166 CHARACTER OF BUDURUDDIN. [1846. 



knowing his worth. Quick, enterprising, and intelligent 

 to a degree, beyond any of his countrymen, he was not 

 only the favourite of the English, who happened to visit 

 Borneo, but he was a staunch supporter of our interests, 

 to which, indeed, I fear he has fallen a martyr. The loss 

 of two such staunch friends, as the Sultan Muda Hassim 

 and his half-brother, to the general interests of humanity, 

 as well as commerce, is much to be deplored. As an 

 inquiry into these matters will shortly take place, it is 

 to be hoped that something more authentic than the 

 report of Japper may be forthcoming from the Officers 

 employed on that service. At the moment of committing 

 this to the press Mr. Brooke has arrived in England, so 

 that, before he returns, we may, probably, be favoured 

 with some authentic details relative to these matters, as 

 well as his visit to Siriki, an important river, immediately 

 in the neighbourhood of his own territory of Sarawak. 



Having waited most anxiously for Mr. Brooke, until 

 the shortness of our provisions rendered further delay 

 hazardous, we gave up further hopes on the morning of 

 the 8th of May, directing our head for Singapore. On 

 the evening of the 9th, we fell in with Mr. Brooke's 

 schooner, 'Julia' off Tanjong Datu, having on board 

 Lieut. Elliot, of the Madras Engineers, the energetic 

 Superintendent of the Magnetic Observatory at Singa- 

 pore, who kindly paid me a visit during the calm which 

 prevailed. Lieut. Elliot was on his passage to pay Mr. 

 Brooke a visit, after which he purposed carrying out, at 

 his own cost, a series of Magnetic Observations in every 

 accessible part of Borneo. On the 10th we cleared the 

 Borneo shores. 



