In those days many of the Sea Dyaks joined the Malays in their piratical attacks upon trading boats. It was the practice of the Malay pirates and their Dyak allies to wreck and destroy every vessel that came near their shores, to murder most of the crew who offered any resistance, and to make slaves of the rest. The Malay fleet consisted of a large number of long war-boats, or _prahus_, each about ninety or more feet long, and carrying a brass gun in the bows, the pirates being armed with swords and spears and muskets. Each boat was paddled by from sixty to eighty men. These terrible craft skulked about in the sheltered coves waiting for their prey, and attacked merchant-vessels making the passage between China and Singapore. These piratical raids were often made with the secret sanction of the native rulers, who obtained a share of the spoil as the price of their connivance. The Dyaks of Saribas and Skrang and the Balaus gladly joined the Malays in these expeditions, not only for the sake of obtaining booty, but because they could thus indulge in their favourite pursuit, and gain glory for themselves by bringing home human heads to decorate their houses with. The Dyak _bangkongs_ were long boats capable of holding as many as eighty men. They often had a flat roof, from which the warriors fought, while their comrades paddled below. Both the piracy and the terrible custom of head-hunting were put down by Sir James Brooke. The romantic story of how he came to be the first Rajah of Sarawak may here be briefly recalled. James Brooke was born on April 29, 1803. His father was a member of the Civil Service of the East India Company, and spent a great many years in India. Following in his father’s footsteps, he entered the Company’s service, and was sent out to India in 1825. Not long after his arrival he was put in command of a regiment of soldiers, and ordered to Burmah, where he took part in the Burmese War; and, being dangerously wounded in an engagement, was compelled to return home on furlough. For over four years his health prevented him from rejoining his regiment, and when at last he started, the voyage out was so protracted, through a shipwreck and other misfortunes, that his furlough had expired before he was able to reach his destination. His appointment consequently lapsed, and he quitted the service in 1830. In that same year he made a voyage to China, and was struck by the natural beauty and fertility of the islands of the Indian Archipelago, and horrified with the savagery of the tribes inhabiting them, who were continually at war with one another, and engaged in a monstrous system of piracy. He conceived the grand idea of rescuing them from barbarism, and of extirpating piracy in the Eastern Archipelago.