uelty. When we
lived at Kuching there was scarcely a Malay family there who had not
suffered from them, either by the loss of relations or property; for
they are naturally a trading people.

It is a common practice for a party of men to join together in hiring a
boat in which to venture goods or gold-dust by trading on the coast, or
even to Singapore three hundred and sixty miles away, These small and
comparatively unarmed boats fell an easy prey to the pirate prahus, who
went out in fleets.

The Spaniards and the Dutch were every now and then roused to search the
seas for these pests of the human race, but they were so cunning they
generally evaded them. At last they had a signal lesson. In the year
1862, Captain Brooke, then governing Sarawak in his uncle's absence,
decided to go to Bintulu on the north-west coast of Borneo, a territory
which had lately been ceded to the Rajah by the Sultan, and build a fort
on the river, to check piracy and protect the peaceable inhabitants who
were settling there on the promise of such protection. For this purpose
he took the _Rainbow_, a small screw steamer of eighty-nine tons and
thirty-five horse power; and the _Jolly Bachelor_, a Government
gun-boat. The Bishop accompanied him, to see what missionary prospects
there were in that distant spot, also because he was at that time
anxious about Captain Brooke's health. Mr. Helms, the manager of the
Borneo mercantile company, accompanied them as far as Muka, where was
an establishment to collect sago for exportation. On the second day
after his arrival, a piratical fleet of Ilanuns, consisting of six
large, and as many smaller vessels, appeared on the coast, and blockaded
the town. For two days they remained off Muka, capturing there, and on
the coast southwards, thirty-two persons.

Mr. Helms persuaded Hadji Mataim and a few natives to start in a fast
boat and apprize Captain Brooke; and this boat, though chased by the
pirates, got safe to Bintulu. Hadji Mataim got alongside the steamer
early on Thursday morning, while it was still dark, and the Bishop,
recognizing his voice, called him on board. He delivered a letter from
Mr. Helms, asking for help. Steam was got up directly, the Chinese
carpenters who were to build the fort were landed, and the guns which
had been brought to protect it were put on board, as well as the fort
men who were to man the fort, that they might strengthen the crew. With
the first dawn of light the _Rainbo