The miserable fugitives, reduced to two thousand, of whom above a half were women and children, sat down among the houses of the village of Sidin, and many of them it is said wept not only for the loss of friends and goods they had suffered from the insensate ambition of the kunsi, but that they must give up all hope of ever returning to their old peaceful homes. The kunsi, which on the night of the surprise had numbered six hundred men, were now reduced to a band of about a hundred, but these kept well together, and were better armed than the others, and formed the principal guard of the Taipekong, or sacred stone, which they had through all their disasters preserved inviolate. Several times the assailants, who mistook it for the gold chest, had nearly captured it, but on the cry being raised that the Taipekong was in peril, the men gathered round and carried it securely through all danger. But here at Sidin, all immediate apprehension being over, the discontent of those who had been forced to join the rebels burst forth without control, so that from words they soon came to blows, and the small band of the kunsi’s men was again reduced by thirty or forty from the anger of their countrymen. Continuing their disorderly retreat, they were met by the officers of the Dutch government, who very properly took from them all their plunder and arms, and being uncertain which was their own property, erred on the safe side by stripping them of everything. Thus terminated the most absurd and causeless rebellion that ever occurred, which, during its continuance, displayed every phase of Chinese character: arrogance, secrecy, combination, an utter incapability of looking to the consequences of events or actions, and a belief in their own power and courage, which every event belied. The Chinese never have fought even decently, and yet till the very moment of trial comes they act as if they were invincible. I think this insurrection shows that though the Chinese require watching, they are not in any way formidable as an enemy, and it also proves how firmly the Sarawak government is rooted in the hearts of the people, since in the darkest hour there was no whisper of infidelity. Had the Chinese been five times as numerous, there were forces in the background which would have destroyed them all. Before the Chinese had fled across the border thousands of Seribas and Sakarang Dayaks had arrived, and the people of Sadong were marching overland to attack them in rear, while the distant out stations were mustering strong forces, which arrived only to find all danger past.