home. From that day
the church began to rise out of the earth with the same seeming magic as
the house had done. It was entirely built of wood--all the beams,
rafters, and posts of the hard balean-wood, and the roof covered with
balean shingles, like the house. The planking was a cedar-coloured wood,
and all the arches and mouldings were finished like cabinet-work, so
that it was both handsome and durable. The ornamental pillars were first
made of polished nibong palms; but in a few years these had to be cut
away, as they were full of white ants, and hard wood substituted. The
building of this little church was most interesting to us. When my
husband was at Singapore for a short time in 1849, he had the pulpit,
reading-desk, a carved wooden eagle, and the chairs made there; also a
coloured glass east window was contrived, with the Sarawak flag for a
centre light. This pleased the Malays; indeed, they admired the house
and church immensely, and always assured us that they knew we could not
have built either, unless inspired by good antoos (spirits).

The baptismal font was a huge clam-shell, large enough to dip an infant
in, if desired; and this natural font was adopted in all the churches
afterwards built at Dyak stations--at Lundu, at Banting, Quop River.

The church bell was a difficult matter. Nothing larger than a ship bell
could be found in the straits. At last, a Javanese at Sarawak said he
could cast a bell large enough if he had the metal; so Frank bought a
hundredweight of broken gongs--there is a great deal of silver in gong
metal--and with these the bell was cast. Then an inscription had to be
put round the rim--"Gloria in excelsis Deo," in large letters; and the
date, Sir James Brooke's name on one side, and F. T. McDougall on the
other. It was a great success, and was safe in the little belfry before
the church was consecrated, in February, 1851. I do not know whether
this bell is now cracked, but it has worked very hard from that day--two
services every week-day, and four on Sunday, to say nothing of extra
occasions. Before long, we found a gilder who could adorn the reredos.
There were seven compartments at the east end: in the centre one was a
gilt cross, and in the others, the Lord's Prayer and the Creed, in
English, Malay, and Chinese. The gilder was a Chinese catechumen, and
was very anxious to do it well; but he knew nothing of English letters,
so each letter had to be cut in paper, and he traced it