194 TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



The story of the young Englishman, James Brooke, who became 

 Eajah of Sarawak, reads like the most exciting romance. Under his 

 wise but firm rule, and that of his nephew and successor, the present 

 Eajah, Sir Charles Brooke, who was closely associated with his uncle in 

 the stirring events which accompanied the pacification of the country, 

 a territory as large as England has been redeemed from absolute an- 

 archy and has become a peaceful and prosperous community. For- 

 merly a nest of pirates and head-hunters, where no man's life or property 

 was safe, Sarawak is now a contented and thriving countr}^ where the 

 rights of the humblest native are scrupulously safeguarded. 



In this remote island these two Englishmen have ruled as absolute 

 monarchs over a mixed population of Malays, Chinese, Dayaks and vari- 

 ous other savage tribes, who all now recognize their indebtedness to the 

 men who have freed them from the intolerable oppression of the native 

 rulers and the constant incursions of the fierce pirates who formerly 

 infested the whole coast of Borneo. 



The present Rajah has carried out zealously the policy of his prede- 

 cessor. This policy has aimed at developing the country primarily for 

 the benefit of the natives, rather than to throw it open to exploitation by 

 foreigners. At the present time the Europeans, mostly English, num- 

 ber but a few hundred in a territory as large as England, and these are 

 nearly all government officials. This country retains its original con- 

 ditions to a greater degree perhaps than any other Eastern settlement, 

 and the life of the people must be much as it always has been. Al- 

 though Sarawak has no railways or telegraphs, nor various other " im- 

 provements," the traveler will find life not only quite tolerable, but in- 

 deed quite delightful and intensely interesting. 



Every week an excellent steamer sails from Singapore for Kuching, 

 the capital of Sarawak, and two days on the shallow China Sea brings 

 the traveler to the Sarawak Eiver on which Kuching lies. The scenery 

 along the coast is very fine, bold mountains coming dov^n to the sea and 

 forming magnificent rugged headlands. The mouth of the Sarawak 

 Eiver — or rather the delta — is guarded on either side by a fine moun- 

 tain some three thousand feet high. Of these two mountains, Mt. 

 Santubong is especially imposing, rising abruptly from the sea, its 

 flanks clothed with primeval forest, the tall trunks sometimes rising a 

 hundred feet without a branch. 



Like most tropical tidal streams, the Sarawak Eiver has developed 

 an extensive delta. The low muddy shores are covered with dense man- 

 grove swamps whose exposed mud flats are the haunts of crocodiles and 

 many other less formidable creatures. Among the latter are myriads of 

 curious mud fish which run about in the mud like lizards, or even climb 

 up the roots of the mangroves. These odd creatures with their big 

 heads and goggle eyes are among the queerest of the fish tribe. Bright 



