UNITY OF THESE TRIBES. 



201 



tcdiousucss, when this liaa been once prcmiaed, we mcludo 

 iiH under cither designationj unless the contrary is evident. 

 This unity of habits, jiursuits^ and movements ha^ existed 

 from time immemorial between these communities. For 

 example™! open at a venture my " Expedition to 

 Borneo,*' and read as follows :— " T!iese Dyaks " (the 

 pcrpctmtora of some atrocities alluded to) " ATCre 

 chiefly from Sakarran, mixed with the Serebas." So it 

 is in many places ; and heuce it follows that whero, m 

 for example in M. de Groot*s report, the Serebas pirates 

 are con?ictcd by name, it is no acquittal of tlic Sak;irrans 

 —and vice tersd. They are strictly partners in piracy. 



And now to examiue Mr. Eai-Vs positive evidence 

 against these very people, I begin with a- letter, which 

 he haa adtlressed to Sir Janiea Brooke since the 

 destruction of their fleet 



"As one of tho oldest, indeed I beHove the oldest 

 • surviving lirLtish visitor to the western coasts of Borneo, 

 I feel myself called upon to offer my testimony as to the 

 state of those coasts sixteen years ago. I have a lively 

 recollection J even at this distant date, of the tcri'or in 

 which tho coast was kept by the veri/ in^es which you 

 have been instrumental in cliecking." 



Thus Mr, Earl was a precursor of Sir James Brooke in 

 the Eastern Seas ; his publication, aho, preceded anytliing 

 of the kind by Mv. Brooke ; and if so, what becomes of 

 Mr. Hume's assertion that " Sir James Brooke Wiis tho 

 first person who denounced the Dyaks as pirates V 



