ment.

On another occasion, some Brunai thieves skilfully dismounted and
carried off two brass signal guns from the poop of a merchant steamer at
anchor in the river, eluding the vigilance of the quarter-master, while
the skipper and some of the officers were asleep on the skylight close
by. The guns were subsequently recovered.

Execution is either by means of the bow string or the _kris_.

I had once the unpleasant duty of having to witness the execution by the
bow string of a man named MAIDIN, as it was feared that, being the son
of a favourite officer of the Sultan, the execution might be a sham one.
This man, with others, had raided a small settlement of Chinese traders
from Labuan on the Borneo coast, killing several of the shop-keepers and
looting the settlement. So weak was the central government, and so
little importance did they attach to the murder of a few Chinese, that,
notwithstanding the efforts of the British Consul, MAIDIN remained at
liberty for nearly two years after the commission of the crime.

The execution took place at night. The murderer was bound, with his
hands behind his back, in a large canoe, and a noose of rope was placed
round his neck. Two men stood behind him; a short stick was inserted in
the noose and twisted round and round by the two executioners, thereby
causing the rope to compress the windpipe. MAIDIN'S struggles were soon
over.

In the case of common people the _kris_ is used, the executioner
standing behind the criminal and pressing the _kris_ downwards, through
the shoulder, into the heart. This mode of execution has been retained
by the European rulers of Sarawak. In British North Borneo the English
mode by hanging has been adopted.

Formerly, when ancient customs were more strictly observed, any person
using insulting expressions in talking of members of the Royal family
was punished by having his tongue slit, and I was once shewn by the
Temenggong, in whose official keeping it was, the somewhat cumbrous pair
of scissors wherewith this punishment was inflicted, but I have never
heard of its having been used during the last twenty years, although
opportunities could not have been wanting.

I was once horrified by being informed by an observant British Naval
Officer, who had been to Brunai on duty, that he had been disgusted by
noticing, notwithstanding our long connection with Brunai and supposed
influence with the Sultan, so barbarous a mode of execution as that of
k