THE INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO.

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palace, the red silk canopy being carried over the head of the captain
as a mark of honour. The sultan, a corpulent but fine-looking man,

PROCESSION OF THE SULTAN OF GONONG TABOR.

received us very courteously. He informed the captain that all the
white people belonging to the Premier had been ransomed by the Dutch,
whose trading vessels were in the habit of visiting Gonong Tabor.
The captain of the Premier had refused to acknowledge the Lascars
as British subjects, and, in consequence, the poor fellows had been
retained as slaves. They were not, however, at Gonong Tabor, but at
Baloongan, a town of some importance up a neighbouring river. He
added, that four of the Lascars had fallen victims to the climate, and
that there were twelve still remaining at the above-mentioned town.

BORNEO AND

It appeared that, from some misunderstanding between the sultans of Gonong Tabor and Gonong Satang relative to the disposal of the English prisoners, they had come to blows, and were at this time at open warfare, the two towns being within gunshot of each other. Gonong Satang was built on a hill on the opposite side of the river, and was strongly stockaded as well as Gonong Tabor.

The sultan expressed his desire to enter into an amicable treaty with the English, and offered our captain his assistance in procuring the release of the Lascars at Baloongan. This offer was accepted, and, when we left, a prahu accompanied us to that town.

In the course of the evening the sultan's prime minister and suite visited the barge, which was moored within a few yards of the landing-place. We surprised them very much with our quick firing, but their astonishment was unbounded at the firing of a congreve rocket, which they perceived carried destruction to every thing in its flight. The grand vizier was in ecstasies, and begged very hard that the captain would go up to Gonong Satang, and just fire one or two at their adversaries in that town. This, of course, was refused.

We here fell in with a most remarkable tribe of Dyaks: they wore immense rings in their ears, made of tin or copper, the weight of which elongated the ear to a most extraordinary extent. On their heads they wore a mass of feathers of the Argus pheasant. They wore on their shoulders skins of the leopard and wild cat, and necklaces of beads and teeth. They were armed with the usual parang, blowpipe, and shield. They were a much larger race of men than the Dyaks of the north coast, but not so well favoured. We remained here five days, and on the 1st of January, 1845, went down the river to the ship, accompanied by the prahu which was to be our guide to Baloongan. The following day we sailed for Baloongan, and on the 3rd we anchored off the bank where the Premier was cast away. Her

Yale Center for British Art, 2016