The Expedition to Borneo of H.M.S. Dido Part 15

CHAPTER XVIII.

Captain Keppel sails for China.--Calcutta.--The Dido ordered to Borneo again.--Arrival at Sarawak.--Effect of her presence at Sarawak.--Great improvements visible.--Atrocities of the Sakarran pirates.--Mr. Brooke's letter.--Captain Sir E. Belcher's previous visit to Sarawak in the Samarang.--Coal found.--Second letter from the Rajah Muda Ha.s.sim.--Expedition against the Sakarran pirates.--Patusen destroyed.--Macota remembered, and his retreat burnt.--Further fighting, and advance.--Ludicrous midnight alarm.

_June 24th._--I reached the Dido at 8 o'clock, and immediately got under weigh. After remaining twenty-four hours to water at Singapore, I sailed for Hong Kong. My time, during the year that I was absent from Borneo, if not quite so usefully, was not unpleasantly pa.s.sed. We lay a few months in the Canton river. In addition to having good opportunities of seeing the natives of China in their domestic state, I witnessed one of those most curious and extraordinary sights that occasionally occur during the winter months in the city of Canton, namely, a fire. The one I saw was about the most extensive that had ever been experienced; and the Dido's crew had the gratification of being of some a.s.sistance in the protection of British property. From China the Dido accompanied the commander-in-chief, in the Cornwallis, to the Spanish colony at Manilla, which is a place that few forget; and a short description of our visit there has been given in an interesting little work, written by Captain Cunynghame. On my return to Hong Kong, I had the gratification of receiving on board the Dido, Major-General Lord Saltoun and his staff, consisting of two old and esteemed friends of mine, Captain, now Major Arthur Cunynghame, his lords.h.i.+p's aid-de-camp, and Major Grant, of the 9th Lancers, who had been adjutant-general to the forces. A more agreeable cruise at sea I never experienced. We called at the island of Pinang, in the Malacca straits, on our way, where we again fell in with the admiral; and I was most agreeably surprised at meeting my friend Mr. Brooke, who had come on to Singapore to meet Sir William Parker, and had followed him up in the Wanderer, commanded by my friend Captain Henry Seymour,--that vessel, in company with the Harlequin, Captain the Hon. George Hastings, and the H. C. steamer Diana, having just returned from an expedition to Acheen, whither they had been dispatched by the commander-in-chief, to inquire into and demand redress for an act of piracy, committed on an English merchant-vessel. An account of the expedition has already been published. The pirates had made a desperate resistance, and several lives were lost, and many severely wounded on our side; among the latter was my friend Mr. Brooke (in the head and arm), for which I took the liberty of giving him a lecture on his rashness, he having quite sufficient ground for fighting over in his newly-adopted country. He was much pleased at the admiral's having promised that the Dido should return again to the Straits station as soon as she had completed her voyage to Calcutta.

On the 11th March, 1844, we anch.o.r.ed off the grand City of Palaces, and well does it merit the name. We could not have, timed our visit better. The governor-general, the Earl of Ellenborough, was being _feted_ on his return from the frontiers, which _fetes_ were continued on the arrival, a few days after ourselves, of the Cornwallis at Kedgeree, when the flag of Sir William Parker was s.h.i.+fted to the Dido. The admiral experienced the same style of hospitable entertainment that had previously been given to General Sir Hugh Gough on his return from the Chinese expedition. At Calcutta I was kindly invited by the "Tent Club," and introduced to that n.o.ble and most exciting of all field-sports, "Hog-hunting in India;" but with which the pleasures of the day did not cease. The subsequent convivial meeting was a thing not easily to be forgotten. Although under a tent pitched by the edge of the jungle, thirty miles from the city, none of the comforts of the house were wanting; there were the punkah and the hookah, those luxuries of the East, to say nothing of heaps of ice from the far West, which aided considerably the consumption of champagne and claret; and to better all these good things, every man brought with him the will and the power to please and to be pleased.

A few days before my departure from Calcutta, the governor-general finding it necessary to send treasure to China, the admiral desired me to receive it on board. Although a welcome cargo, it delayed for a couple of months my return to Borneo. I found Mr. Brooke awaiting my arrival at Singapore; but as I could not then receive him on board, Captain Hastings took him over to Sarawak in the Harlequin.

On arriving at Hong Kong, Rear-Admiral Sir T. Cochrane appointed Mr. Frederick Wade as first lieutenant, Lieutenant Wilmot Horton having been promoted to the rank of commander for his gallant defence when the Dido's boats were attacked by the very superior force of pirates off the island of Sirha.s.san.

Having landed the treasure at Hong Kong, and completed stores and provisions, I sailed from Macao on the 21st June, and working down against the monsoon, arrived at Singapore on the 18th July. I here found letters from Mr. Brooke, stating that the Sakarrans had been out in great force; and although he was not aware of any danger to himself or his settlement, still, by coming over quickly, I might have a fair chance of catching and crus.h.i.+ng them in the very act of piracy. I lost no time in preparing for another expedition. The government at Calcutta had become fully sensible of the necessity of protecting the native trade to Singapore, and had sent down the Phlegethon steamer, of light draught of water, and better adapted to service in the straits or rivers than any of her majesty's larger vessels. She was, moreover, fitted in every way for the peculiar service on which she was to be employed, with a zealous, experienced, and active commander, F. Scott, [18] as well as a fine enterprising set of young officers. I lost no time in making application for her to the resident counselor, Mr. Church (in the absence of Colonel b.u.t.terworth, the Governor of the Straits), who immediately placed her at my disposal; and with such means, I was anxious to commence operations as speedily as possible, leaving the Vixen and Wolverine to perform the other duties of the station.

_Thursday, 25th July._--Sailed from Singapore, having dispatched the Phlegethon the previous night, with orders to rendezvous at the entrance to the Morotaba, which we entered in the evening of the 29th; and anchoring the s.h.i.+p inside the river, I went on in the steamer to within four miles of Sarawak, when I pulled up in my gig, accompanied by the Dido's pinnace, that I might, by firing her carronade as a signal, be enabled to give notice of our approach, not feeling myself quite secure from a shot from the forts, which were very judiciously placed so as to command the last reach approaching the town, as I knew that before Mr. Brooke's return they had been put in a state of defence, and a regular watch kept, by self-appointed officers, sleeping on their arms. I, however, got up without accident, in time to receive a hearty welcome, about daylight.

Not expecting to revisit Borneo during the period that the s.h.i.+p had to run before completing her usual time of commission, it was gratifying for me to read in my friend's journal, alluding to my former visit; "I came myself in the Dido; and I may say that her appearance was the consummation of my enterprise." "The natives saw directly that there was a force to protect and to punish; and most of the chiefs, conscious of their evil ways, trembled; Muda Ha.s.sim was gratified, and felt that this power would exalt his authority both in Borneo and along the coast, and he was not slow in magnifying the force of the Dido. The state in which Captain Keppel and his officers visited the rajah all heightened the effect; and the marines and the band excited the admiration and the fears of the natives. I felt the rajah's hand tremble at the first interview; and not all the well-known command of countenance, of which the natives are masters, could conceal his emotion."

Gentle reader, excuse my vanity if I continue a little further with my friend's journal, although it gets rather personal:

"I believe the first emotion was anything but pleasurable; but Captain Keppel's conciliatory and kind manner soon removed any feeling of fear; and was all along of the greatest use to me in our subsequent doings. The first qualification, in dealing with a Malay, is a kind and gentle manner; for their habitual politeness is such that they are hurt by the ordinary _brusquerie_ of the European.

"I shall not go over the chase of the three boats of the Balagnini pirates, or the attack made on the Dido's boats by the Sirha.s.san, people, except to remark, that in the latter case, I am sure Lieutenant Horton acted rightly in sparing their lives and property; for, with these occasional pirates, a severe lesson, followed by that degree of conciliation and pardon which shall best insure a correction of their vices, is far wiser and preferable to a course of undistinguis.h.i.+ng severity."

I found Sarawak much altered for the better, and the population considerably increased. Mr. Brooke had established himself in a new house built on a beautiful and elevated mound, from which the intriguing Macota had just been ejected on my first visit. Neat and pretty-looking little Swiss cottages had sprung up on all the most picturesque spots, which gave it quite a European look. He had also made an agreeable addition to his English society; and a magazine of English merchandise had been opened to trade with the natives, together with many other improvements.

On the other hand, Seriff Sahib, not deterred, as I had antic.i.p.ated he would be, by the example I made of his neighbors in the Sarebus, had taken measures for withdrawing from the adjoining river of Sadong, where he had been living in a comparatively unguarded state, and had, during the last nine months, been making busy preparations for fortifying himself at a place called Patusen, up the Batang Lupar. He had lately got things in a forward state, had called out a large fleet of Sakarrans as an escort; and being puffed up with his own power and importance, had thought proper to prolong the performance of his voyage, of about 100 miles, from his residence in Sadong to his fortified position at Patusen, for three weeks or a month, during which time he had dispatched small parties of his fleet, which consisted of upward of 150 war-prahus, on piratical excursions. These robbers had, in addition to their piracies on the high seas, scoured the coast in all directions, and committed the greatest atrocities, attended with some of the most cruel murders. One sample will be sufficient to show their brutal character:--A detachment of three of their boats, having obtained information that a poor Dyak family, belonging to a tribe in Mr. Brooke's territory, had come down from their mountain to cultivate a small portion of land nearer the coast, and, for their better security, had made their dwelling in the upper branches of a large tree on the outskirts of the forest, determined to destroy them. Their little children were playing in the jungle when the pirates were seen approaching the tree with their diabolical war-yells. As the poor man did not descend immediately on being summoned, he was shot; when other ruffians, to save their ammunition, mounted the tree, murdered the woman, and returned in triumph to their boats with the heads of both victims. The children, who had witnessed this from their hiding-places, succeeded in getting to Sarawak.

Taking advantage of Mr. Brooke's unusually long absence, Sarawak itself was threatened, and open defiance hurled at any European force that should dare approach Patusen. Reports, too, had been industriously spread that Mr. Brooke never intended to return; and when he did get back to his home, he found the town guarded and watched like a besieged city. With his usual nerve and decision he withdrew his men from the forts, and sent to Seriff Sahib to inform him that he should suffer for his temerity.

A letter I received from him is so characteristic, and gives so lively a description of these events, that I am tempted to print it.

"Sarawak, 26th May, 1844.

"My Dear Keppel,

"It is useless applying a spur to a willing horse; so I will only tell you that there is plenty to do here, and the sooner you can come the better for all of us, especially your poor friends the Dyaks. Bring with you as much force as you can to attack Sakarran.

"The case stands thus:--Seriff Sahib, quite frightened at Sadong since last year, enraged likewise at his loss of power and his incapability of doing mischief, collected all the Sakarran Dyaks, and was joined by many of the Dyaks of Sarebus and some Balows. He likewise had a good many Malays, and bullied every one in his vicinity. This force met at the entrance of the Sadong Delta, and committed depredations. They were not less than 200 Dyak boats, and some 15 or 20 armed Malay prahus, beside others. Just as they were collected, the Harlequin appeared off the coast, and had the Dido been with us, we might have _had them all_; but the opportunity will never again occur. Seriff Sahib, with this force, has started to-day for Sakarran, and I was not strong enough with my eight native boats to attack him. It is really greatly to be lamented, because we should most completely have crushed the head of the snake. We must, however, make the best of it. It is his intention, on his arrival at Sakarran, to fortify and wait for our attack, and in the mean time to send out his Dyaks along the coast and inland to such places as they dare venture to attack.

"Come then, my dear Keppel, for there is plenty to do for all hands. I have ordered a gun-boat from Mr. Goldie, to make our force stronger; and had I possessed such a one the day before yesterday, I would have pulled away for the Sadong to-day.

"My regards to all. I still propose Pepper-Pot Hall for your residence. I only wish I felt _quite sure_ that Fortune had it in store that you would be here on your return from China. That dame, however, seems to delight in playing me slippery tricks just at present; and never was the time and tide so missed before, which would have led to fortune, as the other day. All the queen's s.h.i.+ps and all the queen's men could not bring such a chance together again.

"Ever, my dear Keppel, your sincere friend,

"J. Brooke.

"Captain the Hon. Henry Keppel."

No one could have been more disappointed or have regretted more than my gallant friend Captain Hastings, that his orders did not admit of any delay, or of his attacking that redoubtable pirate Seriff Sahib, especially as he had a small score to settle with that kind of gentry, having had his first lieutenant, H. Chads, severely wounded in two places, and several men killed, in the affair at Acheen Head. It was, however, all for the best, as the few boats that the Harlequin could have sent would have stood but a poor chance against upward of 200 war-prahus, all fitted and prepared for fight.

On the 1st of August, with the Dido and Phlegethon at anchor off Sarawak, the warlike preparations were going on rapidly. I had saluted and paid my visit to Muda Ha.s.sim; he was delighted to see me again, and we went through the form of holding several conferences of war in his divan. He appears to be a good well-meaning man, well inclined toward the English, moderately honest, and, if roused, I daresay not without animal courage; and altogether, with the a.s.sistance of his clever younger brother, Budrudeen, a very fit person to govern that part of Borneo of which he is rajah.

During my absence, Sarawak had been visited by H.M.S. Samarang, Captain Sir Edward Belcher, who had received directions to call on and communicate with Mr. Brooke. In dropping down the river the Samarang grounded on a long shelf of rocks, at the top of high water, and with the ebb-tide rolled over, filling with the succeeding flood. She was nearly a fortnight in this position, but was ultimately saved by the skill and almost unparalleled perseverance (aided by such a.s.sistance of men and spars as Mr. Brooke could afford) of her captain, officers, and crew--a feat that must have given the natives a good idea of what British seamen are capable of. This accident delayed for a short time a visit that was afterward made by Sir Edward Belcher, accompanied by Mr. Brooke, to Borneo Proper. A hurried inspection of the capabilities of that part of the coast took place; and the fact of there being coal on the island was ascertained.

I received a second letter from Muda Ha.s.sim, of which the following is a translation:

"This comes from Pangeran Muda Ha.s.sim, Rajah of Borneo, to our friend Captain Keppel, in command of her Britannic Majesty's s.h.i.+p.

(After the usual compliments):

"We beg to let our friend Captain Keppel know, that the pirates of Sakarran, whom we mentioned last year, still continue their piracies by sea and land; and that many Malays, under Seriff Sahib, who have been accustomed to send or to accompany the pirates and to share in their spoils, have gone to the Sakarran river, with a resolve of defending themselves rather than accede to our wishes that they should abandon piracy.

"Last year Captain Belcher told the sultan and myself, that it would be pleasing to the Queen of England that we should repress piracy; and we signed an agreement, at his request, in which we promised to do so; and we tell our friend of the piracies and evil actions of the Sakarran people, who have, for many years past, done much mischief to trade, and make it dangerous for boats to sail along the coast; and this year many prahus, which wanted to sail to Singapore, have been afraid. We inform our friend Captain Keppel of this, as we desire to end all the piracy, and to perform our agreement with the Queen of England."

_Monday, 5th August, 1844_, being the morning fixed for the departure of our expedition against the Sakarran pirates, the Phlegethon steamer weighed at 8 o'clock, and proceeded down the river to await at the mouth the collection of our force. Among those who accompanied us from Sarawak was the Pangeran Budrudeen, the intelligent brother of the rajah already noticed. This was a great and unusual event in the royal family; and the departure from the rajah's wharf, which I viewed from Mr. Brooke's house, on the opposite bank of the river, was intended to be very imposing. The barge of state was decked out with banners and canopies; all the chiefs attended, with the Arab priest Mudlana at their head, and the barge pushed off amid the firing of cannon, and a general screech, invoking the blessing of Mahomet.

Having seen the last boat off, Mr. Brooke and myself took our departure in the gig, when another and last farewell salute was fired from the rajah's wharf.

Three hours brought us to the steamer, anch.o.r.ed off the fis.h.i.+ng huts at the mouth of the river. Here we heard that a small boat from the enemy's country had, under the pretence of trading, just been in to spy into our force, but decamped again on the appearance of the steamer. We now all got fairly away together, the smaller boats keeping near the shoals in sh.o.r.e, while the steamer was obliged to make an offing some miles from the coast. From the masthead we distinctly made out the small boat that had left the mouth of the river before, both pulling and sailing in the direction of the Batang Lupar, up which the Sakarran country lies; and as it was desirable that the pirates should not get information of our approach, at dusk, being well in advance, and our auxiliary force following, I dispatched Mr. Brooke's Singapore sampan and one of the Dido's cutters in chase. At half-past nine we anch.o.r.ed in the stream within the entrance.

We were fortunate at Sarawak in picking up two excellent and intelligent pilots, who had long known the whole river, and had themselves been several times forced to serve in the boats while on their piratical excursions.

_Tuesday 6th._--With the flood-tide arrived all the well appointed and imposing little fleet, and with them the cutter and sampan with two out of the three men belonging to the boat of which they had been in chase; the third having been speared by Seboo, on showing a strong inclination to run a-muck in his own boat, _i. e._ to sell his life as dearly as he could. From these men we obtained information that Seriff Sahib was fully prepared for defence--that his harem had been removed--and that he would fight to the last. We also learned that Macota, better known among us by the name of the "Serpent," and often mentioned in Mr. Brooke's journal, was the princ.i.p.al adviser, in whose house the councils of war were generally held.

We anch.o.r.ed, in the afternoon, off the mouth of the river Linga; and while there we dispatched a messenger to Seriff Jaffer to caution him against giving any countenance or support to either of the Seriffs Sahib and Muller, on whose punishment and destruction we were determined.

The Batang Lupar, as far as this, is a magnificent river, from three to four miles wide, and, in most parts, from five to seven fathoms water.

_Wednesday, 7th._--We weighed at daylight, but were obliged to anchor again before appearing in sight of Patusen, until the tide should rise sufficiently to enable us to pa.s.s a long flat shoal, over which, during the spring-tides, a bore rushes with frightful velocity.

We now collected our boats, and made our arrangements as well as we could, for attacking a place we had not yet seen. We had now a little more difficulty in keeping our native force back, as many of those who had accompanied the expedition last year had gained so much confidence that the desire of plunder exceeded the feeling of fear.