every where without warning, they mercilessly destroyed the native
villages and swept the inhabitants into captivity. Or else, impelling
with the force of fifty men their snaky craft, which were swift as
race-boats and noiseless as beasts of prey, they would surprise at dead
of night some defenceless merchantman, overwhelm their victims with
showers of spears, and with morning light a plundered boat, a few dead
bodies, were the silent witnesses of their ferocity. On the other hand,
the Illanum and Balanini tribes, infesting the islands to the northeast
of Borneo, undertook far grander enterprises. Putting to sea, prepared
for a long voyage, in fleets of two or three hundred prahus, propelled
by wind and oars, armed with brass cannon, and manned by ten thousand
bold buccaneers, they swept through the whole length of the Chinese Sea,
and, turning the southernmost point of Borneo, penetrated the straits
and sounds between Java and Celebes, never stopping in their ruthless
course until they came face to face with the sturdy pirates of New
Guinea, and returned, after a voyage of ten thousand miles and an
absence of two years, laden with spoils and captives. How hapless was
the fate of the poor Dyak! If he stayed at home, cultivating his fields,
his Malay lord fleeced him to the skin. If, thinking to engage in
gainful traffic, he hugged the shore with his little bark, the
river-pirate snatched him up. If he stood out upon the broad waters, he
could scarcely hope to escape the Northern hordes who swarmed in every
sea.

Mr. Brooke's most terrible assailants were the Sakarran and Sarebus
pirates, two tribes of freebooters whose seats of power were on the
Sarebus and Batang Lupar rivers, two streams fifty or sixty miles east
of Sarawak. These tribes were encouraged and secretly helped by his own
Malay chiefs, and insolently defied his power, continuing their
depredations, capturing every vessel which ventured out, and ravaging
all the adjacent coasts. The strength of these confederacies was so
great, that it was no unusual thing for them to muster a hundred
war-boats; and they had built, on the banks of the rivers which they
infested, strong forts at every point which commanded the channel. That
the new Rajah was not able with his slender resources to curb these
sea-robbers is not surprising. The only wonder is, that he was able to
protect his own capital from the assaults which they often threatened
but never dared to attempt.