118 DYAK SLAVES IN BORNEO. 



by the village at which he is staying, he contrives to 

 live easily and idly. 



Another means of livelihood to which those of the 

 poorer classes have often recourse at least such of 

 them as are not averse to a little exertion is the 

 never-failing gold mines. As no tax is put upon the 

 produce, and no restrictions are laid upon the work- 

 ing of them, the extravagant, the dissipated, and the 

 gambler, always supply their exhausted funds, so that 

 Malayan labour, such as European settlers would re- 

 quire, would never be available, and it would, in the 

 event of large settlements being made, be necessary to 

 introduce the Malabar or Chinese labour, similar to 

 that employed by the proprietors of the Pinang and 

 Singapore estates. 



Slavery in the east has always been of a more mild 

 and gentle character than that which in the west has 

 so disgusted the intelligent nations of Europe. The 

 slaves (ulun-ulun) in Borneo are generally Dyaks and 

 their descendants who have been captured by the 

 rulers of the country for the purposes of slavery, and 

 swelling the number of their immediate dependants. 

 During the misgovernment of the western provinces 

 of the kingdom of Bruni by the Arabs, Sereib Saib, 

 and his brother, Sereib Muller, and their relations, it 

 was no uncommon thing for these tyrannical chiefs, 

 heretofore, and in Sadong after Mr. Brooke's arrival, 

 to send up parties to the Dyaks to bring down all the 

 young girls and boys they could catch. I have been 

 told by Dyaks, and by dependants on the sereib, that 



