the bottom, are the worst feature in the social condition of the Chinese colonists, and in Sarawak a summary method of suppressing them has been adopted. The penalty for belonging to one of these societies is death. When Sir JAMES BROOKE took over Sarawak, there was a considerable Chinese population, settled for generations in the country and recruited from Dutch territory, where they had been subject to no supervision by the Government, whose hold over the country was merely nominal. They were principally gold diggers, and being accustomed to manage their own affairs and settle their disputes amongst themselves, they resented any interference from the new rulers, and, in 1857, a misunderstanding concerning the opium revenue having occurred, they suddenly rose in arms and seized the capital. It was some time before the Raja's forces could be collected and let loose upon them, when large numbers were killed and the majority of the survivors took refuge in Dutch territory. The scheme for introducing Chinese pepper and gambier planters into Sarawak was set on foot in 1878 or 1879, and has proved a decided success, though, as Vice-Consul CADELL remarked in 1886, it is difficult to understand why even larger numbers have not availed themselves of the terms offered "since coolies have the protection of the Sarawak Government, which further grants them free passages from Singapore, whilst the climate is a healthy one, and there are no dangers to be feared from wild animals, tigers being unknown in Sarawak." The fact remains that, though there is plenty of available land, there is an insufficiency of Chinese labour still. The quantity of pepper exported in 1885 was 392 tons, valued at £19,067, and of gambier 1,370 tons, valued at £23,772. Sarawak is said to supply more than half of the sago produce of the world. The value of the sago it exported in 1885 is returned at £35,953. Of the purely uncultivated jungle products that figure in the exports the principal are gutta-percha, India rubber, and rattans.