Equal Justice Was Awarded To Malay, Chinaman, And Dyak.
The
remorseless pirates from the rivers farther east were punished, and
finally shut up within their own territories, and the Dyak, for the
first time, could sleep in peace.
His wife and children were now
safe from slavery; his house was no longer burned over his head; his
crops and his fruits were now his own to sell or consume as he
pleased. And the unknown stranger who had done all this for them, and
asked for nothing in return, what could he be? How was it possible
for them to realize his motives? Was it not natural that they should
refuse to believe he was a man? For of pure benevolence combined with
great power, they had had no experience among men. They naturally
concluded that he was a superior being, come down upon earth to
confer blessings on the afflicted. In many villages where he had not
been seen, I was asked strange questions about him. Was he not as old
as the mountains? Could he not bring the dead to life? And they
firmly believe that he can give them good harvests, and make their
fruit-trees bear an abundant crop.
In forming a proper estimate of Sir James Brooke's government it must
ever be remembered that he held Sarawak solely by the goodwill of the
native inhabitant. He had to deal with two races, one of whom, the
Mahometan Malays, looked upon the other race, the Dyaks, as savages
and slaves, only fit to be robbed and plundered.
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