is Labuk Pulai the Eastern limit of the
watershed, on the coast, of the important river Barram which was
acquired by Raja BROOKE, in 1881, for an annual payment of L1,000.
Beyond this commences what is left of the Brunai Sultanate, there being
but one stream of any importance between the Barram river and that on
which the capital--Brunai--is situated. But Sarawak does not rest here;
it acquired, in 1884, from the then Pangeran Tumonggong, who is now
Sultan, the Trusan, a river to the East of the Brunai, under somewhat
exceptional circumstances. The natives of the river were in rebellion
against the Brunai Government, and in November, 1884, a party of Sarawak
Dyaks, who had been trading and collecting jungle produce in the
neighbourhood of the capital, having been warned by their own Government
to leave the country because of its disturbed condition, and having
further been warned also by the Sultan not to enter the Trusan, could
not refrain from visiting that river on their homeward journey, in order
to collect some outstanding trade debts. They were received is so
friendly a manner, that their suspicions were not in the slightest
degree aroused, and they took no precautions, believing themselves to be
amongst friends. Suddenly in the night they were attacked while asleep
in their boats, and the whole party, numbering about seventeen,
massacred, with the exception of one man who, though wounded, managed to
effect his escape and ultimately found his way to Labuan, where he was
treated in the Government Hospital and made a recovery. The heads of the
murdered men were, as is customary, taken by the murderers. No very
distinct reason can be given for the attack, except that the Trusan
people were in a "slaying" mood, being on the "war-path" and in arms
against their own Government, and it has also been said that those
particular Dyaks happened to be wearing trowsers instead of their
ordinary _chawat_, or loin cloth, and, as their enemies, the Brunais,
were trowser-wearers, the Trusan people thought fit to consider all
natives wearing such extravagant clothing as their enemies. The Sarawak
Government, on hearing of the incident, at once despatched Mr. MAXWELL,
the Chief Resident, to demand redress. The Brunai Government, having no
longer the warlike Kyans at their beck and call, that tribe having
passed to Raja BROOKE with the river Barram, were wholly unable to
undertake the punishment of the offenders. Mr. MAXWELL then deman