In Sarawak affairs were in a bad state. The unreasonable efforts made by its Government to support Pangeran Matusin in Muka, the savage instigator of the civil war, were the cause of much strife, and the illegal conduct of the officer administering the Government was deeply resented in Borneo. The Sarawak officials were possessed with the monomania that the Sultan of Borneo was always intriguing against them, which was a pure myth, as the Brunei Government had neither the energy nor the power to affect them. The intriguers were within their own territories, for whilst they were watching for outside plots and hostile action, a dangerous conspiracy was being hatched by some discontented chiefs. The heads of this conspiracy were the ex-Datu Patingi Gapoor, now named Datu Haji, as he had made the pilgrimage to Mecca, who had been permitted to return to Sarawak after the Chinese insurrection, and Sherif Musahor, a chief of Arabian descent, established on the Rejang. The first evidence of this treachery was the surprise of the fort at Kanowit, and the murder of two Sarawak officers, Messrs Fox and Steele. Yet so ignorant of the real plotters were the English officials at the capital, that when an expedition was sent to punish the murderers, Tani, one of our best friends, was accused as an accomplice and was executed. As he was led forth to death he protested his innocence, but added, ‘You will soon know who is the real culprit.’ In the end not one of the actual murderers escaped, as they were tracked for years, and were all ultimately killed. Sherif Musahor, however, was the real instigator of these murders, and the truth soon came out that the Datu Haji and he were the promoters of all the disturbances. The former was banished and the latter driven out of the country. He had practically no influence in Sarawak, and the Malay chiefs were as ready to follow Charles Johnson in his campaign against him as against any other enemy of the Government. All the stories about his mysterious influence were all nonsense, and had no effect on the minds of the Sarawak people. Some of the biographers of Sir James Brooke have fallen into the error of supposing that Sarawak was abandoned by the English Government during these perilous years. This, as I have already shown, was not so, for immediately after the Chinese insurrection, both Lord Palmerston and Lord Clarendon offered a Protectorate, but this offer was refused, except under conditions difficult for the British Government to accept. A naval station placed within Sarawak territory was also proposed; this likewise was rejected. Therefore, it must be confessed, the charge of entirely abandoning Sarawak was not well founded, as the refusal to accept British protection tied the hands of Ministers. The British Government went as far as they thought they could safely go, but, as I have already remarked, the Rajah did not feel satisfied with a bare Protectorate, as he mistrusted their sincerity.