Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !

Updated: June 13, 2025


As the day wore on, Mr. Ruppell, the banker of the place, and a great friend of the Chinese, came and took up his abode with us. Then he, the Bishop, and Mr. Helms, the manager of the English Merchant Company, were ordered to meet the kunsi at the court-house; also the Datu Bandar, the chief Malay magistrate. There a very trying scene took place.

His screams echoed through the Arena and caused even the majestic lions and the haughty tigers to look in the direction of the cage of the despised "Bandar Log," and made the smaller animals uneasy.

The Rajah hospitably entertained us with tea, milk, and preserved bananas; but I noticed with regret that the white table-cloth was much soiled, and that the china and glass were in very bad taste. The house and its equipments are a distressing contrast to those of the Datu Bandar in Sungei Ujong, who adheres closely to Malay habits.

I may mention among my other difficulties, that many, nay most, of the Dyak tribes are held as private property: any rascally Borneon making a present to the sultan, gets a grant of a Dyak tribe, originally to rule, now to plunder or sell; and in this way the portion of the Sibnowans settled at Lundu are under Bandar Sumsu; but, being a resolute people, he cannot do them much wrong.

I told them I would settle the business at Bandar Cassim's village. "11th. The Dyaks gave us a feast last night; the women danced and the merriment was kept up till morning.

"After the Bandar had left, the brother-in-law of the Orang Kaya of Sinkaru, together with the Orang Kaya of Si Nankau Kujang, and Orang Kaya Kurang, came to me. I replied they were on no account to comply, that they must complain to the Bandar; and if he took no notice of it, to go to Sarawak to the Tuan Besar.

Orang Kaya Pa Muany, the chief, told me they were very much bullied, as a Sarawak man, named Pakar, and Marrat, the father-in-law of Bandar Mulana of Sarawak, forced upon them a quantity of goods in the name of the Tuan Besar and the Bandar Mulana. In the other village, about three reaches above, is the Orang Kaya Pa Magong, with ten families.

I saw a house about twenty miles up Manna River, belonging to Dupati Bandar Agung, the roof of which was of fifty years standing. The larger houses have three pitches in the roof; the middle one, under which the door is placed, being much lower than the other two.

That the officers, viz., Patingi, Bandar, and Tumangong, were to receive stated salaries out of this revenue, in order to prevent any extortion, either by themselves or in their name; and that they were to be answerable for the whole revenue under my superintendence. That the Dyaks were to be treated the same as the Malays, their property protected, their taxes fixed, and their labor free.

Bandar Cassim I believe to be a weak man, swayed by stronger-headed and worse rascals; but, now that Seriff Sahib and Muda Hassim are no longer in the country, he retains no excuse for oppressing the poor Dyaks. Si Nankan and Tumma have already flown, and most of the other tribes are ready to follow their example, and take refuge in Sarawak.

Word Of The Day

yearning-tub

Others Looking