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"We have just had news sent us by a fast row-boat from a town about sixty miles along the coast that a large fleet of pirate-prows have been seen off the coast. They have taken several trading prows, and captured many men belonging to the Sarawak territory, besides several Chinamen.
I had not heard for what port the first mate intended to steer, though I of course knew that he would endeavour to make one as soon as possible, either Sarawak or Singapore; but as the gale was at present blowing us away from both of them until we could get up jury-masts and haul our wind it would be impossible to reach either the one or the other.
So a new Association, chiefly supported by his friends, was started, called the "Borneo Church Mission." This Association sent out a few missionaries, the first of whom was the Rev. F. T. McDougall, who was consecrated the first Bishop of Labuan and Sarawak in 1855.
Of the other races inhabiting Sarawak, and especially the Rejang district, may be mentioned the Kayans, a powerful tribe living at the head of the Rejang river, and occupying the vast tract of land between it and the territory of the Sultan of Brunei in North Borneo; the Kanowits, who take their name from the stream of that name, which rises in the Batang Lupar Residency, and runs into the Rejang; and the Poonans, Pakatans, Sians, and Ukits, the latter of whom are acknowledged to be the wildest of the human race yet met with in Borneo.
With the exception of the northern extremity, which geographically as well as politically stands apart from the rest of the island, the whole of Borneo may be described as divided by the two principal mountain chains into four large watersheds. Of these, the north-western basin, the territory of Sarawak, is drained by the Rejang and Baram, as well as by numerous smaller rivers.
We are two days' journey from Sarawak, where, though the Government is European, yet it only exists by the consent and support of the native population. Now I can safely say that in any part of Europe, if the same facilities for crime and disturbance existed, things would not go on so smoothly as they do here.
In 1888 Sarawak and British North Borneo were formally brought under the protection of the British Government; but the territories remained under the rule of the Rajah and of the company respectively, except in regard to their foreign relations.
Got part of the way up the river, and at 8 P.M. dropped our anchor; and in about an hour later two boats started for Sarawak. The night was moonlight, with a cold breeze; and, after a pleasant pull, we arrived, and created as much sensation as we could desire. But it was better, and I was gratified with the intelligence that everything had gone on well during our absence.
Jok was tattooed from head to foot so thickly as to cause his body to look at a distance of a light blue colour, but a very small portion of his face, around the nose and eyes, being left au naturel. The remainder of the tribe were unarmed, as it is made a strict rule in Sarawak that on entering a fort or Government gunboat all arms, excepting in the case of a chief, shall be left behind.
In organising such an expedition, the European governments, especially that of Sarawak, have usually relied in the main on the services of loyal chiefs and their followers, acting under the control of a European magistrate, and supported usually by a small body of native police or soldiers armed with rifles.
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