The Express.
London, England, 1847-12-24 00:00:00

the matter, the principal among thein replied. "If this 'Xi-
millet be pardoned, the practice of head-huntiag, which has
now happily fallen into disuse, will revive throughout Sara-
wak, and the second suppression of it will be far more diffi-
mdt than the first," This speech put an end to the rajah's
hesitation, the sentence of the law was carried into execution,
Mid the worst feature of Dyak barbarism may be said to have
been finally extinguished in Sarawak on that day.
The termination of this extraordinary affair may poesibly
excite in the reader's mind a desire to know something of
the manner in which Mr. Brooke lives among his wild sub-
jects. Ile usually rises moderately early, crosses from kis
private residence to the opposite bank et the river, where
ke holds what in India would be denominated his Barber,
receives deputations, hears and determines causes, and is
accessible to ever man, high and low, throughout the whole
extent of his territories. The hail of audience at Sarawak
is lofty and spacious, and Its appearance, when thronged in
the morning, i., highly characteriKie and picturesque. In one
part of it Mr. Besides is en3aged perhaps in conducting •
trial for life and death, surrounded by the impetuous natives
with their swarthy countenances and flashing eyes, habited
in almost theatrical costumes, and armed every one of them
with a formidable kris or dagger. Even criminals of rank
are suffered to wear these weapons till sentence of death has
been pronounced, when they quietly deliver them up, and
suffer themselves to be led to the place appointed for their
execution, where, in the presence of their friends and rela-
tives, and all other, who take any interest, they are des-
patched by a single blow of the krts : when affairs of less
moment are transactiag, the native,, separated into groups,
disperse themselves through the apartment, and discuss
public or private affairs, according to their taste. People,
mesnwhile, are entering and quitting the hall, some with
merry faces because their wishes have been complied with,
others, perhaps, looking sullen or dejected because they have
encountered disappointment.
Into all the peculiarities of Mr. Brooke's position it would,
in this pace, be impossible to enter. For some years he
stood exposed to the most imminent peril,as well from the ill-
regulated passions of his Malay and Dyak subjects, as from
the ferocity and cupidity of piratical hordes, who subsist on
the plunder of trade and the kidnapping of prisoner:. lie
could, in fact, be said t have no safety at all, till the policy
of the British government granted him, under certain limi-
tations, the protection of thesquadron ‘tationed in the China
seas. Until then, he had to rely entirely on hie own courage
and intellectual resources. Yet, under these disadvantages, he
succeeded in implanting the first seeds of civilisation among
the Dyens, taught them some of the most obvious benefits
of order and subordination, and, by the mildness of his sway,
caused himself to he beloved, though in many respects exer-
cising despotic authority. Of course, hi, great aim has been
to concentrate in his territory an industrious population, to
give an impetus to agriculture, to invest commerce with re-
spect, and to excite in the Dyaks those wants which consti-
tute the first impulse to all human improvement. The rude
g t the value of intercommunication,
gea.vPelb heeany bneletetilttoauhconstruct bridges, and lay dawn primi-
tive roads fdr their own sae, which they do by felling trees,
and forming with them a pathway through the jungle, or
over swamps and morasses, and to clear fresh farms for the
planting of corn, cotton, or other useful products. One of
the most profitable occupations to which the Dyaks have
been induced to apply themselves by Mr. Brooke, is the
planting of cocoa-tree groves, which has recently afforded
employment to great numbers of that active and docile race.
The jungle is cut down or burned, the lend cleared and pre-
pared, and the young plants, furnished by the rajah, are laid
skilfully in the soil ; then, with a power of vegetation un-
known elsewhere, perhaps in the world, the young grove
shoots up, and in a short time will produce its owner the
most ample return..
Sarawak, the capital of the province, is springing rapidly
into importance; new houses are constantly erected, new
gardens and plantations laid out, while fresh accessions to
the population are made from the country. This fact may
very well serve to illustrate the force of the impression made
upon the native mind, but there remains another to be noticed
infinitely more remarkable. Whatever authority their white
rajah might have acquired over them, it was scarcely, judg-
ing from analogy, to be expected that, when he should have
himself departed, and delegated his authority to others, the
same obedience would still be paid to them. Yet, during
an absence of month., all has continued quiet at Sarawak,
the Dyaks have gone on cheerfully in their improvements,
planting, building, trading, ar.d carrying on all the multi-
plied offices of life, without the slightest interruption. One
striking proof of their confidence in their new ruler is de.
serving of particular notice. From time immern trial it had
been customary among the Dyaks of Sarawak to en et their
villages in the most inaccessib'e places, on the peaks of
conical hills, in the depths of forests, on the crests of ridges,
that they might thus, if possible, be safe from the sudden
attack of enemies. They are now gradually leaving these
fastnesses and building their dwellings in the open plain,
conceiving the power and authority of their rajah a better
protection than scarped cliffs or dense masses of jungle.