SAEAWAK, PAST AND PEESENT. 339 



houses, rounded a little promontory and came in sight of the snow- 

 white walls and battlemented tower of the new prison. We passed 

 the point, the clean white " go-down " (business house) of the 

 Borneo Company, and next to it the long sheds in which the racing- 

 boats are housed from one New Year's Day to the next. "Wherever 

 un Englishman goes he takes with him all his national institutions, 

 and from Nova Zembla to New Zealand, wherever two or three 

 Enghshmen are gathered together, there will they have their an- 

 nual races and regatta ; their club, theatricals, and athletic sports ; 

 their Times, Punch, and Bass' pale ale. Forty-six hoiu-s from our 

 starting finds us at Sarawak, here known ouly as Kuching — the 

 Malay for " Cat " — sixteen miles from the sea and four hundred 

 and twenty miles from Singapore. 



After the Borneo Company's " go-dovs-n " came the Chinese 

 bazaar, a long regular row of two-story Chinese shops built solidly 

 together, designed and executed in the most substantial style of 

 Chinese architectui'e. On the opposite side of the river, which is 

 here about one hundred and fifty yards wide, is the new fort perched 

 upon a hilltop, a substantial brick stnicture, rather better calculated 

 to withstand an attack than the flimsy wooden stockade which the 

 Chinese assaulted and carried so easily duiing their insuiTection 

 in 1857. 



Just above the fort, at the top of a, grassy slope which sweeps 

 up from the riverside and overlooks the town, is the Astana, the 

 residence of His Highness the Rajah, the palace, in fact. It is really 

 three complete houses such as Em-opeans build in the Straits Set- 

 tlements, diffeiing from the regular Indian bungalow in being 

 much higher and possessing two stories instead of one. The base- 

 ment floor contains the dining-room, billiard and store rooms, 

 while the more spacious upper floor, being well above the mala- 

 rious dampness of the eai-th, contains the drawing-room, library 

 and sleeping apartments. Along the entii-e front of the main 

 building runs a cool and roomy verandah, furnished with tables, 

 easy chairs, and newspapers. Long strips of striped black and 

 white matting hang between the pillars which support the roof, 

 and, when let down at full length, they form for the verandah a 

 continuous ventilated screen to protect the interior from the dash- 

 ing of rain, the glare of the sun and the inquisitive gaze of the 

 passers-by. 



An ancient-looking square tower with battlements foi-ms the 

 entrance to the Astana, which, together with the coat of arms over 



