religion. When I
went to Banting some years afterwards, I found a set of modest young
women who were much pleased with gifts of needles, thread, and thimbles;
they also enjoyed a game of croquet after the lessons were done, and it
was wonderful to see what smart taps of the mallet were fearlessly given
under their bare feet; for of course the Dyaks do not wear shoes.

About a month after our return to Sarawak, Captain Brooke's baby boy was
born. No one can tell what a care and anxiety this event was, in a place
where there was no doctor except the Bishop. The well-being of so
important a person as the Rajah mudah's wife, and the birth of the heir
of Sarawak, called forth much sympathy from everybody. Thank God, all
went well; but we said it ought never to happen again--there should be a
medical man whose sole duty it was to care for the bodies of the
community, while the Bishop was free to minister to their spiritual
wants. Soon after there was a public baptism of this boy Basil Brooke,
and his cousin Blanche Grant, in the church, which was full of Malays as
well as English to witness the ceremony. This was the day before the
Rajah set off for England.

There were many happy days during the next few months, for there were
several English ladies in the place and we were all friends. In October
the Bishop went to Labuan, and while he was away the cholera made its
first appearance at Sarawak, among the Malays. The Rajah muda and I
consulted together what physic should be made ready for those who would
take it. A short time before, a little pamphlet had been sent to us
about the virtues of camphor, and especially its value in cholera. We
made a saturated solution of camphor in brandy, and gave a teaspoonful
of it on moist sugar for a dose, adding three drops of Kayu Puteh oil,
extracted from a Borneon wood and called cajeput oil in England, a very
strong aromatic medicine. This mixture proved itself very useful. If the
patients applied in good time it invariably gave relief to the cramp and
pain in the stomach; if the disease had gone on to sickness it was more
difficult to administer. Sometimes we followed it up with laudanum and
castor oil.

The Malays suffered very much from this epidemic. Constant funerals were
to be seen on the river, and there was much praying at the mosque. Then
the Chinese were attacked, but not so fatally. Two dead men were,
however, found on our premises; they were strangers to us, but we
suppo