27S A VISIT TO THE INDIAN ARCHlPELAOa 



* 



requests to ho informed of " the circumstances whicli led 

 to tlie oflfer of rewards for the capture of Dyak women 

 and cliildren/* The following is the reply of *' murderer** 

 Brooke :■ — 



" I have the hoBOur to acquaint your Lordship that 

 for several years past rewards have been given for all 

 prisoners made dunng the expeditions against the pirates, 

 more especially in the case of women and cluldren. Tlie 

 rewards allnded to in my despatch of the 1st of 

 October, 1S4J>, wei'C paid to the captors of women and 

 children taken during the expedition under Captain 

 Farqidiar, m order to prevent their putting captives to 

 death, or reducing them to slavery. The women and 

 children in question remained under my care for about 

 two months, and were released on their relations coming 

 to Sarawak to claim tliem. 



"Tliis mode of dealing with pirates has always been 

 found to have a beneficial effect, and is calculated to 

 introduce a humane system of warfare." 



I know not how charges Buch fis I ]}ave been dealing 

 with can be more satisfactorily rebutted. Begin at which- 

 ever end we may, we are led without one defective stop 

 in the argument — that I can perceive— to the same 

 conclusion. We see treaties entered into by Her 

 Majesty's Government,— fuuctionaries instructed to carry 

 them out, — the precise means of doing so pointed out to 

 them, — alternatives suggested— the milder recommended, 

 but the sti-onger enjoined rather than longer toleration 



