Paul Tidman, who died while these pages were preparing for the press. He points out that the immediate cause of the outbreak was taxation. The Government kept the opium trade in its own hands, and at one time the consumption at Bauh amounted to sixty balls of opium a month. But, although the population increased, the demand for opium fell to one-half from smuggling; whereupon, to save itself the trouble of detecting the culprits, the Government ordered that the Kunsi should pay, as heretofore, for sixty balls, whether they took them or not. Who,' he remarks, 'could object to such an exercise of authority on the part of a paternal Government? Apparently the Kunsi did.'

Nevertheless this decree, if arbitrary in appearance, was entirely justified afterwards by the fact that, upon the suppression of the rebellion, when smuggling was put an end to, notwithstanding the expulsion of so many of the resident Chinese, and the consequent loss of its principal consumers, the revenue from opium increased rather than diminished. A further immediate cause of the outbreak seems to have been the punishment of some of the Kunsi for a breach of the law. in the forcible abduction of an offender. But no doubt, as suggested by the Rajah-and this was also the opinion of the Bishop-there was a political movement in the air, and the Chinese at Bauh were in communication with the secret society, or Hué, at Singapore, and both communities, as well as all other Chinese settlements in the East, were in a great state of excitement about the Chinese War and the troubles at Canton, in which the British were represented to have been worsted.

'After the first departure of the Chinese on the 21st,' Mr. Tidman wrote, there was the greatest difficulty in preserving anything like confidence, and, but for the Bishop, there would have been chaos. He was commander-in-chief, and organised everything. He kept us up to our work, as the whole night through we had to walk about the town fully armed.

THE CHINESE INSURRECTION

151

'The greatest care and wisdom was required in the management of affairs. It was due to the warnings of the Bishop that the Chinese left, for he pointed out to them that Mr. Johnson, at Sakarran, was not likely to “ approve of their conduct in killing his uncle and his friends,” and that the best thing that they could do to escape the vengeance of the Dyaks, who would come up in thousands by the river to attack them, was to return to Bauh and defend their town. On the other hand, during the absence of the Rajah and without European leaders, he foresaw the extreme risk of an attack by the Malays upon the Chinese, who were by far the most numerous, and in possession of the arms of the Government. And this he prevented by the exercise of his influence with the Malay chiefs.

'As boat after boat of the Chinese passed up laden with plunder-cannon, rifles, plate, and money-' writes our journalist, the Datu's eyes flashed with rage; and it was, I believe, only the quieting influence of the Bishop's message that prevented him and his followers making an attack. When the boats were out of sight, we went together to the mission house, where the meeting of the Datu and the Bishop was really affecting. A few hours after this some of the other Malay chiefs got boats ready and started in pursuit of the Chinese before any of us knew of it.' But this only assisted in bringing back the Chinese in force.

In the evening of the 21st they heard that the Rajah, who had escaped down the river to the Quop, was ready to come up, and the Bishop took a boat to meet and hasten him. Having seen two English women (Mrs. Manby and Mrs. Middleton), who had been entrusted to his charge, safe on board a friendly Malay trader, the narrator also dropped down the river to carry the news to the Rajah. Very soon,' he says, 'I met the Bishop returning in a large war prahu.' He had found the Rajah utterly depressed and with few followers. 'This was disheartening, but nothing checked the Bishop.

He was not in the sweetest of tempers, it must be owned. "Come on board," he called to me; " if the Rajah deserts his country I must look after my diocese;" and so the twelve paddles struck the water, and we flew up to the town. All that night we were sent from house to house with a party of Malays searching for arms, of which we collected a large quantity, and all the night long the Bishop was about like the rest of us, keeping everyone together, encouraging everyone, and directing everything. Like us all, he was armed to the teeth with sword, double-barrel, and revolver. He recalled the olden times when lord bishops could strike a blow, if need were, in a good cause.

'Early on the 22nd we received positive news that a fresh attack was to be made, and the Rajah's solitary boat was seen pulling up, but the Malays gave way and the flight became general; the Bishop escaped in the Rajah's boat as he relates, and subsequently started with his large party to Linga. The Rajah left in his warboat for Samarahan, a nearer river in the same direction, leaving this parting direction to the representives of the Borneo Company: "Offer the country on any terms to the Dutch."

Such a cession of rights was happily not needed. It could only have been suggested by a moment of despondency arising from ill-health; nor can we believe that after the first shock the Rajah would have thought of such a step. The fidelity of the Dyaks was at that moment doubtful, and, had they revolted, an anti-English party might have been formed among the Malays also, and a long and tedious civil war have ensued; but, once that he was assured of their loyalty, his recovery of the country was certain. He had a secure base of operations at Linga and Sakarran; he was himself a brave and skilful commander; while the Chinese were without efficient leaders, and were as unwarlike as they were presumptuous; and finally there was the certainty of European intervention in the long run in his favour.

THE CHINESE INSURRECTION

153

Of the impression made by the Bishop's conduct we have a further example in the case of another eye-witness. An horticulturist, well known in the botanical world, some time afterwards settled himself in a western English county: an intelligent person of extreme (shall we call them ?) liberal views, he could not be persuaded to come to church, but was very willing to have a talk with his clergyman if he called upon him. In one of these conversations he observed that he had been at Sarawak during the Chinese insurrection. 'Then,' said the curate, the relator of the anecdote, 'you must have known Bishop McDougall.' 'Ah,' he replied, that was a bishop! if there were more bishops like him more people would come to church, and there would be more Christianity.'

In her book, 'Sketches of our Life in Sarawak,' Mrs. McDougall gives an animated and detailed account of these events. Her story is admirably told and is full of incidents, and will amply repay the perusal, but some portions relating to her own adventures we must borrow to complete our history. She mentions the eve of the outbreak. 'The Rajah and the Bishop had determined to start the next day in the lifeboat for Sadong, and thence to Linga and Sakarran. The Rajah had been ailing for some time, and we hoped that this little voyage would do him good. We had prepared all the provisions for this trip-bread and rusks had been made, salt meat cooked, and everything was ready packed in the provision baskets. This was a matter of great importance to us afterwards. We all went out walking on the only riding road of those days. Rajah spoke to the school-children, and we all amused ourselves with the little Middletons, boys of four and five years old, strutting along with turbaned hats and long walking-sticks. It was a dull evening, and we all felt unaccountably gloomy. We fancied that it was because the Rajah was not well enough to dine with us, as he had proposed in the morning, but I afterwards remembered that

the Bishop had said, "If any sudden alarm were to take place to-night, it would rouse him and make him all right."'

But they had no idea of any impending danger, and went to bed without expecting anything to happen. They little thought that shortly after midnight the Rajah would be a fugitive, his house in flames, and the town in the possession of rebels, the two poor little boys, with whom they had laughed a few hours before, murdered before the eyes of their mother by those inhuman wretches, and they themselves uncertain of their own escape. She describes her own flight with Miss Woolley, Alan, and her own two children in the lifeboat at the desire of the Bishop. 'It seemed very hard to me to leave my husband in such danger, for that morning the Kunsi had flourished swords in his face and threatened him, knowing very well that he wished to bring the Rajah back; but he would not desert his post, or his wounded patients, and declared that it would be a great relief to think of us in safety. We were therefore to go to Singapore in a trading schooner which had been detained at the mouth of the river, and to start for her in the lifeboat. At last it was ready. Stahl went with us to steer, and said that there were plenty of Chinese to row. When we got down to it we found it not only fully manned by Chinese, but full of their women, children, and boxes, so that we could scarcely find room to squeeze ourselves into the stern, and we were so heavily laden that we made very slow progress. It was no use protesting, however; we were only English folk, and the Chinese had it all their own way in those days. About 8 o'clock we got down to the mouth of the Morotabas, where the schooner lay. Pitch dark and very wet it was, but it was a relief when all the Chinese passengers climbed up the schooner ladder, and the men hauled the boxes up one after another, last of all a very heavy one, which it took six men to lift, full of dollars-so no wonder we were overladen. Last of all I climbed into the "Good Luck," leaving the children still