Life in the forests of the Far East (vol. 2 of 2)

THE CHINESE INSURRECTION.

Secret Societies--Extensive Intercourse--Smuggling--The Gold Company fined--Punishment of three of its Members--Arrogance of the Kunsi--A Police Case--Real Causes of the Insurrection--An Emissary from the Tien Ti Secret Society--Reported Encouragement given by the Sultan of Sambas--Sambas Nobles speak Chinese--Their Nurses--The Nobles conspiring--An Emissary arrives in Brunei--Proposal--Knowledge of the intended Insurrection--Proposed Attack on the Consulate--The Tumanggong’s Threat--The Emissary before the Court--Letter from the Tien Ti Hué--Rumours of intended Insurrection--Preparations and Inquiries--Commencement of the Revolt--Useless Warnings--Surprise of the Government House--Danger of the Rajah--Cowardice of the Chinese--Escape--Swims the River--Death of Mr. Nicholets--Attacks on the other Houses--On the Stockade--Gallant Conduct of Mr. Crymble and the Malay Fortmen--Warm Reception of the Rebels--Death of a Madman--A Brave Corporal--Escape of Mr. Crymble--His last Blow--Fortmen again behave well--Confusion in the Town--Peaceful Assurances--Attempt to organize a Defence--Panic-stricken--Departure--Conduct of the People--Next Morning--Killed and Wounded--The Chinese in Power--The Court House--A Check to Joy--Oath of Fidelity--Courage shown by Abang Fatah--A Blow struck--Second Descent of the Chinese--A Boat Action--Gallant Attack--Deaths--Anecdote--The Second Retreat--The Town in Flames--The Steamer--The Capital recovered--Pursuit of the Chinese--They retire to the Interior--Attacks of the Land Dayaks--Foray of the Chinese--Their Fort taken by the Datu Bandhar--Pursuit--Disorderly Retreat--Critical Position--Brave Girls--Pass the Frontier--The Men of the Kunsi--A Quarrel--Stripped of Plunder--Results of the Insurrection--Forces at the Disposal of the Sarawak Government--Conduct of the People--Disastrous to the Chinese--New System--Arrival of armed Chinese from Sambas--Dutch and English Assistance--Revisit Sarawak--Change--Conduct of the Rajah--Its Effect on the People--Secret Society at Labuan--Dangers from the Secret Societies and their Defenders--Curious Incident--Thoughtful Care of the Rajah.

I shall endeavour to tell the story of the Chinese insurrection which suddenly broke out in Sarawak in the year 1857, as it appears to me to be fraught with instruction to us, and if carefully studied, may be of infinite service to those who have to govern colonies where the Chinese form a considerable portion of the population.

For many years the Chinese had attempted to form secret societies in Sarawak; but every effort was made to check their spread among the people, and it appeared as if success had attended that policy. To a considerable extent it was the case: but up in the interior, among the gold workers, the kunsi or company stood in the place of a secret society, and its members carried on an extensive intercourse with their fellow-countrymen in Sambas and Pontianak, and with the Tien Ti secret society in Singapore. I have described in the last chapter a tour which Mr. Fox and I made among the settlements of the Chinese in the interior of Sarawak, during which we became convinced that smuggling was carried on to a great extent, for, however numerous might be the new immigrants, the opium revenue did not increase.

At last it was discovered that opium was sent from Singapore to the Natuna islands, and from thence smuggled into Sarawak and the Dutch territories; it was traced to the kunsi, which was thereupon fined 150_l._: a very trifling amount, considering the thousands they had gained by defrauding the revenue, and measures were immediately taken to suppress the traffic, which, together with the punishment of three of its members for a gross assault on another Chinese, were the only grounds of complaint they had against the Sarawak government.

To show their arrogance, I will enter into the details of this case. A Chinese woman ran away from her husband, a member of the kunsi, who followed her to Kuching, and obtained an order from the police magistrate that she should return with him, but on her refusal, she was ordered to remain within the stockade. As the case was peculiar, she was not confined to a cell, but suffered to move about in the inner court; and some of her friends supplying her with men’s clothes, she managed to slip out unperceived by the sentry, and obtained a passage on board a Chinese boat bound for one of the villages on the coast. Her husband hearing of the place to which she had removed, followed her with a strong party of the members of the kunsi, and recovered her. Not satisfied with this, they seized all the boatmen, and flogged them in the most unmerciful manner, and then placed them in irons. When let go, they of course brought their complaint before the police magistrate, and three of the party were punished for taking the law into their own hands.

These trivial cases were not the real cause of the insurrection, as the Chinese before that date were greatly excited by the news that the English had retired from before Canton; and it was of course added, we had been utterly defeated, and their preparations were made before the smuggling was discovered, or the members of their company punished. The secret societies were everywhere in great excitement, and the Tien Ti sent an emissary over from Malacca and Singapore, to excite the gold workers to rebellion, and used the subtle, but false argument, that not only were the English crushed before Canton, but that the British Government were so discontented with Sir James Brooke, that they would not interfere if the kunsi only destroyed him and his officers, and did not meddle with the other Europeans, or obstruct the trade.

It is also currently reported that the Sambas sultan and his nobles offered every encouragement to the undertaking, and the Chinese listened much to their advice, as these nobles can speak to them in their own language, and are imbued greatly with Chinese ideas. To explain this state of things, I may mention that they are always nursed by girls chosen from among the healthiest of the daughters of the gold workers; and I may add, that about that time there was a very active intercourse carried on between the Malay nobles of Sambas and Makota, and that the latter was constantly closeted with an emissary of the Tien Ti Hué, or secret society, to whom I am about to refer. It behoves the Dutch authorities to look well to the proceedings of the native governments within their own territories, as there is very great discontent, and there is not the slightest doubt that the nobles are conspiring.

To show that it is not a mere imagination that the Tien Ti secret society sent emissaries around at that time, I may state that on the 14th of February, four days before the insurrection, a Chinese named Achang, who had arrived in Brunei from Singapore a few days previously, and had the year before been expelled from Sarawak for joining that Hué, came to my house to try and induce my four Chinese servants to enter it; and added as a sufficient reason that the kunsi of Sarawak would by that time have killed all the white men in that country. He also said that he was very successful in enlisting members among the sago washers and other labourers in the capital, and that they had made up their minds to attack my house, and destroy me within a few weeks, and if my servants did not join the society they would share my fate.

I did not believe what was said about Sarawak, and any warning of mine would not have reached there for a month, but I did not altogether neglect this information, which was secretly given me by my butler, a Chinese, who had lived several years in England, and whose death by cholera in 1859 I much regretted; but sent to the sultan and ministers intimation of what I had heard, and the stern remark of the tumanggong, that if such an attack were made, not a Chinese should, by the following night, be left alive in the whole country, effectually curbed them. This Achang, though a very quarrelsome fellow, had soon a case of just complaint against a British subject, which he brought before my court; when it was over, I asked him how he would have obtained a settlement of his claims, if his intention to murder me had been carried out. I never saw a man’s countenance change more, and thinking he was about to fall on the ground, and to clasp my knees, either to beg for pardon, or, what is more probable, to entreat that I would not believe the story, I told my writer to lead him out of the court.

At Bau the letter from the Tien Ti Hué was shown to nakodah Jeludin by the writers of the kunsi, whilst he was detained a prisoner there, and this was not invented by him as a startling incident, but mentioned casually in the course of conversation; this Malay afterwards died fighting bravely in the last charge to break the ranks of the Chinese.

During the month of November, 1856, rumours were abroad that the Chinese gold company intended to surprise the stockades, which constituted the only defences of the town of Kuching, and which, as no enemy was suspected to exist in the country, were seldom guarded by above four men each; but Mr. Crookshank, who was then administering the government, took the precaution to man them with an efficient garrison, as it was said that during one of their periodical religious feasts, several hundred men were to collect quietly, and make a rush for the defences which contained the arsenal. On Sir James Brooke’s return, however, strict inquiries were instituted, but nothing could be discovered to implicate the gold company in a plot, and it appeared unlikely they would attempt it during the absence of the ruler who could have so soon revenged it.

On the 18th of February, the chiefs of the gold company assembled about 600 of their workmen at Bau, and placing all the available weapons in their hands, marched them down to their chief landing-place at Tundong, where a squadron of their large cargo boats was assembled. It is generally reported that, until they actually began to descend the stream, none but the heads of the movement knew the object, the men having been informed that they were to attack a Dayak village in Sambas, where some of their countrymen had lately been killed.

During their slow passage down the river, a Malay who was accustomed to trade with them, overtook them in a canoe, and actually induced them to permit him to pass, under the plea that his wife and children lived at a place called Batu Kawa, eight miles above the town, and would be frightened if they heard so many men passing, and he not there to reassure them; he pulled down as fast as he could till he reached the town of Kuching, and going straight to his relative, a Malay trader of the name of Gapur, who was a trustworthy and brave man, told him the story, but he said, “Don’t go and tell the chiefs or the rajah such a tissue of absurdities;” yet he went himself over to the bandhar and informed him; but the datu’s answer was, “The rajah is unwell, we have heard similar reports for the last twenty years; don’t go and bother him about it; I will tell him what your relative says in the morning.” This great security was caused by the universal belief that the Chinese could not commit so great a folly as to attempt to seize the government of the country, as they did not number above 4,000, while, at that time, the Malays and Dayaks, within the Sarawak territories, amounted to 200,000.