Seventeen years among the Sea Dyaks of Borneo; a ... - Sabrizain.org

SxVRAWAK—SIR JAMES BROOKE 27
a system of administration far superior to any that the
native authorities had ever dreamed of ; and in September,
1841, the government of Sarawak and its dependencies
was formally made over to him. In the following year
the Sultan of Brunei confirmed what Rajah Muda Hassim
had done, on the condition that the religion of the
Mohammedans of the country should be respected.
And now Rajah Brooke found himself in a position of
authority which enabled him to bring all his administrative
powers into operation. He saw clearly that the
development
of commerce would be the most effective
means of civilizing the natives, and to make this possible it
was necessary to suppress the hideous piracy which was
not only a curse to the savage tribes, appealing
to their worst instincts, but a standing danger to both
European and native traders in those seas.
In the suppression of piracy James Brooke found a
as it did
vigorous ally in Captain (afterwards Admiral) Keppel,
who, in command of H.M.S. Dido, was summoned from
the China station in 1843 for this service. Various
expeditions were organized and sent out against the
marauders, the story of which has been told by himself.
The pirates were attacked in their strongholds by Captain
Keppel and other commanders of British ships. They
fought desperately, and the slaughter was immense. The
pirate crews found the entrances to the rivers blocked
and their retreat cut off. These
up by English gunboats,
strenuous measures soon cleared the seas.
The practice of head-hunting was also dealt with by
Sir James Brooke. He declared it to be a crime punish-
treatment of head-
able with death, and by his rigorous
hunting parties he national custom.
gave the deathblow to this horrible