on the wooden
panel. It was necessary to watch him narrowly, or he put the letters
upside down! Such are the difficulties of making churches in the jungle.
All this took some time to complete. I had a very severe illness in
November, 1850; and when, about Christmas, I was able to sit in the
verandah, the progress of the church was my great amusement, for it was
quite near enough to watch from the house.

In August, 1850, a great influx of Chinese came to Sarawak. There was a
war at Sambas, the principal Dutch settlement in Borneo, between the
Chinese, who were friendly to the Dutch, and who were living at
Pernankat, and the Montrado Chinese, who, with the Dyaks of the country,
rebelled against the Dutch. The Montrados beat the Pernankat Chinese,
and they fled from the place, carrying with them their wives and
children, and as much property as they could cram into their boats. The
boats were overladen, and many of them perished at sea, but some reached
Tangong Datu. On the 26th of August, four hundred of these poor
creatures arrived at Sarawak, saying there were three thousand more
starving on the sands at Datu, who would follow as fast as they could;
and, in course of time, most of them did find their way up the river,
although those in charge of the Government (the rajah was at Labuan)
tried to persuade them to make a town for themselves at Santubong (one
of the mouths of the river). A few of them did settle at Santubong, but
every day brought boats full of Chinamen into the place. The rajah fed
these poor people for months with rice, and gave them tools that they
might clear the ground and make gardens in the jungle. At first, before
they could build themselves houses, the whole place seemed upset by
them. Many lived in their boats on the river; every shed and workshop in
the town was full. One night Frank walked into the church, to see no one
was stealing planks from the unfinished building. All was quiet, but by
a stray moonbeam he perceived that one end of the church, already
boarded, was full of mosquito curtains, and they as full of sleeping
Chinamen. Such a thing could not be allowed--nails knocked into the
polished walls to tie up the curtains, tobacco perfuming the place, to
say nothing of sparks to light the pipes, and a considerable allowance
of bugs which Chinese people always carry about with them. Frank jumped
straight into the middle of the muslin curtains, with a shout; and
amidst a hubbub of tongues,