eafter be most advantageous for him; and at the former place he can
always be made a comfortable servant with good training. Yet with all
this, I cannot disguise from myself that there is responsibility--a
heavy moral responsibility--attached to this course, that might
be avoided: but then, _should_ it be avoided? Looking to the boy's
interests--temporal, perhaps, eternal--I think it ought not; and so,
provided always I cannot place him where humanity and nature dictate,
I will take the responsibility, and serve this wretched and destitute
child as far as lies in my power. He is cast on my compassion;
I solemnly accept the charge; and I trust his future life may bear
good fruit and cause me to rejoice at my present decision.

"_Oct. 2d._--Lying at Sarawak, losing valuable time, but pending the
war difficult to get away; for whenever the subject is mentioned, Muda
Hassim begs me not to desert him just as it is coming to a close; and
daily holds out prospects of the arrival of various Dyak tribes. The
rajah urged upon me that he was deceived and betrayed by the intrigues
of Pangerans, who aimed at alienating his country; and that if I left
him, he should probably have to remain here for the rest of his life,
being resolved to die rather than yield to the unjust influence which
others were seeking to acquire over him; and he appealed to me that
after our friendly communication I could not, as an Engliah gentleman,
desert him under such circumstances. I felt that honorably I could not
do so; and though reluctantly enough, I resolved to give him the aid
he asked;--small indeed, but of consequence in such a petty warfare.

"_3d._--I started to join Macota at Leda Tanah. At 4h. 30m. P.M. a
pouring rain delayed us some time: and darkness setting in, rendered
our pull a long and very disagreeable one. We did not reach Leda Tanah
until eleven, when we found _the army_ in their boats, and a small
fort they had built on the bank of the river. I moved into Macota's
large boat, and slept there; while he, as commander-in-chief, went
backward and forward from one post to another during the night.

"_4th._--At Leda Tanah the river divided into two branches; one part
running past Siniawan, and the other to the left--likewise to another
point of the mountain-range. Above Siniawan is Sarambo, a high detached
mountain, perhaps 3000 feet in height, with a notch in the center. Off
Leda Tanah is a sand and pebble bank formed by the junction o