days, in the hopes
of falling in with others of the piratical squadron. She, however, did
not succeed in discovering any more.

I will pass over the events of the next few days. The north-east
monsoon showing signs of beginning to blow in earnest, the commander of
the brig was anxious to return to port, and accordingly with much
reluctance gave up the search. Little Maria was slowly recovering. The
widow bore her grief meekly and resignedly, and showed that she was a
thoroughly altered woman. Wounds in that burning clime are more
dangerous than in colder latitudes; thus three of the wounded had died.
One was a little boy, the child of a Dyak woman. He had been badly
wounded in the shoulder while resting in her arms. The child sank
gradually, nor could the surgeon's skill avail to arrest the progress of
death. The poor mother used to watch him with supplicating looks as he
dressed the wound, as if he alone had the power to save her boy: and
when he died, she reproached him, with unmistakable gestures, for not
preserving him to her. Savage as she was--accustomed to scenes of
bloodshed and murder from her youth--the feelings of a mother were
strong within her, and she would not be comforted. Captain Cloete was
very anxious to land the Dyaks in their native country, and he consulted
Fairburn as to the possibility of discovering it. We had, it must be
remembered, been left below both on entering and leaving the river, so
that we could only give a very rough guess at its position. Fairburn,
however, of course, expressed his anxiety to be of service; and by
consulting the chart, and considering attentively the courses we had
steered, and calculating the distance we had afterwards been driven by
the gale, we came to the conclusion that the poor wretches must have
been taken from the Balowi river, on the north-west coast of Borneo.
For the mouth of that river we accordingly shaped our course. It would
have been barbarous to have landed the poor wretches at any other spot
than their own country; for they would either have been made slaves of
by the Malays, or killed by the other Dyaks for the sake of their heads.
It is a curious fancy the Dyaks of Borneo entertain, of collecting as
many dried heads as they can obtain, either to wear as trophies of their
prowess, or to hang up in their head-houses.

We were treated with the greatest kindness by the captain and his
officers, who seemed to vie with each other in doing