There is at the present time a branch of the Tien Ti Hué, established in our colony of Labuan, and last August its meeting-house was discovered in the depths of the forest, but none of its members were caught unlawfully assembling, though all its chief officers are well known to the police, and as Labuan is a penal settlement for Chinese convicts, the evil of permitting the secret societies to continue is obvious. The danger to be apprehended from the secret societies is that all the members are banded together by the most solemn oaths, and under the penalty of death, not to divulge one of its secrets, and to aid and assist its members under every circumstance; to bear no witness against them, whatever may be their crimes, to shield fugitives from the laws of the country, and lastly to carry out the orders of their chiefs, whatever may be the consequences. In Singapore murdered men were formerly often found with the mark of the secret societies upon them, and the ordinary operations of the law are insufficient to meet these cases. In fact, when any of their members are brought to trial, the wealth of these great societies is sufficient to enable them to engage the services of the best advocates, and to bribe most of the witnesses, and the Singapore government has been thwarted in its efforts to put down the secret societies, and to prevent pirate junks arming in the harbours, by the technicalities of judges totally unacquainted with the condition of eastern society, and by the perseverance of some of the lawyers there, who consider it right to defend those curses to the country by every means which are placed within their reach, by laws intended to meet the requirements of a highly civilized people like the English, and not a wild gathering from a hundred different countries, such as is to be found in Singapore. Not to interrupt the narrative, I have not before noticed that during the height of the insurrection, when the rebels had only been driven from the town a few days, news came that several hundred Chinese fugitives from the Dutch territories had crossed the borders towards the sources of the left-hand branch of the Sarawak, and were seeking the protection of the Sarawak government. Though harassed by incessant work, the rajah did not neglect their appeal, but immediately despatched trustworthy men, who safely piloted them through the excited Dayaks, who thought that every man who “wore a tail” ought now to be put to death. No incident could better illustrate the great influence possessed by the rajah over the Dayaks and Malays, and his thoughtful care of the true interests of the country, during even the most trying circumstances. CHAPTER XIV. THE MISSIONS: ROMAN CATHOLIC AND PROTESTANT.