THE PART OF KUCHING SHOWN IN HEAD-PIECE OF PRESENT CHAPTER, AS IT NOW IS.]
Camoen's _Lusiad_ (Sir Richard Burton's translation.) Camoen here refers to the islands of the Malayan Archipelago, which he visited in his exile some 350 years ago.
St. John tells us that a few years before this an English ship that had put into the Sarawak river to water was treacherously seized; the Englishmen were murdered, and the Lascars sold into slavery.
A short time before the commencement of this history this place had been attacked by the Saribas Dayaks, and 120 people were slain.
Spencer St. John, _Sir James Brooke_, 1879.
Mr. Brooke. He was a good-looking man. Capt. the Hon. H. Keppel gives his portrait, the frontispiece to vol. i. of his _Expedition to Borneo of H.M.S. Dido_, which is incorrectly entitled the portrait of Rajah Muda Hasim.
Spelt Sahib by Mr. Brooke in his letters and journals, and by others, but correctly his name was Sahap. He had a reputation for bravery, and was styled by the Sekrang Dayaks "Bujang Brani," the brave man.
There is no strict law of primogeniture in Bruni, otherwise Rajah Muda Hasim could not have been heir-presumptive. As he was of royal blood, and the prince most fitted to succeed, he was looked upon as the heir to the throne, and was so acknowledged (publicly in 1846) by the Sultan, and was therefore more correctly heir-apparent. At this time Sultan Omar Ali had two sons, and the eldest, also named Hasim, must have been about thirty-five years of age. There was a disgraceful harem scandal in connection with their birth, which pointed to their having been the sons of a Nakoda, or merchant. Though this appears to have been generally credited, Hasim nevertheless became the 24th Sultan in 1885.
It may be noted here that Omar Ali himself was only _de facto_ Sultan, as he was never able to obtain the legal investiture which in Bruni constitutes an election to the throne _de jure_, and which confers upon the sovereign the title of _Iang de Pertuan_, the Lord who rules, the most exalted title, and one which he never assumed.
Or an abbreviation of Muhammad Husain. In former works he is incorrectly styled Moksain (for Matsain), following Mr. Brooke's published letters and journals, which were badly edited in regard to native names and words.