possession of Mr. Treacher at Government House,
Labuan. Of this sketch Mr. Cooper has made me this
<3areful fac-simile on wood. It had a finely-tempered
bladë, ornamented along
the hack for about half
its length. One side of
the blade was flat, the
o th e r rounded; th e
sheath was elaborately
carved and, as is generally
the case in Borneo,
made of two flat pieces
of wood bound tightly
together by neatly worked
rattan cane ; the hilt
was ornamented with
tufts of red and black
hair, and it was furnished
with a girdle of rattan
plaited — altogether a
most handy and formidable
implement in the
paw of a lusty naked
savage.
Gold, diamonds, and
antimony have been obtained
in remunerative
quantities at the Sarawak
mines, which were
originally worked by the
Chinese settlers, but are
now in the hands of a
company. Mining opera-
KAYAN WAR KNIFE. tions are very difficult
owing to the enormous rainfall; and it is only the
abundance of cheap Chinese or native labour which
renders it possible in such a climate. Coolies from
Hong Kong may be obtained for seven to eight dollars
per month, or for less if their food is provided;
and natives will work sometimes for five to seven dollars
per month. A good Chinaman as a labourer, is however
worth two Malays.
The largest rivers in the island are supposed to be
the Kinabatangan and the Pontianak ; the former is said
to be navigable over two hundred miles from its mouth,
and at the farthest point reached it was fifty yards wide,
and there was seven fathoms of water. Dutch steamers
have ascended a long way inland up the Pontianak which
lies south of Sarawak. Most of the rivers on the northwest
coast are very shallow, having dangerous bars at
their mouths ; and that at the mouth of the Brunei was
partly blocked by large rocks about the time of the siege
of that city by the English.
Gambling and opium smoking are the bane of the
Chinese settlers and of many of the well-to-do Malays ;
and of all forms of intemperance surely this last must be
the most degrading and otherwise hurtful in its effects.
The manufactured drug as imported from Benares and
other opium producing districts, is in the form of balls
six inches in diameter, covered with the dried petals of
poppy flowers. This product is the inspissated juice of
the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum), and is of a dark
brown or black colour. Before it is used for smok inOg,“
however, it has to be still further prepared by boiling and
stirring in shallow pans over a bright fire; and as the
pure product is very high in price, it is often subjected
to adulteration. In our eastern colonies it is usual to let
or farm cut the right to prepare and sell or export opium