valuable discovery, so may we be assured that the real seeking for
gold through the profitable medium of commerce has been, is, and will
be the grand source of filling the earth with comfort and happiness.

Among the numerous visions of this kind which open to our sense while
reflecting on the new prospects of this vast island--so little known,
yet known to possess almost unbounded means to invite and return
commercial activity--is the contemplation of the field it presents
to missionary labors. When we read Mr. Brooke's description of the
aboriginal Dyak, and observe what he has himself done in one locality
within the space of four or five short years, what may we not expect
to be accomplished by the zeal of Christian missions judiciously
directed to reclaim such a people from utter barbarism, and induce
them to become true members of a faith which teaches forbearance and
charity between man and man, and inculcates, with the love and hope
of heaven, an abhorrence of despotism and blood, and a disposition to
live in good-will and peace with all our fellow-creatures? There are
here no prejudices of caste, as in India, to impede the missionaries'
progress. Mr. Brooke has pointed out what may be effected in this way,
and we have only to say amen to his prayer, with an earnest aspiration
that it may be speedily fulfilled.

Having enjoyed the pleasure of communicating to the public this
satisfactory description of the _status quo_ in Borneo to the latest
period (September, 1845), I venture to congratulate them upon it. Thus
far all is well and as it should be, and promising the happiest issue;
but I hope I may not be charged with presumption in offering an opinion
from my experience in this quarter, and respectfully suggesting that,
in addition to a permanent British settlement at Labuan, it will be
absolutely necessary to proceed with the suppression of Malay piracy,
by steadily acting against every pirate-hold. Without a continued and
determined series of operations of this sort, it is my conviction that
even the most sanguinary and fatal onslaughts will achieve nothing
beyond a present and temporary good. The impression on the native mind
is not sufficiently lasting: their old impulses and habits return
with fresh force; they forget their heavy retribution; and in two
or three years the memory of them is almost entirely effaced. Till
piracy be completely suppressed there must be no relaxation; and
well worth the persev