BRITISH BORNEO. 27 
may be, an opium pipe; in addition to this they come from 
different provinces, between the inhabitants of which there 
has always been rivalry, and the languages of which are so 
entirely different that it is a usual thing to find Chinese of 
different provinces compelled to carry on their conversation 
in Malay or ‘“pidgeon” English, and finally, as though the 
elements of danger were not already sufficient, they are 
pressed on their arrival to join rival secret societies, between 
which the utmost enmity and hatred exists. Taking all these 
things into consideration, I maintain that the Chinaman is a 
good and orderly citizen and that his good qualities, especially 
as a revenue-payer in the Far East, much more than counter- 
balance his bad ones. The secret societies, whose organiza- 
tion permeates Chinese society from the top to the bottom, 
are the worst feature in the social condition of the Chinese 
colonists, and in Sarawak a summary method of suppressing 
them has been adopted. The penalty for belonging to one of 
these societies is death. When Sir JAMES BROOKE took over 
Sarawak, there was a considerable Chinese population, settled 
for generations in the country and recruited from Dutch ter- 
ritory, where they had been subject to no supervision by the 
Government, whose hold over the country was merely nomi- 
nal. They were principally gold diggers, and being accustomed 
to manage their own affairs and settle their disputes amongst 
themselves, they resented any interference from the new 
rulers, and, in 1857, amisunderstanding concerning the opium 
revenue having occurred, they suddenly rose in arms and 
seized the capital. It was some time before the Raja’s 
forces could be collected and let loose upon them, when large 
numbers were killed and the majority of the survivors took 
refuge in Dutch territory. 
The-scheme for introducing Chinese pepper and gambier 
planters into Sarawak was set on foot in 1878 or 1879, and 
has proved a decided success, though, as Vice-Consul CADELL 
remarked in 1886, it is difficult to understand why even 
larger numbers have not availed themselves of the terms 
offered ‘since coolies have the protection of the Sarawak 
Government, which further grants them free passages from 
Singapore, whilst the climate is a healthy one, and there are 
