BRITISH BORNEO. Al 
On another occasion, some Brunai thieves skilfully dis- 
mounted and carried off two brass signal guns from the poop 
of a merchant steamer at anchor in the river, eluding the 
vigilance of the quarter-master, while the skipper and some 
of the officers were asleep on the skylight close by. The 
guns were subsequently recovered. 
Execution is either by means of the bow string or the rvs. 
I had once the unpleasant duty of having to witness the 
execution by the bow string of a man named MAIDIN, as it 
was feared that, being the son of a favourite officer of the 
Sultan, the execution might be a sham one. This man, with 
others, had raided a small settlement of Chinese traders from 
Labuan on the Borneo coast, killing several of the shop-keep- 
ers and looting the settlement. So weak was the central 
government, and so little importance did they attach to the 
murder of a few Chinese, that, notwithstanding the efforts of 
the British Consul, MAIDIN remained at liberty for nearly two 
years after the commission of the crime. 
The execution took place at night. The murderer was 
bound, with his hands behind his back, in a large canoe, and 
a noose of rope was placed round his neck. ‘Two men stood 
behind him; a short stick was inserted in the noose and 
twisted round and round by the two executioners, thereby 
causing the rope to compress the windpipe. MAIDIN’S strug- 
gles were soon over. 
In the case of common people the £7zs is used, the execu- 
tioner standing behind the criminal and pressing the £rzs 
downwards, through the shoulder, into the heart. This mode 
of execution has been retained by the European rulers of 
Sarawak. In British North Borneo the English mode by 
hanging has been adopted. 
Formerly, when ancient customs were more strictly observ- 
ed, any person using insulting expressions in talking of mem- 
bers of the Royal family was punished by having his tongue 
slit, and I was once shewn by the Temenggong, in whose 
official keeping it was, the somewhat cumbrous pair of scissors 
wherewith this punishment was inflicted, but I have never 
heard of its having been used during the last twenty years, 
