were, and how in the old days a great deal of their time was spent in
piracy and in warfare against neighbouring tribes. Now I want to tell
you of the coming of the White Rajah--James Brooke--to Borneo, and what
he did there. I think every English boy and girl should know the
remarkable and romantic story of how an Englishman came to be a King in
Borneo, and to rule over the part of it called Sarawak.

James Brooke was born on April 29, 1803. His father was a member of the
Civil Service of the East India Company, and spent a great many years in
India. He followed his father's example, and entered the Company's
service, and was sent out to India in 1825. Not long after his arrival,
he was put in command of a regiment of soldiers, and ordered to Burmah,
where he took part in the Burmese war. He was badly wounded, and had to
return to England on leave. For over four years his health prevented him
from rejoining his regiment, and when at last he started, the voyage
took such a long time, owing to a shipwreck and other misfortunes, that
he found on his arrival that his furlough had expired, and that his post
had been given to someone else. He quitted the service in 1830.

In that same year he made a voyage to China and was struck by the
natural beauty and fertility of the islands of the Indian Archipelago,
and he felt sad when he thought of the tribes who inhabited these
beautiful islands. They were continually at war with one another, and
many of them were pirates. James Brooke conceived the grand idea of
rescuing these races from barbarism, and of putting down piracy in the
Eastern Archipelago.

On the death of his father he inherited a large sum of money, and found
himself in a position to carry out his schemes. He bought and equipped a
yacht, the _Royalist_, and for three years he cruised about, chiefly in
the Mediterranean, training his crew of twenty men for the hard work
that lay before them.

On October 27, 1838 he sailed from the Thames on his great adventure,
travelled slowly on the long journey round the Cape of Good Hope, and
reached Singapore in 1839. It took the _Royalist_ five months to reach
Singapore, but that was in the days before the Suez Canal was made. The
journey from England to Singapore can be made in a steam-ship at the
present time in less than a month.

On arriving at Singapore, James Brooke met a shipwrecked crew who had
lately come from Borneo. They said that they had been kindly treated b