It is not surprising that these men occasionally commit crimes when an example is set by the highest officers of state. Makota, who was in the habit of getting into debt, and seldom troubling himself about payment, owed a Chinese trader, Si Panjang, a considerable sum of money. The constant dunning of this creditor at last produced a quarrel, and the Chinese used some expressions which Makota considered very insulting; so next morning he sent the Bindari, one of his officers, to affix a notice to Si Panjang’s door, giving notice that he was no longer under the protection of government. Five days after a fire burst out in that dwelling, which not only consumed the trader’s house, but extended so as to burn down half the Chinese quarter, and the loss was estimated at 20,000_l._ Though long suspected, the fact was not made clear till after Makota’s death. The fire took place in July, 1856, two months before I took up my residence in Brunei. Thefts and robberies are nominally punished by cutting off the hand, but this penalty has fallen into disuse since the advent of the English. There are, however, two men to be seen about the town who have lost a hand as a punishment. Sometimes a fine is inflicted, but generally the culprit is let off after a few days in the stocks. It is an interesting fact, that the sultan and many of the older men always fix an event by saying this occurred before or after the fall of ashes, referring to that awful eruption which took place in April, 1815, when the mountain of Timboro in Sambawa burst forth and covered every country near with a fall of ashes. Sir Stamford Raffles has given a graphic account of it in his “_History of Java_”, and I only mention the fact now, as Brunei, where some of the ashes fell, must be above nine hundred miles from the volcano. At Sarawak it is also constantly referred to. I have described in a previous chapter the appearance of the river, but I have not mentioned that here I have most often heard the singing or hummingfish, which sticks to the bottom of the boats, and produces a sound something like that of a Jew’s-harp struck slowly, though sometimes it increases in loudness so as to resemble the full sound and tones of an organ. My men have pointed me out a fish about four inches long as the author of the music. It is marked with alternate stripes of black and yellow across the back.