34 SARAWAK RIVER. [1843 



station, it was considered advisable to make a further 

 examination of its capabilities.* 



The river Sarawak is safely navigable up to the ridge 

 of rocks which occasioned the unfortunate accident to the 

 ' Samarang,' to be described in the succeeding chapter. 

 All dangers may be avoided by the aid of beacons or 

 pilots, and care should be taken not to pass them until the 

 proper times of tide, certainly not at dead water or change 

 of tide to ebb, as the rapidity of the ebb produces many 

 eddies and causes a vessel to veer so much that she be- 

 comes unmanageable. The banks of this river do not 

 afford any firm landing, or spots eligible for cultivation, 

 until within the neighbourhood of Kuching ; above this 

 town, the banks are level, in many places cleared, and 

 apparently of a rich diluvial granitic soil. The Chinese 

 possess excellent gardens, where the sugar cane and 

 common vegetables appear to thrive. The climate is 

 particularly healthy, and no greater proof of this can be 



* At the moment of going to press with the observations above 

 recorded, intelligence has reached England that the Island of Labuan is 

 ceded to the British authorities for a naval and military station. 



The following is from a letter dated " Labuan, East coast of Borneo, 

 December 25th, 1846 : 



" We are now at the Island of Labuan, which was taken possession 

 of yesterday by Captain Mundy, of the l Iris,' in Her Majesty's name. 

 There is to be a grand expedition against the pirates next April, and 

 we may be detained on the station till May. The treaty ceding the 

 Island of Labuan was signed and sealed by the Sultan. I have no 

 doubt that there will be a flourishing trade here in a few years ; there 

 is a brig laden with long cloths in the harbour, so that the merchants 

 of Singapore have their eyes here already. If the piracy could be sup- 

 pressed, a large market would be opened." 



