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[Cover]

[Illustration: HAPPILY HE HAD A STOUT WALKING-STICK, AND AT ONCE FELLED
THE REPTILE.

_Frontispiece._ _Page_ 26.]




  SKETCHES
  OF
  OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK


  BY
  HARRIETTE McDOUGALL.


  _WITH MAP._


  PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE TRACT COMMITTEE.


  LONDON:
  SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE,
  NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, CHARING CROSS, W.C.;
  43, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, E.C.;
  26, ST. GEORGE'S PLACE, HYDE PARK CORNER, S.W.
  BRIGHTON: 135, NORTH STREET.
  NEW YORK: E. & J. B. YOUNG AND CO.




CONTENTS.


  PART I.

  CHAPTER                                    PAGE

      I.  INTRODUCTORY                          7

     II.  THE COURT-HOUSE                      13

    III.  COLLEGE HILL                         21

     IV.  PIRATES                              32

      V.  THE CHURCH AND THE SCHOOL            45

     VI.  THE GIRLS                            58

    VII.  THE LUNDUS                           68

   VIII.  A BOAT JOURNEY                       82

     IX.  CONTINUATION OF THE TRIP TO REJANG   92


  PART II.

      X.  RETURN TO SARAWAK                   105

     XI.  CHINESE INSURRECTION                120

    XII.  CHINESE INSURRECTION (_Continued_)  139

   XIII.  EVENTS OF 1857                      157

    XIV.  THE MALAY PLOT                      174


  PART III.

     XV.  THE CHILDREN'S CHAPTER              189

    XVI.  ILLANUN PIRATES                     204

   XVII.  A MALAY WEDDING                     215

  XVIII.  LAST YEARS AT SARAWAK               228

    XIX.  THE ISLAND OF BORNEO                239




PART I.

[Map: BORNEO]




SKETCHES OF OUR LIFE AT SARAWAK.




CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY.


Nearly thirty years ago I published a little book of "Letters from
Sarawak, addressed to a Child." This book is now out of print, and, on
looking it over with a view to republication, I think it will be better
to extend the story over the twenty years that Sarawak was our home,
which will give some idea of the gradual progress of the mission.

This progress was often unavoidably impeded by the struggles of the
infant State; for war drowns the voice of the missionary, and though the
Sarawak Government always discouraged the Dyak practice of taking the
heads of their enemies, still it could not at once be checked, and every
expedition against lawless tribes, however righteous in its object,
excited the old superstitions of those wild people. When their warriors
returned from an expedition, the women of the tribe met them with dance
and song, receiving the heads they brought with ancient
ceremonies--"fondling the heads," as it was called; and for months
afterwards keeping up, by frequent feasts, in which these heads were the
chief attraction, the heathen customs which it was the object of the
missionary to discourage.

I dare say, when we first settled at Sarawak, we thought that twenty
years would plant Christian communities, and build Christian churches
all over the country: but it is as well that we cannot overlook the
future; and perhaps, considering the many difficulties which arose from
time to time, from the missionaries themselves, and the unsettled
country in which they laboured, we ought not to expect more results than
have appeared. At any rate we have much to be thankful for, and as every
year makes Sarawak a more important State, consolidates its Government,
and extends civilization to its subjects, we may look for more success
for the missionaries, who can now point to the peace and prosperity of
the people, and say, "This is the fruit of Christianity and Christian
rulers."

In giving a short account of our life in Borneo, I shall avoid alike all
political questions, or, as much as possible, individual histories among
the English community. It is already so long ago since we lived in that
lovely place, that events, trials, joys, and the usual vicissitudes of
life, are wrapt in that mellowing haze of the past, which, while it dims
the vividness of feeling, throws a robe of charity over all, and perhaps
causes actors and actions to assume a more true proportion to one
another than when we walked amongst them. I have, however, not depended
on memory alone for the records of twenty years, but have journals and
letters to refer to, which my friends in England have been good enough
to keep for me. Some parts of "Letters from Sarawak" I shall incorporate
into the present little book, for as it treats of the first six years we
lived there, and was written at that time, it is sure to be tolerably
correct.

In those days, from 1847 to 1853, Sir James Brooke was very popular in
England. The story of his first occupation of Sarawak, published in his
journals, and the cruizes of her Majesty's ships in those eastern
seas--the _Dido_ and the _Samarang_--were read with avidity, and
furnished the English public with a romance which had all the charm of
novelty. However difficult and inconvenient it might be for the English
Government to recognize a native State under an English rajah, who was
at the same time a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, this question
had not then arisen; and all classes, high and low, could applaud a
brave and noble man, who had stepped out