A system very much encouraged by the Borneans is to induce the Orang Kayas to sell as slaves all the orphans of a tribe, or the children of any poor Murut who cannot pay his debts: they are systematically corrupting the tribes. In hearing these stories of the Sultan and his nobles, which, I may add, I have no doubt are quite correctly and fairly told by the Muruts, as I have often heard the same or similar ones from the Borneans, I was reminded of the old Malay saying of the four qualities which a ruler should possess. The Borneans, though they know the words, have forgotten the spirit: a sovereign should be brave, just, patient, and yet possess the power of being angry. Old Japer makes me long to visit the great mountain of Tilong. I asked him to give me some idea of it; he answered, “Imagine the flat summit of Kina Balu carried higher till it ended in a peak;” it is occasionally white at the top, but rarely remains so for many hours after sunrise, so it does not reach the regions of perpetual snow. I should like to organize an expedition to explore it; he says it is quite practicable. I may even see the great diamond now in the hands of a Malau chief, who would even give it me if I would help him to destroy a Malay noble who attacked his house in order to get possession of this famous stone: the Malay was driven off, not however before he had lodged a ball in the jaw of the Malau chief. “To avenge this wound he would give you anything.” I told him I would go to see the mountain and the diamond, if he would take me; but he says he hopes to perform the pilgrimage to Mecca towards the end of the year, if I will assist him. He wants to see the land that “God made holy, and where He performed so many wonderful works.” He fears that, as now he is an old man, he may die without fulfilling the desire of his life. Speaking of the Malau diamond reminds me of the famous one formerly said to be possessed by the Sultan of Matan, for which he was offered immense sums. Borneo, however, has always been famous for its diamonds, which are worked at the present time by the Chinese and Malays at Landak, a country lying farther inland than Sambas; and there are two streams in Sarawak, the Santah, and a branch of the Quop, where diamonds of a very fine water have been found, but those places have not yet been regularly explored. Occasionally very pretty diamonds are brought over from the Dutch territories to Sarawak, but I have seldom examined them. It is never safe to trust to reports respecting diamonds; for instance, I was once informed that a noble in Brunei had a very large diamond which he wished to part with, but when we came to examine it, we found it was a pinkish topaz, as large as a pullet’s egg, and he asked a thousand pounds for it. CHAPTER III. MY LIMBANG JOURNAL--_continued_.