Sia VISIT TO THE INDIAN ARCHIPELACrO. 



port alone ; and it is not less in other riirectlons, Tlio 

 native prabiis accordingly offt^r fourfold opportunity, not 

 to mention the diminished risk to pirates. There has, 

 however, started into life, since Captain Farquliar's chas- 

 tisement of these hordes, such an accession of trade to 

 Sincapore in native vessels from Sarawak alone, as must 

 haTo greatly lucreasecl this proportion, — a fact which 

 might alone make clear to any unprejudiced person what 

 has beon the sinister hiflucnee hitherto crippling and 

 depressing ft. 



I will here bestow one word on an argument of 

 Mr. Hume, founded on the ii^htne^s of the Di/ak boat's t — 



*' From the class of boats used by them, it is impossible 

 they can be pirates/* 



It should be borne in mind that, durin^j the prevalence 

 of the sontiiei'Iy monsoon, tlie sea m always calm and 

 smooth on the north side of Borneo (and vice versd). 

 This, therefore, is the season of activity both for the 

 trader and bis spoiler. As regularly as the one ventures 

 out with his cargo, he finds the other waiting to dis- 

 encumber him of cargo, liberty, and, if it suit him, life. 



Kothing but forgetfulness or ignorance of the naturo of 

 the monsoons, and of their effect on the seas subject to 

 their influence, could suggest a doubt as to the possibility 

 of pirates using light and slightly-built boats at these 

 particular seasons. T tiavc stated before of the Serebas 

 pirates that they go out either in the Malay war-prahu, 

 which is as formidable as a Lanun's, or in the Dyak bang- 



