Four Young Explorers; Or, Sight-Seeing in the Tropics, Oliver Optic [best thriller books to read .TXT] 📗

south-west. It would be useless to mention the Malay names of these ranges, for you could not remember them over night. The general idea I have given you is quite enough to retain.

"The interior of Borneo is but little known; and when Mr. Gaskette makes another map of the island twenty or thirty years hence, it will probably differ considerably from the one before you. In the extreme north is the peak of Kini Balu, the height of which is set down at 13,698 feet, with an interrogation point after it. Other mountains are estimated to be from 4,000 to 8,000 feet high. There are no active volcanoes.

"In the low lands on the coast, it is hot, damp, and unhealthy for those who are not acclimated; but in the high lands among the mountains, the temperature is moderate, from 81° to 91° at noon, and it is sometimes[21] worse than that in New York. From November to May, which is the rainy season, violent storms of wind with thunder-showers prevail on the west coast. In hot weather the sea-breezes extend a considerable distance inland. Vegetation is remarkably luxuriant, as our young hunters will find in their explorations. The forests produce all the woods of the Indian Archipelago, of which you know the names by this time. Bruneï, on the north-west coast, produces the best camphor in Asia, which is about the same as saying in the world."

"What is camphor, Professor?" asked Mrs. Belgrave. "I have used it all my life, but I have not the least idea what it is."

"Camphor is an oil found in certain plants, mostly from the camphor laurel. This oil is separated from the plant, and then undergoes the process of refining. It is mixed with water, and then boiled in a sort of retort. It makes steam, which is allowed to escape through a small aperture, which is then closed, and the camphor becomes solid in the upper part of the vessel. This is the article which is sent to market.

"All the spices and fruits of the Torrid Zone are produced in Borneo, with cotton and sugar-cane in certain parts. The animals of the island are about the same as in other parts of the Archipelago. The monkey tribe is the most abundant, including the simia, the gibbon, the orang-outang, found in no other island, except very rarely in Sumatra, where our hunters did not find even one; tapirs"[22]—

"What are they?" asked Uncle Moses.

"They are a sort of cross between an elephant and a hog. They are found all over South American tropical regions and in this part of Asia. The animal is more like a hog than like an elephant, though it has the same kind of a skin as the latter. It is about the size of the average donkey. It has a snout which is prehensile, like the trunk of an elephant, but on a very small scale.

"What does that mean?" asked Mrs. Blossom.

"Capable of taking hold of anything, as the elephant does with his proboscis. The tapir is one of the gentler animals, and may be easily tamed; though it will fight and bite hard when attacked, or harried by dogs. They take to the water readily, though the American swims, while the Asiatic only walk on the bottom. One book I consulted calls the tapir a kind of tiger, to which he bears hardly any resemblance.

"The other animals are small Malay bears, wild swine, horned cattle, and puny deer. The elephant and rhinoceros are found, few in number, in the north. The birds are the eagle, vulture, argus-pheasant,—a singular and beautiful bird,—peacocks, flamingoes, and swifts."

"What in the world are swifts?" inquired Mrs. Woolridge.

"They are a kind of swallow, of which you may have seen some as we came down from Rangoon. They make the edible birds'-nests which are so great a delicacy among the Chinese when made into soup.[23] The rivers, lakes, and swamps swarm with crocodiles, the real man-eaters. Leeches are a nuisance when you bathe in the rivers and ponds, and various kinds of snakes abound. There are plenty of fish in the sea, lakes, and rivers. Diamonds, gold, coal, copper, are mined in the island.

"All of New England and the Middle States, with Maryland, could be set down in Borneo, still leaving a considerable border of swamp and jungle all around them. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland could be slapped down upon it like a flapjack, and there would still be more than space for another United Kingdom, without covering up all the mud of Borneo. We do not see how big it is when we look on the map.

"The larger portion of the island is included in the Dutch possessions. Banjermassin, of which something was said as we passed the mouth of the Barito River, on which it is located, contains 30,000 inhabitants, and is the most important in the island. Borneo proper is in the north-west, and is under the government of the Sultan of Bruneï. He lost nearly one-half of his territory, taken by the North Borneo Company, and that in the west, which is now Sarawak, of which I shall have something more to say later. The island of Labuan lies six miles west of the northern portion of Bruneï. It was ceded to the English by the sultan, and is principally valuable as a coaling-station, though it has a considerable trade.[24]

"Sabah is the country of the North Borneo Company. An American obtained the right to this territory in 1865, and transferred it to the present company. It has an area somewhat larger than the State of Maine. No doubt they will develop and improve the country.

"Sarawak has a territory nearly as large as that of the State of Pennsylvania, and larger than the State of Ohio. Its history is involved in the life of Sir James Brooke, who was originally created the rajah, or governor of the country, by the Sultan of Bruneï, and retained the title till his death in 1868. He was born in Benares in 1803, and educated at Norwich, England. In 1819 he entered the East Indian army, and was severely wounded in the Burmese war. He returned to England; and his furlough lapsed before he could rejoin his regiment, and with it his appointment. He left the service. He next conceived a plan for putting down piracy in the Indian Archipelago, and of civilizing the savage inhabitants of these islands, a grand and noble scheme to be carried out by a single individual on his own responsibility.

"He bought a small vessel, and made a voyage to China, probably with the intention of improving his finances for the work he had in view. In 1835 he inherited $150,000 at the death of his father. After a cruise in the Mediterranean, he sailed in a schooner-yacht from London for Sarawak, where he arrived in 1839. The uncle of the sultan was engaged[25] in a war with some tribes of rebels, and Brooke rendered him important assistance. He returned to Kuching with the title of rajah, his predecessor, a native, having been compelled to resign.

"The new governor immediately went to work very vigorously to establish a better government, introducing free trade, and framing a new code of laws. At this time the atrocious custom of head-hunting prevailed in the island. Enemies killed in battle were decapitated simply for the sake of the head, and the Dyak who obtained the greatest number of them was esteemed the most valiant warrior.

"A Dyak girl would not accept the addresses of a young man who had not obtained a head, in the earlier time; and murders were often committed for the sole purpose of obtaining the head of the victim, either to conciliate some dusky maiden, or as a trophy for the head-house, of which there is one in every village. The heads were 'cooked,' as they called it, though the operation was merely drying and cleaning the skull. Rajah Brooke made the penalty of this kind of murder death, without regard to the customs and antecedents of the natives; and he soon abolished head-hunting in his dominion.

"The sultan, either directly or by 'winking at it,' encouraged piracy; and the crime was as common as in the vicinity of the Malay states fifty years ago. Sir James Brooke resolutely attacked the pirates,[26] and with the means at his command soon vanquished and drove them from the sea and the land. The Dyaks, in spite of their head-hunting propensities, were rather a simple people; while the Malays of the island were cunning, dishonest, treacherous, and cruel. The simple Dyaks were no match for them, and were cheated and abused in every possible way. There was no such thing as justice in the land. The new rajah corrected all these abuses.

"Having established his government on the basis of right and justice to all, Brooke went to England in 1847. He was invited to Windsor by the Queen, and created a K. C. B. (Knight Commander of the Bath), a distinguished honor in Great Britain. The next year he was made governor of Labuan. He was charged in the House of Commons with receiving head-money for pirates killed; but the charge was disproved.

"Brooke continued to hold his position as Rajah of Sarawak while at Labuan; but in 1857 he was superseded at the latter, and returned to his government. The Chinese, of whom there are a great many in Borneo, became incensed against him because he prevented the smuggling of opium into his territory. A large body of them attacked his house in the night, and destroyed a great amount of his property.

"But the rajah was not a man to submit quietly to such an outrage. He immediately collected a force of Dyaks and Malays, and attacked the Celestials. He razed a fort they had constructed, and[27] thoroughly defeated them in several successive battles. He was very prompt and decided in action, and to see an abuse was to remedy it without unnecessary delay. He established and maintained a model government, and the country prospered greatly under his mild but decisive rule.

"He found a town with 1,000 inhabitants, and left it with 25,000. He died in 1868, and was succeeded by his nephew, Sir C. T. Brooke, who extended his territory, and ten years ago placed it under the protection of the United Kingdom. This is the history of a noble man and a model colony."

"But what are Dyaks, Professor?" inquired Mrs. Belgrave.

"They are natives of Borneo, though all the people are not known by this name. They are divided into Hill Dyaks and Sea Dyaks. At the present time they are a high-toned class of savages; for they do not steal or rob, and they have many social virtues which might be copied by the people of enlightened nations. Head-hunting and piracy are known among them no more. They are the farmers and producers of the island. There is much that is very interesting about them. They build peculiar houses, some of them occupied by a dozen or more families, though they always live in peace, and do not quarrel with their neighbors. The young women select their own husbands, and a head is no longer necessary to open the way to an engagement.

"If any of the party wish to learn more of the[28] Dyaks, their manners and customs, present and past, you will find a work in two volumes, by the Rev. J. G. Wood, entitled, 'The Uncivilized Races of Men;' and you will find that the author often quotes from Rajah Brooke."[29]

CHAPTER IV A SPECULATION IN CROCODILES

The Blanchita continued on her course up the river with Clingman at the wheel. There was no table in the fore cabin; and the dinner of the six men, including the engineer, was served astern after the "Big Four" had taken the meal. Louis attended to the engine while Felipe was at his meals and occasionally at other times. A table is not a necessity for the crew of a ship, and one is not used on board a merchant vessel; but Louis insisted that all hands should fare equally well on board of the little steamer.

The dinner was disposed of, and Wales was at the wheel. The men had nothing to do, and a couple of them had assisted Pitts in washing the dishes and putting the after cabin in order. It was an idle time, and the "Big Four" were anxious to have something more exciting than merely sailing along the river, the novelty of which had worn off; and they had not long to wait for it.

"A crocodile ahead, Captain, on the port bow, sir!" exclaimed Wales, the wheelman, whose duty required him to keep a sharp lookout for any obstructions in the stream.[30]

All of the party had their weapons within reach, including the three seamen who were disengaged; but the latter were not expected to use the rifles till they were ordered to do so by the captain or any one of the hunters. The occupants of the fore cabin, the principal personages on board, had the exclusive use of the forward part of the boat, though the hands were