uble in reaching Bau. The village stands on the river
Sarawak, and at any moment of the day a sampan can be hired to take one
thither. Smidt did not travel in luxury. If he kept a 'boy' at Singapore,
like a thrifty young Teuton he left him behind. Servants are as easily
found in those countries as sampans, if one be not too particular. Smidt
engaged a Chinaman who had good recommendations, though not of recent
date, nor from persons living in Sarawak; he had come thither from Penang
to 'better himself,' as he said, and had been working at the gold-fields.
For convenience again we may give him a name--Ahtan.

The project of visiting Bau was not agreeable to this Chinaman. 'I makee
bad pigeon there one time,' he said frankly. But the objection was not
serious.

Bau had changed since Sir Hugh Low's day. In the meantime the Dutch
authorities at Sambas had irritated the gold-diggers of that region to the
point that they massacred a body of troops--I do not mean to hint that the
Dutch policy was unjustifiable. In consequence a great number of Chinamen
fled across the frontier, found profitable washings at Bau, and invited
their comrades. So many came, and they showed such a lawless spirit from
the outset, that the Rajah's government took alarm. But as yet all was
quiet enough.

Smidt had obtained a note from one of the Chinese merchants at Sarawak,
with whom his employers did business, to the head of the Kunsi--the
Gold-diggers' Union, as we should say. That personage invited him to use
his house. Unwillingly did Ahtan accompany his master. He bowed before the
Kunsi chief, and made a long discourse with downcast eyes and folded
hands. The chief answered shortly and motioned him to go about his
business.

If Smidt made inquiries about that wonderful organisation, the Kunsi of
the gold-diggers at Bau, so soon to be crushed in a mad revolt, assuredly
he found matter to interest him. The parent society in Sambas has annals
dating back two hundred years, and its system was imported, they say, from
China without alteration. There is no reason to doubt the statement.
Anyhow, we find among these immigrants, two centuries ago, a perfected
system of trade union, benefit clubs, life assurance, co-operative stores,
and provision for old age, such as British working-men may contemplate
with puzzled and envious despair at the present day. Every detail is so
well adjusted--by the experience of ages--that disputes scarcely ever
arise; wh