CO882-(1-2) — Page 366

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

זווין

Reference :-

C.O. 882

1

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

II. Was the ex-

pedition, terminated

(6

The effects on commerce may be imagined ;—the unscrupulous sought profit, in spite of danger, by dealing with the plunderers, and the produce brought to market was fit for a pirate to sell, and for a felon to purchase."

was strong enough to cope single-handed with the pirates.

2nd. Having disposed of the point as to the general piratical character of these by the night of 31st tribes, it remains to consider what is the nature of the evidence as to the piratical July piratical character of that particular expedition which terminated in the affair of the 31st July, 1849. As to this point the evidence is no less copious and conclusive than

the former head.

expedition!

Depositions taken before the Commis- sion of Sept. 1849.

As 10

armament, equipment, and num-

Beet.

upon

and some

Referring again to the printed depositions of the witnesses, taken before the commission of September, 1849,* we find Siup, the Sadong Malay, whose evidence has been before adduced with reference to the general piratical character of the Sarebas and Sakarran, deposing in the following decisive terms, as to He says, the piratical and predatory nature of the very expedition in question. "That he was out with the pirate fleet, which was attacked by the force bers of the Sarobas under Commander Farquhar, and that there were 30 men in the same prahu with himself; the fleet consisted of 150 prahus; the Datu Patingi of Sarebus was the head of the fleet, and almost all the principal Malays of Sarebas were also out in it. Many of the Sakarran people were in the prahus, mixed with the Sarebas people.

men, Very few pralus, indeed, had less than 30 men, many carried 40 and 50 had a crew of 70 men; there were not more than four small brass guns in the fleet; but each prahu carried a few muskets, and quantities of spears, swords, and shields.” As to its subsequent operations the So much for the urmament of the fleet. Witness thus proceeds:—"This fleet, on leaving the Sarebas river, proceeded to the entrance of the Niabar river, and remained there one night. From the Niabar the fleet proceeded to the entrance of the Palo, where it stopped the second night. From the Palo, the fleet proceeded to the bay of Lassa, and on its way there Capture of trailing captured and plundered a trading prahu laden with sago-deponent saw the capture made himself. From the bay of Lassa the fleet proceeded to the attack of the town of Mato, and near that town captured two other trading prahus, one laden with sago, the other nearly empty. The fleet attacked Mato, but were repulsed with the loss of

Operations of the expedition, from its utset to its close on 31st July, 1849.

prabtin.

Deposition of Bu- rut, à Bornean, one of the crew of a trading prabu taken

at Mato.

ten men.

The next witness is Burut, a Bornean, a mariner on board one of the two trading prahus spoken of by the last witness as taken off Mato (viz., the one

by the Narebas fleet referred to as being nearly empty); he deposes that his vessel was a large trading- prahu just arrived from Singapore with a cargo of piece goods, and which having landed the greater part of her cargo on her arrival at Mato, was lying anchored outside the defences across the river; there was, he states, another large prahu there laden with sago, and bound for Singapore. "The Sarebas pirates,” he says, captured, plundered, and burnt, both these prahus, the crews escaped on shore." He then goes on to state how the fleet attacked Mato, and was beaten off, owing solely to the booms secured across the river below the town-a precaution which was taken for the express purpose of protecting the place against the people of Sarebas and Sakarran."

Further Deposi

Datu Patingi Gaffaur,† as to the nature and armament of the expedition, and ber and kind of arms its piratical character, deposes thus :-" The piratical prahus were armed; deponent carried by the Sare-

tion as to the num-

has on the expedition Saw lelas (small brass guns), spears, and other arms, also a great quantity of sago

in the captured prabus."

•

Paper marked C, in the list of documents.

† Paper writing marked E, in the list of documents.

( 7 )

Datu Baudar Mudlana (same paper) says, that on the morning after the night of the 81st July, 1849, he counted on the beach 70 prahus of the Sarebas and Sakarran, he saw also quantities of spears and other arms scattered on the beach, which the pirates had thrown away in their flight.

Deposition of Sir James Brooke, as to

and proceedings of

Sir James Brooke in his depositions as to this point states "that he saw the pirate fleet passing the mouth of the Kaluka river; it took them fully half an the character, objects, hour to cross, the pirates gave their customary war yell and returned a shot fired at them the Sarehas fleet as from deponent's boat; the number of captured prahus amounted to 91, one of which July, 1849. deponent measured himself and found to be 70 feet in length and 8 feet 6 inches

in width, and her complement could not be less than 60 men.'

"Deponent has not the slightest doubt as to the piratical character of this fleet from the nature of the prahus employed ENTIrely different from TRADING PRAHUS, from the manner in which they were armed, and from the number of men engaged in it. Knows perfectly the appearance of the Dyak prabus or prahongs from the Sarebas or Sakarran, which these were. Deponent saw himself some small brass guns and quantities of other arms with which they had been armed." Sir James then proceeds to state the substance of a complaint which had been made to him by the captain of

says, one of the two trading prahus plundered off Mato, as already detailed, and after the dispersion of the piratical fleet, the account was confirmed by the quantity of Sago found, and which he (Sir James Brooke) himself saw in the captured prahus of the pirates."

that

seen by him, 31st

Piratical character

of the Barebas' ex-

known to Bir James

attack of the 31st

Now one word on this same sworn testimony of Sir James Brooke, the truth of which it is presumed is not intended to be impeached; it is perfectly clear from pedition necessarily his statement, that although the piratical character of this expedition was proved Brooke before the with a cumulative force of evidence after the capture of the armed prahus, loaded July, 1849. as some of them were with the plundered cargo of the sago trader, yet the fact that this was a piratical fleet was one which Sir James Brooke had the amplest opportunity of being convinced of before the engagement took place; he watched the fleet for half an hour passing the mouth of the Kaluka-he saw the size of the prahus, the nature of their equipment, and the number of their crews, all entirely different from a fleet of trading prahus-when a shot was fired at them from his boat, the fleet thus equipped and manned raised the customary war yell of these tribes, and re- turned his fire: is it to be contended for a moment that a man of Sir James Brooke's practiced sagacity, well acquainted for ten years with the eastern seas, and by no means inexperienced in the appearance and movements of armaments, admitted and adjudged to be piratical (see the case of the Serhassan herein-after mentioned) cogni- zant, moreover, of the fact that a large fleet of the Sarebas and Sakarran had very recently left their rivers, and that piratical acts had very recently been committed on these coasts, is it to be contended that Sir James Brooke under these circumstances was to allow these marauders to escape him, on the ground that he was forced to wait for further and more formal evidence of the fact that this fleet of armed war prahus, manned by tribes notoriously piratical, was actually engaged on an expedition which had in fact committed acts of piracy? To suppose that he could be in danger of confounding a peaceful flotilla of Dyak trading barks, with a war fleet of the Sarebas and Sakarran is too ridiculous. Even Messrs. Cobden and Bright, should they ever' make a voyage below bridge, would be in no danger of mistaking a Sunderland collier for one of her Majesty's war steamers! Or is it to be contended again, as it has been elsewhere, that, however clearly piratical this expedition might have been in its the ships of any na-

• Paper wilting marked F, in the list of documents.

To give power to

tion to punish known