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Updated: June 9, 2025
Some half-piratical boats, Illanun and Balagnini, were burned; twenty-four or twenty-five brass guns captured; the iron guns, likewise stated to have been got out of a ship, were spiked and otherwise destroyed. Thus has Malluda ceased to exist; and Seriff Houseman's power received a fall from which it will never recover.
On the other hand, Seriff Sahib, not deterred, as I had anticipated he would be, by the example I made of his neighbors in the Sarebus, had taken measures for withdrawing from the adjoining river of Sadong, where he had been living in a comparatively unguarded state, and had, during the last nine months, been making busy preparations for fortifying himself at a place called Patusen, up the Batang Lupar.
On the evening of the 19th a detachment of ten boats, with fresh men and officers, quitted the Vixen, and arrived at the forts shortly after daylight. I accompanied this party; and the work of destruction, well begun yesterday, was this day completed. Numerous proofs of the piracies of this Seriff came to light.
He had located himself very pleasantly near a bend in the river, about a mile above Seriff Sahib's settlement, and was in the act of building extensive fortifications, when I had the satisfaction of anticipating the visit and some of the compliments he would have conferred on my friend Mr. Brooke at Sarawak.
Leaving him a prisoner on board the Phlegethon, we, with the floodtide pushed forward in pursuit of Seriff Sahib. For two days we persevered in dragging our boats, for the distance of twenty miles, up a small jungly creek, which, to all appearance, was impassable for anything but canoes.
Before we again got under weigh, several Malay families, no longer in dread of their piratical chief, Seriff Muller, who had fled nobody knew whither, gave themselves up to us as prisoners, trusting to the mercy of a white man; the first instance of any of them having done so.
A Seriff is supposed to be a descendant of the Prophet Mahomet, at any rate he is an Arab, and Messahore was said to be invulnerable and sacred in his person. He was a fine, handsome creature, with insinuating manners, but there was nothing more to say in his favour. He was at the bottom of every disturbance in the country, but was cunning enough to keep himself in the background.
Brooke that Seriff Sahib died of a broken heart, shortly after his arrival at the Pontiana river. Proposed British settlement on the northwest coast of Borneo, and occupation of the island of Labuan. Governor Crawfurd's opinions thereon.
On the 23d, after waiting to obtain meridian observations, we moved down as far as the mouth of the river Linga, and then dispatched one of our Malay chiefs to the town of Bunting to summon Seriff Jaffer to a conference. This, however, he declined on a plea of ill health, sending assurance, at the same time, of his goodwill and inclination to assist us in our endeavors to suppress piracy.
This negotiation being at an end, we had a day's bombardment and a fresh treaty brought about thus; Macota being absent at Sarawak, I received a message from Seriff Jaffer and Pangeran Subtu to say that they wished to meet me; and on my consenting, they stated that Seriff Jaffer felt confident the war might be brought to an end, though alone he dared not treat with the rebels; but in case I felt inclined to join him, we could bring it to a favorable conclusion.
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