LITMIR.BIZ

      F. M. DELT.

      M. N. HANHART LITH. PRINTERS

      LOONDOO DYAK.

       (N. W. COAST OF BORNEO.)

      LONDON; LONGMAN & CO. 1848

      On the morning of the 29th June we saw the high land of Borneo, but for several days were unsuccessful in discovering the mouth of the river. On the night of July the 4th we anchored off the entrance of a river, which the captain supposed to be the Sarawak. The next morning the two barges, well armed, were sent up the river to obtain information. After pulling with the stream six or eight miles, they discovered a small canoe, which, on their approach, retreated up the river with great speed. Mr. Heard, the officer in charge of the boats, had taken the precaution, as he ascended the river, of cutting a palm branch for each boat, and these were now displayed at the bows as a sign of peaceable intentions.

      These universal tokens of amity reassured the natives, who, seeing them, now turned the bows of their canoes, and paddled towards the boats. The canoe contained four men, almost in a state of nudity, their only covering consisting of a narrow slip of cotton fastened round the middle. They were copper-coloured, and extremely ugly: their hair jet black, very long, and falling down the back; eyes were also black, and deeply sunk in the head, giving a vindictive appearance to the countenance; nose flattened; mouth very large; the lips of a bright vermilion, from the chewing of the betel-nut; and, to add to their ugliness, their teeth black, and filed to sharp points. Such is the personal appearance of a Loondoo Dyak.

      They informed us that the river we were then in was the Loondoo, and that the Sarawak was some distance to the eastward. They also gave us the information that the boats of the Dido had been engaged with pirates, and had been successful, having captured one prahu and sunk another. After great persuasion, we induced one of them to accompany us to the ship, and pilot her to the Sarawak.

      The same evening we weighed anchor, and stood towards a remarkable promontory (Tangong Sipang), to the eastward of which is the principal entrance of the Sarawak river; a second, but less safe, entrance being within a mile of the promontory. Light and variable winds prevented our arrival at the mouth of the river until the evening of the following day. From thence, after two days' incessant kedging and towing, we anchored off the town of Kuchin, on the morning of the 8th instant. The town of Kuchin is built on the left-hand side of the river Sarawak going up; and, from the windings of the river, you have to pull twenty-five miles up the river to arrive at it, whereas it is only five miles from the coast as the crow flies. It consists of about 800 houses, built on piles driven into the ground, the sides and roofs being enclosed with dried palm leaves. Strips of bamboo are laid across, which serve as a floor. In fact, there is little difference between these houses and those built by the Burmahs and other tribes in whose countries bamboo and ratan are plentiful. The houses of Mr. Brooke and the rajah are much superior to any others, having the advantage and comfort of wooden sides and floorings. We visited the rajah several times, who invariably received us with urbanity, and entertained us in a very hospitable manner. Muda Hassein is a man about fifty years of age—some think more—of low stature, as are most of the Malays, well made, and with a very prepossessing countenance for a Malay. His brother, Budruden, is a much finer man, very agreeable, and very partial to the English. The Malays profess Mahomedanism; but Budruden in many points followed European customs, both in dress and drinking wine.

      F. M. DELT.

      M. N. HANHART LITH. PRINTERS

      RIVER SARAWACK AND TOWN OF KUCHIN.

       (BORNEO.)

      LONDON; LONGMAN & CO. 1848

      The residence of Mr. Brooke is on the side of the river opposite to the town, as, for the most part, are all the houses of the Europeans. In structure it somewhat resembles a Swiss cottage, and is erected upon a green mound, which slopes down to the river's bank, where there is a landing-place for boats. At the back of the house is a garden, containing almost every tree peculiar to the climate; and it was a novelty to us to see collected together the cotton-tree, the areca, sago, palm, &c., with every variety of the Camellia japonica in a state of most luxurious wildness.

      MR. BROOKE'S HOUSE.

      The establishment consists of six Europeans, and the house contains one large receiving-room, and several smaller ones, appropriated to the residents as sleeping apartments, besides Mr. Brooke's own private rooms. The large room is decorated with rifles, swords, and other instruments of warfare, European and native; and it is in this room that the European rajah gives his audiences: and it is also in this room that every day, at five o'clock, a capital dinner is served up, to which we were made heartily welcome. During our stay, Mr. Brooke, accompanied by several of our officers and some of the residents, made an excursion up the river. We started early in the morning, with a flowing tide; and, rapidly sweeping past the suburbs of the town, which extend some distance up the river, we found ourselves gliding through most interesting scenery. On either side, the river was bounded by gloomy forests, whose trees feathered down to the river's bank, the water reflecting their shadows with peculiar distinctness. Occasionally the scene was diversified by a cleared spot amidst this wilderness, where, perchance, a half-ruined hut, apparently not inhabited for years, the remains of a canoe, together with fragments of household utensils, were to be seen, proving that once it had been the abode of those who had been cut off by some native attack, and probably the heads of its former occupants were now hanging up

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