Note 288 — Chapter XI · THE END OF THE FIRST STAGE

Sir Spenser St. John says that, "ever since our Mission to Siam (of which the Rajah was the head, having been appointed Special Envoy by the Government) in 1850, Chaufa Mungkat (then Prime Minister, but very shortly afterwards he became the King) had kept up a private correspondence with the Rajah of Sarawak, in whose doings he showed great interest." This King afterwards presented the Rajah with a Siamese State barge, still in use, and a gold snuff-box. We mention this to show the power of the Rajah's influence, and to what good purposes that influence might have been put.