contact with European civilization.
A few words in conclusion, about the government of Sarawak. Sir James
Brooke found the Dyaks oppressed and ground down by the most cruel
tyranny. They were cheated by the Malay traders and robbed by the Malay
chiefs. Their wives and children were often captured and sold into
slavery, and hostile tribes purchased permission from their cruel rulers
to plunder, enslave, and murder them. Anything like justice or redress
for these injuries was utterly unattainable. From the time Sir James
obtained possession of the country, all this was stopped. Equal justice
was awarded to Malay, Chinaman, and Dyak. The remorseless pirates from
the rivers farther east were punished, and finally shut up within their
own territories, and the Dyak, for the first time, could sleep in peace.
His wife and children were now safe from slavery; his house was no
longer burned over his head; his crops and his fruits were now his own
to sell or consume as he pleased. And the unknown stranger who had done
all this for them, and asked for nothing in return, what could he be?
How was it possible for them to realize his motives? Was it not natural
that they should refuse to believe he was a man? For of pure benevolence
combined with great power, they had had no experience among men. They
naturally concluded that he was a superior being, come down upon earth
to confer blessings on the afflicted. In many villages where he had not
been seen, I was asked strange questions about him. Was he not as old
as the mountains? Could he not bring the dead to life? And they firmly
believe that he can give them good harvests, and make their fruit-trees
bear an abundant crop.
In forming a proper estimate of Sir James Brooke's government it must
ever be remembered that he held Sarawak solely by the goodwill of the
native inhabitant. He had to deal with two races, one of whom, the
Mahometan Malays, looked upon the other race, the Dyaks, as savages
and slaves, only fit to be robbed and plundered. He has effectually
protected the Dyaks, and has invariably treated them as, in his sight,
equal to the Malays; and yet he has secured the affection and goodwill
of both. Notwithstanding the religious prejudice, of Mahometans, he
has induced them to modify many of their worst laws and customs, and to
assimilate their criminal code to that of the civilized world. That his
government still continues, after twenty-seven years--notwithstanding
his frequent absences from ill-health, notwithstanding conspiracies of
Malay chiefs, and insurrections of Chinese gold-diggers, all of
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