assured us of his rajah's pleasure at our arrival, and his own desire
to be of service. With the Pangeran Oula Deen (or Illudeen, anglice
Aladdin), came the rajah's chief writer, his shroff, a renegade Parsee,
a war-captain, and some others, beside a score of followers. They
made themselves much at home, ate and drank (the less scrupulous
took wine), and conversed with ease and liveliness. No difference
can be more marked than between the Hindoostani and the Malay. The
former, though more self-possessed and polished, shows a constraint
in manners and conversation, and you feel that his training has made
him an artificial character. The Malay, on the contrary, concealing as
well the feelings upper-most in his mind, is lively and intelligent,
and his conversation is not confined to a dull routine of unmeaning
compliments.

"_August 13th._--The Pangeran spoke to me of some ship-captain who
was notoriously cruel to his Lascars, and insolent in his language
to the Malays. He was murdered by his crew, and the circumstance was
related to me as though I was to approve the act! 'No Malay of Borneo
(added the Pangeran) would injure a European, were he well treated, and
in a manner suitable to his rank.' And I am sure such a declaration,
in a limited sense, is consonant with all known principles of human
nature, and the action of the passions and feelings.

"Our Pangeran was quite the gentleman, and a manly gentleman too. His
dress was a black velvet jacket, trimmed with gold lace, and trowsers
of green cloth, with a red sarong and kris. He was the only one of
the party armed while aboard. The rest were good, quiet men, and one
or two of them very intelligent. They took their leave of us to get
back to the town at sunset; but the ebb making, returned and stayed
until twelve at night, when the tide turned in their favor. We had
some difficulty in providing beds. The Pangeran slept in my cabin,
and the rest were distributed about on couches or carpets.

"_August 14th._--Got under weigh with the flood, and, favored by a
light breeze, proceeded up the river nearly as far as the town. From
the ignorance of the pilots, however, we grounded on a rock in the
middle of the river in 1 1/2 fathom water, and it took us an hour
to heave the vessel off by the stern. Had the tide been falling, we
should have been in a critical situation, as the rock is dry at low
water; but as it was, we received no damage. Shortly after getting
off, several