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 murdered 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 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 contained, 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. Remonstrances 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 opportunity offered for breaking them with
impunity. In consequence of Sir James Brooke's application, H.M.S.
_Albatross_, commanded by Captai