IN BORNEAN FORESTS [chap. 



import for that purpose brass-wire, gongs, earthenware, and common 

 sorts of cotton cloth. 



The main sources of revenue are the farming of opium, gaming- 

 houses, sale of spirits, and pawn-shops ; which together yielded 

 $282,535 during the financial year 1900. 



Direct taxation in Sarawak is very slight. There is a family 

 tax for Dyaks and Kayans, which was estimated for 1901 at $39,000. 

 In Kuching there is a house-tax of 5 per cent, on the rent, when 

 it is over $20 per annum. Revenue is also derived from the 

 sale of licences, registration, plantation concessions and many other 

 minor sources. 



The Government of Sarawak is absolute, in the hands of H.H. 

 Sir Charles Brooke, aided by a Council of six members, viz. two 

 high European officials, and four Malays, elected by the native 

 notabilities. Besides this Supreme Council, there is a General 

 Council of fifty members, contributed by the principal Europeans 

 and native representatives from the various districts. The General 

 Council meets rarely, being only convoked on very special occasions. 

 Justice is administered on the basis of English law, somewhat 

 modified to adapt itself to native and Mohammedan traditions. 



The military forces of the Rajah consist of a body of 300 men, 

 the " Sarawak Rangers," principally composed of Dyaks, and of 

 about 100 constabulary. However, internal security is mostly 

 based in Sarawak on the diversity of races forming the population, 

 and on the possibility of profiting, should occasion require it, 

 by the bellicose instincts of the large masses of Dyaks. 



Sarawak is a free and independent State in the true sense of the 

 words, although a portion of its territory has passed under the 

 dominion of the Brookes by a pecuniary agreement with the Sultan 

 of Bruni. The independence of Sarawak and the legitimacy of 

 the sovereignty of H.H. Sir Charles Brooke and his descendants 

 has been sanctioned and guaranteed against the danger of any 

 possible foreign interference, by a Convention concluded with the 

 British Government in 1888, in which Great Britain accepted and 

 assumed the suzerainty without the right of interfering in the 

 internal administration of the State, the Rajah of Sarawak binding 

 himself to consult the British Government in case of any difficulty 

 arising between his State and a Foreign Power. 



The Rajah considers himself the father of his people, who have 

 all his thought and care, and he does his utmost to lead his subjects 

 along the road of progress and civilisation, though without sudden 

 or violent changes, to which he is absolutely opposed on principle. 

 He has no wish that the country he rules should be taken advantage 

 of by unscrupulous speculators of European nationalities for their 

 own special benefit alone. He leases land on advantageous condi- 

 tions to all persons who desire to cultivate it, and he is not opposed 



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