and he was not slow in magnifying the force of the
Dido. The state in which Captain Keppel and his officers visited the
rajah all heightened the effect; and the marines and the band excited
the admiration and the fears of the natives. I felt the rajah's hand
tremble at the first interview; and not all the well-known command
of countenance, of which the natives are masters, could conceal
his emotion."

Gentle reader, excuse my vanity if I continue a little further with
my friend's journal, although it gets rather personal:

"I believe the first emotion was anything but pleasurable; but Captain
Keppel's conciliatory and kind manner soon removed any feeling of
fear; and was all along of the greatest use to me in our subsequent
doings. The first qualification, in dealing with a Malay, is a kind
and gentle manner; for their habitual politeness is such that they
are hurt by the ordinary _brusquerie_ of the European.

"I shall not go over the chase of the three boats of the Balagnini
pirates, or the attack made on the Dido's boats by the Sirhassan,
people, except to remark, that in the latter case, I am sure Lieutenant
Horton acted rightly in sparing their lives and property; for, with
these occasional pirates, a severe lesson, followed by that degree of
conciliation and pardon which shall best insure a correction of their
vices, is far wiser and preferable to a course of undistinguishing
severity."

I found Sarawak much altered for the better, and the population
considerably increased. Mr. Brooke had established himself in a
new house built on a beautiful and elevated mound, from which the
intriguing Macota had just been ejected on my first visit. Neat and
pretty-looking little Swiss cottages had sprung up on all the most
picturesque spots, which gave it quite a European look. He had also
made an agreeable addition to his English society; and a magazine
of English merchandise had been opened to trade with the natives,
together with many other improvements.

On the other hand, Seriff Sahib, not deterred, as I had anticipated
he would be, by the example I made of his neighbors in the Sarebus,
had taken measures for withdrawing from the adjoining river of Sadong,
where he had been living in a comparatively unguarded state, and
had, during the last nine months, been making busy preparations for
fortifying himself at a place called Patusen, up the Batang Lupar. He
had lately got things in a forward state, had called out a la