on every hand as by magic. Sarawak became a city of refuge. Sometimes
as many as fifty fled thither in a day. In 1844, in the short space of
two months, five hundred families took shelter in the province. In 1850,
three thousand Chinese fled from Sambas to Sarawak. The Dyaks returned
the good-will of their Rajah with love and reverence. During one of his
tours in the interior, delegations from tribes numbering six thousand
souls came to seek his protection. "We have heard," said they, in simple
but touching language, "that a son of Europe has arrived, who is a
friend of the Dyaks." When he visited the native hamlets, the women
would throw themselves on the ground and clasp his feet, and the whole
tribe would spend the night in joyful feasting and merriment. It is
soberly affirmed by a credible witness, that on one occasion messengers
came fifteen days' journey from a distant province to see if there were
such a phenomenon as Dyaks living in comfort.

* * * * *

Mr. Brooke soon found that all his efforts for internal reform must be
in a comparative sense futile so long as piracy, that curse of Borneo,
was permitted to ravage unchecked. "It is in a Malay's nature," says the
Dutch proverb, "to rove on the seas in his prahu, as it is in that of
the Arab to wander with his steed on the sands of the desert." No person
who has not investigated the subject can appreciate how wide-spread and
deep-seated this plague of piracy is. The mere statistics are appalling.
It was estimated, in 1840, that one hundred thousand men made
freebooting their trade. One single chief had under control seven
hundred prahus. Whole tribes, whole groups of islands, almost whole
races, despising even the semblance of honest industry, depended upon
rapine for a livelihood. "It is difficult to catch fish, but it is easy
to catch Borneans," said the Soloo pirates scornfully; and, acting upon
that principle, they fitted out their fleets and planned their voyages
with all the method of honest tradesmen.

This piracy was divided into two branches,--coastwise piracy and piracy
on the broad seas. The Sea Dyaks built boats called bangkongs, sixty to
a hundred feet long, narrow and sharp, propelled by thirty to fifty
oars, and so swift that nothing but a steamer could overtake them. These
freebooters were the terror of all honest laborers and tradesmen.
Skulking along the coast, pushing up rivers and creeks, landing anywhere
and