t come in collision; for from its climate it precludes
all idea of colonization; and that which is next to an impossibility,
the maintaining a good understanding between ignorant civilized
men and ignorant savages. It is a field for commerce and capital,
but no violent change of native customs should be attempted; and in
this way alone, by gradual means, can we really benefit the natives
and ourselves. When we consider the amount of produce obtained from
the countries of the Archipelago, and their consumption of British
manufactures, under the worst forms of government, living in a state
of distraction and insecurity, and exposed to the depredations of
pirates at sea, we may form some idea how vast may be the increase,
should peace and security be introduced among them; and judging of
the future by the past--by the limited experiment made at Sarawak--we
may hope that the task is neither so difficult nor so uncertain as
was formerly supposed."

CHAPTER XXII.

Arrival of Captain Bethune and Mr. Wise.--Mr. Brooke appointed
her Majesty's Agent in Borneo.--Sails for Borneo Proper.--Muda
Hassim's measures for the suppression of piracy.--Defied by
Seriff Houseman.--Audience of the Sultan, Muda Hassim, and
the Pangerans.--Visit to Labuan.--Comparative eligibility
of Labuan and Balambangan for settlement.--Coal discovered
in Labuan.--Mr. Brooke goes to Singapore and visits Admiral
Sir T. Cochrane.--The upas-tree.--Proceeds with the Admiral
to Borneo Proper.--Punishment of Pangeran Usop.--The
battle of Malludu.--Seriff Houseman obliged to fly.--Visit
to Balambangan.--Mr. Brooke parts with the Admiral, and goes
to Borneo Proper.--An attempt of Pangeran Usop defeated.--His
flight, and pursuit by Pangeran Budrudeen.--Triumphant reception
of Mr. Brooke in Borneo.--Returns to Sarawak.

"_February 25th._--Borneo River, H.M.S. Driver. Scarcely, on the 17th,
had I finished writing, when a boat from her majesty's steamer Driver,
bringing Captain Bethune and my friend Wise, arrived. How strange,
the same day, and almost the same hour, I was penning my doubts and
difficulties, when a letter arrives from Lord Aberdeen appointing
me confidential agent in Borneo to her majesty, and directing me to
proceed to the capital, with a letter addressed to the sultan and the
Rajah Muda Hassim, in reply to the documents requesting the assistance
of the British government to effect the