRODUCTORY. 1 1
thinks, create a new interest in Sarawak, if the past
and the present could be fairly set before the
discerning world ; we should again hear of mis-
sionaries longing to help in the improvement of
people who have shown themselves so open to good
influences. I have said that I would not touch
upon politics, but Church and State are so naturally
bound together in the task of civilization, that it
is difficult to relate the history of the mission
without mentioning the Government. Of course
they do not stand in the same relation to one
another in a Mahometan country, where the English
Church is but a tolerated sect, as they do in a
' Christian land ; still the Christian Church strengthens
the Christian ruler, and he in his turn protects the
Church by good government, although he may
not favour it except by individual preference.
For my own part, I have always thought it an
advantage to our Dyak Christians that no favour
was shown them on account of their faith ; at any
rate, it wras for no worldly interest that they became
Christians.
Although our life in Sarawak extended over
a period of twenty years, it might naturally be
divided into three parts — of six, five, and six years
respectively, the intervals being spent in visits to
England. These visits, although absolutely neces-
sary, were a drawback to the mission work. When
the head of a family is absent, the responsibility is
apt to fall upon the younger members, and is some-
times too much for them. However, they always
12 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
did their best, and always welcomed us home most
warmly. It was a joyful sight, on our return, to
find the missionaries and school-children waiting
for us at the wharf below our houses, the children's
dear little faces glad with smiles, and a warm
welcome for any baby we brought home. The
second time, it was our daughter Mab ; and in 1862,
our last baby, Mildred, — Mab, Edith, and Herbert
being left in England, for no English child can
thrive in that unchangeable climate after it is six
years old.
The first chapters of this little book will describe
the first six years of our stay at Sarawak ; but, in
speaking of subjects of interest, I shall not stop
short at the end of those years, but carry on the
subject to the end of our Sarawak experience.
It is perhaps necessary to say this to prevent
confusion.
CHAPTER II.
THE COURT-HOUSE.
WHILE Sir James Brooke was in England, in 1847,
he asked his friends to help him in his efforts to
civilize the Dyaks, by sending a mission to live at
Sarawak.
Lord Ellesmere, Admiral Sir H. Keppel, Admiral
C. D. Bethune, Canon Ryle Wood, and the Rev.
C. Brereton, formed themselves into a committee,
with the Rev. I. F. Stocks for their honorary
secretary, and soon collected funds for the purpose.
The Rev. F. McDougall was chosen as the head
of the mission, and with him k were associated the
Rev. S. Montgomery and the Rev. W. Wright ;
but Mr. Montgomery died very suddenly, of fever
caught when ministering to the poor of his parish,
before the time came for us to embark, so the
party was reduced to two clergymen and their
wives, two babies and two nurses. We sailed
from London in the barque Mary Louisa, four
hund/ed tons, the end of December ; Mr. Parr,
14 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
a nephew of Mrs. Wright's, being also one of the
passengers. I had all my life loved the sea, and
longed to take such a voyage as should carry us
out of sight of land, and give us all the experiences
which wait on those " who go down to the sea in
ships;" but I little thought how we should all
long for land before we saw it again.
The barque was a poor sailer ; we thought it a
good run if she made eight knots an hour, so no
wonder we did not reach Singapore till May 23,
1848. It was a long monotonous voyage, but we
were well occupied, and I do not remember ever
finding it dull. The sea was all I ever fancied by
way of a companion, and, like all one's best friends,
made me happy or unhappy, but was never stupid.
Then we had to learn Malay and its Arabic cha-
racters, with the help of Marsden's grammar and
dictionary, and the Bible translated into that
language by the Dutch. We lived by rule, appor-
tioning the hours to certain duties, and every one
knows how fast time passes under those conditions.
The two clergymen busied themselves with teach-
ing the sailors, and several of them presented them-
selves at Holy Communion in consequence, the last
Sunday before we landed. The most trying time
we passed was on the coast of Java, becalmed
under a broiling sun, the very sea dead and slimy
with all sorts of creatures creeping over it. As for
ourselves, we were gasping with thirst, for we had
already been on short rations of water for six
weeks, one of the tanks having leaked out. One
THE COURT-HOUSE.
quart of water a day for each adult, and none for
the babies, so of course they had the lion's share
of their parents' allowance. Our one cup of tea in
the evening was looked forward to for hours ; and
what a wonderful colour it was, after all ! — but that
was the iron of the tank.
On the 23rd of May we landed at Singapore, and
had to wait there for four weeks before the schooner
Julia, then running between that place and Sa-
rawak, came to fetch us. We reached Sarawak
June 2Qth, entering the Morotabas mouth of the
river, which is twenty-four miles from the town of
Kuching, whither we were bound. The sail up the
river, our first sight of the country and the people,
was indeed exciting, and filled us with delight.
The river winds continually, and every new reach
had its interest : a village of palm-leaf houses built
close to the water, women and children standing on
the steps with their long bamboo jars, or peeping
out of the slits of windows at the schooner ; boats
of all sizes near the houses, fishing-nets hanging up
to dry, wicked alligators lying basking on the mud ;
trees of many varieties — the nibong palm which
furnishes the posts of the houses, the nipa which
makes their mat walls, and close by the water the
light and graceful mangroves, which at night are all
alive and glittering with fire-flies. On the boughs
of some larger trees hanging over the stream
parties of monkeys might be seen eating the fruits,
chattering, jumping, flying almost, from bough to
bough. We afterwards made nearer acquaintance
with these droll creatures.
1 6 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
At last we reached the Fort, a long white build-
ing manned by Malays, and with cannon showing
at the port-holes. The Julia was not challenged,
however, but gladly welcomed, as she carried not
only the missionaries but the mail, and stores for
the bazaar ; for at that time there were not many
native trading-vessels — the fear of pirates was
great, and there was good reason to fear!
The town of Kuching consisted in those days of
a Chinese bazaar and a Kling bazaar, both very
small, and where it was scarcely possible to find
anything an English man or woman could buy.
Beyond was the court of justice, the mosques, and
a few native houses. Higher up the river lay the
Malay town, divided into Kampongs, or clusters of
houses belonging to the different chiefs or principal
merchants of the place. Opposite the bazaar, on
the other side of the river, stood the rajah's
bungalow, as well as two or three others belonging
to Europeans, embosomed in trees, cocoa-nuts and
betel-nut palms, and other fruit-trees. Behiud the
rajah's house rose the beautiful mountain of Santu-
bong, wooded to its summit nearly 3000 feet, with
a rock cropping out here and there. At this bunga-
low we landed, and were hospitably entertained for
a few days until the upper part of the court-house
could be made ready for our party.
Shall I ever forget my first impressions of the
rajah's bungalow? A peculiar scent pervaded it
You looked about for the cause till your eyes fell
on two saucers, one filled with green blossoms, the
THE COURT-HOUSE. 17
other with deep golden ones, much the same shape
— the kenanga and the chimpaka, flowering trees,
which grew near the house. Their flowers were
picked every day for the rooms, as the rajah loved
the scent, and so did the Malays. The ladies steeped
the blossoms in cocoa-nut oil and anointed them-
selves, placing them also in their long black hair,
with wreaths of jessamine flowers threaded on a
string. These perfumes were rather overpowering
at first, but I learnt to like them after I had been
some time in Sarawak. The large, bare, cool rooms
were very refreshing after the little cabins of the
Julia. And then the library ! a treasure indeed in
the jungle ; books on all sorts of subjects, bound in
enticing covers, always inviting you to bodily repose
and mental activity or amusement, as you might
prefer. This library, so dear to us all because we
were all allowed to share it, was burnt in 1857 by
the Chinese rebels. It took two days to burn.
I watched it from our library over the water, and
saw the mass of books glowing dull red like
a furnace, long after the flames had consumed the
wooden house. It made one's heart ache to see it.
An old gentleman of our English society watched
it too, and I wondered why his head shook con-
tinually as he sat with his eyes fixed on those sad
ruins ; but I found afterwards that the sight, and
doubtless its cause, had palsied him from that day.
But I must not linger too long in the rajah's
bungalow, though the white pigeons seem to call
to me from the verandahs ; we must take boat
IS SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
again (for there are no bridges over the Sarawak
river), and cross to the court-house.
This square wooden house, with latticed veran-
dahs like a big cage, was built by a German
missionary, who purposed having a school on the
ground floor and living in the upper story ; but as
soon as he had built his house he was recalled to
Germany, and the only trace of him that remained
was a box full of torn Bibles and tracts, which, I am
sorry to say, had been used as waste paper in the
bazaar for tying up parcels since he left, but as the
tracts were not in any language the people could
understand they were scarcely to blame. Rajah
turned the house into a court of justice, and we
settled ourselves in the upper rooms, which were
divided from one another by mat walls. The river
flowed under this house at spring tides, and then
nests of ants would swarm into it : the rapidity with
which these little creatures would carry all their
eggs up the posts and settle the whole family under
a box in your bedroom was marvellous ; but as
they were not pleasant companions there, a kettle
of hot water had to put an end to the colony.
These little black ants did not sting, but there
was a large red ant, half an inch long, who was
most pugnacious ; he stood up on his hind legs
and fought you with amazing courage, and his jaws
were formidable. We made our first acquaintance
with white ants while we lived in the court-house.
On unpacking a box of books, which had been our
solace during the voyage, we found them almost
THE COURT-HOUSE.
glued together by the secretion of these creatures.
The box had been standing on the ground floor of
the hotel. The white ants had eaten through and
through the books, and picked all the surface off
the bindings ; they were disgusting to look at and
to smell. Some years afterwards, one of our mis-
sionaries had a box of clothes sent her from Singa-
pore. It \vas necessary clothing, for she had lost
her effects, like the rest of us, during the Chinese
rebellion. I warned Miss Coomes that she must
unpack the box directly, on account of the white
ants ; but she put it off till the next day, and at
night these wretches ate through the bottom of
the box, and munched up the new linen and
stockings. We soon learnt to guard against their
attacks by using no wood except balean, or iron-
wood, which is too hard for them to bite. English
oak seemed like a slice of cake to white ants.
No sooner were we settled at the court-house,
than we had visits from all the principal Malays,
and also some Dyaks who happened to be at
Sarawak. My husband opened a dispensary in a
little room behind the store-room, and had plenty
of patients. I used to hear continual talking and
laughing going on there, and by this means Mr.
McDougall learnt to talk the Malay language,
which he only knew from books when he first
arrived. The pure Malay of books is very different
from the colloquial patois of Kuching. To my
sorrow, I learnt this some time after, when I was
trying to prepare two women for baptism : they
20 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
listened to me for some time, and then one said to
the other, " She talks like a book," which I fear
meant that they only half understood me.
Soon after this we took four little half-caste
children to bring up. They were running about in
the bazaar, and their native mothers were willing
to part with them; so Mary, Julia, Peter, and
Tommy were housed in a cottage close by, under
the care of a Portuguese Christian woman, the wife
of our cook. Every day I used to spend some
hours with them, that we might become friends.
The eldest of these children was only six years
old, Tommy, the youngest, but two and a half ;
so they wanted a nurse. They were baptized on
Advent Sunday, 1848, and were the beginning of
our native school.
CHAPTER III.
COLLEGE HILL.
WE stayed at the court-house a whole year, while
our house on the hill was being prepared. The
hill, and the ground beyond it, about forty acres in
all, was given to the mission by Sir James Brooke.
It was then some way out of the town, but as the
Chinese population increased, the town grew quite
to the foot of the hill — College Hill, as it was then
called — and a blacksmith's quarter even invaded
the mission land. At first, in order to cultivate the
property, nutmegs and spice-trees were planted,
but the soil was not good enough for them ; when
their roots pierced through the pit of earth in which
they were planted, and reached the stiff clay of the
hill, they died off. It was necessary to do some-
thing to keep the land clear of the coarse lalang
grass, which grew wherever the jungle was cut
down. So after a while a herd of cattle was
collected, and they improved the poverty of the
land, at the same time furnishing milk and a
22 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
little butter. I say a little, because even when seven
cows were in milk, as they only gave two quarts a
day each, and there were always plenty of children
in and out of the mission to consume it, but little
was left for butter-making. Cocoa-nut trees were
planted in the low ground, and some few grew up ;
but wild pigs were great enemies to them, for they
liked to eat the cabbage out of the heart of the
young tree, which of course killed it. In that
seething warmth of Sarawak you could almost see
plants grow. If you scattered seeds in the ground,
they sprouted above it on the third day. I planted
some of those little coral-looking seeds which are
to be found in every box of Indian shells, the seed
of the satin-wood, and they grew up into beautiful
forest trees in twelve years' time. We used to make
long strings of these coral seeds, and use them in
Christmas decorations.
By degrees we had a very bright garden about
the house. The Gardenia, with its strongly scented
blossom and evergreen leaves, made a capital
hedge. Great bushes of the Hybiscus, scarlet and
buff, glowed in the sun — they were called shoe-
flowers, for they were used instead of blacking to
polish our shoes. The pink one-hundred-leaved
rose grew freely, and blossomed all the year round.
Shrubs of the golden Allamander were a great temp-
tation to the cows, if they strayed into the garden.
The Plumbago was one of the few pale-blue flowers
which liked that blazing heat. Then we had a
great variety of creepers — jessamine of many sorts,
COLLEGE HILL. 23
the scarlet Ipomea, the blue Clitorea, and passion-
flowers, from the huge Grenadilla with its excellent
fruit, to the little white one set in a calyx of moss.
The Moon-flower, a large white convolvulus, tight-
shut ail day, unfolded itself at six o'clock, and
looked lovely in the flower-vases in the evening.
The Jessamine and !Pergolaria odorotissima climbed
up the porch, and in the forks of the trees opposite
I had air-plants fastened, which flowered every
three months, and looked like a flight of white
butterflies on the wing. The great mountain of
Matang stood in the distance, and when the sun
sank behind it, which it always did in that inva-
riable latitude about six o'clock, I sat --in the porch
to watch the glory of earth and sky. How dear a
mountain becomes to you, is only known to those
who live in hilly countries. One gets to think of it
as a friend. It seems to carry a protest against the
little frets of life, and, by its strength and invari-
ableness, to be a visible image of Him who is "the
same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." But I am
running on too fast with the garden before the
house is built.
The hill was first cleared ef jungle, and flattened
at the top, then the foundation was dug, and great
sleepers were laid ready for the upright posts. A
wooden house is joiner's work, and rather resembles
a great bedstead. All the wood is first squared and
cut, which takes a long time, because the balean-
wood is extremely hard, and consumes a great deal
of labour ; but once ready, the house rises from the
r l SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
earth like magic, for every beam and post fits into
its place.
We had brought a great box of carpenter's tools
with us from England, among them valuable
moulding-planes ; we wished the carpenters to
learn, in building the house, how to make the
arches and ornamental mouldings for the church.
Happily for us, when the Mary Louisa was
wrecked in the straits on her way home, the crew
were all saved, and the ship-carpenter came over to
Sarawak to see if my husband would employ him.
As he was a capital joiner, he was set over a gang
of workmen at once. All the plans for the house
and church were made by Frank (my husband),
and I was set to draw patterns of the doors and
windows, the verandah railings, and the porch.
Stahl was an intelligent German workman, and
soon learnt Malay enough to direct the men. The
Malays levelled the hill and dug the foundations ;
the Chinese were employed as carpenters, but they,
too, could speak Malay. I remember making great
friends with one of them, Johnny Jangot, John of
the Beard, so called on account of a few long hairs
at the tip of his chin, for the Chinese are a beard-
less race. Johnny used to eat his breakfast in the
court-house to save himself trouble. What a set-
out it was ! Rice, of course ; then three or four little
basins with different messes — duck, fish, chicken,
and plenty of soy-sauce; more basins with vegetables,
all eaten with the help of chop-sticks ; and a teapot
snugly covered with a cosy. I asked one day to
COLLEGE HILL. 25
taste the tea, and Johnny poured me out a tiny
cup of hot, sweet, spirits and water ! Samchoo is a
spirit made from rice, and very strong, as our poor
English sailors used to find to their cost when her
Majesty's ships paid us a visit. The Chinese said
that the English drank the samchoo cold and raw,
and therefore it poisoned them, whereas they always
qualified it with hot water. It did not taste strong,
which made it all the more pernicious. Johnny
drank real tea all day long, and smoked a good
deal of tobacco — it seemed to me he did very little
else ; but he was not a bad workman, though of
course it was not such a day's work as an English-
man can do.
In the East you must accept the customs of the
country, and be content with the people : they are
not given to change. Stahl made some wheel-
barrows for the men to use instead of little baskets
in which they carried earth, and which held nothing.
But it was no use ; they laughed at the wheel-
barrows, and said " Eh yaw ! " but went on with
the baskets.
Every evening we used to walk up the hill to
see how the building was getting on, all the
children with us ; then, as we sat on the timber,
I used to draw the letters of the alphabet on the
white sand, and the little ones learnt them. We
went home through a piece of ground we called
our garden. In it grew plenty of pine-apples and
sugar-cane, and the gardener always supplied us
with pieces of the latter to eat — very refreshing and
2r> SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
nice, but the juice ran all over your hands. As
for pine-apples, we soon got tired of them ; but
they made good tarts, and, mixed with plantains
and lime-juice, a very pleasant and useful jam.
In clearing the hill our workmen disturbed the
haunts of many snakes. We were a good deal
visited by cobras for some years. The natives
said that the Adam and Eve of all the cobras
lived in a cave under our hill.
One day we were having asphalte laid down in
the printing-room, to keep away white ants. The
room had been emptied to do this, and Stahl went
in to inspect the work after the men had gone to
their breakfast at eleven o'clock. He saw a large
cobra at the end of the room, and hit it with a
stick he had in his hand ; but the stick broke in
two, and the cobra reared itself up with inflated
hood. Another minute must have seen Stahl a prey
to the monster ; but the Bishop, passing by, heard
him exclaim when the stick broke, and going
quickly in saw Stahl standing, white, fascinated,
and motionless, before the cobra. Happily he had
a stout walking-stick, and at once felled the reptile ;
but he took a good deal of killing. It was ten
feet long.
This was Adam.
Eve was killed under the verandah of the house
almost a year afterwards. She was eight feet
long.
One night the Bishop had been reading the
Rev. F. Robertson's sermon about St. Paul and
COLLEGE HILL. 2J
the viper. It was late, and being rather sleepy he
carried the book in one hand and a candle in the
other into his dressing-room, and was just going to
set the candle down, when his eye fell on a cobra,
coiled up on the chair on which he was about to seat
himself. No stick was at hand, but he smote the
snake with the book. Struck in the right place,
they are not difficult to kill. So " St. Paul and the
Viper " put an end to the cobra. That the bite of
this snake is not, however, certain death we had a
curious instance.
One of our servants, a very strict Mahometan,
believed himself charmed against poisonous reptiles,
and used to bring me centipedes and' scorpions in
his hands, saying they never hurt him. He left
our service and was employed by the Borneo
Company, about half a mile from our house. One
day, while cutting rattans in a shed, a cobra bit his
thumb. He thought nothing of it, but, putting away
his work as usual, went home, cooked his rice and
ate his supper. By this time, however, his arm
began to swell and his head to swim. Instead of
going to the doctor, who then lived close by, he
must needs go to the Bishop to cure him ; so just as
we were sitting down to dinner, about seven o'clock,
he reeled into the house. The Bishop cauterized the
wound, although it seemed too late to be any use ;
he was getting cold and faint. However, by dint
of being walked up and down between two men,
and having two whole bottles of brandy adminis-
tered to him, a glass at a time, besides sal volatile,
28 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
chloroform, and every stimulant we had, he got
through the night. The Bishop sat up with him
all night, and I could hear him, when at last I went
to bed, calling out at intervals, "Oh, Allah ! Oh,
Lord Bishop ! " — so terrible was the pain he suffered
in his arm. His wife, who was my baby's ayah,
appeared in the morning. "Come," said she,
*' make no more noise, keeping everybody awake,
but take up your bed (mat) and let us go home."
I Ic meekly obeyed ; but, poor man, he had abscesses
under his arm, and fell into weak health afterwards ;
so it is evidently unwise to despise a cobra.
There were many other snakes besides cobras,
some poisonous, but most of them harmless.
The Marquis Doria and Signer Becarri, two dis-
tinguished naturalists, who lived for some months
at Sarawak, collecting bird-skins, insects, and plants,
told me that the natives often represented a snake
to be poisonous which was not so. However, we
had the mata hari, sun-snake, black and coral
colour, and a metallic green flat-headed creature,
Fortrex trigonocephalus, which were venomous
enough. I once had a little flower-snake for a pet.
It was beautifully marked with green and lilac,
and used to catch flies climbing about the room ;
but one day it mounted to the top of a high door,
the wind blew the door to, and my pretty snake
was thrown to the ground and broke its back.
The boa-constrictor — sawar, as the Malays
called it — lived in the jungle and rice-swamps.
Sometimes it attained an enormous size. An
COLLEGE HILL 29
Englishman told me that he and some Malays
were exploring the jungle to find traces of anti-
mony ore, and came to an opening in the wood,
across which they saw the body of a savvar as thick
as his own — he was not very stout — moving along ;
but they never saw either the head or tail of that
snake, for, after watching its progress for a long
time, they were seized with a panic at its enormous
length, and fled.
A Malay whom we knew very well, Abong
Hassan by name, and a mighty hunter, told us
that once, when he was seeking deer in the forest,
towards evening he sat down to rest, and cook his
rice, on what he thought was a great fallen tree.
While thus occupied, he felt his seat moving from
under him, and, starting up, found he had been
making use of a huge sawar lying inert and dis-
tended with food. He killed it, and found a full-
grown deer in its stomach. These snakes must
live to a great age, and grow always, to attain such
a size.
Some people kept a small boa in their house to
kill rats, but we found they were equally fond of
chickens, and therefore not desirable inmates ; for
at Sarawak chickens were the principal animal food
to be had, and it was necessary to keep a stock
of them.
After some years we built up the lower story of
the mission-house with bricks, to make it more
substantial and cooler. The ground floor was at
first wholly occupied with the school, the dormi-
30 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
tory on one side, the matron's and girls' room on
the other, and a large schoolroom through the
centre of the house. A similar room over it was
our dining-room, and was used for divine service
until the church was finished. The library and
our bedroom were over the boys' dormitory, and
bedrooms for missionaries on the other side. There
were also three rooms in the roof, which made good
bedrooms, but were too hot for use in the daytime.
The roof was covered with shingles of balean-wood,
which only grows harder and darker coloured from
rain and use. They were blown off sometimes in
the storms to which we were subject, but were other-
wise more lasting than any other kind of roofing.
We used to call this house Noah's Ark, from the
variety of its occupants. A bell hung in the porch
roof, and rung at different hours to call the work-
men and regulate the school. The people in the
town got so used to it that, when we discontinued
it for a time, they sent a petition that it might
begin again, for without it they never knew what
o'clock it was. When the school outgrew this
house we built another for the boys, their master,
and the matron, close by ; but I always kept the
girls with us until Julia married, when they were
sent to the Quop, in charge of the missionary's
wife there.
Long before we left the court-house, Mr. and
Mrs. Wright decided to give up the Sarawak
mission, and went to Singapore, where Mr. Wright
became master to the Raffles Institution for the
COLLEGE HILL.
education of boys. We were therefore quite alone
until February, 1851, when the Bishop of Calcutta
paid us a visit to consecrate the church, and
brought with him Mr. Fox from Bishop's College,
to be catechist, with a view to his future ordination.
Very soon after him came the Rev. Walter Cham-
bers from England, and about the same time Mi.
Nicholls also arrived from Bishop's College ; but, as
he only wished to stay for two years in the country,
he had scarcely time to learn the language before
he returned to Calcutta.
CHAPTER IV.
PIRATES.
WHEN we first lived at Sarawak, the coasts and the
the seas from Singapore to China were infested
with pirates. " It is in the Malay's nature," says a
Dutch writer, " to rove the seas in his prahu, as it
is in the Arab to wander with his steed on the
sands of the desert." Before the English and
Dutch Governments exerted themselves to put down
piracy in the Eastern seas, there were communities
of these Malays settled in various parts of the coast
of Borneo, who made it the business of their lives
to rob and destroy all the vessels they could meet
with, either killing the crews or reducing them to
slavery. For this purpose they went out in fleets
of from ten to thirty war-boats or prahus. These
boats were about ninety feet long ; they carried a
large gun in the bow and three or four lelahs, small
brass guns, in each broadside, besides twenty or
thirty muskets. Each prahu was rowed by sixty
or eighty oars in two tiers, and carried from
PIRATES. 33
eighty to a hundred men. Over the rowers, and
extending the whole length of the vessel, was a
light flat roof, made of split bamboo, and covered
with mats. This protected the ammunition and
provisions from rain, and served as a platform on
which they mounted to fight, from which they fired
their muskets and hurled their spears. These
formidable boats skulked about in the sheltered
bays of the coast, at the season of the year when
they knew that merchant-vessels would be passing
with rich cargoes for the ports of Singapore, Penang,
or to and from China. A scout-boat, with but
few men in it, which would not excite suspicion,
went out to spy for sails. They did not generally
attack large or armed ships, although many a good-
sized Dutch or English craft, which had been
becalmed or enticed by them into dangerous or
shallow water, was overpowered by their numbers.
But it was usually the small unarmed vessels they
fell upon, with fearful yells, binding those they did
not kill, and burning the vessel after robbing it, to
avoid detection. While the south-west monsoon
lasted, the pirates lurked about in uninhabited
creeks and bays until the trading season was over.
But when the north-east monsoon set in, they
returned to their settlements, often rich in booty,
and with blood on their hands, only to rejoice over
the past, and prepare for next year's expedition.
There are still some nests of pirates in the north of
Borneo, although of late the Spaniards have done
much to exterminate them. But when Sir James
D
34 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
Brooke first visited Sarawak, the nobles there, and
their sultan at Bruni, used to permit, nay, encourage,
piratical raids against their own subjects at a little
distance, provided they shared in the profits of
the expedition, thus impoverishing the country
they ruled, and putting a stop to all native trade
— a short-sighted and wicked policy. It took a
good many years of stern resistance on Sir James
Brooke's part before the Bruni nobles could be
cured of their connivance of pirates, whether Malay
or Dyak.
The Dyaks of Sarebas and Sakarran, a brave
and noble people, were taught piracy by the
Malays who dwelt among them. These Dyaks
were always head-hunters, and used to pull the
oars in the Malay prahus for the sake of the heads
of the slain, which they alone cared for. But, in
course of time, the Dyaks became expert seamen.
They built boats which they called bangkongs,
and went out with the Malays, devastating the
coast and killing Malays, Chinese, Dyaks, whoever
they met with. The Dyak bangkong draws very
little water, and is both lighter and faster than the
Malay prahu ; it is a hundred feet long, and nine
or ten broad. Sixty or eighty men with paddles
make her skim through the water as swiftly as
a London race-boat. She moves without noise,
and surprises her victims with showers of spears
at dead of night ; neither can any vessel, except
a steamer, catch a Dyak bangkong, if the crew
deem it necessary to fly. These boats can be easily
PIRATES. 35
taken to pieces ; for the planks, which extend the
whole length of the boat, are not fastened with
nails, but lashed together with rattans, and calked
with bark, which swells when wet ; so that, if they
wish to hide their retreat into the jungle, they can
quickly unlace their boats, carry them on their
shoulders into the woods, and put them together
again when they want them. When we first lived
at Sarawak no merchant-boat dared go out of the
river alone and unarmed. We were constantly
shocked with dreadful accounts of villages on the
coast, or boats at the entrance, being surprised,
and men, women, and children barbarously mur-
dered by these wretches. I remember once a boat
being found with only three fingers of a man in it,
and a bloody mark at the side, where the heads of
those in the boat had been cut off. Sometimes
the pirates would wait until they knew the men
of a village were away at their paddy farms, then
they would fall suddenly upon the defenceless old
men, women, and children, kill some, make slaves
of the young ones, and rob the houses.
Sometimes, having destroyed a village and its
inhabitants, they would dress themselves in the
clothes of the slain, and, proceeding to another
place, would call out to the women, " The Sarebas
are coming, but, if you bring down your valuables
to us, we will defend you and your property."
And many fell into the snare, and were carried off.
If they attacked a house when the men were at
home, it was by night. They pulled stealthily up
36 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
the river in their boats, and landing under cover
of their shields, crept under the long house where
many families lived together. These houses stand
on high poles. The pirates then set fire to dry
wood and a quantity of chillies which they carried
with them for the purpose. This made a suffocating
smoke, which hindered the inmates from coming
out to defend themselves. Then they cut down
the posts of the house, which fell, with all it con-
tained, into their ruthless hands.
In the year 1849, the atrocities of the piratical
Dyaks were so frequent, that the rajah applied to
the English Admiral in the straits for some men-
of-war to assist him in destroying them. Remon-
strances and threats had been tried again and
again. The pirates would always promise good
behaviour for the future to avert a present danger ;
but they never kept these promises when an oppor-
tunity offered for breaking them with impunity.
In consequence of Sir James Brooke's application,
H.M.S. Albatross, commanded by Captain Farqu-
har ; H.M.'s sloop Royalist, commander, Lieutenant
Everest ; and H.E.I.C.'s steamer Nemesis, com-
mander, Captain Wallage, were sent by Admiral
Collyer to Sarawak. Then the rajah had all his
war-boats got ready to join the English force.
There was the Lion King, the Royal Eagle, the
Tiger, the Big Snake, the Little Snake, the Frog,
the Alligator, and many others belonging to the
Datus, who, on occasions like these, are bound to
call on their servants, and a certain number of able-
PIRATES. 37
bodied men living in their kampongs, to man and
fight in their boats. This is their service to the
.Government. The rajah supplies the whole force
with rice for the expedition, and a certain number
of muskets. The English ships were left, the
Albatross at Sarawak, and the Royalist to guard
the entrance of the Batang Lupar River, into which
the Sakarran and Sarebas Rivers debouche; but their
boats, and nearly all the officers, accompanied the
fleet, and the steamer Nemesis went also. On the
24th of July they left us, as many as eighteen
Malay prahus, manned by from twenty to seventy
men in each, and decorated with flags and streamers
innumerable, of the brightest colours, — the Sarawak
flag, a red and black cross on a yellow ground,
always at the stern. For the Tiger I made a flag,
as it was Mr. Brereton's boat, with a tiger's head
painted on it, looking wonderfully ferocious. It
was an exciting time, with gongs and drums, Malay
yells and English hurrahs ; and our tervent prayers
for their safety and success accompanied them that
night, as they dropped down the river in gay pro-
cession. They were afterwards joined by bang-
kongs of friendly Dyaks, three hundred men from
Lundu, eight hundred from Linga, some from
Samarahan, Sadong, and various places which had
suffered from the pirates, and were anxious to
assist in giving them a lesson. We heard nothing
of the fleet until the 2nd of August, when I received
a little note from the rajah, written in pencil, on
a scrap of paper, on the night of the 3ist of July,
38 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
and giving an account of how they fell in with a
great balla (war fleet) of Sarebas and Sakarran
pirates, consisting of one hundred and fifty bang-
kongs, returning to their homes with plunder and
captives in their boats. The pirates found all the
entrances of the river occupied by their enemies,
the English, Malay, and Dyak forces being placed
in three detachments, and the Nemesis all ready
to help whenever the attack began. The Lion
King sent up a rocket when she espied the pirate
fleet, to apprise the rest. Then there was a dead
silence, broken only by three strokes of a gong,
which called the pirates to a council of war. A
few minutes afterwards a fearful yell gave notice
of their advance, and the fleet approached in two
divisions. But when they sighted the steamer they
became aware of the odds against them, and again
called a council by beat of gong. After another
pause, a second yell of defiance showed they had
decided on giving battle. Then, in the dead of
the night, ensued a fearful scene. The pirates
fought bravely, but could not withstand the superior
forces of their enemies. Their boats were upset
by the paddles of the steamer ; they were hemmed
in on every side, and five hundred men were killed,
sword in hand ; while two thousand five hundred
escaped to the jungle. The boats were broken
to pieces, or deserted on the beach by their
crews ; and the morning light showed a sad spec-
tacle of ruin and defeat. Upwards of eighty
prnhus and bangkongs were captured, many from
PIRATES. 39
sixty to eighty feet long, with nine or ten feet
beam.
The English officers on that night offered prizes
to all who should bring in captives alive : but the
pirates would take no quarter ; in the water they
still fought without surrender, for they could not
understand a mercy they never accorded to their
enemies. Consequently the prisoners were very
few, and the darkness of the night favoured escape.
The peninsula to which they fled could easily
have been so surrounded by the Dyak and Malay
forces that not one man of that pirate fleet could
have left it alive. This blockade the Malays en-
treated the rajah to make ; but he refused, saying
that he hoped they had already received a sufficient
lesson, and would return to their homes humbled
and corrected. He therefore ordered his fleet to
proceed up the river, and the pirates went back
to Sarebas and Sakarran. This severe punishment
cured the Dyaks of those rivers once and for all
of piracy, and was the greatest blessing which could
have been conferred on those fine tribes. They
allowed forts to be built on their rivers, and sub-
mitted to English residents, who ruled them with
the counsel of their own chiefs. In 1857, when
the Chinese rebelled and burnt the town of Kuching,
these Dyaks sent their warriors to assist the
Sarawak Government ; in doing so they joined
other tribes whose hereditary enemies they had
been for many generations. Some of us felt
anxious when we saw the fleet of Sakarrans and
4O SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
Balows lying side by side at the Linga Fort ; but
they all kept their good faith, and in fighting a
common -enemy became friends for evermore.
In 1852 Sir James Brooke placed Mr. Brereton
in a fort at Sakarran, built at the entrance of the
river. He threw himself heartily into the work of
improving the people, and gained a good influence
over many. One of the most important chiefs,
Gassim, attached himself to him, and even gave
up the practice of head-taking to please him.
There were certain paddy farms in the country
which by ancient custom could only be cultivated
by heroes who had taken many heads. One of
Gassim's people, however, who had never taken a
single head, presumed to clear and plant some
of this ground ; whereupon the other chiefs com-
plained, and one sent a message to Gassim, that
if he did not put a stop to this breach of law, he
would fight him. Gassim answered that he was
ready to fight with swords if necessary, but first
he begged a conference with all the other chiefs to
discuss the matter. To this they agreed, and by
the force of his eloquence and the justice of his
cause, Gassim proved to them that the old custom
was bad and ought to be repealed. About that
time Brereton brought Gassim and a number of his
people to visit Kuching, and the chief breakfasted
with us. When all the school-children came in to
prayers— for the church was not yet finished — and
Gassim heard them repeat the responses and say
the Lord's Prayer, he was delighted, and said
PIRATES. 41
that he and his people would also like to be
Christians.
We used to like the Sakarrans much better than
their neighbours, the Sarebas, in those days. They
were fine, tall, handsome men, with straight noses
and pleasant manners. The Sarebas were coarser-
looking people, who disfigured themselves by wear-
ing brass rings all along the lobes of their ears : the
one at the bottom was as large as a curtain-ring
in circumference, though of slender make ; it lay
on the chest, and by its weight dragged a great
hole in the ear. These rings were inserted when
the children were quite young, and pulled their
little faces out of shape, giving an uncomfortable
expression. Sarawak Malays always said, " A
Sakarran Dyak may be trusted, but a Sarebas is
deceitful." It is a curious fact, however, that the
Sakarrans, with all their fair words and sleek
prepossessing looks, did not embrace the gospel
as the Sarebas did. The Rev. Walter Chambers
lived at Sakarran for some time, but gathered no
converts. He then settled himself among the
Balows of the Batang Lupar and Linga, and when
there was a community of Christians from these
rivers, at Banting, where Mr. Chambers had built
his church and house, a Sarebas chief, Buda by
name, the son of a notorious old pirate, happened
to meet some of these Christian Dyaks, and came
himself to be taught. He brought his wife, sister,
and child. They walked upwards of eighty miles,
partly through the mud of the sea-shore, carrying:
42 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
ihcir mats and cooking-pots with them, and estab-
lished themselves in the mission-house, where they
were kindly welcomed, and stayed six weeks, during
which time they were so diligent that they learnt to
read and made some progress in writing. This was
in the rainy season, when all farming operations are
in abeyance. The next year they returned at the
same time, but, meanwhile, they had not been idle,
but had taught all they knew to their countrymen.
Shortly afterwards Buda was made a catechist,
and he excited so much interest, that in 1867 Mr
Chambers baptized one hundred and eighty of these
people, who were once the most dangerous enemies
of the English and the most notorious pirates of
Borneo. Then Buda proceeded to the village of
Seruai, and Mr. Chambers had soon to visit there,
for the people were so earnest they would scarcely
let him sleep, nor seemed to require any sleep
themselves, but day and night learnt the hymns
and catechism, which they must know by heart
to be baptized. Nearly two hundred were baptized
on the Kryan River. A catechist had been placed
there, called Belabut. He married Buda's sister, who
walked to Banting for instruction. She had much
influence over the women of the tribe, and Mr.
Chambers said it was delightful to hear her read
" her beloved gospel " with the correct pronuncia-
tion of an English lady.
The Christians of the Kryan did not keep the
good news to themselves, but proceeded to teach
the next village of Sinambo. In these villages
PIRATES. 43
there are now school-chapels, built by the Dyaks
themselves. In 1873, Mr. Chambers, who was then
bishop, wrote : ," These Sea Dyaks have made the
greatest advances in civilization and Christianity.
Looking back even five years, there is a great differ-
ence. They have abandoned superstitious habits."
" They no longer listen to the voices of birds to tell
them when to sow their seeds, undertake a journey,
or build a house ; they never consult a manang * in
sickness or difficulty ; above all, they set no store
by the blackened skulls which used to hang from
their roofs, but which they have either buried or
given away to any people from a distance who
cared for them, assuring them at the same time
that they ' were no use.' "
Thus we see what a just punishment and a
fostering Government, added to the sweet influences
of Christianity, have done for these people ; but
it took years of patience and faith to effect so great
a change. |
After the pirate fight of 1849, the evil disposed
and turbulent, both of the Sakarrans and Sarebas,
found a leader in Rentab, a Sarebas chief. He
braved the Government for years. In 1852 his war-
boats appeared above the Sakarran Fort, and the
two young Englishmen there, Mr. Brereton and
Mr. Lee, too confident in their strength, attacked
the boats with a small force. In this engagement
Mr. Lee was killed, and Mr. Brereton escaped with
difficulty. Several expeditions \vere taken into the
* Heathen doctor.
.J.J. SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
interior against Rentab ; but he was so clever, that
even when Captain Brooke battered his stronghold
to pieces by having guns dragged up the steep hill
on which his fort was built, Rentab managed to
escape, and was never taken. His followers, however,
fell away from him by degrees, and there are now
no pirates in those rivers.
CHAPTER V.
THE CHURCH AND THE SCHOOL.
As soon as we removed to College Hill, the
building of the church began. On the 28th August,
1850, a few days after the return of the expedition
against the pirates, the summit of a rising ground
about two hundred yards from the house having
been cleared and levelled, a large shed was built over
the ground, which the sailors of H.M.S. Albatross,
and our workmen, adorned with gay flags and green
boughs.
A little procession left our house, the rajah
walking first, dressed in full uniform as Governor of
Labuan, and Suboo, the Malay executioner, holding
a large yellow satin umbrella over his head, as is
the custom on all state occasions, for yellow is the
royal colour in Borneo ; then my husband, in surplice
and hood, the English residents, naval officers, and,
last, a crowd of Malays and Chinese followed, to
witness the ceremony of laying the first great block
of wood in the foundation of St. Thomas's Church.
46 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
After prayers had been read, the rajah lowered
the great sleeper into its place, and we all returned
home. From that day the church began to rise
out of the earth with the same seeming magic as
the house had done. It was entirely built of wood —
all the beams, rafters, and posts of the hard balean-
wood, and the roof covered with balean shingles,
like the house. The planking was a cedar-coloured
wood, and all the arches and mouldings were
finished like cabinet-work, so that it was both
handsome and durable. The ornamental pillars
were first made of polished nibong palms ; but in
a few years these had to be cut away, as they were
full of white ants, and hard wood substituted.
The building of this little church was most inter-
esting to us. When my husband was at Singapore
for a short time in 1849, he had the pulpit, reading-
desk, a carved wooden eagle, and the chairs made
there ; also a coloured glass east window was con-
trived, with the Sarawak flag for a centre light.
This pleased the Malays; indeed, they admired the
house and church immensely, and always assured
us that they knew we could not have built either,
unless inspired by good antoos (spirits).
The baptismal font was a huge clam-shell, large
enough to dip an infant in, if desired ; and this
natural font was adopted in all the churches after-
wards built at Dyak stations — at Lundu, at
Banting, Quop River.
The church bell was a difficult matter. Nothing
larger than a ship bell could be found in the straits.
THE CHURCH AND THE SCHOOL. 47
At last, a Javanese at Sarawak said he could cast
a bell large enough if he had the metal ; so Frank
bought a hundredweight of broken gongs — there is
a great deal of silver in gong metal — and with these
the bell was cast. Then an inscription had to be
put round the rim — " Gloria in excelsis Deo," in
large letters; and the date, Sir James Brooke's name
on one side, and F. T. McDougall on the other.
It was a great success, and was safe in the little
belfry before the church was consecrated, in
February, 1851. I do not know whether this bell
is now cracked, but it has worked very hard from
that day — two services every week-day, and four on
Sunday, to say nothing of extra occasions. Before
long, we found a gilder who could adorn the reredos.
There were seven compartments at the east end :
in the centre one was a gilt cross, and in the others,
the Lord's Prayer and the Creed, in English,
Malay, and Chinese. The gilder was a Chinese
catechumen, and was very anxious to do it well ;
but he knew nothing of English letters, so each
letter had to be cut in paper, and he traced it on
the wooden panel. It was necessary to watch him
narrowly, or he put the letters upside down ! Such
are the difficulties of making churches in the jungle.
All this took some time to complete. I had a very
severe illness in November, 1850; and when, about
Christmas, I was able to sit in the verandah, the
progress of the church was my great amusement,
for it was quite near enough to watch from the
house.
48 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
In August, 1850, a great influx of Chinese came
to Sarawak. There was a war at Sambas, the
principal Dutch settlement in Borneo, between the
Chinese, who were friendly to the Dutch, and who
were living at Pcrnankat, and the Montrado
Chinese, who, with the Dyaks of the country,
rebelled against the Dutch. The Montrados beat
the Pernankat Chinese, and they fled from the
place, carrying with them their wives and children,
and as much property as they could cram into
their boats. The boats were overladen, and many
of them perished at sea, but some reached Tangong
Datu. On the 26th of August, four hundred of
these poor creatures arrived at Sarawak, saying
there were three thousand more starving on the
sands at Datu, who would follow as fast as they
could ; and, in course of time, most of them did find
their way up the river, although those in charge of
the Government (the rajah was at Labuan) tried to
persuade them to make a town for themselves at
Santubong (one of the mouths of the river). A few
of them did settle at Santubong, but every day
brought boats full of Chinamen into the place.
The rajah fed these poor people for months with
rice, and gave them tools that they might clear the
ground and make gardens in the jungle. At first,
before they could build themselves houses, the
whole place seemed upset by them. Many lived in
their boats on the river ; every shed and workshop
in the town was full. One night Frank walked
into the church, to see no one was stealing planks
THE CHURCH AND THE SCHOOL. 49
from the unfinished building. All was quiet, but
by a stray moonbeam he perceived that one end of
the church, already boarded, was full of mosquito
curtains, and they as full of sleeping Chinamen.
Such a thing could not be allowed — nails knocked
into the polished walls to tie up the curtains,
tobacco perfuming the place, to say nothing of
sparks to light the pipes, and a considerable
allowance of bugs which Chinese people always
carry about with them. Frank jumped straight
into the middle of the muslin curtains, with a shout ;
and amidst a hubbub of tongues, "yaw-yaw" and
laughter, bundled them all out into the workmen's
shed close by, where they might sleep in peace. It
occurred to my husband that some of these Chinese
would be glad to have their children brought up
with the seven little orphans we had already, so he
went to Aboo, the Chinese magistrate, and offered
to take ten children into our house to be brought
up as Christians, baptized, and educated for ten
years. The Chinese value education, and were very
glad to give them to us. I shall never forget
sitting in the porch one morning to receive my new
family. Neither parents nor children could speak
Malay. They walked up the stairs, bringing a little
boy or girl, nodded and smiled and put the child's
hand into mine, as much as to say, " There, take it."
One of our Chinese servants then explained to
them what we could do for the child, and that
it must remain with us until' grown up. That day
we took Salion, Sunfoon, Chinzu, Queyfat, Assin,
E
50 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
Umque, Achin, boys ; Achong, Moukmoy, Poingzu,
girls. The Knglish nurse we had brought with us
to Sarawak had married Stahl, the carpenter, of
whom I spoke before, and Mrs. Stahl became the
matron of the school when we moved to College
Hill, and had these ten Chinese children as well as
the orphans to care for. We were very busy sewing
for them, with a Chinese tailor to help. Blue jackets
and trousers for week-days, and black trousers and
white jackets for Sundays, had to be made at once.
The girls wore trousers as well as the boys, only
wider, and their jackets reached to the knee.
At the end of a week they were all clean and
neat. Their heads were shaved every Saturday, and
their long tails freshly plaited up with skeins of
black or red strong silk, made on purpose. At first
a barber came to do this, but soon the elder boys
learnt to do it, and it was a regular Saturday
business. These ten children soon learnt to speak
Malay. Then we took five more, and after that one
or two as circumstances threw them in our way.
The school at last numbered f6rty-five, but there
was not room in the mission-house for so many ;
we did not get beyond thirty the first year of the
school.
I scarcely think thirty English children could
have been so easily reduced to order as these little
Chinese. School must have been paradise to them
after the hardships they had undergone, and that
perhaps made it easier to please them ; besides, the
Chinese readily submit to rule and method. The
THE CHURCH AND THE SCHOOL. 51
day was laid out for them. They rose at half-past
five when the day dawned ; after a bath in a pond
in the grounds, they had a slice of rice-pudding with
treacle on it, and then went to church for morning
prayers. By seven o'clock they were all at lessons
m the big room — such a buzzing and curious sing-
song of Chinese words — until nine, when the break-
fast took place ; rice, of course, and a sort of curry
of vegetables, also a great dish of fish, either salt or
fresh ; a little tea for the elder children, no milk
or sugar, and water for the rest. They soon learnt
to sing their grace before and after meals.
The same kind of meal was repeated at five
o'clock, but on Sunday they had pork curried
instead of fish, and on festivals chickens. I taught
these children to sing from the first. The Chinese
are not musical generally, and some of them found
the sounds of do, re, mi, very difficult to master,
but we had very nice singing in church in time ;
and when a schoolmaster came who knew plenty of
songs, glees, and rounds, the children learnt them
quickly, and were often sent for to sing to the
rajah and other guests when they came to dinner.
It used to startle strangers to hear " The Hardy
Norseman," "The Cuckoo," and such-like songs
from the lips of little Chinese boys. Every Saturday
evening they came to the house to practise the
hymns and chants for Sunday; I had an harmonium
in the dining-room. On these occasions they all
had a cup of tea and slice of cake, and used to look
at the picture newspapers which had come from
52 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
England the last mail. They were very intelligent
boys. It was necessary they should learn Malay
and English as well as Chinese, and of course
arithmetic, geography, and the usual rudiments of
learning. I have often watched the Chinese writing-
lesson : it seemed the most difficult branch of their
education — one complicated character, something
like a five-barred gate, representing a variety of
sounds as well as meanings ; but our little fellows
learnt it all. They had a Chinese master as well as
an English, and they soon spoke English as well as
we could desire. My husband took the greatest
interest in this school. When the children first came
he taught them games and made them playthings,
and they were always about him. Whenever we
went anywhere by boat a crew of boys was added
to the rowers. They soon learnt to use their paddles
well, and at the public boat-races, on New Year's
Day, pulled their own boat in the race and sometimes
won it. When my husband became Bishop of
Labuan and Sarawak, he always took some of the
schoolboys with him in his visits to the different
stations. They helped the church services by their
singing, and had their especial chums among the
Dyak Christian boys in the different tribes. So
many boys passed through the school during the
twenty years we took an interest in it, that I cannot
even remember all of them. Some are now cate-
chists among the Dyak tribes ; many entered the
service of the Government or the Merchant Com-
pany as clerks ; some went to Singapore and found
THE CHURCH AND THE SCHOOL. 53
employment there. I know of only one who has
as yet been ordained, but perhaps that time has
scarcely yet arrived in Sarawak. It is difficult for
Malays or Dyaks to look up to a Chinaman suffi-
ciently to make him their minister : they are less
clever than the Chinese, but look down upon them
nevertheless — the Malays, because the Chinese are
the workers, and they the gentlemen ; the Dyaks,
I suppose, because they gave them such a thrashing
in 1857. One good consequence of the Chinese
school was, that it attracted the attention of the
parents towards Christianity, and they .presented
themselves as catechumens. There were many
difficulties with the languages, for the Chinese at
Sarawak were not all of the same tribe, and could
not understand one another. Hov/ever, after a while
a Chinese professor arrived at Sarawak, bringing
his wife and family with him. In those days the
women were forbidden to emigrate with their
husbands, but Sing Sing put his wife into a large
chest with air-holes at the top, and brought her
safely from China. The Bishop employed this
man, who was well educated, to make translations,
and to interpret what he said to the Chinese, so
there were soon Bible classes at our house every
Wednesday evening. Sing Sing became an inquirer
himself while translating the gospel to others. He
was soon able to hold cottage lectures in the town,
and after some years the Bishop had the happiness
to ordain him as minister to his people. There
was a large congregation of Chinese at the Sunday
54 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
services before we left, and it was a good proof of
the sincerity of these converts, that while all their
heathen countrymen worked at their trades on
Sunday as well as other days, our Christians spent
their Sunday in worship and rest, which no doubt
was an advantage to their health as well as their
growth in grace.
At Christmas they always shared in our feasting.
We killed an ox, and all the Christians had beef for
their dinner, as well as all the queer things they
delight in.
In January, 1851, the Church of St. Thomas at
Kuching was consecrated by Bishop Wilson, of
Calcutta. On the afternoon of the i8th, I was
returning from church, and mounting the flight of
steps which led to the porch of the house, I saw
a large steamer turn the corner of the Pedungen
Reach and anchor above the fort. It was the
Semiramis bringing the Bishop, Archdeacon Pratt
and Mrs. Pratt, the Rev. H. Moule from Singapore,
Dr. Beale, the Bishop's physician, and Mr. Fox from
Bishop's College. This party, escorted by Frank,
who rushed home to dress himself in black (his
usual attire being grey flannels and a white muslin
cassock), very soon marched into the house, exclaim-
ing with pleasure at the wreaths of white jessamine
growing over the stairs, and the fresh air of the hill.
We had so lately settled in the house that it was
.not half furnished, but we gave up our rooms to
our guests and stowed ourselves in an empty
corner. I remember the satisfaction with which
THE CHURCH AND THE SCHOOL. 55
Mrs. Stahl produced the remains of the Christmas
plum-pudding, and the comfort it was to have
a joint of venison in the house. Dinner was soon
on the table, and immediately afterwards the Bishop
read prayers and retired to his room. We all went
into the library, where we had tea and talk. It was
very refreshing to have an English lady to speak
to, and Mrs. Pratt was so tall and fair that every-
body admired her, especially the Malays, who used
to say that it was sufficient pleasure to look at her
throat only.
The natives used to flock into the house every
evening to see the Tuan Padre besar (the great
priest), and all the new-comers. At half-past five
a.m. the Bishop's bell used to ring for his servants
to dress him, and bring his tea. The whole house
was astir then. The Indian servants of the party
slept in the verandahs, and seemed to me to talk
all night.
The next day was Sunday, but the church was
not cleared out for consecration, and most of the
fittings had come from Singapore in the Semiramis,
and could not be got out on Saturday night. So
morning and evening prayers were as usual in the
dining-room, and what with the officers of the
Semiramis, the English of the place, the school
and our home party, the room was very full. The
children sang with all their might, and were much
interested with the visitors. The Bishop and Arch-
deacon Pratt preached morning and afternoon. On
Wednesday the church was ready. Mrs. Stahl and
56 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
I were up before dawn, covering hassocks with
Turkey red cotton. The church was tiled, but
platforms of wood, covered with mats, which were
a present from Mr. and Mrs. Stahl, were placed on
the tiles, and the chairs just arrived by S emir amis
stood on them. We afterwards had to clear the
platforms away — they became full of white ants ;
but they looked very well at first.
When all was ready, Captain Brooke and all the
principal English inhabitants met the Bishop at the
church door, and presented a petition that he would
consecrate the building. He then entered, and
walked up and down the church repeating psalms,
etc. Then came morning service ; afterwards, the
Bishop preached, and as he was very energetic and
struck the desk with his hand, our gentle Datu
Bandar thought he was angry, and slipped quickly
out of church. There was a confirmation of
a Chinese teacher and my little maid Susan after
the celebration of Holy Communion, and then, after
three hours and a half service, we returned home.
The next morning, early, the Bishop consecrated the
burial-ground. He was carried round it in a chair,
for he was unable to -walk much ; and though he was
a hale old man of seventy-two, his many years' resi-
dence at Calcutta had, I imagine, spoilt his walking
powers.
He was very kind and friendly to us all, and
admired the church very much. His visit was
a boon to the mission. It impressed the native
mind with the importance Christians attach to their
THE CHURCH AND THE SCHOOL.
57
churches and to public worship. When our church
bell called us to prayers twice every day, the
Mahometans revived the daily muezzin at the
mosque ; and the sight of the public practice of
religion amongst us quickened the Malays in the
performance of their own religious rites, and from
that time there were many more pilgrims to Mecca
from Sarawak.
CHAPTER VI.
THE GIRLS.
HAVING said so much about the schoolboys, it would
be unfair not to mention the girls. Mary, Julia, and
Phoebe, the half-caste children, grew up beside us,
and so did Polly, who was a Dyak baby brought
to me after the pirate expedition of 1849. Her
mother fled, and dropped her baby in the long
grass, where it was found by an English sailor,
who carried it to the boats and gave it to one of
the women captives to bring to me — a poor little,
skinny thing, with long yellow hair, like a fairy
changeling. I got a wet nurse for her and fed
her with baby food, but she got thinner and more
elfish-looking. One day her nurse was standing
by while the other children were eating their
dinner, and Polly stretched out her arms to the
rice and salt fish, and began to cry. " Oh," said I,
" perhaps she can eat ; " and from that day the little
one ate her rice and discarded the nurse, growing
fat and merry like the rest.
THE GIRLS. 59
Polly had a great talent for languages. Of course
she learnt English and Malay at once, hearing both
languages from her earliest years. But how she
learnt Chinese as well used to surprise me. In
1866 I took Polly to Hongkong. She was then
nurse to our youngest child. The lady of the
house where we were staying accosted Polly in the
pigeon English of the place — a jargon mysterious
to unaccustomed ears. It must be allowed that
Polly was not unlike a Chinese in appearance.
She stared at the lady, and then at me, upon
hearing directions she could not understand. I
laughed. "Speak to Polly in English," I said,
" and she will understand what you mean." " Im-
possible," answered Mrs. M ; " my servants tell
me she must be Chinese, for she can talk in two
dialects."
Polly married a Christian Chinaman afterwards,
so her taste lay in that direction. When I last
heard of her, she was teaching in the day-schools
at Sarawak.
Mary married the schoolmaster, Mr. Owen. We
brought Julia home with us in 1869, and put her
into a training-school for teachers in Dublin, where
she was much beloved. When we returned to
Sarawak, in 1861, she became the schoolmistress
to the girls I then had in the house, and others
who came as day-scholars. She was a thoroughly
good girl, and a great comfort to me, but of course
she married, a young man employed as mate in the
Rainbow, a Government vessel running between
60 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
Sarawak and Singapore. Some years afterwards
Forrest died, and Julia married again, an older man
very well off. I have no doubt she is bringing up
her family in the fear of God, but I have not heard
of her lately. I had many trials with the girls,
more than I like to recount. All the first little
family of Chinese girls we received in 1850 belonged
to the tribe who rebelled in 1857, and their relations
carried them off when we were driven from the
mission-house. They were taken to Bau where
their relations lived, but what became of them in
the terrible flight to the Dutch country, when many
were killed, and still more died of the privations of
the jungle, we never could hear.
Sarah and Fanny came to us in 1856. They
were little orphans, half Chinese, half Dyak, whom,
with two more girls and four boys, the Government
had redeemed from slavery and gave to the mission.
Some of these children stayed at Lundu with Mr.
Gomez and his family ; some came to me — Sarah,
Fanny, and Betsy, a baby whom I gave out to
nurse. Poor little Sarah had a very scarred face
from a burn, but she was a bright, clever child.
Fanny was better-looking, but more heavy and
less impressible. These two girls married native
catechists in course of time. I trust they are doing
some good among their own people.
In the year 1862 some little captives fell into
the hands of Captain Brooke, then ruling at Sarawak.
They came from Sarebas, and one of them had been
wounded by a spear, though he was only a tiny
THE GIRLS. 6l
boy of four years old. Captain Brooke wrote to
me to know if I would take this family of children
into the school — two girls, Limo and Ambat, and
two boys, Esau and Nigo. If I could not take
them, he said, they must be sent back to their own
country immediately, as there was a boat departing
the next day. The Bishop was away from Sarawak,
so I had to decide ; nor would there have been any
doubt in my mind about it, but Esau the eldest
boy was covered with kurap, from head to foot.
This is a skin disease to which Dyaks are subject,
and which suggests the leprosy of the Old Testa-
ment, for the outer skin peels off in flakes, and
gives almost a " white as snow " appearance to the
surface. I doubted whether I ought to take a
pupil so afflicted, for it is decidedly catching. I
found that Ambat and Nigo had both patches of
it here and there from contact with Esau, whereas
Limo, who was older, more clothed, and who slept
apart, was quite free.
Still, the alternative was nothing less than
sending these four children to their heathen rela-
tions, and to a place at that time beyond the reach
of Christ's gospel — a terrible idea which could not
be entertained for a moment. So at last I sent for
them, resolving to keep them in our house, and not
allow them to go down to the school until the
Bishop returned. Shortly afterwards a Chinese
doctor came to the Bishop, and said, " If you will
give me fifteen dollars I will cure that boy of
kurap. I have a wonderful medicine for it, made at
62 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
the Natunas Islands." So he had the money on
condition of the cure. The medicine was an
ointment as black as pitch — indeed, I believe there
was a good portion of tar in it. With this the
doctor smeared Esau all over. He was to wear
no clothes, and not to be washed or touched. I
used to see him, poor child, skipping about exactly
like the little black imps depicted in Punch.
The ointment did not hurt him, but every third
day the doctor came and washed it all off with hot
water : this was rather a painful operation, but it
was worth while undergoing some discomfort, for
at the end of a month the disease had vanished,
and " his skin came again like the flesh of a child."
Esau grew up to be a good man and catechist to
his own countrymen, so it was well I ventured to
keep him at Sarawak. The other children soon
got well when separated from him. Kurap arises,
1 believe, from poor food and exposure to weather.
A Dyak wears no clothes except a long sash wound
round him and the ends hanging down before and
behind ; and when we consider the hot sun and
frequent rains which beat upon him, for he lives
mostly out of doors, it is no wonder his skin
suffers. Limo and Ambat were clever children.
In a letter, written about a year after they came to
us, I find this passage : " I have only four girls
who can read English and understand it. My two
little Dyaks, Limo and Ambat, are very fond of
learning English hymns, and say them in such a
plaintive, touching voice, pronouncing each syllable
THE GIRLS. 63
so clearly, but they don't understand it until it has
been explained to them in Malay. Limo's brother
and uncle came this week from Sarebas — two fine,
tall men, with only chawats * and earrings by way
of clothes. Limo was delighted ; she would have
gone away with them in their great boat if I had
allowed her. No doubt they told her how much
they would do for her at Sarebas. However, I drew
a little picture of the women setting her to draw
large bamboos full of water, and to beat out the
paddy with a long pole — very hard work, and
always done by the young girls, — a more truthful
and less delightful view of things ; so Limo said
she would stay with me until she was grown up.
I gave her a pair of trousers for each of the men,
a present generally much esteemed. But these two
were very wild folk ; they laughed very much at
the trousers, and carried them away over their
shoulders.
I must not forget to tell the story of my dear
child Nietfong, although it is a very sad one. She
was the daughter of the Chinese baker who lived
in the lane which led from our garden to the town.
I used to befriend her mother, a delicate little
woman, very roughly treated by her husband. She
twice ran to me for shelter when her husband beat
her, and though of course I always had to give her
up to him when he came begging for her the next
day, he knew what I thought of him, and had a sort
* A chawat is a long strip of cotton or bark cloth wound round
the body.
64 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
of respect for me in consequence. This poor woman
died young, and left one little girl about four
years old. Nietfong used to come up to day-
school when she was old enough, and in 1858, when
I was so happy as to have an English governess
for my Mab, I took the little Chinese girl to live
with us and join Mab in her lessons. She was quite
a little lady, so gentle, teachable, and well mannered.
In 1860 we took our children to England : Mab was
six years old, and could not with any safety remain
longer in a hot climate. Little Nietfong went
home, for her father would not allow her to go to
the school in my absence. We returned in 1861,
leaving three children in England, and brought a
baby girl out with us. As I walked up the lane to
the mission-house, Nietfong stood watching for me
at the gate. " Take me home with you ; oh, I am
so glad you are come back ! " So I took her home,
and Nietfong told me that her father had married
again, and that her step-mother was unkind to her,
and beat her when she said the prayers I had
taught her night and morning ; " but," said the child,
" I always prayed, nevertheless." She lived with
us till she was about thirteen, perhaps not so much ;
then her father came to the Bishop and said he had
sold Nietfong for a good sum of money to a man
in China, and must send her there to stay with
her grandmother.
In vain I entreated Acheck not to be so wicked.
" Tell me how much you would get for your
daughter," I said, " and we will give you the money."
THE GIRLS.
He laughed, and said I could not afford it, mention-
ing a large sum, but I do not remember what it
was ; so I had to break the sad news to Nietfong.
We wept and prayed together that she might remain
steadfast in her Christian faith. As she then knew
English very well, I gave her an English Prayer-
book, which she promised to use. Soon after,
Acheck himself took her to China ; and when he
came back, he would only say, " Oh yes, of course
she is happy — she is married and well off." I have
always felt sure that this dear girl was kept by
God's grace from sin and evil, for I believe she
truly loved and desired to serve God. There was
something especially pure about her. Nietfong was
never wilfully naughty ; she was one of those blame-
less ones who seem untouched by the evil around
them. We shall not know the sequel of her history
until by God's mercy we meet her in the heavenly
home.
As I have spoken about the Dyak kurap, I may
as well here mention the real leprosy of the East,
which was a tenible but not frequent scourge
among the Chinese. The Rajah had a small house
built out of the town for any men who were so
afflicted, and they were fed by Government. The
Bishop or his chaplain used to go and teach these
poor creatures, but there were not more than three
or four of them at a time. We knew one Chinese
woman who had leprosy. She became a Christian,
and liked to have a cottage lecture at her house.
I often went to see her. Her toes gradually dropped
F
SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
md her fingers. I never heard her complain.
One day I went to see her and found her very ill,
constantly sick. She said she had been poisoned ;
and it seemed probable, for no medicine gave her
any relief, and in a few hours she died. The natives
have such a horror of leprosy that they do not like
to touch the body of any one who has died of it, so
the Bishop and Owen, the schoolmaster, laid poor
Achecn in her coffin ; and this charitable act they
performed for any unfortunate who died of this
terrible disease.
Acheen had adopted a little boy, Sifok by name.
She must have been very kind to the child, for he
seemed wild with grief when she died, and was
very anxious that -whoever had poisoned his mother,
as he called her, should be punished. But the case
was not clear, and no one was punished. We took
Sifok into the school, and I taught him to play the
harmonium, which at last he accomplished very
fairly.
Amongst our schoolboys was one particularly
steady and religious. Tung Fa was so good a
Malay and Chinese scholar that he could interpret
at the Chinese Bible class, and also the sermon at
the Chinese service at church on Sunday. I think
he knew his Bible almost by heart. He was never
very strong in health ; then his feet began to swell,
and leprosy declared itself. For a long time he
was carried to and from the church in a chair, but
at last he was so diseased that he was removed
from the school-house, and a little hut was built for
THE GIRLS. 67
him close to us. The boys brought him his food,
and of course he had anything he fancied from our
kitchen. I think the servants were very kind to
him, and he exhibited a beautiful example of
patience and resignation until the disease affected
his brain ; even then he was quite gentle, only he
was always begging to be baptized over again that
he might die free from sin. This mistake arose
entirely from his illness. We were quite thankful
when one morning he was found dead in his bed.
What a blissful waking, after so much suffering !
CHAPTER VII.
THE LUNDUS.
TllE beginning of the year 1851 brought us much
sorrow. After my illness in November, 1850, we
were persuaded by Sir James Brooke to accompany
him to Pcnang Hill, where the Government bunga-
low had been placed at his disposal ; consequently,
after Christmas, we sailed in H.M.S. Amazon,
through the kindness of Captain Troubridge, for
Singapore, taking our child Harry with us. We
had to wait some weeks at Singapore for the
Rajah, and soon after our arrival our little boy
died of dipthcria, leaving us childless, for we had
already lost two infants at Sarawak. This grief
threw a veil of sadness over the remaining years
of our first sojourn in the East. Perhaps it urged
us to a deeper interest in the native people than
we might have felt had there been any little ones
of our own to care for ; but those six years " the
flowers all died along our way," one infant after
another being laid in God's acre.
THE LUNDUS. 69
We stayed six weeks amid the lovely scenery
and in the cooler air of Penang Hill, and returned
to Sarawak in May, Admiral Austin giving us a
passage in H.M.S. Fury. The admiral gave me
his cabin to sleep in, all the gentlemen sleeping
in the cuddy. I woke in the night, hearing a rush-
ing sound in the air, then, patter, patter, all over
the bed. I jumped up, and called Frank to bring
a light and see what was the matter. " Oh," said
a voice from the cuddy, " better not : it is only
cockroaches, and if you saw them you would not
go to sleep again." This swarm of cockroaches
came out several times before daylight. The next
night I put up a mosquito-net to protect my face
and hands from these disgusting creatures. When
a steamer has been nearly three years in these hot
latitudes it becomes horribly full of rats and cock-
roaches. My husband, taking a trip in H.M.S.
Contest, in 1858, woke one morning unable to
open one eye. Presently he felt a sharp prick,
and found a large cockroach sitting on his eyelid
and biting the corner of his eye. They also bite
all round the nails of your fingers and toes, unless
they are closely covered. It must be said that
insects are a great discomfort at Sarawak. Mosqui-
toes, and sand-flies, and stinging flies which turn
your hands into the likeness of boxing-gloves,
infest the banks of the rivers, and the sea-shore.
Flying bugs sometimes scent the air unpleasantly,
and there are hornets in the woods whose sting
is dangerous. When we look back upon the happy
?0 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
days we spent in that lovely country, these draw-
backs are forgotten ; the past is always beautiful,
and shadows, even of sorrow and sickness, only
enhance the interest of the picture. Sin alone,
in ourselves and those about us, can make the past
hateful, and the great charm of the future is that
it is untouched by sin. Happy, then, are those who
are able to look back on the past with smiles of
thankfulness, while they stretch out their arms
hopefully to the future.
Sarawak looked very peaceful on our return ;
and now began the interest of the Dyak missions.
From our first arrival at Kuching my husband had
taken every opportunity of visiting the Dyak tribes,
and sometimes a chief would come to the town
with a number of his people, to pay their rice tax,
or purchase clothes, tobacco, gongs, gunpowder,
whatever the bazaar possessed which they valued.
They brought with them beeswax, damar, honey,
or rattans to exchange for those things. On these
occasions the whole party came up to the mission-
house to hear the harmonium, see the magic-
lantern, and beg presents. At first they would ask
for arrack, but finding nothing but claret to be had
with us, soon left off that request. Plates and cups
were always valued, and they used to say we had
so many more than we could possibly want in the
pantry, that of course we would give them some.
To their honour be it said, they never stole one,
and were invariably refused, for we had not any
more than we wanted. The Dyaks hung their
THE LUNDUS.
plates in loops of rattan very ingeniously against
the walls of their houses ; but a plantain-leaf folded
up is more often used by them in lieu of plates,
and they could not have a better substitute. I
never enjoyed a meal so much as some cold rice
and sardines eaten off a plantain-leaf in the jungle
at Lundu, after a long walk to the waterfall. The
servant with the provision basket had lost his way,
and as we sat hungry under the great trees at the
foot of the fall, a Dyak friend produced a box of
sardines and a parcel of cold rice, and divided it
amonsfst us. When at last the basket of cold
o
chickens arrived we handed them over to the
Dyaks, feeling quite superior to such civilized food.
The Lundu Dyak chief was a great friend and
admirer of Sir James Brooke from his first arrival
in the country. He and his tribe were the determined
enemies of the pirates, and with the Balows of the
Batang Lupar braved the Sarebas and Sakarrans,
even when they were most powerful. At the pirate
fight of 1849 the Lundu chief lost two of his sons :
they were killed by an ambush set by Lingi the
Sarebas chief. Only one son, Gallon, remained, and
he was not his father's favourite. Poor old Orang
Kaya ! it was a terrible trial, and nearly brought
him to his grave. Some time afterwards, he and
Gallon were at Sarawak to pay their tax. Lingi,
who had then submitted to the Rajah, had been in
Sarawak for some days, professedly to trade, but
really to see if he could not take Sir James Brooke's
head. This was prevented by the watchfulness of
72 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
the Malays, who, suspecting Lingi, never let him get
near the Rajah when they sat talking after dinner,
as was the custom in those days. So Lingi went
away foiled, and the day they dropped down the
river the Lundus heard of it. Revenge seemed
ready at hand : they had a fast boat, were a large
party, and brave to a man. They entreated the
Rajah to let them follow Lingi and take his head —
never again would they take a head, only Lingi's,
the Rajah's enemy and their own. Of course they
were refused, and it must have been a terrible
strain on their affection and fealty to the Rajah,
not in this instance to follow the traditions of their
ancestors, and gratify their personal revenge by
killing a traitor. But they obeyed, and Lingi got
safely back to Sarebas, little knowing how narrowly
he escaped. The old Lundu chief was a Christian
before he died. He always professed a desire to be
of the same religion and brother to the white man,
but when, after due instruction, his son and grandson
came to Kuching to be baptized, he was not well
enough to accompany them, Mr. Gomes promised
to baptize him on their return ; but when that event
took place Orang Kaya was dead, gone where, no
doubt, the will was taken for the deed, as he was a
Christian at heart. Mr. Gomes was from Bishop's
College, Calcutta. Soon after he came to us, in 1852,
he went to Lundu and remained there until 1867,
when his children requiring more education than
he could give them at a Dyak station, he went to
Singapore, and accepted the post of missionary
priest there.
THE LUNDUS. 73
Mr. Grant was Government resident at Lundu,
arid the ruler and missionary devoted themselves
to the improvement of the people. In 1855, when
we returned to our home after our first visit to
England, we received a delightful visit from Mr.
Gomes and twelve Dyaks, whom he brought to be
baptized at St. Thomas's Church. Gallon's son
Langi, and half a dozen other boys, lived with Mr.
Gomes, and ran after him all day — nice little fellows,
who fraternized with our boys at the school-house.
There were also five men, the chief of whom was
Bulan (Moon), one of the manangs, or witch-doctors,
of the tribe. These manangs, being as it were the
priests of Dyak superstitions, and getting their
living by pretended cures, interpretations of omens
and the voices of birds, were of course the natural
enemies of truth and enlightenment. Bulan, how-
ever, had tried to be an honest manang, and finding
it impossible had turned with all his heart to
Christianity. His brother Bugai, also a Christian,
was a very intelligent person, and became catechist
at Lundu.
There was also a very rich old man, Simoulin by
name, who was baptized at this time. His wife
had opposed his conversion with all her might ;
indeed, she declared she would leave him and carry
half the property with her. Simoulin said quietly,
"If she will she must: she is only a woman, and
her judgment in the matter is not likely to be
good." | Christianity had strong opponents in the
women of all the Dyak tribes. They held important
71 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
parts in all the feasts, incantations, and superstitions,
which could not be called religion, but were based
on the dread of evil spirits and a desire to propitiate
them. The women encouraged head-taking by
preferring to marry the man who had some of
those ghastly tokens of his prowess. ' When Sir
James Brooke forbad head-taking among the tribes
in his dominions, it was the women who would row
their lovers out of the rivers in their boats, and set
them down on the sea-coast to find the head of a
stranger. I When heads were brought in, it was the
women who took possession of them, decked them
with flowers, put food into their mouths, sang to
them, mocked them, and instituted feasts in honour
of the slayers. The young Dyak woman works
hard; she helps in all the labours of sowing, planting
out, weeding, and reaping the paddy. She beats
out the rice in a wooden trough, with a long pole,
or pestle. She grows the cotton for clothing, dyes
and weaves it. She carries heavy burdens, and
paddles her boat on the river. t All these are her
duties, and in performing them she quickly loses
her smooth skin, bright eyes, and slender figure.
It is only the young girls who can boast of any
beauty, but;' the old women are very important
personages at a seed-time or harvest festival.! They
dress themselves in long garments embroidered
with tiny white shells, representing lizards and
crocodiles. With long wands in their hands, they
dance, singing wild incantations. I They have
already prepared the food for the feast-|-chickens
A DYAK GIRL.
Page 74.
THE LUNDUS. 75
roasted in their feathers ; cakes of rice, spun like
vermicelli and fried in cocoa-nut oil ; curries, and
salads of bitter and acid leaves ; sticks of small
bamboo filled with pulut rice and boiled, when it
turns to a jelly and is agreeably flavoured with the
young bamboo. ] It is the women also who serve
out the tuak, a spirit prepared from rice and spiced
with various ingredients, tobacco being one. The
men must drink at these feasts ; they are very
temperate] generally, but on this occasion they are
rather proud of being drunk and boasting the next
day of a bad headache ! The women urge them
to drink, but do not join in the orgies, and disappear
when the intoxicating stage begins. I trust that
this description belongs only to the past ; at any
rate, we know that in those places where the
missionaries have long taught, their people follow
a more excellent way of rejoicing in the joy of
harvest, and, after their thanksgiving service in
church, pour out their offerings of rice before the
altar to maintain the services, and minister to the
sick and needy. |
For many years, however, the women were
opposed to a religion which cleared away the
superstitious customs which were the delight of
their lives, their chief amusement and dissipation,
and a means of influencing the men. It was not
until the year 1864 that Mr. Gomes asked us to
visit Lundu and welcome a little party of women,
the first converts to the faith which their fathers
and husbands had long professed. This is a long
76 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK
digression from the history of the Lundus' visit to
Kuching in 1855, which was at the time a great
event. I find the following passage in my journal :
"Every evening, before late dinner, the Lundus go
up to Mr. Gomes's room to say their prayers, and
sing, or rather chant, their hymns. There is some-
thing very affecting in this little service — the Dyak
voices singing of Christ's second coming with His
holy angels, and rejoicing that He came once
before for their salvation ; then praying for holy,
gentle hearts to receive Him. I always feel on
these occasions as if I heard these precious truths
afresh when they arc spoken in a tongue till lately
ignorant of them. Indeed, there can scarcely be
a more joyful excitement than such passages in
the life of a missionary ; they are worth any sacrifice.
After English morning service, Mr. Gomes has
prayers in church for his Dyaks. He then instructs
them in the baptismal service. This makes five
daily services in church, two English, two Chinese,
and one Dyak. We clothed all the candidates in a
new suit of cotton garments with a bright-coloured
handkerchief for their heads. It would be con-
sidered very irreverent for Easterns to uncover their
heads in church. I taught the school-children to
sing ' Veni, Creator Spiritus ' at this baptism, while
the clergy were arranging the candidates and
sponsors round the font. The font was wreathed
with flowers by my children. There was quite
a full church, for the Chinese Christians all came
to see the Dyaks baptized, and all the English of
THE LUNDUS. 77
the place were present. Mr. Gomes baptized, and
my husband signed them with the cross. They
all spoke up bravely in answering to their vows :
may God give them grace to keep them."
This baptism took place on Whit Sunday. On
Thursday of that week, Mr. Gomes, his Dyaks, and
Frank, went off to Linga for a week to visit Mr.
Chambers, and Mr. Horsburgh at Banting, that
the converts of both tribes might become friends.
The Balows and Lunclus had always been united
in their efforts against the pirate tribes, and in their
fealty to the Rajah's Government. On this account
they had a right to the services of the first mis-
sionaries who came from England to teach Dyaks.
The visit to Banting had another object besides
the mutual friendship of the converts. A con-
troversy had arisen in the mission about the right
word to be used in translations for Jesus. Isa is
the name the Malays use, and the Dutch transla-
tions of the Bible employ this name ; but there
happened to be a bad Malay man owning the
name of Isa, well known to the Balows, and Mr.
Chambers feared some confusion would arise in
the minds of converts in applying the same name
to our Lord. It was therefore necessary to have
a meeting of the clergy to decide this and many
other religious terms to be used in hymns, cate-
chisms, and in general teaching, that there might
be unity in the mission : it would not do to have
any divisions in the camp on such a subject.
There are fifty miles of sea to cross from the
78 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
Sarawak River to the Batang Lupar, then a long
pull from the fort at Linga up to Banting. The
journey took three nights and two days.
The mission-house at Banting is most romanti-
cally placed on the crest of a hill overhanging the
river about three hundred feet, and stands in a
grove of beautiful fruit-trees. The view from it is
enchanting. The river branches at the foot of the
hill, and each branch seems to vie with the other
in the tortuousness of its course through the bright
green paddy-fields. About a mile off rises Mount
Lesong* with a graceful slope, about three thousand
feet, and then terminates abruptly in a rugged top.
The four clergymen who met at Banting looked
almost as wild as their people — wide shady hats,
long staffs, long beards, not a shirt among the
party, and but one pair of shoes, belonging to my
husband, who never could walk barefooted. They
spent several days together, and had much consul-
tation about religious terms. The most intelligent
of the Dyak Christians were present, as it was
necessary, not only to choose words they could
understand, but such as they could easily pro-
nounce. On Trinity Sunday there were several
services in the large room of the house, for the
church was not yet built. The Lingas sang their
hymns with great energy to one of their own wild
strains, but when they heard the Lundus' melodious
chant they were ashamed to sing after them, and
begged them to teach them. The Dyaks love
* Lesong, mortar, being mortar-shaped.
THE LUNDUS. 79
music and verse. Mr. Gomes and Mr. Chambers
wrote them hymns, and the Creed in verse, which
they readily commit to memory and understand
better than prose. Pictures are also used in their
instruction : a parable or miracle is read, then a
picture of it produced and explained, the Dyaks
repeating each sentence after the teacher, to keep
their attention.
The baptized alone join in the Litany and Holy
Communion. The afternoon was spent in visiting
the sick and giving medicine. Several women
came to the house for instruction, and seemed to
take great interest in Mr. Chambers, teaching ; but
it was not until Mr. Chambers was married that
any women were baptized. At breakfast the next
morning came an old chief, called Tongkat Langit —
the Staff of Heaven. His son Lingire was one of the
most pleasing converts, and Tongkat was wavering
— had not leisure at present ! The necessity of
forswearing the practise of head-taking deters the
old men from becoming Christians: they fear to lose
influence with their tribe. The little party then
fixed upon the spot where the church should be
built, a permanent bilian chancel to which a nave
could be added when the additional room was
required. Twenty-five pounds from the Society
for Promoting Christian Knowledge was all the
money then in hand to begin with ; but very soon
more was collected, and when I visited Banting in
1857 there was a lovely little church standing on
the hill overlooking the village, and surrounded by
80 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
beautiful trees. The walk to it from the mission-
house was just like a gentleman's park, the green
sward and groups of trees with lovely peeps of hill
and valleys and winding streams between. Again
in 1864 we went to Banting, that the Bishop might
consecrate the church. The nave was then built.
Every stick in the church was bilian. The white ants
walked in as soon as the workmen left. In one
night they carried their covered ways all over the
inside of the roof, the walls, the beams, and rafters;
and finding nothing they could bite, they walked
out again, leaving their traces plainly marked.
Since then a coloured-glass window, representing
our Lord's Resurrection, has been added at the east
end of the church ; and, what is better far, the
church is full of Dyak Christians every Sunday, and
from this living Church many branches have been
planted, so that the Banting Mission now includes
seven stations, where there are school-churches
built by the natives themselves, and many hundreds
of Christian worshippers.
In 1854, six years having passed away since
a little band of Sir James Brooke's friends founded
the Borneo Church Mission, the funds of the
Society came to an end ; and the mission would
have collapsed also, had not the venerable Society
for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts
consented to become responsible for it. As the
missionaries and catechists increased in number,
and fresh stations were added to the church, they
opened their arms wider to receive them, until they
THE LUNDUS.
8l
set apart ,£3000 a year for Borneo. Under their
fostering care the mission flourished, as it could
not have done under the management of any
private society.
CHAPTER VIII.
A BOAT JOURNEY.
THROUGHOUT the year 1852 and part of '53 my
husband was much tried with rheumatism in his
knee, which made him quite lame, though he would
hobble to church on crutches, and to hospital to
look after his poor patients. Meanwhile he taught
the young missionaries something of the art of
healing, dressing wounds and broken bones, and
physicking the ailments to which natives are most
subject — fever, dysentery, etc. It was quite necessary
they should know something of these subjects
before they could be any use in the jungle. The
first question the Dyaks asked, if told a new
missionary was coming, would always be, " Is he
clever at physic ? " Medicines and simple remedies
were always furnished to every mission-station,
and the Rajah supplied all the stores that were
needed for Kuching or elsewhere. We had taken
a good stock with us at first, and all sorts of
surgical instruments, but the Government kept it
replenished.
A BOAT JOURNEY. 83
The hospital was set up when the great influx
of Chinese brought numbers of sick people to the
place. A long shed was built, and twenty beds
immediately rilled ; but the next day, one of the
patients having died, all the others who could move
ran away. They have so great a horror of a dead
body that they never suffered any one to die in
their houses if they could help it, but built a little
shed for the sick man, and visited him twice a day
with food and opium while life lasted. A separate
room was therefore added for the dead. This
hospital furnished good instruction to the mission-
aries. It was also their duty to teach the sick every
day, and the result was that several Chinese were
baptized on their recovery. This shed was after-
wards exchanged for a long room above the fort,
which was both more airy and substantial. A dis-
pensary was attached to it.
When Mr. Chambers came from England and
was able to undertake the duties at Kuching, my
husband accompanied Captain Brooke and some of
the Government officers in a tour up the Batang
Lupar and Rejang Rivers. He was very lame at the
time, but had no walking to do, only now and then
to get out of his large boat and scramble up into
a Dyak house. How he managed it under the
circumstances I never could imagine, for the
staircase from the water to a high Dyak house is
only the trunk of a tree with a few notches in it,
and, at low tide, a case of slippery mud ; this, placed
at a steep angle, without any rail, is not easy
84 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
climbing for any one, but a stiff knee made it still
more difficult.
The object of the expedition was to make peace
between certain Dyak tribes who had long been
enemies, and to build a fort on the Rejang River,
similar to Mr. Brereton's fort at Sakarran, and for
the same purpose. An Englishman named Steele
was to occupy the fort with some Malays. Captain
Brooke took the Jolly Bachelor gunboat, and
Frank moved into it to cross the sea from the
mouth of the Sarawak to the Linga River, for the
waves were high and wetted the smaller boats.
When they reached the Linga River, he was sitting
one Sunday night on the boom of the Jolly,
enjoying the moonlight, and watching the swift
rush of the tide, which is very rapid in that river.
Suddenly, the piece of wood he was trusting to
broke, and he was precipitated over the stern.
Had he fallen into the water he must have been
dragged under the vessel by the tide and drowned,
but, through God's mercy, the ship's boat (Dingy),
which only a few minutes before was the whole
length of its painter away from the Jolly, swept up
to it from the swing of the vessel, and, as he fell, he
caught hold of the boat and pulled himself into it,
escaping with only a bruise, when a watery bed, or
the jaws of an alligator or shark, might have received
him. A shark had been swimming round the gun-
boat during Divine service that day, and an
alligator had taken a man only the day before from
a boat close by. My dear husband's comment on
A BOAT JOURNEY. 85
this narrow escape is, " Praise the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all His benefits ; who redeemeth
thy life from destruction, and crowneth thee with
mercy and lovingkindness."
The fleet waited for some days in the Linga
River, while the Balow Dyaks fetched the jars which
they were to exchange with the Sakarrans as a
pledge of peace. These jars, of which every Dyak
tribe possessed some, are of unknown antiquity.
There is nothing very particular in their appearance.
They are brown in colour, have handles at the sides,
and sometimes figures of dragons on them. They
vary in value, but though the Chinese have tried to
imitate them, hoping to sell them to the Dyaks,
they have never deceived them : they detect a
difference where no European or Chinese eye can,
and at once pronounce the Chinese jars of no value.
Yet they will not sell their own rusas or tajows for
any money, and they fancy that some of them have
the property of keeping water always sweet. If
a Dyak tribe offends the law, Government fines
them so many jars, which are brought to Kuching
and kept, or returned on their good behaviour.
This reminds me of the story of a little Dyak boy
who was taken prisoner in 1849. His father was
killed, and the boy, about eight years old, was
brought to the Rajah. For some days the child
seemed quite happy, then he begged to speak to
"Tuan Rajah," and told him confidentially that he
knew a place in the jungle where some valuable
tajows were secreted, and if he would land him
SKF/IVHK.S OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
\vith some Malays or the bank of the river, he would
point out the place. The Rajah believed the child,
and the jars were found, and taken on board the
boat. Then the little boy went again to the Rajah,
and bursting into tears, said, " I have given you the
riches of my tribe ; in return give me my liberty.
Set me down in the jungle path, give me some food,
and in two days I shall reach my home and my
mother." So the child was laden with all he took
a fancy to — a china cup, a glass tumbler, and a gay
sarong (waist-cloth), and as much food as he could
carry — and we heard afterwards that he rejoined
his friends in safety.
I must now return to my husband's journal. He
says : " While at breakfast this morning, one of the
men told us he had seen the people with tails, of
whom we have often heard.* They live fifteen days
up a river, in the interior of the Bruni country. It
is a large river, but in some places runs through
caverns, where they can only pass on small rafts.
He was sent there by Pangeran Mumeim to get
goats, as these tailed gentry keep a great many of
them. He says their tails are as long as the two
joints of the middle finger, fleshy and stiff. They
must be very inconvenient, for they are obliged to
sit on logs of wood made on purpose, or to make a
hole in the earth, to accommodate their tails before
they can sit down. These people do not eat rice,
but sago made into cakes and baked in a pot. In
their country, he said, was a great stone fort, with
* This legend, though commonly reported, has never been proved.
A BOAT JOURNEY. S/
nine large iron guns, of which the people can give
no account, not knowing when or by Avhom it \vas
built.
" After dinner, when the men sit round me and
smoke my cigars, they soon enter into conversation.
We spoke a good deal to-day on the subject of
religion, the difference between Christianity and
Mahometanism, and, above all, the absurdity of
their repeating the Koran, like so many parrots,
without understanding one word of what they say ;
and the irreverence of addressing God in words
they do :iot understand, so that their hearts can
take no part in their prayers. They agreed that it
would be better to learn God's law, instead of
trusting merely to their hadjis, who are often as
ignorant as themselves. A respectable old Bruni
man, speaking of different races of men of various
colours, said he had visited a tribe of white people,
who lived on a high hill in the interior of the
country ; they were very white, and the women
beautiful, with light hair. The men dress like
Dyaks, but the women wear a long black robe,
tight at the waist, and puffed out on the shoulders.
The tradition of their origin, he said, was as follows :
A long, long time ago, an old man who lived on
this mountain lost himself in the jungle at its foot,
and at night, being tired, and afraid of snakes and
the evil spirits of the wood, he climbed into a tree
and fell asleep. He was woke by a noise of ravish-
ing music, the sweetest gongs and chanangs min-
gling with voices over his head. The music came
88 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
nearer and nearer to the place where he was, until
he heard the sweet voices under the tree, and, look-
ing down, beheld a large clear fountain opened, and
seven beautiful females bathing. They were all of
different sizes, like the fingers on a man's hand, and
they sung as they sported in the water. The old
man watched them for some time, and thought how
much he should like one of them as a wife for his
only son ; but as he was afraid of descending
among them, he made a noose with a long piece of
rattan, lowered it gently, and slipping it over one
of them, drew her up into the tree. She cried out,
and they all disappeared with a whirring noise.
The girl he caught was very young, and she cried
sadly because she had no clothes on ; so he rolled
her in a chawat (long sash), and immediately heard
the gongs at his own house, which he had thought
was a long way off. He took the child home, and
she was brought up by his wife, until she was old
enough to marry their son. She was very good
and sweet-tempered, and everybody loved her. In
course of time she had a son, as white as herself.
One day her husband was in a violent rage and
beat her. She implored him not to make her cry, or
she should be taken away from him and her child.
But he did not heed, and at last pulled her jacket
off to beat her. Immediately another jacket was
dropped with a great noise from the sky, upon the
house. She put it on, and vanished upwards, leaving
her son, who was the ancestor of the present tribe."
Who would have thought of a Dyak Undine ?
A BOAT JOURNEY. 89
While the Malay was telling this story, the
boat was waiting in a sheltered nook of the Sakar-
ran River for the bore to pass, before the crew dare
venture up to the fort. The bore is a great wave,
twelve feet high, which rushes up with the tide, and
is succeeded by two smaller waves. It is very
dangerous to boats ; but happily the natives know
where to hide while it sweeps past.
When they reached Sakarran Fort it took several
days to hear all the claims the Lingas and Sakar-
rans had against each other. Six years before,
the Rajah had persuaded them to make peace, but
they had broken it the same day, and laid the
blame upon one another. At last matters were
arranged, and a platform being made under a wide-
spreading banyan-tree, the chiefs sat round ; and
Captain Brooke made them a speech, describing
the evils of piracy and war, and the determination
of the Rajah that his subjects should live at peace
with one another.
" He then presented each chief with a jar, a spear,
and a Sarawak flag, and desired them to use the
flag in their boats for the purposes of trade.
Nothing could be more picturesque than the scene.
The surface of the water was dotted over with the
long serpent-like bangkongs, gaily painted and
adorned with flags and streamers of many colours,
which looked all the brighter against the solemn
jungle background. Then Gassim and Gila Brani
(madly brave), on the part of the Sakarrans, and
Tongkat Langit (Staff of Heaven), the Linga chief,
90 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
joined hands; and each tribe killed a pig with great
ceremony, and inspected the entrails to see if the
peace was good. Then they feasted and rejoiced
together. This ended, they proceeded up the
Rejang River in the boats, and paddled for four
days, from twenty-five to thirty miles a day, until
they came to the Kenowit, on the banks of which
the fort was to be built."
The Rejang is a glorious river. It is not visited
by a bore, and eighty miles from the sea it is half
a mile broad, and deep to the banks. The flowers
and fruits which grow there are a continual surprise
and pleasure — but how shall I describe the flowers
of those great woods ? — not only up the Rejang, but
everywhere in the old jungle. They seldom grow
on the ground, though you may sometimes come
upon a huge bed of ground orchids, but mostly
climb up the trees, and hang in festoons from the
branches. One plant, the Ixora, for instance,
propagating itself undisturbed, will become a garden
itself, trailing its red or orange blossoms from bough
to bough till the forest glows with colour.
The Rhododendron, growing in the forks of the
great branches, takes possession of the tall trees,
making them blush all over with delicate pinks and
lilacs, or deepest rose clusters. Then the orchideous
plants fix themselves in the branches, and send
out long sprays of blossom of many colours and
sweetest perfume. Here the voice of the Burong
boya (crocodile- bird) may be heard, singing like an
English thrush. He shakes his wings as he sings,
A BOAT JOURNEY. 9!
and the Malays say that from time immemorial he
has owed a large sum of money to the crocodile,
who comes every year to ask payment ; then the
bird, perched on a high bough out of reach of the
monster, sings, " How can I pay ? I have nothing
but my feathers, nothing but my feathers ! " So the
crocodile goes away till next year. There are not
many singing birds in Borneo besides this thrush.
The soft voices of many doves and pigeons may
always be heard, and often the curious creaking
noise made by the wings of rhinoceros hornbills as
they fly past. More musical is the voice of the
Wawa monkey, a bubbling like water running out
of a narrow-necked bottle, always to be heard at
early dawn, and the sweetest of alarums. A dead
stillness reigns in the jungle by day, but at sunset
every leaf almost becomes instinct with life. You
might almost fancy yourself beset by Gideon's
army, when all the lamps in the pitchers rattled and
broke, and every man blew his trumpet into your
ear. It is an astounding noise certainly, and diffi-
cult to believe that so many pipes and rattles,
whirring machines and trumpets, belong to good-
sized beetles or flies, singing their evening song to
the setting sun. As the light dies away all becomes
still again, unless any marshy ground shelters frogs.
But to hear all this you must go to the old jungle,
where the tall trees stand near together and shut
out the light of day, and almost the air, for there is
a painful sense of suffocation in the dense wood.
CHAPTER IX.
CONTINUATION OF THE TRIP TO REJANG.
AFTER two days' paddling from the mouth of the
Rejang, the boats arrived at Sibou, where there is
a manufactory for nepa salt. The nepa palm
grows down to the edge of the banks, which are
washed by a salt tide, and furnishes the Dyak with
many necessaries.
The leaves make the thatch to cover the roofs
of the houses, or shelter over their boats. Neatly
fastened together with split rattans, they form the
walls of the house. From the juice of the tree they
make a fermented drink something like sweet beer,
also brown sugar. The young shoots are eaten in
curries and salads. The fruit is salted or pickled.
When they have got all these good things out of it,
they burn the stem of the palm with some of the
leaves, and wash the burnt ashes in water. This
water is then boiled until it is evaporated, and some
black salt remains at the bottom of the pot. It
CONTINUATION OF THE TRIP TO REJANG. 93
tastes bitter as well as salt ; but the Dyaks prefer it
to common salt, and if you ask why, they say, " It is
a fat salt." I must now return to my husband's
journal. " Arrived at Kenowit. A tribe of Milanows
have been induced to settle here lately by the
Rajah. Within the last few weeks they have built
two long and substantial houses, raised thirty feet
from the ground on trunks of trees, some two feet
in diameter. There are in all sixty doors, or
families. The tribe furnishes three hundred fight-
ing men, and numbers from fifteen hundred to two
thousand.
" The bachelors, as with the Dyaks, have a sepa-
rate dwelling.
" Tanee's tribe, who are returning to Sibou on the
Rajah's promise to build a fort at Kenowit, are of
the same tribe, and number about three hundred
men. They speak the Milanow language, and have
the same customs of burial. The men and some
of the women are tattooed in the most grotesque
patterns. When you look at them closely the
invention displayed is truly remarkable ; but at
a distance they give a dingy, dusky appearance to
the men, as if they were daubed with an inky sponge.
Nature having denied them beards, they tattoo
curly locks along their faces, always bordered by
a vandyke fringe, which must task their utmost
ingenuity. Tanee, who has followed us with some
of his warriors, is the very exquisite of a Kenowit.
He is made like a Hercules, and is proud of show-
ing his strength and agility. He piques himself
SKi.IVHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
upon having the best sword, of fine Kayan make
and native metal, and the strongest arm in his tribe.
1 le sits most of the day sharpening one or another
of these swords, feeling and looking along its edge
to see that the weapon is in perfect order: then, to
prove it, he seeks for a suitable block of wood, as
thick as his arm, severs it at a blow, gives a yell,
and with a grin of delight returns the weapon to its
sheath. His jacket is of scarlet satin ; his long hair
is confined by a gold-embroidered handkerchief; his
chawat is of fine white cloth, very long, and richly
embroidered — the ends hang down to his knees,
lie wears behind an apron of panther's skin,
trimmed with red cloth and alligator's teeth, and
other charms ; this hangs from his loins to his knees,
and always affords him a dry seat. Tanee's boat
is long, made out of one tree, like our river canoes,
but much lighter and faster. His cabin is a raised
platform in the centre of the boat, covered with
a mat, and hung all round with weapons and
trophies of war — Kyan fighting-coats of bear and
buffalo hides, having head-pieces adorned with
beads or shells, shields and spears all gaily decked
with Argus' feathers, or human hair dyed red.
" On Sunday we moved from the boats into
Palabun's house, and settled ourselves in part of the
verandah. After breakfast I doctored the sick,
and then we had the morning service, much to the
surprise of the natives, who, however, did not disturb
us. They sit round us all day, hearing and asking
us questions. . . . Meanwhile the seven hundred men
CONTINUATION OF THE TRIP TO REJAXG. 95
who came in the flotilla of twenty boats, were
busy building the fort. First they pulled down
a temporary fort already set up by the Kenowits,
and then cut wood to erect a substantial building.
Four guns were mounted on the parapet, and there
was a house inside for the Malay commandant, and
a powder magazine. All the chiefs near Kenowit
were assembled when the fort was finished, and
had the same kind of address made them as at
Sakarran, praising the benefits of peaceful trade
instead of the miseries of wasteful war. They all
listened with respect. That same afternoon, dismal
howlings issued from Palabun's house. His brother,
who had left him two years ago with a party of
fourteen, to visit a friendly tribe at a distance, had
been treacherously murdered. He and his party
had been kindly received by their friends, and they
had all gone out together on the war-path to seek
heads. It is supposed that when they met no one,
the hosts had turned on their visitors ^nd taken
their heads, rather than return home without any.
Palabun vowed vengeance, and the whole tribe
go into mourning for three months." (Bishop's
Journal.)
A Dyak mourning is not a becoming black
costume, made " cheerful," as the dressmakers say,
by jet ornaments and bugle trimmings.. It consists
in the abandonment of all ornament and their
usual clothing, and the substitution of a kind of a
brown cloth made of the inside bark of trees, which
must be as rough and uncomfortable as it is ugly.
96 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
These people, being Milanows, have peculiar burial
customs. They lay the dead in a boat, with all
his property and belongings, and send it out to
sea; for they imagine that in some way a man's
possessions may be of use to him in another world,
if no one claims them on earth.
" In this case there was no corpse to bury. The
clothes were so disposed on the bier as to repre-
sent a figure, and laid beside it were handsome gold
cloths and ornaments, gold buttons, krises,* and
breastplates, and weapons of Javanese manufac-
ture, representing some hundreds of dollars. There
were also gongs and two brass guns. Of course
the fate of such boat-loads, sent adrift in a tidal
river, is generally to be capsized and lost in the
water. But if Malays encounter them they do not
hesitate to appropriate the effects. Palabun knew
this, so he did not send his brother's boat away
until our fleet had departed." (Bishop's Journal.)
I remember our once meeting one of these boats.
It had been caught by branches from the bank, and
swayed idly to and fro in the stream. We could
only see a heap of coloured clothes inside it, but
there was a weird, ghastly look about the boat
which made us shudder. An unburied corpse, left
to the winds and waves, without a prayer or a
blessing ! how could it be otherwise ? Even if we
could delude ourselves into fancying the Dyaks
happy during their lives without Christianity, there
can be no doubt of their being miserable when
* A kris is a Malay dagger.
CONTINUATION OF THE TRIP TO REJANG. 97
death comes. They all believe dimly in a future
state, but their dread of spirits is so great that they
can have no ideas of happiness unconnected with
their bodies. " Having no hope, and without God
in the world," describes the mental state of a
heathen Dyak. In 1856, we were living for a few
weeks on a hill called Peninjauh, some miles from
Kuching, where the Rajah had built a cottage as
a sanitarium after illness. The cool freshness of
the mountain air, and the glorious view from See-
afar Cottage, were indeed conducive to health.
On the hillsides lived several villages of Land
Dyaks, and I had a woman as nurse to my baby
who belonged to one of these villages. The cholera
was in the country at that time, and three men
had died of the Sebumban Dyaks. Every night
the most mournful wailing arose above the trees —
a sad sound indeed, rising and falling on the wind
as the friends of the dead walked all through the
jungle paths near their homes, now near to our
cottage, now far off. One night I found my little
ayah seated in the nursery when she ought to have
been in the cook-house getting her supper. " What
is the matter, Nina ? Are you ill, that you are
eating no supper ? " " No, I am not ill, but I dare
not go to the cook-house to-night." " Why ? "
" I fear to meet the spirits who are abroad to-night
in the jungle." " The spirits of the dead men ? "
" No, the spirits who come to fetch them." After
three days the bodies of these Dyaks were burnt,
for this was the custom of the Sebumbans. The
H
98 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
dead man is laid on a pile of wood, and they all
sit round watching. Nina said, that when the
fire has burnt some time the dead man sits up for
a moment, whereupon they all burst into renewed
waitings of sorrow and farewell. I am told that
the heat swelling the sinews of the dead body may
cause this curious phenomenon ; but could there be
a more mournful, hopeless story of death ?
It is a relief to return to the party on the Rejang
River. They were much entertained one day with
a war-dance between two warriors, which was a
graphic pantomime of their customs. " The two
men appeared fully armed, and were supposed to
be each alone on the war-path, looking out for a
head. They moved to the beat of native drums,
and seemed to be going through all the motions
of looking out for an enemy, pulling out the
ranjows (sharp pieces of cane stuck in the earth,
point upwards, to lame an enemy). At length
they descried one another, danced defiance, and,
flourishing swords and shields, commenced the
attack. The nimbleness with which they parried
every stroke of the sword, and covered their bodies
with their shields, was remarkable. In real com-
bat, to strike the shield is certain death, because
the sword sticks in the wood and cannot be with-
drawn in time to prevent the other man from using
his sword. After a time, one of the combatants
fell wounded, and covered his body with his shield.
The other danced round him triumphantly, and
with one blow pretended to cut off his head ; then,
CONTINUATION OF THE TRIP TO REJANG. 99
head in hand, he capered with the wildest gestures,
expressive of the very ecstasy of savage delight
But, on looking at his trophy closely, he recognized
the features of a friend, and, smitten with remorse,
he replaced the head with much solicitude. Then,
moving with a slow, measured tread, he wept, and
with many sighs of grief adjusted the head with
much care, caught rain in his shield and poured
it over the body ; then rubbed and shook the limbs,
which by degrees became alive by his mesmeric-
like passings and chafings from the feet upwards.
Each limb as it revived beat time to the music,
first faintly, then with more vigour, till it came to
the head ; and when that nodded satisfactorily, and
the whole body of his friend was in motion, he
gave him a few extra shakes, lifted him on his legs,
and the scene concluded by their dancing merrily
together." (Bishop's Journal.)
Captain Brooke and my husband were a month
away on this expedition. They \vould have liked
to pay a visit to Kum Nepa, a Kyan chief, who
lived much farther up the river, — six days in a fast
Kyan boat, said the Dyaks, ten days in the boats
our friends had with them. But Kum Nepa had
just lost two children from small-pox, and, accord-
ing to their custom, he and all his tribe had left
their houses and taken to the jungle. The Dyaks
dread small-pox to such a degree that, when it
appears, they neglect all their usual occupation.
The seed is left unsown, the paddy unreaped ; they
leave the sick to die untended, and support them-
IOO SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
selves in the jungle upon wild fruits and roots, until
the scourge has passed away.
From the time we lived at Sarawak a continual
effort was made to introduce vaccination. It was
difficult to get lymph in good order at so distant
a place ; the sea voyage often rendered it useless.
The other difficulty was made by the Malays, who
inoculated for small-pox ; and, as they charged the
Dyaks a rupee a head for inoculating them, made
it answer pecuniarily. Some who were adepts in
the art went about the country inoculating until
they caused quite an epidemic of small-pox. Now,
I believe, the Dyaks have learnt from experience
the superior advantages of vaccination, and, by a
late Sarawak Gazette, I gather that it is one of the
duties of a Resident among the tribes up country
to vaccinate his people as well as to judge them
wisely.
When the guns were mounted at the fort, and
a garrison of seventy men, under Abong Duraup,
settled there to guard it, the fleet left the Rejang
to return to Sarawak. Captain Brooke had per-
suaded Palabun to give up his ideas of retaliation
for his brother's death, on condition that the Kapuas
people who killed him should give satisfaction.
The last afternoon was devoted to doctoring the
sick and giving them a stock of remedies. One
poor man had nearly recovered his eyesight during
the week he had been under treatment. So the
Sarawak flag was hoisted at the fort and saluted,
and after some good advice and renewed promises
CONTINUATION OF THE TRIP TO REJANG. IOI
from the Sakarrans and Kenowits, the boats pulled
away to the Jolly Bachelor, which had been left
at the Serikei River ; and a few days afterwards
we heard gongs and boat music on the river, and
my servant Quangho running into my room called
out, " Our Tuan is coming," so we all went down
to the stone wharf and welcomed them home.
The lameness which had so long hindered my
husband from moving about, did not yield to any
remedies we applied, and at last we went to
Singapore for medical advice. The doctors there
sent their patient to China for a cold season, and
he spent six weeks at Hongkong with the Bishop
of Victoria, and at Canton with other friends, to
the advantage of his knee. Afterwards we went
together to Malacca, where there was a hot spring
bubbling up in a field. Into this spring we put a
large tub ; and there, in the early morning, Frank
used to sit, with no neighbours but the snipe
feeding in the field, and, as he had his gun by
his side, he occasionally shot some game for
breakfast.
In 1853 we went home. My health was very
much broken, and my husband was called to
England by the necessary transfer of the mission
from the Borneo Mission Society, whose funds came
to an end, to the venerable Society for the Pro-
pagation of the Gospel, who kindly adopted us.
We arrived at Southampton one grey November
day. I wondered to see the sky so near the earth,
and the trees almost like shrubs in height compared
IO2 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
to our Eastern forests. But it was sweet to hear
the children speaking English in the streets, and
their fair rosy faces were refreshing indeed. I
never thought our school-children plain when we
were at Sarawak, but the contrast was certainly
very great when we looked about us in England.
PART II.
CHAPTER X.
RETURN TO SARAWAK.
IN 1854, after eighteen months' stay in England,
during which time my husband worked as deputation
for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel,
we returned to Sarawak, via Calcutta, in one of
Green's sailing vessels, for we were too large a
party to afford the overland route.
Besides ourselves and our baby, we had two
young ladies who wished to try and teach the
Malay women in their homes, and to help with the
day-scholars at the mission-house. Only one of
these ladies reached Sarawak ; the other left us at
Calcutta, and married there eventually. The Rev.
J. Grayling and Mr. Owen, a schoolmaster, also
went with us, and a young friend who was put
under my charge, and lived with us for some years
on account of his health.
For nurse I had an old Malay woman who had
taken some children to England from Singapore,
and wanted to return. She was a capital sailor,
106 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
and always able to carry Mab about however
rough the sea was. Nothing could exceed her
devotion to the child, but she had contracted a bad
habit of always sharing the sailor's grog by day,
and requiring a tumbler of hot gin and water before
she went to bed. This was a great trouble to me,
but I never saw her tipsy till we were staying at
the Bishop's palace at Calcutta. Ayah, having
been in the bazaar buying presents for her children,
was brought back lying senseless in a palanquin.
The Bishop, who was in the hall when the bearers
set the palanquin down, exclaimed, " Oh ! that
woman has cholera ! take her away."
However, she was kindly cared for by the
servants, and appeared the next day without any
shame, bringing " a toy for missy." All my lecture
was quite thrown away — she " had only taken a
glass of grog in the bazaar, and they had put bang
into it, so of course it made her insensible ; but it
was no fault of hers." This curious old woman
was a Mahometan, therefore her tipsiness was
inexcusable. She practised the habit of alms-
giving, however, not only with her own money but
mine. She used to say I did nothing in that way
for the salvation of my soul, and, as she loved me,
she must do it for me. I remember seeing a
beggar-woman with twin babies, who used to sit in
the streets of Kensington with Mab's bonnets on
the babies' heads. Ayah gave them for my sake.
Indeed, she was notorious in Kensington, because
she could not resist treating boys to ginger-beer,
RETURN TO SARAWAK. IO/
and I sometimes had the mortification of seeing
Ayah with a small crowd at her heels, and my
baby kissing her little hands to them as Ayah
desired her.
We only spent a week in Calcutta. The object
of our going there was that the Bishop, in conjunc-
tion with Bishop Dealtry of Madras, and Bishop
Smith of Victoria, should consecrate my husband
Bishop of Labuan ; but the Bishops had not reached
Calcutta, and their arrival was uncertain. We were
anxious to get to Sarawak, and could not wait for
them ; so it was decided that Frank should return
by himself in the autumn, and we should proceed
as quickly as we could. Sad news reached us from
Kuching. Our dear friend Willie Brereton, who
had done so much for the Sakarran Dyaks, was
dead of dysentery. There was no medical man
when my husband was away.
Our Rajah had been very dangerously ill of
small-pox, and had only a Malay doctor, who was
devoted but ignorant. Happily Mr. Horsburgh,
with medical books to aid him, came to the rescue
in time, but the return of the physician of soul and
body was much desired. I see, by my journal, that
after a weary passage of twenty-four days in a
sailing vessel from Singapore, we reached Sarawak
on the 25th of April. Mr. Horsburgh came to fetch
us from the mouth of the river in the Siam boat,
a long boat with a house in it, which the Rajah
brought with him from Siam after his embassy to
that country. Mr. Horsburgh told us that all the
108 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
chief Government officers were away, looking for
Lanun pirates on the coast ; but we had plenty of
kind greetings from the Christian Chinese, who
came about us in the bazaar, and all the school-
children came running down the hill with Mrs.
Stahl, who almost screamed for joy at our return.
The house looked nicer than ever, for the trees had
grown up about it, and I felt most vividly that this
was our chosen home, endeared to us by many
sorrows, but the place where we had received much
blessing from God, and where our work lay, and
perhaps some day its reward, in the Church
gathered from the heathen into Christ's fold. We
were not long alone ; the next day Mr. Chambers
arrived from Banting with a party of seven baptized
Dyaks.
We had brought all sorts of beautiful things
from England for the Church. A carpet to lay
before the altar, a new altar-cloth, also painted
shields for the roof. Our friends in England had
furnished us with a box of clothes for the Dyaks,
cotton trousers and jackets, and gay handker-
chiefs for their heads. We always dressed the
Christians for baptism — it was a sign of the new
life they professed at the font ; but we did not
expect them to wear clothes generally, except
their own chawats, nor was it to be desired until
they knew how to wash them. We had also
brought a beautiful magic lantern with a dissolving-
view apparatus for our people's amusement and
instruction, for some of the slides were painted by
CONSECRATION OF THE BISHOP. IOQ
Miss Rigaud to illustrate the life of our Lord, and
there were many astronomical slides also. All
these treasures brought us numerous visitors. The
Chinese Christians were all invited to a feast at
our house, after which the magic lantern was
exhibited, and we were glad to find that our school-
children could explain all the Scripture slides quite
correctly.
Mr. Horsburgh accompanied Mr. Chambers to
Banting that day, to assist him in his work for
the Balow Dyaks ; and soon after, Mr. Gomes
arrived from Lundu with a large party of men and
boys ; but I have already described their visit. My
dear husband went off to Calcutta again in
September, and was consecrated Bishop of Labuan
on St. Luke's Day, October 18, 1855. Sir James
Brooke added Sarawak to his diocese and title
on his return ; indeed, the small island of Labuan,
no larger than the Isle of Wight, was only the
English title to a bishopric which was then almost
entirely a missionary one. The Straits Settlements,
including Singapore, Penang, and Malacca, were
then under the Government of India, and Labuan
was the only spot of land under the immediate
control of the Colonial Office. The Bishop of
Calcutta would, from the first, have been glad to
part with so distant a portion of his then unwieldy
diocese, but it could not at that time be effected.
As soon as the Straits Settlements were passed
over to the Queen's Government, the Bishop of
Labuan became virtually the Bishop of the Straits,
1 10 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
and, even long before that, performed all episcopal
functions in those settlements ; but the title has
only lately been altered.
As I was not present at my husband's consecra-
tion, I cannot do better than transcribe good
Bishop Wilson's letter to the venerable society
(S.P.G.), describing the ceremony.
Calcutta, Bishop's Palace, October 22, 1855.
Thank God, the consecration took place with
complete success on Thursday, October i8th, St.
Luke's Day. The Bishop elect arrived some days
before, the Bishop of Victoria on the i6th, and
Bishop Dealtry (of Madras) on the i/th. The
crowded cathedral marked the interest which was
excited. We sent out two hundred printed invita-
tions to gentry, besides requesting the clergy to
attend in their robes. There were more than eight
hundred jammed into the cathedral, and hundreds
could not gain admittance. The clergy were thirty.
After morning prayer the assistant bishops con-
ducted the elect Bishop to the vestry, where, having
attired himself in his rochet, he was presented to
me when seated near the Communion table. Her
Majesty's mandate was then read, and the commis-
sion of his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The several oaths were next duly administered by
the registrar of the diocese. The Litany was
devoutly read by the Bishop of Madras, and after-
wards the examination of the candidate took
place. I should have said that the sermon followed
CONSECRATION OF THE BISHOP. Ill
the Nicene Creed. It was by the Bishop of Madras,
the text being taken from 2 Tim. i. 6, 7 : —
" Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou
stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the
putting on of my hands. For God hath not given
us the spirit of fear ; but of power, and of love, and
of a sound mind."
The Bishop has consented at my request to print
the discourse, which I shall have the pleasure of
sending copies of for the Archbishop and your-
self, I was gratified at observing that the text
is taken from the solemn words used at the
very act itself of consecration. After the exami-
tion, the Bishop returned to the vestry to put on
the rest of the episcopal dress ; and as the vestry
in the cathedral is at the west end of the building,
he had to pass down the one hundred and twenty
feet conducting to it, with the eyes and hearts of
the congregation fixed upon him with wonder and
pleasure. On his return, the "Veni, Creator Spiritus"
was sung, each alternate line being answered by
the Bishops and clergy, with the accompaniment
of our fine organ. After the appointed prayers,
which are directed to follow this hymn, the im-
position of hands took place, and the words of the
consecration pronounced by myself as presiding
metropolitan. The Bible was next placed in his
hands, with the admirable exhortation prescribed
— an exhortation which I think incomparable and
almost inspired, as indeed the whole service is.
The collection at the offertory was made for the
112 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
Sarawak Mission, and above five hundred C. rupees
collected. The whole service concluded with the
Holy Communion of the body and blood of Christ.
The new Bishop preached at St. Thomas's Church
on Sunday, the 2ist, for his mission ; and a single
gentleman contributed one thousand C. rupees. He
will preach at the cathedral on the 28th, when
something more will be gathered. The Bishop of
Madras has presented the four hundred rupees ot
his voyage expenses, from Madras to Calcutta and
back, to the same blessed cause. I have had three
breakfast parties (for I don't give dinners) to meet
the Bishop, of about forty each, on the day after
the consecration, and on Saturday, and this morn-
ing, and the addresses made by Bishops Dealtry
and Smith were most warmly received. Thus has
this great occasion passed off — the first consecra-
tion, I believe, that has ever taken place out of
England since the glorious Reformation, and per-
haps the first missionary Bishop sent out by our
Church ; unless the Bishop of Mauritius may be
considered as having preceded him.
It was, indeed, a singular event that four
Protestant Bishops should meet in the heart of
heathen India, amidst one hundred and fifty mil-
lions of idolaters and worshippers of the false
Prophet.
God be praised for this completion of episcopal
functions in India !
DANIEL CALCUTTA,
CONSECRATION OF THE BISHOP. 1 I 3
I must add to this graphic letter a note which
the venerable Bishop wrote to my husband, No-
vember 6th of the same year.
Tennasarim, Bishop's Cabin.
MY BELOVED REV. BISHOP OF LABUAN,
Whether to write to you by the pilot or
not I can hardly tell. However, I am so anxious
for your beginning well at Singapore and Sarawak,
and so responsible also from having consecrated
you to the Lord, that I must write. I have taken
the liberty with you which Mr. Cecil took with me
in 1 80 1, to caution you, now you are a chief pastor
and a father in God, against excessive hilarity of
spirits. There is a mild gravity, with occasional
tokens of delight and pleasure, becoming your
sacred character, not noisy mirth.
I met with a letter of a minister, now with God,
to a brother minister, who was about to take his
duty for a time, which I think will give you plea-
sure. " Take heed to thyself; your own soul is your
first and greatest concern. You know that a sound
body alone can work with power ; much more a
healthy soul. Keep a clear conscience through the
blood of the Lamb. Keep up close communion
with God. Study likeness to Him in all things.
Read the Bible for your own growth first, then for
your people. Expound much ; it is through the
truth that souls are to be sanctified, not through
essays upon the truth. You will not find many
companions ; be the more with God. Be of good
l
114 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
courage, there remaineth much land to be possessed.
Be not dismayed, for Christ shall be with you to
deliver you. I am often sore cast down ; but the
Eternal God is my refuge. Now farewell ; the
Lord make you a faithful steward." If we do not
meet again in the flesh, may we meet, never to part,
before the throne of the Great Redeemer !
I am your affectionate
D. CALCUTTA.
After my husband's consecration, he undertook a
confirmation tour for Bishop Wilson, at the mission
stations around Calcutta. He also consecrated a
church at Midnapore in South Bengal. In De-
cember, after four month's absence, he returned to
Sarawak.
Our party in the mission-house during his
absence consisted of a chaplain, a missionary lady
learning Malay and teaching the girls' school, our
young friend Mr. Grant, myself, and baby Mab.
The days ran along a smooth groove, although we
had all plenty to do. Up early in the morning,
then a walk, and service in church at seven. After
prayers some hours' teaching and learning before
midday bath and breakfast. The afternoon was
a more lazy time, though the hum of school went
on continuously, while we did our sewing and
reading in the coolest corners we could find. The
new school-house, in which all the boys, the Stahls,
and Mr. Owen, the schoolmaster, lived, was near
enough to the mission-house for us to know the hour
A COCKATOO. I I
of the day by the lesson going on at the time ; for
all the younger boys repeated their multiplication
tables in a loud voice together (in Malay), also their
Chinese reading ; then came the singing, rounds and
part-songs, the most popular lesson of all. At four
o'clock the school broke up. The children amused
themselves as English boys do. There was a season
for marbles, for hop-scotch, for tops, and for kites.
Above all, do Chinese children love kites, and
are most ingenious in making them. They cut
thin paper into the shapes of birds, fish, or butter-
flies, and stretch it over thin slips of the spine of
the cocoa-nut leaf, then they ornament it with bits
of red or blue paper, and fasten it together with a
pinch of boiled rice. The string is the most ex-
pensive part, and two pennyworth lasts many kites,
for they are very frail affairs, and in that land of
trees do not long escape being caught, though they
fly beautifully. Miss J had a cockatoo which
amused her and the little girls during sewing-class.
He was a beautiful bird with a rosy crest, but
extremely mischievous. To sharpen his beak he
notched all the Venetian shutters in the verandahs ;
and if he spied a looking-glass, flew at it in a rage
and broke it : fortunately there were no large mirrors
in the house. These birds look very pretty perch-
ing in the trees, and this one became tame enough
to be trusted out of doors, but they are bad inmates.
We had also a chicken-yard for Alan's amuse-
ment, and great were our difficulties in preserving
the nests from rats, who ate the eggs. If we placed
Il6 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
the nests on a high shelf, these creatures managed
to shove the eggs out of the nests so that they fell
broken on the floor all ready for their supper. At
last we circumvented them by slinging the nests by
long rattans from the roof.
At five o'clock another short service took place
in church. In the evening we read aloud to one
another, \vhile the rest sewed or drew.
This tranquil, even monotonous life was very
much to my taste in my husband's absence, but
after a few weeks it was disturbed by sad trials.
First, the chaplain had a sunstroke, and fell out
with the climate, the place, and some members of
our little society ; so he went to Singapore, and
from thence to England. When we were recover-
ing from this blow, and had again settled down
into our usual ways, a worse trial befell me.
One morning Miss J did not appear at early
breakfast, and little Mary, who waited upon her in
her room, said she was sound asleep and did not
wake when she opened the shutters. I thought
nothing of it at first, for Mies J sometimes sat
up late at night ; but an hour afterwards, I went into
her room and looked at her. Her breathing was so
laboured I thought she was in a fit ; and first I tried
to put leeches on her temples, but they would not
bite, and we resolved to carry her into the fresh
breeze in the verandah, for the air of the room
seemed laden with something close and stifling.
When I threw back the covering of the bed, I
perceived that the veins of both arms had been cut,
EVENTS OF 1855. .117
and a few drops of blood stained her night-dress ;
also there was a small empty bottle in the bed with
" Laudanum " on its label. The terrible truth was
evident — she had taken poison and tried to bleed
herself to death ! Probably the action of the
laudanum prevented any flow of blood, yet the few
drops may have relieved the brain. The horror of
this discovery nearly deprived me of my senses ; but
there was no time for lamentation — she was not
dead, thank God, and all our efforts must be used
to restore her to life. We were very ignorant, but
we did all we could think of. There was no doctor
to apply to, only the chemist who served the dis-
pensary. He gave medicine which was certainly
very strong, and we put mustard plasters on her legs.
By the evening she was sensible enough to take
some food, but for a week there was serious illness,
and it was a long time before I could ask my poor
friend why she had done this thing. She had left
me a letter to read in the event of her death,- but
of course I never read it. We were very much
together, but I had not thought her unhappy ;
indeed the only reason she ever gave me for so
hating her life was, that she could not learn Malay,
and did not think she should be any use as a mis-
sionary. This despondency was known to me, but
I had no idea it cut so deep. Miss J had a
great deal of quiet fun — she often amused us by her
clever and somewhat caustic remarks. But Sara-
wak was too monotonous a life for her. When,
some weeks afterwards, she had quite regained
Il8 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
the balance of her mind, she went to Singapore,
and became a very useful member of society for
many years before she died. I never felt that I
could judge her, for I had so much ' more to
occupy my mind and interest my heart than my
companion. There was baby in the first place,
and the responsibilities of the school and mission
naturally fell to my share. No doubt it requires
an even temperament to live contentedly without
society, and with only such excitement as daily
duties and the beauties of nature afford. Yet
these are full of infinite happiness, and we were
not without friends, although we had no company :
the little party at Government House, as it was
then called, were very agreeable and uniformly kind
It is, however, a common mistake to imagine that
the life of a missionary is an exciting one. On the
contrary, its trial lies in its monotony. The un-
eventful day, mapped out into hours of teaching
and study, sleep, exercise, and religious duties ; the
constant society of natives whose minds are like
those of children, and who do not sympathize with
your English ideas ; the sameness of the climate,
which even precludes discourse about the weather,
— all this, added to the distance from relations and
friends at home, combined with the enervating effects
of a hot climate, causes heaviness of spirits and
despondency to single men and women. Married
people have not the same excuse ; for besides duty
and nature, they have " one friend who loves them
best," and that ought to be enough for the most
EVENTS OF 1855. 119
exacting temperament. I say nothing about the
comforts of religion — they are the portion of all,
married or single ; still some spirits become so
sensitive in solitude that they are not able to take
the cheerful sidev even of their relation to their
Heavenly Father, and these are generally the most
reserved to their companions. I am glad to find
that missionaries are now seldom sent alone to any
station, and women are more often associated in
sisterhoods for mission work under our colonial
Bishops, so that they have the society and sympathy
of English ladies after the toils of the day. I felt
much discouraged after Miss J left me, and
afraid of urging any one to follow in her place ; but
at last a cousin of my husband's came out to us,
and as she enjoyed the climate, and delighted in
the place and people, declaring that she had never
been more happy in her life than with us, I consoled
myself that it was not all the fault of Sarawak and
the mission-house that poor Miss J could not
live there.
CHAPTER XI.
CHINESE INSURRECTION.
" Mortal ! if life smile on thee, and thou find
All to thy mind,
Think, Who did once to earth from heaven descend
Thee to befriend ;
So shalt thou dare forego, at His dear call,
Thy life, thine all."
THESE lines were most applicable to us during the
year 1856. It was such rest and peace when our
Bishop returned from Calcutta and soothed all
the griefs and heartburnings we had suffered the
four months he was away. Then ensued the per-
formance of his new episcopal duties. Mr. Gomes
was ordained priest in March. Confirmations took
place, of our elder school-children, who were all
baptized when they first came to us ; also many
Chinese Christians too, who had long attended the
Bible classes at the mission-house and stood firm
to their baptismal vows. In April we had another
baby girl ; and soon after, the Bishop went to Labuan,
to arrange about a church being built there. Un-
SEE-AFAR COTTAGE. 121
fortunately he caught fever at Labuan ; which
declared itself at Singapore on his return. We
were both very ill, and glad of doctors' advice at
Singapore ; but Labuan fever returns again and
again, though in a slighter form after a while, and
was for years a constant trial to the Bishop's
strength. When we returned to Sarawak in
October, our party was increased. Mr. and Mrs.
Crookshank had come out from England — she a
bride, and quite a new element of youth and beauty
for Sarawak. A lady friend and her child and nurse
also came on a long visit to us, the air of Sarawak
being considered quite a tonic compared to the sea-
breeze at Singapore, which was at times visited by
a hot wind from Java. Very pleasant days followed
our return home. Mrs. Harvey and I, with our
children, went for a month to " See-afar " Cottage
on the hill of Serambo. I have already mentioned
this little house, built by Sir James Brooke as a
sanitarium after his attack of small-pox. The only
objection to it was, that it was built in the region
of clouds : had the hill been five hundred feet higher
we should have had the clouds below us, as they
are on Penang Hill. The path up the mountain
—if path it can be called — is almost a staircase of
tumbled rocks, and requires both strength and
agility to climb. It was quite beyond me ; but I
was carried on a man's back, sitting on a bit of
plank, with a strip of cloth fastened round my
waist and across the man's forehead, my back to
his back. The Dyaks are famous mountaineers,
122 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
their bare feet cling to the stones, or notched trunks
of trees thrown from one rock to another. I never
felt unsafe on my Dyak friend's back, and he used
to laugh when I proposed his setting me down and
taking a rest, and say, " You are not as heavy as
a basket of durian fruit." These Dyaks have
beautiful groves of fruit-trees, and make a good
purse in the fruit season by bringing down durians,
mungosteen and lansat fruit to sell at Kuching.
They also carry all their harvest of paddy up the
mountain to their rice-stores in the villages, so they
are used to heavy weights.
We took a stock of provisions up with us, fowls
and ducks, a goat and her kid, etc., and all the bed-
ding we wanted, for of course there was not much
furniture in the cottage. Our first night was un-
fortunate. We had settled ourselves in the rooms,
had our supper, and were about to go to bed, when
the servants ran out of the cook-house, which was
a stone's-throw from the cottage, crying out, " Fire ! "
, and in a few minutes we saw it wrapped in flames.
Of course a house built of sticks and leaves does
not take long to burn down to the ground, but we
were distressed to hear the bleatings of the little
kid which could not be got out in time. The ducks,
too, were still in the long basket coop in which they
were carried up, and were literally roasted in their
feathers before anybody remembered them. A
large party of Dyaks were on the spot directly
they saw the flames, and they did good service
by throwing water on the roof of the cottage, and
SEE-AFAR COTTAGE. 123
watching lest the thatch should catch. In the
morning they discovered the burnt ducks, and ate
them up with much relish, for a Dyak likes the
flavour of burnt feathers. The next day the cook-
house was rebuilt. These native huts look so clean
and fresh when first put up, the straw-coloured
attap * walls and green leaf roofs are so agreeable
to the eye. They quickly turn hay colour and then
get discoloured by the wood smoke. Except that
we were at times rather short of food, we enjoyed
our mountain retreat very much. The bath was
a remarkable feature — a natural stone basin, under
the shadow of a great rock, fed by the clearest
streamlet and sheltered from view by a heavy bit
of curtain, was our bathing-place. We carried a
little leaf bucket and our towels in our hands, and
while we poured the fresh water over our heads
we could now and then stop to look at the great
expanse of plain and forest, with silver rivers wind-
ing amidst them, and blue smoke stealing up here
and there to mark a Dyak village. There was,
however, a particular rock on the spur of the
mountain from whence we always watched the
sun set ; there was a much wider view from thence.
The sea lay on the horizon, and the pointed mountain
of Santubong stood on the plain, with other ranges
of hills far away. I fear we did little else but watch
the glories of earth and sky at that time, and look
after our children, who could not be trusted alone
a minute on those steep paths.
* Talm leaf.
12}. SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
Meanwhile the Bishop was paying a visit to
Lundu in his new life-boat, a boat of about twenty-
c-i^ht feet, with a little covered house in it, and
water-tight compartments in the bow and stern
to keep her afloat. She was well named, for even
in this first voyage she saved the lives of her pas-
sengers. From the coast at Santubong you see
blue hills far away to the west, which lie in the
Lundu country. The sea runs very high, in the
north-cast monsoon, between the mouths of these two
rivers, the Sarawak and Lundu ; and on this occasion
the waves on their return from Lundu were fearful.
Seven great waves like green hills advanced one
after another. The Malay crew prayed aloud with
terror. Stahl and the Bishop steered the boat and
held their breaths. It looked like rushing into the
O
jaws of death, but the life-boat mounted the big
waves one after another, sometimes shuddering with
the strain, but buoyant and stiff. The danger past,
the crew praised Allah and the good boat ; and
they, as well as Stahl who had behaved so well at
the time of danger, fell into a fit of ague from
the nervous shock. We knew on the top of the
hill that a fearful storm was raging, but we did
not see the white boat flying like a bird over the
seven great rollers, or there would have been no
sleep for us that night. The crew never forgot
it, nor the calm pluck of their steersman the Bishop.
I must confess that an attack of fever was the
result of all this exertion when he joined us on
the hill.
CHINESE GOLD-WORKERS. 125
The rest of the year 1856 passed away quietly.
We were all looking forward to an event which was
to improve the English society of the place very
much. The Rajah's nephew, Captain Brooke, was
bringing out a bride ; and her brother, Mr. Charles
Grant, another. These four young people were
expected in the early spring of 1857, and the Rajah
was refurnishing his bungalow to receive these
additions to his family. A new piano had arrived,
and all sorts of pretty things, to brighten up the
cool dark rooms of Government House. Mr. and
Mrs. Crookshank were preparing a house for them-
selves also ; and all their boxes, which had remained
unopened while they lived with the Rajah, were
moved up to their bungalow. Little did we think
that all these treasures would be burnt before they
were even unpacked !
The Chinese gold-workers of Bau and Seniawan
had long given more or less trouble to the Sarawak
Government. They were governed by their own
self-elected kunsi (magistrates), and recognized
their fealty to Sarawak only by the payment of
a small tax on the gold they washed from the soil.
They sent the gold away to China, and habitually
cheated as to the quantity obtained. They also
smuggled opium from the Dutch settlement of
Sambas, thus defrauding Government of revenue.
Worse than all this, they introduced secret societies,
or hui, among themselves, and threatened to rebel
if any of their kunsi were punished for breaking
the laws of the country. At Christmas, 1856, they
126 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
boasted they could demolish Kuching in one night,
if they chose ; and that a new Joss House they were
building there should furnish them with a pretext
to gather by hundreds to set the Joss in his temple,
and possess themselves of the place and the
Europeans who lived there. These uncomfortable
rumours seemed to have some foundation when
a new road was discovered which the Chinese had
made between Bau and Seniawan, another settle-
ment nearer to Kuching. Mr. Crookshank, who
was in charge of the Government, sent word to Mr.
Johnson, who immediately came from Sakarran
with a fleet of Dyaks, delighted to have a chance of
fighting the Chinese, and carrying plenty of heads
back to their homes. At the same time a gun-boat
was stationed on the river to prevent any com-
munication between Bau and Kuching. Upon this
the kunsi came very humbly and begged pardon,
declared the whole story was a fabrication, and
that they never intended mischief. We only half
believed them, but the Dyaks were dismissed, and
unfortunately the gun-boat no longer kept watch
on the river. Our Christian Chinese teacher " Sing-
Song," was of the Kay tribe, the same as the Bau
people, and once a month he went there to teach
his countrymen. There were a few Christians among
them. One, a goldsmith, did his best to let us know
that danger was impending, but the kunsi suspected
him, and put him in prison ; we were therefore quite
unprepared for what took place. On the I7th of
February, three Chinese kunsi were flogged by
CHINESE INSURRECTION. I2/
order of the court at Kuching, for taking the law
into their own hands, and seizing a runaway
prisoner, as well as the captain of the boat in which
she absconded, although he was not guilty of hiding
her. This seems to have put the finishing touch to
the factious state of feeling at Bau. The Rajah
and the Bishop had determined to take a trip
together on the iSth, in the life-boat, to Sadong,
and from thence to Linga and Sakarran. The
Rajah had been ailing for some time, and we hoped
this little voyage would do him good. We pre-
pared all the provisions for this trip : bread and
rusks were made, salt meat was cooked, and every-
thing was ready packed in the provision baskets
(this was of great importance to us afterwards).
That evening we all met out walking, on the only
riding-road there was in those days. Rajah spoke
to the school-children, and we all amused ourselves
with the little Middletons, boys of four and five,
strutting along with turbaned hats and long walking-
sticks. It was a dull evening, and we all felt
unaccountably gloomy. We fancied it was because
Rajah was not well enough to come and dine with
us, as he had purposed in the morning ; but during
dinner I remembered afterwards that the Bishop
said, " If any sudden alarm were to take place to-
night it would rouse him and make him all right."
We certainly went to bed without expecting any-
thing to happen, but, about twelve o'clock, we were
roused by shouts and screams, and the firing of
guns. We got up and looked out. The Rajah's
128 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
bungalow was in flames across the river. On our
side the Middletons' house was burning, and Mr.
Crookshank's new house, a little way up the road,
was soon after on fire. The most horrid noises
filled the air, there was evidently fighting going on
at the two forts at either end of the town by the
river's side. We knew there were very few de-
fenders at either of these two forts, and that they
would soon be taken ; for by this time we were sure
it must be the Chinese miners who had fulfilled
their threat to take the town. We thought, " When
the forts are taken they will come to us." Presently
the brothers, William and John Channon, who
lived near us, came to our house, bringing their
wives and children for shelter. They brought news
that the fort near their houses was taken and burnt,
and they dare not stay in their own cottages, as
they were Government servants, and would be
obnoxious to the rebels.
We took our children out of bed and dressed
them, and then we all went down to the school-
house, from whence we could see the burning
houses and hear what was going on in the town.
A Chinaman came up from the bazaar, begging us
not to go to them for shelter, for they had been
warned by the kunsi not to harbour any English
people, and they dared not take us in. Poor
creatures, they were in terror for themselves, as they
were not of the same tribe of Chinese as the Bau
people. What should we do ?
We were so large a party, and had so many
WE ALL WENT DOWN TO THE SCHOOL-HOUSE, FROM WHENCE WE COULD SEE THE
BURNING HOUSES. Page 128.
CHINESE INSURRECTION. I2Q
children amongst us, that we did not venture to
hide in the jungle : the night was quite dark and we
might lose one another. Then the Bishop said, "We
cannot make any resistance : we will hide away the
guns we have in the house, and unite in prayer to
God." So we all knelt round him while he com-
mended us to the mercy of our Heavenly Father,
and prayed for all our dear friends who were
exposed to the fury of the Chinese. Then we sat
and waited. Miss Woolley, who had only been
three months in Sarawak, read aloud a psalm from
time to time to comfort us ; but the hours seemed
very long. At five o'clock in the morning the
kunsi, having possessed themselves of the Chinese
town, sent us word that they did not mean to harm
us — " the Bishop was a good man and cared for the
Chinese," but he must go down to the hospital and
attend to their wounded. Then came the welcome
news that the Rajah had escaped, and Mr. Crook-
shank and Middleton — the three people whom the
Chinese most desired to kill, for the one was chief
constable and the other police magistrate, who
carried out the Rajah's sentence on the kunsi.
A price was set on their heads, but the Malays' love
of their English Rajah made that only an idle threat.
We were told that Mrs. Crookshank was dead, and
the little Middletons, as well as Mr. Wellington,
who lodged in their house, and Mr. Nicholetts, who
was staying at the Rajah's house. Mrs. Crookshank,
however, was not dead, but lying wounded in a
ditch near the ashes of her house. When the
K
130 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
Bishop knew this he demanded her of the kunsi.
They said no, at first, for they were angry that her
husband had escaped ; but Bishop refused to attend
to the wounded unless they gave her up, so at last
they gave leave to have her carried to our house.
It was about ten o'clock when she was brought in
— a pitiful sight, her dress covered with blood, her
hair matted with grass and dust, her fingers bleed-
ing. It did not seem possible she could live after
remaining all night in this dreadful state. She
told us tl}at she and her husband did not awake
until the house was full of men. They had only time
to jump up and run down their bath-room stairs,
he catching up a spear for their defence. Opening
the bath-room door it creaked, and a man came
running round the house shouting, " Assie Moy,"
the name of the woman-prisoner they had seized.
He struck down Mrs. Crookshank with a sword he
had in his hand, and Mr. Crookshank attacked him
with the spear. They struggled together till the
Chinaman cut his right arm to the bone, and the
spear fell from his hand ; then, seeing his wife lying
dead, as he thought, in the grass, he managed to get
away to the edge of the jungle, and sitting down,
faint with loss of blood, saw his house burn to the
ground. As morning dawned he found his way
to the Datu Bandar's house, where the Rajah had
already arrived, and Middleton. Meanwhile the
Chinese, chasing the fowls from the burning fowl-
house, came upon Mrs. Crookshank lying on her
face, and one of them, seizing her by her hair,
CHINESE INSURRECTION. 131
desired her to follow him. She could not walk
a step, so he carried her in his arms ; but when she
groaned with the pain, he laid her in a ditch near
the road. Many Chinese came and stood by her :
they covered her with their jackets, one held an
umbrella over her head, another offered her some
tobacco, but they would not let any of our people
touch her until an order came from the kunsi.
We had sent our eldest school-boy to reassure her,
and he stood beside her until our servants could
bring her away safely. As soon as the Bishop had
dressed the wounded in the town, he came home for
some breakfast. When I saw him I called out, for
his pith hat was covered with blood. "It is only
fowl's blood," said he, " don't be frightened : they
killed a chicken over my head as a sign of friend
ship." The Middletons' servants came to us early
in the morning, and said that they did not know
what had become of their mistress, but the two
little boys were killed by the Chinese, their heads
cut off, and their bodies thrown into the burning.
Later on, we heard that Mrs. Middleton, after seeing
Mr. Wellington killed in trying to defend her, had
escaped into the bath-room and hidden herself in
one of the big water-jars; but, the door being open,
she had seen her children murdered, and then had
got out of the jar and run into the jungle, where
she concealed herself in a little pool of water, much
hidden by overhanging boughs. There this poor
mother remained for some hours, until a Chinaman
from the town came to the spring, carrying a drawn
Ij2 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
sword in his hand. " Oh, sir, pray don't kill me ! " she
called out. " Oh no ! " answered the man, "I am a
friend of Mr. Peter" (her husband), "and will take
care of you." So he took her to his house, and
dressed her in Chinese clothes. It was almost a
wonder to me that this poor young woman lived
through that dreadful time. As the day wore on,
Mr. Ruppell, the banker of the place, and a great
friend of the Chinese, came and took up his abode
with us. Then he, the Bishop, and Mr. Helms, the
manager of the English Merchant Company, were
ordered to meet the kunsi at the court-house ; also
the Datu Bandar, the chief Malay magistrate. There
a very trying scene took place. The kunsi sat in
the seats of the magistrates, smoking, their principal
in the Rajah's own chair. They stated that they
did not wish to make war with the English, or the
Malays, only with the Rajah's government, and they
desired those present to assist them in the govern-
ment of the country. This they had drawn up in
writing, and desired the English and Datu Bandar
to sign. The Bishop pointed out to them that the
best thing they could do would be to return to Bau
and defend their town ; that the Dyaks would
certainly come in fleets of boats directly they heard
of what had happened at Kuching, and they would
as certainly be killed if they remained in the place.
This was true enough, but they were afraid of the
Malays attacking them on the water. The Chinese
are bad boatmen. They could not therefore make
up their minds to go, and much fierce discussion
CHINESE INSURRECTION.
arose. The thieves and rogues of the place, being
under no restraint, robbed all the houses, on this
afternoon, whose inmates had taken refuge at the
mission-house. The Christian Chinese, being afraid
of their countrymen, rushed into our house, carry-
ing all sorts of goods and chattels, and caused me
much distress on Mrs. Crookshank's account, who
was very sensitive to fresh alarms. However, we
settled our Chinese friends in some of the lower
rooms. The Channons and their babies were in
the attics. Night came at last, and a dead silence
fell upon the town and the crowded mission-house.
Not even the usual sounds in the bazaar or on the
river were heard ; only an occasional gun broke the
stillness of the night. Friends and foes were alike
weary. We did not venture to undress, but lay
down all ready for flight if necessary, with our hats
and little bundles beside us. The Bishop and Mr.
Ruppell watched all night in the porch. Friday
morning the Chinese, continually urged by the
Bishop, determined to return to Bau. Later on
they heard a rumour that the Malays would attack
them on the river ; then they made the Datu
Bandar sign a promise not to follow them. Still
they felt no confidence that he would not, so they
said they would take Mr. Helms with them as
a hostage for the Datu's good faith. Poor Mr.
Helms did not like this idea at all, and having
a fast boat lying in the creek near his house, he
slipped away early in the afternoon, down the
river, and hid himself in the jungle. No one
/ ", \. SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
in Sarawak could imagine what had become of
him.
About midday the Bishop told me he wished me,
Miss Woolley, and the children, including Alan
Grant, to go to Singapore in a trading schooner
which Mr. Ruppell had detained at the mouth of
the river in case of emergency.
Mrs. Stahl and Miss Coomes were to remain and
nurse Mrs. Crookshank, but it would be a great
relief to him to think of us in safety. The
Chinese kunsi also wished us to go, " that the
people at Singapore might see that they did not
desire our death." It seemed very hard to me to
leave my husband in such danger, for that morning
the kunsi had flourished swords in his face and
threatened him, knowing very well that he wished
to bring the Rajah back. Still I knew he could
more easily provide for the safety of those left
behind if we were already out of the way. So I
packed up some clothes and provisions for the
voyage. While I was doing this a Chinaman
came from the Good Luck schooner to say I must
only take one box for our party, as the schooner
was very full of Chinese passengers, fleeing for fear
of the kunsi. With this we had to be content.
At three o'clock we went to the shop of Amoo, the
Chinese owner of the Good Liick, There I found
my husband writing to Mr. Johnson at Linga,
to tell him what had happened. Then Datu
Bandar came in to say that the kunsi had gone
up the river, and had taken some of the fort guns
CHINESE INSURRECTION. 135
with them ; that they were very crowded in the
boats, and that he should follow after them with a
Malay force at night. They did nothing, however,
when the time came ; for until the Malays had got
their families safe out of the place they were not
willing to fight. They were brave enough when
the women and children were moved to Samarahan
on Saturday. There were many Chinese women
collected at Amoo's, belonging to the shopkeepers
in the bazaar. The wife of the court scribe, whom
I knew, told me in a whisper that she managed to
get some bread to the Rajah and his party, and
had told Mr. Crookshank that his wife was alive
and with us. At last the life-boat was ready.
Stahl went with us to steer, and said there were
plenty of Chinese to row the boat. When we got
down to it, we found it not only fully manned by
Chinese, but full of their women, children, and
boxes, so that we could scarcely find room to
squeeze ourselves into the stern, and we were so
heavily laden that we made very slow progress.
It was no use protesting, however : we were only
English folk, and the Chinese had it all their own
way in those days. About eight o'clock we got
down to the mouth of the Morotabas, where the
schooner lay. Pitch dark and very wet it was, but
it was a relief when all the Chinese passengers
climbed up the schooner ladder, and the men
hauled the boxes up one after another, last of all a
very heavy one which it took six men to lift, full
of dollars, — so no wonder \ve were overladen. Last
136 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
of all I climbed into the Good Luck, leaving the
children still in the boat with Stahl and Kim-
chack, one of our school-boys whose family were
moving away in the schooner. I found the deck
covered with Chinese, and when I said to the little
Portuguese captain, " Where is the little cabin Mr.
Rtippell promised me I should have?" he answered,
" Oh, ma'am, pray go back to your boat. I have
neither water nor fuel for the people who are
already on board. The cabin is filled with the
family and friends of the Chinese owner of the
schooner, and I cannot give you even room to sit
down anywhere." It was indeed true. My friend,
the court scribe's wife, said, " Come and sit by me
on the deck." " But the children, they cannot be
exposed day and night on deck." " Oh well, there
is no other place for them." So I jumped into
the life-boat again, and reclaimed my treasures.
"Rather," said Miss Woolley and I, "die on shore
than in that horrid boat." Indeed we felt quite cheer-
ful now we had the boat to ourselves ; and Kimchack
said he had already been two nights on board the
Good Luck and had had no room to lie down.
There we were, however, in the middle of the river,
with no one to row the boat. Stahl could not
move it by himself. At this moment a small boat
pulled alongside, and Mr. Helms' face appeared in
the darkness. How glad we were to see him ! and
he, faint and exhausted with wandering all day in
the jungle, was glad of a glass of wine, which was
soon got out of the provision basket. Then we
CHINESE INSURRECTION. 137
opened a tin of soup, and fed our tired and hungry
children, who behaved all through those terrible
days as if it was a picnic excursion got up for
their amusement. They enjoyed everything, and
were no trouble at all, either Alan or Mab. Edith
was a baby, and suffered very much from want of
proper food — but that was later on. Mr. Helms
and his crew rowed our boat into Jernang Creek,
where there were some Malay houses. In one of
these he and Alan went to sleep, but he advised
us to remain in the boat until the morning. We
laid Mab and Edith on one of the seats ; Miss
Woolley lay on the other ; and I sat at the bottom
of the boat to prevent the children from falling off.
The mosquitoes were numerous on that mud bank,
and I was very glad when the morning dawned.
At six o'clock Mr. Helms came to say we could
have an empty Malay house on shore for a few
days, so we gladly mounted up the landing-place
and found a kind and hospitable reception from
our Malay friends. They had put up some mat
partitions in a large room, that we might sleep in
private, and presented us with a nice curry for
breakfast. We then unpacked our box and dried
the clothes in it, which were wet through from the
overlading of the life-boat. About midday two
Englishmen arrived from the Quop River, nearer
to Kuching, where they had been with the Rajah.
They only stayed a short time, but told us that the
Kunsi Chinese had really gone to Bau, and that
the Bishop was with the Rajah at Quop. Late at
138 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
night I had a note from my husband, saying he
thought we might return to Sarawak, for all was
quiet, and he hoped the Rajah would come back
early on Sunday morning. The next morning,
therefore, we prepared to set off again in the life-boat,
but first I went to pay a visit to Inchi Bouyang the
Malay writer, who lived in one of the houses near,
and who was too stout to venture out of his own
house into a less strongly built one. This seems
absurd enough, but the Malay houses were certainly
very slight ; they seemed to sway in the mud of
the creek, and the floors of the rooms were made
of very open strips of nibong palm, so that you
had to walk turning your feet well out in order not
to slip through the lantiles. I found many Malays
gathered in the writer's house, all to entreat me
not to go to Kuching, because it was " not a lucky
day." " If the Malays fight the Chinese to-day,"
they said, "they will be beaten." "What reason
have you for saying so ? " " No reason exactly, but
the day is unlucky ; it is like Friday to the English,
they never go to sea on that day." " Oh," said I,
" that was long ago : they often go to sea on Friday
now they know better, and no sensible person
thinks anything of lucky or unlucky days." " Well,
we have told you what we think. If you must go.
some of us will go with you, and we shall tell the
Tuan Padre it was not our fault that you would not
wait until to-morrow." So Lulut, a servant of the
Rajah's, and another Malay got into the boat with
us, and we set off up the river.
CHAPTER XII.
CHINESE INSURRECTION (Continued).
As we proceeded up the river we agreed we would
ask news of any boat we met. Presently we
noticed smoke rising above the trees. " The
Malays are burning the Chinese town," said the
men ; but as we drew nearer it was evidently the
Malay town which was burning. At last we met a
boat. " Yes ; the Chinese had returned, and had set
fire to the Malay town ; they were also firing at the
Sarawak Chinese in the bazaar." On Saturday the
Bishop and the Channons and Stahl had unspiked
two of the guns left in the fort, and had hoisted the
Sarawak flag again on the flag-staff. The Bishop
then went to the Rajah's war boat at the Quop, and
told him that the Malays had sent away their
women, and were ready to fight should the Chinese
return ; and he begged him to come to our house
early the next morning, where breakfast should be
ready for him, and take the command. But the
Chinese heard of this, and returned in the morning,
I4O SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
some by river, some by road. As soon as the
Malays saw their boats rounding the corner near
the Malay town, they attacked them bravely, drove
them ashore, and though suffering much loss from
their superior fire, captured ten of their boats, and
secured them to a Malay prahu in the river.
While this struggle was going on, a large party of
Chinese, who walked from Seniawan, were ransack-
ing the town. Enraged with the Bishop for trying
to bring the Rajah back, they rushed into our house
to find him ; but he, having sent off all our belong-
ings, English and native, ran down the back stairs
while the Chinese rushed up into the porch in front,
and escaped to the Chinese town, where shots were
flying about in plenty, but did not hit him. He
got into a little boat passing by, with two Malays
in it, and they paddled him to the Rajah's war boat,
then retreating down the river. When they
reached the Quop he found a little boat, which
brought him quickly to Jernang.
We lay off the town in the life-boat, and saw one
boat after another rowing fast towards us. In one,
Mr. Koch, the missionary, with a number of school-
boys ; in another, Mrs. Crookshank, laid on a mat-
tress, Mrs. Stahl, and Miss Coomes, and the school-
girls ; then the Channons' families and some
Chinese ; then the Sing-Song's family, and more
boys. "Where is the Bishop?" I shouted. "In
the Rajah's war boat. We had the greatest difficulty
in getting boats enough for us ; the Chinese were
running up to the house when he sent us off, and
CHINESE INSURRECTION. 14!
firing had already begun in the streets when Mrs.
Crookshank was got into the boat."
This was an anxious moment; but before long our
servant James appeared with a message to me from
my husband, to return to Jernang, and stay there
until he appeared. Our Malay friends here left us,
to join their families anchored in boats by the
banks, and I filled the life-boat with the school-
children to lighten the other boats. Then we
pulled slowly back against the tide to Jernang.
The little landing-place was crowded when we
arrived, for the smaller boats had got there first.
I had the greatest difficulty in persuading the
Malays to give shelter to the Chinese Christians
and children. I answered for their good behaviour ;
but all Chinese, whether rebels or no, were in
sufficiently bad odour in those days. At last I
got them part of a house to themselves. No sooner
was all arranged than the Bishop arrived in his
little boat ; it was like receiving him from the dead.
Presently appeared the Rajah's war boat, he
standing at the stern. We all ran down to meet
him and Mr. Crookshank, and take them to Bertha,
who had been carried into a house. While we were
all standing on the little wharf, built on tall piles
into the water, the Malays cried out that it was
giving way, and we must all go into the houses.
The Bishop then decided what to do with his large
party. Mr. Helms had a schooner close by, in
which he was going to Sambas, to seek assistance
from the Dutch, our nearest neighbours. He kindly
l.;2 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
offered to take Miss Woolley, Miss Coomes, and
two of our eldest school-boys with him. The rest
of us could go to Linga, where there was a fort, as
a little pinnace belonging to Mr. Steele lay handy
at the mouth of the river. The Chinese, however,
implored to go with us ; and indeed it would have
been cruel to leave them a prey to the Malays, or
the bad Chinese, or the Dyaks. When we were
lodged in the pinnace, therefore, the Bishop went
back to Jernang, and packed all our Chinese into
the life-boat, which was attached by a rope to the
pinnace ; so we were all together. It was nearly
dark when we weighed anchor, and left the mouth
of the river. There was a tiny cabin, just large
enough to hold Bertha on her mattress ; a fowl-
house, into which our native children crept ; an open
hold, where we women sat down on our bundles,
with our children in our arms ; and there was a
place for cargo forward, where the men settled
themselves. The Rajah in his war boat also pro-
ceeded to Linga, and we expected him to arrive
long before our slow boat ; he would meet Mr.
Johnson, his nephew, there, and organize a force of
Dyaks from the great rivers, Sakarran and Batang
Lupar, to drive away the Chinese rebels. We never
had any doubt of their doing this eventually, though
we feared the remedy might be almost as bad as
the disease, if the Dyaks proved unmanageable and
quarrelled with one another. The night was very
dark and wet, and the deck leaked upon us, so
that we and our bags and bundles were soon wet
CHINESE INSURRECTION.
through. But we neither heeded the rain nor felt
the cold. We had eaten nothing since early morn-
ing, but were not hungry ; and although for several
nights we could scarcely be said to have slept,
we were not sleepy. A deep thankfulness took
possession of my soul ; all our dear ones were
spared to us. My children were in my arms, my
husband paced the deck over my head. I seemed
to have no cares, and to be able to trust to God for
the future, who had been so merciful to us hitherto.
I remember, too, when Mrs. Stahl opened the
provision basket, and gave us each a slice of bread
and meat, how very good it was, although we had
not thought about wanting it. We lit a little fire,
and made some hot tea, but soon had a message
from the Rajah's boat to put out the fire lest we
should be seen. The only thing that troubled me
was a nasty faint smell, for which I could not
account; but next morning we found a Chinaman's
head in a basket close by my corner, which was
reason enough ! We had taken a fine young man
on board to help pull the sweeps, a Dyak, and this
ghastly possession was his. He said he was at
Kuching, looking about for a head, and went into
the court-house. Hearing some one in a little side
room, he peeped in, and saw a Chinaman gazing
at himself in a bit of looking-glass, which was stuck
against the wall. He drew his sword, and in one
moment, stepping close behind him, cut off his
head : and having obtained this prize, was naturally
desirous of getting away from the place; so he came
144 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
off as boatman in one of the flying boats, bringing
the head in a basket, which he stowed in the side
of the boat. It entirely spoilt my hand-bag, which
lay near it ; I had to throw it away, and everything
in it which could not be washed in hot water.
Towards morning the sea made us all sick,
added to the wet, and cold of dawn ; yet, when the
day cleared a little, and we got a fire on deck, and
some hot tea and biscuits, and the children seemed
none the worse for their bad night and the swarms
of mosquitoes which had feasted upon them, we
could not repine. In the evening we passed the
island of Burong, at the mouth of the Batang
Lupar River, and Mr. Crookshank tried to stimulate
the men pulling the sweeps to reach a Sebuyan
village farther on, before the tide left us and it grew
dark. By dint of hard pulling we made the village,
and its little fort, standing close beside the water
and washed by its strong tide. A little boat came
off from the fort, with some Malays, of whom we
inquired for the Rajah, thinking his boat was far
ahead of us, but they said they had seen nothing
of him. Mr. Crookshank then begged them to
bring a boat in which he could take Bertha up to
Linga Fort that evening, instead of her remaining
another night in the pinnace. We went on as long
as the tide lasted, and then anchored in the Batang
Lupar. Again we made a fire on deck, and after
taking some food, settled ourselves for the night.
At eleven o'clock the promised boat came for
Bertha and Mr. Crookshank, and Mrs. Stahl went
CHINESE INSURRECTION. 145
with them as nurse ; they thought nothing could
be worse than spending another night on board the
pinnace, but I fear the little boat journey was still
more painful. When they reached Linga, they
found only Malays in the fort, and the dwelling-
house shut up, for Mr. Johnson was at Sakarran.
They had to carry Mrs. Crookshank up a ladder
into the fort, and lay her on a table ; but happily
Mr. Chambers arrived that night from Banting,
and furnished a curtain as a screen, and pillows
from his boat to make a more comfortable couch.
As we were setting off again next morning, we met
Mr. Johnson in a long boat, going straight off to
Kuching. He was lying ill of fever at Sakarran,
when his Malays roused him by saying, without
preface — "The news is bad.Tuan : the Rajah is killed
and Kuching in the hands of the rebel Chinese."
Upon this he jumped up, called together the chiefs,
and bidding them follow him with a strong force
of Dyaks, he set off himself without calling at
Linga by the way. When we told him that Rajah
was alive and on his way to Linga, he turned back
with us, and taking me, my ayah, and the children
into his boat, soon landed us at his house. This
was Tuesday, but we heard nothing of the Rajah
until Friday. Mr. Johnson, after breakfasting with
us at his house, went on to Kuching, and found
that, after we lost sight of the Rajah's war boat,
they had fallen in with the steamer belonging to
the Borneo Company, the Sir James Brooke, just
entering the river. Mr. Helms' schooner also came
L
I.|6 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
across her, so all the passengers in the schooner
and the war boat had moved into the steamer, and
they immediately proceeded up the river, preparing
the guns on board to attack as soon as they reached
the town. What must have been the feelings of
the Chinese in the fort when they saw the smoke
of the steamer curling above the trees, and then
received one ten-pounder shot after another into
their midst ! They fired one round of grape shot
at the steamer, and shouts of " Run ! " rose on all
sides. The steamer then proceeded up to the
Malay town, where the Malays still held out against
the Chinese ; but as they were getting very short
of ammunition, and their enemies were bringing
some large guns to bear on their position, they
greeted the steamer with shouts of welcome. The
Chinese fled in every direction. Cut off from their
boats, they ran into the jungle ; and while many
no doubt reached Bau in safety, many fell into the
hands of the Dyaks, who, following their usual
course of warfare, spread themselves through the
jungle, and took the head of every man they met.
The town was quite clear of the rebels in a few
hours, and the Sir James Brooke, anchored in the
river, furnished the base of operations which the
Rajah required : from thence he could direct the
Malay and Dyak forces, which were immediately
at his disposal, to drive the rebels out of the country.
The day before, the Chinese had filled our house
and looted it completely, except the books in the
library, for which they seem to have had some
CHINESE INSURRECTION. 147
respect ; but we had reason to believe that on
Monday the house would have been burnt, for gun-
powder and inflammable materials were found
strewed about after they left. They took every-
thing they could carry away, and destroyed the
rest, cutting long slits in the gauze of the mosquito-
rooms, and pouring all the chemicals and medicines
of the dispensary over the contents of the drawers,
clothes, and papers they did not wish for. They
found a long table set out ready for breakfast, and
had only to gather up the small plate, which, with
a house full of people, was all in requisition. The
church, too, was emptied of all its furniture, and the
harmonium smashed ; but the opportune arrival
of the steamer prevented these buildings from
sharing the fate of the other houses.
Meanwhile, we were settling ourselves with our
large party in Mr. Johnson's house, which he kindly
placed at our disposal. This house was surrounded
by a latticed verandah, the ground immediately
about it was cleared of jungle and drained by deep
ditches. From the fort you looked over the wide
stretch of water of the Batang Lupar, but it was
a lonely and monotonous look-out. As the fort
men were taken away to fight at Kuching, the
gentlemen had to form themselves into watches
day and night, with the few Malays who remained
to guard the fort. Boats full of Dyaks continually
arrived, to join the Rajah's force — Balows, Sarebas,
and Sakarrans lay side by side on the river, all
excited by the prospects of war, and frequently
148 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
causing silly panics among the Malays of Linga,
lest these warriors, from tribes so long enemies,
should fall out with one another before they got to
Kuching. There were, of course, no books or news-
papers to read ; our Bibles and Prayer-books alone
were among our luggage. We women were the
best off, for we got some unbleached calico from
Sakarran, and cut out some under-clothing, of which
we had but little; this gave us occupation. We also
had every clay to wash our linen and towels after
bathing. The bath was a clear running stream,
covered in near the house, very pretty and romantic,
but the water was of a light brown colour, like
toast and water, and had a slightly acid taste, very
agreeable but not very wholesome. Probably the
spring forced its way through dead leaves in the
jungle ; at any rate, it did not wash the clothes
white. It was very difficult to procure food for us
all. Rice and gourds made into a kind of curry
stew was our daily meal ; if a chicken was got it
was devoted to the children and the sick. We
were very anxious for some time on account of
Mrs. Crookshank. Had she remained quiet at
Kuching, her wounds would have healed quickly,
for she was young and perfectly healthy ; but all
the moving into boats, and carrying up ladders and
steps, had broken open the wounds, and it was
a struggle of strength and youth against adverse
circumstances. She was so patient and cheerful
that we never heard a complaint, which was in her
favour no doubt ; still there were some days when
CHINESE INSURRECTION. 149
her life was in great danger in that hot climate.
Twice during the month we received a box from
Kuching, sent by a native boat. Once it contained
our mail — an immense pleasure ; also some bread
and biscuits, but they were wet with salt water, and
mouldy besides. However, Mab and Alan could
eat them. I used to look with thankful astonish-
ment at those children, both so delicate generally,
but who throve all the time we were without
proper food or shelter. But baby Edith shrank
and pined, and at last my husband said, " We shall
lose this child if you stay here any longer : better
go and live among the Dyaks, who have plenty of
fowls."
So Mr. Chambers kindly took us in at his house
at Banting, where we had a most loving welcome,
and saw something of the Dyak women and
children. The men were mostly gone to the war,
and great excitement prevailed among the tribe
with the prospect of acquiring heads again, for the
Sarawak Government had quite stopped that
hunting in the country. Boats were continually
arriving, gay with streamers, and noisy with
gongs and drums beating, with heads of Chinese
on board. One day we were invited to a feast
in one of the long houses. I said, " I hope we
shall see no heads," and was told I need not see
any ; so, taking Mab in my hand, I went with
Mr. Chambers, and we climbed up into the long
verandah room where all the work of the tribe goes
on. This long house was surrounded with fruit-
150 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK
trees, and very comfortable. There were plenty of
pigs under the house, and fowls perching in every
direction. About thirty families lived in the house,
the married people having each their little room,
the girls a room to themselves, and the long room
I spoke of being used for cooking, mat-making,
paddy-beating, and all the usual occupations of
their lives. We were seated on white mats, and
welcomed by the chief people present. The feast
was laid on a raised platform along the side of the
room. There were a good many ornaments of the
betel-nut palm, plaited into ingenious shapes,
standing about the table, so that I did not at first
remark anything else. As we English folks could
not eat fowls roasted in their feathers, nor cakes
fried in cocoa-nut oil, they brought us fine joints
of bamboo filled with pulut rice, which turns to
a jelly in cooking and is fragrant with the scent
of the young cane. I was just going to eat this
delicacy when my eyes fell upon three human
heads standing on a large dish, freshly killed and
slightly smoked, with food and sirih leaves in their
mouths. Had I known them when alive I must
have recognized them, for they looked quite natural.
I looked with alarm at Mab, lest she should see
them too ; then we made our retreat as soon as
possible. But I dared say nothing. These Dyaks
had killed our enemies, and were only following
their own customs by rejoicing over their dead
victims. But the fact seemed to part them from
us by centuries of feeling — our disgust, and their
CHINESE INSURRECTION. 151
complacency. Some of them told us that after-
wards, when they brought home some of the
children belonging to the slain, and treated them
very kindly, wishing to adopt them as their own,
they were annoyed at the little ones standing
looking up at their parents' heads hanging from the
roof, and crying all day, as if it were strange they
should do so ! Yet the Dyaks are very fond of
children, and extremely indulgent to them. Our
school was recruited after the war by the children
of Chinese, bought by Government from their
captors. This was my first and last visit to a Dyak
feast. I used to go and see the women in the
early morning sometimes, and they constantly came
up to the mission-house to see my children. Of
course the war had an evil influence on them,
increasing their interest in heads, and all the
heathen ceremonies connected with their possession.
We stayed about ten days at Banting, walking
every afternoon to the little church through a long
avenue of fruit-trees — great forest trees which threw
a grateful shade over the path, charming for the
children's walks. They could have chicken broth
too for their dinners ; and Edith revived, but it was
a whole year after this before she grew any taller,
so that when she began to run about, three months
later, it looked a surprising feat for a baby who
should be in long clothes, yet she was then sixteen
months old. This life at Banting was a kind of
dream, after all the hurry and anxiety we had gone
through. At last we heard that we might go back
152 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
to Kuching, the Chinese had all been driven out
of the country, or killed. Our house was purified,
and the dead bodies lying about in the jungle had
been buried, so that the air was sweet again. We
returned to Linga, and all embarked in a little
schooner for home. It was not a much better boat
than the one we had fled in, and we suffered two
very trying days' voyage ; but when we walked
into the mission-house and found Miss Woolley
to welcome us, and our house, though dismantled,
uninjured, and most of the books in the library,
we were very thankful. The Sunday after, we had
a thanksgiving service in the church, in which all
joined very heartily.
I must return, however, to the history of the war,
from the time the Rajah steamed up the river in the
Sir James Brooke.
At Bau there were supposed to be from three to
four thousand Chinese rebels, who had lately been
strengthened by many malcontents from the Dutch
country. The Chinese held Bau, Seniawan, the
government fort of Baleda, and a fort at Peninjauh
opposite to Baleda. They boasted that they had
rice and gunpowder enough to last out six months
in these places ; but they were gradually surrounded
on all sides by Malays and Dyaks, so that they
could get no fresh stores. On the loth of March
a body of Chinese came down the river to Leda
Tanah (Tongue of Land) about halfway to'Kuching.
They built a breast-work by the river-side, dug a
trench behind it, placed some brass guns in position,
CHINESE INSURRECTION. 153
and then retired to eat their dinners in comfort
behind their defences. There was a little house
and garden belonging to the Rajah at Leda Tanah.
The Datu Tumangong and Abang Boujong hear-
ing of this, went up the river with a Malay force and
attacked the breast-work in front. The Chinese
fired one volley and ran. The Malays entered,
sword in hand, but only killed two men ; all the
rest fled into the arms of the Dyaks, who lay in
wait in the jungle behind, and took a hundred
heads, some say two hundred, but stories do not
lose in the telling. The Chinese begged hard for
their lives, wrung their hands, wept, prayed the
Dyaks to be friends with them ; but Dyaks know
nothing about prisoners. One of the principal
kunsi was killed in this affair, and some say that
Kamang, the leader of the attack on the i8th of
February, lost his head to the Sakarran Dyaks.
This success was matter of great rejoicing at
Kuching. Two days afterwards they heard that
Baleda Fort was deserted by the Chinese. Mr.
Johnson went vip and found it quite empty ; Seni-
awan too, and soon after Bau also. All had fled
towards the Dutch territory. A dreadful march
they had, poor creatures ; carrying their sacred
stone Tai pekong with them. Nearly a thousand
women and children delayed their progress. They
were harassed all the way by parties of Malays,
and Dyaks cutting off the stragglers. The party
dwindled by degrees, until nearly all the kunsi
were killed, either by the enemy or their incensed
1 -4 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
countrymen, 'who found themselves driven from
their. peaceful homes for the sins of these rebels. It
is so painful to think of the many innocent who
suffered with the guilty on this occasion, of the
miseries they endured, and the relentlessness of
their foes, that I cannot detail it. War naturally
brines such evils in its train ; even civilized warfare
O '
is not without its horrors and its injustice : but
when revenge falls into the hands of savages these
ills are multiplied. The Malays both hated and
despised the Chinese. That such people should
have taken their forts, burnt their dwellings, com-
pelling them to seek safety for their families by
flight, was so great an insult that their most violent
passions were aroused, and only the blood of all
the Kay tribe could wipe out the disgrace they
had incurred. It was indeed wonderful that these
Chinese should imagine for a moment that they
could remain rulers in a country whose inhabitants
regarded them as the natural hewers of wood and
drawers of water to the community ; but no doubt
they were intoxicated by their unlooked-for success
on the 1 8th of February, and a Chinaman seems
destitute of any appreciation of people who are
not Celestials ! A remnant of these people got
safely into the Dutch territory, where the authorities
took what arms and ammunition they had, and,
very properly, returned them to the Sarawak
Government. They also offered to send a war
steamer and soldiers if desired. So our misfortunes
called out the goodwill of our neighbours. Soon
CHINESE INSURRECTION.
after we returned home, H.M.S. Spartan, Captain
Hoste, arrived to protect British interests in
Sarawak. They stayed with us for a while, but the
troubles were over, and the only difficulty was how
to make any visitors comfortable or to feed them.
We had to pass round a knife and fork at table
for some days, and there were only a few spoons left
to us. On the beds there were hard mattresses,
but no pillows, sheets, or in fact any bed-furniture.
Our guests being travellers and full of resources,
slept on their pith hats for pillows, and used their
pocket-knives. A good deal of fun was made of
our privations, and indeed, as no beloved friend
was missing, we could afford to laugh.
We had all great reason to be thankful for the
good behaviour of the Dyaks during the war. There
were no intertribal quarrels, and Mr. Chambers
told me that his Christians among the Balows were
in the first boats which went off to succour the
Rajah, when they knew nothing of the arrival of
the steamer, and believed themselves to be facing
a great danger, and fire-arms, which they do not
like. This was not the only time that the Christians
were among the bravest when all behaved well —
a fact which recommended their religion to their
countrymen, with whom courage is the first virtue.
It was some years after this, however, that Dyak
Christians learnt to fight without taking the heads
of their enemies.
When we left our house, our servants generally,
except James a Portuguese, and my Bengalee
156 SKKTCIir.S OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
Ayah, fled from the place. But we had an old
Hindoo Syce, who was much attached to us and
to the creatures under his charge. He drove the
two ponies we rode into the jungle, where they
looked after themselves, and, living in his cottage
next to the stable, did what he could for the cow?
and calves. When the rebels filled our house and
appropriated our effects, they broke open the plate-
chest, and melted the silver they found. Then Syce
came forward and claimed a portion of the spoil
They gave him a lump of silver with some alloy
in it, the produce of some plated salvers, as his
share. He pretended to help them, but this lump
he hid in the earth near his cottage, and, on our
return, triumphantly produced it as what he had
saved for us from the wreck. Some years after,
this old man was very ill with an abscess in his
thigh, which he was sure would kill him. Bishop
doctored and nursed him through it, but he had
given him a good-sized bag of dollars, his savings,
saying he wished Bishop to be his heir. When he
got well and the money was returned to him, he
spent it in paying a visit to his relations at Trichi-
nopoli. I believe this faithful creature worshipped
the bull of our herd, and it was a great trouble to
him that the Chinese cruelly cut off the tail of the
poor animal, thereby depriving him of the means
of whisking off the flies which sting so vehemently
in that climate.
CHAPTER XIII.
EVENTS OF 1857.
WHEN we were once more at home we found it
would be better to go to Singapore, and from
thence to Penang, for a little quiet. We were both
ill, the Bishop seriously so. We wanted for every-
thing, and the bazaar in Sarawak could not supply
us : besides, ours was the only English dwelling-
house left in the place, except the Borneo Company's
premises. Captain Brooke and Mr. Grant with
their brides were immediately expected, and must
be housed at the mission while a bungalow was
being built across the water. We left Miss Woolley
to take care of the expected visitors, the children
and I went to Singapore in the Sir James Brooke
steamer, and Sir William Hoste gave a passage in
H.M.S. Spartan to the Bishop and Alan Grant.
I was glad of an opportunity to get my baby
vaccinated, which could only happen at Singapore
in those days. We were two months away, and
the cool quiet of Penang Hill was a great refresh-
i;S SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
incut. The first news I heard there was that Miss
Woolley was to be married to Mr. Chambers.
This wedding took place immediately on our
return home, the end of July. It was a great
benefit to the Banting Dyaks, for Mrs. Chambers
devoted herself to the women and young girls, and
was a true friend to them. She taught them to
sew, and instructed them in morals and religion.
When I went to Banting some years afterwards,
I found a set of modest young women who were
much pleased with gifts of needles, thread, and
thimbles ; they also enjoyed a game of croquet
after the lessons were done, and it was wonderful
to see what smart taps of the mallet were fearlessly
given under their bare feet ; for of course the Dyaks
do not wear shoes.
About a month after our return to Sarawak,
( 'aptain Brooke's baby boy was born. No one can
tell what a care and anxiety this event was, in a
place where there was no doctor except the Bishop.
The well-being of so important a person as the
Rajah mudah's wife, and the birth of the heir of
Sarawak, called forth much sympathy from every-
body. Thank God, all went well ; but we said
it ought never to happen again — there should be
a medical man whose sole duty it was to care for
the bodies of the community, while the Bishop was
free to minister to their spiritual wants. Soon
after there was a public baptism of this boy Basil
Brooke, and his cousin Blanche Grant, in the church,
which was full of Malays as well as English to
THE CHOLERA.
witness the ceremony. This was the day before
the Rajah set off for England.
There were many happy days during the next
few months, for there were several English ladies
in the place and we were all friends. In October
the Bishop went to Labuan, and while he was away
the cholera made its first appearance at Sarawak,
among the Malays. The Rajah muda and I con-
sulted together what physic should be made ready
for those who would take it. A short time before,
a little pamphlet had been sent to us about the
virtues of camphor, and especially its value in
cholera. We made a saturated solution of camphor
in brandy, and gave a teaspoonful of it on moist
sugar for a dose, adding three drops of Kayu Puteh
oil, extracted from a Borneon wood and called
cajeput oil in England, a very strong aromatic
medicine. This mixture proved itself very useful.
If the patients applied in good time it invariably
gave relief to the cramp and pain in the stomach ;
if the disease had gone on to sickness it was more
difficult to administer. Sometimes we followed
it up with laudanum and castor oil.
The Malays suffered very much from this
epidemic. Constant funerals were to be seen on
the river, and there was much praying at the
mosque. Then the Chinese were attacked, but not
so fatally. Two dead men were, however, found
on our premises ; they were strangers to us, but
we supposed they came late at night to the mission
for medicine, and, lying down in the stable or
160 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
cow-house, died without reaching the house. It
was an anxious time. I used to hang little bags
of camphor round the children's necks, and was
very careful of the diet for the household. Thank
God, we had no case either in the school or the
house.
Seven years afterwards the cholera returned
much more violently. An English gun-boat, lying
off the town, lost several of her crew ; and at last
the Bishop advised them to go to sea and let the
sea air blow through the ship, to carry off the
infection. He went on board himself to see them
off, and while they were going down the river
two more men were seized with cholera, and died
in half an hour.
This time the cholera was very fatal among the
Dyaks up some of the rivers. The poor creatures
were so terrified that they left their houses, as in
small-pox, and scarcely dared bury their dead. In
one instance they paid a very strong man to carry
the dead on his back to a steep hill, and throw
them into the ravine at the bottom. The food
enjoyed by the Dyaks, rotten fish and vegetables,
no doubt inclined them to get cholera. The first
time of its visitation was after a great fruit season
when durian, that rich and luscious fruit, had been
particularly abundant. A durian is somewhat
larger than a cocoa-nut in its inner husk ; it has
a. hard prickly rind, but inside lie the seeds,
enclosed in a pulp which might be made of cream,
gatiic, sugar, and green almonds. It is very hsat-
NEW MISSIONARIES. l6l
ing to the blood, for when there are plenty of
durians the people always suffer more from boils
and skin disease than usual. We never permitted
them to enter our house, for we could not bear the
smell of them. But many English people liked
them ; and they were so much esteemed by the
Dyaks, that when the fruit was ripe they encamped
for the night under the trees. When a durian fell
to the ground with a great thud, they all jumped
up to look for it, as the fallen fruit belongs to the
finder, and they loved it so that they willingly
sacrificed their sleep for it. Woe be to the man,
however, on whose head the fruit falls, for it is
so hard and heavy it may kill him.*
In February three new missionaries came from
England — Mr. Racket, Mr. Glover, and Mr.
Chalmers. The two last came straight to Sarawak
on their arrival at Singapore, Mr. Racket and his
wife about a month afterwards. They were all from
St. Augustine's College, Canterbury, thoroughly
good people, and a great happiness to us. Mr.
Chalmers was settled among the Land Dyaks at
Peninjauh, afterwards at the Quop. Mr. Glover went
to Banting, to work among the Balows. The Rackets
stayed at Sarawak: indeed they all remained with
us until Easter, when their ordination took place.
The Easter services that year, 1858, were very
delightful. All these missionaries were more or
less musical, and Mr. Racket adorned the church ab
* The Dyaks believe there is a special place in the other world,
after death, for those who are killed by the fall of a durian.
M
1 62 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
it had never been decked before. Flowers and ferns,
and lycopodium moss, were always to be had in
abundance ; and the polished wooden walls were
brightened by some beautiful scroll texts, printed
by a friend in England. We had full choral service
on Easter Sunday, and the school-children sang
their part beautifully ; indeed, our new comers
were astonished to find such good material for a
choir in little native boys.
I had been fully occupied with preparations
for these missionaries while the bishop was at
Labuan ; some additions to the comfort of the
house for the Rackets ; a new cook-house and
servants' rooms near, to build ; and the church to
reroof. The balean attaps were as good as ever,
but the strips of wood on which they hung were
attacked by white ants, and had to be renewed
or the shingles would have fallen through. Such
responsibilities fell to my share when the Bishop
was away, and heavy cares they were when money
was not abundant. The prospect of three new
missionaries was, however, worth any trouble. They
came to teach the Dyaks, who had so long waited
for teachers, and we hoped they would settle them-
selves among them for many years. In this hope
we were to be disappointed. Mr. Glover fell ill
of dysentery at Banting, and before two years
had passed away was obliged to remove to a cold
climate. He went to Australia, and has been doing
good work there ever since. Mr. Chalmers was
a very valuable missionary, and his labours among
NEW MISSIONARIES. 163
the Quop and Merdang Dyaks bore much fruit
in after years ; but he also fell ill from the climate,
and the food which was attainable up country.
In 1860, he also made up his mind to follow Mr.
Glover to Australia. There are no doubt many
difficulties for Englishmen living in Sarawak
jungles. Some become acclimatized to them, others
cannot bear the low diet, the loneliness, the apathy
and indifference of the Dyaks. The Bishop was
once accused, by a person who ought to have
known better, that he was too apt to gather his
clergy at Sarawak and keep them from their Dyak
parishes : but it was a necessary part of the Bishop's
work to keep a home where the missionaries could
come for change and refreshment ; where they
could enjoy a more generous diet, and the society
of English friends ; where they could consult a
medical man, and get some hints how to treat the
maladies of the Dyaks — for they expected all the
missionaries to know the art of healing, having
had more or less experience of the Bishop's skill.
Mr. Racket was consumptive, but Sarawak is the
best climate in the world for that disease : he got
much stronger with us, and might have lived many
years there, but he was too nervous for so unsettled
a country. We were often subjected to panics for
many months after the Chinese insurrection, and
though we old inhabitants took it very easily,
Mr. Hacket always thought his wife and child in
danger. I remember, one day a Malay was being
tried in the court-house, when he, by a sudden
164 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
spring, escaped from the police, and snatching a
sword from a bystander, ran amuck through the
bazaar, wounding two or three people he met. The
hue and cry in the town fired the imaginations of the
timid. People came running to the house for shelter,
bringing their goods and chattels, and all sorts of
tales — " The Chinese were coming from Sambas,"
and all sorts of nonsense. Then, Mrs. Racket
fainting on the sofa, and the servants all leaving
their work to listen, and look out of the verandah,
provoked us extremely : we administered sal volatile
and a good scolding, and sent everybody off to
their business again. But those scenes were very
trying to the nerves. That a Malay should run
amuck (amok, in Malay) with anger or jealousy,
or a fit of madness arising from both these passions,
was an occasional event all through our Sarawak
life, but it was no more alarming in 1858 than in
former years. It was the breach in the general
feeling of security under the Sarawak Government,
which for a time magnified every little disturbance
of the peace into a public danger.
Our school was enriched this year by, first, seven
new Chinese boys, then four more and four girls,
the captives of the Lundu Dyaks, ransomed by
Captain Brooke. Those children were, some of
them, miserable objects, covered with sores from
neglect. One boy had been set to carry red wood
which blisters the skin, another was badly burnt.
Mrs. Stahl took them in hand, dressed their wounds,
nursed them, clothed them, and soon they looked
OUR SCHOOL. 165
quite nice, sitting on a bench at the end of the
church with a monitor to take charge of them, for
they were still unbaptized — they were old enough to
be instructed first, except two of the little girls who
were immediately received into the Church. About
this time a little Dyak boy, Nigo by name, was
paying a visit to the school, and was baptized in
church, answering for himself. He was about six
years old, and as he stood at the font his face was lit
up with so sweet a smile it touched us all. Mab
begged him to stay at Sarawak ; but the Dyaks
never part with their children, and in this case it
was not necessary, for Nigo's father was a Christian.
It was a great happiness to us that none of our
boys were killed in the insurrection ; three got
away to Sambas, the rest came back to the school
one by one, having all escaped the Dyaks. The
Christian goldsmith, too, who was put in prison
by the kunsi for trying to warn us of the attack
on the 1 8th of February, got to Sambas safe, and
afterwards returned to us at Sarawak.
This summer a doctor came out to Sarawak with
his family. I heard of their proposed arrival some
months before, and wrote to Mrs. C to beg
they would leave their elder children in England,
and only bring the babies with them, for the little
ones thrive well enough at Sarawak. I also gave
a plain unvarnished account of the place. But
Mr. C , having made up his mind to bring all his
family out, put the letter in his pocket ; and we were
very sorry when they arrived, a party of nine,
1 66 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
having lost one child at Singapore. They only
stayed one month ; the lady was so disgusted with
the place — " no shops, no amusements, always hot
weather, and food so dear ! " — that she persuaded
her husband to take advantage of some difference
he had with the Government, and return in the
same steamer by which they came out. I, however,
gained by their departure, for they brought a sweet
young girl with them as governess, and as she did
not wish to return so soon, she remained with me,
and became Mab's governess and friend. We liked
her very much, and I cannot help mentioning an
incident of her spirit and courage. One of our chil-
dren being ill, I had taken her down to Santubong,
where we had a seaside cottage ; but as the house
was full of clergy preparing for ordination, I left
Miss McKee to do the housekeeping and take care
of our guests for a few days. She slept at the top
of the house, and little Edith in a cot beside her.
It was late at night, and the moon shining into
Miss McKee's room, when she woke and saw a
Chinaman standing at the foot of her bed with
a great knife in his hand. She felt under her
pillow if the keys were safe, for the box of silver
was put in her room while I was absent ; then she
jumped up, shouting "Thieves!" with all her might.
The man ran and she after him, down a long passage,
down the staircase, out of the house, by which time
her cries had roused the gentlemen — the Bishop was
nursing a sick man in fever, and was not in the
house that night. They looked out of their doors,
A THIEF. 167
asking what was the matter ? However, Miss
McKee had by this time made up her mind that
the thief was our own cook ; she had seen enough
of him by her courageous pursuit to be sure of it.
No doubt he thought she would be fast asleep, and
he should carry off the silver and the keys without
discovery. Only a servant of the house would have
known where they were kept. This young lady
afterwards married Mr. Koch, one of the missionaries.
He came from Ceylon, and eventually returned to
his native country, where I hope they are still.
Now we were again without a doctor, and in the
autumn Mrs. Brooke expected her second confine-
ment. This brings me to what we always called
the sad, dark time at Sarawak. The weather was
rainy beyond any former experience. We always
had heavy rains in November, but this year they
began in October, and the sky scarcely seemed to
clear. In October, God gave us a little son, and
in a usual way I should have been quite well at the
end of three weeks, and across the water to see
Mrs. Brooke many times before her confinement.
But a long influenza cold kept me at home, and
the weather being always wet, there was no prospect
of getting over in a boat without a drenching, so
only notes passed between us.
On November I5th, Mrs. Brooke had another
ooy, and though there was some anxiety at the
time, she seemed pretty well until the fourth day,
when inflammation set in with puerperal fever, and
at the end of ten days our much-loved friend was
l68 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
gone to her home in heaven, leaving her husband
and children desolate. It seemed so impossible
that so bright a creature should pass away from us,
that to the last day we believed she would recover.
That afternoon she called her husband and brothers
and sisters to her bedside, and said, " I have tried
hard to live for your sakes, but I cannot;" then she
calmly and sweetly bade them good-bye, and no
earthly cares touched her afterwards. Very sad
hearts were left behind, but her example remained
to us and called us upwards. Her short life had
been continual self-sacrifice. She gave up her
beautiful home in Scotland for love, and the
prospect of doing good to Sarawak. On her
arrival there the most rigid economy was practised,
on account of the losses in the Chinese insurrection.
A mat house, called " The Refuge," neither airy nor
comfortable, was her only home ; but it was always
bright with Annie's good taste and cheerful spirits.
Then came the last sacrifice, her husband and
children. These, too, she laid at her Lord's feet
with a willing heart. Everybody went into mourn-
ing ; for in so small a place it was quite a calamity
to lose the head of our little society. But to the
Bishop this event was a great trial. He had spent
most of his time, day and night, striving to save this
precious life. He was very fond of her ; he ministered
to her as her priest ; from his hands she received
the Blessed Sacrament a few hours before she died,
and he heard her say with almost her last breath,
" Lord Jesus, receive my spirit ; " but he had also to
THE SAD YEAR. 169
witness agony which he could not relieve, and no
effort could prolong her life. It made him quite ill
for some time, and all the happy holiday days-
passed away with Annie Brooke. Government
House was never again, in our time, a bright and
cheerful home : it returned to its bachelor ways ;
and business, not social pleasure, presided there.
On Christmas Day, exactly a month after Mrs.
Brooke died and was laid in the churchyard, we
placed a bouquet of flowers from her garden on
the altar, but there could be no festivities. The
Chinese Christians had their feast, and the school-
children ; but we who had lost our companion
and friend could not rejoice. It was sad enough
to go over the water and see Annie's empty room,
kept just as she had left it, and no sound in the
house except the wails of the motherless baby,
who we feared would soon follow his mother to the
grave. Captain Brooke was obliged to go to
England very soon after his wife's death ; the Rajah
was struck with paralysis, and it was at first doubt-
ful whether he would recover. In the midst of all
this sorrow I had the trouble of losing my faithful
servant, Mrs. Stahl, who took all the care of the
school-children off my hands. Her husband had
found more lucrative work at Singapore, and sent
for her to join him. It was a grief to both of us,
and a great addition to my responsibilities. Mrs.
William Channon, then a widow, was installed
matron of the school, but she had neither knowledge
nor experience. She did as well as she could, with
170 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
continual supervision. The sick children now came
to me to be doctored early every morning. I also
had a large sewing-class of boys, and a tailor to teach
us how to cut out and make their peculiar-shaped
clothes : however, we soon learnt to do without the
tailor. Mrs. Racket taught the little ones to sew,
and I had the elder ones from seven to ten every
morning. Somefimes I gave a music lesson
between whiles ; sometimes I had to leave them for
a while, first to see what the cook had brought
from the bazaar for their day's food, and to give
out the rice which was kept in my store-room ; also
the cocoa-nut oil, which trimmed the lamps of both
house and school. Sometimes I read aloud to my
boys, stories from history. They could understand
English quite well.
While our spirits were at their lowest ebb, and
the rain still pouring with little intermission, we had
a visit from H.M.S. Eskt Sir Robert J. McClure
captain. He did his best to cheer us. How kind
and bright he was I shall never forget, nor how he
used to sit patiently under a tree in the rain to
be photographed, simply to amuse us. There are
certainly some people who have more of the wine
of life than others, and who are a wonderful refresh-
ment to their friends. It was during this year,
1858, that we built our seaside cottage at San-
tubong — Sandrock Cottage, as we called it, which
sounds rather cockney; but as it stood on the sand,
with great boulders of granite rock scattered about,
it seemed the most appropriate name. Santubong
OUR COTTAGE. 171
is the most beautiful of the two mouths of the
Sarawak River, but not as safe as the Morotabas for
ships to enter. The Bishop had a mission yacht
this year ; consequently he was away, visiting the
mission stations. The next year he sailed the
Saraivak Cross to Labuan. The voyage took only
one week either way, whereas in other years he
had to go to Singapore, more than four hundred
miles off, in order to get to Labuan by P. and O.
steamer, or any man-of-war chancing to go there.
Months instead of weeks were consumed by this
means.
Our cottage took three weeks to build. We sent
three men down with a thousand palm-leaf attaps
for the outside walls and roof, and thirty mats to
make inner walls. The men went into the jungle
and felled wood for posts and rafters, then nibong
palms were split into strips for the floors. The
whole building was tied together with rattans, like
all Malay houses. There were three rooms, twelve
feet by fifteen each, and two little bath-rooms.
A verandah ran along the whole length of the
front, and this was planked to prevent little feet
from slipping through. But the rooms were covered
with thick mats, and the floor was so springy it
danced as you moved. We put very little furniture
into these rooms, and the inside walls were only
eight feet high, so that though you could not see
into the next room, you could hear all that went
on in all three rooms. The cook-house and
servants' room were separate.
i;2 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
As early as the year 1848, the Rajah had a little
Dyak house built on high poles, under the mountain
of Santubong. It was an inconvenient little place,
into which you climbed up a steep ladder — only
one room, in fact, with a verandah ; but we spent
some happy days there, for the beauty of that shore
made the house a secondary consideration. A
small Malay village nestled in cocoa-nut palms at
the foot of Santubong ; in front lay a smooth
stretch of sand, and a belt of casuarina-trees always
whispering, without any apparent wind to move
their slender spines. The deer in those days stole
out of the jungle at night to eat the sea-foam
which lay in flakes along the sand, and wild pigs
could often be shot in a moonlight stroll under the
trees. In the morning, we used to set off as soon
as it was light to a fresh spring in the jungle,
where we took our bath. Dawdling along the
edge of the waves, then quite warm to our bare
feet, with towels and leaf buckets in our hands, we
reached the little stream, running under the shade
of tall trees in which the wood-pigeons were cooing.
How delicious and fresh that water was ! and every
sense was charmed at the same time, unless some
stinging ants walked over our feet, which was not
uncommon.
Then we trudged home again, with the wet
towels folded on our heads to shield us from the
sun, who by that time was an enemy to be
shunned.
A little colony of Chinese were settled here in
OUR COTTAGE. 1/3
1852, but they never took to the place ; the soil was
perhaps not good enough for their gardens. In
1857 tne Malays fell upon them and killed them
all, because they were of the same tribe as the
rebels, although they had nothing whatever to do
with the insurrection. When we were building our
cottage on the sands two Chinese skulls were dug
up. We were all indignant at this wanton cruelty,
but unable to resent it, except by the expression of
our opinion, for the English were a mere handful
of individuals in Sarawak.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE MALAY PLOT.
OUR cottage at Santubong was a source of much
pleasure to many people. We often lent it to
invalids, sometimes to newly married couples, who
certainly had a good opportunity of studying each
other's characters and tastes in that lonely solitude.
Sometimes we sent down all the children from
the school, who wanted sea-air and a holiday.
Indeed, when we were staying there, we always had
relays of children to play on the sands and enjoy
themselves. We had a place staked round with
strong hurdles, where we could bathe in safety from
sharks and alligators, who both infested the coast.
I have often seen quantities of jelly-fish and
octopus sticking on the outside of the hurdles : they
sting dreadfully, so they were quite welcome to stay
there.
During one of our visits to Santubong I re-
member a timber-ship lying off the mouth of the
river, to lade planks from a saw-mill which was on
BUNTAL. 175
the other side. One day three sailors came ashore
to fill a cask with fresh water ; there was a spring
among the rocks close to the water's edge. As
they neared the shore, the three men jumped into
the sea for a swim ; but suddenly, one of them
threw up his arms and disappeared. In vain his
comrades searched for him, but the next day his
body, partly devoured by a shark, was thrown upon
the rocks. No doubt he was seized and dragged
under water. His comrades were much distressed,
for he was a favourite among the crew. Frank
buried him, and helped the men to put a wooden
cross on the grave.
In the north-west monsoon we sometimes went
to Buntal, a bay on the other side of the mountain
of Santubong. No soul resided there, but it was
the resort of great flocks of wild-fowl at that
season. We rowed into the bay while it was still
high tide, then left the boat ; and our men made
little huts of boughs some distance from the shore,
where we could sit without being perceived. As
the tide ebbed the birds arrived — tall storks,
fishing eagles, gulls, curlew, plover, godwits, and
many others we did not know. They flew in long
lines, till they seemed to vanish and reappear,
circling round and round, then swooping down
upon the sand where the receding waves were
leaving their supper. I never saw a prettier sight
The tall storks seemed to act like sentinels,
watching while the others fed. At a note of alarm
they all rose in the air, flew about screaming, and
1/6 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
then settled again on the sands in long lines, the
smaller birds together, the larger ones in ascending
rows. At last, alas ! a gun fired into their midst
caused death and dismay. A few fell dead, and
the rest fled to some happier shore, where no
destroying man could mar their happiness. And
there are many such spots in Borneo where no
human foot ever trod, and where trees, flowers,
and insects flourish exceedingly ; where the birds
sing songs of praise which are only heard by their
Maker, and where the wild animals of the forest
live and die unmolested. There is always some-
thing delightful to me in this idea. We are apt to
think that this earth is made for man, but, after
many ages, there are still some parts of his domain
unconquered, some fair lands where the axe, the
fire, and the plough are still unknown.
While we were at Santubong, in 1859, we were
distressed to hear that Mr. Fox and Mr. Steele, two
Government officers in charge of a fort at Kenowit,
had been murdered by some Dyaks, whom they
were judging in the court-house. We were very
grieved for our friends, especially for Mr. Fox, who
was for two years with us as catechist in the
mission, and only left because he could not make
up his mind to be ordained. However, he was most
faithful in the performance of his duties at that
lonely fort, and most blameless in his life; we
could only regret the loss of so good a young man.
We did not at that time connect this event with
any general enmity to Englishmen among the
THE MALAY PLOT. 177
natives, but only thought that particular tribe of
Kenowits were not to be trusted.
It was really a much more serious matter. Mr.
Charles Johnson went up to Kenowit directly,
taking the Bishop's yacht, the Sarawak Cross, as
his floating fortress. He sent a thousand Dyaks to
attack the fortified village of the Kenowits, who
were engaged in the murders. These Dyaks were
repulsed, but he led them on again himself with
two hundred Sarawak Malays, good men and true.
They took a brass gun overland to the village, and
pounded them for a day ; then the Malays and
Dyaks attacked and fired the place, and took it.
There were many killed, but it was their own
fault ; for, before attacking, a flag of truce had been
hoisted, and all who Trould were invited to submit,
and promised their lives, but only a few women and
children availed themselves of it and were saved.
Tanee the brave was killed, and Hadji Mahomet.
It was found that these traitors had spread a report
that all the English at Sarawak and at Labuan, as
well as at Bunjermassin, had been killed, and this
was so thoroughly believed that the Kenowits
thought they had only to kill Mr. Fox and Mr.
Steelc, in order to possess themselves of the arms
and goods in the fort with impunity. It was true
that the Malays at Bunjermassin had risen upon
the Europeans there, and killed twenty Dutch
officials and their families ; also four of the German
missionaries living among the Dyaks, and a Mr.
Mattiey, with his wife and three children, who used
N
1/8 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
to live at Labuan. The Dutch took summary
vengeance for this massacre, but in spite of that the
Malays at Coti killed the Europeans who lived
there ; so that neighbouring countries showed a bad
example to our people, and we were afraid that
religious fanaticism might have something to do
with the hatred to Christians, whether Dutch or
English.
In every country there are unfortunately some
bad men, who are irreclaimable by kindness or
severity. Such were the two who instigated a plot
to murder all the English in the Sarawak territory,
and take the Government to themselves. The
oldest and most shameless of these men was the
Datu Patinghi of Sarawak, and to tell his story
I must go back to the early days of Sarawak.
When Sir James Brooke first visited Mudah
Hassim, the Malay Rajah, he found him endeavour-
ing to put down a rebellion among his subjects.
After a time Sir James Brooke helped him with the
guns of his yacht and the services of his blue
jackets. The enemy submitted, and then he begged
their lives of Mudah Hassim. It was with very
great difficulty this unprecedented favour was
granted.
Gapoor and his followers were pardoned, and
when Sarawak was given over to Sir James Brooke
by the Sultan of Bruni, it was naturally supposed
that this man who owed his life to the English
Rajah would remain his faithful friend and follower.
He was made the chief datu, or magistrate, of
THE MALAY PLOT. 179
whom there were three — the Datu Patinghi, the
Tumangong, and the Bandhar. These Malay
chiefs were members of the Council, and repre-
sented Home Department, War Office, and Treasury
in the State. For some time all seemed to go well,
but the Rajah soon found that the Datu Patinghi
could not be restrained from oppressing the Dyaks
under his charge, levying more than the proper tax,
or obliging them to buy whatever he wished to sell,
at exorbitant prices. His power over the Dyaks
was therefore taken away, and a fixed income
given him to preclude temptation. When the
Rajah was in England, in 1851, this Datu intrigued
with the Bruni Malays to upset the Government ;
he mounted yellow umbrellas, a sign of royalty, and
arrogated power to himself which might have been
mischievous had he been more popular with the
natives. But he had many relations among the
high Malays of the place, and it was a question
whether they would resent his being publicly dis-
graced. Captain Brooke told them plainly that he
must be exiled, but that it should be done in the
most cautious way, and appearances should be
saved. Datu Patinghi was therefore advised to go
a pilgrimage to Mecca. Money and servants were
supplied him, but he had no choice about it. We
all hoped he would never return.
About a year afterwards Sir James Brooke said
to me, " Did you ever feel pleasure at hearing of
the death of an old friend ? " Before I could con-
sider this knotty question, he added Gapoor had
I SO SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
died of small-pox at Mecca. It was only a report,
and proved untrue. Datu came back a hadji, but
was desired to go and live at Malacca the rest of
his days. In 1859 he begged to be allowed to re-
turn to Sarawak, and, as it was hoped he could not
be ungrateful for so much kindness and forbearance,
he was permitted ; but he was only biding his time.
After his return to Sarawak he married his daughter
to Seriff Bujang, the brother of Seriff Messahore,
whose rascality and bad faith were on a par with
his own. Bujang was a quiet creature enough,
drawn into the wicked plots of his brother and
father-in-law, but they were bad to the core. A
Seriff is supposed to be a descendant of the
Prophet Mahomet, at any rate he is an Arab, and
Messahore was said to be invulnerable and sacred in
his person. He was a fine, handsome creature, with
insinuating manners, but there was nothing more to
say in his favour. He was at the bottom of every
disturbance in the country, but was cunning enough
to keep himself in the background. Directly
a plot miscarried, he came forward zealously to
punish the wrong-doers.
He instigated the murder of Mr. Fox and Mr.
Steele ; nay, it was intended to be a general massacre
of all the English in Sarawak territory ; but by
a mistake of the Kenowits these two unfortunates
were killed prematurely. The day had not arrived,
and this led to the discovery of the plot. When
Mr. C. Johnson went with an armed force to
Kenowit, Seriff Messahore had already killed the
THE MALAY PLOT. l8l
fort men, who had only executed his own orders.
For some time he, the guilty one, escaped detec-
tion. At last some Christian Dyaks of Lundu and
Banting disclosed to their missionaries that Malays
had visited them to say they had better turn
Mahometans, for soon there would be no English
left in the country. These stories being communi-
cated by the Bishop to Mr. Johnson, he consulted
the Malay members of the council and other trust-
worthy native friends, and it was evident they knew
there was good reason for anxiety, as they advised
all the English to wear firearms, even the ladies.
At last the rumours of threats were traced to old
Gapoor, the ex-Patinghi, and he was again banished
the country by order of the council. Seriffs
Messahore and Bujang, being connected with him
by marriage, were also suspected. Messahore was
warned that if he came to Kuching he would be
treated as an enemy. Nevertheless he advanced
up the river ; his boat was greeted by a shower
of balls, and he ignominiously fled. When the
glamour was thus taken from him everybody was
ready to divulge what they knew of the plot, and
that a pension of six hundred rupees a year was
promised to any one who would kill Mr. C. John-
son. The Rajah was in England, and known to
be in bad health. Very few English men-of-war
visited Sarawak at that time. Rumours were got
up at Bruni that the Rajah was in disgrace with his
own queen. This was the consequence of the
commission of inquiry about piracy, which had
1 82 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
taken place in 1858, by order of the English Parlia-
ment ; for though the results of that commission
thoroughly exculpated Sir James Brooke from any
blame, there was never any amende honourable
made for subjecting him to such an indignity. It
\vas never understood by the natives as anything
but a slur on the Rajah's character, and was a
terrible injury to his prestige for a time. Indeed,
it was the seed of the Malay plot ; and if we had all
been killed, our own English Government would
have been the remote cause of our death. It is no
doubt difficult for Englishmen to understand the
feelings of Malays and Dyaks. We are accustomed
in England to find fault with our rulers, and submit
to them all the same. But in the East it is different :
no breath of blame must touch the Rajah, nor can
he be arraigned before any court, except the throne
of God.
Fatima, Seriff Bujang's wife, was an old friend of
mine. She had always visited me from the time of
our first arrival at Sarawak, and was then a very
handsome girl, with a pale, clear complexion, and
fine hair and eyes. We took a great interest in
her marriage, and Seriff Bujang frequently came
to our house. He was apparently fond of Mab,
and liked to hear her tell fairy tales. Mab spoke
Malay very well, and was always popular with the
natives, to whom she would sing, dance, or relate
Cinderella, the White Cat, or the Three Bears, etc.
It was curious to see a grave-looking Malay sitting
to listen to fairy stories ; still more so when all the
THE MALAY PLOT. 183
time he was party to a plot for the destruction
of the household he visited. He was more weak
than wicked ; and two years after that he died.
I had occasion to visit some Malays in his kampong
after his death, dnd found poor Fatima bereft of
all her ornaments and gay dresses, and working
as a drudge in the house. Widows are little
accounted of in Eastern households.
To return to the events of October, 1859.
A timber-ship, the Planet, was lying in the river,
and Mr. Johnson requested that the women and
children of the mission should be sent on board
until the panic passed away, and the old Datu was
got safely out of the place. The fort and Govern-
ment House were manned and armed, and the rest
of the Europeans sheltered there. The Hacket
family went down at once, and in the evening we
sent Miss McKee and the two youngest children
with her ; but Mab was ill of fever, and could not
be moved. So the Bishop and I stayed with her,
and ten Chinamen guarded our house.
Mr. Chalmers had come from Merdang with news
that some of those Dyaks had joined the Datu Hadji,
and also some bad Lundus, who had been punished
for sedition four years before. We all sat up that
night ; but I was too much occupied with my sick
child to be nervous about anything else. The night
passed over without any rising of the disaffected,
and the next day Gapoor consented to leave the
country quietly, finding no chief Malays would
stand by him, and to be taken in a Government
184 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
gunboat to a brig just leaving the river. Thus,
through God's mercy and the loyalty of the people,
no harm came of this plot, except that Mr. and
Mrs. Racket decided to leave the mission, not
being strong enough to stand such alarms. They
went to Malacca, where he became Government
chaplain, and died there of consumption, after
some years' service.
The heat of Sarawak climate was so injurious to
our child Mab, who had frequent attacks of fever,
that as soon as the place was quiet again, we
resolved to pay another visit to England. The
Bishop's health was much shaken, and the doctors
at Singapore ordered him home at once. But it
was winter, and we were afraid of taking our
children too quickly into the rigorous cold of
England ; therefore we took a passage in the
Bakiana, a steamer which had brought out a
telegraph cable to lay between Singapore and
Batavia, and having accomplished her purpose,
was returning empty to England. The Bishop went
with us as far as Bombay, and then took P. and O.
boat to England ; whilst we called first at Mau-
ritius, then at the Cape of Good Hope, staying
some days at each place, and at the latter adding
several passengers to our small party. We pro-
ceeded very happily until we were within a day's
steam of the Island of St. Vincent, off the coast of
Africa ; then the great crank of the steam-engine
snapped in two, and we had to sail. It took us
ten days to beat up to the island, for a large screw
THE MALAY PLOT. 185
steamer was never intended to be propelled by
sails.
We began to have gloomy forebodings of the
time which must elapse before we could reach
England, sailing at this rate, when we saw, lying
in the roads at St. Vincent, a very large West
Indian steamer on her way home. It was difficult
to communicate with this ship, because she lay in
quarantine, yellow flag flying ; and we did not
know whether she had yellow fever on board or
not. Our captain, however, called us all together,
and said, " I hoped to have found some provisions
in this island, to add to our stores ; but I find there
is nothing." The island seemed just a bare rock,
with one solitary palm-tree growing by the office
door, and not a blade of grass. It was difficult to
imagine what provisions there could be, except the
coal left by ships to supply passing steamers. " It
will be necessary," added Captain Grenfell, " that
some of you should go home in the Magnolia,
West Indian steamer, for we have not food on board
for all, and cannot expect to be less than another
month reaching England under sail : therefore you
must each of you decide to-night what you will do ;
and if you choose to go home in the Magnolia, I
will pay your passage. But I ought to tell you
that probably there are cases of yellow fever on
board that ship ; for it is the time of year when it
is rife at the South American stations."
Here was a problem to solve in the night !
Should I take my children on board a ship where
1 86 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
there was probable infection, or should I subject
my husband to harassing anxiety about us for a
whole month ? In the morning I decided to go
home in the Magnolia ; and I was rewarded when
\vc climbed up into that great ship, with two hun-
dred passengers on board, by finding that there
was not a single case of yellow fever, or apything
infectious. We had a delightful ten days' passage,
stopping a few hours at Lisbon, but not allowed
to land, and then straight to Southampton. My
only regret was leaving Captain Grenfell, who had
been so kind to the children all the way.
The Bahiana took just a month to get to
England from St. Vincent.
PART III.
CHAPTER XV.
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER.
IN 1861 \ve again returned to our Eastern home,
leaving our three children behind, and taking only
our baby girl for companion. What a difference it
makes in India, to "leave the children behind !" —
a common fate indeed for parents, but not the less
to be deplored. We used to think and speak of
Sarawak as home until 1861 ; but ever after, we
spoke of going home to our children, for where the
treasure is there must the heart be also. To do
the work so that the time might pass quickly and
peacefully, to live upon the mails from England, to
carry on two lives as it were, one in the present,
the other in the pictures our English letters pre-
sented— such at any rate was my fate, though my
husband was too true a missionary to feel as I did.
Most of our old Sarawak friends had either died
or gone away when we returned in '61, but the
mission grew more and more interesting as
Christian Churches sprang up on the Dyak rivers.
100 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
Four new missionaries came out soon after our
arrival. Mr. and Mrs. Abe, Mr. Zehnder, Mr.
Mesney, and Mr. Crossland, the two latter from
St. Augustine's College, Canterbury, from whence
had formerly come those two good men, Mr.
Chalmers and Mr. Glover. They had both gone to
Australia on account of their health, but the teach-
ing of Mr. Chalmers had left its mark among the
land Dyaks of Murdang and the Quop, so that
Mr. Abe, who was afterwards placed on that station,
reaped the harvest which had been sown with many
prayers two years before. Mr. Mesney succeeded
Mr. Glover at Banting, and its many branch
missions ; and Mr. Crossland went farther off, to the
Dyaks, on the Undop, where he eventually built a
church and gathered a little flock of Christians about
him. Mr. Richardson came as catechist about the
same time, and after staying a short time at Lundu,
built himself a house among the Selaku Dyaks at
Sedemac, in the country towards Sambas. He was
much beloved by those simple people, who speak
quite a different language to the Lundus. They
exerted themselves to build their own church of
substantial balean-wood, and their women learnt to
pray as well as the men. "To learn to pray" is
the Dyak description of a Christian. " What will
you do," asked a missionary, "to bring those
around you to Christ ? " "I will teach them to
pray," was the answer. And surely this is the great
distinction between the Christian and the heathen—
the one has communion with his Father in heaven,
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 191
an all-powerful, wise, and loving Friend ; the other
may cherish some vague belief and worship of an
unknown God, but has neither love nor trust to
carry him above this world's troubles and trials.
Another baby was added to our family in May,
1862, whose mother died at her birth. This little
one stayed with us only seventeen months, and was
a great happiness to me ; then Sir James Brooke
took her to England. However, it was a pleasant
chapter as long as it lasted.
Julia, one of our original school-girls, became
very useful to me at this time. We had taken her
home with us in '59, and sent her to a training-
school for teachers in Dublin, so that she was quite
competent on our return to take the management
of the girls' school. We had eight girls in the
house, and a few day-scholars from the town.
Lessons used to go on in a room on the basement,
where of course I was superintendent, and they
learnt sewing in the afternoon. Julia was a very
gentle mistress, and I was feeling very happy
about my girls, when I found to my sorrow that
Julia had an admirer, and I must make up my
mind to part with my child who had lived with us
since she was four years old-. Such natural events
must not be considered trials, but the difficulty of
replacing her was insuperable. I was obliged at
last to send my girls to Mrs. Abe, at the Quop
Station, for I was too often away in the mission-
boat with the Bishop to keep them at the mission-
house. This was not until 1865, however. Poor
1 92 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
Mildred felt parting with "her girls," as she called
them, very much, and often said, " Mamma, if Sarah
and Fanny might come back we would never, never
quarrel any more." Are not such pricks of conscience
common to us all when our dear ones leave us ?
But the past never returns !
In 1863, the Bishop built a charming little yawl
for mission work. The Fanny was just suited,
from her light draught of water, to cross the bars of
the rivers, and she was a very good sea-boat too.
Not only was she wanted to take the Bishop on his
missionary, tours, but she brought the missionaries
to Sarawak when, they came for ordinations, or
the annual synod ; also when they were sick, and
required medical aid or change. Very few clergy-
men know much about the management of boats,
and native crafts are very unsafe, so that until the
Bishop had a yacht many accidents used to occur,
not actually dangerous, for the natives swim like
fishes, but drenchings and loss of goods from the
upsetting of boats. In the north-east monsoon
Fanny was thatched over and laid snugly up a
creek, but all the south-west monsoon she was very
useful ; and no one wanted to travel about, if they
could help it, during the wet tempestuous weather
which prevailed from November to March.
The Bishop paid his annual visit to Labuan in
any steamer which happened to be going. We had
the great advantage of frequent visits from an
English gunboat, for the admiral of the Chinese
seas had orders from England to tell off one gun-
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 193
boat for the two stations of Labuan and Sarawak.
This arose from our being also blest with the
presence of an English consul. But after he and
his wife had remained two years at Sarawak, they
were heartily tired of the dulness of their lives, and
did their best to get removed to a more stirring
station. However, the recognition of England
gave confidence to native traders and security to the
well disposed, so that there ensued a time of peace
such as we had not experienced during our former
sojourns in the country.
I think the history of our life during these years
may be partly told by the letters I wrote to my
children at home, or extracts from them ; so that
this may be called the children's chapter.
Sunday before Easter, 1862.
MY DARLING MAB,
I am glad you are not here, for it is very,
very hot, and you would probably have a bad
headache. Julia is sitting in the verandah teaching
Polly, Sarah, Fanny, and Phcebe the Easter hymn
for next Sunday. Ayah is walking up and down
with Mildred, and Louis Koch is running about,
making her laugh. I must tell you how we spend
the day. Papa gets up at five, and takes a ride on
his pony. I make the tea at six, and cut bread
and butter for Ayah and Julia, and Samchoon, one
of the boys who has had fever and wants feeding
up. The bell calls us to church at seven, but I
don't go till the afternoon. The gardener brings
O
194 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
me a tray of flowers, and I make the nosegays for
the day. Then I go downstairs and see the
butter made. The boy brings in a great jar of milk,
with which he mixes some warm water ; into this he
puts a long piece of bamboo, with cross pieces fixed
in it like the spokes of a wheel. This he twirls
round and round in the jar till the butter comes.
Then he takes it out with his black hands, and I
carry it off and wash and salt it. We only get five
ounces now at a time, though there are six cows in
milk ; but the calves are such miserable little things
they have to be helped first, and fed with rice-
gruel also. The butter finished, I go up to the1
sewing-class, who are very busy making their
Easter clothes, both boys and girls ; and I help
them with my sewing-machine until half-past ten,
only running away twice — once to see what the
school cook has brought for their breakfast, and
then to order our own. Then we all bathe and
breakfast, and Ayah goes away for two hours for
her breakfast and midday nap ; and I take care of
Mildred, which is, I own, the hardest part of my
day's work, for the little restless thing will never let
me sit down, and is up to all sorts of mischief.
At two o'clock Ayah comes and sings Mildred to
sleep, with the same old tune of " Doo doo baby "
which you used to sing to your dolls. I think in
the next box I have from home you might send
your old friends Sarah and Fanny a doll each, and
dress them yourself. Our Malay Tuan Ku was here
the other day and asked after you ; he remembered
your Malay fairy tales.
THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER. 195
MY BELOVED CHILD,
Our letters were very welcome last Sunday,
Easter Sunday, telling us good news of you all.
Our church was very gay with flowers and moss
ferns ; and the font was filled with large pink water-
lilies, whose beautiful round green leaves, a foot
wide at least, looked quite lovely round the white
shell font. All holy week and Easter Monday and
Tuesday we had full service at seven o'clock in
the morning, papa preaching a short sermon from
the altar. It was delightfully cool at that hour,
and began the day so pleasantly. I always love
Easter, when all our dear ones seem to be gathered
to us in Christ our Lord, whether those in Heaven
or those far away — all one family, and Christ's
children through God the Father's love and mercy.
I have been very busy. The school-children had all
new clothes for Easter. We worked diligently for
three hours every morning. The jackets were
made of the Irish gingham I brought from home.
This week is holiday, and Julia and I have had a
fine wash, and have clear-starched the Bishop's
sleeves and ruffles — such a business ! My hand
aches to-day with lifting the heavy smoothing-iron,
which is not iron, but a large brass box, hollow
and filled with hot charcoal. We shall get more
used to it in time. Mrs. Stahl used to do it. Now
she is gone it is quite impossible to let the Kling
Dobie touch papa's sleeves ; they would soon be
torn to ribbons. I gave the school a treat on
Easter Tuesday. They had two soup-tureens full
196 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK
of syllabub, plum cake, and pine-apple puffs. My
cook stared when I said, " Make forty large pine-
apple puffs." However, they were for his own
countrymen — he is Chinese. I thought at first he
understood English, for he always said " Yes " to
my orders ; but it was his one word. After the
school-children had finished off with fruit and
native cakes, they had, what they like best of all,
quantities of crackers, which filled the house with
the smell of gunpowder, and frightened baby
Mildred out of her sleep. Good-bye.
July, 1862.
MY PRECIOUS MAB,
Thank you for your note, written on the
4th of May, which I received the other day. I
always rejoice to think of you in the springtime,
because, like other young things, you enjoy the
opening buds, flowers, and sunshine after the
long grave winter. But winter is a good friend,
although he has a grave face ; we should be all the
better for a visit from him out here. My garden is
now as full of flowers as it will hold ; Mrs. Little
brought me so many new ones from Singapore. I
have a very gay nosegay every morning, and still,
leave flowers to adorn the beds outside. We have
turned out some of the fruit-trees to make more
room for flowers. This morning I have sown a
quantity of blue and purple convolvulus, which
only display their beauties to those who rise early
before the sun closes their blossoms ; but we have
JUNGLE FLOWERS. 197
flowers which only open at night, the moon-flower,
and night-blowing cereus, both white and fragrant.
Dr. Little has been travelling about the country
looking for new plants. He and Mr. Koch went
to the top of the mountain of Poe near Lundu. It
was so cold six thousand feet above the level of the
sea, that they had to supply the natives who went
with them with blankets. At the very top of the
mountain they found a new orchid growing on the
ground, a bright yellow flower, with streaks of
magenta colour inside. Dr. Little picked some of
the blossoms, and dug up one hundred roots, two
of which he gave me ; but they will not live in my
garden, they want mountain air. He also gave
me the dead flowers, and asked me to paint a
picture of one from his description and the faded
blossom. I did it as well as I could, but I fear it
was not very good, and, after all, the flower was
not nearly as pretty as a bunch of laburnum in
England. They also found growing on the roots
of a tree that strange fungus flower described by
Sir Stamford Raffles in his book on Java and
Sumatra — a yard wide across the petals, brilliantly
coloured red, purple, yellow and white, and, in the
hollow of the flower (nectarium), capable of holding
twelve pints of water, the whole weighing from
fifteen to twenty pounds ; for it is a thick fleshy
flower, not frail and delicate as one likes a flower
to be. It is very curious and gorgeous, but as
soon as it is fully expanded it begins to decay
and smells putrid. Sir James Brooke once found a
198 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
specimen of this gigantic flower in the jungle, and
sent it to me to look at ; but it had lost all its
beauty in the journey, and I held my nose as I
looked at it. The Dyaks said, " It is an auton "
(spirit), which is their explanation of anything they
never saw before. The natives of Sumatra call it
" The Devil's sirih-box." * Are you as fond of frogs
as you used to be ? Last week, some people were
dining with us. I had just helped the soup, and,
letting my hand fall upon my lap, picked up one
of your friends who had settled himself there. Not
knowing at first what the cold clammy thing was,
I jumped up, and everybody else jumped up too,
to see what was the matter ; for it might have been
a snake, you know ! Good-bye.
December i, 1862.
MY DEAREST MAB,
Uncle told me of your walk with him to
West Hyde Church, and how you made believe
to get to Sarawak and see mamma walking in the
verandah. You are much better off in the cold
December air of England, than you would be in
this sultry place, for all its green beauty and never-
failing flowers. I had rather you carried the roses
in your cheeks than have them in the garden all
the year round. Last month papa went to visit
the Quop Mission, where Mr. and Mrs. Abi and
their little baby, and your old Ayah Fatima, live.
* The real name is Rafflcsia Arnoldi. See page 343, vol. L,
" Raffles' Life and Journals."
QUOP CHRISTIANS. 199
To get there he goes down the Sarawak River and
up the Quop River, then lands at a Malay village,
from whence there is a walk of three or four miles,
up and down pretty hills and across Dyak bridges,
and over paths made of two bamboos tied together,
with a muddy swamp on either side. Then you
come to the mission-house which papa has built,
and to Mr. Chalmers" old house, which at present
serves as the church, and to some long Dyak
houses. Papa baptized twenty-four men, women,
and girls, and confirmed nineteen people who had
been baptized by Mr. Chalmers. The old Pangara,
one of the principal chiefs, was baptized, and three
of his grown-up sons, and one little grandson
whom the old man held in his arms. We had
made white jackets for the baptized, but the old
Pangara had not quite made up his mind, fearing
the ridicule of the other elders of the tribe, till
papa talked to him ; so there was no jacket for him,
and papa gave him a clean white shirt, round the
skirt of which we tied his chawat, a very long waist-
band which wraps round and round the body, and
that was all ! no trousers, and very funny he looked ;
but papa was too rejoiced at his becoming a
Christian, to laugh at him. These people will all
be Christians soon. They come to Mr. and Mrs.
Abi, morning, noon, and night, to be taught, and
there 'are two daily services; so the missionaries
have plenty to do. Two of our old school-boys, now
grown up, are catechists there, Semirum and Aloch.
There is much love between the people and their
2OO SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
teachers; they are so happy at the Quop they never
want to come away. However, I have asked the
Abis to come for a fortnight at Christmas, and
bring their poor little baby to be fattened on cow's
milk. There are no cows at the Quop.
January, 1863.
MY BELOVED CHILDREN,
As I cannot have you with me this
Christmas and new year, I must comfort myself
as best I may by writing you an account of all we
have been doing, and how we have tried to fancy
ourselves in old England amidst the frost and
snow, notwithstanding the bright sunshine and
perpetual green of our Eastern home. When we
woke before daylight on Christmas morning the
school boys were singing under our windows,
" When Joseph was a-walking he heard an angel
sing," so we got up and looked out, wishing the
children a happy Christmas. Then we dressed,
for there was a great deal to do. Papa had many
services in church, Chinese, English, and Dyak.
I had the wreaths to make. The church had been
decked with moss fern the day before, but the
flowers must be added in the morning, or they
would be faded. So Julia and I made a crown
of French marigolds to hang on the cross over the
altar, two large wreaths for either side, and one
at the west end made entirely of the golden alla-
manda, in the buds of which you used to imprison
fire-flies when you lived here. The font was
DYAK BAPTISMS. 2OI
adorned all over, in preparation for the baptisms
to take place in the morning service. At half-past
eleven we all went to church, and after the Litany
there were sixteen Dyaks from Murdang, six
Chinamen, and six little children baptized. Mr.
Koch read the service in Malay, and papa baptized.
It was a beautiful sight. The children, four of my
little girls, and two small boys from the school
behaved very well, and looked pretty in their new
clothes. But they all understood something of
why they were sprinkled with the blessed water,
for we had been teaching them for some time, and
Limo told me on Christmas Eve, that " our Saviour
came into this world a little child, to teach us to
be good ; and when He had blessed them in their
baptism, they must take pains to do all He desired
them." I thought this pretty well for a beginning.
Ambat always repeats what Limo says, so I do
not know how much is her own : she is Limo's
sister. Ango and Llan, the other two girls, have
been taught by Miss Rocke, who has given them
to me ; they know but little, but are gentle children.
The school had a feast at five o'clock, beef curry
(papa had an ox killed), salt pork, rice, and a huge
plum-pudding. They had newly white-washed
their dining-room the week before, and decked it
with boughs, so that it looked very nice with six
lanterns hanging from the roof. They played there
while we were at dinner, and the Christian Chinese
feasted at Sing Song's house. Julia had her little
party in her school-room, and dinner from our table :
202 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
some of the grown-up schoolboys and Polly. We
had Mr. and Mrs. Koch, Mr. and Mrs. Owen, Mr.
Zehnder, and Mrs. Crookshank at our table. Papa
counted that ninety-seven people were fed on the
mission premises on Christmas Day. After dinner
we had a bonfire in the hollow below our hill,
between the house and the church. Quantities of
dry bamboo had been collected there, which threw
up columns of sparks, and lit up all the under
leaves of the trees, making the dark sky and the
young moon look so far far away. Then the boys
began with crackers and rockets. Baby Agnes
was not frightened, but poor Mildred could not
sleep for terror. Every rocket made her call out
" Bumah," and hide her face on my shoulder ; how-
ever, she got used to it at last. Christmas is the
time of year which belongs especially to children,
because our Lord Jesus Christ then deigned to
become a little child. We forget what happened
to us when we were very young — even a mother
does not know all the feelings, little troubles,
ardent wishes and desires of her little ones — but
it is impossible that our Saviour can ever forget
I Ic knows exactly all that belongs to the daily life
of a child, not only because He is God and knows
everything, but because He was once a child Him-
self, and remembers all the joys and sorrows of
His child-life in the cottage at Nazareth ; and so
children are very dear to Him — He listens to their
prayers, accepts their praises, and watches over
them always. Remember, my darling, that He is
BOAT RACES. 203
your best friend ; to Him you may tell all your
little troubles and confess all your faults, for He
is very pitiful and of tender mercy.
I gave my school-girls a box of dominoes and
a set of draughtsmen with a board for their Christ-
mas present. They play very well. All the sewing-
class boys, too, had each a present — either a knife,
or belt, or box or 'basket to keep their treasures
in, or a head-handkerchief; but the Sarawak bazaar
does not furnish many desirable things, even for
school-boys. H.M.S. Renard has arrived since I
wrote thus far, and we have had the boat races,
which always take place in January. Eleven of
our school-boys won the boys' race, pulling against
Inchi Boyangs' school, the Mahometan school, and
some other boats. We dressed our boys in white
and blue, and they pulled beautifully. Papa had
taught them to pull all together, when they went
to mission stations with him, and they are really
good paddlers. They disdained the short course
marked out for the boys, and pulled all the way
out to the winning-post, a boat anchored near the
wharf, round it, and back again, winning by two
boats' lengths. They won five dollars, and papa
added two more ; they gave some of the money
to their school-fellows, and celebrated their victory
by singing all the evening so nicely, and hurrahing
at the end of each song. They are good boys, and
much happiness to us. Good-bye.
CHAPTER XVI.
ILLANUN PIRATES.
I HAVE described in a former chapter the habits of
the Dyak pirates of Sakarran and Sarebas, and
how, after being punished by Sir James Brooke
when they were caught at the entrance of their
river, with captives and plunder in their boats,
they were required to live at one with their
neighbours, and to study the arts of peace.
Happily for them, they had a wise and paternal
Government to repress their vices, and, after
a time, Christian missionaries to teach them the
fear and love of God. But the Malay pirates who
lived on the islands and coasts of North Borneo
were governed by sultans who encouraged piracy,
and insisted on sharing their spoils; moreover, they
are Mahometans by religion, and that is not a
faith which teaches mercy or respects life. To
this day, therefore, these Illanuns remain pirates.
They have larger prahus and carry heavier guns
than the Dyaks, and nothing can exceed their
TLI.ANUN PIRATES. 2O5
cruelty. When we lived at Kuching there was
scarcely a Malay family there who had not suffered
from them, either by the loss of relations or pro-
perty ; for they are naturally a trading people.
It is a common practice for a party of men to
join together in hiring a boat in which to venture
goods or gold-dust by trading on the coast, or even
to Singapore three hundred and sixty miles away,
These small and comparatively unarmed boats fell
an easy prey to the pirate prahus, who went out in
fleets.
The Spaniards and the Dutch were everv now
and then roused to search the seas for these pests
of the human race, but they were so cunning
they generally evaded them. At last they had
a signal lesson. In the year 1862, Captain Brooke,
then governing Sarawak in his uncle's absence,
decided to go to Bintulu on the north-west coast
of Borneo, a territory which had lately been ceded
to the Rajah by the Sultan, and build a fort on the
river, to check piracy and protect the peaceable
inhabitants who were settling there on the promise
of such protection. For this purpose he took the
Rainbow, a small screw steamer of eighty-nine
tons and thirty-five horse power ; and the Jolty
Bachelor, a Government gun-boat. The Bishop
accompanied him, to see what missionary prospects
there were in that distant spot, also because he was
at that time anxious about Captain Brooke's health.
Mr. Helms, the manager of the Borneo mercantile
company, accompanied them as far as Muka, where
206 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
was an establishment to collect sago for exporta-
tion. On the second day after his arrival, a pira-
tical fleet of Ilanuns, consisting of six large, and as
many smaller vessels, appeared on the coast, and
blockaded the town. For two days they remained
off Muka, capturing there, and on the coast south-
wards, thirty-two persons.
Mr. Helms persuaded Hadji Mataim and a few
natives to start in a fast boat and apprize Captain
Brooke ; and this boat, though chased by the pirates,
got safe to Bintulu. Hadji Mataim got alongside
the steamer early on Thursday morning, while it
was still dark, and the Bishop, recognizing' his
voice, called him on board. He delivered a letter
from Mr. Helms, asking for help. Steam was got
up directly, the Chinese carpenters who were to
build the fort were landed, and the guns which had
been brought to protect it were put on board, as
well as the fort men who were to man the fort, that
they might strengthen the crew. With the first dawn
of light the Rainbow steamed over the bar taking
the Jolly BacJielor in tow, and steered for Muka.
Meanwhile all preparation was made for fighting.
Planks were hung over the railing to raise the
sides of the poop where there were no bulwarks,
and mattresses were laid inside to receive the shot
and spears of the enemy ; this doubtless saved the
lives of several of the crew. There were eight
Europeans on board, including the captain of the
Rainbow and his mate, the engineer, Captain
Brooke, Mr. Stuart Johnson, Mr. Hay, Mr. Walters,
ILLANUN PIRATES. 2O/
and the Bishop. As soon as there were any-
wounded, Mr. Walters assisted the Bishop in his
work of mercy. The Bishop always carried a
medicine chest and case of surgical instruments
wherever he went ; and, happily, a large sheet had
been packed among his things this voyage, which
was speedily torn up into bandages. Now all was
ready, but it was not until Friday morning that
they sighted what looked like three large palm
drifts to seaward off Tanjong Kidorong, to the
north-east of the British River. They proved to
be three large prahus, with their masts struck, and
bristling with men, who were rowing like the
Maltese, standing, and pushing for shore, casting
off their sampans * one by one to make better way.
Hadji Mataim recognized the sampan which chased
and fired at him when he slipped away from Muka.
Brooke then asked one of the chief officers of the
Sarawak Government, who was on board, and
Pangeran Matussim of Muka, if they were per-
fectly sure that these prahus were Illanuns ? " Not
a shadow of doubt," they said. So they loaded
their guns and prepared for action. The leading
prahu was going almost as fast as the steamer
herself, and though steam was put on, and every
effort made to get between her and the Point, the
prahu won the race, and got into shallow water
where the steamer could not follow ; then she
opened fire on the steamer, which was returned
with interest. This prahu had three long brass
* Small boats.
208 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
swivel guns, and plenty of rifles and muskets. As
she was beyond the reach of the steamer, Captain
Brooke turned to the second prahu, which was now
fast nearing the shore. His plan was to silence the
brass guns by the fire of the rifles on board the
steamer, and shake the rowers at their oars by a
discharge of grape and round shot ; then to put on
all steam and run at them with the stem of the
Rainbow. This was done with great coolness by
Captain Hewat when Captain Brooke gave the
order; the steamer struck the prahu amid-ships
and went over her. Those on board called to the
slaves, and all who would surrender, to hold on by
the wreck until the boats could take them off; then
they steamed away after the third prahu, which had
already got into two-fathom water and was struck
too far forward to sink. All the pirates in her
jumped overboard and swam for shore, leaving
their own wounded, the slaves, and captives, who
were also bid to remain by their vessel till they
were rescued.
Meanwhile the first prahu, seeing the fate of the
others, ran ashore among the rocks inside Tanjong
Kidorong ; and all the crew, pirates, and slaves ran
into the jungle. Had the captives known better
they would not have run away. The Jolly Bachelor
was left to look after these runaways, and then
the captives of the other two prahus were helped
on board the steamer. Several of the crew of the
Rainbow recognized friends and acquaintances
among the saved ; and the joyous, thankful look
ILLANUN PIRATES. 209
of the captives, as they came on board and found
themselves among friends, was indeed a compensa-
tion for the awful destruction of the pirates. Many
were wounded, either with shot or the fearful cuts
of the Illanun swords of the pirates, who tried to
murder their captives when they saw all was lost.
The Bishop was dressing one man who was shot
through the wrist, when he spoke to him in English,
and after pouring out his gratitude for his wonderful
escape, said he was a Singapore policeman, and
was going to see his friends in Java when he was
captured. There were also two Singapore women,
and a child, and two British-born Bencoolen Malays,
who were taken in their own trading boat going to
Tringanau. The husband of the younger woman
had been killed by the pirates, and she, like all
women who fall into their hands, had suffered every
outrage and insult which could be offered her.
They were almost living skeletons. One was shot
through the thigh, and after the Bishop had dressed
her wound, Mr. Walters said quaintly, "Poor thing,
she has not meat enough on her bones to bait a
rat-trap." It is a wonder how the poor creatures
lived at all, under the treatment to which they were
subjected. When the Bishop asked some of the
men whether their wounds hurt much, they
answered, "Nothing hurts so much as the salt
water the Illanuns gave us to drink. We never had
fresh water ; they mixed three parts of fresh with
four of salt water: and all we had to eat was a
handful of rice or raw sago twice a day." Very
P
2IO SKKTCHKS OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
few of the pirates who were not wounded surren-
dered. They are marvellous swimmers : took their
arms with them into the water, and fought the men
in the boats who were trying to pick up the captives.
The Bishop and Mr. Walters were fully occupied
doctoring friends and foes, arresting hemorrhage,
extracting balls, and closing frightful sword or
chopper wounds. One man came on board with
the top of his skull as cleanly lifted up by a Sooloo
knife, as if a surgeon had desired to take a peep at
the brain inside ! It took considerable force to
close it in the right place. This man had also two
cuts in his back, yet the next morning he was
discovered eating a large plate of rice, and he
ultimately recovered. Another poor fellow could
not be got up the ladder because he had a long-
handled three-barbed spear sticking in his back :
the Bishop had to go down and cut it out before he
could be moved.
While all this was going on, the captives told
Captain Brooke that there were three more pirate
vessels out at sea, waiting for those near shore
to rejoin them ; as soon, therefore, as the steamer
had picked up as many captives as she could find,
she steamed out to sea in search of them. After
an hour, the look-out from the mast-head reported
three vessels in sight. It was then a dead calm,
and they were using their long sweeps, when they
were seen from the deck, to arrange themselves
side by side, with their bows towards the steamer ;
but, a breeze springing up, they hoisted sail, spread
ILLANUN PIRATES. 211
themselves out broadside on, and opened fire on
the Rainbow as soon as she was within range, so
that there was no question as to whether these
were pirate prahus or not. The same plan was
followed as in the case of the other boats, and with
more success, as there was no shore to escape to.
The pirates had secured their captives below the
decks of the prahus, but when the steamer struck
them and opened their sides, they were liberated.
But few of them were drowned, being all good
swimmers ; but some were killed by the pirates
in their rage and despair, and some had been
lashed to the vessel and could not therefore escape.
One poor Chinaman came swimming along, hold-
ing up his long tail of hair lest he should be
suspected to be a pirate ; other men held up the
ropes round their necks, to show they were captives.
The deck of the steamer was soon covered with
those who had been picked out of the water, men
of every nation and race in the Archipelago, who
had been captured during this cruise, which had
lasted seven months. These vessels left Tawi-Tawi,
an island to the south-west of Sooloo, in October.
The Sultan of Sooloo is in league with the pirates,
and receives part of the plunder and slaves. In
the only boat boarded by Captain Brooke was
found the Sultan's flag, which is only given to
people of high rank ; also the usual Illanun flag,
six Dutch, and one Spanish flag, which no doubt
belonged to vessels they had captured. The men
who were saved gave details of the taking of two
212 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
large vessels — one a Singapore prahu trading to
Tringanau ; the other a Dutch tope, of one hundred
and fifty tons, on the coast of Borneo to the south
of Pontianak. There they fell in with five other
Illanun boats, which had come down from the
northward — they themselves were going up from
the southward. The new-comers told them of a
merchant vessel near at hand, and proposed they
should join them in capturing her, which they did.
She had a valuable cargo, worth ten thousand dollars.
They killed everybody on board, plundered and
burnt the vessel. Only the one Chinaman escaped
who told this tale. The captives stated that this
was the usual proceeding if resistance was made.
When they spare their captives' lives, they beat them
with a flat piece of bamboo over the elbows and
knees, and the muscles of arms and legs, until they
are unable to move ; then a halter is put round their
necks, and, when they are sufficiently tamed, they
are put to the oars and made to row in gangs,
with one of their own fellow-captives as overseer
to keep them at work. If he does not do it
effectually, he is krissed and thrown overboard.
If these miserable creatures jump into the sea they
spear them in the water. They row in relays,
night and day ; and to keep them awake, cayenne
pepper is rubbed into their eyes or into cuts dealt
them on their arms.
The masts of these prahus are very small, so
that they may not be seen at a distance. They
go very fast. Those encountered by the Rainbow
ILLANUX PIRATES. 213
were seen off Datu on Monday night, and on
Friday morning they were near Bintulu, a distance
of two hundred and forty miles, although they had
delayed nearly two days at Muka, picking up
thirty people on the coast. Most of these were
recaptured and returned to Muka. On reckoning
up, it was found that one hundred and sixty-five
people had been rescued, and perhaps one hundred
and fifty or two hundred had got away from the
vessels sunk on shore. In every pirate prahu
were from forty to fifty Illanuns, and from sixty
to seventy captives, many of whom were killed
by the pirates when they found themselves beaten,
among them two women. Nine women and six
children were saved ; seven of the women belonged
to Muka or Oya. Of the Illanuns, thirty-two were
taken alive ; ten of these were boys. Some died
afterwards of their wounds ; some were taken to
Kuching in irons, there tried, and some of them
executed. They died the death of murderers ; but
Captain Brooke gave the boys to respectable people
to bring up, hoping they might be reformed.
We had one young fellow, about fourteen years old,
when he had been cured of his wounds in the
hospital. I kept him about me, and used to teach
him ; but he could not be tamed. He turned
Mahometan, and left us to be employed at the fort ;
but there he stole money, and had to be sent else-
where. The nature of an Illanun pirate seems
almost unmixed evil, because they are taught to
be cruel from their childhood.
214 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
There were two circumstances in this affray with
the Illanuns which called for thankfulness on the
part of the victors. First, that they met the
pirates in two detachments, which enabled them
to attack them successfully, -without the danger of
their boarding the steamer, which, from their
numbers, would have been fatal to the little party
on board the Rainbow. Secondly, that their
ammunition lasted through the two engagements.
It was quite finished ; only a little loose powder
in a barrel, and a few broken cartridges, remained
when the last prahus were taken. Had they fallen
in with another fleet, they would have been at
their mercy. Almost while I write these last
words, we have received a letter from the present
Rajah of Sarawak — Charles Johnson Brooke. He
says, " I have heard this morning that one of our
schooners has been captured by the Sooloo pirates,
and the crew murdered." The last twenty years
have not therefore altered the character of these
people, and their extermination seems the only
remedy for the misery they inflict on their fellow-
creatures.
CHAPTER XVII.
A MALAY WEDDING.
MY DARLING MAB,
I am sitting in a darkened room, while
Mildred is having her day sleep ; and as I am
thinking of you, I may as well begin a letter for
next mail. Last week I went to a Malay wedding,
the first I ever attended, although I have been here
so many years. It amused me very much ; so I
shall try to describe it to you.
Early in the morning the bridegroom's friends
came to beg flowers from our garden. Then papa
told them I would go to the wedding, and they
said, " Be sure not to be later than twelve o'clock."
Accordingly, Mr. and Mrs. Ricketts, the British
Consul and his wife, Mr. Zehnder, and I set off in
two boats, after eleven o'clock breakfast ; but we
need not have got there before two o'clock.
Eastern people set little value on time. They
would just as soon sit cross-legged on the floor
smoking for three hours as for one. The bride is
2l6 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
the daughter of one of the first merchants in the
place, Nakodah Sadum, and the bridegroom is
the grandson of the old Datu Tumangong, whom
you may remember. A handsome young man is
Matussim, and enlightened, for a Malay. He made
his betrothed a present of his photograph last year.
Formerly Malays objected to having their portraits
taken, fancying it a breach of the second com-
mandment.
The bride's father's house was gay with flags
and streamers, and in front of it lay, by the river's
brink, four small cannon, which had been busy, for
days before and all that morning, saluting the
occasion. We walked up into the house, which
was full of guests. A long verandah, lined with
hadjis and elders, all smoking and talking, led to
the principal room, which, unlike any Malay house
before built in Sarawak, had large Venetian-
shuttered doors all round, and was therefore cool
and airy. There was a little round table, and some
armchairs covered with white mats for the ex-
pected guests, in the middle of the room. Sadum
and his wife came forward and greeted us very
cordially, and then we were told to sit down on the
chairs. I looked about for the bride, and saw a
crowd of women in one corner, and a boy holding
a gilt umbrella over the young lady, who was being
shaved. A woman with a razor was shearing her eye-
brows into a delicate line, and all round her forehead
trimming disorderly hairs. Four women, seated on
their heels in front of her, were fidgeting over her
A MALAY WEDDING. 2 1/
face ; she, impassive as a log in their hands. A
vast deal of singing. and drumming went on all the
time, a row of musicians keeping it up all round
the room. The girl was washed ; then her hair,
magnificent black hair down to her heels, knotted
in two great bows on either side of her head. Over
these, gold ornaments like wings were fixed, and a
little tower of gold bells above them. Then the
women painted a black band round her forehead,
and added a silver edge to it, also painted. Her
eyebrows were likewise touched up, and her skin
rubbed all over with yellow powder. Poor child !
she was a curious figure by the time it was all
finished, and her skin must have felt painfully stiff.
She was then attired in very handsome silk robes,
ornameAted with solid gold, and the attendants
carried her to a raised dais or bed-place at one end
of the room. There she sat, not daring to lift her
eyes until the bridegroom's arrival.
The divan was gorgeous with silk curtains and
cushions embroidered with gold thread and em-
bossed with tinsel ornaments, the work of the bride
herself. The seat for the bridegroom was somewhat
higher and larger than the bride's. At last the
bridegroom approached in a large barge, which
held about two hundred people. A small boat
preceded it with three guns, which kept up a deafen-
ing noise as he drew near. He was carried up the
steps, and the house door was shut to in his face,
according to the Malay custom. Then he begged
admittance very humbly, and after paying a fee of
2l8 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
five dollars, was admitted. His followers rush in
first— such a clatter! Greetings, welcomes, jokes,
and laughter, make a Babel of noise ; everybody
speaking at once. Then a cloth was laid down for
the bridegroom to pass over, and he was pulled
with apparent reluctance into the room, panting
and shutting his eyes as if exhausted. His head
was wreathed with Indian jessamine. He was
naked to the waist, except a gold scarf over one
shoulder ; otherwise he had plenty of gold and red
silk about him. He was pulled up to the bride,
turning his head away as if he was ashamed to
look at her, and dropped a red silk handkerchief
over her face for a moment. Then he sat down on
the divan, and all the old women of both houses
sprinkled the couple with yellow rice, and rubbed
their foreheads with some charm, which looked like
a bit of stone and a nutmeg-grater, and wished
them all kinds of luck — but especially that they
might be the parents of sons only. After the young
people had endured this long enough, the curtains
were let down round the dais, and only two or
three old women kept going in and out. We
found they were taking off all the finery, and dress-
ing the bride and bridegroom in their usual clothes;
for while we were drinking coffee and eating
Malay cakes at the little table, they came out from
the curtains, looking quite pleasant and natural.
So we shook hands, made our congratulations,
and bade them adieu. We got home at four
o'clock, very hot and tired, and papa laughed
A MALAY WEDDING. 2 19
at us for going ; but I was glad I did for once in
a way.
A wedding is a very serious expense to Malays
of any rank. The bridegroom has to make settle-
ments on the bride, and the bride's father has to
keep open house for weeks, besides fees to the
hadjis, and gunpowder ad libitum. The religious
part of the ceremony is enacted some days before
the marriage. One day papa was calling at a
Malay house, where a wedding was about to take
place, and found the bridegroom learning a passage
in the Koran, in Arabic, which he could not trans-
late, but which it was necessary he should repeat.
A hadji was standing by, driving the words into
his head. The hadji could not translate it either ;
but the Koran may only be read in Arabic, lest it
should be desecrated. Sometimes papa would read
a chapter to any Malay who desired to understand
the meaning of his sacred book ; but they were
generally content with learning it as a charm, or
certain parts of it.
The Rajah often made a present of an ox for a
great man's wedding. This was a great help, for
many dishes of curry could be made out of so much
meat When we wished for some meat at Christ-
mas and Easter, we sent for the Mahometan
butcher to kill the animal. He turned its head
towards Mecca, repeated prayers over him, and
then cut his throat in such a way that no drop of
blood was left in the flesh ; for the Malays hold to
the Jewish law in that as well as many other
220 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
particulars. Then the people would buy what-
ever beef we did not want ourselves ; but not
otherwise.
This is a long letter, but as I am on the subject
of weddings, I may as well tell you about a Chinese
wedding we had the other day at our house. The
bridegroom was Ak'at, a carpenter, about six feet
two inches high. He was dressed in whity-brown
silk, which made him look like a tall spectre ; and
the bride was Quey Ginn, a fat, dumpy little girl of
sixteen, the Chinese deacon's daughter, and one of
my scholars. She did not choose her old husband
of fifty years, but her parents arranged it, and
Akiat paid one hundred dollars for his wife. I
went to see her the day before the wedding, and
she showed me all her clothes and ornaments ; but
I thought she did not look as if she cared for them.
So I whispered, " Are you happy, child ? " " No,
not at all," burst out Quey Ginn. " I don't want to
be married and leave my parents." Whereupon I
could not help taking her in my arms and comfort-
ing her, telling her to be a good wife, and she
would soon learn to be content. She has been to
visit me since her marriage, and I am amused to
see that she is quite a little woman, instead of the
shy girl she used to be ; and, whereas as a girl she
was never allowed to be seen in the streets, or even
to go to church, she now does exactly as she
likes, and, I am happy to say, comes regularly to
church. These people were all sincere Christians.
Akiat was the Chinese churchwarden, and, as papa
MISSION WORK AT BANTING. 221
esteemed them very highly, he allowed the break-
fast to take place at our house.
I had a cake made for the occasion, which Quey
Ginn cut up with much pleasure. The ring in it
fell to Mr. Zehnder's share, which amused him also.
Good-bye.
It was this year, 1865, that Mr. Waterhouse, the
chaplain of Singapore, came to visit us. The
doctors often sent us a patient or friend to be under
the Bishop's care, and for rest and change ; the latter
was the cause of Mr. Waterhouse's visit, and six
weeks of jungle life did him good, while his society
and sympathy were a great pleasure to us, the
Bishop especially. The Bishop took him to visit
the different mission stations, and he often spoke
to me with satisfaction of the " real mission work "
he witnessed at Banting, Lundu, and the Quop.
At each of these stations he found a consecrated
church and a community of Christian people ; whilst
the missionaries set over them, not only instructed
and ministered to the tribe among whom they
lived, but journeyed to outlying places, founding
branch missions and setting catechists to work
under them. I find in one of my letters, when
Mr. Waterhouse returned from Banting, he said,
"I cannot but admire the patience with which
Mr. Chambers talks all day, morning, noon, and
night, to every party of Dyaks, who march into the
house whenever they like, making it quite their
home: it is what very few people could do day after
222 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
day." This is the trial of Dyak teaching. You
cannot appoint specific hours for instruction. People
come when they can, sometimes long distances.
They can never be denied, except you are actually
at meals, and then they sit down and wait till the
eating is over. Here is a programme of a day
at Banting: —
By seven in the morning Mr. Chambers goes to
one or another Dyak house to teach. These houses
contain many families under one roof. The people
understand now that teaching is the sole object of
Mr. Chambers' visit, so, when he enters, all who are
at leisure gather round him. He returns home to
eleven o'clock breakfast. After breakfast his school
of boys occupies him for the afternoon ; but every
party of Dyaks who come in must be listened to,
and, if they are willing, instructed, taught a prayer,
a hymn, a parable, or some Scripture lesson. This
goes on till five o'clock, when the bell calls them
to daily prayers, and they all walk together down
the beautiful jungle avenue to the pretty church.
A short service, in which the Dyaks respond
heartily, and a catechizing follows, during which
they are allowed to ask questions of their teacher.
Then an hour's rest before dinner. But immedi-
ately after dinner more Dyaks, sometimes a whole
house, i.e. forty or fifty persons, come in, and have
coffee, and pictures, and a lecture. All this does
not happen every day, but most days during what
we call the working season, from March till
October, and no doubt so much talking and so
MISSION WORK AT LUNDU. 223
little leisure is very fatiguing. But then comes the
harvest, and afterwards the wet monsoon, and the
schools fall off, and the Dyaks no longer come from
a distance to be taught. It is sufficiently dull
and lonely then in the jungle stations. The sea
runs too high for boats to bring mails, or books,
or provisions ; the rain falls heavily, and with
little intermission, and food becomes scarce. Mrs.
Chambers told me that the prayer for daily bread,
which seems to us to relate to the daily needs
of our souls for the bread and water of life, bore
a literal meaning to them in the north-east mon-
soon, when the day's food was by no means certain.
Rice they had, it is true ; but English people get
nearly starved upon rice alone, without fish, meat,
or bread. It was therefore with sincere thankful-
ness that they welcomed a chicken, however skinny,
in that season.
After the Banting expedition, the Bishop took
Mr. Waterhouse to Lundu, and Mr. Hawkins,
a missionary lately come out, went with them.
They arrived on a Saturday. On Sunday there
was a great gathering of Christian Dyaks: fifty-two
people were confirmed, eighty received the Holy
Communion, so that they were more than three
hours in church, the Bishop preaching to them
in Malay. On Monday Mr. Waterhouse and Mr.
Hawkins paid a visit to a beautiful waterfall, about
two miles from the town ; and on Tuesday all the
party, Mr. Gomez included, went in boats forty
miles up the river Lundu, with three hundred Dyaks,
224 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
to tuba fish. The Bishop had paid the Dyaks
to collect tuba the week before. It is a plant
found in the jungle, the root of which washed in
water makes a milky-looking poison. It does not
make the fish unwholesome to eat, only intoxicates
them for the time, so that they rise floundering
about on the surface of the water, but it destroys
human life, and is the poison chosen by Dyaks who
commit suicide, though I do. not believe that this
crime is common among them.
When the party had ascended the river far enough,
the Dyaks built a hut for the English to sleep in.
They made a floor of logs of wood, spread over with
the bark of trees, which, beaten down hard, made
a capital mattress on which to lay their mats and
pillows. The kajangs (leaf mats) off the boat made
some shelter from the weather, although it takes
a good deal to keep Borneo rain out ! The Dyaks
were much too busy to go to sleep at all : they
drove stakes all across the river to secure their fish,
then they beat out the tuba in the bottom of their
boats. It took all night, by the light of torches, to
do this ; and a wild sight it was, in the midst of the
solemn old jungle. Very early in the morning,
when the tide was at its lowest ebb, they put the
tuba into the river ; the flood coming up, and bring-
ing plenty of fish, encountered this intoxicating
milk, and carried over the stakes a whole shoal
of dead and tipsy fish. Then the Dyaks, darting
about in little boats, speared the big fishes, and
caught the small ones in landing-nets.
TUBA FISHING. 225
Hundreds of fish were caught, and the Dyaks
had a grand feast ; also, they salted quantities, in
their nasty way — pounding the fish up, letting it
turn sour, and then packing it into bamboos with
salt, as a relish to eat with their rice. Certainly it
has a strong flavour ! They all camped two nights
in the jungle, then returned to Lundu, and reached
Sarawak in the yacht Fanny, after an absence of
ten days. We had a visit from H.M.S. Scout about
this time, and one day sat down sixteen to dinner
in the mission-house, some of the officers having
come up to spend the day. It is difficult to impro-
vise a dinner in a country where no joints of meat
are to be had, unless you kill an ox for the purpose.
Sheep there are none. A capon or goose, or a suck-
ing pig, are the only big dishes, and not always
to be had. However, we did very well, and our
visitors were delighted with Sarawak, and with the
schoolboys' singing ; for I had them up to sing
glees and rounds, and "Rule Britannia," after
dinner. Captain Corbett was so pleased with the
little fellows that he invited them all to see the
ship the next morning. Accordingly our largest
boat took the choir down very early to Morotabas,
where the Scout lay, and Captain Corbett took
them all over it himself, even down to the screw
chamber. The boys had never seen so large
a man-of-war before (1600 tons), so they were
delighted. Some Dyaks who went with them were
much terrified lest they should be carried off to sea,
for the captain ordered " up anchor," that the boys
Q
226 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
might see how it was done, and then sent them off
the last minute. They came home in high glee.
Only those who live at the ends of the earth can
tell what a pleasure and refreshment is a little visit
from her Majesty's ships from time to time. The
whiff of English air they bring with them, and
the hearty English enthusiasm which has not had
time to evaporate, is most reviving.
Many Chinese Christians returned to China this
summer. I hope they carried the good seed of the
word of life with them. They are only birds of
passage at Sarawak : when they grow rich they pre-
fer to spend their money in their native country.
Our Chinese deacon took his family for a visit to
their Chinese relations. Even the married daughter
went with them ; and a few days afterwards, Akiat,
her husband, came to tell me that he was so
wretched without his wife, that he should go to
Singapore for the few months of her absence, to
while away the time, and he meant to have a nice
new house ready for her on her return.
Voon Yen Knoon deserved a holiday, certainly,
for he worked hard among his countrymen, besides
teaching every day in the school. Three evenings
every week were devoted to the instruction of the
Chinese, at the mission-house. Two distinct lan-
guages were spoken by the different tribes of
Chinese who had settled at Sarawak. They could
not be taught together. The people of the Kay
tribe came on one evening, the Hokien another,
each having their own interpreter. On the third
CHINESE CHRISTIANS.
227
evening the interpreters were instructed in the
lessons for the following week. On these nights
our long dining-room was full of Chinamen, and
a large tray of tiny cups of tea was carried in, and
consumed before the teaching began.
CHAPTER XVIII.
LAST YEARS AT SARAWAK.
MR. CHALMERS1 Merdang Dyaks once said to him,
" See how many races of people there are : Dyaks,
Malays, Klings, Chinese, English. They have all
different religions : this is proper, for God has
given to each the religion suited to them."
I remembered this ingenious remark when I was
reading Mr. Helms's interesting book, just published,
" Pioneering in the Far East." He says : " Like most
barbarous and savage nations, the Dyak identifies
his gods and spirits with the great phenomena of
nature, and assigns them abodes on the lofty
mountains. Though, in his opinion, all spirits are
not equally malignant, all are more or less to be
dreaded. The silent surroundings of primaeval
forests in which the Dyak spends most of his time,
the mountains, the gloomy caves, often looming
mysteriously through cloud and mist, predispose
him to identify them with supernatural influences,
which in his imagination take the form of monsters
RELIGION OF THE DYAKS. 229
and genii. With no better guide than the un-
tutored imagination of a mind which in religious
matters is a blank, who shall wonder that this
is so ? I have myself often felt the influences
of such surroundings, when dark clouds deepened
the forest gloom, and the approaching storm set
the trees whispering : if, at such a moment, the
shaggy red-haired and goblin form of the orang-
outang, with which some of the Dyaks identify
their genii, should appear among the branches,
it requires little imagination to people the mystic
gloom with unearthly beings."
Mr. Helms is quite right— |-the religion which
springs from circumstance and surrounding nature
is always one of fear ; evil is so close to the heart
of man that the very elements and mysteries of
nature seem his enemies, so long as he is ignorant
of the love of God. The great creating Spirit,
whose existence is acknowledged by all Dyaks,
inspires them with neither love nor trust ; it is only
malign spirits who are active, who concern them-
selves with his affairs, and threaten his happiness
and prosperity, and who must therefore be pro-
pitiated. What a different aspect his native woods
must present to the Christian Dyak, who can look
around without fear, and believe that his Heavenly
Father made all these things ! You would imagine
that Christianity would be welcomed as a deliver-
ance from such superstition ; but here the apathy
of long habit raises a barrier. The Dyak who
professed to think his dismal religion was given
230 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
him by God, was probably too intellectually idle to
think at all. " What you say is most likely true,
but we have received our belief from our forefathers,
and it is good enough for us," is the common
remark of the Land Dyak. This listlessness was
perhaps originally caused by oppression and misery,
a hard life and cruel masters. | In the days we
knew these people they had a sad and patient
expression in their faces, as if they could not forget
the time when they were ground down by Malay
extortion, and despoiled by stronger, more warlike
tribes. The present generation may have more
spirit, more independence, and the blessings of
peace and liberty may leave their minds more open
to the light of truth. It is, however, interesting
to note how different races of men develop different
religious beliefs, and how these Dyaks^ intuitively
perceive spirit through matter, and are governed,
however blindly and ignorantly, by the powers of
the unseen world. I
The orang-outang, or wild man, in not very com-
monly met in the jungle. I have seen the trees
alive with monkeys, but never met an orang-outang
at liberty. The Dyaks may well be afraid of them
if it is true, as they say, that if one of these
monsters attacks a man, he picks his flesh off
his bones like a cook plucking a chicken. They
are immensely powerful, but once caged are gentle
enough. Their one desire in confinement is
clothing, why I cannot tell ; large-sized monkeys
always wrapped themselves in any bit of cloth they
MONKEYS.
could find, partly in imitation of their keepers, and
perhaps also because they are very chilly creatures,
and, deprived of their usual violent gymnastics,
suffered from cold. A Chinaman had a female
orang in his shop while we were at Sarawak, who
took a violent liking to the Bishop, and always
expected to be noticed when he passed the shop.
Then she would kiss and fondle his hand ; but if
he forgot to speak to " Jemima," she went into a
passion, screamed, and dashed about her cage.
I never allowed any kind of monkey to be kept
at the mission-house. We had too many children
on the premises, and they are jealous and uncertain
in their behaviour to children. Indeed I always
regretted their being either shot or caged — they
enjoy life so intensely in the jungle, and are so
amusing, swinging themselves from the branches of
tall trees, leaping, flying almost, in pursuit of one
another for mere fun, that it was sad to put them
in prison, where they never lived long, and where
they only exhibited a ludicrous and humiliating
parody on the habits of mankind.
There was a race of monkeys at Sarawak called
by the natives " Unkah," from the noise they made,
but which we called Noseys, for they had long
noses which fell over their mouths, so that the
large males had to lift their noses with one hand,
while they put food into their mouths with the
other. When we first lived in the country, and
were anxious to send specimens of every new and
curious thing to England, my husband shot one of
232 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
these large monkeys for the sake of his skin, but
he was so distressed at the look the beast gave him
when he felt himself hit, he was so like his own
uncle in England, who had rather a red face and
long nose, that he resolved never again to shoot a
monkey. This ape was clothed in long brown fur,
while his legs were encased in much shorter hair
of a tan colour, which gave the idea of leather
breeches. I once saw a monkey's nest in a high
tree. The tree was very bare of leaf or the nest
might have escaped notice. It was formed of big
sticks laid in a strong fork of the branches ; and
whether it was lined Avith anything softer could not
be seen from below, but the sticks stuck out,
covering a large space, which had no appearance of
comfort or snugness.
The one monkey I liked, and that at a distance,
was the wa-wa, whose voice was very sweet and
melodious, like the soft bubbling of water ; but it
was a very melancholy animal, and never seemed
to possess the fun and trickishness of the more
common sorts of ape. They are all delicate and
difficult to rear, and invariably die of over-eating,
or rather eating what is unwholesome for them, if
they have a chance. It seems as if, in approaching
the form of man, they lost the instinct of the brute.
It was a great addition to the pleasures of life in
Sarawak that there were no wild beasts to be
feared in the jungles. When we were once staying
at Malacca, and, for the sake of a natural hot
spring, inhabited a little bungalow in the country,
TIGERS. 233
we were always liable to encounter a tiger in our
walks ; on Penang Hill, also, there was a large tiger
staying in the woods. During one of our visits,
we tracked his footsteps in a cave on the hill ; and
he carried off a calf from a gentleman's cow-house
near us — at another time a pony from a neighbour's
stable. Tigers do not, however, live at Penang:
they occasionally swim over the strait from Johore,
opposite the island, if driven by hunger. The
natives made deep pits to catch them, with bamboo
spears at the bottom to transfix them when they
fall in. On one occasion a French Roman Catholic
missionary fell into one of these tiger-pits, and
remained there, starved and wounded, for three
days before he was discovered. He was a very
good man, and gave a wonderful account of his
happiness, his visions of heavenly bliss while dying
in that slow torture, for he was too far gone to
be restored. He died rejoicing that he had known
what it was to suffer with Christ.
The last two years of our life at Sarawak, the
Bishop's health failed and caused me much anxiety.
The long jungle walks, which were so necessary
in getting about from one mission to another,
became more and more difficult to him. Often he
had to stop and lie down under a tree till the
palpitation of his heart abated ; repeated attacks of
Labuan fever affected his liver; and our friends
often warned us that we ought to go home to save
his life. The interest of the different missions
increased so much at this time, that it seemed hard
234 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
to give up a post in which many trials and dis-
appointments had been lived through, just as
success seemed about to reward the years of patient
labour. The peace and harmony of the mission
was greatly promoted, the last three years of our
stay, by an annual meeting of the clergy with their
bishop. They came from their different rivers to
spend a week at the mission-house, and for certain
hours of each day met in the church to discuss
missionary operations, Church discipline, religious
terms, translations, etc. It was very desirable
there should be no diversity of opinion in these
matters, but that the different missions should have
the same plans, uses, and customs. And these
meetings, besides the importance of the subjects
discussed, knit the missionaries to one another and
all to the Bishop, promoting also that esprit de corps
which strengthens any institution, be it school,
college, or Church in a heathen country.
A curious adventure happened to the Bishop in
1865. It was the rainy season, and the roads were
saturated with water and full of holes, especially a
new bit of road towards Pedungan, where sleepers
of wood had been laid down, to steady what would
otherwise have been a bog ; but holes here and there
could not be avoided. The Bishop always took a
ride early in the morning, before seven o'clock
service in church. That morning I had asked him
to go to a house down that road, to inquire about
a servant. He came home late, and covered with
mud ajl down one side. "Papa has fallen," said
A STRANGE ACCIDENT. 235
little Mildred, playing in the garden. At her voice
her father seemed to wake up out of a deep sleep,
and gradually he became conscious of a severe
bruise on his face and pain in his head ; but he
could give no account of the matter, which was, how-
ever, explained by a Malay in the course of the day.
This man was walking on the road to Pedungan,
when he met the Bishop returning home. He saw
the horse put his foot into a deep hole and come
down, the Bishop also. He did not, however, at once
fall off, not until the horse in his efforts to rise had
inflicted a blow with his head on his rider's face.
The Malay helped the horse up, which was not
hurt, and the Bishop on his back ; and seeing he was
much stunned, he followed them for some way lest
the Bishop should need assistance : but when they
reached the town and seemed all right, he went
back. All this time, however, the Bishop was
perfectly unconscious ; the horse carried him as he
chose, over a ditch, up a steep bank, under low-
hanging trees, and quite safely until he stopped at
our own door. A headache and some stiffness
were the only results of what might have been a
fatal accident. We were very thankful to God for
having sent His angel to guard steps as uncon-
scious and heedless as any little child's could have
been. No memory of what had happened ever
came back to the Bishop.
In 1866 the Rifleman, her Majesty's surveying
ship, gave us a passage to Labuan, where the Bishop
236 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
wanted to hold a confirmation. This ship was going
to Manilla, and from thence to Hong Kong, before
she returned to Singapore, and, through the kindness
of Captain Reed, we accompanied her. At Labuan
I caught the fever of the country, but it did not
come out for ten days, by which time we were at
Manilla. We anchored off Manilla on Christmas-
day evening : it had been a very wet day, but
cleared up at night, and we sat on deck watching
the lights on shore, and listening to the constant
chimes of the numerous church bells, whilst the
sailors sang songs and did their best to amuse us.
It seemed so strange to be in a Christian country
again.
They have some customs at Manilla which I could
not help admiring. When the Vesper bell rings at
six o'clock, all business and pleasure is suspended
for a few minutes, and all the world, man, woman,
and child, say a prayer. The coachmen on the
carriages stop their horses, the pedestrians stand
still, friends engaging in animated conversation are
suddenly silent. The setting sun is a signal for the
heart to rise to God ; it is a public recognition of
His protecting care, and an act of thanksgiving.
When it is over, the children ask their parents'
blessing for the night. This was told me by
a native of Manilla, an educated gentleman, who
gave his children every advantage of learning and
travel. The Vesper custom I saw for myself every
time I took an evening drive. We witnessed a very
gorgeous procession on the feast of the Epiphany.
MANILLA.
237
All the city functionaries, the military, the priests,
bands of music, and a masquerade of the three
kings on horseback, surrounded by troops of chil-
dren beautifully dressed in white and scattering
flowers, passed through the streets to a church, into
which they all poured, the three horses riding in
too, to attend high mass. I saw but little of
Manilla, being ill nearly all the time. It is a place
shaken to pieces by earthquakes. When we were
there the great square, where the Government offices
once stood, was a heap of ruins, and the treasury
was too poor even to clear them away. The bridges
were all broken in the middle, and patched up some-
how ; and all the rooms in the houses were crooked,
the timbers of the walls being joined loosely together
to admit of the frequent trembling, heaving, and
subsidence of the ground, without their cracking.
I believe the country all round was lovely, but I
only took one drive when I was convalescent, and
then we steamed away to Hong Kong. I shall say
nothing about Hong Kong, for all the world knows
what a beautiful place it is in winter — how bright
and sparkling the blue sea, how clean and trim the
streets, and how stately the buildings ; also what
a dream of loveliness is the one drive out of the
town to the Happy Valley, where many an English-
man lies buried in the cemetery. I had a second
bout of fever at Hong Kong. Happily for us, we
found kind relatives both at Manilla and Hong
Kong, who nursed me, and who were very good to
us. We found it very cold there after stewing for
238 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
six years in Borneo, and the Bishop caught a chill
\vhich made him ill all the rest of the way home.
Had we thought when we left Sarawak in '66 that
we should never return there, it would have been
a great trial to bid adieu to our old home, but
we had no such intention. We were only taking
Mildred to England, and seeking a necessary
change for the Bishop's failing health. The know-
ledge that he would not be able to resume his work
in the East dawned upon us by degrees. It was
a great disappointment, but we were thankful that
an English vicarage was found for us, where we
could make a home for our children, and where the
duties and pleasures of an English parish remained
to us. It is, however, very pleasant, on a foggy day
in November or February, to return in fancy to that
land of sunshine and flowers ; to imagine one's self
again sitting in the porch of the mission-house,
gazing at the mountain of Matang, lit up with sun-
set glories of purple and gold. Then, when the last
gleam of colour has faded, to find the Chinaman
lighting the lamps in the verandah, and little dusky
faces peeping out, to know if you will sing with
them " Twinkle, twinkle, little star," or the hymn
about the " Purple-headed mountain and river
running by," which must have surely been written
for Sarawak children.
CHAPTER XIX.
THE ISLAND OF BORNEO.
BORNEO is so little known that a short account
of it may be interesting. If any one will examine
a map of Borneo they will see that it is a large
island, in shape something like a box with the
lid open. The interior of the square part of it
presents almost a blank on the map, for the
coasts only are known to the civilized world. Its
greatest length is eight hundred miles, and its
greatest breadth six hundred and twenty-five miles.
Ranges of mountains through the centre of the
island provide the sources of many fine rivers
which are the highways of the country.
The Dutch claim the south and south-west of the
island. They have settlements at Sambas, at Pon-
tianak, and at Banjermassin ; and forts on the
rivers, inhabited by Dutch residents, or Malay
chiefs in their pay : but they have never won the
hearts of the aborigines, for the Dutch maxim is
always to get as much money as possible out of
240 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
native subjects, consequently they are every now
and then obliged to send European troops to
enforce the obedience of the Chinese and Dyaks
to their rule. On the west of Borneo lies the little
kingdom of Sarawak, about three hundred miles
of coast line from Cape Datu to Point Kiderong.
The Sultan of Bruni, who was the nominal ruler
of all the north-west of Borneo, gave up this
province to Sir James Brooke in 1841, "to him
and his heirs for ever," on condition a small sum
of money was paid him annually. The province
consisted originally of " about sixty miles of coast,
from Cape Datu to the entrance of the Samarahan
River, with an average breadth of fifty miles
inland ; " but from time to time the Sultan
entreated Sir James Brooke to take the rule of
one river after another beyond this province
towards Borneo Proper, for, owing to his own weak-
ness, and the rapacity of his nobles who governed
in his name, no revenue came to him from those
rivers, nor could he protect native trade, or secure
the lives of his subjects from the extortions and
covetousness of their Malay chiefs. So Sarawak
grew, and peace, and justice, and free trade
flourished where before there were only poverty
and oppression. The country is traversed by fine
rivers. The Rejang, four fathoms deep two hundred
miles from the mouth, the Batang Lupar, and the
Sarawak are the largest, and the great highways
of the country ; along the banks of which are
* Letter of Sir J. Brooke to J. Gardner, Esq.
THE ISLAND OF BORNEO. 241
cultivated clearings and Dyak villages, but beyond
these extend dense jungle which even clothes the
sides of the mountains. Besides the before-men-
tioned rivers are many smaller ones which are still
noble streams — the Sarebas, Samarahan, Sadong,
Lundu, etc. It is indeed a well-watered country,
and only requires the industry of man to develop
its riches.
There are great mountain ranges to the north-
west and through the interior of the island, and
the natives speak of lakes of vast extent, with
Dyak villages on their shores. But this is only
tradition. There is a lake commonly reported only
two days' journey from the foot of Kini Balu, a
high mountain on the north-west, but no English-
man has yet trod its shores. The difficulties of
exploring such dense jungles and mountain preci-
pices as bar the way across Borneo are almost
insuperable. I quote from Mr. Hornaday's recent
lecture at Rochester. He says, " Owing to the
peculiar and almost impassable nature of the
country, Borneo has never been crossed by the
white man. Travelling over some of the mountains
seems to be an absolute impossibility. Many of
them consist almost wholly of huge blocks of
basalt, soft, moist, and too slippery to walk upon.
I would rather attempt to cross the continent of
Africa than the island of Borneo. The explorer
must carry with him provisions enough to last both
going and returning. The jungle affords nothing
fit for human sustenance, and there are no in-
R
242 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
habitants to supply the explorer with food. Fame
awaits the man who will thoroughly explore the
interior of the island." i
Sir Spencer St. John, who has had more ex-
perience of Borneo jungles than any other English-
man hitherto, says, " As I have now made many
journeys in Borneo, and seen much of forest
walking, I can speak of it with something like
certainty. I have ever found, in recording pro-
gress, that we can seldom allow more than a mile
an hour under ordinary circumstances. Some-
times, when extremely difficult or winding, we do
not make half a mile an hour. On certain occa-
sions, 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.
It requires great experience not to judge distance
by the fatigue we feel." f
It seems that the Sultan of Bruni has found out
that the best way he can govern his subjects and
gain a revenue without trouble, is by ceding parts
of his territory to others. He has given over the
whole of the north of the island to an English
company, on condition they pay twelve thousand
five hundred dollars for it annually. This country,
embracing an area of twenty thousand square
* Mr. Hornaday's lecture before the Young Men's Christian
Association.
t St. John's Limbong Journal.
THE ISLAND OF BORNEO. 243
miles, has fine harbours on its coasts very suitable
for a commercial settlement. The great mountain
of Kini Balu, nearly fourteen thousand feet high,
with its range of lesser mountains, stands on the
north-west, and between it and the sea lies a very
fertile country, thus described some years ago
by Sir Spencer St. John, in his " Forests of the
Far East : " We rode over towards Pandusan in
search of plants. From the summit of the first
low hill we had a beautiful view of the lovely plain
of Tampusak, extending from the sea far into the
interior. Groves of cocoanuts were interspersed
among the rice-grounds which extended, intermixed
with grassy fields, to the sea-shore, bounded by a
long line of Casuarina trees. Little hamlets lie
scattered in all directions, some distinctly visible,
other nearly hidden by the rich green foliage of
fruit-trees. The prospect was bounded on the west
by low sandstone hills, whose red colour occasion-
ally showing through the lately burnt grass,
afforded a varied tint in the otherwise verdant land-
scape. In the south Kini Balu and its attendant
ranges were hidden by clouds."
Here is another description after a day's journey
towards the mountain : —
" While reclining under the shade of cocoanut
palms, we had a beautiful view of the country
beyond. The river Tampusak flowed past us,
bubbling and breaking over its uneven bed, here
shallower and therefore broader than usual. To
the left the country was open almost to the base
244 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
of the great mountain, to the right the land was
more hilly, and Saduk Saduk showed itself as a
high peak, but dwarfed by the neighbourhood of
Kini Balu, whose rocky precipices looked a deep
purple colour. The summit was beautifully clear.
The people in this part of the country are called
Idaan. They seem industrious and good agricul-
turists, even using a rough plough, and cultivating
the whole valley ; a rich black soil produces good
crops of rice, and Killadis, an arum root used for
food. They also grow tobacco."
These people live too far from Bruni to be robbed
by the Sultan and his nobles. The Lanuns who
inhabit the north coasts are very warlike, and have
always been pirates within the memory of man.
They will not be easy subjects to deal with, nor
will the Sooloos on the east coast, but if they can
be reclaimed they may become an enterprising and
fine people, like the Sarebas pirates of Sarawak.
I hope the Company will have patience with the
natives of this vast territory. They will probably
not work for wages. Chinese labour must be
depended upon, and as they are the most industrious
people on the face of the earth, and will do any-
thing for money, they are always available*. But
they require a firm government, and great care
must be taken that they do not infringe on the
rights of the natives or there will be quarrels and
bloodshed. Tradition says that there was once
a Chinese kingdom at the north of Borneo, whose
chiefs married into the families of the principal
THE ISLAND OF BORNEO. 245
Dyak chiefs ; but it is the misfortune of the Chinese
character to be both boastful and cowardly, and
when they had irritated the Malays by their big
words, they stood no chance of prevailing against
them in war. If their enemies did not run away
after the first attack and discharge of firearms,
they were pretty sure to show them an example
by doing so themselves. I speak of the Chinese
fifty years ago ; since they have had wars with
Europeans they have learnt better to stand to
their arms. But they were gradually exterminated
by the Malays in these petty wars, and now all
that remains of them is a trace of Celestial physi-
ognomy in their Dyak descendants, and the know-
ledge of agriculture which they still retain.
The Bruni Government protects no one. It is
wonderful that any Chinese should still trade at
a place where riches, however moderate, are sure
to excite the cupidity of the Malay nobles, and to
be transferred, under some pretext or another, to
their own pockets. I rejoice to think that English
rule and justice is now to be offered to the inhabi-
tants of the North of Borneo. They expect an
Englishman to be just and generous, brave and
firm, and they ground this expectation on their
knowledge and experience of Labuan and Sarawak,
and the lessons which her Majesty's ships of war
have from time to time impressed on the corrupt
and faithless Bruni people. I trust this experience
will never be reversed by unworthy agents or
settlers. The climate is too tropical for coloniza-
246 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
tion, no families of emigrants can be reared in such
heat. There are, no doubt, more decided seasons
in the north of the island than in the centre : it is
hotter at one part of the year, and colder at another,
than in the lands bordering on the equator, which
are the rain nurseries of the world. A less fierce
heat, but rain almost every day in the year, was
our lot at Sarawak ; and though it was very healthy
for English men and women, it was not so good for
crops : pepper and coffee prefer a drier climate.
There will be one difficulty in the North Borneo
settlement which will require wise handling. I
mean the slaves which are the possession of every
petty chief and every Malay family in the country.
All pirates bring home fresh slaves from every
expedition. This can be put an end to at once.
But it will be as impolitic as impossible to put a
sudden end to the state of slavery in which so
large a proportion of the inhabitants will be found.
In this respect I hope the North Borneo Company
will take a leaf out of Sarawak experience. Sir
James Brooke, as long ago as 1841, appealed to
the English Government " to assist him to put
down piracy and the slave trade, which," he said,
"are openly carried on within a short distance of
three European settlements, on a scale and system
revolting to humanity."
The exertions of Sir James Brooke and his
nephews, aided occasionally by her Majesty's
ships, have indeed nearly put a stop to piracy,
and therefore to the kidnapping of slaves. Still
THE ISLAND OF BORNEO. 247
the descendants of Dyak slaves remain the property
of their masters. Besides these, there are slave
debtors, whole families who have sold themselves
to pay the accumulations arising from taxes or
impositions of the Malays which they had no hope
of repaying. Usury, which was the fountain of
this evil, has been forbidden at Sarawak, and many
are the slave debtors whom the Rajah's purse has
freed. t
" Slavery in the East," says Mr. Low,* " has
always been of a more mild and gentle character
than that which in the West so disgusted the
intelligent natives of Europe. The slaves in Borneo
are generally Dyaks and their descendants, who
have been captured by the rulers of the country
to swell the number of their personal attendants.
Their duties consist in helping their master, who
always works with them, in his house or boat
building operations, accompanying him in his
trading expeditions, assisting in the navigation
of his boats, etc. Their masters generally allot
them wives from amongst their female domestics,
and many of them acquire the affection and con-
fidence of their superiors. The price of a slave in
Sarawak is from thirty to sixty dollars, but as the
trade is being as quickly repressed as possible,
without too much shocking the prejudices of the
inhabitants, they have of late become very scarce,
and difficult to be bought. The price of a girl
varies from thirty to one hundred dollars, but at
* " Sarawak, its Inhabitants and Productions," by Hugh Low.
248 SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
Sarawak they are even more difficult than men
to obtain." Thus wrote Mr. Low in the year 1848.
By this time, 1882, slavery is almost nominal
at Sarawak. I read, in a Sarawak Gazette, six
months ago, that Rajah Brooke had proposed to
his Supreme Council, which consists of four Malays
and two Englishmen, that slavery should be by
law abolished in Sarawak territory. He had pro-
posed this, he said, six months previously, a'nd the
Malay councillors present assented heartily as far
as themselves and the people of Kuching were
concerned, but they thought it would be desirable
to give six months' notice to the outlying rivers
and coasts, where the people were not as advanced
in civilization as those at the capital. Now the
six months had passed away, were they prepared
to assent to the law ? They again expressed their
cordial approval of the abolition of slavery, but
recommended three months more delay before it
was enforced on the out-stations. In the same
Gazette I noticed a letter from the Resident at
Bintulu, one of the farthest stations from Kuching,
in which he speaks of a Malay noble, warmly
attached to the Sarawak Government, who claimed
all the inhabitants of a large district as his slaves.
It was merely a nominal claim, as they did no work
for him, but he said they belonged to him. Still,
when he was assured by Mr. De Crespigny* that
such a claim would not be allowed by the Rajah,
he submitted without complaint. We may hope
* The Resident.
THE ISLAND OF BORNEO. 249
that such will be the universal acceptance of the
new law, but it is easy to see that forty years of
past repression and discountenance, and the strong
influence of English opinion on the subject of
slavery, has effected what would doubtless have
caused strong opposition and estrangement if at-
tempted hastily.
I have just received a Sarawak Gazette, dated
July 1st, which contains an account of a further
cession of territory from the Sultan of Bruni to
Rajah Brooke of Sarawak.
This is the passage :
" On Saturday, the loth June, his Highness the
Sultan signified his willingness to cede to the Rajah
of Sarawak, and his heirs, all the country and rivers
that lie between Points Kadurong and Barram, in-
cluding about three miles of coast on the east side
of Barram Point. Negotiations about the sum to
be paid for this hundred miles of coast continued for
three days, when the deed of cession was finally sealed
and delivered. This deed of cession, sealed with
the respective seals of his Highness the Sultan of
Bruni and the Rajah of Sarawak, was read out in
full court on the iQth June. After which his Highness
the Rajah addressed a few words to the people,
telling them that he intended going to the river
Barram towards the end of this moon, for the pur-
pose of choosing a site whereon to erect a fort, and
establishing a government there, to be a nucleus
of trade. He added that all those who wished to
trade there might now do so without fear."
SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.
This is an important addition to the country of
Sarawak.
The time may indeed not be far distant when
the country of Bruni, now wedged in between
Sarawak and the territory of British North Borneo,
may disappear altogether, and with it the misrule
and oppression of that corrupt Eastern court. Then
English people will be responsible for the whole of
the north and north-west of the island of Borneo,
and a new era of peace and happiness will dawn
upon its inhabitants.
THE END.
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