CHAPTER XXII 



GOVERNMENT 



In an earlier chapter we have sketched the history 

 of government in Borneo from the earliest times of 

 which any record remains, up to the time at which 

 the whole island was brought under European 

 control. In this chapter we propose to describe the 

 way in which the European governments have 

 extended their spheres of influence and have secured 

 the co-operation of the natives in the maintenance 

 of peace and order and freedom. 



For some years after Mr. James Brooke became 

 Rajah of Sarawak (1841), his rule was confined to 

 the territory then known as Sarawak. This area, 

 still known as Sarawak proper, is some 7000 

 square miles in extent and comprises the basins of 

 the following rivers : the Sarawak, the Samarahan, 

 the Sadong, and the Lundu. The Batang Lupar 

 and Saribas rivers, which enter the sea to the north 

 of this area, were infested by pirate bands under the 

 leadership of Malay Serifs who, though they 

 professed allegiance to the Sultan of Bruni, were 

 but little controlled by him. The depredations of 

 these unruly neighbours led Sir James Brooke to 

 undertake several expeditions against them. In 

 the year 1849, Captain Sir Harry Keppel of H.M.S. 

 Dido lent his aid (not for the first time), and the 

 combined forces finally swept out those hornets' 

 nests and put an end to piracy in those regions. 

 With the approval of the Sultan of Bruni, Rajah 



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