McDougall is preparing for great works, or he would not be subjected to such discipline. It is a real consolation to think that. With very kind regards to your wife, 'Yours very truly, 'C. J. Bunyon, Esq.' 'F. D. MAURICE. In writing from Penang Hill on May I she says: 'I long for the June mail. To know that you have grieved for us in our heavy loss will comfort me. I think it is dear Mr. Maurice who says, "People are always craving for comfort in this world instead of taking God's discipline with a brave heart." My heart is still often overwhelmed with that bitter remembrance of my darling's sufferings, but I think that I am certainly more happy than I was. I have not a constant heartache, and can sometimes even feel rejoiced that my child is at rest. Happy without me I cannot fancy him-may God forgive me! But must he not miss me for a time, unless he quite forgets, and can I wish that? Yes. I wish him happy, at all events.' During this stay on Penang Hill many consultations took place between Sir J. Brooke and McDougall as to the future operations of the mission, and the necessity for obtaining further assistance from England. They resulted in the following letter from the former, to be communicated to the authorities at home : 'Penang Hill: April 27, 1850. 'Dear McDougall,-Recent events have opened a large field for your labours and those of others, and I think it very desirable that you should point this out to the committee at home, so that they may endeavour to place the mission on a higher footing than at present. At Kanowit and at Sakarran are noble fields for missionary exertion amongst the Dyaks unchecked by Mohammedan jealousy. The Dyaks are numerous, and, as you know, were pirates and head-takers, but the more we restrict the latter propensity the greater the hope of their embracing a new faith THE RAJAH ON MISSION PROSPECTS 61 'At Kanowit an intercourse may be opened with the Kayans, and besides this powerful race of uncontaminated people there are the people of Katibas, Kaguls, Pei and Kanowit, and the Sakarrans and Sarebas, located on the river named after the last-mentioned tribe. This population cannot be computed at less than 50,000 souls, and I repeat that it is a field worthy of a great effort. Sakarran is hardly inferior to Kanowit, and the Dyaks of the Batang Lupar are numerous, quiet, and not given to piracy, though the Sakarrans are. Lundu in Sarawak is likewise a place wherein missionary labour can be hopefully and safely commenced, and where, in my opinion, it would be appreciated. Sarebas itself may not be beyond our efforts if efficient men are to be had. As we suppress piracy and head-taking the hope of success increases, and to effect these objects is a task worthy of the Church missionary as well as the statesman. 'Urge, therefore, an efficient organisation and a supply of labourers to till the field, for you can do no more than regulate and superintend those under you, and cannot well be spared from head-quarters at Sarawak, if a system of education is to be aimed at. Without dictating, I would suggest that several young men should be sent out. A man advanced in age is fixed in habits, and both his habits and his tongue want the requisite facility and obedience. Young men should be obedient, and should learn the Dyak language, and would live at the places that I have named, and in the event of this increase being made there should be powers vested in you of controlling and arranging their functions. I cannot but believe that the result of such an effort as I have named would prove satisfactory. The Dyaks, as I know, have but a slight hold on their present religion, and if they begin to profess Christianity the example of a few will bring over the entire body in any place. I cannot enter into details, but my fear is that the funds of the Borneo Mission are inadequate for such a plan as I have proposed. If it be so, could any assistance be procured? I cannot answer this question, but it is worthy of your consideration, and of that of the home authorities. 'Think of this, will you, and recommend that which is right, but do not lack efficiency, for little can be expected where little is attempted. 'Believe me, dear McDougall, 'Yours very sincerely, 'J. BROOKE.' It was obvious that the scanty means of the Borneo Church Mission were insufficient for the work which had been undertaken, and in writing to her brother from Penang Mrs. McDougall says: 'I agree with you, and so does Frank, that nothing will be done until S. P. G. takes the mission into its hands. Frank writes to E. Hawkins by this mail. I hope that they will do something, or we might as well have stayed at home.' Before going to Penang he wrote to Dr. Macbride : 'Singapore: March 6, 1850. 'Your very kind and interesting letter should have been answered last mail, but we were then tending the deathbed of our darling son, whom we brought from England with us, and whom it has pleased our Heavenly Father to take to Himself, just when he seemed most likely to live, and when his rapidly expanding mind and remarkable sweetness of disposition were binding him each day closer and closer to our hearts. He was a bright gleam of sunshine cheering and enlivening our path, which has often of late been overcast with sorrow and trial. He was the third child we have been called to resign within the last fifteen months, and we have been brought over here by the dangerous illness of my wife, who, I am thankful to say, is rapidly recovering, and we are now going to Penang Hill to confirm the recovery by bracing air and change of scene. I am happy to tell you that our prospects of being able to lay the foundation of extensive missionary operations LETTER TO DR. MACBRIDE 63 are increasing daily; nothing hinders now but the want of labourers. Tribes upon tribes of Dyaks have asked me to send them teachers; some have even expressed their desire to become white men, meaning Christians, at once, and wished me to baptize them at once; but until I have missionaries to place among them and prepare them better, I do not dare to do so, for it would only arouse Mohammedan jealousy and suspicion, and in my absence the Malays would counteract all I might have effected. Whereas, if I had European clergymen or catechists to place among the tribes, they would effectually prevent all Malay intrigue or opposition, for where a European is present the Malay has little or no influence over the Dyak. 'I have just completed a translation of the Church Catechism and some of the prayers into Malay for the use of our school children; when I can get it printed I will send you a copy. I wish the S. P. C. K. would commission me to translate the Prayer-Book into Malay; it would not cost much, and a manual of prayer would, I think, take with many of the Malays better than any other religious book. 'I am quite pleased to hear that you have taken in hand what has been so long a desideratum-a manual of Mohammedan theology, and an account of what has and what may be brought forward for its confutation. Islamism meets me at every turn; our Sarawak Malays are orthodox Mohammedans, but they are neither bigoted nor well-taught in their own texts; indeed, they often come to me to read the Koran to them, as they have no Malay translation, and there are very few of them who understand anything of Arabic excepting the Imam and a few of the Hadgis. They do not appear to have any enmity to me as a Christian minister; indeed, I often have religious conversation with some of the best instructed and most respectable of them; they read the Psalms of David with me, and some have read parts of the history of our Lord. I have ventured to distribute a few copies of the Malay Bible and many of the Psalms to those who are likely to read them and not use them for waste paper, as is too commonly the fate of books distributed indiscriminately to natives.' Greatly restored in mind and body, they left the Hill on May 3, expecting to sail at once in the 'Magnolia,' a Spanish merchant ship bound for Singapore; but they did not do so until the 10th, and in the interval were hospitably entertained by Mr. Blundell, the resident Governor; paying a visit to a large nutmeg plantation, which she describes in her journal. The ship was large, clean, and airy, and the captain 'a quiet, polite Spaniard, quite the gentleman, for he belonged to the Spanish Navy, and speaking French, in which language their conversation was carried on.' At last they arrived at Singapore, where 'they were hurried off by the Admiral's sudden resolution to visit Sarawak, and his kind offer to take them with him in the "Fury" steamer. So,' she says, 'we were his guests for three days, and for a day and a night he was our guest. He remained with us, and a charming old man he is, the brother of Jane Austen the novelist, whose works have long been great favourites with us all, especially with the Rajah. He is to come again at Christmas, he says, and bring Mrs. Austen and his daughters with him. We had, as you may believe, a great bustle on returning home with the Admiral and all the "Furies." We got home by eleven o'clock in the morning, and had to prepare dinner for twelve by seven o'clock. They all, however, seemed pleased with their visit, and it was just as well that we had something to do on first arriving, for the heartache of this place, so full of painful memories, is bad enough even now. I seem to dream here without Harry, and cannot help fancying that he will come in, or that I hear his voice, or that noises will wake him. Time will, I suppose, cure this wretched feeling.' The prospect of the return to Sarawak and of meeting with her old servant Elizabeth, who had been Harry's nurse, |