Baring-Gould Sabine
A History of Sarawak under Its Two White Rajahs 1839-1908
On board the little steamer were at the time eight Europeans, the stalwart Pangiran Matusin, a fighting haji, and fifteen natives. But though the pirates were far more numerous, and were all well armed, yet the steamer had the preponderating advantage of her screw, enabling her to ram each native vessel, cut her in half and send her to the bottom, so that there could not be doubt for a moment what would be the outcome of such a conflict.
The results of the fight were these: —
The prisoners, with the exception of the lads, were all executed. The lads were put to work on the gunboats, and became excellent and trustworthy sailors – one, who was the son of a Lanun of rank, subsequently commanded the present Rajah's former yacht the Aline. Some of the captives were Dutch subjects, and some were British subjects from Singapore. In the captured pirate prahu there were found five Dutch and one Spanish ensign.
Sailing along past the delta of the Rejang, when off the pretty little village of Palo, which was hidden from their view, the pirates had observed a long canoe laden with nipah palm leaves, with a man in the stern and a woman in the bows, paddling for dear life to escape. A light canoe manned by half-a-dozen men was at once despatched in chase, and quickly overhauled the poor couple, the man crying out that he surrendered, and the woman screaming with fear. It was a pretty example of the biter bit – a neatly contrived trap. Gliding alongside to secure their apparently helpless captives, without troubling to exchange paddles for weapons, to their amazement the pirates saw an upheaval of the leaves and several armed men spring up, together with the steersman and the disguised man in the bows. This startling development took the pirates so completely by surprise that they were all speared before they could seize their weapons. The Melanaus then quickly disappeared up a creek. Their leader was the late Atoh, a young man then, who afterwards became the Government chief of Palo. He is perhaps better known to the present generation as Haji Abdul Rahman.
The following translation of a paper written by a Nakoda Amzah, one of the rescued captives, and found amongst his papers after his death, gives a good account of the voyage of this fleet, and of its destruction. He was a Kampar (Sumatra) Malay, who lived in Sarawak since his rescue. He, his grandson, and another Malay were killed in the Rejang in 1880 by a head-hunting party of Dayaks. He was noted for his courage. He had been twice before captured by pirates. In this translation the word "pirate" is substituted for Bajau, Lanun, and Balanini, which the writer uses indiscriminately, and no doubt the crews of the piratical prahus were an admixture of these tribes.
Thursday, the 17th day of the month Sawal in the year of the Hejira 1278 (A.D. 1862). On this day Nakoda Amzah who was on a voyage to Samarang, with a crew of twelve men, was attacked off the mouth of the Jali by piratical prahus. These must have been eleven in all; they afterwards separated, six going along the coast of Borneo, and five coasting to Bangka. The attack was sudden, and they did their best to beat the pirates off, but after having fought them for about an hour, three of Nakoda Amzah's men were killed, and he himself was wounded in the head by a bullet. They then surrendered and were captured by the pirates; their own prahu was destroyed, and they were transferred to the pirates' prahus. The pirates then sailed to Pulo Kelam, where they hauled their prahus up a creek out of sight, there being a Dutch war vessel out of Benjarmasin on the look out for piratical prahus. This vessel steamed round the island without detecting them. They stayed here three days, and on the fourth launched their prahus and sailed northwards. The next day they again saw the steamer to the westward, so bore down to the island of Jempodi, where they stayed in hiding for six days. Sailing on, between Pakar and Kaiong the pirates captured a sampan with five men, and they also captured a woman. In two days more they reached the mouth of Katapang, and Kandang Krabu, where they made an unsuccessful raid; but they captured two men who were out fishing. Two days afterwards they arrived at and attacked Pulo Kumbang, but the people were away inland, so no captures were effected. The next day they made a descent on Sati point, and captured three Chinese and three Malays. They sailed on for two days more, and then tried at Mas Tiga, but did not succeed in capturing any one. Two days afterwards they fell in with a Dutch Government coastguard, commanded by one Rasip. They engaged the coastguard, but owing to a strong westerly wind were forced to leave her. After four days, between Karamata and Pulo Datu, they fell in with a Sambas prahu belonging to Haji Bakir, she proved to be from Belitong, loaded with dry fish, sago, etc. The pirates captured her and her crew of five men. The whole of the next day they were chased by a war steamer, but they escaped by keeping in shoal water, and by night falling. Five days afterwards, off Cape Baiong, they fell in with Nakoda Daud's prahu from Sambas, but did not molest her. Three days later they had passed Cape Datu, and brought up for two days in Serabang bay and read the Ruah Selamat.277 A three days' sail brought them to Cape Sirik, just before reaching which they fell in with two prahus which they attacked but were beaten off; they also chased a small boat but that escaped inshore. The next night at Bruit they killed two Melanaus, and captured two men and two women. Two nights after, off the mouth of Oya, they captured four Melanau women and two men. At Muka, which they reached next day, they captured four Chinese and two Melanaus, and the next night they brought up off Bintulu.278 The following day was a fatal day for the pirates, for in the morning a steamer (the Rainbow) came out of Bintulu accompanied by a pinnace (the Jolly Bachelor). There was a pirate prahu lying close in shore and upon her the steamer immediately fired; twice the steamer fired and then the prahu's crew ran her into shoal water, she was followed and attacked by the pinnace, and her crew then escaped ashore, but were all killed by men from Bintulu and Miri. The steamer then attacked another prahu – and after firing into her twice rammed and sank her. Her crew were all drowned, killed, or captured, and the captives, about twenty in number, escaped on board the steamer. A similar fate overtook a third prahu, all her crew perishing, and her captives, about twenty-five in number, were rescued by the steamer. The steamer then gave chase to the three prahus in the offing and overtook them. These three prahus were lashed together, but separated after being fired into. A short engagement ensued, which resulted in all three of the prahus being sunk, and their crews being killed or captured. Twenty-one captives were rescued from their prahus. And thus were the pirates destroyed off Bintulu by the Rajah of Sarawak's steamer the Rainbow.
Moreover it is estimated that the pirates lost forty men killed, and the steamer lost but one man killed and one wounded. And thus Nakoda Amzah and three of his men were rescued, and reached Kuching in safety. The remaining six were taken away in the other five prahus that sailed to Belitong and Bangka, and were probably taken by their captors to Sulu during the month of Haji.
Written in Kuching on Friday the 6th day of Dulkaidah, 1278 of the Hejira (A.D. 1862).
This was a lesson the pirates never forgot. From one of their prahus nineteen men escaped in a fast boat to carry the tale back with them, soon to spread to all the pirate haunts. Only once since, some seven years later, did the pirates venture down to the Sarawak coast, and then in no great force. They were attacked in Kedurong bay, and slain to a man by the Bintulu people led by their own chiefs. No more pirates were seen on the Sarawak coast afterwards.
The next year a squadron of steamers was sent from China to attack and root out all these pirates; but they came for no end except to sport their bunting, for nothing was effected. They could have had no intelligence officer with them with a knowledge of the positions of the piratical strongholds, and acquainted with the languages, habits, and appearance of the inhabitants of the northern coast of Borneo and the Sulu archipelago.
Though the pirates never troubled Sarawak again, they continued their operations in other parts for many years afterwards. As late as 1872, Dutch squadrons had to be sent out against them along the east coast of Borneo. And in 1874 piracy was so rife in the Sulu seas, and the Spanish gunboats so unable to suppress it, that the Governor-General of the Philippines issued an edict dooming the "Moorish marine" to destruction. The Spanish cruisers were to destroy all prahus proceeding from the Sulu islands or Tawi Tawi. Their crews were to be conveyed to Manila to labour on public works, and those found armed were to be punished by the Military Courts. It was hoped that these untameable and seafaring races would be thus compelled to live by agricultural pursuits alone. This merciless condemnation of peaceable traders and voyagers as well as the evil-doers naturally led to gross injustice, and to intense hatred of the Spaniards. Even those not bearing arms, engaged in peaceful pursuits, if apprehended, were doomed to compulsory labour; whereas those found armed, met with short shrift – and all were compelled to be armed for their own protection.
In 1879, the pirates of Tungku, a place near Sandakan, the last stronghold of the Balanini and Lanun pirates in northern Borneo, made several excursions along the coast capturing as many as 200 people. Then the place was destroyed by H.M.S. Kestrel. (It had been attacked before by the Cleopatra in 1851.) Shortly afterwards the British North Borneo Company established their government in North Borneo, and piracy virtually ceased along the coasts of Borneo.
CHAPTER X
THE KAYAN EXPEDITION
Early in 1863, the Rajah was again obliged to leave for Sarawak, owing to certain complications having arisen, due to the acts of his nephew, the Rajah Muda.
Into this matter it is not our intention to enter at length. It has already been dealt with fully in both Miss Jacob's and Sir Spencer St. John's biographies of the Rajah, and it is sufficient to say here that it was mainly the result of an inexplicable misconception of the policy being pursued by the Rajah in England.
The formal recognition of Sarawak was the sole proposal before the British Government. It is true the Rajah trusted that having once gained this England would not leave Sarawak to her fate in the event of the failure of his Government; but he wrote: "On every account of feeling of pride, of attachment to the people, I desire the Government to be continued." The negotiations had not extended to any overtures for a transfer, or proposals of protection. Recognition at this time was all important, not only to give a status to the Government, and confidence to the people, but to encourage the introduction of capital, without which the country could not advance.
It was against the mistaken idea of a transfer of the country to England that the Rajah Muda protested. Yet a short time before he himself had suggested such a transfer to Belgium, and, a few years previously that the country should be sold either to England or to the Borneo Company.
We may mention here that the negotiations with Belgium had fallen through the previous year. The reason is not difficult to discover, for the Rajah wrote: "I wrote to you about the Duke of Brabant and my talk with him. His views must change greatly before I entrust our people to his guardianship."
The Premier, Lord Palmerston, and the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Lord John Russell, with other influential members of both Houses, were now very favourably inclined towards the Rajah and Sarawak. Lord John Russell had pledged himself to lay the statement of facts as prepared by the Rajah before the Law Officers of the crown for their opinion, and should it be favourable to bring the question of recognition of Sarawak before the Cabinet.279 The Law Officers were called upon to decide whether Sarawak was independent of or feudatory to Bruni. The decision was favourable, for Lord John Russell subsequently wrote to the Rajah: "If your authority is undisputed, he (Lord Russell) is now ready at once to propose to the Cabinet the recognition of Sarawak as an independent State under your rule and Government."
Before his return to England the Rajah heard that recognition had been granted, though he was not officially notified of the fact until his arrival there. It was full and complete; and a Consul was appointed to Sarawak for whom an exequatur was asked of the Rajah.280 The Rajah's forethought, which we have already recorded, that "time brings changes, and may work on the British Government" was thus fully justified. The Duke of Newcastle, Lords Palmerston and John Russell, Sir G. Grey, the Honble. Sidney Herbert, and Mr. Gladstone had been members of the Cabinet that issued the Commission, as they were now members of the Cabinet that granted the long refused recognition.
The Tuan Muda had accompanied the Rajah from England. He had assumed the surname of Brooke by the desire of his uncle, and this had been decided upon before the defection of his brother had been known. The Rajah desired it because it was the name of the ruling family, and it would remove confusion and ambiguity, and place his nephew in a clearer position before the world. The Tuan Muda refused to take the title of Rajah Muda, or to be formally recognised as his uncle's heir, trusting that his brother might pave the way to reconciliation and to his reinstatement.281
Whilst the Rajah remained at Kuching to restore order, and to introduce proper systems into the various departments, the Tuan Muda returned to Sekrang, where he was received with many demonstrations of good feeling. The population turned out and towed and escorted his pinnace up the river, and salutes were fired wherever he passed. But they were not more glad to welcome him, than he was to see them. He then visited all the out-stations as far as Bintulu. Muka he found prosperous, and the people happy. He then returned to Sekrang to prepare for the expedition against the Kayans.
This powerful tribe has already been spoken of as living far inland on the head-waters of the Rejang. They were a continual trouble to the Dayaks who lived on that same river, but lower down, raiding their country, taking heads, and making captives, whom they tortured to death. Their country was not easily accessible, on account of the rapids in the river. The first rapids on the Rejang are about 170 miles from the mouth; these passed, the river is navigable for sixty miles, then ensue further rapids for about five miles, and then again it is navigable for fifty more. The upper rapids, called those of Makun, are the most serious and difficult to overcome, so serious, indeed, that the Kayans did not suppose it possible that an enemy could ascend above them.
But it was necessary to chastise and bring these troublesome neighbours into subjection. Before the Tuan Muda had left for England an ultimatum had been sent to Akam Nipa to deliver up the murderers of Steele and Fox. They had been committing great depredations on the lower Rejang, and Mr. Cruickshank, the Resident there, had appealed to the Government at Kuching to bridle them. Not only were the murderers of Messrs. Steele and Fox with them, but, as we have previously mentioned, they had lately descended and made a treacherous attack on the Katibas Dayaks, who had stood true to the Sarawak Government. Professing friendship, they had seized an occasion when most of the men of Katibas were absent, and had killed seventeen of the men who had remained at their homes, and a hundred women and children. Their captives they tortured in the most horrible manner, hacking them with knives and gouging out their eyes before putting them to death. And not only were the men thus treated, but also most of the women. They burnt fourteen long houses, or villages, and decamped.
Then they had engaged a man named Paring to lure some of the Dayaks into an ambush. Paring, a Kayan, had married a Dayak wife, and when he came to Katibas to visit his wife's relations he persuaded eighteen men to accompany him into the Kayan country to propose terms of peace, and when they demurred he made himself responsible for the safety of the whole party. Having thus overcome their fears he led them to a place where the Kayans, under their chief Oyong Hang,282 were lurking in waiting for them. Eleven were at once bound hand and foot, but seven managed to escape into the jungle, and after several days returned in a famished condition to Katibas. The eleven were conveyed up the river, and on their way were carried into every Kayan house to be tortured by the women. On arriving at Oyong Hang's abode, one of them named Boyong was singled out to be sacrificed so as to attend in the abode of spirits the soul of Oyong Hang's son, who had lately died. He was to be buried alive under a huge wooden pillar, the mausoleum of Oyong Hang's son, early on the following morning. However, during the night, Boyong and another effected their escape, ran into the jungle, and found their way to the foot of the first rapids after twenty days' wandering. They were then in such an exhausted condition that they found it impossible to proceed further on foot, accordingly they lashed themselves by rattans to a log in the river, drifted down stream, and were eventually picked up and rescued. All the remaining men were strangled by the Kayans. The scoundrel Paring, not thinking that his villainy had been disclosed, had the audacity to go among the Dayaks again, when he was seized and brought to Kanowit, where he was sentenced to death. But when in confinement, awaiting the approval of the sentence from Kuching, he effected his escape. The alarm was, however, at once given, and he was pursued into the jungle by the Dayaks and killed.
In an expedition such as was contemplated, the Rajah or his deputy was obliged to obtain the voluntary assistance of his subjects. He had no paid army, he did not even provision the host for the expedition.
On this occasion the Tuan Muda consulted some of the chiefs at Sekrang as to the feasibility of attacking the Kayans. The Dayaks were never unwilling to join in such an excursion, though the only inducement that could be held out was loot, and relief from further annoyance. But it was laid down by the Government that no woman or child was to be molested.
As the chiefs thought that the proposed attack might be made, arrangements were pressed forward, and on May 19, 1863, at sunset, two guns were fired as a preparatory signal for the start from Sekrang, and the Tuan Muda led the party that was to proceed thence down the Batang Lupar and coast to the mouth of the Rejang, picking up on the way contingents of volunteers. Mr. Watson was at Kabong (Kalaka) at the head of a detachment, and Mr. Stuart Johnson was waiting at Kanowit, along with Sergeant Lees in charge of guns, muskets, and ammunition.
At mid-day on the 20th, the expedition started from Sekrang, "My crew were mostly old followers and servants who had been with me for years. Our boat was in perfect order, well painted and decorated with flags; for nothing tells so much as pride instilled and esprit de corps encouraged in the minds of the people."283
On the 21st, Lingga was reached and Banting visited. The natives there, the Banting or Balau Dayaks, were not eager to join the expedition as they were behindhand in their farming operations; however, after some hesitation and delay, they followed. On the 23rd, Kabong was attained, the town at the mouth of the Kalaka river. Here were Malays, useful fighting men, but for all that they showed reluctance to unite in the expedition. This is easily explicable, as they were apprehensive of attacking tribes at such a distance, and whom they had been bred up to fear as the most powerful in Borneo. And the Malays, unlike the Sea-Dayaks, though braver, do not love fighting for the sake of fighting. They shirked, but they went.
On the 24th, at starting the contingent consisted of sixty boats, with an average of forty men in each, and pushed up the mouth of the Rejang to Serikei, and Mr. Watson had gone on with forty boats from Saribas. On the following day Sibu was reached, where lived the Banyoks. Tani had been their chief, the conspirator who had been sentenced to death by the Tuan Muda, as mentioned in a previous chapter. But now Tani's son, Buju,284 at the head of his fighting men, readily joined forces to those of the Tuan Muda. On the 29th at 2 A.M. by hard paddling, Kanowit was reached. "At daylight our force had congregated about the village and on each bank of the river, which was so broad that thousands of boats would not have made much show. After having coffee, I commenced work with Sergeant Lees in examining all the stores, arms, and ammunition. The heavy guns and shot had been already despatched by the Kanowit and Katibas boats, which were now two days' start ahead of us. I had arranged that the foot of the first rapids should be our rendezvous, and the enemy were reported to be six days distant above this point. It took the greater part of the day distributing arms, ammunition, and sundry other things to be carried by the force. Our Europeans of the party were Messrs. Watson, Cruickshank, my younger brother, Sergeant Lees, and Lucas (the Captain) of the Venus.
"26th.– The principal natives persuaded me to remain over to-day or I would have pushed on to lose no time in this fine weather. They require time to settle many little matters with which they are particular. Some made their wills, others sent letters to their nearest relatives, acquainting them with their last wishes, and all our boats needed much preparation. The one prepared for me, into which I had to shift all my things, was sixty-six feet long, shaped like a coffin and totally devoid of elegance and beauty. She consisted of a single tree hollowed out and round at the bottom, but raised a little at her extremities. When the hollowing out is done, a bow and a stern-piece are fastened with rattans; they have not a nail in them; two light planks are also tied on top and then they are complete. Some have much speed, and are capable of carrying from forty to seventy men with a month's provision on board. They are adapted for passing the rapids, are buoyant in the falls, and the crews are able to use a long sweeping stroke with the paddles, such as could not be managed in shorter boats.
"29th.– As the fort clock struck eight, a gun was fired as a signal for starting, and about eighty boats left together; others had been going on during the night, and many were still behind. The current ran strong against us, and we were forced to hug the bank.
"The banks above Kanowit are steep, and Kanowit itself may be said to be the first pretty spot in the Rejang river, but above it is much variety of scenery – windings of the river, hills and hillocks of every shape."
As they ascended, ruined habitations and deserted paddy-fields were passed, that had been ravaged by the Kayans; to put a term to their violence a fort had been erected at Ngmah, between Katibas and Kanowit. This was now dismantled by the Tuan Muda on his way up, and he took the men and guns along with him. Above the junction of the Katibas with the Rejang for over a hundred miles the country was uninhabited.
On the 31st, the Baleh river, the left hand branch of the Rejang, was passed. Here the character of the scenery changes, the sides become craggy, and the river rolls over masses of rock, and through veritable gorges, with a swift current.
On June the 1st, the foot of the first rapid was reached, where the rendezvous had been appointed. Here all those who had gone on before were assembled in thousands. "Groups of Dayaks in all directions – some lounging on rocks, or on the patches of white sand in the bight, others mending their boats which they had hauled up in the most favourable places. Many were squatting round fires and cooking. Bright colours of clothes, flags, and painted boats were interspersed among them."
A council was held that same afternoon, and further proceedings were discussed. A hundred chiefs were present, and the Tuan Muda spoke, arranging the order of the bala, and insisting that the lives of women and children must be spared, and that the chiefs should be held responsible for the conduct of their followers. He was followed by Balang, "an ugly little broad man, with the jowl of a hog," the chief of Katibas, whose house had been burnt by the Kayans, all his property carried off, and many of his relatives and people killed. "I have no wish to return," said he, "if this expedition is unsuccessful. They may cook my head if I can't cook theirs."285 The force then consisted of 300 boats carrying 12,000 men.
On the following day the ascent of the Pelagus rapids was begun. The boats were forced up by the men with poles in their hands, and were aided by others on the banks hauling with ropes; whilst others again, where the water was shallow, were immersed in it pulling and shoving.
"Men seemed like ducks in the water. Swimmers and divers all had their duties, and the amount of exertion of this kind which the natives will undergo is simply wonderful. They keep it up hour after hour in the coldest mountain stream, jumping on to and over places where an Englishman could not gain a foothold, as the rocks are slippery as glass, and many of the ridges are not over three inches wide, making one giddy to look at them."
After a while the first portion of the rapids was safely surmounted, and a basin of calmly flowing water was reached. But this was not far, it afforded a breathing space before the next difficult point was reached, a perpendicular fall of ten feet. Here was a portage; provisions, arms, and ammunition had to be carried by land, and the boats hauled over sixty feet of a steep rocky incline, covered with water when the river was full, but now left dry. In the process, however, a good many of the boats went to pieces, and the crews had to be partitioned among the others.
This was followed by another fall, that had to be surmounted in the same way. "This last was a terrible job, and at every foot gained, I thought my coffin would have gone in two, as she creaked piteously. But at last we gained the summit of the first rapids. Here we stopped, as the crews required rest, and the sun was piercingly hot." The whole length of this first rapid is four miles, and the breadth of the river six hundred yards. Not one third of the force had as yet surmounted it, and some were discouraged and made no attempt to do so.
Next day, the 3rd, the Tuan Muda's thirty-fourth birthday, the coffin was advancing up stream where the river was broken up by islets and running between them, like a mill race, followed by the boat containing Mr. Cruickshank and Mr. Stuart Johnson, when, in punting, it was driven against a submerged rock and at once began to fill. Seizing his gold watch and chain, the Tuan Muda sprang into the water and swam to the boat that followed and was taken in; but provisions, the Tuan Muda's sword, spyglass, rugs, etc., all new from England, were irretrievably lost, and the whole crew were boatless; for the coffin was whirled down the stream.
"4th.– We advanced again as usual, and after about an hour's hard pulling and many ropes, the stream became smooth and deep, and no more rocks were in sight. The reaches were long and straight, with a steady current of two and a half knots. The land was level without being swampy, and the soil appeared to be a rich yellow loam. What land for agriculture! and it extends for miles."
They were now on the fringe of the Kayan country, and they came on the remains of the house of the chief Akam Nipa, which he had deserted. The enemy had retired before the advancing force, and not one had as yet shown himself; though a small party, consisting of seven men, that had gone into the jungle hunting, three days before, thinking that the Kayans had all retreated, had incautiously lain down to sleep, when they were captured, tortured slowly to death on the spot, and then decapitated.
On the 6th, the Tekok rapids were encountered, and another abandoned Kayan village passed. The hills now began to show, and the river to flow over rocks and between bluffs. Had this spot been held by the enemy, it would have been most difficult to pass, but they had considered it best to retreat.
On the 7th, the abandoned village of the Sekapans286 was reached and committed to the flames. There, farming grounds with the jungle freshly cut were found on both sides of the river. The scenery was very beautiful, but there was very little cultivation. The bays are sometimes five hundred yards in width, giving the appearance of a landlocked lake rather than a running river. The height of the hills varies under a thousand feet. Many fruit trees were on the bank.
"We were pulling with all our sinews, having continued it since morning, when at 3 P.M. we descried a sampan manned by a crew dressed in various colours, steering for us. They brought news of the enemy being fortified in a house287 round the next point, and on the leading boats approaching they were fired into, and some were killed and others wounded. The enemy's house was already surrounded, they said, but every time our fellows advanced some were shot down.
"Our crew pulled on, and on rounding the point, the stockaded dwelling of the enemy hove in sight, situated on a low spit. We steered across, out of the enemy's range into the bay, where all the boats of the advance party had collected."
