y temper, and although puzzled,
ashamed, and fearful, he could not decide.

"At this period a robbery was committed up the river by some of
Macota's followers on a Chinese hadji, a converted Mohammedan. They
beat the old man, threw him into the water, and robbed him of a
tael of gold. The beating and attempt at drowning were certain,
for the Chinese hadji was so ill for several days under my care,
that he was in considerable danger. He complained to me loudly of
Macota; and from other sources I gained a pretty accurate account of
that gentleman's proceedings. By threats, by intrigue, by falsehood,
and even by violence, he had prevented or driven all persons from
daring to visit or come near me, whether abroad or ashore. He was
taxing the poor Dyaks, harassing the Siniawans, and leagued with the
Borneo Pangerans to plunder and get all he possibly could. Every Dyak
community was watched by his followers, and a spear raised opposite
the chief's house, to intimate that no person was to trade or barter
except the Pangeran. The mode of plunder is thus perpetrated. Rice,
clothes, gongs, and other articles are sent to a tribe at a fixed
price, which the Dyaks dare not refuse, for it is at the risk of losing
their children! The prices thus demanded by Macota were as follows:
one gantong of rice for thirty birds' nests. Twenty-four gantongs here
is equal to a pecul of rice--a pecul of rice costs one dollar and a
half; whereas thirty birds' nests weigh one catty, and are valued at
two rupees, so that the twenty-fourth part of one and a half dollars
is sold for two rupees. Was it surprising that these people were poor
and wretched? My astonishment was, that they continued to labor, and,
indeed, nothing but their being a surprisingly industrious race can
account for it, and they are only enabled to live at all by secreting
a portion of their food. Yet war and bad government, or, rather, no
government, have had the effect of driving more than half the Dyak
tribes beyond the limits of Sarawak.

"The rapacity of these Malays is as unbounded as it is short-sighted;
for one would think that the slightest degree of common sense
would induce some of the chiefs to allow no one to plunder except
themselves. But this is so far from being the case, that, when their
demand has been enforced, dozens of inferior wretches extort and
plunder in turn, each according to his ability; and though the Dyak
is not wanting in obstinacy, he can seldom wit