THEIR PIRACY UMDiiNIABLE. 



puted at an avei-age of thirty- five men. On some 

 occasions, and according to the nature of the service on 

 which they are engaged, the Jieavily ai-nied Malayan 

 prahus^ and the swift and destructive Dyak bangkongs, 

 form one fleet or M^i. 



It was ill 1843, when I firat visited Sarawak, that I 

 made every necessary inquiry, to convince myself of the 

 real character of these communiticB before aeting against 

 them. I collected such a mass of testimony from 

 numerous persons of various nations — from Malays, 

 Byaks, and Chinese— from the Eajah Mada Haasim — 

 from the Datus of Sarawak — ^from respectable men of 

 many other rivers^ — and from my own countrymen, m 

 left no doubt whatever of the extensive and systematic 

 depredation carried on by these pirates. I became 

 asisured that a large amount of human life was annually 

 sacrificed ; that the coast was devastated, and the tmde 

 destroyed by these marauders ; and therefore I did not 

 hesitate to act against them on my own responsibility^ — 

 I considered it a duty incumbent upon me to do so. The 

 result fully confirmed my expectations,— -the piratical # 

 ravages of the Serebas were checked; and their discom- 

 fiture, even for a season, conferred the greatest benefit 

 upon the peaceful inhabitants of the coast. It was to 

 me a fair subject of regret to have been ordered to China 

 from this sphere of usefulness. 



I had the satisfaction of finding what was done at this 

 time entirely approved of by the British Government — 



