158 REACII SARAWAK. [1846. 



from her Commander, of the attempt to entrap him in 

 March last, at Moarra, immediately after the massacre of 

 the Rajah Muda Hassim and his brothers. This man 

 was not ignorant of that affair, and upon being questioned 

 why the Sultan had acted in such a manner, merely 

 shrugged his shoulders and observed "that was the 

 Sultan's affair; poor people never troubled themselves 

 about such matters." Not having any authentic infor- 

 mation relative to this affair, and perfectly satisfied that 

 no good could result from my visit to the city, I deter- 

 mined on moving forward to Sarawak, where I should be 

 able to obtain complete information from Mr. Brooke. 



On the 30th, having reached the Moratabas entrance 

 of the river, the ' Samarang ' was moored off Tanjong Po, 

 and instructions left for perfecting the exterior lines of 

 soundings. Quitting the ship, with the barge and gig, 

 I moved on with the remaining flood-tide, reaching the 

 inner entrance shortly after dark. Here we met with 

 several prahus at anchor, who did not at first like our 

 visit, but upon our inquiring for Mr. Brooke became 

 more at ease, and informed us, that he had lately quitted 

 in the Kapal Api (steamer, literally, fire ship) for the 

 Siriki river. As the ebb tide had made, we remained at 

 anchor until dawn, when we pushed on with the flood, 

 and reached Kuching about 7 o'clock, where we were 

 welcomed by our old acquaintance Mr. Roepell, who 

 confirmed the report of Mr. Brooke's absence, but ex- 

 pected him to return in seven days. I here found a note 

 from Mr. Brooke, most kindly desiring me to take pos- 

 session of his house, and hoping to return in time to 

 meet me. 



