20 THROUGH CENTRAL BORNEO 



tives, drew him back again. After resigning his com- 

 mission in the army of the British East India Company, 

 he built his own yacht of 140 tons, practised his crew in 

 the Mediterranean and then set sail for the Malay Archi- 

 pelago. In his Proposed Exploring Expedition to the 

 Asiatic Archipelago^ 1838, are found these stirring words 

 which strike a responsive chord in the heart of every true 

 explorer: 



"Imagination whispers to ambition that there are yet lands un- 

 known which mipht be discovered. Tell me, would not a man's 

 life be well spent — tell mc, would it not be well sacrificed in an 

 endeavour to explore these regions .? When I think of dangers and 

 death I think of them only because they would remove me from such 

 a field for ambition, for energy, and for knowledge." * 



Mr, Brooke arrived at Sarawak where he remained 

 some time, surveying the coast and studying the people. 

 In those days Malay pirates rendered the country danger- 

 ous to approach and several ships had been lost and 

 their crews murdered. One of the chronic rebellions 

 against the Sultan of Brunei was raging at the time, 

 and Mr. Brooke was asked to suppress it, was made 

 Raja, and defeated the rebels, cleared the river of pirates 

 and established order. 



Though Mohammedan laws were maintained in Sara- 

 wak, the worst abuses were purged out, as for instance, 

 the death penalty for conjugal infidelity, and the suffi- 

 ciency of a fine in extenuation of a murder. As for the 

 Dayaks who formerly were cheated by Malay traders and 

 robbed by Malay chiefs, they were permitted to enjoy 

 absolute safety. Both Raja Brooke and his nephew, who 



• The Expedition to Borneo of II. M. S. "Dido" for the Suppression of 

 Piracy, by Captain H. Kcppcl, p. 374. Harper's, New York, 1846. 



