GAMBLING AND OPIUM SMOKING. 131 



Captain the Honourable Henry Keppel, who has pre- 

 viously so much distinguished himself in those seas, is 

 intended to act particularly against the people of 

 Soolu and Magindanau, though from the nature of 

 their strong-holds, their numbers, and the confidence 

 they have from having hitherto defeated all the expe- 

 ditions sent against them by the Spaniards, a large 

 additional force will be necessary to insure success. 



The natives of the coast of Borneo are not addicted to 

 the vice of gambling, which amongst the natives of 

 Celebes and the Malays of the peninsula and Sumatra, 

 is carried to so great an excess ; it is, however, much 

 practised in the two capitals of Bruni and Sambas, 

 together with opium smoking and other kinds of 

 debauchery. In the town of Sarawak, gambling, except 

 to a trifling extent by the Chinese and other foreigners, 

 is unknown ; the natives of Sarawak, or those of other 

 coast towns which have settled there, never being 

 known to indulge in either of the above-named vices. 

 Cock-fighting is not practised, except amongst the 

 debauched nobles and their followers in the capital 

 towns, and thefts and robberies are always traced to 

 the natives of Sambas and Borneo. During a residence 

 of upwards of two years in Sarawak, no native of the 

 town was ever convicted of either gaming, using 

 opium, or stealing ; and were it not for the strangers 

 and traders from other towns, the magistrate of Sara- 

 wak would, perhaps, not have to adjudicate on half-a- 

 dozen cases in a year. 



The government of Sarawak is carried on, in the 



K2 



