The Ogden standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1902-1910, 1909-07-14
RAVAGES OF MALAY PIRATES.

olnSdpOTe is aS1tdlSS JS Il lale OF
piracy. one of the old sort. legendary
now Some few weeks ago a Chinese
junk was boarded near Johore-that
is. within sight of the island, II not
OF the city-and seven men were
killed, besides the captain. spared for
torture until ne surrendered his val
uables Police. bluejacketS and vol
unteers are searching for the mlscre-
ants. Perhaps there is no case on rec
ord so outrageous within such a
trifing distance from the men-of-war
in Singapore roads: but elsewhere in
those seas 1T would not have been so
remarkable less than fifty years ago.
writes Frederick Boyle in tne Pail
Mall Gazette Malay pirates" are SO
closely identified with fiction of the
boys adventure class that skeptics
have doubted their existence In plain
fact But the widest romancer would
not dare to describe them as they
actually were in their great day.
About 1850 Rajah Brooke put the
number OF those who swept the coasts
or Borneo alone. going and returning
With the monsoons, at 5000. When
consult at Brunl, somewhat later, St
John estimated the population which
lived. as one may say by piracy. at
co 600. And If "caSuals" had been in
cluded. with their women and child
rem, IL would have been vastly larger
The judicious reader instantly re-
plies that trade must have come to
an end promptly under this infllction.
But the ruGfians did not depend upon
plunder 1t was welcome. but they
sought slaves-and blood. IneXplicable
as Il seems 10 us. tne parompaks, al
though mostly Mohammedans, regard
ed their employment as a calling or
profession to which they were born.
With no thought of wrongdoing, ap-
parently, they murdered harmless fish
ermen. sailors or peasants dwelling on
the shore, II too old or feeble TO be
worth transport and tortured those
whom they carried of. Among the
most dreaded pirates, also, were the
SeribaS and Sakarran Dyaks. Rajah
Brooke's future subjects. wko wanted
heads and nothing more, all plunder
they surrendered TO the Malay chief
who provided the Draus and narigated
them. But these were a local ScourCe.
It is not very surprising TO learn
lndN Aut mpl OF nlhldN lNto n'li hol
Malays at all: that unfortunate race
bears a good many imputations which
II does not deserve The Lanuns. or
Illanuns, dwelt originally in Mlnda-
mao. a great island of the Philippines.
where Dampler found them peaceable
enough. working gold They were not
seafarlng people then. though tho
chiefs had their gorgeous barges. The
Balinini came from Sulu, in fact, that
was a piratical name for the islanders.
otherwise called Sulus. Perhaps II
was they who started the abominablc
practice. for the Spaniards were pro-
voked into sending an expedition
against them as early as 1888. II
failed, as did many another, "and from
that time" SAYS the old historian. Zu
niga. 1T Is incredible what number
OF Indians tFilipinoS) have been made
prisoners, what villages have been de-
stroyed and what vessels nave been
captured" But the Spaniards sue
ceedcd at length In making Mindanao
too hot to hold the Lanun freeboot-
ers. who dispersed. forming settle
ments up and down the China sea.
each OF which became a center OF
piracy
One can understand that this way
of life fosters courage and enterprise
as well as seamanship. The daring
Of these two peoples especially was
superb In their praus of t1fty to a
hundred tons burden they started ev
cry year with the monsoon for cruise
of six or twelve or even eighteen
months. Nothing daunted them until
the treacherous European invented
steam