na. A scout-boat, with but few men in it, which would not excite
suspicion, went out to spy for sails. They did not generally attack
large or armed ships, although many a good-sized Dutch or English craft,
which had been becalmed or enticed by them into dangerous or shallow
water, was overpowered by their numbers. But it was usually the small
unarmed vessels they fell upon, with fearful yells, binding those they
did not kill, and burning the vessel after robbing it, to avoid
detection. While the south-west monsoon lasted, the pirates lurked about
in uninhabited creeks and bays until the trading season was over. But
when the north-east monsoon set in, they returned to their settlements,
often rich in booty, and with blood on their hands, only to rejoice over
the past, and prepare for next year's expedition. There are still some
nests of pirates in the north of Borneo, although of late the Spaniards
have done much to exterminate them. But when Sir James Brooke first
visited Sarawak, the nobles there, and their sultan at Bruni, used to
permit, nay, encourage, piratical raids against their own subjects at a
little distance, provided they shared in the profits of the expedition,
thus impoverishing the country they ruled, and putting a stop to all
native trade--a short-sighted and wicked policy. It took a good many
years of stern resistance on Sir James Brooke's part before the Bruni
nobles could be cured of their connivance of pirates, whether Malay or
Dyak.

The Dyaks of Sarebas and Sakarran, a brave and noble people, were taught
piracy by the Malays who dwelt among them. These Dyaks were always
head-hunters, and used to pull the oars in the Malay prahus for the sake
of the heads of the slain, which they alone cared for. But, in course of
time, the Dyaks became expert seamen. They built boats which they called
bangkongs, and went out with the Malays, devastating the coast and
killing Malays, Chinese, Dyaks, whoever they met with. The Dyak bangkong
draws very little water, and is both lighter and faster than the Malay
prahu; it is a hundred feet long, and nine or ten broad. Sixty or eighty
men with paddles make her skim through the water as swiftly as a London
race-boat. She moves without noise, and surprises her victims with
showers of spears at dead of night; neither can any vessel, except a
steamer, catch a Dyak bangkong, if the crew deem it necessary to fly.
These boats can be easily taken to pieces; for the planks, which