What these sufferings were, Mr. Keyser, who was Consul at Bruni, fully sets forth in his report to the Foreign Office for 1899. He wrote: "Such trade as there was has completely fallen off, and the monthly steamer from Singapore has ceased its visits. The debts and difficulties of the Sultan and his chiefs have so increased with time that this state of affairs naturally reacts upon the people. With the exception of catching fish, no one does any work, and all live in poverty and constant want of food. Hundreds of families have left, and continue to leave, to escape the seizure of their women and children by impecunious headmen, who wish to relieve their own necessities by selling them as slaves.[320] Others are driven from the country by the infliction of fines, and the exorbitant demands of those Chinese and money-lenders to whom the collection of taxes and all saleable rights have been long since transferred for cash. Those traders have full power to oppress the people, and they do so remorselessly. In a short space of time, if the present Government continues, Bruni will be empty of inhabitants." The two small provinces, the river districts of Tutong and Belait, now remaining to the Sultan, have been in a constant state of revolt. In June, 1899,[321] the people of these rivers openly threw off their allegiance and hoisted the Sarawak flag, an act which caused some excitement in the East, and a good deal of comment in English papers. The principal chiefs then waited upon the Rajah, and begged him to take over their country, a petition that was repeated shortly afterwards. The British Consul was informed by them that they absolutely refused to remain under Bruni rule, and they prayed to be placed under that of Sarawak. But the Consul could only report; and that Government, which had "no right and certainly no inclination to interfere," again proved obstructive, and the people were forced to continue a hopeless effort to gain their liberty. A desultory war commenced, weak in attack from want of power,[322] and weak in resistance from lack of ammunition and supplies. Treachery was resorted to by those sent to suppress the revolt. As an instance of one cold-blooded deed, Pangiran Tejudin, the Sultan's son-in-law, of whom one infamous act has already been recorded, persuaded the inhabitants of some of the Tutong villages to submit, under a guarantee that their lives and property would be spared. To ratify the terms, the pangiran took twenty-five men from these villages to the Tutong town, and there they were bound and confined. Then one man from each village was selected, placed bound within a fence, and there at intervals slashed at until all had bled to death. Seven only managed to escape.