reduced to the lowest depths of poverty-he was to teach them how to create property and surround themselves with comforts; they had been degraded through a long series of ages, corrupted in their manners and depressed in their minds by ignorance, servitude, and superstition-he had to raise them out of this Slough of Despond, to instruct them in the first principles of justice, to restrain them from cruelty, and to reconcile them to honest labour.

To consider this enterprise coolly from a distance will enable few to comprehend all its difficulties; they only who have had to deal with savages, who have had to win their infantine affections, to curb their childish passions, to enlighten them on the subject of their duties, and to make them love the very hand that chastises them, will be able properly to estimate the task which Mr. Brooke set himself, or to appreciate his success.

The Dyaks had been accustomed, from time immemorial, to carry on petty wars, not only of nation against nation and tribe against tribe, but of every petty clan and village against its neighbours, and in this warfare the chief object of ambition was to cut off as many heads as possible, and bear them home in triumph. These bloody trophies, after having been well smoked, were suspended in a sort of temple, where their importance in a public point of view may be estimated from the prevalent belief that the ripening of their cornfields and fruit depended on the preservation of them; while, in their individual capacity, each Dyak was held in honour or contempt according to the number of enemies he had killed, and of the heads he had brought home to his village. Head-hunting, therefore, became a frantic pursuit which constantly betrayed people into the worst of crimes, that they might possess themselves of those marks of honour which served him in lieu of the pomp of heraldry and titles of nobility. The Sultan of Constantinople prides himself on the name of the blood-drinker," and the Dyak would be delighted by nothing so much as to be denominated, par excellence, "the cutter off of human heads."

Now so long as this propensity should continue among them unchecked, all progress in civilisation would be impossible. Mr. Brooke, therefore, declared head-hunting to be a capital crime, and caused it to be made known throughout the province that whoever took a head-the euphemism for committing murder-should be punished with death. This decree, solemnly promulgated and strictly acted upon, speedily brought the Dyaks of Sarawak to their senses. When the rule became head for head, the old national amusement assumed a new aspect; people who set very little value on their neighbours' crania were found to entertain considerable respect for their own, so that Mr. Brooke's subjects perceived that it would no longer do to lie in wait for each other as they had been accustomed for the spolia opima, according to the theory of honour prevalent in Borneo.

But if this barbarous custom fell speedily into disuse in Sarawak, not so in the neighbouring provinces; there heads continued to be taken as before, or rather, the subjects of the native rajahs more actively indulged their destructive propensities in order to illustrate the superiority of indigenous rule over the government of a stranger from the west. They thought it a very great hardship not to be allowed to cut off the head of any person whom they could take at

disadvantage; and, to shew their contempt for the Sarawakians and their new governor, an adventurous hero from Sambas undertook a decapitating expedition into Mr. Brooke's territories. Fitting out a small prahu, and creeping up along the coast under pretence of trade he entered the Sarawak river, and passed Mr. Brooke's house. He then made his way to a considerable distance up the country, where the people might be supposed to be most secure from attack. He, accompanied by a single friend, now left the boat, and making his way towards the village, met and inveigled a woman into the forest. There, in presence of his companion and against his advice, he cut off her head, covered the body with leaves, and, with his bleeding trophy under his arm, hastened towards the banks of the stream. He got safely into his prahu, descended the river, passed Mr. Brooke's house some hours after midnight, and returned into Sambas without being discovered, boasted of his achievement, and was probably regarded by his countrymen as one of the bravest of the brave. Sambas, however, was not at war with Sarawak; and therefore, when the circumstance came to Mr. Brooke's knowledge, he sent an envoy to the native rajah, demanding that the murderer should be given up that he might be tried, and, if found guilty, put to death according to the laws of Sarawak. Whatever other faults native chiefs may have, they are generally not wanting in politeness; a number of excuses were made; it was said that the offender could not be found, but that diligent search should be made after him, and if it proved successful he should, without hesitation, be delivered over to punishment. As time passed on, and the malefactor did not make his appearance, a second envoy was sent, threatening this time that the Rajah of Sarawak, if his request were not complied with, would carry fire and sword into the territories of the unjust prince, and would not desist from hostilities till the murderer should be delivered to him. To this message also a civil answer was returned, but nothing more; it was hoped that the white rajah would, by degrees, forget the circumstance, or grow weary of prosecuting an unprofitable affair. This, however, turned out not to be the case; Mr. Brooke sent message after message and threat after threat, and at length one of the two men engaged in the crime came to Sarawak and delivered himself up to justice. He declared, however, with the utmost earnestness and solemnity, that he was no further accessory to the murder than being present at it, and said that he had counselled his companion to desist; but that, being a young and impetuous man, he despised his advice. He was informed, that, under the circumstances, nothing would be done to him, that he must return to his village, explain the matter to his countrymen, and convince them of the necessity of delivering up the guilty person to be punished with death. These representations at length produced the desired effect. The murderer, no longer able to endure the constant importunities of his neighbours, who now apparently began to attach some idea of criminality to head-hunting, at length crossed the borders, and came, in company with his former companion, to Sarawak. There the whole affair was investigated, and the murder proved to have taken place under the most aggravated circumstances. The criminal did not deny his guilt. Mr. Brooke, who sat in judgment, demanded of him why he killed the woman; he replied, boldly, "because it was his pleasure." The case was now closed; there could be no

doubt of the man's guilt, but the lingering sentiment of humanity, stronger sometimes than the sense of justice, inclined the judge to relent at the eleventh hour. He crossed the river, called about him a council of elders, and consulted with them as to what was to be done. Having considered the matter, the principal among them replied, "If this criminal be pardoned, the practice of head-hunting, which has now happily fallen into disuse, will revive throughout Sarawak, and the second suppression of it will be far more difficult than the first." This speech put an end to the rajah's hesitation, the sentence of the law was carried into execution, and the worst feature of Dyak barbarism may be said to have been finally extinguished in Sarawak on that day.

The termination of this extraordinary affair may possibly excite in the reader's mind a desire to know something of the manner in which Mr. Brooke lives among his wild subjects. He usually rises moderately early, crosses from his private residence to the opposite bank of the river, where he holds what in India would be denominated his Durbar, receives deputations, hears and determines causes, and is accessible to every man, high and low, throughout the whole extent of his territories. The hall of audience at Sarawak is lofty and spacious, and its appearance when thronged in the morning is highly characteristic and picturesque. In one part of it Mr. Brooke is engaged, perhaps, in conducting a trial for life and death, surrounded by the impetuous natives, with their swarthy countenances and flashing eyes, habited in almost theatrical costumes, and armed every one of them with a formidable kris or dagger. Even criminals of rank are suffered to wear these weapons till sentence of death has been pronounced, when they quietly deliver them up, and suffer themselves to be led to the place appointed for their execution, where, in the presence of their friends and relatives, and all others who take any interest, they are dispatched by a single blow of the kris, when affairs of less moment are transacting, the natives, separated into groups, disperse themselves through the apartment, and discuss public or private affairs, according to their taste. People meanwhile, are entering and quitting the hall, some with merry faces because their wishes have been complied with, others, perhaps, looking sullen or dejected because they have encountered disappoint

ment.

The assembly breaks up at twelve, and Mr. Brooke, returning to his house, spends several hours in his library, where he keeps up his acquaintance with the sciences and literature of Europe, or studies the laws and customs of the various populations of the Archipelago. He then dines with the members of the small European society which he has collected around him, and spends the evening in their company. Towards midnight he retires, and again devotes an hour or two to study. This course of life, regularly pursued, will account to those who know him for the variety of his acquirements and the extent of his knowledge, which they otherwise perhaps may be unable to comprehend. It should be added, that unless when in his library, he is at all times accessible to anybody, native or stranger; and that even during meals groups of Malays and Dyaks are constantly to be seen in his house, the doors of which are open from morning till night. It is easy after this to understand the attach

ment of the people to their ruler, whose character and manners contrasts so strikingly with those of the native chiefs.

Into all the peculiarities of Mr. Brooke's position it would, in this place, be impossible to enter. For some years he stood exposed to the most imminent peril, as well from the ill-regulated passions of his Malay and Dyak subjects, as from the ferocity and cupidity of piratical hordes, who subsist on the plunder of trade and the kidnapping of prisoners. He could, in fact, be said to have no safety at all, till the policy of the British Government granted him, under certain limitations, the protection of the squadron stationed in the China seas. Until then he had to rely entirely on his own courage and intellectual resources. Yet, under these disadvantages, he succeeded in implanting the first seeds of civilisation among the Dyaks, taught them some of the most obvious benefits of order and subordination, and, by the mildness of his sway, caused himself to be beloved, though in many respects exercising despotic authority. Of course, his great aim has been to concentrate in his territory an industrious population, to give an impetus to agriculture, to invest commerce with respect, and to excite in the Dyaks those wants which constitute the first impulse to all human improvement. The rude people have been taught the value of intercommunication, have been incited to construct bridges, and lay down primitive roads for their own use, which they do by felling trees, and forming with them a pathway through the jungle, or over swamps and morasses, and to clear fresh farms for the planting of corn, cotton, or other useful products. One of the most profitable occupations to which the Dyaks have been induced to apply themselves by Mr. Brooke, is the planting of cocoa-tree groves, which has recently afforded employment to great numbers of that active and docile race. The jungle is cut down or burned, the land cleared and prepared, and the young plants, furnished by the rajah, are laid skilfully in the soil; then, with a power of vegetation unknown elsewhere, perhaps in the world, the young grove shoots up, and in a short time will produce its owner the most ample returns.

Sarawak, the capital of the province, is springing rapidly into importance; new houses are constantly erected, new gardens and plantations laid out, while fresh accessions to the population are made from the country. This fact may very well serve to illustrate the force of the impression made upon the native mind, but there remains another to be noticed infinitely more remarkable. Whatever authority their white rajah might have acquired over them, it was scarcely, judging from analogy, to be expected that, when he should have himself departed, and delegated his authority to others, the same obedience would still be paid to them. Yet, during an absence of months, all has continued quiet at Sarawak, the Dyaks have gone on cheerfully in their improvements, planting, building, trading, and carrying on all the multiplied offices of life, without the slightest interruption. One striking proof of their confidence in their new ruler is deserving of particular notice. From time immemorial it had been customary among the Dyaks of Sarawak to erect their villages in the most inaccessible places, on the peaks of conical hills, in the depths of forests, on the crests of ridges, that they might thus, if possible, be safe from the sudden attack of enemies. They are now gradually leaving these fastnesses and building their dwell

ings in the open plain, conceiving the power and authority of their rajah a better protection than scarped cliffs or dense masses of jungle.

This, properly considered, constitutes one of the most extraordinary pictures which modern experience has supplied. I purposely abstain from entering into the intricacy of the political questions connected with our appearance in the Indian Archipelago, and the measures which must necessarily arise out of it. These well deserve a separate consideration. All I have said above is strictly connected with Mr. Brooke's personal career: I have merely stated facts, leaving it to others to draw from them what inferences they please. I have pronounced no eulogium on Mr. Brooke; I have even abstained from dilating upon very many of his claims to public consideration. His actions speak for themselves; but I may nevertheless be permitted to observe, that if the remainder of his career be answerable to the beginning, if he persevere, as there is no reason to doubt he will, in the course upon which he has entered,-if he justify the high expectation which the whole civilised world has formed of him, he will earn for himself a place in the history of his country which great conquerors and generals might envy. To destroy the enemies of the state is a melancholy though necessary duty; but to mould men to the yoke of civilisation, to substitute truth for error in their minds, to wean them from cruelty and bloodshed, and make them prefer the peaceful gains of industry to the produce of rapine and slaughter, to do this, I say, is to accomplish something nobler than conquest, something in which it is impossible not to rejoice, since it is a triumph which costs humanity no tear.