he had been under treatment. So the Sarawak flag was hoisted at the fort
and saluted, and after some good advice and renewed promises from the
Sakarrans and Kenowits, the boats pulled away to the _Jolly Bachelor_,
which had been left at the Serikei River; and a few days afterwards we
heard gongs and boat music on the river, and my servant Quangho running
into my room called out, "Our Tuan is coming," so we all went down to
the stone wharf and welcomed them home. The lameness which had so long
hindered my husband from moving about, did not yield to any remedies we
applied, and at last we went to Singapore for medical advice. The
doctors there sent their patient to China for a cold season, and he
spent six weeks at Hongkong with the Bishop of Victoria, and at Canton
with other friends, to the advantage of his knee. Afterwards we went
together to Malacca, where there was a hot spring bubbling up in a
field. Into this spring we put a large tub; and there, in the early
morning, Frank used to sit, with no neighbours but the snipe feeding in
the field, and, as he had his gun by his side, he occasionally shot some
game for breakfast.

In 1853 we went home. My health was very much broken, and my husband was
called to England by the necessary transfer of the mission from the
Borneo Mission Society, whose funds came to an end, to the venerable
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, who kindly adopted us. We
arrived at Southampton one grey November day. I wondered to see the sky
so near the earth, and the trees almost like shrubs in height compared
to our Eastern forests. But it was sweet to hear the children speaking
English in the streets, and their fair rosy faces were refreshing
indeed. I never thought our school-children plain when we were at
Sarawak, but the contrast was certainly very great when we looked about
us in England.

PART II.

CHAPTER X.

RETURN TO SARAWAK.

In 1854, after eighteen months' stay in England, during which time my
husband worked as deputation for the Society for the Propagation of the
Gospel, we returned to Sarawak, _via_ Calcutta, in one of Green's
sailing vessels, for we were too large a party to afford the overland
route.

Besides ourselves and our baby, we had two young ladies who wished to
try and teach the Malay women in their homes, and to help with the
day-scholars at the mission-house. Only one of these ladies reached
Sarawak; the other left us at Calcutta, and marrie