"The domestic policy is as disturbed as the foreign. The rajah weak, Macota intriguing, and my ministers--viz., the Patingi (Abong Mia), the Bandar, and Tumangong--all false and foolish, and Macota's men; with me, however, are the Siniawans. "_Jan. 6th._--The Sambas brig returned, having been baffled and beat about, and nearly lost at sea, unable to weather Tanjong Datu. The crew say she was one hour under water. She now remains here to wait the change of the monsoon, and her intriguing Pangerans return by land. "_8th._--Seriff Hussein returned from Sambas, having been nearly stabbed while there. The assassins, it was understood, were here, and I endeavored to apprehend them; but, having heard of the seriff's arrival, they made off. "_10th._--This day the first laws and regulations are to be promulgated in Sarawak; and as the event is a rare one, I here inscribe a copy for the benefit of future legislators, observing that there is an absolute necessity for mildness and patience, and that an opposite course would raise such a host of enemies as to crush every good seed; for, as it is, the gentlest course of justice brings down much odium, and arouses intense dislike among a people who have had no law but their own vile intrigues to guide or control them. "Two cases have lately come to notice, which will serve as examples of their singular crimes. "One poor man owed another sixteen reals, and the debtor was away trading for a few days, when the creditor sold the daughter (a free woman) for thirty reals, to a person of influence. "The second case, a respectable man, or a respectably born man, owed a Pangeran fifty peculs of ore, and proposed to make over to him in payment, a slave woman and her four children. The woman _had been_ a slave of his grandfather's, but was adopted as his daughter, and enfranchised publicly; yet by intimidation, they were near getting her and her offspring. Here the Pangerans and Nakodas bully a man into silence and acquiescence; and the people dare not, as yet, bring their complaints to me. But I hear these things, call the parties together, and often prevent the commission of a premeditated crime; by which means I save myself from the odium of punishing. "There is great difficulty in acting at once with temper and firmness, so as to appear the benefactor rather than the tyrant. It is, indeed, an arduous and troublesome task; but _I think I see_ a ray of light to encourage me. "Here are the regulations, which I had printed at Singapore in the Malayan language:-- "James Brooke, esquire, governor (rajah), of the country of Sarawak, makes known to all men the following regulations:-- "'1st. That murder, robbery, and other heinous crimes will be punished according to the ondong-ondong (_i.e._ the written law of Borneo); and no person committing such offences will escape, if, after fair inquiry, he be proved guilty.