nce handsome
as the hero of Oriental romance, and his whole bearing wonderfully
impressive and touching. He was shot in front and through the lungs,
and his last moments were rapidly approaching. He endeavored to speak,
but the blood gushed from his mouth with the voice he vainly essayed
to utter in words. Again and again he tried, but again and again
the vital fluid drowned the dying effort. He looked as if he had
something of importance which he desired to communicate, and a shade
of disappointment and regret passed over his brow when he felt that
every essay was unavailing, and that his manly strength and daring
spirit were dissolving into the dark night of death. The pitying
conquerors raised him gently up, and he was seated in comparative
ease, for the welling out of the blood was less distressing; but the
end speedily came: he folded his arms heroically across his wounded
breast, fixed bis eyes upon the British seamen around, and, casting
one last glance at the ocean--the theater of his daring exploits,
on which he had so often fought and triumphed--expired without a sigh.

The spectators, though not unused to tragical and sanguinary sights,
were unanimous in speaking of the death of the pirate chief as the
most affecting spectacle they had ever witnessed. A sculptor might have
carved him as an Antinous in the mortal agonies of a Dying Gladiator.

The leaders of the piratical prahus are sometimes poetically addressed
by their followers as _Matari_, i. e., the sun; or _Bulan_, the moon;
and from his superiority in every respect, physical and intellectual,
the chief whose course was here so fatally closed seemed to be worthy
of either celestial name.

CHAPTER XVI.

The Rajah's letter to Captain Keppel, and his reply.--Prepares
for an expedition against the Sarebus pirates.--Pleasure
excursion up the river.--The Chinese settlement.--The Singe
mountain.--Interior of the residences.--Dyak festival of
Maugut.--Relics.--Sporting.--Return to Sarawak.--The expedition
against Sarebus.--State and number of the assailing force.--Ascent
of the river.--Beauty of the scenery.

_May 21st._--I received intimation that the rajah had written a letter,
and wished me to appoint a time and place, that it might be presented
in due form. Accordingly I attended in Mr. Brooke's hall of audience on
the following day, where I found collected all the chiefs, and a crowd
of natives, many of them