resistance they have met with.

In the winter months, the Malacca Straits are most infested with them;
and during the summer, the neighborhood of Singapore, Point Rumania,
and the channels in the vicinity. In the spring, from February to
May, they are engaged in procuring their supplies, in fishing, and
refitting their prahus for the coming year.

[Suppression of pirates.] I have frequently heard plans proposed
for the suppression of these pirates, particularly of those in the
neighborhood of the settlements under British rule. The European
authorities are much to blame for the quiescent manner in which they
have so long borne these depredations, and many complaints are made
that Englishmen, on being transplanted to India, lose that feeling of
horror for deeds of blood, such as are constantly occurring at their
very doors, which they would experience in England. There are, however,
many difficulties to overcome before operations against the pirates
can be effective. The greatest of these is the desire of the English
to secure the good-will of the chiefs of the tribes by whom they are
surrounded. They thus wink at their piracies on the vessels of other
nations, or take no steps to alleviate the evils of slavery. Indeed
the language that one hears from many intelligent men who have
long resided in that part of the world is, that in no country where
civilization exists does slavery exhibit so debasing a form as in her
Indian possessions. Another difficulty consists in the want of minute
knowledge of the coasts, inlets, and hiding-places of the pirates, and
this must continue to exist until proper surveys are made. This done,
it would be necessary to employ vessels that could pursue the pirates
everywhere, for which purpose steamers naturally suggest themselves.

What will appear most extraordinary is, that the very princes who
are enjoying the stipend for the purchase of the site whereon the
English authority is established, are believed to be the most active
in equipping the prahus for these piratical expeditions; yet no notice
is taken of them, although it would be so easy to control them by
withholding payment until they had cleared themselves from suspicion,
or by establishing residents in their chief towns.

[The Bajows.] Another, and a very different race of natives who
frequent the Sulu Archipelago, must not be passed by without
notice. These are the Bajow divers or fishermen, to whom Sulu is
indebted for procu