The south-west monsoon was now blowing fiercely, and brought up with it heavy clouds and drenching rain, and our plain speedily became a fetid swamp, which laid many low with fever and ague. In an interval of fine weather we proceeded to Brunei in the _Jolly Bachelor_, a vessel belonging to the Rajah, but manned by blue-jackets, the steam tender _Ranee_ and some other boats, to ratify our treaty with the Sultan, and found prepared for us a long, low shed of a house, in which we all took up our quarters. Brunei was in truth a Venice of hovels, or rather huts, perched on posts driven into the mud banks found in the broad river. Everything looked as though it were falling to decay—the palace, the mosque, the houses of the pangerans, in fact, the whole city of perhaps 20,000 inhabitants. The wretched Sultan was even then suffering from a disease—cancer on the lip—which carried him off a few years subsequently. He was a mean-looking creature, and his previous atrocities had earned for him the description, ‘the head of an idiot and the heart of a pirate.’ After finishing our business we returned to Labuan. I never spent such a wretched month as that of November 1848. After a short respite the south-west monsoon began to blow again, the rain fell in torrents, the sea was driven up to such a height that the waves washed under all our houses, which were built on piles, and destroyed many of our stores. The Rajah’s English servant attributed the diminution of the wine and brandy to the same cause. Fever was soon upon us. First the marines and blue-jackets fell ill and many died; then all our Chinese workmen and Kling servants; then Sir James Brooke, the Lieutenant-Governor, the Colonial Secretary, the Colonial Doctor, Captain Brooke, Mr Grant, and many others were down with this weakening disease. The only ones to escape were Mr Scott and myself. Admiral Collier arrived during this period, and fled, panic-stricken, from the place, and ever after did all in his power to injure the colony, and certainly did what he could to keep Her Majesty’s vessels away, though those on board ship scarcely ever suffered. There was gloom in every house; even the Chinese would not stay, and went over to establish themselves in the capital. Fortunately the barracks for the Madras garrison had been built on the swelling ground at the back of the plain, and to this place the Governor sent all those he could. While there they quickly recovered, and it was decided to have fresh houses built for the whole staff near the military quarters. At the end of November the weather began to improve, as the north-east monsoon made itself felt, and the _Meander_ fortunately arrived, and Keppel insisting, Sir James and some of his staff were embarked on board, and we sailed along the north-west coast on the way to Balambangan Island, where an English vessel had been wrecked. Finding her burnt to the water’s edge, Sir James decided to proceed to Sulu and visit the Sultan.