situation;
and that, if he conferred authority on me in the camp, I would once
more go up the river and assist him to the utmost of my power. It
is needless to repeat any details of the war, except to say that I
found every support from him, and the highest consideration, both
in personal attentions and the bestowal of influence. He conquered,
I may say without self-praise, through my means; and on the close
of hostilities our negotiation about the country was revived. In its
progress I stated to him that Malay governments were so bad, that the
high were allowed so much license, and the poor so oppressed, that any
attempt to govern without a change of these abuses was impossible;
and as a foundation of my acceptance was the proposition, that all
his exertions must be employed to establish the principle that one man
was not to take any thing from another, and that all men were to enjoy
the produce of their labor, save and except at such times as they were
engaged in working for the revenue. That the amount of the revenue was
to be fixed and certain for three years, at a stated quantity of rice
per family; in lieu of which, should a man prefer it, he might pay in
money or in labor: the relative price of rice to money or labor being
previously fixed at as low a rate as possible. That the officers, viz.,
Patingi, Bandar, and Tumangong, were to receive stated salaries out of
this revenue, in order to prevent any extortion, either by themselves
or in their name; and that they were to be answerable for the whole
revenue under my superintendence. That the Dyaks were to be treated
the same as the Malays, their property protected, their taxes fixed,
and their labor free. At the same time, I represented to him the
difficulty of doing this, and that nothing but his power could effect
it; as any foreigner, without his unlimited support and confidence,
would have no chance of finding obedience from the numerous inferior
Pangerans and their followers. This, with much more, was the theme
of my conversation; to which was replied, _imprimis_, That their
customs and religion must not be infringed. That with regard to the
violence and rapacity of the higher classes, and the uncertainty
of taxation, which led to so much oppression, they were by no means
any part of the Ondong Ondong, _i. e._, the written law of Borneo,
but gross abuses which had arisen out of lax government. That it was
the wish of his heart to see these things mended; and