The Bajus of Mengkabong are, as I have said, a very lawless people, and the following anecdote, told me by Signor Cuarteron, will assist to prove it. He was anchored opposite his chapel in Lokporin, when he heard that there was fighting in Mengkabong, and, on inquiry, found that a boat, returning from Labuan to Cagayan Sulu, had put into that place for water, and was being attacked by the Bajus. He instantly manned his boats and pulled round to the salt-water lake. On arriving near the first village, he saw several hundred men assembled in prahus, round a detached house, near which a trading-boat was fastened, and guns were occasionally discharged. He inquired the reason, and the Bajus declared they were going to revenge the death or captivity of some of their countrymen who had disappeared a few months before, and whom, they had heard, people from Cagayan Sulu had attacked. It was immaterial to them whether these were the guilty parties or not, if they came from the same country. Signor Cuarteron then pulled up to the detached house, to find from its beleaguered inmates who they were. He soon discovered they were peaceful traders, not concerned in the outrage of the spring; upon which, by dint of threats and persuasion, he was enabled to rescue them from the Bajus, and escort them to the mouth of the Mengkabong--a very creditable action of the priest. The lawlessness of the Bajus is notorious, and they are now seldom employed, since the murder of some Chinese traders, who trusted them to form the crew of their boat. Pañgeran Duroup, the nominal ruler of this place, always kept aloof from these things, as the Bajus despised any order he gave; in fact, their open defiance of his authority had induced him to remove from the town to a little island nearly facing the mouth, whose low land was formed of mud on a bed of water-worn pebbles. A very barbarous custom exists on this coast--that wrecks and their crews belong to the chief of the district where they may suffer their misfortune. The Bajus used to give us much trouble on this account, though they would now assist the distressed, if they belonged to an English vessel, as they are well aware of our power to reward or punish. As an instance of the above practice, I may relate an incident which took place whilst I was in Brunei. A large prahu sailing from Palawan to the Spanish settlement of Balabak was caught in a violent storm, and the captain noticed that his canoe, which, according to custom, he was towing behind, was rapidly filling with water; he therefore anchored, and ordered three men to get into and bail it out. The storm continued, and driving rain and mist rendered every object indistinct, when suddenly the towing rope parted, and the canoe drifted away. The three men, having no paddles, soon lost sight of their prahu, and continued driving before the wind.