Εικόνες σελίδας
PDF
Ηλεκτρ. έκδοση

he had innocently forfeited, he at once relin- | Animated by such noble objects, he left the quished the service, and resolved to proceed Thames on the 27th of October, 1838. in governor of Singapore to the Rajah Muda Hassim, governor of Borneo Proper (and uncle to the sovereign), who had shown much kindness and liberality to the crew of an English vessel wrecked on the coast, and taking with him valuable presents of various kinds, Mr. Brooke left Singapore on the 27th July, and anchored on the 1st of August, on the coast of Borneo, in a night "pitchy dark," amid torents of rain and peals of thunder. Learning that the Rajah was at Sarawak, where he was detained by a rebellion in the interior, Mr. Brooke re

with the ship to China, in search of health and amusement. In crossing the China Seas, he saw for the first time the islands of the Indian Archipelago, inviting the traveller by their surpassing beauty, and teeming with Nature's rarest and richest productions. But while a tropical sun was shedding its pure light over the landscape, and tipping its rocks and mountains with gold, there lay above the valleysa moral darkness which time and toil only could disperse; and where animal and vegetable life arrested the eye by their magnificence and beauty, life intellectual stood forth a hideous blot upon Nature's scutcheon, drawn in the blackest lines of cruelty, treachery, and vice. The two antagonist pictures appear to have been simultaneously impressed upon the mind of our youthful adventurer, and the attractions of the one seem to have allured and impelled him to abate the deformity of the other. To visit and explore the lovely scenes which were now presented to him in the course of his voyage, was only a passing thought; but when he learned at Canton the true value and the singular variety of the products of the Archipelago, the idea took possession of his mind, and upon his return to England he resolved to realize it. In conjunction with a friend, to whom he had imparted his purpose, he fitted out a vessel of large burden, and proceeded to the China Seas, but circumstances and events which have not yet been made public, prevented him from carrying his plans into effect under any other auspices than his own.

Upon the death of his father in 1838, Mr. Brooke succeeded to a handsome fortune, and was thus enabled single-handed to carry out his darling project. When his preparations for sea were completed, he published a prospectus of his undertaking in the Geographical Journal for 1838,* expressing his conviction that the tendency of his voyage was to add to knowledge, to increase trade, and to spread Christianity.

• This communication, entitled Proposed Exploring Expedition to the Asiatic Archipelago. By James Brooke, Esq., and published in the Society's Journal, vol. viii., pp. 443-448, contains an admirable exposition of his plan plans, and shows how thoroughly and deliberately he had studied the subject, and weighed the various chances of failure or success which were likely to occur. In this paper, which was the first public notice of his intentions, his views were limited entirely to the object of exploring Borneo, Celebes, and the other islands of the Archipelago.

his yacht the Royalist schooner, a vessel of 142 tons, belonging to the Royal Yacht Squadron, "which, in foreign parts, admits her to the same privileges as a man-of-war, and enables her to carry a white ensign." Her ship's company consisted of nine officers, nine seamen, and two boys Most of the hands had been with Mr. Brooke three years and upwards, and in the course of a year spent in the Mediterranean he had tested both his vessel and his crew.* The Royalist was a fast sailor, and was armed with six six-pounders, a number of swivels, and small arms of all sorts. She carried four boats, and provisions for four months, besides all the requisite instruments for observation, including three chronometers, and the means of collecting and preserving specimens of natural history. In concluding the proposal which he made to the Geographical Society, Mr. Brooke remarks, "I embark upon the expedition with great cheerfulness, with a stout vessel and a good crew, and I cast myself upon the waters, but whether the world will know me after many days is a question which, hoping the best, I cannot answer with any positive degree of assurance." "1 go," he said to a friend, "to awaken the slumbering spirit of philanthropy with regard to these islands. Fortune and life I give freely, and if I fail in the attempt I shall not have lived wholly in vain."

Quitting England on the 16th of December, the Royalist made a good passage to Rio Janeiro, which occupied nearly two months. After a fortnight's stay, Mr. Brooke sailed on the 9th of March for the Cape, and having put into Table Bay on the 15th of March, 1839, and completed the repairs of his yacht, he again set sail on the 29th of the same month, and anchored at Singapore in the last week of May. In this delightful spot he spent the months of June and July, making preparations for his trip to Borneo, and arranging the plan of his future operations. Furnished with letters from the

* In the course of this voyage, Mr. Brooke visited the Island and Gulf of Symi, in February, 1837, and communicated to the Journal of the Geographical Society a very interesting paper, entitled, Sketch of the Island and Gulf of Symi, on the south-western coast of Anatolia. By James Brooke, Esq. This well written article exhibits the learning and sagacity of the author, and is a most favorable earnest of what might have been expected from his future labors. We are surprised that it has not eve been noticed in the multifarious works which relate to his proceedings in Borneo.

patched his gig for Sarawak, in order to acquaint the Rajah of his arrival," he was met on the 13th by a canoe, containing a Pangeran of note (Illudeen) to welcome them, accompanied by other persons of distinction, and a score of followers. The party ate and drank, and talked with much ease and liveliness, and, from the state of the tide, were obliged to sleep in the Royalist. On the 15th the yacht anchored abreast of Sarawak, and saluted the Rajah with twenty-one guns, which was returned with eighteen from his residence. Mr.

solved to proceed thither, in place of Mal- Brooke and his party were received in state, ludu Bay, at the north point of the island. in the most flattering manner, in the Hall On the morning of the 2d the clouds cleared of Audience, a large shed erected on piles, away, and exhibited to him the majestic but tastefully decorated in the interior. The

scenery of Borneo, with Gunong Palo, a mountain 2000 feet high, rising in the back ground, and throwing out its picturesque knolls into the wooded plains. On Sunday the 4th, after " performing divine service himself, manfully overcoming that horror which he had to the sound of his own voice before an audience," he landed near a forest of noble timber, clear of brushwood, and thus gives vent in the following beautiful passage to the sentiments which the scenery inspired:

"This dark forest," says he, "where the trees shoot up straight, and are succeeded by generation after generation, varying in stature, but struggling upwards, strikes the imagination with features trite but true. Here the hoary sage of an hundred years lies mouldering beneath your foot, and there the young sapling shoots beneath the parent shade, and grows in form and fashion like the parent stem. The towering few, with heads raised above the general mass, can scarce be seen through the foliage of those beneath, but here and there the touch of time has cast his withering hand upon their leafy brow, and decay has begun his work upon the gigantic and unbending trunk. How trite and yet how true! It was thus I meditated in my walk. The foot of European, I said, has never touched where my foot now presses-seldom the native wanders here. Here I indeed behold Nature fresh from the bosom of creation, un

changed by man, and stamped with the same impress she originally bore! Here I behold God's designs when he formed this tropical land, and left its culture and improvement to the agency of man The Creator's gift, as yet neglected by the creature, and yet the time may be confidently looked for when the axe shall level the forest, and the plough turn the ground." Mr. Brooke's Journal in Keppel's Expedition, vol. i., pp. 18, 19.

Near the island of Talang-Talang, Mr. Brooke was welcomed on the 7th by the Bandar, or treasurer of the place, who came in his canoe, and assured him of a hearty welcome from the Rajah; and having "dis

strangers were seated in chairs on one hand of the Rajah, and on the other sat his brother Mohammed, and Macota and other chiefs, while immediately behind him were seated his twelve younger brothers. Tea and tobacco were served by attendants on their knees. A band played wild airs during the interview; and after a visit of half an hour, the strangers rose and took their leave.

After various interchanges of visits and presents, some of them without the usual formality and reserve, Mr. Brooke obtained leave to travel into the country of the Dyaks, and to visit the Malay towns of Sadung, Samarahan, &c.; and in pursuance of this plan, he left Sarawak (formerly Kuchin), accompanied by the prahus (boats) of Pangeran Illudeen and the Panglima, the former pulling twelve paddles, and having two brass swivels and twenty men, and the latter having a gun and ten men, while the Skimalong, a long boat of Mr. Brooke's, carried a gun and ten men. With this equipment, superior to any force of the Rajah's enemies, they "proceeded up a Borneon river (Morotaba) hitherto unknown, sailing where no European ever sailed before; and admiring the deep solitude, the brilliant night, the dark fringe of retired jungle, the lighter foliage of the river bank, with here and there a tree flashing and shining with fire flies, nature's tiny lamps, glancing and flitting in countless numbers, and incredible brilliancy." The expedition had proceeded about a hundred miles up the Samarahan river, admirably calculated for the purposes of navigation and trade, receiving hospitality and kindness at the different villages on its banks, when the Pangeran, dreading the hostility of the Dyaks, and alleging that the river was narrow, ra

pid, and obstructed by trees, insisted upon returning to Sarawak, which they reached on the 25th. On the 30th, the same flotilla set out to explore the river Lundu, and to visit the Sibnowan Dyaks and their town of Tungong. This river is about half a mile wide at the mouth, and from 150 to 200 yards off Tungong, which stands on the right bank, and is enclosed by a slight stockade. Within this defence there is only one enormous house with three or four small huts, for the whole population of about 400 souls! This remarkable tenement is 594 feet long, and the front room or street is the entire length of the building, and 21 feet broad. The floor is 12 feet above the ground, and it is reached by means of the trunk of a tree, with notches cut in it, which performs the part of a ladder. The back part is divided by neat partitions into the private apartments of the various families, which communicate with the public apart ments. The married persons occupy the private rooms, while the widowers and young unmarried men occupy the public apartments. There is in front of this extraordinary building a terrace, 50 feet broad, formed, like the floors, of split bamboo, and extending partially along the front of the building.

"This platform, “ "says Mr. Brooke, "as well

as the front room, beside the regular inhabitants, is the resort of pigs, dogs, birds, monkeys, and fowls, and presents a glorious scene of confusion and bustle. Here the ordinary occupations of domestic labor are carried on-padi ground, mats made, &c., &c. There were 200 men, women, and children counted in the room, and in front, whilst we

were there in the middle of the day; and allowing for those abroad, and for those in their own rooms, the whole community cannot be reckoned at less than 400 souls. Overhead, about seven feet high, is a second crazy story, in which they stow their stores of food, and their implements of labor and war. Along the large room are hung many cots, four feet long, formed of the hollowed trunks of trees cut in half, which answer the purpose of seats by day and beds by night. The Sibnowan Dyaks are a wild-looking, but apparently quiet and inoffensive race. The apartment of their chief, by name Sejugah, is situated nearly in the centre of the building, and is longer than any other. In front of it nice mats were spread on the occasion of our visit, whilst over our heads dangled about thirty ghastly skulls, according to the custom of these people. I was informed that they

* * *

had many more in their possession, all, however, the heads of enemies. On enquiry, I was told, that it is indispensable that a young man should procure a skull before he gets married."-Mr. Brooke's Journal in Keppel's Expedition, vol. i. pp. 52, 53-55.

The practice of head-hunting, as it is called, referred to in the preceding extract, is carried to a great extent in Borneo. It is necessary, in many places, to propitiate the bride by throwing down before her a number of heads in a net; and though one head may, in cases where there is no competition of lovers, satisfy the bride, yet the courage of the male, and consequently his success in love, is measured by the number which he can display. It is not, however, at marriages alone that these disgusting trophies are demanded. At the death of any person, a head must be procured previous to the celebration of the funeral; and it is confidently stated, that in the north as well as in the south of Borneo, human victims, generally slaves, are sacrificed on the death of a chief, and even on other occasions. Among the land tribes, the heads are the general property of the village, and are stored up in what is called the Head-House; but the Sea-Dyaks hold them as personal property, and occasionally wear them dangling at their loins. An old chief, when regretting the destruction of all his property by fire, stated to Mr. Low, that he would not have regretted it so much if he could have saved the trophies of the prowess of his fathers-the heads collected by his ancestors." Baskets full of these heads, deprived of the brain, and dried over a slow and smoking fire, may be found at any house in the villages of the sea tribes; and the number of these disgusting objects is a measure of the distinction of the family. The mode of treating a captured head by the Sea-Dyaks is thus described by Mr. Low:

"The head is brought on shore with much ceremony, and wrapped up in the curiously folded and plaited leaves of the Nipah palm, and frequently emitting the disgusting odors peculiar to decaying mortality. This, the Dyaks have fréquently told me, is particularly grateful to their senses, and surpasses the odorous durian, their favorite fruit. On shore, and in the village, the head, for months after its arrival, is treated with the greatest consideration, and all the names and terms of endearment of which their language is capable are lavished upon it. The most dainty morsel called from their repast is thrust into its mouth, and it is instructed to hate its former friends, and that having been now adopted into the tribe of its captors, its spirit must be always with them: sirih leaves and betel-nut are given to it, and finally a cigar is frequently placed between its ghastly and pallid lips. None of this disgusting mockery is performed with the intention of ridicule, but all to propitiate the spirit by kindness, and to procure its good wishes for the tribe of

which it is now supposed to have become a mem-tary of the Sadung, and also Seriff Sahib, ber."-Low's Sarawak, &c., pp 206, 207.

the son of an Arab, who married a daughter of the Borneon Rajah, they sailed up the river to a point thirty miles from its mouth, where there was a village, consisting of three moderately long houses, inhabited by the Sibnowan Dyaks, where they fresh, and said to be women's, hanging,

After the feast which follows this barbarous ceremony, dancing generally commences, and this is "performed with the recently acquired heads suspended from the persons of the actors, who move up and found a collection of heads, some of them

down the verandah with a slow step and corresponding movements of their out- ornamented with feathers, before the enstretched arms, uttering occasionally a yell which rises fierce and shrill above the discordant noises of the gongs, &c., to which

the dancers move."

trance of the chief's private apartments. After a night's exposure to torrents of rain and the vivid lightning of the tropics, the river party dropped down to the entrance into the Sadung, and passing over the sand flats to the Royalist, they were joined by the Pangerans, who next day returned to Sarawak, leaving the Panglima Rajah to

The mode of dealing with heads among the land tribes, is well described by Mr. Marryat, who had occasion to witness a Head-House whilst visiting three villages in the Serambo mountains, occupied by the pilot them out. When the Panglima, in hill Dyaks, under Mr. Brooke's sway. his prahu, with twelve men, was lying close Mr. Marryat's party was escorted to a to the shore, they were roused from their house in the centre of the village, different- sleep by a piratical attack of the roving ly constructed from the rest. It was raised Sarebus Dyaks, who stole upon them by and well ventilated by numerous port-holes surprise, wounded severely the Panglima

and several of his men, and but for the timeous discharge of a gun from the Royalist, which frightened the assailants, the whole party would have been slaughtered.

in its pointed roof.* A rough ladder conducted the party to the room above; and when they entered they were "taken aback" by finding that they were in the head-house, and that the beams were lined Returning to Sarawak on the 1st Octowith human heads, all hanging by a small ber, Mr. Brooke and his party accepted of line passing through the top of the skull. a pressing invitation from the Rajah. "They were painted in the most fantastic From four o'clock they sat, and talked, and and hideous manner; pieces of wood, drank tea, and smoked, till eight in the painted to imitate the eyes, were inserted evening, when dinner was announced. The into the sockets, and added not a little to table was laid à l'Anglaise a good curry their ghastly grinning appearance. The of rice, grilled fowls, and a bottle of strangest part of the story, and that which wine. The party did justice to their cheer, added very much to the effect of the scene, and the Rajah, throwing off all reserve, was that these skulls were perpetually moving bustled about with the proud and pleasing

to and fro, and knocking against each other. This, I presume, was occasioned by the different currents of air blowing in at the portholes; but what with their continual motion, their nodding their chins when they hit each other, and their grinning teeth, they really appeared to be endowed with new life, and were a very merry set of fellows."

In the last week of September, Mr. Brooke undertook another expedition to the river Sadung, accompanied by the Pangerans,

Illudeen and Subtu. The town called Songi is of considerable size, and along the river, from which there is a good deal of trade, the population may amount to 2000 or 3000 persons. After visiting an Illanun pirate, who resides up the Songi, a tribu

• A drawing of this Head-House is given by Sir E. Belcher, vol. i., p. 26.

consciousness of having given an English dinner in proper style, now drawing the wine, now changing the plates, pressing his guests to eat, and saying you are at home. After dinner they drank and smoked and talked till the hour of rest. Mr. Brooke's couch was a crimson silk mattress, embroidered with gold, and covered with white, gold-embroidered mats and pillows. The others fared equally well, and greatly enjoyed their wine, in consequence of their own stock having been expended.

Having taken a cordial leave of the Rajah, and in the course of his three expeditions obtained much useful information respecting the natural history, geography, statistics, and language of the Dyaks, Mr. Brooke sailed for Singapore on the 2d October, carrying along with him letters for the merchants of that place, and a list of The effect was perfect. After some little farther and more difficult progress, we stood beneath the fall of about 150 feet sheer descent. The wind chilling our bodies, but unable to damp our admi

whirled in eddies, and carried the sleet over us,

the imports and exports of Sarawak. As it was probable that the civil war might continue for many months, he thought it would be injudicious to return to Sarawak, and he therefore decided on making an excursion to the island of Celebes, as he had contemplated in his original prospectus. Taking with him a large assortment of British goods, as presents to the chiefs and people, he set sail on the 20th November, and about the middle of December 1839, he arrived off Celebes. Captain Keppel has given only such extracts from Mr. Brooke's Journal of that " portion of his excursion to Celebesand among the Bugis, as particularly bears upon his Borneon sequel," amounting only to a portion of a chapter. But described."-Mr. Brooke's Journal, Keppel's Ex

Captain Mundy has devoted ten chapters to the subject, and has given the whole of M Brooke's Journal of this interesting expedition. As our object is to make our readers acquainted with Mr. Brooke's life and labors in his own territory of Sarawak, we can only devote a brief space to a notice of his visit to Celebes, or rather to his circumnavigation of the gulf of Boni.

ration. The basin of the fall is part of a circle, with the outlet forming a funnel; bare cliffs, perpendicular on all sides, form the upper portion of the vale, and above and below is all the luxuriant vegetation of the East; trees arched and interlaced, and throwing down long fantastic roots and creepers, shade the scene, and form one of the richest sylvan prospects I have ever beheld. The water foaming and flashing, and then escaping amid huge grey stones on its troubled course-clear and transparent, expanding into tranquil pools, with the flickering sunshine through the dense foliage, all combined to form a scene such as Tasso has

pedition, vol. i., pp. 111, 112.

Mr. At Singapore Mr. Brooke met with Dain Matara, a well-born, affluent, and educated Bugis, who offered to accompany him in his expedition, refusing any remuneration for his services. Mr. Brooke agreed to take him and his servant, and found him a cheerful, good-tempered, and intelligent companion. On the 20th, Mr. Brooke, with a party of twelve, undertook the ascent of Lumpu Batang. They rested at different villages on the hill, where they saw the cockcommunity of dusky baboons; and on the 22d, after mid-day, they attained the sumwater" to many falls in Switzerland, but mit, never before reached by Europeans. superior to any of them in sylvan beauty, On the top they saw the dung of wild catits charms being greatly heightened to the tle, which are said to be a species of urus :* imagination, by its deep seclusion, its un- and found specimens of pumice stone, indidisturbed solitude and its difficulty of ac- cating the volcanic nature of the mountain.

On the 16th of December Mr. Brooke landed at Bonthian Bay, where he was kindly received by the officers of the Dutch fort. On the 18th he set out with three atoo in its wild state, and encountered a

doctors and native guides, to see the splendid waterfall of Sapo, "inferior in body of

cess

After passing through the glades and glens, grassy knol's and slopes, they plung ed into the wood, and found themselves at the side of the stream below the waterfall. Having finished their breakfast, they all stripped to their trousers, entered the water, and waded along the bed of the river to the fall. The steep and woody banks prevented any other mode of approach, and as the stream rushed down, tumbling over huge rocks, this mode was anything but easy. Sometimes they were up to the arms in water, now stealing with care over wet and slippery stones, now favored by a few yards of dry ground, and ever and anon swimming a pool to shorten an unpleasant climb.

"In this manner," says Mr. Brooke, "we ad vanced about half a-mile, when the fall became visible; thick trees and hanging creepers inter venet: between and through the foliage, we just saw the water glancing and shining in its descent

Mr. Brooke estimates the population of the villages in this district at about 5000. The chief product of the country is coffee, which is collected by the Bugis merchants to the extent of 80,000 peculs annually, the price being 15 or 16 Java rupees per pecul. Tortoise shell and mother of pearl shells are abundant.

On the 6th of January, 1840, Mr. Brooke intimated to the King of Boni, his arrival as a private individual, and his wish to visit him. His Majesty gave orders that all the wants of the party should be supplied; but in consequence of foolish reports that five ships were on their way to Boni, to expel the Dutch, no answer was given to Mr. Brooke's proposal. Having collected information respecting the condition and politics of Boni, and believing that some sinister influence was at work to prevent

* See this Journal, vol. v. p. 202.

« ΠροηγούμενηΣυνέχεια »