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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/27547-8.txt b/27547-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8e925ac --- /dev/null +++ b/27547-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6941 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, British Borneo, by W. H. Treacher + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: British Borneo + Sketches of Brunai, Sarawak, Labuan, and North Borneo + + +Author: W. H. Treacher + + + +Release Date: December 16, 2008 [eBook #27547] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRITISH BORNEO*** + + +E-text prepared by a Project Gutenberg volunteer from digital material +generously made available by Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org) + + + +Note: Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive. See + http://www.archive.org/details/yonderyo00gavarich + + + + + +BRITISH BORNEO: + +Sketches of Brunai, Sarawak, Labuan, and North Borneo. + +by + +W. H. TREACHER, C.M.G., M.A. OXON., +Secretary to the Government of Perak, +Formerly Administrator of Labuan and +H.B.M. Acting Consul-General in Borneo, +First Governor of British North Borneo. + + + + + + + +Reprinted from the Journal of the Straits Settlements Branch +of the Royal Asiatic Society. + +Singapore: +Printed at the Government Printing Department. +1891. + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS. + + + CHAPTER I. PAGES 1-11. + + THE Hudson's Bay Company's Charter, 1670. British North Borneo + Company's Charter, November 1881, as a territorial power. The + example followed by Germany. Borneo the second largest island in + the world. Visited by Friar Odoric, 1322, by Berthema, 1503; but + not generally known until, in 1518 Portuguese, and in 1521 + Spanish, expeditions touched there. Report of Pigafetta, the + companion of Magellan, who found there a Chinese trading + community. Origin of the name Borneo; sometimes known as + Kalamantan. Spanish attack on Brunai, 1573. First Dutch + connection, 1600; first British connection, 1609. Diamonds. + Factory established by East India Company at Banjermassin, 1702, + expelled by natives. British capture of Manila, 1762, and + acquisition of Balambangan, followed by cession of Northern Borneo + and part of Palawan. Spanish claims to Borneo abandoned by + Protocol, 1885. Factory established at Balambangan, 1771, expelled + by Sulus, 1775; re-opened 1803 and abandoned the following year. + Temporary factory at Brunai. Pepper trade. Settlement of + Singapore, 1819. Attracted trade of Borneo, Celebes, &c. Pirates. + Brooke acquired Sarawak 1840, the first permanent British + possession. Labuan a British Colony, 1846. The Dutch protest. + Their possessions in Borneo. Spanish claims. Concessions of + territory acquired by Mr. Dent, 1877-78. The monopolies of the + first Europeans ruined trade: better prospect now opening. United + States connection with Borneo. Population. Malays, their Mongolian + origin. Traces of a Caucasic race, termed Indonesians. Buludupih + legend. Names of aboriginal tribes. Pagans and Mahomedans. + + + CHAPTER II. PAGES 11-33. + + Description of Brunai, the capital, and its river. Not a typical + Malayan river. Spanish Catholic Mission. British Consulate. Inche + Mahomed. Moses and a former American Consulate. Pigafetta's + estimate of population in 1521, 150,000. Present estimate, 12,000. + Decay of Brunai since British connection. Life of a Brunai noble; + of the children; of the women. Modes of acquiring slaves: 'forced + trade.' Condition of slaves. Character and customs of Brunai + Malays. Their religion, gambling, cock-fighting: _amoks_, + marriage. Sultan and ministers and officers of the state. How + paid. Feudal rights--Ka-rájahan, Kouripan, Pusaka. Ownership of + land. Modes of taxation. Laws. Hajis. Punishments. Executions. A + naval officer's mistake. No army, navy, or police, but the people + universally armed. Cannon foundries. Brass guns as currency. + Dollars and copper coinage. Taxation. Revenue; tribute from + Sarawak and North Borneo; coal resources. + + + CHAPTER III. PAGES 33-62. + + Pigafetta's description of Brunai in 1521. Elephants. Reception by + the King. Use of spirituous liquors. Population. Floating Market. + Spoons. Ladies appearing in public. Obeisance. Modes of addressing + nobles. The use of yellow confined to the Royal Family. Umbrellas + closed when passing the Palace. Nobles only can sit in the stern + of a boat. Ceremonies at a Royal reception; bees-wax candles. + + Mr. Dalrymple's description of Brunai in 1884. Quakers' meeting. + Way to a Malay's heart lies through his pocket. Market place and + hideous women. Beauties of the Harems. Present population. + Cholera. Exports. Former Chinese pepper plantations. Good water + supply. Nobles corrupt; lower classes not. The late Sultan Mumim. + The present Sultan. Kampongs, or parishes and guilds. Methods of + fishing: Kèlongs; Rambat; peculiar mode of prawn-catching; + Serambau; Pukat; hook and line; tuba fishing. Sago. Tobacco; its + growth and use. Areca-nut; its use and effects. Costumes of men + and women. Jewellery. Weapons. The _kris_; _parang_; _bliong_; + _parang ílang_. The Kayans imitated by the Dyaks in a curious + personal adornment. Canoes: dug-outs; _pakerangan_; prahus; + tongkangs; steering gear; similarity to ancient Vikings' boat; + boat races. Paddling. The Brunais teetotallers and temperate. + Business and political negotiations transacted through agents. + Time no object. The place of signatures taken by seals or _chops_. + The great seal of state. Brunais styled by the aborigines, _Orang + Abai_. By religion Mahomedans, but Pagan superstitions cling to + them; instances. Traces of Javanese and Hindu influences. A native + chronicle of Brunai; Mahomedanism established about 1478; + connection of Chinese with Borneo; explanation of the name + Kina-balu applied to the highest mountain in the island. Pepper + planting by Chinese in former years. Mention of Brunai in Chinese + history. Tradition of an expedition by Kublai Khan. The Chinese + driven away by misgovernment. Their descendants in the Bundu + district. Other traces of Chinese intercourse with Borneo. Their + value as immigrants. European expeditions against Brunai. How + Rajah Brooke acquired Sarawak amidst the roar of cannon. Brooke's + heroic disinterestedness. His appointment as British confidential + agent in Borneo. The episode of the murder of Rajah Muda Hassim + and his followers. Brunai attacked by Admiral Sir Thomas Cochrane. + Captain Rodney Mundy follows the Sultan into the jungle. The + batteries razed and peace proclaimed. + + + CHAPTER IV. PAGES 63-77. + + Sarawak under the Brooke dynasty. By incorporation of other rivers + extends over 40,000 square miles, coast line 380 miles, population + 280,000. Limbang annexed by Sarawak. Further extension impossible. + The Trusan river; 'trowser wearers'; acquired by Sarawak. The + Limbang, the rice pot of Brunai. The Cross flown in the Muhamadan + capital by pagan savages. A launch decorated with skulls. Dyak + militia, the Sarawak 'Rangers,' and native police force. Peace of + Sarawak kept by the people. Cheap government. Absolute Monarchy. + Nominated Councils. The 'Civil Service,' 'Residents.' Law, custom, + equity and common sense. Slavery abolished. Sources of + revenue--'Opium Farm' monopoly, poll tax, customs, excise, fines + and fees. Revenue and expenditure. Early financial straits. + Sarawak offered to England, France and Holland. The Borneo Company + (Ltd.). Public debt. Advantages of Chinese immigration 'Without + the Chinese we can do nothing.' Java an exception. Chinese are + good traders, agriculturists, miners, artizans, &c.: sober and + law-abiding. Chinese secret societies and faction fights; death + penalty for membership. Insurrection of Chinese, 1857. Chinese + pepper and gambier planters. Exports--sago and jungle produce. + Minerals--antimony, cinnabar, coal. Trade--agriculture. + Description of the capital--Kuching. Sir Henry Keppel and Sir + James Brooke. Piracy. 'Head money.' Charges against Sir J. Brooke. + Recognition of Sarawak by United States and England. British + protectorate. Death of Sir J. Brooke. Protestant and Roman + Catholic Missions. Bishops MacDougal and Hose. Father Jackson. + Mahomedans' conversion not attempted. + + + CHAPTER V. PAGES 77-84. + + Incident of the Limbang rebellion against Sultan of Brunai. + Oppression of the nobles. Irregular taxation--Chukei basoh batis, + bongkar sauh, tulongan, chop bibas, &c. The orang kayas. Repulse + of the Tummonggong. Brunai threatened. Intervention of the writer + as acting Consul General. Datu Klassi. Meeting broken up on news + of attack by Muruts. Sultan's firman eventually accepted. + Demonstration by H.M.S. _Pegasus_. 'Cooking heads' in Brunai + river. Death of Sultan Mumim. Conditions of firman not observed by + successor. Sir Frederick Weld visits and reports on North Borneo + and Brunai. Legitimate extension of Sarawak to be encouraged. + + + CHAPTER VI. PAGES 84-92. + + The Colony of Labuan, ceded to England in return for assistance + against pirates. For similar reasons monopoly of pepper trade + granted to the East India Company in 1774. First British + connection with Labuan in 1775, on expulsion from Balambangan. + Belcher and Brooke visit Brunai, 1844, to enquire into alleged + detention of an European female. Offer of cession of Labuan. Rajah + Muda Hassim. At Sultan's request, British attack Osman, in Marudu + Bay, 1845. Brooke recognised as the Queen's agent in Borneo. + Captain Mundy, R.N., under Lord Palmerston's instructions, hoists + British flag in Labuan, 24th Dec., 1846. Brooke appointed the + first Governor, 1847, being at the same time British + representative in Borneo, and independent ruler of Sarawak. His + staff of 'Queen's officers'; concluded present treaty with Brunai; + ceased to be Governor 1851. Sir Hugh Low, Sir J. Pope Hennessy, + Sir Henry Bulwer, Sir Charles Lees. Original expectations of the + Colony not realized. Description of the island. The Kadayans. + Agriculture, timber, trade. Overshadowed by Singapore, Sarawak, + and North Borneo. Writer's suggestion for proclaiming British + Protectorate over North Borneo, and assigning to it the Government + of Labuan, has been adopted. Population of Labuan. Its coal + measures and the failure of successive companies to work them; now + being worked by Central Borneo Company (Ltd.). Chinese and natives + worked well under Europeans. Revenue and expenditure. Labuan + self-supporting since 1860. High-sounding official titles. One + officer plays many parts. Labuan celebrated for its fruits, + introduced by Sir Hugh Low. Sir Hugh's influence; instance of, + when writer was fired on by Sulus. H.M.S. _Frolic_ on a rock. + Captain Buckle, R.N. Dr. Treacher's coco-nut plantation. The + Church. + + + CHAPTER VII. PAGES 92-103. + + British North Borneo; mode of acquisition; absence of any real + native government; oppression of the inland pagans by the coast + Muhamadans. Failure of American syndicate's Chinese colonization + scheme in 1865. Colonel Torrey interests Baron Overbeck in the + American concessions; Overbeck interests Sir Alfred Dent, who + commissions him to acquire a transfer of the concessions from the + Sultans of Brunai and Sulu, 1877-78. The ceded territory known as + Sabah. Meaning of the term. Spanish claims on ground of suzerainty + over Sulu. Not admitted by the British Government. The writer + ordered to protest against Spanish claims to North Borneo, 1879. + Spain renounced claims, by Protocol, 1885. Holland, on ground of + the Treaty of 1824, objected to a British settlement in Borneo; + also disputed the boundary between Dutch and British Borneo. The + writer 'violates' Netherland territory and hoists the Company's + flag on the south bank of the Siboku, 1883. Annual tribute paid to + the Brunai Government. Certain intervening independent rivers + still to be acquired. Dent's first settlements at Sandakan, + Tampassuk, and Pappar. Messrs. Pryer, Pretyman, Witti, and + Everett. Opposition of Datu Bahar at Pappar. Difficult position of + the pioneer officers. Respect for Englishmen inspired by Brooke's + exploits. Mr. W. H. Read. Mr. Dent forms a 'Provisional + Association' pending grant of a Royal Charter, 1881, composed of + Sir Rutherford Alcock, A. Dent, R. B. Martin, Admiral Mayne, W. H. + Read. Sir Rutherford energetically advocates the scheme from + patriotic motives. The British North Borneo Company incorporated + by Royal Charter, 1st November, 1881; nominal capital two + millions, £20 shares. 33,030 shares issued. Powers and conditions + of the Charter. Flag. + + + CHAPTER VIII. PAGES 103-117. + + Area of British North Borneo exceeds that of Ceylon; points of + similarity; styled 'The New Ceylon.' Joseph Hatton's book. Tobacco + planters attracted from Sumatra. Coast-line, harbours, stations. + Sandakan town and harbour; founded by Mr. Pryer. Destroyed by + fire. Formerly used as a blockade station by Germans trading with + Sulu. Capture of the blockade runner _Sultana_ by the Spaniards. + Rich virgin soil and fever. Owing to propinquity of Hongkong and + Singapore, North Borneo cannot become an emporium for eastern + trade. Its mineralogical resources not yet ascertained. Gold, + coal, and other minerals known to exist. Gold on the Segama river. + Rich in timber. 'Billian' or iron-wood; camphor. Timber Companies. + On board one of Her Majesty's ships billian proved three times as + durable as lignum vitæ. Mangrove forests. Monotony of tropical + scenery. Trade--a list of exports. Edible birds'-nests. + Description of the great Gomanton birds'-nests caves. Mr + Bampfylde. Bats' Guano. Mode of collecting nests. Lady and Miss + Brassey visit the Madai caves, 1887. Bêche-de-mer, shark fins, + cuttle fish. Position of Sandakan on the route between Australia + and China--importance as a possible naval station. Shipping. + Postal arrangements. Coinage. Currency. Banking. Probable cable + station. + + + CHAPTER IX. PAGES 117-127. + + Importance of the territory as a field for the cultivation of the + fine tobacco used for 'wrappers.' Profits of Sumatra Tobacco + Companies. Climate and Soil. Rainfall. Seasons. Dr. Walker. The + sacred mountain, Kina-balu. Description of tobacco cultivation. + Chinese the most suitable labour for tobacco; difficulty in + procuring sufficient coolies. Count Geloes d'Elsloo. Coolies + protected by Government. Terms on which land can be acquired. + Tobacco export duty. Tobacco grown and universally consumed by the + natives. Fibre plants. Government experimental garden. + Sappan-wood. Cotton flock. + + + CHAPTER X. PAGES 127-147. + + Erroneous ideas as to the objects of the Company. Difficult to + steal Highlanders' trowsers. Natives 'take no thought for the + morrow.' The Company does not engage in trade or agriculture. The + Company's capital is a loan to the country, to be repaid with + interest as the country developes under its administration. Large + area of land to be disposed of without encroaching on native + rights. Land sales regulations. Registration of titles. Minerals + reserved. Transfer from natives to foreigners effected through the + Government. Form of Government--the Governor, Residents, &c. Laws + and Proclamations. The Indian Penal, Criminal, and Civil procedure + codes adopted. Slavery--provision in the Charter regarding. Slave + legislation by the Company. Summary of Mr. Witti's report on the + slave system. Messrs. Everett and Fryer's reports. Commander + Edwards, R.N., attacks the kidnapping village of Teribas in H.M.S. + _Kestrel_. Slave keeping no longer pays. Religious customs of the + natives preserved by the Charter. Employment of natives as + Magistrates, &c. Head-hunting. Audit of 'Heads Account.' Human + sacrifices. Native punishments for adultery and theft. Causes of + scanty population. Absence of powerful warlike tribes. Head + hunting--its origin. An incident in Labuan. Mr. A. Cook. Mr. + Jesse's report on the Muruts to the East India Company. Good + qualities of the aborigines. Advice to young officers. The + Muhamadans of the coast, the Brunais, Sulus, Bajows. Capture by + Bajows of a boat from an Austrian frigate. Baron Oesterreicher. + Gambling and cattle lifting. The independent intervening rivers. + Fatal affray in the Kawang river: death of de Fontaine, Fraser and + others. Mr. Little. Mr. Whitehead. Bombardment of Bajow villages + by Captain A. K. Hope, R.N., H.M.S. _Zephyr_. Captain Alington, + R.N., in H.M.S. _Satellite_. The Illanuns and Balinini. Absence of + Negritos. The 'tailed' people. Desecration of European graves. + Muhamadans' sepulture. Burial customs of the aborigines. + + + CHAPTER XI. PAGES 147-165. + + Importance of introducing Chinese into Borneo. Java not an + example. Sir Walter Medhurst Commissioner of Chinese immigration. + The Hakka Chinese settlers. Sir Spencer St. John on Chinese + immigration. The revenue and expenditure of the territory. Zeal + of the Company's officers. Armed Sikh and Dyak police. Impossible + to raise a native force. Heavy expenditure necessary in the first + instance. Carping critics. Cordial support from Sir Cecil Clementi + Smith and the Government of the Straits Settlements. Visit of Lord + Brassey--his article in the 'Nineteenth Century.' Further + expenditure for roads, &c., will be necessary. What the Company + has done for Borneo. Geographical exploration. Witti and Hatton. + The lake struck off the map. Witti's murder. Hatton's accidental + death. Admiral Mayne, C.B. The _Sumpitan_ or Blow-pipe. Errors + made in opening most colonies, e.g. the Straits Settlements. The + future of the country. The climate not unhealthy as a rule. + Ladies. Game. No tigers. Crocodiles. The native dog. Pig and deer. + Wild cattle. Elephants and Rhinoceros. Bear. Orang-utan. + Long-nosed ape. Pheasants. The Company's motto--_Pergo et perago_. + Governor Creagh. Mr. Kindersley. + + + + +BRITISH BORNEO: +SKETCHES OF +BRUNAI, SARAWAK, LABUAN +AND +NORTH BORNEO. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +In 1670 CHARLES II granted to the Hudson's Bay Company a Charter of +Incorporation, His Majesty delegating to the Company actual sovereignty +over a very large portion of British North America, and assigning to +them the exclusive monopoly of trade and mining in the territory. +Writing in 1869, Mr. WILLIAM FORSYTH, Q.C., says:--"I have endeavoured +to give an account of the constitution and history of the _last_ of the +great proprietary companies of England, to whom a kind of delegated +authority was granted by the Crown. It was by some of these that distant +Colonies were founded, and one, the most powerful of them all, +established our Empire in the East and held the sceptre of the Great +Mogul. But they have passed away + + ----fuit Ilium et ingens + Gloria Teucrorum-- + +and the Hudson's Bay Company will be no exception to the rule. It may +continue to exist as a Trading Company, but as a Territorial Power it +must make up its mind to fold its (buffalo) robes round it and die with +dignity." Prophesying is hazardous work. In November, 1881, two hundred +and eleven years after the Hudson's Bay Charter, and twelve years after +the date of Mr. FORSYTH'S article, Queen VICTORIA granted a Charter of +Incorporation to the British North Borneo Company, which, by confirming +the grants and concessions acquired from the Sultans of Brunai and Sulu, +constitutes the Company the sovereign ruler over a territory of 31,000 +square miles, and, as the permission to trade, included in the Charter, +has not been taken advantage of, the British North Borneo Company now +does actually exist "as a Territorial Power" and not "as a Trading +Company." + +Not only this, but the example has been followed by Prince BISMARCK, and +German Companies, on similar lines, have been incorporated by their +Government on both coasts of Africa and in the Pacific; and another +British Company, to operate on the Niger River Districts, came into +existence by Royal Charter in July, 1886. + +It used to be by no means an unusual thing to find an educated person +ignorant not only of Borneo's position on the map, but almost of the +very existence of the island which, regarding Australia as a continent, +and yielding to the claims recently set up by New Guinea, is the second +largest island in the world, within whose limits could be comfortably +packed England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, with a sea of dense jungle +around them, as WALLACE has pointed out. Every school-board child now, +however, knows better than this. + +Though Friar ODORIC is said to have visited it about 1322, and LUDOVICO +BERTHEMA, of Bologna, between 1503 and 1507, the existence of this great +island, variously estimated to be from 263,000 to 300,000 square miles +in extent, did not become generally known to Europeans until, in 1518, +the Portuguese LORENZO DE GOMEZ touched at the city of Brunai. He was +followed in 1521 by the Spanish expedition, which under the leadership +of the celebrated Portuguese circumnavigator MAGELLAN, had discovered +the Philippines, where, on the island of Mactan, their leader was killed +in April, 1520. An account of the voyage was written by PIGAFETTA, an +Italian volunteer in the expedition, who accompanied the fleet to Brunai +after MAGELLAN'S death, and published a glowing account of its wealth +and the brilliancy of its Court, with its royally caparisoned elephants, +a report which it is very difficult to reconcile with the present +squalid condition of the existing "Venice of Hovels," as it has been +styled from its palaces and houses being all built in, or rather over, +the river to which it owes its name. + +The Spaniards found at Brunai Chinese manufactures and Chinese trading +junks, and were so impressed with the importance of the place that they +gave the name of Borneo--a corruption of the native name Brunai--to the +whole island, though the inhabitants themselves know no such general +title for their country. + +In some works, Pulau Kalamantan, which would signify _wild mangoes +island_, is given as the native name for Borneo, but it is quite +unknown, at any rate throughout North Borneo, and the island is by no +means distinguished by any profusion of wild mangoes.[1] + +In 1573, a Spanish Embassy to Brunai met with no very favourable +reception, and three years later an expedition from Manila attacked the +place and, deposing a usurping Sultan, re-instated his brother on the +throne, who, to shew his gratitude, declared his kingdom tributary to +Spain. + +The Portuguese Governor of the Moluccas, in 1526, claimed the honour of +being the first discoverer of Borneo, and this nation appears to have +carried on trade with some parts of the island till they were driven out +of their Colonies by the Dutch in 1609. But neither the Portuguese nor +the Spaniards seem to have made any decided attempt to gain a footing in +Borneo, and it is not until the early part of the 17th century that we +find the two great rivals in the eastern seas--the English and the Dutch +East India Trading Companies--turning their attention to the island. The +first Dutchman to visit Borneo was OLIVER VAN NOORT, who anchored at +Brunai in December, 1600, but though the Sultan was friendly, the +natives made an attempt to seize his ship, and he sailed the following +month, having come to the conclusion that the city was a nest of rogues. + +The first English connection with Borneo was in 1609, when trade was +opened with Sukadana, diamonds being said to form the principal portion +of it. + +The East India Company, in 1702, established a Factory at Banjermassin, +on the South Coast, but were expelled by the natives in 1706. Their +rivals, the Dutch, also established Trading Stations on the South and +South-West Coasts. + +In 1761, the East India Company concluded a treaty with the Sultan of +Sulu, and in the following year an English Fleet, under Admiral DRAKE +and Sir WILLIAM DRAPER captured Manila, the capital of the Spanish +Colony of the Philippines. They found in confinement there a Sultan of +Sulu who, in gratitude for his release, ceded to the Company, on the +12th September, 1762, the island of Balambangan, and in January of the +following year Mr. DALRYMPLE was deputed to take possession of it and +hoist the British flag. Towards the close of 1763, the Sultan of Sulu +added to his cession the northern portion of Borneo and the southern +half of Palawan, together with all the intermediate islands. Against all +these cessions the Spanish entered their protest, as they claimed the +suzerainty over the Sulu Archipelago and the Sulu Dependencies in Borneo +and the islands. This claim the Spaniards always persisted in, until, on +the 7th March, 1885, a Protocol was entered into by England and Germany +and Spain, whereby Spanish supremacy over the Sulu Archipelago was +recognised on condition of their abandoning all claim to the portions of +Northern Borneo which are now included in the British North Borneo +Company's concessions. + +In November, 1768, the Court of Directors in London, with the approval +of Her Majesty's Ministers, who promised to afford protection to the new +Colony, issued orders to the authorities at Bombay for the establishment +of a settlement at Balambangan with the intention of diverting to it the +China trade, of drawing to it the produce of the adjoining countries, +and of opening a port for the introduction of spices, etc. by the Bugis, +and for the sale of Indian commodities. The actual date of the +foundation of the settlement is not known, but Mr. F. C. DANVERS states +that in 1771 the Court ordered that the Government should be vested in +"a chief and two other persons of Council," and that the earliest +proceedings extant are dated Sulu, 1773, and relate to a broil in the +streets between Mr. ALCOCK, the second in the Council, and the Surgeon +of the _Britannia_. + +This was a somewhat unpropitious commencement, and in 1774 the Court are +found writing to Madras, to which Balambangan was subordinate, +complaining of the "imprudent management and profuse conduct" of the +Chief and Council. + +In February, 1775, Sulu pirates surprised the stockade, and drove out +the settlers, capturing booty valued at about a million dollars. The +Company's officials then proceeded to the island of Labuan, now a +British Crown Colony, and established a factory, which was maintained +but for a short time, at Brunai itself. In 1803 Balambangan was again +occupied, but as no commercial advantage accrued, it was abandoned in +the following year, and so ended all attempts on the part of the East +India Company to establish a Colony in Borneo. + +While at Balambangan, the officers, in 1774, entered into negotiations +with the Sultan of Brunai, and on undertaking to protect him against +Sulu and Mindanau pirates, acquired the exclusive trade in all the +pepper grown in his country. + +The settlement of Singapore, the present capital of the Straits +Settlements, by Sir STAMFORD RAFFLES, under the orders of the East India +Company in 1819, again drew attention to Borneo, for that judiciously +selected and free port soon attracted to itself the trade of the +Celebes, Borneo and the surrounding countries, which was brought to it +by numerous fleets of small native boats. These fleets were constantly +harassed and attacked and their crews carried off into slavery by the +Balinini, Illanun, and Dyak pirates infesting the Borneo and Celebes +coasts, and the interference of the British Cruisers was urgently called +for and at length granted, and was followed, in the natural course of +events, by political intervention, resulting in the brilliant and +exciting episode whereby the modern successor of the olden heroes--Sir +James Brooke--obtained for his family, in 1840, the kingdom of Sarawak, +on the west coast of the island, which he in time purged of its two +plague spots--head-hunting on shore, and piracy and slave-dealing +afloat--and left to his heir, who has worthily taken up and carried on +his work, the unique inheritance of a settled Eastern Kingdom, inhabited +by the once dreaded head-hunting Dyaks and piratical Mahomedan Malays, +the government of whom now rests absolutely in the hands of its one +paternally despotic white ruler, or Raja. Sarawak, although not yet +formally proclaimed a British Protectorate,[2] may thus be deemed the +first permanent British possession in Borneo. Sir JAMES BROOKE was also +employed by the British Government to conclude, on 27th May, 1847, a +treaty with the Sultan of Brunai, whereby the cession to us of the small +island of Labuan, which had been occupied as a British Colony in +December, 1846, was confirmed, and the Sultan engaged that no +territorial cession of any portion of his country should ever be made to +any Foreign Power without the sanction of Great Britain. + +These proceedings naturally excited some little feeling of jealousy in +our Colonial neighbours--the Dutch--who ineffectually protested against +a British subject becoming the ruler of Sarawak, as a breach of the +tenor of the treaty of London of 1824, and they took steps to define +more accurately the boundaries of their own dependencies in such other +parts of Borneo as were still open to them. What we now call British +North Borneo, they appear at that time to have regarded as outside the +sphere of their influence, recognising the Spanish claim to it through +their suzerainty, already alluded to, over the Sulu Sultan. + +With this exception, and that of the Brunai Sultanate, already secured +by the British Treaty, and Sarawak, now the property of the BROOKE +family, the Dutch have acquired a nominal suzerainty over the whole of +the rest of Borneo, by treaties with the independent rulers--an area +comprising about two-thirds of the whole island, probably not a tenth +part of which is under their actual direct administrative control. + +They appear to have been so pre-occupied with the affairs of their +important Colony of Java and its dependencies, and the prolonged, +exhausting and ruinously expensive war with the Achinese in Sumatra, +that beyond posting Government Residents at some of the more important +points, they have hitherto done nothing to attract European capital and +enterprise to Borneo, but it would now seem that the example set by the +British Company in the North is having its effect, and I hear of a +Tobacco Planting Company and of a Coal Company being formed to operate +on the East Coast of Dutch Borneo. + +The Spanish claim to North Borneo was a purely theoretical one, and not +only their claim, but that also of the Sulus through whom they claimed, +was vigorously disputed by the Sultans of Brunai, who denied that, as +asserted by the Sulus, any portion of Borneo had been ceded to them by a +former Sultan of Brunai, who had by their help defeated rival claimants +and been seated on the throne. The Sulus, on their side, would own no +allegiance to the Spaniards, with whom they had been more or less at war +for almost three centuries, and their actual hold over any portion of +North Borneo was of the slightest. Matters were in this position when +Mr. ALFRED DENT, now Sir ALFRED DENT, K.C.M.G., fitted out an +expedition, and in December, 1877, and January, 1878, obtained from the +Sultans of Brunai and Sulu, in the manner hereafter detailed, the +sovereign control over the North portion of Borneo, from the Kimanis +river on the West to the Siboku river on the East, concessions which +were confirmed by Her Majesty's Royal Charter in November, 1881. + +I have now traced, in brief outline, the political history of Borneo +from the time when the country first became generally known to +Europeans--in 1518--down to its final division between Great Britain and +the Netherlands in 1881. + +If we can accept the statements of the earlier writers, Borneo was in +its most prosperous stage before it became subjected to European +influences, after which, owing to the mistaken and monopolising policy +of the Commercial Companies then holding sway in the East, the trade and +agriculture of this and other islands of the Malay Archipelago received +a blow from which at any rate that of Borneo is only now recovering. By +the terms of its Charter, the British North Borneo Company is prohibited +from creating trade monopolies, and of its own accord it has decided not +to engage itself in trading transactions at all, and as Raja BROOKE'S +Government is similar to that of a British Crown Colony, and the Dutch +Government no longer encourage monopolies, there is good ground for +believing that the wrong done is being righted, and that a brighter page +than ever is now being opened for Borneo and its natives. + +Before finishing with this part of the subject, I may mention that the +United States Government had entered into a treaty with the Sultan of +Brunai, in almost exactly the same words as the English one, including +the clause prohibiting cessions of territory without the consent of the +other party to the treaty, and, in 1878, Commodore SCHUFELDT was ordered +by his Government to visit Borneo and report on the cessions obtained by +Mr. DENT. I was Acting British Consul-General at the time, and before +leaving the Commodore informed me emphatically that he could discover no +American interests in Borneo, "neither white nor black." + +The native population of Borneo is given in books of reference as +between 1,750,000 and 2,500,000. The aborigines are of the Malay race, +which itself is a variety of the Mongolian and indeed, when inspecting +prisoners, I have often been puzzled to distinguish the Chinese from the +Malay, they being dressed alike and the distinctive _pig-tail_ having +been shaved off the former as part of the prison discipline. + +These Mongolian Malays from High Asia, who presumably migrated to the +Archipelago _viâ_ the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra, must, however, have +found Borneo and other of the islands partially occupied by a Caucasic +race, as amongst the aborigines are still found individuals of +distinctive Caucasic type, as has been pointed out to be the case with +the Buludupih tribe of British North Borneo, by Dr. MONTANO, whom I had +the pleasure of meeting in Borneo in 1878-9. To these the name of +pre-Malays has been given, but Professor KEANE, to whom I beg to +acknowledge my indebtedness on these points, prefers the title of +Indonesians. The scientific descriptions of a typical Malay is as +follows:--"Stature little over five feet, complexion olive yellow, head +brachy-cephalous or round, cheek-bones prominent, eyes black and +slightly oblique, nose small but not flat, nostrils dilated, hands small +and delicate, legs thin and weak, hair black, coarse and lank, beard +absent or scant;" but these Indonesians to whom belong most of the +indigenous inhabitants of Celebes, are taller and have fairer or light +brown complexions and regular features, connecting them with the brown +Polynesians of the Eastern Pacific "who may be regarded as their +descendants," and Professor KEANE accounts for their presence by +assuming "a remote migration of the Caucasic race to South-Eastern Asia, +of which evidences are not lacking in Camboja and elsewhere, and a +further onward movement, first to the Archipelago and then East to the +Pacific." It is needless to say that the aborigines themselves have the +haziest and most unscientific notion of their own origin, as the +following account, gravely related to me by a party of Buludupihs, will +exemplify:-- + + "_The Origin of the Buludupih Race._ + + In past ages a Chinese[3] settler had taken to wife a daughter + of the aborigines, by whom he had a female child. Her parents + lived in a hilly district (_Bulud_ = hill), covered with a large + forest tree, known by the name of _opih_. One day a jungle fire + occurred, and after it was over, the child jumped down from the + house (native houses are raised on piles off the ground), and + went up to look at a half burnt _opih_ log, and suddenly + disappeared and was never seen again. But the parents heard the + voice of a spirit issue from the log, announcing that it had + taken the child to wife and that, in course of time, the + bereaved parents would find an infant in the jungle, whom they + were to consider as the offspring of the marriage, and who + would become the father of a new race. The prophecy of the + spirit was in due time fulfilled." + +It somewhat militates against the correctness of this history that the +Buludupihs are distinguished by the absence of Mongolian features. + +The general appellation given to the aborigines by the modern Malays--to +whom reference will be made later on--is _Dyak_, and they are divided +into numerous tribes, speaking very different dialects of the +Malayo-Polynesian stock, and known by distinctive names, the origin of +which is generally obscure, at least in British North Borneo, where +these names are _not_, as a rule, derived from those of the rivers on +which they dwell. + +The following are the names of some of the principal North Borneo +aboriginal tribes:--Kadaians, Dusuns, Ida'ans, Bisaias, Buludupihs, +Eraans, Subans, Sun-Dyaks, Muruts, Tagaas. Of these, the Kadaians, +Buludupihs, Eraans and one large section of the Bisaias have embraced +the religion of Mahomet; the others are Pagans, with no set form of +religion, no idols, but believing in spirits and in a future life, which +they localise on the top of the great mountain of Kina-balu. These +Pagans are a simple and more natural, less self-conscious, people than +their Mahomedan brethren, who are ahead of them in point of +civilization, but are more reserved, more proud and altogether less +"jolly," and appear, with their religion, to have acquired also some of +the characteristics of the modern or true Malays. A Pagan can sit, or +rather squat, with you and tell you legends, or, perhaps, on an occasion +join in a glass of grog, whereas the Mahomedan, especially the true +Malay, looks upon the Englishman as little removed from a "Kafir"--an +uncircumcised Philistine--who through ignorance constantly offends in +minor points of etiquette, who eats pig and drinks strong drink, is +ignorant of the dignity of repose, and whose accidental physical and +political superiority in the present world will be more than compensated +for by the very inferior and uncomfortable position he will attain in +the next. The aborigines inhabit the interior parts of North Borneo, and +all along the coast is found a fringe of true Malays, talking modern +Malay and using the Arabic written character, whereas the aborigines +possess not even the rudiments of an alphabet and, consequently, no +literature at all. + +How is the presence in Borneo of this more highly civilized product of +the Malay race, differing so profoundly in language and manners from +their kinsmen--the aborigines--to be accounted for? Professor KEANE once +more comes to our assistance, and solves the question by suggesting that +the Mongolian Malays from High Asia who settled in Sumatra, attained +there a real national development in comparatively recent times, and +after their conversion to Mahomedanism by the Arabs, from whom, as well +as from the Bhuddist missionaries who preceded them, they acquired arts +and an elementary civilization, spread to Borneo and other parts of +Malaysia and quickly asserted their superiority over the less advanced +portion of their race already settled there. This theory fits in well +with the native account of the distribution of the Malay race, which +makes Menangkabau, in Southern Sumatra, the centre whence they spread +over the Malayan islands and peninsula. + +The Professor further points out, that in prehistoric times the Malay +and Indonesian stock spread westwards to Madagascar and eastwards to the +Philippines and Formosa, Micronesia and Polynesia. "This astonishing +expansion of the Malaysian people throughout the Oceanic area is +sufficiently attested by the diffusion of common (Malayo-Polynesian) +speech from Madagascar to Easter Island and from Hawaii to New Zealand." + + +Footnotes: + +[Footnote 1: The explanation _Sago Island_ has been given, _lamantah_ +being the native term for the raw sago sold to the factories.] + +[Footnote 2: A British Protectorate was established over North Borneo on +the 12th May, over Sarawak on the 14th June, and over Brunai on the 17th +September, 1888. _Vide_ Appendix.] + +[Footnote 3: The Buludupihs inhabit the China or Kina-batangan river, +and Sir HUGH LOW, in a note to his history of the Sultans of Brunai, in +a number of the Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic +Society, says that it is probable that in former days the Chinese had a +Settlement or Factory at that river, as some versions of the native +history of Brunai expressly state that the Chinese wife of one of the +earliest Sultans was brought thence.] + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +The headquarters of the true Malay in Northern Borneo is the City of +Brunai, on the river of that name, on the North-West Coast of the +island, where resides the Court of the only nominally independent Sultan +now remaining in the Archipelago.[4] + +The Brunai river is probably the former mouth of the Limbang, and is now +more a salt water inlet than a river. Contrary, perhaps, to the general +idea, an ordinary eastern river, at any rate until the limit of +navigability for European craft is attained, is not, as a rule, a thing +of beauty by any means. + +The typical Malay river debouches through flat, fever-haunted swampy +country, where, for miles, nothing meets the eye but the monotonous dark +green of the level, interminable mangrove forest, with its fantastic, +interlacing roots, whose function it appears to be to extend seaward, +year by year, its dismal kingdom of black fetid mud, and to veil from +the rude eye of the intruder the tropical charms of the country at its +back. After some miles of this cheerless scenery, and at a point where +the fresh water begins to mingle with the salt, the handsome and useful +_nipa_ palm, with leaves twenty to thirty feet in length, which supply +the native with the material for the walls and roof of his house, the +wrapper for his cigarette, the sugar for his breakfast table, the salt +for his daily needs and the strong drink to gladden his heart on his +feast days, becomes intermixed with the mangrove and finally takes its +place--a pleasing change, but still monotonous, as it is so dense that, +itself growing in the water, it quite shuts out all view of the bank and +surrounding country. + +One of the first signs of the fresh river water, is the occurrence on +the bank of the graceful _nibong_ palm, with its straight, slender, +round stem, twenty to thirty feet in height, surmounted with a plume of +green leaves. This palm, cut into lengths and requiring no further +preparation, is universally employed by the Malay for the posts and +beams of his house, always raised several feet above the level of the +ground, or of the water, as the case may be, and, split up into lathes +of the requisite size, forms the frame-work of the walls and roof, and +constitutes the flooring throughout. With the pithy centre removed, the +_nibong_ forms an efficient aqueduct, in the absence of bambu, and its +young, growing shoot affords a cabbage, or salad, second only to that +furnished by the coco-nut, which will next come into view, together with +the betel (_Areca_) nut palm, if the river visited is an inhabited one; +but if uninhabited, the traveller will find nothing but thick, almost +impenetrable jungle, with mighty trees shooting up one hundred to a +hundred and fifty feet without a branch, in their endeavour to get their +share of the sun-light, and supporting on their trunks and branches +enormous creepers, rattans, graceful ferns and lovely orchids and other +luxuriant epiphytal growths. Such is the typical North Borneo river, to +which, however, the Brunai is a solitary exception. The mouth of the +Brunai river is approached between pretty verdant islets, and after +passing through a narrow and tortuous passage, formed naturally by +sandbanks and artificially by a barrier of stones, bare at low water, +laid down in former days to keep out the restless European, you find +your vessel, which to cross the bar should not draw more than thirteen +or fourteen feet, in deep water between green, grassy, hilly, +picturesque banks, with scarcely a sign of the abominable mangrove, or +even of the _nipa_, which, however, to specially mark the contrast +formed by this stream, are both to be found in abundance in the _upper_ +portion of the river, which the steamer cannot enter. After passing a +small village or two, the first object which used to attract attention +was the brick ruins of a Roman Catholic Church, which had been erected +here by the late Father CUARTERON, a Spanish Missionary of the Society +of the Propaganda Fide, who, originally a jovial sea captain, had the +good fortune to light upon a wrecked treasure ship in the Eastern seas, +and, feeling presumably unwonted twinges of conscience, decided to +devote the greater part of his wealth to the Church, in which he took +orders, eventually attaining the rank of Prefect Apostolic. His Mission, +unfortunately, was a complete failure, but though his assistants were +withdrawn, he stuck to his post to the last and, no doubt, did a certain +amount of good in liberating, from time to time, Spanish subjects he +found in slavery on the Borneo Coast. + +Had the poor fellow settled in the interior, amongst the Pagans, he +might, by his patience and the example of his good life, have made some +converts, but amongst the Mahomedans of the coast it was labour in vain. +The bricks of his Brunai Church have since been sold to form the +foundation of a steam sawmill. + +Turning a sharp corner, the British Consulate is reached, where +presides, and flies with pride the Union Jack, Her Majesty's Consular +Agent, Mr. or Inche MAHOMET, with his three wives and thirteen children. +He is a native of Malacca and a clever, zealous, courteous and +hospitable official, well versed in the political history of Brunai +since the advent of Sir JAMES BROOKE. + +The British is the only Consulate now established at Brunai, but once +the stars and stripes proudly waved over the Consulate of an unpaid +American Consul. There was little scope at Brunai for a white man in +pursuit of the fleeting dollar, and one day the Consulate was burnt to +the ground, and a heavy claim for compensation for this alleged act of +incendiarism was sent in to the Sultan. His Highness disputed the claim, +and an American man-of-war was despatched to make enquiries on the spot. +In the end, the compensation claimed was not enforced, and Mr. MOSES, +the Consul, was not subsequently, I think, appointed to any other +diplomatic or consular post by the President of the Republic. A little +further on are the palaces, shops and houses of the city of Brunai, all, +with the exception of a few brick shops belonging to Chinamen, built +over the water in a reach where the river broadens out, and a vessel can +steam up the High Street and anchor abreast of the Royal Palace. When +PIGAFETTA visited the port in 1521, he estimated the number of houses at +25,000, which, at the low average of six to a house, would give Brunai a +population of 150,000 people, many of whom were Chinese, cultivating +pepper gardens, traces of which can still be seen on the now deserted +hills. Sir SPENCER ST. JOHN, formerly H. B. M. Consul-General in Borneo, +and who put the population at 25,000 at the lowest in 1863, asserts that +fifteen is a fair average to assign to a Brunai house, which would make +the population in PIGAFETTA'S time 375,000. From his enquiries he found +that the highest number was seventy, in the Sultan's palace, and the +lowest seven, in a fisherman's small hut. PIGAFETTA, however, probably +alluded to families, _fires_ I think is the word he makes use of, and +more than one family is often found occupying a Brunai house. The +present population perhaps does not number more than 12,000 or 15,000 +natives, and about eighty Chinese and a few Kling shop-keepers, as +natives of India are here styled. Writing in 1845, Sir JAMES BROOKE, +then the Queen's first Commissioner to Brunai, says with reference to +this Sultanate:--"Here the experiment may be fairly tried, on the +smallest possible scale of expense, whether a beneficial European +influence may not re-animate a falling State and at the same time +extend our commerce. * * * If this tendency to decay and extinction +be inevitable, if this approximation of European policy to native +Government should be unable to arrest the fall of the Bornean dynasty, +yet we shall retrieve a people already habituated to European habits and +manners, industrious interior races; and if it become necessary, a +Colony gradually formed and ready to our hand in a rich and fertile +country," and elsewhere he admits that the regeneration of the Borneo +Malays through themselves was a hobby of his. The experiment has been +tried and, so far as concerns the re-animation of the Malay Government +of Brunai, the verdict must be "a complete failure." The English are a +practical race, and self-interest is the guide of nations in their +intercourse with one another; it was not to be supposed that they would +go out of their way to teach the degenerate Brunai aristocracy how to +govern in accordance with modern ideas; indeed, the Treaty we made with +them, by prohibiting, for instance, their levying customs duties, or +royalties, on the export of such jungle products as gutta percha and +India rubber, in the collection of which the trees yielding them are +entirely destroyed, and by practically suggesting to them the policy, or +rather the impolicy, of imposing the heavy due of $1 per registered ton +on all European Shipping entering their ports, whether in cargo or in +ballast, scarcely tended to stave off their collapse, and the Borneans +must have formed their own conclusions from the fact that when they gave +up portions of their territory to the BROOKES and to the British North +Borneo Company, the British Government no longer called for the +observance of these provisions of the Treaty in the ceded districts. The +English have got all they wanted from Brunai, but I think it can +scarcely be said that they have done very much for it in return. I +remember that the late Sultan thought it an inexplicable thing that we +could not assist him to recover a debt due to him by one of the British +Coal Companies which tried their luck in Borneo. Moreover, even the +cession to their good and noble friend Sir JAMES BROOKE of the Brunai +Province of Sarawak has been itself also, to a certain extent, a factor +in their Government's decay, that State, under the rule of the +Rája--CHARLES BROOKE--having attained its present prosperous condition +at the expense of Brunai and by gradually absorbing its territory. + +Between British North Borneo, on the one side, and Sarawak, on the +other, the sea-board of Brunai, which, when we first appeared on the +scene, extended from Cape Datu to Marudu Bay--some 700 miles--is now +reduced to 125 or 130 miles, and, besides the river on which it is +built, Brunai retains but two others of any importance, both of which +are in rebellion of a more or less vigorous character, and the whole +State of Brunai is so sick that its case is now under the consideration +of Her Majesty's Government. + +Thus ends in collapse the history of the last independent Malay +Government. Excepting only Johor (which is prosperous owing to its being +under the wing of Singapore, which fact gives confidence to European and +Chinese capitalists and Chinese labourers, and to its good fortune in +having a wise and just ruler in its Sultan, who owes his elevation to +British influences), all the Malay Governments throughout the Malay +Archipelago and in the Malay Peninsula are now subject either to the +English, the Dutch, the Spanish or the Portuguese. This decadence is not +due to any want of vitality in the race, for under European rule the +Malay increases his numbers, as witness the dense population of Java and +the rapidly growing Malay population of the Straits Settlements. + +That the Malay does so flourish in contact with the European and the +Chinese is no doubt to some extent due to his attachment to the +Mahomedan faith, which as a tee-total religion is, so far, the most +suitable one for a tropical race; it has also to be remembered that he +inhabits tropical countries, where the white man cannot perform out-door +labour and appears only as a Government Official, a merchant or a +planter. + +But the decay of the Brunai aristocracy was probably inevitable. Take +the life of a young noble. He is the son of one of perhaps thirty women +in his father's harem, his mother is entirely without education, can +neither read nor write, is never allowed to appear in public or have any +influence in public affairs, indeed scarcely ever leaves her house, and +one of her principal excitements, perhaps, is the carrying on of an +intrigue, an excitement enhanced by the fact that discovery means +certain death to herself and her lover. + +Brunai being a water town, the youngster has little or no chance of a +run and game ashore, and any exercise he takes is confined to _being_ +paddled up and down the river in a canoe, for to paddle himself would be +deemed much too degrading--a Brunai noble should never put his hand to +any honest physical work--even for his own recreation. I once imported a +Rob Roy canoe from England and amused myself by making long paddling +excursions, and I would also sometimes, to relieve the monotony of a +journey in a native boat, take a spell at the paddle with the men, and I +was gravely warned by a native friend that by such action I was +seriously compromising myself and lowering my position in the eyes of +the higher class of natives. At an early age the young noble becomes an +object of servile adulation to the numerous retainers and slaves, both +male and female, and is by them initiated in vicious practices and, +while still a boy, acquires from them some of the knowledge of a fast +man of the world. As a rule he receives no sort of school education. He +neither rides nor joins in the chase and, since the advent of Europeans, +there have been no wars to brace his nerves, or call out any of the +higher qualities of mind or body which may be latent in him; nor is +there any standing army or navy in which he might receive a beneficial +training. No political career, in the sense we attach to the term, is +open to him, and he has no feelings of patriotism whatever. That an +aristocracy thus nurtured should degenerate can cause no surprise. The +general term for the nobles amongst the Brunais is _Pangeran_, and their +numbers may be guessed when it is understood that every son and +daughter of every many-wived noble is also a Pangeran. + +Some of these unfortunate noblemen have nothing wherewith to support +their position, and in very recent times I have actually seen a needy +Pangeran, in a British Colony where he could not live by oppression or +theft, driven to work in a coal mine or drive a buffalo cart. + +With the ordinary freeborn citizen of Brunai life opens under better +auspices. The children are left much to themselves and are merry, +precocious, naked little imps, able to look out for themselves at a very +much earlier age than is the case with European infants, and it is +wonderful to see quite little babies clambering up the rickety stairs +leading from the river to the house, or crawling unheeded on the +tottering verandahs. Almost before they can walk they can swim, and they +have been known to share their mother's cigarettes while still in arms. +All day long they amuse themselves in miniature canoes, rolling over and +over in the water, regardless of crocodiles. Happy children! they have +no school and no clothes--one might, perhaps, exclaim happy parents, +too! Malays are very kind and indulgent to their children and I do not +think I have seen or heard of a case of the application of the parental +hand to any part of the infant person. As soon as he is strong enough, +say eight or nine years of age, the young Malay, according to the +_kampong_, or division of the town, in which his lot has been cast, +joins in his father's trade and becomes a fisherman, a trader, or a +worker in brass or in iron as the case may be. The girls have an equally +free and easy time while young, their only garments being a silver fig +leaf, fastened to a chain or girdle round the waist. As they grow up +they help their mothers in their household duties, or by selling their +goods in the daily floating market; they marry young and are, as a rule, +kindly treated by their husbands. Although Mahomedans, they can go about +freely and unveiled, a privilege denied to their sisters of the higher +classes. The greatest misfortune for such a girl is, perhaps, the +possession of a pretty face and figure, which may result in her being +honoured with the attentions of a noble, in whose harem she may be +secluded for the rest of her life, and, as her charms wane her supply of +both food and clothing is reduced to the lowest limit. + +By the treaty with Great Britain traffic in slaves is put down, that is, +Borneo is no longer the mart where, as in former days, the pirates can +bring in their captives for sale; but the slaves already in the place +have not been liberated, and a slave's children are slaves, so that +domestic slavery, as it is termed, exists on a very considerable scale +in Brunai. Slaves were acquired in the old days by purchase from pirates +and, on any pretext, from the Pagan tribes of Borneo. For instance, if a +feudal chief of an outlying river was in want of some cash, nothing was +easier than for him to convict a man, who was the father of several +children, of some imaginary offence, or neglect of duty, and his +children, girls and boys, would be seized and carried off to Brunai as +slaves. A favourite method was that of "forced trade." The chief would +send a large quantity of trade goods to a Pagan village and leave them +there to be sold at one hundred per cent, or more above their proper +value, all legitimate trade being prohibited meanwhile, and if the money +or barter goods were not forthcoming when demanded, the deficiency would +be made up in slaves. This kind of oppression was very rife in the +neighbourhood of the capital when I first became acquainted with Borneo +in 1871, but the power of the chiefs has been much curtailed of late, +owing to the extensive cessions of territory to Sarawak and the British +North Borneo Company, and their hold on the rivers left to them has +become very precarious, since the warlike Kyans passed under Rája +BROOKE'S sway. This tribe, once the most powerful in Borneo, was always +ready at the Sultan's call to raid on any tribe who had incurred his +displeasure and revelled in the easy acquisition of fresh heads, over +which to hold the triumphal dance. The Brunai Malays are not a warlike +race, and the Rájas find that, without the Kyans, they are as a tiger +with its teeth drawn and its claws pared, and the Pagan tribes have not +been slow to make the discovery for themselves. Those on the Limbang +river have been in open rebellion for the last three or four years and +are crying out to be taken under the protection of the Queen, or, +failing that, then under the "Kompani," as the British North Borneo +Company's Government like that of the East India Company in days gone +by, is styled, or under Sarawak. + +The condition of the domestic slaves is not a particularly hard one +unless, in the case of a girl, she is compelled to join the harem, when +she becomes technically free, but really only changes one sort of +servitude for another and more degrading one. With this exception, the +slaves live on friendly terms with their masters' families, and the +propinquity of a British Colony--Labuan--has tended to ameliorate their +condition, as an ill-used slave can generally find means to escape +thither and, so long as he remains there, he is a free man. + +The scientific description of a typical Malay has already been given, +and it answers well on almost all points for the Brunai specimen, except +that the nose, as well as being small, is, in European eyes, deficient +as to "bridge," and the legs cannot be described as weak, indeed the +Brunai Malay, male and female, is a somewhat fleshy animal. In +temperament, the Malay is described as "taciturn, undemonstrative, +little given to outward manifestations of joy or sorrow, courteous +towards each other, kind to their women and children. Not elated by good +or depressed by bad fortune, but capable of excesses when roused. Under +the influence of religious excitement, losses at gambling, jealousy or +other domestic troubles they are liable to _amok_ or run-a-muck, an +expression which appears to have passed into the English language." With +strangers, the Brunai Malay is doubtless taciturn, but I have heard +Brunai ladies among themselves, while enjoying their betel-nut, rival +any old English gossips over their cup of tea, and on an expedition the +men will sometimes keep up a conversation long into the night till +begged to desist. Courtesy seems to be innate in every Malay of whatever +rank, both in their intercourse with one another and with strangers. The +meeting at Court of two Brunai nobles who, perhaps, entertain feelings +of the greatest hatred towards each other, is an interesting study, and +the display of mutual courtesy unrivalled. I need scarcely say that +horseplay and practical joking are unknown, contradiction is rarely +resorted to and "chaff" is only known in its mildest form. The lowest +Malay will never pass in front of you if it can be avoided, nor hand +anything to another across you. Unless in case of necessity, a Malay +will not arouse his friend from slumber, and then only in the gentlest +manner possible. It is bad manners to point at all, but, if it is +absolutely necessary to do so, the forefinger is never employed, but the +person or object is indicated, in a sort of shamefaced way, with the +thumb. It is impolite to bare a weapon in public, and Europeans often +show their ignorance of native etiquette by asking a Malay visitor to +let them examine the blade of the _kris_ he is wearing. It is not +considered polite to enquire after the welfare of the female members of +a Brunai gentleman's household. For a Malay to uncover his head in your +presence would be an impertinence, but a guttural noise in his throat +after lunching with you is a polite way of expressing pleased +satisfaction with the excellence of the repast. This latter piece of +etiquette has probably been adopted from the Chinese. The low social +position assigned to women by Brunai Malays, as by nearly all Mahomedan +races, is of course a partial set-off to the general courtesy that +characterises them. The average intelligence of what may be called the +working class Malay is almost as far superior to that, say, of the +British country bumpkin as are his manners. Mr. H. O. FORBES says in his +"Naturalist in the Eastern Archipelago" that he was struck with the +natives' acute observation in natural history and the accuracy with +which they could give the names, habits and uses of animals and plants +in the jungle, and the traveller cannot but admire the general handiness +and adaptability to changed circumstances and customs and quickness of +understanding of the Malay coolies whom he engages to accompany him. + +Cannot one imagine the stolid surprise and complete obfuscation of the +English peasant if an intelligent Malay traveller were to be suddenly +set down in his district, making enquiries as to the, to him, novel +forms of plants and animals and asking for minute information as to the +manners and customs of the new people amongst whom he found himself, +and, generally, seeking for information as the reasons for this and for +that? + +Their religion sits somewhat lightly on the Brunai Malays; the Mahomedan +Mosque in the capital was always in a very dirty and neglected state, +though prayers were said there daily, and I have never seen a Borneo +Malay under the influence of religious excitement. + +Gambling prevails, doubtless, and so does cock-righting, but neither is +the absorbing passion which it seems, from travellers' accounts, to be +with Malays elsewhere. + +When visiting the Spanish settlements in Sulu and Balabac, I was +surprised to find regular officially licensed cock-fighting pits, with a +special seat for the Spanish Governor, who was expected to be present on +high days and holidays. I have never come across a regular cockpit in +Brunai, or in any part of northern Borneo. + +The _amoks_ that I have been cognisant of have, consequently, not been +due to either religious excitement, or to losses at gambling, but, in +nearly every case, to jealousy and domestic trouble, and their +occurrence almost entirely confined to the British Colony of Labuan +where, of course, the Mahomedan pains and penalties for female +delinquencies could not be enforced. I remember one poor fellow whom I +pitied very much. He had good reason to be jealous of his wife and, in +our courts, could not get the redress he sought. He explained to me that +a mist seemed to gather before his eyes and that he became utterly +unconscious of what he was doing--his will was quite out of his control. +Some half dozen people--children, men and women--were killed, or +desperately wounded before he was overpowered. He acknowledged his +guilt, and suffered death at the hands of the hangman with quiet +dignity. Many tragical incidents in the otherwise uneventful history of +Labuan may be traced to the manner in which marriages are contracted +amongst the Borneo Malays. Marriages of mere love are almost unknown; +they are generally a matter of bargain between the girls' parents and +the expectant bridegroom, or his parents, and, practically, everything +depends on the amount of the dowry or _brihan_--literally "gift"--which +the swain can pay to the former. In their own country there exist +certain safeguards which prevent any abuse of this system, but it was +found that under the English law a clever parent could manage to dispose +of his daughter's hand several times over, so that really the plot of +Mrs. CAMPBELL PRAED'S somewhat unpleasant play "Arianne" was anticipated +in the little colony of Labuan. I was once called upon, as Coroner, to +inquire into the deaths of a young man and his handsome young wife, who +were discovered lying dead, side by side, on the floor of their house. +The woman was found to be fearfully cut about; the man had but one +wound, in his abdomen, penetrating the bowels. There was only one weapon +by which the double murder could have been committed, a knife with a six +inch blade, and circumstances seemed to point to the probability that +the woman had first stabbed the man, who had then wrenched the knife +from her grasp and hacked her to death. The man was not quite dead when +found and he accused the dead woman of stabbing him. It was found, that +they had not long been married and that, apparently with the girl's +consent, her father had been negociating for her marriage with another. +The father himself was subsequently the first man murdered in British +North Borneo after the assumption of the Government by the Company, and +his murderer was the first victim of the law in the new Colony. +Altogether a tragical story. + +Many years ago another _amok_, which was near being tragical, had an +almost comical termination. The then Colonial Treasurer was an +entertaining Irishman of rather mature age. Walking down to his office +one day he found in the road a Malay hacking at his wife and another +man. Home rule not being then in fashion with the Irish, the Treasurer, +armed only with his sun umbrella, attempted to interfere, when the +_amoker_ turned furiously on him and the Irish official, who was of +spare build, took to his heels and made good his escape, the chase, +though a serious matter to him, causing irrepressible mirth to +onlookers. The man was never captured, and his victims, though +disfigured, recovered. I remember being struck by the contemptuous +reply of Sir HUGH LOW'S Chinese servant when he warned him to be on his +guard, as there was an _amoker_ at large, and alluded to Mr. C.'s narrow +escape--it was to the effect that the Treasurer was foolish to interfere +in other people's concerns. This unwillingness to busy oneself in +others' affairs, which sometimes has the appearance of callousness, is +characteristic of Malays and Chinese. + +The readers of a book of travels are somewhat under a disadvantage in +forming their opinion of a country, in that incidents are focussed for +them by those of the same nature being grouped together. I do not wish +it to be thought that murders and _amoks_ are at all common occurrences +in Northern Borneo, indeed they are very few and far between, and +criminal acts of all kinds are remarkably infrequent, that is, of +course, if we regard head-hunting as an amusement sanctioned by usage, +especially as, in the parts under native government, there is a total +absence of any kind of police force, while every man carries arms, and +houses with palm leaf walls and innocent of locks, bolts and bars, offer +unusual temptations to the burglariously inclined. My wife and I nearly +always slept without a watchman and with the doors and windows unclosed, +the servants' offices being detached from the house, and we have never +had any of our property stolen except by a "boy." + +Brunai is governed by a Sultan styled Iang-di-pertuan, "he who rules," +and four principal Ministers of State, "Wazirs"--the Pangeran Bandahara, +the Pangeran di Gadong, the Pangeran Pamancha and the Pangeran +Temenggong. These Ministers are generally men of the royal blood, and +fly distinctive flags at their residences, that of the Bandahara being +white, of the di Gadong, green, and of the Temenggong, red. The flags +are remarkably simple and inexpensive, but quite distinctive, each +consisting of a square bit of bunting or cloth of the requisite colour, +with the exception of the Temenggong's, which is cut in the shape of a +burgee. The Sultan's flag is a plain piece of yellow bunting, yellow +being the Brunei royal colour, and no man, except the Sovereign, is +permitted to exhibit that colour in any portion of his dress. It shows +how little importance attaches to the female sex that a lady, even a +slave, can sport yellow in her dress, or any colour she chooses. +Theoretically the duties of the Bandahara are those of a Home Secretary; +the di Gadong is Keeper of the Seal and Chancellor of the Exchequer; the +Pamancha's functions I am rather uncertain about, as the post has +remained unfilled for many years past, but they would seem to partake of +those of a Home Secretary; and the Temenggong is the War Minister and +Military and Naval Commander-in-chief, and appears also to hear and +decide criminal and civil cases in the city of Brunai. These +appointments are made by the Sultan, and for life, but it will be +understood that, in such a rough and ready system of government as that +of Brunai, the actual influence of each Minister depends entirely on his +own character and that of the Sultan. Sometimes one Minister will +practically usurp the functions of some, or, perhaps, all the others, +leaving them only their titles and revenues, while often, on a vacancy +occurring, the Sultan does not make a fresh appointment, but himself +appropriates the revenue of the office leaving the duties to take care +of themselves. + +To look after trade and commerce there is, in theory, an inferior +Minister, the Pangeran Shabander. + +There is another class of Ministers--_Mantri_--who are selected by the +Sultan from among the people, and are chosen for their intelligence and +for the influence and following they have amongst the citizens. They +possess very considerable political power, their opinions being asked on +important matters. Such are the two Juwatans and the Orang Kaya di +Gadong, who may be looked upon as the principal officers of the Sultan +and the Wazirs. + +The State officials are paid by the revenues of certain districts which +are assigned, as will be seen below, to the different offices. + +The Mahomedan Malays, it has already been explained, were an invading +and conquering race in Borneo, and their chiefs would seem to have +divided the country, or, rather, the inhabitants, amongst themselves, +in much the same way as England was parcelled out among the followers of +WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. The people of all the rivers[5] and of the +interior, up to the limits where the Brunai Malays can enforce their +authority, own as their feudal lord and pay taxes to either the Sultan, +in his unofficial capacity, or to one of the nobles, or else they are +attached to the office of Sultan or one of the great Ministers of State, +and, again theoretically speaking, all the districts in the Sultanate +are known, from the fact of the people on them belonging to a noble, or +to the reigning Sultan for the time being, or to one of the Ministers of +State, as either:-- + + 1. Ka-rájahan--belonging to the Sultan or Rája. + + or 2. Kouripan--belonging to certain public officials during + their term of office. + + or 3. Pusaka or Tulin--belonging to the Sultan or any of the + nobles in their unofficial capacity. + +The crown and the feudal chiefs did not assert any claim to the land; +there are, for instance, no "crown lands," and, in the case of land not +owned or occupied, any native could settle upon and cultivate it without +payment of any rent or land tax, either to the Sultan or to the feudal +chief of the district; consequently, land was comparatively little +regarded, and what the feudal chief claimed was the people and not the +land, so much so that, as pointed out by Mr. P. LEYS in a Consular +report, in the case of the people removing from one river to another, +they did not become the followers of the chief who owned the population +amongst whom they settled, but remained subject to their former lord, +who had the right of following them and collecting from them his taxes +as before. It is only of quite recent years, imitating the example of +the English in Labuan, where all the land was assumed to be the property +of the Sovereign and leased to individuals for a term of years, that the +nobles have, in some instances, put forward a claim to ownership of the +land on which their followers chose to settle, and have endeavoured to +pose as semi-independent princes. These feudal chiefs tax, or used to +tax, their followers in proportion to their inability to resist their +lords' demands. A poll tax, usually at the rate of $2 for married men +and $1 for bachelors, is a form of taxation to which, in the absence of +any land tax, no objection is made, but the chiefs had also the power of +levying special taxes at their own sweet will, when they found their +expenditure in excess of their income, and advantage was taken of any +delay in payment of taxes, or of any breach of the peace, or act of +theft occurring in a district, to impose excessive fines on the +delinquents, all of which if paid went to the chief; and if the fine +could not be paid, the defaulter's children might be seized and +eventually sold into slavery. The system of "forced trade" I have +alluded to when speaking on the subject of domestic slavery. The chiefs +were all absentees and, while drawing everything they could out of their +districts, did nothing for their wretched followers. The taxes were +collected by their messengers and slaves, unscrupulous men who were paid +by what they could get out of the people in excess of what they were +bidden to demand, and who, while engaged in levying the contributions, +lived at free quarters on the people, who naturally did their best to +expedite their departure. Petty cases of dispute were settled by headmen +appointed by the chief and termed _orang kaya_, literally "rich men." +These _orang kayas_ were often selected from their possessing some +little property and being at the same time subservient to the chief. In +many cases, it seemed to me, that they were chosen for their superior +stupidity and pliability. I have made use of the past tense throughout +my description of these feudal chiefs as, happily, for reasons already +given, the "good old times" are rapidly passing away. + +The laws of Brunai are, in theory, those inculcated by the Korán and +there are one or two officials who have some slight knowledge of +Mahomedan law. Owing to the cheap facilities offered by the numerous +steamers at Singapore, there are many Hajis--that is, persons who have +made the pilgrimage to Mecca--amongst the Brunais and the Kadaaans, +amongst the latter more especially, but of course a visit to Mecca does +not necessarily imply that the pilgrim has obtained any actual knowledge +of the holy book, which some of them can decipher, the Malays having +adopted the Arabic alphabet, but without, however, understanding the +meaning of the Arabic words of which it consists. A friend of mine, son +of the principal exponent of Mahomedan law in the capital, and who +became naturalised as a British subject, had studied law in +Constantinople. + +There is no gaol in Brunai, and fines are found to be a more profitable +mode of punishment than incarceration, the judge generally pocketing the +fine, and when it does become necessary to keep an offender in +detention, it is done by placing his feet in the stocks, which are set +up on the public staging or landing before the reception room of the +Sultan, or of one of his chief Ministers, and the wretched man may be +kept there for months. + +The punishment for theft, sanctioned by the Korán, is by cutting oft the +right hand, but this barbarous, though effective, penalty has been +discountenanced by the English. On one occasion, however, when acting as +H. B. M. Consul-General, I received my information too late to +interfere. I had been on a visit to the late Sultan in a British +gunboat, and anchored off the palace. During the evening, just before +dinner, notwithstanding the watch kept on deck, some natives came +alongside and managed to hook out through the ports my gold watch and +chain from off the Captain's table, and the first Lieutenant's revolver +from his cabin. During our interview next morning with the Sultan, I +twitted him on the skill and daring of Brunai thieves, who could +perpetrate a theft from a friendly war-ship before the windows of the +Royal palace. The Sultan said nothing, but was evidently much annoyed, +and a few weeks afterwards the revolver and the remains of my watch and +chain were sent to me at Labuan, with a letter saying that three thieves +had been punished by having had their hands chopped off. I subsequently +heard that two of the unfortunate men had died from the effects of this +cruel punishment. + +On another occasion, some Brunai thieves skilfully dismounted and +carried off two brass signal guns from the poop of a merchant steamer at +anchor in the river, eluding the vigilance of the quarter-master, while +the skipper and some of the officers were asleep on the skylight close +by. The guns were subsequently recovered. + +Execution is either by means of the bow string or the _kris_. + +I had once the unpleasant duty of having to witness the execution by the +bow string of a man named MAIDIN, as it was feared that, being the son +of a favourite officer of the Sultan, the execution might be a sham one. +This man, with others, had raided a small settlement of Chinese traders +from Labuan on the Borneo coast, killing several of the shop-keepers and +looting the settlement. So weak was the central government, and so +little importance did they attach to the murder of a few Chinese, that, +notwithstanding the efforts of the British Consul, MAIDIN remained at +liberty for nearly two years after the commission of the crime. + +The execution took place at night. The murderer was bound, with his +hands behind his back, in a large canoe, and a noose of rope was placed +round his neck. Two men stood behind him; a short stick was inserted in +the noose and twisted round and round by the two executioners, thereby +causing the rope to compress the windpipe. MAIDIN'S struggles were soon +over. + +In the case of common people the _kris_ is used, the executioner +standing behind the criminal and pressing the _kris_ downwards, through +the shoulder, into the heart. This mode of execution has been retained +by the European rulers of Sarawak. In British North Borneo the English +mode by hanging has been adopted. + +Formerly, when ancient customs were more strictly observed, any person +using insulting expressions in talking of members of the Royal family +was punished by having his tongue slit, and I was once shewn by the +Temenggong, in whose official keeping it was, the somewhat cumbrous pair +of scissors wherewith this punishment was inflicted, but I have never +heard of its having been used during the last twenty years, although +opportunities could not have been wanting. + +I was once horrified by being informed by an observant British Naval +Officer, who had been to Brunai on duty, that he had been disgusted by +noticing, notwithstanding our long connection with Brunai and supposed +influence with the Sultan, so barbarous a mode of execution as that of +keeping the criminal exposed, without food, day and night, on a stage on +high posts in the river. I had never heard of this process, and soon +discovered that my friend had mistaken men fishing, for criminals +undergoing execution. Two men perch themselves up on posts, some +distance apart, and let down by ropes a net into the river. Waiting +patiently--and Brunais can sit still contentedly doing nothing for +hours--they remain motionless until a shoal of fish passes over the net, +when it is partially raised and the fish taken out by a third man, and +the operation repeated. + +I do not think my naval friend ever published his Brunai reminiscences. + +I have already said there is no police force in Brunai; an official +makes use of his own slaves to carry out his orders, where an European +would call in the police. Neither is there any army and navy, but the +theory is that the Sultan and Ministers can call on the Brunai people to +follow them to war, but as they give neither pay nor sufficient food +their call is not numerously responded to. + +Every Brunai man has his own arms, spear, kris and buckler, supplemented +by an old English "Tower" musket, or rifle, or by one of Chinese +manufacture with an imitation of the Tower mark. The _parang_, or +chopper, or cutlass, is always carried by a Malay, being used for all +kinds of work, agricultural and other, and is also a useful weapon of +offence or defence. + +Brunai is celebrated for its brass cannon foundries and still produces +handsome pieces of considerable size. PIGAFETTA describes cannon as +being frequently discharged at Brunai during his visit there in 1521. +Brass guns were formerly part of the currency in Brunai and, even now, +you often hear the price of an article given as so many pikuls (a pikul += 133-1/3 lbs), or catties (a catty = 1-1/3 lbs) of brass gun. The +brass for the guns is chiefly furnished by the Chinese cash, which is +current in the town. + +In former days, in addition to brass guns, pieces of grey shirting +(_belachu_) and of Nankin (_kain asap_) and small bits of iron were +legal tender, and I have seen a specimen of a Brunei copper coinage one +Sultan tried to introduce, but it was found to be so easily imitated by +his subjects that it was withdrawn from circulation. At the present day +silver dollars, Straits Settlements small silver pieces, and the copper +coinage of Singapore, Sarawak and British North Borneo all pass current, +the copper, however, unfortunately predominating. Recently the Sultan +obtained $10,000 of a copper coin of his own from Birmingham, but the +traders and the Governments of Singapore and Labuan appear to have +discountenanced its use, and he probably will not try a second shipment. + +The profit on the circulation of copper coinage, which is only a token, +is of course considerable, and the British North Borneo Company obtained +a substantial addition to its revenue from the large amount of its coin +circulated in Brunai. When the Sultan first mooted the idea of obtaining +his own coin from England, one of the Company's officers expostulated +feelingly with him, and I was told by an onlooker that the contrast of +the expressions of the countenances of the immobile Malay and of the +mobile European was most amusing. All that the Sultan replied to the +objections of the officer was "It does not signify, Sir, my coin can +circulate in your country and yours can circulate in mine," knowing well +all the time the profit the Company was making. + +The inhabitants of the city of Brunai are very lightly taxed, and there +is no direct taxation. As above explained, there is no land tax, nor +ground rent, and every man builds his own house and is his own landlord. +The right of retailing the following articles is "farmed" out to the +highest bidder by the Government, and their price consequently enhanced +to the consumer:--Opium (but only a few of the nobles use the drug), +foreign tobacco, curry stuff, wines and spirits (not used by the +natives), salt, gambier (used for chewing with the betel or _areca_ +nut), tea (little used by the natives) and earth-nut and coco-nut oil. +There are no Municipal rates and taxes, the tidal river acting as a self +cleansing street and sewer at the same time; neither are there any +demands from a Poor Law Board. + +On the other hand, there being no Army, Navy, Police, nor public +buildings to keep up, the expenses of Government are wonderfully light +also. + +Other Government receipts, in addition to the above, are rent of Chinese +house-boats or rather shop-boats, pawnbroking and gambling licenses, a +"farm" of the export of hides, royalties on sago and gutta percha, +tonnage dues on European vessels visiting the port, and others. The +salaries and expenses of the Government Departments are defrayed from +the revenues of the rivers, or districts attached to them. + +Considerable annual payments are now made by Sarawak and British North +Borneo for the territorial cessions obtained by them. The annual +contribution by Sarawak is about $16,000, and by the British North +Borneo $11,800. These sums are apportioned amongst the Sultan and nobles +who had interests in the ceded districts. I may say here that the +payment by British North Borneo to the Sultan of the State, under the +arrangement made by Mr. DENT already referred to, is one of $5,000 per +annum. + +An annual payment is also made by Mr. W. C. COWIE for the sole right[6] +of working coal in the Sultanate, which he holds for a period of several +years. Coal occurs throughout the island of Borneo, and its existence +has long been known. It is worked on a small scale in Sarawak and in +some portions of Dutch Borneo, and the unsuccessful attempts to develope +the coal resources of the Colony of Labuan will be referred to later on. + +In the Brunai Sultanate, with which we are at present concerned, coal +occurs abundantly in the Brunai river and elsewhere, but it is only at +present worked by Mr. COWIE and his partners at Muara, at the mouth of +the Brunai river--Muara, indeed, signifying in Malay a river's mouth. +The Revd. J. E. TENNISON-WOOD, well known in Australia as an authority +on geological questions, thus describes the Muara coalfields:--"About +twenty miles to the South-west of Labuan is the mouth of the Brunai +river. Here the rocks are of quite a different character, and much +older. There are sandstones, shales, and grits, with ferruginous joints. +The beds are inclined at angles of 25 to 45 degrees. They are often +altered into a kind of chert. At Muara there is an outcrop of coal seams +twenty, twenty-five and twenty-six feet thick. The coal is of excellent +quality, quite bitumenised, and not brittle. The beds are being worked +by private enterprise. I saw no fossils, but the beds and the coal +reminded me much of the older Australian coals along the Hunter river. +The mines are of great value. They are rented for a few thousand dollars +by two enterprising Scotchmen, from the Sultan of Brunai. The same +sovereign would part with the place altogether for little or nothing. +Why not have our coaling station there? Or what if Germany, France or +Russia should purchase the same from the independent Sultan of Brunai?" +As if to give point to the concluding remarks, a Russian man-of-war +visited Muara and Brunai early in 1887, and shewed considerable interest +in the coal mines.[7] + + +Footnotes: + +[Footnote 4: He has since been "protected"--see ante page 6, note.] + +[Footnote 5: Owing to the absence of roads and the consequent importance +of rivers as means of getting about, nearly all districts in Borneo are +named after their principal river.] + +[Footnote 6: This right was transferred by Mr. COWIE to Rája BROOKE in +1833.] + +[Footnote 7: The British Protectorate has obviated the danger.] + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +The fairest way, perhaps, of giving my readers an idea of what Brunai +was and what it is, will be by quoting first from the description of the +Italian PIGAFETTA, who was there in 1521, and then from that of my +friend the late Mr. STAIR ELPHINSTONE DALRYMPLE, who visited the city +with me in 1884. PIGAFETTA'S description I extract from CRAWFORD'S +_Descriptive Dictionary of the Indian Islands_. + + "When," says he, "we reached the city, we had to wait two hours + in the _prahu_ (boat or barge) until there had arrived two + elephants, caparisoned in silk-cloth, and twelve men, each + furnished with a porcelain vase, covered with silk, to receive + and to cover our presents. We mounted the elephants, the twelve + men going before, carrying the presents. We thus proceeded to + the house of the Governor, who gave us a supper of many dishes. + Next day we were left at our leisure until twelve o'clock, when + we proceeded to the King's palace. We were mounted, as before, + on elephants, the men bearing the gifts going before us. From + the Governor's house to the palace the streets were full of + people armed with swords, lances and targets; the King had so + ordered it. Still mounted on the elephants we entered the court + of the palace. We then dismounted, ascended a stair, accompanied + by the Governor and some chiefs and entered a great hall full of + courtiers. Here we were seated on carpets, the presents being + placed near to us. At the end of the great hall, but raised + above it, there was one of less extent hung with silken cloth, + in which were two curtains, on raising which, there appeared + two windows, which lighted the hall. Here, as a guard to the + King, there were three hundred men with naked rapiers in hand + resting on their thighs. At the farther end of this smaller + hall, there was a great window with a brocade curtain before + it, on raising which, we saw the King seated at a table + masticating betel, and a little boy, his son, beside him. Behind + him women only were to be seen. A chieftain then informed us, + that we must not address the King directly, but that if we had + anything to say, we must say it to him, and he would communicate + it to a courtier of higher rank than himself within the lesser + hall. This person, in his turn, would explain our wishes to the + Governor's brother, and he, speaking through a tube in an + aperture of the wall would communicate our sentiments to a + courtier near the King, who would make them known to his + Majesty. Meanwhile, we were instructed to make three obeisances + to the King with the joined hands over the head, and raising, + first one foot and then the other, and then kissing the hands. + This is the royal salutation. * * * All the persons present in + the palace had their loins covered with gold embroidered cloth + and silk, wore poiniards with golden hilts, ornamented with + pearls and precious stones, and had many rings on their fingers. + + * * * * * * + + We remounted the elephants and returned to the house of the + Governor. * * * After this there came to the house of the + Governor ten men, with as many large wooden trays, in each of + which were ten or twelve porcelain saucers with the flesh of + various animals, that is, of calves, capons, pullets, pea-fowls + and others, and various kinds of fish, so that of meat alone + there were thirty or two-and-thirty dishes. We supped on the + ground on mats of palm-leaf. At each mouthful we drank a + porcelain cupful, the size of an egg, of a distilled liquor made + from rice. We ate also rice and sweetmeats, using spoons of + gold, shaped like our own. In the place where we passed the two + nights, there were always burning two torches of white wax, + placed on tall chandeliers of silver, and two oil lamps of four + wicks each, while two men watched to look after them. Next + morning we came on the same elephants to the sea side, where + forthwith there were ready for us two _prahus_, in which we were + reconducted to the ships." + +Of the town itself he says:-- + + "The city is entirely built in the saltwater, the King's house + and those of some chieftains excepted. It contains 25,000 + _fires_, or families. The houses are all of wood and stand on + strong piles to keep them high from the ground. When the flood + tide makes, the women, in boats, go through the city selling + necessaries. In front of the King's palace there is a rampart + constructed of large bricks, with barbacans in the manner of a + fortress, on which are mounted fifty-six brass and six iron + cannon." + +With the exception of the statement concerning the number of families, +Mr. CRAWFORD considers PIGAFETTA'S account contains abundant internal +evidence of intelligence and truthfulness. I may be allowed to point out +that, seeing only the King's house and those of some of the nobles were +on _terra firma_, there could have been little use for elephants in the +city and probably the two elephants PIGAFETTA mentions were the only +ones there, kept for State purposes. It is a curious fact that though in +its fauna Borneo much resembles Sumatra, yet, while elephants abound in +the latter island, none are to be found in Borneo, except in a +restricted area on the North-East Coast, in the territories of the North +Borneo Company. It would appear, too, that the tenets of the Mahomedan +religion were not strictly observed in those days. Now, no Brunai noble +would think of offering you spirits, nor would ladies on any account be +permitted to appear in public, especially if Europeans were among the +audience. The consumption of spirits seems to have been on a very +liberal scale, and it is not surprising to find PIGAFETTA remarking +further on that some of the Spaniards became intoxicated. Spoons, +whether of gold or other material, have long since been discarded by all +respectable Brunais, only Pagans make use of such things, the Mahomedans +employ the fingers which Allah has given them. The description of the +women holding their market in boats stands good of to-day, but the +wooden houses, instead of being on "strong piles," now stand on +ricketty, round _nibong_ palm posts. The description of the obeisance to +the King is scarcely exaggerated, except that it is now performed +squatting cross-legged--_sila_--the respectful attitude indoors, from +the Sanskrit çîl, to meditate, to worship (for an inferior never stands +in the presence of his superior), and has been dispensed with in the +case of Europeans, who shake hands. Though the nobles have now +comparatively little power, they address each other and are addressed by +the commonalty in the most respectful tone, words derived from the +Sanskrit being often employed in addressing superiors, or equals if both +are of high rank, such as _Baginda_, _Duli Paduka_, _Ianda_, and in +addressing a superior the speaker only alludes to himself as a slave, +_Amba_, _Sahaya_. I have already referred to the prohibition of the use +of yellow by others than the Royal family, and may add that it is a +grave offence for a person of ordinary rank to pass the palace steps +with his umbrella up, and it is forbidden to him to sit in the after +part of his boat or canoe, that place being reserved for nobles. At an +audience with the Sultan, or with one of the Wazirs, considerable +ceremony is still observed. Whatever the time of the day, a thick bees' +wax candle, about three feet long is lighted and placed on the floor +alongside the European visitor, if he is a person of any rank, and it is +etiquette for him to carry the candle away with him at the conclusion of +his visit, especially if at night. It was a severe test of the courteous +decorum of the Malay nobles when on one occasion, a young officer, who +accompanied me, not only spilt his cup of coffee over his bright new +uniform, but, when impressively bidding adieu to H. H. the Sultan, stood +for sometime unconsciously astride over my lighted candle. Not a muscle +of the faces of the nobles moved, but the Europeans were scarcely so +successful in maintaining their gravity. + +Mr. DALRYMPLE'S description of Brunai, furnished to the _Field_ in +August, 1884, is as follows:-- + + "On a broad river, sweeping round in an imposing curve from the + South-Eastward, with abrupt ranges of sandstone hills, for the + most part cleared of forest, hemming it in on either side, and a + glimpse of lofty blue mountains towering skywards far away to + the North-East, is a long straggling collection of _atap_ + (thatch made of leaves of _nibong_ palm) and _kajang_ (mats of + ditto) houses, or rather huts, built on piles over the water, + and forming a gigantic crescent on either bank of the broad, + curving stream. This is the city of Brunai, the capital of the + Yang di Pertuan, the Sultan of Brunai, _ætat_ one hundred or + more, and now in his dotage: the abode of some 15,000 Malays, + whose language is as different from the Singapore Malay as + Cornish is from Cockney English, and the coign of vantage from + which a set of effete and corrupt _Pangerans_ extended + oppressive rule over the coasts of North-West Borneo, from + Sampanmangiu Point to the Sarawak River in days gone by, ere + British enterprise stepped in, swept the Sulu and Illanun + pirates from the sea, and opened the rivers to commercial + enterprise. + + "Standing on the summit of one of the above-mentioned hills, a + fine bird's eye view is obtained of the city below. The + ramshackle houses are all built in irregular blocks or clusters, + but present on either side a regular frontage to the broad + river, and following its sweeping curve, form two imposing + crescent, divided by a fine water-way. Behind these main + crescents are various other blocks and clusters of buildings, + built higgledy piggledy and without plan of any sort. On the + true left bank are some Chinese shops built of brick, and on the + opposite bank a brick house of superior pretensions and a waving + banner proclaiming the abode of the Chinese Consular Agent of + the British North Borneo Company. * * * + + "A heterogeneous collection of buildings on the right side of the + upper part of the city forms the _palace_ (save the mark!) of + the Sultan himself. A little further down a large, straggling, + but substantial plank building, with a corrugated iron roof, + marks the abode of the Pangeran Temenggong, a son of the former + Sultan and the heir apparent to the throne of Brunai. Two steam + launches are lying opposite at anchor, one the property of the + Sultan, the other belonging to the heir apparent. * * * + + "The public reception room of the Sultan's palace is a long + apartment with wooden pillars running along either side, and + supporting a raised roof. Beyond these on either side, are + lateral compartments. At the far end, in the centre of a kind of + alcove, is the Sultan's throne. The floors are covered with + matting. * * * + + "Although the glories of Brunai have departed, and it is only the + shadow of what it was when PIGAFETTA visited it, a certain + amount of state is still kept up on occasions. A boat comes + sweeping down the river crowded with Malays, a white flag waving + from its stern, seven paddles flashing on either side, and an + array of white umbrellas midships. _It is_ the Pangeran di + Gadong coming in state to pay a ceremonial visit. As it sweeps + alongside, the Pangeran is seen sitting on a gorgeous carpet, + surrounded by his officials. One holds an umbrella over his + head, while another holds aloft the _tongkat kraidan_, a long + guilded staff, surmounted by a plume of yellow horse hair, which + hangs down round it. The most striking point in the attire of + the Pangeran and his Officers is the beauty of the _krises_ with + which they are armed, the handles being of carved ivory + ornamented with gold, and the sheaths of beautifully polished + wood, resembling satin wood. Cigars and coffee are produced, and + a _bichara_ ensues. A Quakers' meeting is no bad metaphor to + describe a Malay _bichara_. The Pangerans sit round in a circle + smoking solemnly for some time, until a question is put to them, + to which a brief reply is given, followed by another prolonged + pause. + + "In this way the business on which they have come is gradually + approached. + + "Their manners are as polished as their faces are immobile, and + the way to a Malay's heart lies through his pocket. + + "To the outsider, Brunai is a city of hideous old women, for such + alone are met with in the thronged market place where some + hundreds of market boats jostle each other, while their inmates + shriek and haggle over their bargains, or during a water + promenade while threading the labyrinths of this Oriental + Venice; but if acquainted with its intricacies, or if paying a + ceremonial visit to any of the leading Pangerans, many a glimpse + may be had of some fair skinned beauty peeping through some + handy crevice in the _kajang_ wall, or, in the latter case, a + crowd of light-skinned, dark-eyed houris may be seen looking + with all their might out of a window in the harem behind, from + which they are privileged to peep into the hall of audience. + + "The present population of Brunai cannot exceed 12,000 to 15,000 + souls, a great number having succumbed to the terrible epidemic + of cholera a year ago. The exports consist of sago, gutta + percha, camphor, india-rubber, edible birds' nests, gum dammar, + etc., and what money there is in the city is almost entirely in + the hands of the Chinese traders. * * * + + "In the old days, when it enjoyed a numerous Chinese population, + the surrounding hills were covered with pepper plantations, and + there was a large junk trade with China. At present Brunai lives + on her exports of jungle produce and sago, furnished by a noble + river--the Limbang, whose valley lies but a short distance to + the Eastward. One great advantage the city enjoys is a copious + supply of pure water, drawn from springs at the base of the + hills below the town on the left bank of the river. * * * + + "Such is a slight sketch of Brunai of the Brunais. If the + Pangerans are corrupt, the lower classes are not, but are law + abiding, though not industrious. And the day may yet come when + their city may lift her head up again, and be to North Borneo + what Singapore is to the straits of Malacca." + +This description gives a capital idea of modern Brunai, and I would only +observe that, from the colour of his flag and umbrellas the nobleman who +paid the state visit must have been the Bandahara and not the Di Gadong. + +The aged Sultan to whom Mr. DALRYMPLE refers was the late Sultan MUMIM, +who, though not in the direct line, was raised to the throne, on the +death of the Sultan OMAR ALI SAIFUDIN, to whom he had been Prime +Minister, by the influence of the English, towards whom he had always +acted as a loyal friend. He was popularly supposed to be over a hundred +years old when he died and, though said to have had some fifty wives and +concubines, he was childless. He died on the 29th May, 1885, having +previously, on the advice of Sir C. C. LEES, then British +Consul-General, declared his Temenggong, the son of OMAR ALI SAIFUDIN to +be his successor. The Temenggong accended the throne, without any +opposition, with the title of Sultan, but found a kingdom distracted by +rebellion in the provinces and reduced to less than a fourth of its size +when the treaty was made with Great Britain in 1847. + +I have said that there is no ground rent in Borneo, and that every one +builds his own house and is his own landlord, but I should add that he +builds his house in the _kampong_, or parish, to which, according to his +occupation, he belongs and into which the city is divided. For instance, +on entering the city, the first _kampong_ on the left is an important +one in a town where fish is the principal article of animal food. It is +the _kampong_ of the men who catch fish by means of bambu fishing +stakes, or traps, described hereafter, and supply the largest quantity +of that article to the market; it is known as the _Kampong Pablat_. + +Next to it is the _Kampong Perambat_, from the casting net which its +inhabitants use in fishing. Another parish is called _Membakut_ and its +houses are built on firm ground, being principally the shops of Chinese +and Klings. The last _kampong_ on this side is that of _Burong Pingé_, +formerly a very important one, where dwelt the principal and richest +Malay traders. It is now much reduced in size, European steamers and +Chinese enterprise having altered entirely the character of the trade +from the time when the old Brunai _nakodahs_ (master or owner of a +trading boat) would cruise leisurely up and down the coast, waiting for +months at a time in a river while trade was being brought in. The +workers in brass, the jewellers, the makers of gold brocade, of mats, of +brass guns, the oil manufacturers, and the rice cleaners, all have their +own _kampongs_ and are jealous of the honour of each member of their +corporation. The Sultan and nearly all the chief nobles have their +houses on the true left bank of the river, _i.e._, on the right bank +ascending. + +The fishing interest is an important one, and various methods are +employed to capture the supply for the market. + +The _kélong_ is a weir composed of nets made of split bambu, fastened in +an upright position, side by side, to posts fixed into the bed of the +stream, or into the sand in the shallow water of a harbour. There are +two long rows of these posts with attached nets, one much longer than +the other which gradually converge in the deeper water, where a simple +trap is constructed with a narrow entrance. The fish passing up or down +stream, meeting with the obstruction, follow up the walls of the +_kélong_ and eventually enter the trap, whence they are removed at low +water. These _kélong_, or fishing stakes as they are termed, are a well +known sight to all travellers entering Malay ports and rivers. All sorts +of fish are caught in this way, and alligators of some size are +occasionally secured in them. + +The _rambat_ is a circular casting net, loaded with leaden or iron +weights at the circumference, and with a spread sometimes of thirty +feet. Great skill, acquired by long practice, is shewn by the fisherman +in throwing this net over a shoal of fish which he has sighted, in such +a manner that all the outer edge touches the water simultaneously; the +weights then cause the edges of the circumference to sink and gradually +close together, encompassing the fish, and the net is drawn up by a +rope attached to its centre, the other end of which the fisherman had +retained in his hand. The skill of the thrower is further enhanced by +the fact that he, as a rule, balances himself in the bow of a small +"dug-out," or canoe, in which a European could scarcely keep his footing +at all. The _rambat_ can also be thrown from the bank, or the beach, and +is used in fresh and salt water. Only small fish and prawns are caught +in this way. Prawns are also caught in small _kélong_ with very fine +split bambu nets, but a method is also employed in the Brunai river +which I have not heard of elsewhere. A specially prepared canoe is made +use of, the gunwale on one side being cut away and its place taken up by +a flat ledge, projecting over the water. The fisherman sits paddling in +the stern, keeping the ledged side towards the bank and leaning over so +as to cause the said ledge to be almost level with the water. + +From the same side there projects a long bambu, with wooden teeth on its +under side, like a comb, fastened to the stern, but projecting outwards, +forwards and slightly upwards, the teeth increasing in length towards +its far end, and as they sweep the surface of the water the startled +prawns, shut in by the bank on one side, in their efforts to avoid the +teeth of the comb, jump into the canoe in large quantities. + +I have described the method of using the dip net, or _serambau_, on page +30. Many kinds of nets are in use, one--the _pukat_--being similar to +our seine or drag net. + +The hook and line are also used, especially for deep sea fishing, and +fish of large size are thus caught. + +A favourite occasional amusement is _tuba_ fishing. The _tuba_ is a +plant the juice of which has strong narcotic properties. Bundles of the +roots are collected and put into the bottom of the canoes, and when the +fishing ground is reached, generally a bend in a river, or the mouth of +a stream which is barred at low tide, water is poured over the _tuba_ +and the juice expressed by beating it with short sticks. The fluid, thus +charged with the narcotic poison, is then baled out of the canoes into +the stream and the surface is quickly covered by all sorts of fish in +all stages of intoxication, the smaller ones even succumbing altogether +to the poison. + +The large fish are secured by spearing, amid much excitement, the eager +sportsmen often overbalancing themselves and falling headlong into the +water to the great amusement of the more lucky ones. I remember reading +an account of a dignified representative of Her Majesty once joining in +the sport and displaying a pair of heels in this way to his admiring +subjects. The _tuba_ does not affect the flesh of the fish, which is +brought to the table without any special preparation. + +The principal export from Brunai is sago flour. The sago palm is known +to the natives under the name of _rumbiah_, the pith, after its first +preliminary washing, is called _lamantah_ (_i.e._, raw), and after its +preparation for export by the Chinese, _sagu_. The botanical name is +_Metroxylon_, _M. Lævis_ being that of the variety the trunk of which is +unprotected, and _M. Rumphii_ that of the kind which is armed with long +and strong spikes, serving to ward off the attacks of the wild pigs from +the young palm. + +This palm is indigenous in the Malayan Archipelago and grows to the +height of twenty to forty feet, in swampy land along the banks of rivers +not far from the sea, but out of the reach of tidal influences. A +plantation once started goes "on for ever," with scarcely any care or +attention from the proprietor, as the palm propagates itself by numerous +off-shots, which take the place of the parent tree when it is cut down +for the purpose of being converted into food, or when it dies, which, +unlike most other palms, it does after it has once flowered and seeded, +_i.e._, after it has attained the age of ten or fifteen years. + +It can also be propagated from the seed, but these are often +unproductive. + +If required for food purposes, the sago palm must be cut down at its +base before it begins to flower, as afterwards the pith or _farina_ +becomes dried up and useless. The trunk is then stripped of its leaves +and, if it is intended to work it up at its owner's house, it is cut +into convenient lengths and floated down the river; if the pith is to be +extracted on the spot the trunk is split in two, longitudinally, and is +found to contain a mass of starchy pith, kept together by filaments of +woody fibre, and when this is worked out by means of bambu hatchets +nothing but a thin rind, the outer bark, is left. To separate the starch +from the woody fibre, the pith is placed on a mat in a frame work over a +trough by the river side; the sago washer then mounts up and, pouring +fresh water over the pith, commences vigorously dancing about on it with +his bare feet, the result being that the starch becomes dissolved in the +water and runs off with it into the trough below, while the woody fibre +remains on the mat and is thrown away, or, if the washer is not a +Mahomedan, used for fattening pigs. The starch thus obtained is not yet +quite pure, and under the name of _lamantah_ is sold to Chinese and +undergoes a further process of washing, this time by hand, in large, +solid, wooden troughs and tubs. When sufficiently purified, it is +sun-dried and, as a fine white flour, is packed in gunny bags for the +Singapore market. At Singapore, some of this flour--a very small +proportion--is converted into the pearl sago of the shops, but the +greater portion is sent on direct to Europe, where it is used for sizing +cloth, in the manufacture of beer, for confectionery, &c. + +It will be seen that the sago palm thus affords food and also employment +to a considerable number of both natives and Chinese and, requiring +little or no trouble in cultivation, it is a perfect gift of the gods to +the natives in the districts where it occurs. It is a curious fact that, +though abounding in Sarawak, in the districts near Brunai and in the +southern parts of British North Borneo on the West Coast, it seems to +stop short suddenly at the Putatan River, near Gaya Bay, and is not +found indigenous in the North nor on the North-East. Some time ago I +sent a quantity of young shoots to a Chief living on the Labuk River, +near Sandakan, on the East Coast, but have not yet heard whether they +have proved a success. + +A nasty sour smell is inseparable from a sago factory, but the health of +the coolies, who live in the factory, does not appear to be affected by +it. + +The Brunais and natives of sago districts consume a considerable +quantity of sago flour, which is boiled into a thick, tasteless paste, +called _boyat_ and eaten by being twisted into a large ball round a +stick and inserted into the mouth--an ungraceful operation. Tamarind, or +some very acid sauce is used to impart to it some flavour. Sago is of +course cheaper than rice, but the latter is, as a rule, much preferred +by the native, and is found more nutritious and _lasting_. LOGAN, in the +_Journal of the Indian Archipelago_, calculates that three sago palms +yield more nutritive matter than an acre of wheat, and six trees more +than an acre of potatoes. The plantain and banana also flourish, under +cultivation, in Borneo, and Mr. BURBIDGE, in his preface to the _Gardens +of the Sun_, points out that it fruits all the year round and that its +produce is to that of wheat as 133 : 1, and to that of the potato as +44 : 1. What a Paradise! some of my readers will exclaim. There can be +no want here! I am sure the figures and calculations above quoted are +absolutely correct, but I have certainly seen want and poverty in +Borneo, and these tropical countries are not quite the earthly +paradises which some old writers would have us believe. For our poor +British "unemployed," at any rate, I fear Borneo can never be a refuge, +as the sun would there be more fatal than the deadly cold here, and the +race could not be kept up without visits to colder climates. But if +sago and bananas are so plentiful and so nourishing, as we are taught +by the experts, it does seem somewhat remarkable, in this age of +invention, that some means cannot be devised of bringing together the +prolific food stores of the East and the starving thousands of the +West. + +Both before, during and after the day's work, the Malays, man and woman, +boy and girl, solace and refresh themselves with tobacco and with the +areca-nut, or the _betel_ nut as, for some unexplained reason, it is +called in English books, though _betel_ is the name of the pepper leaf +in which the areca-nut is wrapped and with which it is masticated. + +A good deal of the tobacco now used in Brunai is imported from Java or +Palembang (Sumatra), but a considerable portion is grown in the hilly +districts on the West Coast of North Borneo, in the vicinity of Gaya +Bay, by the Muruts. It is unfermented and sun-dried, but has not at all +a bad flavour and is sometimes used by European pipe smokers. The +Brunai Malays and the natives generally, as a rule, smoke the tobacco in +the form of cigarettes, the place of paper being taken by the fine inner +leaf of the _nipa_ palm, properly prepared by drying. The Court +cigarettes are monstrous things, fully eight inches long sometimes, and +deftly fashioned by the fingers of the ladies of the harem. + +Some of the inland natives, who are unable to procure _nipa_ leaf +(_dahun kirei_), use roughly made wooden pipes, and the leaf of the +maize plant is also occasionally substituted for the _nipa_. It is a +common practice with persons of both sexes to insert a "quid" of tobacco +in their cheek, or between the upper lip and the gum. This latter +practice does not add to the appearance of a race not overburdened with +facial charms. The tobacco is allowed to remain in position for a long +time, but it is not chewed. The custom of areca-nut chewing has been so +often described that I will only remind the reader that the nut is the +produce of a graceful and slender palm, which flourishes under +cultivation in all Malayan countries and is called by Malays _pinang_. +It is of about the size of a nutmeg and, for chewing, is cut into pieces +of convenient size and made into a neat little packet with the green +leaf of the aromatic betel pepper plant, and with the addition of a +little gambier (the inspissated juice of the leaves of the _uncaria +gambir_) and of fine lime, prepared by burning sea shells. Thus +prepared, the bolus has an undoubtedly stimulating effect on the nerves +and promotes the flow of saliva. I have known fresh vigour put into an +almost utterly exhausted boat's crew by their partaking of this +stimulant. + +It tinges the saliva and the lips bright red, but, contrary to a very +commonly received opinion, has no effect of making the teeth black. This +blackening of the teeth is produced by rubbing in burnt coco-nut shell, +pounded up with oil, the dental enamel being sometimes first filed off. +Toothache and decayed teeth are almost unknown amongst the natives, but +whether this is in some measure due to the chewing of the areca-nut I am +unable to say. + +It used to be a disagreeable, but not unusual sight, to see the old +Sultan at an audience remove the areca-nut he had been masticating and +hand it to a small boy, who placed it in his mouth and kept it there +until the aged monarch again required it. + +The clothing of the Brunai Malays is simple and suitable to the climate. +The one garment common to men, women and children is the _sarong_, which +in its general signification means a sheath or covering, _e.g._, the +sheath of a sword is a _sarong_, and the envelope enclosing a letter is +likewise its _sarong_. The _sarong_ or sheath of the Brunai human being +is a piece of cotton cloth, of Tartan pattern, sewn down the side and +resembling an ordinary skirt, or petticoat, except that it is not +pleated or attached to a band at the waist and is, therefore, the same +width all the way down. It is worn as a petticoat, being fastened at the +waist sometimes by a belt or girdle, but more often the upper part is +merely twisted into its own folds. Both men and women frequently wear +nothing but this garment, the men being naked from the waist up, but the +women generally concealing the breasts by fastening the _sarong_ high up +under the arms; but for full dress the women wear in addition a short +sleeved jacket of dark blue cotton cloth, reaching to the waist, the +tight sleeves being ornamented with a row of half-a-dozen jingling +buttons, of gold if possible, and a round hat of plaited _pandan_ +(screw-pine) leaves, or of _nipa_ leaf completes the Brunai woman's +costume. No stockings, slippers, or shoes are worn. Ladies of rank and +wealth substitute silk and gold brocade for the cotton material used by +their poorer sisters and, in lieu of a hat, cover their head and the +greater part of the face with a _selendang_, or long scarf of gold +brocade. They occasionally also wear slippers. The gold brocade is a +specialty of Brunai manufacture and is very handsome, the gold thread +being woven in tasteful patterns on a ground of yellow, green, red or +dark blue silk. The materials are obtained from China. The cotton +_sarongs_ are also woven in Brunai of European cotton twist, but +inferior and cheap imitations are now imported from Switzerland and +Manchester. In addition to the _sarong_, the Brunai man, when fully +dressed, wears a pair of loose cotton trowsers, tied round the waist, +and in this case the _sarong_ is so folded as to reach only half way +down to the knee, instead of to the ankle, as ordinarily. + +A short sleeved cotton jacket, generally white, covers his body and his +head dress is a small coloured kerchief called _dastar_, the Persian +word for turban. + +The nobles wear silks instead of cottons and with them a small but +handsome _kris_, stuck into the _sarong_, is _de rigueur_ for full +dress. A gold or silver betel-nut box might almost be considered as part +of the full dress, as they are never without one on state occasions, it +being carried by an attendant. + +The women are fond of jewellery, and there are some clever gold and +silversmiths in the city, whose designs appear to be imitated from the +Javanese. Rings, earrings, broaches to fasten the jacket at the neck, +elaborate hairpins, massive silver or gold belts, with large gold +buckles, and bracelets of gold or silver are the usual articles +possessed by a lady of position. + +The characteristic earring is quite a specialty of Brunai art, and is of +the size and nearly the shape of a very large champagne cork, +necessitating a huge hole being made for its reception in the lobes of +the ear. It is made hollow, of gold or silver, or of light wood gilt, or +sometimes only painted, or even quite plain, and is stuck, lengthwise, +through the hole in the ear, the ends projecting on either side. When +the ladies are not in full dress, this hole occasionally affords a +convenient receptacle for the cigarette, or any other small article not +in use for the time being. + +The men never wear any jewellery, except, perhaps, one silver ring, +which is supposed to have come from the holy city--Mecca. + +The Malay _kris_ is too well known to need description here. It is a +dagger or poignard with a blade varying in length from six inches to two +feet. This blade is not invariably wavy, or serpentine, as often +supposed, but is sometimes quite straight. It is always sharp on both +edges and is fashioned from iron imported from Singapore, by Brunai +artificers. Great taste is displayed in the handle, which is often of +delicately carved ivory and gold, and just below the attachment of the +handle, the blade is broadened out, forming a hilt, the under edge of +which is generally fancifully carved. Age adds greatly to the value of +the _kris_ and the history of many is handed down. The highest price I +know of being given for a Brunai _kris_ was $100, paid by the present +Sultan for one he presented to the British North Borneo Company on his +accession to the throne, but I have heard of higher prices being asked. +Very handsomely grained and highly polished wood is used for the sheath +and the two pieces forming it are frequently so skilfully joined as to +have the appearance of being in one. Though naturally a stabbing weapon, +the Malays of Brunai generally use it for cutting, and after an _amok_ +the blade employed is often found bent out of all shape. + +The _parang_ is simply an ordinary cutlass, with a blade two feet in +length. As we generally carry a pocket knife about with us, so the +Brunai Malay always wears his _parang_, or has it near at hand, using it +for every purpose where cutting is required, from paring his nails to +cutting the posts of which his house is built, or weeding his patch of +rice land. + +With this and his _bliong_ he performs all his carpentry work; from +felling the enormous timber tree in the jungle to the construction of +his house and boat. The _bliong_ is indeed a most useful implement and +can perform wonders in the hands of a Malay. It is in the shape of a +small adze, but according to the way it is fitted into the handle it can +be used either as an axe or adze. The Malays with this instrument can +make planks and posts as smooth as a European carpenter is able to do +with his plane. + +The _parang ílang_ is a fighting weapon, with a peculiarity in the shape +of the blade which, Dr. TAYLOR informs me, is not known to occur in the +weapons of any other country, and consists in the surface of the near +side being flat, as in an ordinary blade, while that of the off side is +distinctly convex. This necessitates rather careful handling in the case +of a novice, as the convexity is liable to cause the blade to glance off +any hard substance and inflict a wound on its wielder. This weapon is +manufactured in Brunai, but is the proper arm of the Kyans and, now, +also of the Sarawak Dyaks, who are closely allied to them and who, in +this as in other matters, such as the curious perforation of a part of +their person, which has been described by several writers, are following +their example. The Kyans were once the most formidable Sub-Malay tribe +in Northern Borneo and have been alluded to in preceding pages. On the +West coast, their headquarters is the Baram River, which has recently +been added to Sarawak, but they stretch right across to the East Coast +and Dutch territory. + +There are many kinds of canoes, from the simple dug-out, with scarcely +any free-board, to the _pakerangan_, a boat the construction of which is +confined to only two rivers in North Borneo. It is built up of planks +fastened together by wooden pegs, carvel fashion, on a small keel, or +_lunas_. It is sharp at both ends, has very good lines, is a good sea +boat and well adapted for crossing river bars. It is not made in Brunai +itself, but is bought from the makers up the coast and invariably used +by the Brunai fishermen, who are the best and most powerful paddlers to +be found anywhere. The trading boats--_prahus_ or _tongkangs_--are +clumsy, badly fastened craft, not often exceeding 30 tons burthen, and +modelled on the Chinese junk, generally two-masted, the foremast raking +forward, and furnished with rattan rigging and large lug sails. This +forward rake, I believe, was not unusual, in former days, in European +craft, and is said to aid in tacking. The natives now, however, are +getting into the way of building and rigging their boats in humble +imitation of the Europeans. The _prahus_ are generally furnished with +long sweeps, useful when the wind falls and in ascending winding rivers, +when the breeze cannot be depended on. The canoes are propelled and +steered by single-bladed paddles. They also generally carry a small +sail, often made of the remnants of different gaily coloured garments, +and a fleet of little craft with their gaudy sails is a pleasing sight +on a fresh, bright morning. At the sports held by the Europeans on New +Year's Day, the Queen's Birthday and other festivals, native canoe +races are always included and are contested with the keenest possible +excitement by the competitors. A Brunai Malay takes to the water and to +his tiny canoe almost before he is able to walk. Use has with him become +second nature and, really, I have known some Brunai men paddle all day +long, chatting and singing and chewing betel-nut, as though they felt it +no exertion whatever. + +In the larger canoes one sees the first step towards a fixed rudder and +tiller, a modified form of paddle being fixed securely to one _side_ of +the stern, in such a way that the blade can be turned so as either to +have its edges fore and aft, or its sides presented at a greater or less +angle to the water, according to the direction in which it is desired to +steer the boat. + +I was much interested, in going over the Pitt-Rivers collection, at the +Oxford University Museum, to find that in the model of a Viking boat the +steering gear is arranged in almost exactly the same manner as that of +the modern Malay canoe; and indeed, the lines generally of the two boats +are somewhat alike. + +To the European novice, paddling is severe work, more laborious than +rowing; but then a Brunai man is always in "training," more or less; he +is a teetotaller and very temperate in eating and drinking; indeed the +amount of fluid they take is, considering the climate, wonderfully +small. They scarcely drink during meals, and afterwards, as a rule, only +wash their mouths out, instead of taking a long draught like the +European. + +Mr. DALRYMPLE is right in saying that a State visit is like a Quakers' +meeting. Seldom is any important business more than broached on such an +occasion; the details of difficult negotiations are generally discussed +and arranged by means of confidential agents, who often find it to their +pecuniary advantage to prolong matters to the limit of their employer's +patience. The Brunai Malays are very nice, polite fellows to have to +deal with, but they have not the slightest conception of the value of +time, and the expression _nanti dahulu_ (wait a bit) is as often in +their mouths as that of _malua_ (by-and-by) is by Miss GORDON CUMMING +said to be in those of the Fijians. A lady friend of mine, who found a +difficulty in acquiring Malay, pronounced _nanti dahulu_, or _nanti +dulu_ as generally spoken, "nanty doodle," and suggested that "the nanty +doodles" could be a good name for "the Brunai Malays." + +As writing is a somewhat rare accomplishment, state documents are not +signed but sealed--"_chopped_" it is called--and much importance is +accordingly attached to the official seals or _chops_, which are large +circular metal stamps, and the _chop_ is affixed by oiling the stamps, +blacking it over the flame of a candle and pressing it on the document +to be sealed. The _chop_ bears, in Arabic characters, the name, style +and title of the Official using it. The Sultan's Chop is the Great Seal +of State and is distinguished by being the only one of which the +circumference can be quite round and unbroken; the edges of those of the +Wazirs are always notched. + +By the aboriginal tribes of Borneo, the Brunai people are always spoken +of as _Orang Abai_, or Abai men, but though I have often enquired both +of the aborigines and of the Brunais themselves, I have not been able to +obtain any explanation of the term, nor of its derivation. + +As already stated, the religion of the Brunais is Mahomedanism; but they +do not observe its precepts and forms with any very great strictness, +nor are they proselytisers, so that comparatively few of the surrounding +pagans have embraced the religion of their conquerors. + +Many of their old superstitions still influence them, as, in the early +days of Christianity, the belief in the old heathen gods and goddesses +were found underlying the superstructure of the new faith and tinging +its ritual and forms of worship. There still flourishes and survives, +influencing to the present day the life of the Brunais, the old Spirit +worship and a real belief in the power of evil spirits (_hantus_) to +cause ill-luck, sickness and death, to counteract which spells, charms +and prayers are made use of, together with propitiatory offerings. Most +of them wear some charm to ward off sickness, and others to shield them +from death in battle. If you are travelling in the jungle and desire to +quench your thirst at a brook, your Brunai follower will first lay his +_parang_, or cutlass in the bed of the stream, with its point towards +the source, so that the Spirit of the brook shall be powerless to harm +you. + +In caves and on small islands you frequently find platforms and little +models of houses and boats--propitiatory offerings to _hantus_. In times +of general sickness a large model of a boat is sometimes made and decked +with flags and launched out to sea in the hope that the evil spirit who +has brought the epidemic may take his departure therein. At Labuan it +was difficult to prevail on a Malay messenger to pass after sunset by +the gaol, where executions took place, or by the churchyard, for fear of +the ghosts haunting those localities. + +Javanese element, and Hindu work in gold has been discovered buried in +the island of Pappan, situated between Labuan and Brunai. Mr. INCHE +MAHOMET, H. B. M.'s Consular Agent in Brunai, was good enough to procure +for me a native history of Brunai, called the _Telselah Besar_, or +principal history. This history states that the first Mahomedan +Sovereign of Brunai was Sultan MAHOMET and that, before his conversion +and investiture by the Sultan of Johor, his kingdom had been tributary +to the State of Majapahit, on the fall of which kingdom the Brunai +Government transferred its allegiance to Johor. Majapahit[8] was the +last Javanese kingdom professing Hinduism, and from its overthrow dates +the triumph of Mahomedanism in Java. This occurred in A.D. 1478, which, +if the chronicle can be trusted, must have been about the period of the +commencement of the Mahomedan period in Brunai. Inclusive of this Sultan +MAHOMET and of the late Sultan MUMIM, who died in May, 1885, +twenty-three Mahomedan Sultans have reigned in Brunai and, allowing +eighteen years for an average reign, this brings us within a few years +of the date assigned to the overthrow of the kingdom of Majapahit, and +bears testimony to the reliability of the chronicle. I will quote the +first few paragraphs of the _Telselah_, as they will give the reader an +idea of a Brunai history and also because they allude to the connection +of the Chinese with Borneo and afford a fanciful explanation of the +origin of the name of the mountain of Kinabalu, in British North +Borneo, which is 13,700 feet in height:-- + + "This is the genealogy of all the Rájas who have occupied the + royal throne of the Government of Brunai, the abode of peace, + from generation to generation, who inherited the royal drum and + the bell, the tokens from the country of Johore, _kamal + almakam_, and who also possessed the royal drum from + Menangkabau, namely, from the country of Saguntang. + + "This was the commencement of the kingdom of Brunai and of the + introduction of the Mahomedan religion and of the Code of Laws + of the prophet, the beloved of God, in the country of + Brunai--that is to say (in the reign of) His Highness Sultan + MAHOMET. But before His Majesty's time the country of Brunai was + still infidel, and a dependency of Majapahit. On the death of + the Batara of Majapahit and of the PATIH GAJA MEDAH the kingdom + of Majapahit fell, and Brunai ceased to pay tribute, which used + to consist of one jar of the juice of the young betel-nut every + year. + + "In the time of the Sultan BAHTRI of the kingdom of Johor, Tuan + ALAK BETATAR and PATIH BERBAHI were summoned to Johor, and the + former was appointed Sultan MAHOMET by the Sultan of Johor, who + conferred on him the royal drum and assigned him five provinces, + namely, Kaluka, Seribas, Sadong, Samarahan and Sarawak. PATIH + BERBAI was given the title of Bandhara Sri Maharaja. After a + stay of some little time in Johor, His Highness the Sultan + MAHOMET returned to Brunai; but His Highness had no male issue + and only one daughter. At that time also the Emperor of China + ordered two of his ministers to obtain possession of the + precious stone of the dragon of the mountain Kinabalu. Numbers + of Chinese were devoured by the dragon and still possession was + not obtained of the stone. For this reason they gave the + mountain the name of Kinabalu (_Kina_ = Chinese; _balu_ = + _widow_). + + "The name of one of the Chinese Ministers was _Ong Kang_ and of + another ONG SUM PING, and the latter had recourse to a + stratagem. He made a box with glass sides and placed a large + lighted candle therein, and when the dragon went forth to feed, + ONG SUM PING seized the precious stone and put the lamp in its + place and u the dragon mistook it for the precious stone. Having + now obtained possession of the precious stone all the junks set + sail for China, and when they had got a long way off from + Kinabalu, ONG KANG asked ONG SUM PING for the stone, and + thereupon a quarrel ensued between them. ONG KANG continued to + press his demand for the precious stone, and ONG SUM PING became + out of humour and sullen and refused to return to China and made + his way back to Brunai. On arriving there, he espoused the + Princess, the daughter of Sultan MAHOMET, and he obtained the + title of Sultan AHAMAT. + + "The Sultan AHAMAT had one daughter, who was remarkably + beautiful. It came to pass that a Sheriff named ALLI, a + descendant of AMIR HASSAN (_one of the grandchildren of the + prophet_) came from the country of Taif to Brunai. Hearing of + the fame of the beauty of the Sultan's daughter, he became + enamoured of her and the Sultan accepted him as his son-in-law + and the Government of Brunai was handed over to him by His + Highness and he was styled Sultan BERKAT. He enforced the Code + of Laws of the beloved of God and erected a mosque in Brunai, + and, moreover, ordered the Chinese population to make a stone + fort." + +The connection of the Chinese with Brunai was an important event in +Borneo history and it was certainly to them that the flourishing +condition of the capital when visited by PIGAFETTA in 1521 was due. They +were the sole planters of the pepper gardens, the monopoly of the trade +in the produce of which the East India Company negotiated for in 1774, +when the crop was reported to the Company to have been 4,000 pikuls, +equal to about 240 tons, valued on the spot at 17-1/4 Spanish dollars +per pikul. The Company's Agent expressly reported that the Chinese were +the only pepper planters, that the aborigines did not plant it, and that +the produce was disposed of to Chinese junks, which visited the port and +which he trusted would, when the exclusive trade in this article was in +the hands of the Company, be diverted from Brunai to Balambangan. + +The station at this latter island, as already mentioned, was abandoned +in 1775, and the English trade with Brunai appears soon afterwards to +have come to an end. + +From extracts from the Journal of the Batavia Society of Arts and +Sciences published in _The British North Borneo Herald_ of the 1st +October, 1886, the first mention of Brunai in Chinese history appears to +be in the year 669, when the King of Polo, which is stated to be another +name for Bunlai (corruption of "Brunai"), sent an envoy to Pekin, who +came to Court with the envoy of Siam. Again, in the year 1406, another +Brunai envoy was appointed, who took with him a tribute of the products +of the country, and the chronicle goes on to say that it is reported +"that the present King is a man from Fukien, who followed CHENG HO when +he went to this country and who settled there." + +This account was written in 1618 and alludes to the Chinese shipping +then frequenting Brunai. It is by some supposed that the northern +portion of Borneo was the destination of the unsuccessful expedition +which KUBLAI KHAN sent out in the year 1292. + +Towards the close of the eighteenth century a Government seems to have +arisen in Brunai which knew not ONG SUM PING and, in 1809, Mr. HUNT +reported that Chinese junks had ceased visiting Brunai and, owing no +doubt to the rapacious and piratical character of the native Government, +the pepper gardens were gradually deserted and the Chinese left the +country. A few of the natives had, however, acquired the art of pepper +cultivation, especially the Dusuns of Pappar, Kimanis and Bundu and when +the Colony of Labuan was founded, 1846, there was still a small trade in +pepper with those rivers. The Brunai Rájas, however, received their +revenues and taxes in this commodity and their exhorbitant demands +gradually led to the abandonment of its cultivation. + +These rivers have since passed under the Government of the British North +Borneo Company, and in Bundu, owing partly to the security now afforded +to life and property and partly to the very high price which pepper at +present realizes on account of the Dutch blockade of Achin--Achin +having been of late years the principal pepper-growing country--the +natives are again turning their attention to this article. I may remark +here that the people of Bundu claim and shew evidence of Chinese +descent, and even set up in their houses the little altar and joss which +one is accustomed to see in Chinamen's shops. The Brunai Malays call the +Chinese _Orang Kina_ and evidence of their connection with Borneo is +seen in such names as _Kina-batangan_, a river near Sandakan on the +north-east coast, _Kina-balu_, the mountain above referred to, and +_Kina-benua_, a district in Labuan. They have also left their mark in +the very superior mode of cultivation and irrigation of rice fields on +some rivers on the north-west coast as compared with the primitive mode +practised in other parts of Northern Borneo. It is now the object of the +Governments of Sarawak and of British North Borneo to attract Chinese to +their respective countries by all the means in their power. This has, to +a considerable extent, been successfully achieved by the present Rája +BROOKE, and a large area of his territory is now under pepper +cultivation with a very marked influence on the public revenues. This +subject will be again alluded to when I come to speak of British North +Borneo. + +It would appear that Brunai was once or twice attacked by the Spaniards, +the last occasion being in 1645.[9] It has also had the honour in more +recent times, of receiving the attentions of a British naval expedition, +which was brought about in this wise. Sir JAMES, then Mr. BROOKE, had +first visited Sarawak in 1839 and found the district in rebellion +against its ruler, a Brunai Rája named MUDA HASSIM, who, being a friend +to the English, received Mr. BROOKE with cordiality. Mr. BROOKE returned +to Sarawak in the following year and this time assisted MUDA HASSIM to +put down the rebellion and finally, on the 24th September, 1841, the +Malay Rája retired from his position as Governor in favour of the +Englishman. + +The agreement to so transfer the Government was not signed without the +application of a little pressure, for we find the following account of +it in Mr. BROOKE'S Journal, edited by Captain RODNEY MUNDY, R. N., in +two volumes, and published by JOHN MURRAY in 1848:-- + + "October 1st, 1841. Events of great importance have occurred + during the last month. I will shortly narrate them. The advent + of the _Royalist_ and _Swift_ and a second visit from the + _Diana_ on her return from Brunei with the shipwrecked crew of + the _Sultana_, strengthened my position, as it gave evidence + that the Singapore authorities were on the alert, and otherwise + did good to my cause by creating an impression amongst the + natives of my power and influence with the Governor of the + Straits Settlements. Now, then, was my time for pushing measures + to extremity against my subtle enemy the arch-intriguer MAKOTA." + This Chief was a Malay hostile to English interest. "I had + previously made several strong remonstrances, and urged for an + answer to a letter I had addressed to MUDA HASSIM, in which I + had recapitulated in detail the whole particulars of our + agreement, concluding by a positive demand either to allow me to + retrace my steps by repayment of the sums which he had induced + me to expend, or to confer upon me the grant of the Government + of the country according to his repeated promises; and I ended + by stating that if he would not do either one or the other I + _must find means to right myself_. Thus did I, for the first + time since my arrival in the land, present anything in the shape + of a menace before the Rája, my former remonstrances only going + so far as to threaten to take away my own person and vessels + from the river." Mr. BROOKE'S demand for an investigation into + MAKOTA'S conduct was politely shelved and Mr. BROOKE deemed "the + moment for action had now arrived. My conscience told me that I + was bound no longer to submit to such injustice, and I was + resolved to test the strength of our respective parties. + Repairing on board the yacht, I mustered my people, explained + my intentions and mode of operation, and having loaded the + vessel's guns with grape and canister, and brought her broadside + to bear, I proceeded on shore with a detachment fully armed, and + taking up a position at the entrance of the Rája's palace, + demanded and obtained an immediate audience. In a few words I + pointed out the villany of MAKOTA, his tyranny and oppression of + all classes, and my determination to attack him by force, and + drive him from the country. I explained to the Raja that several + Chiefs and a large body of Siniawan Dyaks were ready to assist + me, and the only course left to prevent bloodshed was + immediately to proclaim me Governor of the country. This + unmistakeable demonstration had the desired effect * * * None + joined the party of MAKOTA, and his paid followers were not more + than twenty in number. + + "Under the guns of the _Royalist_, and with a small body of men + to protect me personally, and the great majority of all classes + with me, it is not surprising that the negotiation proceeded + rapidly to a favourable issue. The document was quickly drawn + up, sealed, signed, and delivered; and on the 24th of September, + 1841, I was declared Rája and Governor of Sarawak amidst the + roar of cannon, and a general display of flags and banners from + the shore and boats on the river." + +This is a somewhat lengthy quotation, but the language is so graphic and +so honest that I need make no apologies for introducing it and, indeed, +it is the fairest way of exhibiting Mr. BROOKE'S objects and reasons and +is, moreover, interesting as shewing under what circumstances and +conditions the first permanent English settlement was formed in Borneo. + +Mr. BROOKE concludes his account of his accession to the Government in +words that remind us of another unselfish and modest hero--General +GORDON. He says:-- + + "Difficulty followed upon difficulty; the dread of pecuniary + failure, the doubt of receiving support or assistance; this and + much more presents itself to my mind. But I have tied myself to + the stake. I have heaped faggots around me. I stand upon a cask + of gunpowder, and if others bring the torch I shall not shrink, + I feel within me the firm, unchangeable conviction of doing + right which nothing can shake. I see the benefits I am + conferring. The oppressed, the wretched, the outlawed have found + in me their only protector. They now hope and trust; and they + shall not be disappointed while I have life to uphold them. God + has so far used me as a humble instrument of his hidden + Providence; and whatever be the result, whatever my fate, I know + the example will not be thrown away. I know it tends to a good + end in His own time. He can open a path for me through all + difficulties, raise me up friends who will share with me in the + task, awaken the energies of the great and powerful, so that + they may protect this unhappy people. I trust it may be so: but + if God wills otherwise; if the time be not yet arrived; if it be + the Almighty's will that the flickering taper shall be + extinguished ere it be replaced by a steady beacon, I submit, in + the firm and humble assurance that His ways are better than my + ways, and that the term of my life is better in His hands than + in my own." + +On the 1st August, 1842, this cession of Sarawak to Mr. BROOKE was +confirmed by His Highness Sultan OMAR ALI SAIFUDIN, under the Great +Seal. MUDA HASSIM was the uncle of the Sultan, who was a sovereign of +weak, vacillating disposition, at one time guided by the advice of his +uncle, who was the leader of the "English party," and expressing his +desire for the Queen's assistance to put down piracy and disorder and +offering, in return, to cede to the British the island of Labuan; at +another following his own natural inclinations and siding altogether +with the party of disorder, who were resolved to maintain affairs as +they were in the "good old times," knowing that when the reign of law +and order should be established their day and their power and ability to +aggrandize and enrich themselves at the expense of the aborigines and +the common people would come to an end. There is no doubt that Mr. +BROOKE himself considered it would be for the good of the country that +MUDA HASSIM should be raised to the throne and the Sultan certainly +entertained a not altogether ill-founded dread that it was intended to +depose him in the latter's favour, the more so as a large majority of +the Brunai people were known to be in his interest. In the early part +of 1845 MUDA HASSIM appears to have been in favour with the Sultan, and +was publicly announced as successor to the throne with the title of +_Sultan Muda_ (muda = young, the usual Malay title for the heir apparent +to the Crown), and the document recognising the appointment of Mr. +BROOKE as the Queen's Confidential Agent in Borneo was written in the +name of the Sultan and of MUDA HASSIM conjointly, and concludes by +saying that the two writers express the hope that through the Queen's +assistance they will be enabled to _settle the Government of Borneo_. In +April, 1846, however, Mr. BROOKE received the startling intelligence +that in the December, or January previous, the Sultan had ordered the +murder of his uncle MUDA HASSIM and of several of the Ràja's brothers +and nobles of his party, in all some thirteen Ràjas and many of their +followers. MUDA HASSIM, finding resistance useless, retreated to his +boat and ignited a cask of powder, but the explosion not killing him, he +blew his brains out with a pistol. His brother, Pangeran BUDRUDIN, one +of the most enlightened nobles in Brunai, likewise terminated his +existence by an explosion of gunpowder. Representations being made to +Sir THOMAS COCHRANE, the Admiral in command of the station, he proceeded +in person to Borneo with a squadron of eight vessels, including two +steamers. The Sultan, foreseeing the punishment that was inevitable, +erected some well-placed batteries to defend his town. Only the two +steamers and one sailing vessel of war, together with boats from the +other vessels and a force of six hundred men were able to ascend the +river and, such was the rotten state of the kingdom of Borneo Proper and +so unwarlike the disposition of its degenerate people that after firing +a few shots, whereby two of the British force were killed and a few +wounded, the batteries were deserted, the Sultan and his followers fled +to the jungle, and the capital remained at the Admiral's disposition. +Captain RODNEY MUNDY, accompanied by Mr. BROOKE, with a force of five +hundred men was despatched in pursuit of His Highness, but it is +needless to add that, though the difficulties of marching through a +trackless country under a tropical downpour of rain were pluckily +surmounted, it was found impossible to come up with the Royal fugitive. +Negotiations were subsequently entered into with the Prime Minister, +Pangeran MUMIM, an intelligent noble, who afterwards became Sultan, and +on the 19th July, 1846, the batteries were razed to the ground and the +Admiral issued a Proclamation to the effect that hostilities would cease +if the Sultan would return and govern lawfully, suppress piracy and +respect his engagements with the British Government; but that if he +persisted in his evil courses the squadron would return and burn down +the capital. The same day Admiral COCHRANE and his squadron steamed +away. It is perhaps superfluous to add that this was the first and the +last time that the Brunai Government attempted to try conclusions with +the British, and in the following year a formal treaty was concluded to +which reference will be made hereafter. + +(_To be continued._) + + +Footnotes: + +[Footnote 8: CRAWFURD'S Dictionary--Indian Islands--_Majapait_.] + +[Footnote 9: Captain RODNEY MUNDY, R. N., states that in 1846 he +captured at Brunai ten large Spanish brass guns, the longest being +14 feet 6 inches, cast in the time of CHARLES III of Spain and the +most beautiful specimens of workmanship he had ever seen. CHARLES III +reigned between 1759 and 1788.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +Having alluded to the circumstances under which the Government of +Sarawak became vested in the BROOKE family, it may be of interest if I +give a brief outline of the history of that State under its European +rulers up to the present time. The territory acquired by Sir JAMES +BROOKE in 1841 and known as Sarawak Proper, was a small district with a +coast line of sixty miles and with an average depth inland of fifty +miles--an area of three thousand square miles. Since that date, however, +rivers and districts lying to the northward have been acquired by +cessions for annual payments from the Brunai Government and have been +incorporated with the original district of Sarawak, which has given its +name to the enlarged territory, and the present area of Raja BROOKE'S +possessions is stated to be about 40,000 square miles, supporting a +population of 280,000 souls, and possessing a coast line of 380 miles. +The most recent acquisition of territory was in 1884, so that the young +State has shewn a very vigorous growth since its birth in 1841--at the +rate of about 860 square miles a year, or an increase of thirteen times +its original size in the space of forty-three years. + +Now, alas, there are no "more lands to conquer," or acquire, unless the +present kingdom of Brunai, or Borneo Proper, as it is styled by the old +geographers, is altogether swallowed up by its offspring, which, under +its white ruler, has developed a vitality never evinced under the rule +of the Royal house of Brunai in its best days.[10] + +The limit of Sarawak's coast line to the South-West is Cape, or +_Tanjong_, Datu, on the other side of which commences the Dutch portion +of Borneo, so that expansion in that direction is barred. To the +North-East the boundary is Labuk Pulai the Eastern limit of the +watershed, on the coast, of the important river Barram which was +acquired by Raja BROOKE, in 1881, for an annual payment of £1,000. +Beyond this commences what is left of the Brunai Sultanate, there being +but one stream of any importance between the Barram river and that on +which the capital--Brunai--is situated. But Sarawak does not rest here; +it acquired, in 1884, from the then Pangeran Tumonggong, who is now +Sultan, the Trusan, a river to the East of the Brunai, under somewhat +exceptional circumstances. The natives of the river were in rebellion +against the Brunai Government, and in November, 1884, a party of Sarawak +Dyaks, who had been trading and collecting jungle produce in the +neighbourhood of the capital, having been warned by their own Government +to leave the country because of its disturbed condition, and having +further been warned also by the Sultan not to enter the Trusan, could +not refrain from visiting that river on their homeward journey, in order +to collect some outstanding trade debts. They were received is so +friendly a manner, that their suspicions were not in the slightest +degree aroused, and they took no precautions, believing themselves to be +amongst friends. Suddenly in the night they were attacked while asleep +in their boats, and the whole party, numbering about seventeen, +massacred, with the exception of one man who, though wounded, managed to +effect his escape and ultimately found his way to Labuan, where he was +treated in the Government Hospital and made a recovery. The heads of the +murdered men were, as is customary, taken by the murderers. No very +distinct reason can be given for the attack, except that the Trusan +people were in a "slaying" mood, being on the "war-path" and in arms +against their own Government, and it has also been said that those +particular Dyaks happened to be wearing trowsers instead of their +ordinary _chawat_, or loin cloth, and, as their enemies, the Brunais, +were trowser-wearers, the Trusan people thought fit to consider all +natives wearing such extravagant clothing as their enemies. The Sarawak +Government, on hearing of the incident, at once despatched Mr. MAXWELL, +the Chief Resident, to demand redress. The Brunai Government, having no +longer the warlike Kyans at their beck and call, that tribe having +passed to Raja BROOKE with the river Barram, were wholly unable to +undertake the punishment of the offenders. Mr. MAXWELL then demanded as +compensation the sum of $22,000, basing his calculations on the amount +which some time previously the British Government had exacted in the +case of some British subjects who had been murdered in another river. + +This demand the bankrupt Government of Brunai was equally incompetent to +comply with, and, thereupon, the matter was settled by the transfer of +the river to Raja BROOKE in consideration of the large annual payment of +$4,500, two years' rental--$9,000, being paid in advance, and Sarawak +thus acquired, as much by good luck as through good management, a _pied +à terre_ in the very centre of the Brunai Sultanate and practically +blocked the advance of their northern rivals--the Company--on the +capital. This river was the _kouripan_ (see _ante_, page 26) of the +present Sultan, and a feeling of pique which he then entertained against +the Government of British North Borneo, on account of their refusing him +a monetary loan to which he conceived he had a claim, caused him to make +this cession with a better grace and more readily than might otherwise +have been the case, for he was well aware that the British North Borneo +Company viewed with some jealousy the extension of Sarawak territory in +this direction, having, more than probably, themselves an ambition to +carry their own southern boundary as near to Brunai as circumstances +would admit. The same feeling on the part of the Tumonggong induced him +to listen to Mr. MAXWELL'S proposals for the cession to Sarawak of a +still more important river--the Limbang--one on which the existence of +Brunai itself as an independent State may be said to depend. But the +then reigning Sultan and the other Ministers of State refused their +sanction, and the Tumonggong, since his accession to the throne, has +also very decidedly changed his point of view, and is now in accord with +the large majority of his Brunai subjects to whom such a cession would +be most distasteful. It should be explained that the Limbang is an +important sago-producing river, close to the capital and forming an +actual portion of the Brunai river itself, with the waters of which it +mingles; indeed, the Brunai river is probably the former mouth of the +Limbang, and is itself but a salt-water inlet, producing nothing but +fish and prawns. As the Brunais themselves put it, the Limbang is their +_priuk nasi_, their rice pot, an expression which gains the greater +force when it is remembered that rice is the chief food with this +eastern people, in a more emphatic sense even than bread is with us. +This question of the Limbang river will afford a good instance and +specimen of the oppressive government, or want of government, on the +part of the Brunai rulers, and I will return to it again, continuing now +my short glance at Sarawak's progress. Raja BROOKE has had little +difficulty in establishing his authority in the districts acquired from +time to time, for not only were the people glad to be freed from the +tyranny of the Brunai Rajas, but the fame of both the present Raja and +of his famous uncle Sir JAMES had spread far and wide in Borneo, and, in +addition, it was well known that the Sarawak Government had at its back +its war-like Dyak tribes, who, now that "head-hunting" has been stopped +amongst them, would have heartily welcomed the chance of a little +legitimate fighting and "at the commandment of the Magistrate to wear +weapons and serve in the wars," as the XXXVIIth Article of our Church +permits. In the Trusan, the Sarawak flag was freely distributed and +joyfully accepted, and in a short time the Brunai river was dotted with +little roughly "dug-out" canoes, manned by repulsive-looking, naked, +skin-diseased savages, each proudly flying an enormous Sarawak ensign, +with its Christian symbol of the Cross, in the Muhammadan capital. + +A fine was imposed and paid for the murder of the Sarawak Dyaks, and the +heads delivered up to Mr. A. H. EVERETT, the Resident of the new +district, who thus found his little launch on one occasion decorated in +an unusual manner with these ghastly trophies, which were, I believe, +forwarded to the sorrowing relatives at home. + +In addition to these levies of warriors expert in jungle fighting, on +which the Government can always count, the Raja has a small standing +army known as the "Sarawak Rangers," recruited from excellent +material--the natives of the country--under European Officers, armed +with breech-loading rifles, and numbering two hundred and fifty or three +hundred men. There is, in addition, a small Police Force, likewise +composed of natives, as also are the crews of the small steamers and +launches which form the Sarawak Navy. With the exception, therefore, of +the European Officers, there is no foreign element in the military, +naval and civil forces of the State, and the peace of the people is kept +by the people themselves, a state of things which makes for the +stability and popularity of the Government, besides enabling it to +provide for the defence of the country and the preservation of internal +order at a lower relative cost than probably any other Asiatic country +the Government of which is in the hand of Europeans. Sir JAMES BROOKE +did not marry, and died in 1868, having appointed as his successor the +present Raja CHARLES JOHNSON, who has taken the name of BROOKE, and has +proclaimed his eldest son, a youth of sixteen, heir apparent, with the +title of Raja Muda. The form of Government is that of an absolute +monarchy, but the Raja is assisted by a Supreme Council composed of two +European officials and four natives nominated by himself. There is also +a General Council of some fifty members, which is not usually convened +more frequently than once in two or three years. For administrative +purposes, the country is divided into Divisions, each under a European +Resident with European and Native Assistants. The Resident administers +justice, and is responsible for the collection of the Revenue and the +preservation of order in the district, reporting direct to the Raja. +Salaries are on an equitable scale, and the regulations for leave and +pension on retirement are conceived in a liberal spirit. + +There is no published Code of Laws, but the Raja, when the occasion +arises, issues regulations and proclamations for the guidance of +officials, who, in criminal cases, follow as much as possible the Indian +Criminal Code. Much is left to the common sense of the Judicial +Officers, native customs and religious prejudices receive due +consideration, and there is a right of appeal to the Raja. Slavery was +in full force when Sir JAMES BROOKE assumed the Government, all captives +in the numerous tribal wars and piratical expeditions being kept or sold +as slaves. + +Means were taken to mitigate as much as possible the condition of the +slaves, not, as a rule, a very hard one in these countries, and to +gradually abolish the system altogether, which latter object was to be +accomplished by 1888. + +The principal item of revenue is the annual sum paid by the person who +secures from the Government the sole right of importing, preparing for +consumption, and retailing opium throughout the State. The holder of +this monopoly is known as the "Opium Farmer" and the monopoly is termed +the "Opium Farm." These expressions have occasionally given rise to the +notion that the opium-producing poppy is cultivated locally under +Government supervision, and I have seen it included among the list of +Borneo products in a recent geographical work. It is evident that the +system of farming out this monopoly has a tendency to limit the +consumption of the drug, as, owing to the heavy rental paid to the +Government, the retail price of the article to the consumer is very much +enhanced. + +Were the monopoly abolished, it would be impossible for the Government +efficiently to check the contraband importation of so easily smuggled an +article as prepared opium, or _chandu_, and by lowering the price the +consumption would be increased. + +The use of the drug is almost entirely confined to the Chinese portion +of the population. A poll-tax, customs and excise duties, mining +royalties and fines and fees make up the rest of the revenue, which in +1884 amounted to $237,752 and in 1885 to $315,264. The expenditure for +the same years is given by Vice-Consul CADELL as $234,161 and $321,264, +respectively. In the early days of Sarawak, it was a very serious +problem to find the money to pay the expenses of a most economical +Government. Sir JAMES BROOKE sunk all his own fortune--£30,000--in the +country, and took so gloomy a view of the financial prospects of his +kingdom that, on the refusal of England to annex it, he offered it first +to France and then to Holland. Fortunately these offers were never +carried into effect, and, with the assistance of the Borneo Company (not +to be confused with the British North Borneo Company), who acquired the +concession of the right to work the minerals in Sarawak, bad times were +tided over, and, by patient perseverance, the finances of the State have +been brought to their present satisfactory condition. What the amount of +the national public debt is, I am not in a position to say, but, like +all other countries aspiring to be civilized, it possesses a small one. +The improvement in the financial position was undoubtedly chiefly due to +the influx of Chinese, especially of gambier and pepper planters, who +were attracted by liberal concessions of land and monetary assistance in +the first instance from the Government. The present Raja has himself +said that "without the Chinese we can do nothing," and we have only to +turn to the British possession in the far East--the Straits Settlements, +the Malay Peninsula, and Hongkong--to see that this is the case. For +instance, the revenue of the Straits Settlements in 1887 was $3,847,475, +of which the opium farm alone--that is a tax practically speaking borne +by the Chinese population--contributed $1,779,600, or not very short of +one half of the whole, and they of course contribute in many other ways +as well. The frugal, patient, industrious, go-ahead, money-making +Chinaman is undoubtedly the colonist for the sparsely inhabited islands +of the Malay archipelago. Where, as in Java, there is a large native +population and the struggle for existence has compelled the natives to +adopt habits of industry, the presence of the Chinaman is not a +necessity, but in a country like Borneo, where the inhabitants, from +time immemorial, except during unusual periods of drought or epidemic +sickness, have never found the problem of existence bear hard upon them, +it is impossible to impress upon the natives that they ought to have +"wants," whether they feel them or not, and that the pursuit of the +dollar for the sake of mere possession is an ennobling object, +differentiating the simple savage from the complicated product of the +higher civilization. The Malay, in his ignorance, thinks that if he can +obtain clothing suitable to the climate, a hut which adequately protects +him from sun and rain, and a wife to be the mother of his children and +the cooker of his meals, he should therewith rest content; but, then, no +country made up of units possessed of this simple faith can ever come to +anything--can ever be civilized, and hence the necessity for the Chinese +immigrant in Eastern Colonies that want to shew an annual revenue +advancing by leaps and bounds. The Chinaman, too, in addition to his +valuable properties as a keen trader and a man of business, collecting +from the natives the products of the country, which he passes on to the +European merchant, from whom he obtains the European fabrics and +American "notions" to barter with the natives, is also a good +agriculturist, whether on a large or small scale; he is muscular and can +endure both heat and cold, and so is, at any rate in the tropics, far +and away a superior animal to the white labourer, whether for +agricultural or mining work, as an artizan, or as a hewer of wood and +drawer of water, as a cook, a housemaid or a washerwoman. He can learn +any trade that a white man can teach him, from ship-building to +watchmaking, and he does not drink and requires scarcely any holidays or +Sundays, occasionally only a day to worship his ancestors. + +It will be said that if he does not drink he smokes opium. Yes! he does, +and this, as we have seen, is what makes him so beloved of the Colonial +Chancellors of the Exchequer. At the same time he is, if strict justice +and firmness are shewn him, wonderfully law-abiding and orderly. Faction +fights, and serious ones no doubt, do occur between rival classes and +rival secret societies, but to nothing like the extent that would be the +case were they white men. It is not, I think, sufficiently borne in +mind, that a very large proportion of the Chinese there are of the +lower, I may say of the lowest, orders, many of them of the criminal +class and the scourings of some of the large cities of China, who arrive +at their destination in possession of nothing but a pair of trowsers and +a jacket and, may be, an opium pipe; in addition to this they come from +different provinces, between the inhabitants of which there has always +been rivalry, and the languages of which are so entirely different that +it is a usual thing to find Chinese of different provinces compelled to +carry on their conversation in Malay or "pidgeon" English, and finally, +as though the elements of danger were not already sufficient, they are +pressed on their arrival to join rival secret societies, between which +the utmost enmity and hatred exists. Taking all these things into +consideration, I maintain that the Chinaman is a good and orderly +citizen and that his good qualities, especially as a revenue-payer in +the Far East, much more than counterbalance his bad ones. The secret +societies, whose organization permeates Chinese society from the top to +the bottom, are the worst feature in the social condition of the Chinese +colonists, and in Sarawak a summary method of suppressing them has been +adopted. The penalty for belonging to one of these societies is death. +When Sir JAMES BROOKE took over Sarawak, there was a considerable +Chinese population, settled for generations in the country and recruited +from Dutch territory, where they had been subject to no supervision by +the Government, whose hold over the country was merely nominal. They +were principally gold diggers, and being accustomed to manage their own +affairs and settle their disputes amongst themselves, they resented any +interference from the new rulers, and, in 1857, a misunderstanding +concerning the opium revenue having occurred, they suddenly rose in arms +and seized the capital. It was some time before the Raja's forces could +be collected and let loose upon them, when large numbers were killed and +the majority of the survivors took refuge in Dutch territory. + +The scheme for introducing Chinese pepper and gambier planters into +Sarawak was set on foot in 1878 or 1879, and has proved a decided +success, though, as Vice-Consul CADELL remarked in 1886, it is difficult +to understand why even larger numbers have not availed themselves of the +terms offered "since coolies have the protection of the Sarawak +Government, which further grants them free passages from Singapore, +whilst the climate is a healthy one, and there are no dangers to be +feared from wild animals, tigers being unknown in Sarawak." The fact +remains that, though there is plenty of available land, there is an +insufficiency of Chinese labour still. The quantity of pepper exported +in 1885 was 392 tons, valued at £19,067, and of gambier 1,370 tons, +valued at £23,772. + +Sarawak is said to supply more than half of the sago produce of the +world. The value of the sago it exported in 1885 is returned at £35,953. +Of the purely uncultivated jungle products that figure in the exports +the principal are gutta-percha, India rubber, and rattans. + +Both antimony ores and cinnabar (an ore of quicksilver) are worked by +the Borneo Company, but the exports of the former ore and of quicksilver +are steadily decreasing, and fresh deposits are being sought for. Only +one deposit of cinnabar has so far been discovered, that was in 1867. +Antimony was first discovered in Sarawak in 1824, and-for a long time it +was from this source that the principal supplies for Europe and America +were obtained. The ores are found "generally as boulders deep in clayey +soil, or perched on tower-like summits and craggy pinnacles and, +sometimes, in dykes _in situ_." The ores, too poor for shipment, are +reduced locally, and the _regulus_ exported to London. Coal is abundant, +but is not yet worked on any considerable scale.[11] The Borneo Company +excepted, all the trade of the country is in the hands of Chinese and +Natives, nor has the Government hitherto taken steps to attract European +capital for planting, but experiments are being made with the public +funds under European supervision in the planting of cinchona, coffee, +and tobacco. The capital of Sarawak is _Kuching_, which in Malay +signifies a "cat." It is situated about fifteen miles up the Sarawak +river and, when Sir JAMES first arrived, was a wretched native town, +with palm leaf huts and a population, including a few Chinese and Klings +(natives of India), of some two thousand. Kuching now possesses a well +built "Istana," or Palace of the Raja, a Fort, impregnable to natives, a +substantial Gaol, Court House, Government Offices, Public Market and +Church, and is the headquarters of the Bishop of Singapore and Sarawak, +who is the head of the Protestant Mission in the country. There is a +well built brick Chinese trading quarter, or "bazaar," the Europeans +have comfortable bungalows, and the present population is said to number +twelve thousand. + +In the early days of his reign, Sir JAMES BROOKE was energetically +assisted in his great work of suppressing piracy and rendering the seas +and rivers safe for the passage of the peaceful trader, by the British +men-of-war on the China Station, and was singularly fortunate in having +an energetic co-adjutor in Captain (now Admiral) Sir HENRY KEPPEL, +K.C.B. + +It will give some idea of the extent to which piracy, then almost the +sole occupation of the Illanun, Balinini, and Sea Dyak tribes, was +indulged in that the "Headmoney," then paid by the British Government +for pirates destroyed, amounted in these expeditions to the large total +of £20,000, the awarding of which sum occasioned a great stir at the +time and led to the abolition of this system of "payment by results." +Mr. HUME took exception altogether to the action of Sir JAMES BROOKE, +and, in 1851, charges were brought against him, and a Royal Commission +appointed to take evidence on the spot, or rather at Singapore. + +A man like BROOKE, of an enthusiastic, impulsive, unselfish and almost +Quixotic disposition, who wore his heart on his sleeve and let his +opinions of men and their actions be freely known, could not but have +incurred the enmity of many meaner, self-seeking minds. The Commission, +after hearing all that could be brought against him, found that there +was nothing proved, but it was not deemed advisable that Sir JAMES +should continue to act as the British representative in Borneo and as +Governor of the Colony of Labuan, positions which were indeed +incompatible with that of the independent ruler of Sarawak. Sarawak +independence was first recognised by the Americans, and the British +followed suit in 1863, when a Vice-Consulate was established there. The +question of formally proclaiming a British Protectorate over Sarawak is +now being considered, and it is to be hoped, will be carried into +effect.[12] The _personel_ of the Government is purely British, most of +the merchants and traders are of British nationality, and the whole +trade of the country finds its way to the British Colony of the Straits +Settlements. + +We can scarcely let a country such as this, with its local and other +resources, so close to Singapore and on the route to China, fall into +the hands of any other European Power, and the only means of preventing +such a catastrophe is by the proclamation of a Protectorate over it--a +Protectorate which, so long as the successors of Raja BROOKE prove their +competence to govern, should be worked so as to interfere as little as +possible in the internal affairs of the State. The virulently hostile +and ignorant criticisms to which Sir JAMES BROOKE was subjected in +England, and the financial difficulties of this little kingdom, coupled +with a serious dispute with a nephew whom he had appointed his +successor, but whom he was compelled to depose, embittered the last +years of his life. To the end he fought his foes in his old, plucky, +honest, vigorous and straightforward style. He died in June, 1868, from +a paralytic stroke, and was succeeded by his nephew, the present Raja. +What Sir JAMES BROOKE might have accomplished had he not been hampered +by an opposition based on ignorance and imperfect knowledge at home, we +cannot say; what he did achieve, I have endeavoured briefly to sketch, +and unprejudiced minds cannot but deem the founding of a prosperous +State and the total extirpation of piracy, slavery and head-hunting, a +monument worthy of a high, noble and unselfish nature. + +In addition to that of the Church of England, there has, within the last +few years, been established a Roman Catholic Mission, under the auspices +of the St. Joseph's College, Mill Hill. + +The Muhammadans, including all the true Malay inhabitants, do not make +any concerted effort to disseminate the doctrines of their faith. + +The following information relative to the Church of England Mission has +been kindly furnished me by the Right Reverend Dr. HOSE, the present +Bishop of "Singapore, Labuan and Sarawak," which is the official title +of his extensive See which includes the Colony of the Straits +Settlements--Penang, Province Wellesley, Malacca and Singapore and--its +Dependencies, the Protected States of the Malay Peninsula, the State of +Sarawak, the Crown Colony of Labuan, the Territories of the British +North Borneo Company and the Congregation of English people scattered +over Malaya. + +The Mission was, in the first instance, set on foot by the efforts of +Lady BURDETT-COUTTS and others in 1847, when Sir JAMES BROOKE was in +England and his doings in the Far East had excited much interest and +enthusiasm, and was specially organized under the name of the "Borneo +Church Mission." The late Reverend T. MCDOUGALL, was the first +Missionary, and subsequently became the first Bishop. His name was once +well known, owing to a wrong construction put upon his action, on one +occasion, in making use of fire arms when a vessel, on which he was +aboard, came across a fleet of pirates. He was a gifted, practical and +energetic man and had the interest of his Mission at heart, and, in +addition to other qualifications, added the very useful one, in his +position, of being a qualified medical man. Bishop MCDOUGALL was +succeeded on his retirement by Bishop CHAMBERS, who had experience +gained while a Missionary in the country. The present Bishop was +appointed in 1881. The Mission was eventually taken over by the Society +for the Propagation of the Gospel, and this Society defrays, with +unimportant exceptions, the whole cost of the See. + +Dr. HOSE has under him in Sarawak eight men in holy orders, of whom six +are Europeans, one Chinese and one Eurasian. The influence of the +Missionaries has spread over the Skerang, Balau and Sibuyan tribes of +_Sea_-Dyaks, and also among the _Land_-Dyaks near Kuching, the Capital, +and among the Chinese of that town and the neighbouring pepper +plantations. + +There are now seven churches and twenty-five Mission chapels in Sarawak, +and about 4,000 baptized Christians of the Church of England. The +Mission also provides means of education and, through its press, +publishes translations of the Bible, the Prayer Book and other religious +and educational works, in Malay and in two Dyak dialects, which latter +have only become written languages since the establishment of the +Mission. In their Boys' School, at Kuching, over a hundred boys are +under instruction by an English Master, assisted by a staff of Native +Assistants; there is also a Girls' School, under a European Mistress, +and schools at all the Mission Stations. The Government of Sarawak +allows a small grant-in-aid to the schools and a salary of £200 a year +to one of the Missionaries, who acts as Government Chaplain. + +The Roman Catholic Mission commenced its works in Sarawak in 1881, and +is under the direction of the Reverend Father JACKSON, Prefect +Apostolic, who has also two or three Missionaries employed in British +North Borneo. In Sarawak there are six or eight European priests and +schoolmasters and a sisterhood of four or five nuns. In Kuching they +have a Chapel and School and a station among the Land-Dyaks in the +vicinity. They have recently established a station and erected a Chapel +on the Kanowit River, an affluent of the Rejang. The Missionaries are +mostly foreigners and, I believe, are under a vow to spend the remainder +of their days in the East, without returning to Europe. + +Their only reward is their consciousness of doing, or trying to do good, +and any surplus of their meagre stipends which remains, after providing +the barest necessaries of life, is refunded to the Society. I do not +know what success is attending them in Sarawak, but in British North +Borneo and Labuan, where they found that Father QUARTERON'S labours had +left scarcely any impression, their efforts up to present have met with +little success, and experiments in several rivers have had to be +abandoned, owing to the utter carelessness of the Pagan natives as to +matters relating to religion. When I left North Borneo in 1887, their +only station which appeared to show a prospect of success was one under +Father PUNDLEIDER, amongst the semi-Chinese of Bundu, to whom reference +has been made on a previous page. But these people, while permitting +their children to be educated and baptized by the Father, did not think +it worth their while to join the Church themselves. + +Neither Mission has attempted to convert the Muhammadan tribes, and +indeed it would, at present, be perfectly useless to do so and, from the +Government point of view, impolitic and inadvisable as well. + + +Footnotes: + +[Footnote 10: On the 17th March, 1890 the Limbang River was forcibly +annexed by Sarawak, subject to the Queen's sanction.] + +[Footnote 11: Since this was written, Raja Sir CHARLES BROOKE has +acquired valuable coal concessions at Muara, at the mouth of the Brunai +river, and the development of the coal resources of the State is being +energetically pushed forward.] + +[Footnote 12: This has since been formally proclaimed.] + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +I will now take a glance at the incident of the rebellion of the +inhabitants of the Limbang, the important river near Brunai to which +allusion has already been made, as from this one sample he will be able +to judge of the ordinary state of affairs in districts near the Capital, +since the establishment of Labuan as a Crown Colony and the conclusion +of the treaty and the appointment of a British Consul-General in Brunai, +and will also be able to attempt to imagine the oppression prevalent +before those events took place. The river, being a fertile and well +populated one and near Brunai, had been from old times the common purse +of the numerous nobles who, either by inheritance, or in virtue of their +official positions, as I have explained, owned as their followers the +inhabitants of the various villages situated on its banks, and many were +the devices employed to extort the uttermost farthing from the +unfortunate people, who were quite incapable of offering any resistance +because the warlike Kyan tribe was ever ready at hand to sweep down upon +them at the behest of their Brunai oppressors. The system of _dagang +sera_ (forced trade) I have already explained. Some of the other devices +I will now enumerate. _Chukei basoh batis_, or the tax of washing feet, +a contribution, varying in amount at the sweet will of the imposer, +levied when the lord of the village, or his chief agent, did it the +honour of a visit. _Chukei bongkar-sauh_, or tax on weighing anchor, +similarly levied when the lord took his departure and perhaps therefore, +paid with more willingness. _Chukei tolongan_, or tax of assistance, +levied when the lord had need of funds for some special purpose or on a +special occasion such as a wedding--and these are numerous amongst +polygamists--a birth, the building of a house or of a vessel. _Chop +bibas_, literally a free seal; this was a permission granted by the +Sultan to some noble and needy favourite to levy a contribution for his +own use anywhere he thought he could most easily enforce it. The method +of inventing imaginary crimes and delinquencies and punishing them with +heavy fines has been already mentioned. Then there are import and export +duties as to which no reasonable complaint can be made, but a real +grievance and hindrance to legitimate trade was the effort which the +Malays, supported by their rulers, made to prevent the interior tribes +trading direct with the Chinese and other foreign traders--acting +themselves as middlemen, so that but a very small share of profit fell +to the aborigines. The lords, too, had the right of appointing as many +_orang kayas_, or headmen, from among the natives as they chose, a +present being expected on their elevation to that position and another +on their death. In many rivers there was also an annual poll-tax, but +this does not appear to have been collected in the Limbang. Sir SPENCER +ST. JOHN, writing in 1856, gives, in his "Life in the Forests of the Far +East," several instances of the grievous oppression practiced on the +Limbang people. Amongst others he mentions how a native, in a fit of +desperation, had killed an extortionate tax-gatherer. Instead of having +the offender arrested and punished, the Sultan ordered his village to be +attacked, when fifty persons were killed and an equal number of women +and children were made prisoners and kept as slaves by His Highness. The +immediate cause of the rebellion to which I am now referring was the +extraordinary extortion practised by one of the principal Ministers of +State. The revenues of his office were principally derived from the +Limbang River and, as the Sultan was very old, he determined to make the +best possible use of the short time remaining to him to extract all he +could from his wretched feudatories. To aid him in his design, he +obtained, with the assistance of the British North Borneo Company, a +steam launch, and the Limbang people subsequently pointed out to me this +launch and complained bitterly that it was with the money forced out of +them that this means of oppressing them had been purchased. He then +employed the most unscrupulous agents he could discover, imposed +outrageous fines for trifling offences, and would even interfere if he +heard of any private disputes among the villagers, adjudicate unasked in +their cases, taking care always to inflict a heavy fine which went, not +to the party aggrieved, but into his own pocket. If the fines could not +be paid, and this was often the case, owing to their being purposely +fixed at such a high rate, the delinquent's sago plantations--the +principal wealth of the people in the Limbang River--would be +confiscated and became the private property of the Minister, or of some +of the members of his household. The patience of the people was at +length exhausted, and they remembered that the Brunai nobles could no +longer call in the Kayans to enforce their exactions, that tribe having +become subjects to Raja BROOKE. About the month of August, 1884, two of +the Minister's messengers, or tax collectors, who were engaged in the +usual process of squeezing the people, were fired on and killed by the +Bisayas, the principal pagan tribe in the river. The Tumonggong +determined to punish this outrage in person and probably thought his +august presence on the spot in a steam-launch, would quickly bring the +natives to their knees and afford him a grand opportunity of +replenishing his treasury. + +He accordingly ascended the river with a considerable force in +September, and great must have been his surprise when he found that his +messenger, sent in advance to call the people to meet him, was fired on +and killed. He could scarcely have believed the evidence of his own +ears, however, when shortly afterwards his royal launch and little fleet +were fired on from the river banks. For two days was this firing kept +up, the Brunais having great difficulty in returning it, owing to the +river being low and the banks steep and lined with large trees, behind +which the natives took shelter, and, a few casualties having occurred on +board and one of the Royal guns having burst, which was known as the +_Amiral Muminin_, the Tumonggong deemed it expedient to retire and +returned ignominiously to Brunai. The rebels, emboldened by the impunity +they had so far enjoyed, were soon found to be hovering round the +outskirts of the capital, and every now and then an outlying house +would be attacked during the night and the headless corpses of its +occupants be found on the morrow. There being no forts and no organized +force to resist attack, the houses, moreover, being nearly all +constructed of highly inflammable palm leaf thatch and matting, a +universal panic prevailed amongst all classes, when the Limbang people +announced their intention of firing the town. Considerable distress too +prevailed, as the spirit of rebellion had spread to all the districts +near the capital, and the Brunai people who had settled in them were +compelled to flee for their lives, leaving their property in the hands +of the insurgents, while the people of the city were unable to follow +their usual avocations--trading, planting, sago washing and so forth, +the Brunai River, as has been pointed out, producing nothing itself. +British trade being thus affected by the continuance of such a state of +affairs, and the British subjects in the city being in daily fear from +the apprehended attack by the rebels, the English Consul-General did +what he could to try and arrange matters. A certain Datu KLASSIE, one of +the most influential of the Bisaya Chiefs, came into Brunai without any +followers, but bringing with him, as a proof of the friendliness of his +mission, his wife. Instead of utilizing the services of this Chief in +opening communication with the natives, the Tumonggong, maddened by his +ignominious defeat, seized both Datu KLASSIE and his wife and placed +them in the public stocks, heavily ironed. + +I was Acting Consul-General at the time, and my assistance in arranging +matters had been requested by the Brunai Government, while the Bisayas +also had expressed their warm desire to meet and consult with me if I +would trust myself amongst them, and I at once arranged so to do; but, +being well aware that my mission would be perfectly futile unless I was +the bearer of terms from the Sultan and unless Datu KLASSIE and his wife +were released, I refused to take any steps until these two points were +conceded. + +This was a bitter pill for the Brunai Rajas and especially for the +Tumonggong, who, though perfectly aware that he was quite unable, not +only to punish the rebels, but even to defend the city against their +attacks, yet clung to the vain hope that the British Government might +be induced to regard them as pirates and so interfere in accordance with +the terms of the treaty, or that the Raja of Sarawak would construe some +old agreement made with Sir JAMES BROOKE as necessitating his rendering +armed assistance. + +However, owing to the experience, tact, perseverance and intelligence of +Inche MAHOMET, the Consular Agent, we gained our point after protracted +negotiations, and obtained the seals of the Sultan, the Bandahara, the +Di Gadong and the Tumonggong himself to a document, by which it was +provided that, on condition of the Limbang people laying down their arms +and allowing free intercourse with Brunai, all arbitrary taxation such +as that which has been described should be for ever abolished, but that, +in lieu therefor, a fixed poll-tax should be paid by all adult males, at +the rate of $3 per annum by married men and $2 by bachelors; that on the +death of an _orang kaya_ the contribution to be paid to the feudal lord +should be fixed at one pikul of brass gun, equal to about $21; that the +possession of their sago plantations should be peaceably enjoyed by +their owners; that jungle products should be collected without tax, +except in the case of gutta percha, on which a royalty of 5% _ad +valorem_ should be paid, instead of the 20% then exacted; that the taxes +should be collected by the headmen punctually and transmitted to Brunai, +and that four Brunai tax-gatherers, who were mentioned by name and whose +rapacious and criminal action had been instrumental in provoking the +rebellion, should be forbidden ever again to enter the Limbang River; +that a free pardon should be granted to the rebels. + +Accompanied by Inche MAHOMET and with some Bisaya interpreters, I +proceeded up the Limbang River, on the 21st October, in a steam-launch, +towing the boats of Pangeran ISTRI NAGARA and of the Datu AHAMAT, who +were deputed to accompany us and represent the Brunai Government. + +Several hundred of the natives assembled to meet us, and the Government +conditions were read out and explained. It was evident that the people +found it difficult to place much reliance in the promises of the Rajas, +although the document was formally attested by the seals of the Sultan +and of his three Ministers, and a duplicate had been prepared for them +to keep in their custody for future reference. It was seen, too, that +there were a number of Muhammadans in the crowd who appeared adverse to +the acceptance of the terms offered, and, doubtless, many of them were +acting at the instigation of the Tumonggong's party, who by no means +relished so peaceful a solution of the difficulties their chief's action +had brought about. + +Whilst the conference was still going on and the various clauses of the +_firman_ were being debated, news arrived that the Rajas had, in the +basest manner, let loose the Trusan Muruts on the district the day we +had sailed for the Limbang, and that these wretches had murdered and +carried off the heads of four women, two of whom were pregnant, and two +young unmarried girls and of two men who were at work in their gardens. + +This treacherous action was successful in breaking up the meeting, and +was not far from causing the massacre of at any rate the Brunai portion +of our party, and the Pangeran and the Datu quickly betook themselves to +their boats and scuttled off to Brunai not waiting for the steam-launch. + +But we determined not to be beaten by the Rajas' manoeuvres, and so, +though a letter reached me from the Sultan warning me of what had +occurred and urging me to return to Brunai, we stuck to our posts, and +ultimately were rewarded by the Bisayas returning and the majority of +their principal chiefs signing, or rather marking the document embodying +their new constitution, as it might be termed, in token of their +acquiescence--a result which should be placed to the credit of the +indefatigable Inche MAHOMET, whose services I am happy to say were +specially recognised in a despatch from the Foreign Office. Returning to +Brunai, I demanded the release of Datu KLASSIE, as had been agreed upon, +but it was only after I had made use of very plain language to his +messengers that the Tumonggong gave orders for his release and that of +his wife, whom I had the pleasure of taking up the river and restoring +to their friends. + +H. M. S. _Pegasus_ calling at Labuan soon afterwards, I seized the +opportunity to request Captain BICKFORD to make a little demonstration +in Brunai, which was not often visited by a man-of-war, with the double +object of restoring confidence to the British subjects there and the +traders generally and of exacting a public apology for the disgraceful +conduct of the Government in allowing the Muruts to attack the Limbang +people while we were up that river. Captain BICKFORD at once complied +with my request, and, as the _Pegasus_ drew too much water to cross the +bar, the boats were manned and armed and towed up to the city by a +steam-launch. It was rather a joke against me that the launch which +towed up the little flotilla designed to overawe Brunai was sent for the +occasion by one of the principal Ministers of the Sultan. It was placed +at my disposal by the Pangeran Di Gadong, who was then a bitter enemy of +the Tumonggong, and glad to witness his discomfiture. This was on the +3rd November, 1884. + +With reference to the heads taken on the occasion mentioned above, I may +add that the Muruts were allowed to retain them, and the disgusting +sight was to be seen, at one of the watering places in the town, of +these savages "cooking" and preparing the heads for keeping in their +houses. + +As the Brunai Government was weak and powerless, I am of opinion that +the agreement with the Limbang people might have been easily worked had +the British Government thought it worth while to insist upon its +observance. As it was, hostilities did cease, the headmen came down and +visited the old Sultan, and trade recommenced. In June, 1885, Sultan +MUMIM died, at the age, according to Native statements, which are very +unreliable on such points, of 114 years, and was succeeded by the +Tumonggong, who was proclaimed Sultan on the 5th June of the same year, +when I had the honour of being present at the ceremony, which was not of +an imposing character. The new Sultan did not forget the mortifying +treatment he had received at the hands of the Limbang people, and +refused to receive their Chiefs. He retained, too, in his own hands the +appointment of Tumonggong, and with it the rights of that office over +the Limbang River, and it became the interest of many different parties +to prevent the completion of the pacification of that district. The +gentleman for whom I had been acting as Consul-General soon afterwards +returned to his post. In May, 1887, Sir FREDERICK WELD, Governor of the +Straits Settlements, was despatched to Brunai by Her Majesty's +Government, on a special mission, to report on the affairs of the Brunai +Sultanate and as to recent cessions of territory made, or in course of +negotiation, to the British North Borneo Company and to Sarawak. His +report has not been yet made public. There were at one time grave +objections to allowing Raja BROOKE to extend his territory, as there was +no guarantee that some one of his successors might not prefer a life of +inglorious ease in England to the task of governing natives in the +tropics, and sell his kingdom to the highest bidder--say France or +Germany; but if the British Protectorate over Sarawak is formally +proclaimed, there would appear to be no reasonable objection to the +BROOKES establishing their Government in such other districts as the +Sultan may see good of his own free will to cede, but it should be the +duty of the British Government to see that their ally is fairly treated +and that any cessions he may make are entirely voluntary and not brought +about by coercion in any form--direct or indirect. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +The British Colony of Labuan was obtained by cession from the Sultan of +Brunai and was in the shape of a _quid pro quo_ for assistance in +suppressing piracy in the neighbouring seas, which the Brunai Government +was supposed to have at heart, but in all probability, the real reason +of the willingness on the Sultan's part to cede it was his desire to +obtain a powerful ally to assist him in reasserting his authority in +many parts of the North and West portions of his dominions, where the +allegiance of the people had been transferred to the Sultan of Sulu and +to Illanun and Balinini piratical leaders. It was a similar reason +which, in 1774, induced the Brunai Government to grant to the East India +Company the monopoly of the trade in pepper, and is explained in Mr. +JESSE'S letter to the Court of Directors as follows. He says that he +found the reason of their unanimous inclination to cultivate the +friendship and alliance of the Company was their desire for "protection +from their piratical neighbours, the Sulus and Mindanaos, and others, +who make continual depredations on their coast, by taking advantage of +their natural timidity." + +The first connection of the British with Labuan was on the occasion of +their being expelled by the Sulus from Balambangan, in 1775, when they +took temporary refuge on the island. + +In 1844, Captain Sir EDWARD BELCHER visited Brunai to enquire into +rumours of the detention of a European female in the country--rumours +which proved to be unfounded. Sir JAMES BROOKE accompanied him, and on +this occasion the Sultan, who had been terrified by a report that his +capital was to be attacked by a British squadron of sixteen or seventeen +vessels, addressed a document, in conjunction with Raja Muda HASSIM, to +the Queen of England, requesting her aid "for the suppression of piracy +and the encouragement and extension of trade; and to assist in +forwarding these objects they are willing to cede, to the Queen of +England, the Island of Labuan, and its islets on such terms as may +hereafter be arranged by any person appointed by Her Majesty. The Sultan +and the Raja Muda HASSIM consider that an English Settlement on Labuan +will be of great service to the natives of the coast, and will draw a +considerable trade from the northward, and from China; and should Her +Majesty the Queen of England decide upon the measure, the Sultan and the +Raja Muda HASSIM promise to afford every assistance to the English +authorities." In February of the following year, the Sultan and Raja +Muda HASSIM, in a letter accepting Sir JAMES BROOKE as Her Majesty's +Agent in Borneo, without specially mentioning Labuan, expressed their +adherence to their former declarations, conveyed through Sir EDWARD +BELCHER, and asked for immediate assistance "to protect Borneo from the +pirates of Marudu," a Bay situated at the northern extremity of +Borneo--assistance which was rendered in the following August, when the +village of Marudu was attacked and destroyed, though it is perhaps open +to doubt whether the chief, OSMAN, quite deserved the punishment he +received. On the 1st March of the same year (1845) the Sultan verbally +asked Sir JAMES BROOKE whether and at what time the English proposed to +take possession of Labuan. Then followed the episode already narrated of +the murder by the Sultan of Raja Muda HASSIM and his family and the +taking of Brunai by Admiral COCHRANE'S Squadron. In November, 1846, +instructions were received in Singapore, from Lord PALMERSTON, to take +possession of Labuan, and Captain RODNEY MUNDY was selected for this +service. He arrived in Brunai in December, and gives an amusing account +of how he proceeded to carry out his orders and obtain the _voluntary_ +cession of the island. As a preliminary, he sent "Lieutenant LITTLE in +charge of the boats of the _Iris_ and _Wolf_, armed with twenty marines, +to the capital, with orders to moor them in line of battle opposite the +Sultan's palace, and to await my arrival." On reaching the palace, +Captain MUNDY produced a brief document, to which he requested the +Sultan to affix his seal, and which provided for eternal friendship +between the two countries, and for the cession of Labuan, in +consideration of which the Queen engaged to use her best endeavours to +suppress piracy and protect lawful commerce. The document of 1844 had +stated that Labuan would be ceded "on such terms as may hereafter be +arranged," and a promise to suppress piracy, the profits in which were +shared by the Sultan and his nobles, was by no means regarded by them as +a fair set off; it was a condition with which they would have readily +dispensed. The Sultan ventured to remark that the present treaty was +different to the previous one, and that a money payment was required in +exchange for the cession of territory. Captain MUNDY replied that the +former treaty had been broken when Her Majesty's Ships were fired on by +the Brunai forts, and "at last I turned to the Sultan, and exclaimed +firmly, 'Bobo chop bobo chop!' followed up by a few other Malay words, +the tenor of which was, that I recommended His Majesty to put his seal +forthwith." And he did so. Captain MUNDY hoisted the British Flag at +Labuan on the 24th December, 1846, and there still exists at Labuan in +the place where it was erected by the gallant Captain, a granite slab, +with an inscription recording the fact of the formal taking possession +of the island in Her Majesty's name. + +In the following year, Sir JAMES BROOKE was appointed the first Governor +of the new Colony, retaining his position as the British representative +in Brunai, and being also the ruler of Sarawak, the independence of +which was not formally recognised by the English Government until the +year 1863. Sir JAMES was assisted at Labuan by a Lieutenant-Governor and +staff of European Officers, who on their way through Singapore are said +to have somewhat offended the susceptibilities of the Officials of that +Settlement by pointing to the fact that they were Queen's Officers, +whereas the Straits Settlements were at that time still under the +Government of the East India Company. Sir JAMES BROOKE held the position +of Governor until 1851, and the post has since been filled by such +well-known administrators as Sir HUGH LOW, Sir JOHN POPE HENNESSY, Sir +HENRY E. BULWER and Sir CHARLES LEES, but the expectations formed at its +foundation have never been realized and the little Colony appears to be +in a moribund condition, the Governorship having been left unfilled +since 1881. On the 27th May, 1847, Sir JAMES BROOKE concluded the Treaty +with the Sultan of Brunai which is still in force. Labuan is situated +off the mouth of the Brunai River and has an area of thirty square +miles. It was uninhabited when we took it, being only occasionally +visited by fishermen. It was then covered, like all tropical countries, +whether the soil is rich or poor, with dense forest, some of the trees +being valuable as timber, but most of this has since been destroyed, +partly by the successive coal companies, who required large quantities +of timber for their mines, but chiefly by the destructive mode of +cultivation practised by the Kadyans and other squatters from Borneo, +who were allowed to destroy the forest for a crop or two of rice, the +soil, except in the flooded plains, being not rich enough to carry more +than one or two such harvests under such primitive methods of +agriculture as only are known to the natives. The lands so cleared were +deserted and were soon covered with a strong growth of fern and coarse +useless _lalang_ grass, difficult to eradicate, and it is well known +that, when a tropical forest is once destroyed and the land left to +itself, the new jungle which may in time spring up rarely contains any +of the valuable timber trees which composed the original forest. + +A few cargoes of timber were also exported by Chinese to Hongkong. Great +hopes were entertained that the establishment of a European Government +and a free port on an island lying alongside so rich a country as Borneo +would result in its becoming an emporium and collecting station for the +various products of, at any rate, the northern and western portions of +this country and perhaps, too, of the Sulu Archipelago. Many causes +prevented the realization of these hopes. In the first place, no +successful efforts were made to restore good government on the mainland, +and without a fairly good government and safety to life and property, +trade could not be developed. Then again Labuan was overshaded by the +prosperous Colony of Singapore, which is the universal emporium for all +these islands, and, with the introduction of steamers, it was soon found +that only the trade of the coast immediately opposite to Labuan could be +depended upon, that of the rest' including Sarawak and the City of +Brunai, going direct to Singapore, for which port Labuan became a +subsidiary and unimportant collecting station. The Spanish authorities +did what they could to prevent trade with the Sulu Islands, and, on the +signing of the Protocol between that country and Great Britain and +Germany freeing the trade from restrictions, Sulu produce has been +carried by steamers direct to Singapore. Since 1881, the British North +Borneo Company having opened ports to the North, the greater portion of +the trade of their possessions likewise finds its way direct by steamers +to the same port. + +Labuan has never shipped cargoes direct to England, and its importance +as a collecting station for Singapore is now diminishing, for the +reasons above-mentioned. + +Most or a large portion of the trade that now falls to its share comes +from the southern portion of the British North Borneo Company's +territories, from which it is distant, at the nearest point, only about +six miles, and the most reasonable solution of the Labuan question would +certainly appear to be the proclamation of a British Protectorate over +North Borneo, to which, under proper guarantees, might be assigned the +task of carrying on the government of Labuan, a task which it could +easily and economically undertake, having a sufficiently well organised +staff ready to hand.[13] By the Royal Charter it is already provided +that the appointment of the Company's Governor in Borneo is subject to +the sanction of Her Majesty's Secretary of State, and the two Officers +hitherto selected have been Colonial servants, whose service have been +_lent_ by the Colonial Office to the Company. + +The Census taken in 1881 gives the total population of Labuan as 5,995, +but it has probably decreased considerably since that time. The number +of Chinese supposed to be settled there is about 300 or 400--traders, +shopkeepers, coolies and sago-washers; the preparation of sago flour +from the raw sago, or _lamuntah_, brought in from the mainland by the +natives, being the principal industry of the island and employing three +or four factories, in which no machinery is used. All the traders are +only agents of Singapore firms and are in a small way of business. There +is no European firm, or shop, in the island. Coal of good quality for +raising steam is plentiful, especially at the North end of the island, +and very sanguine expectations of the successful working of these coal +measures were for a long time entertained, but have hitherto not been +realised. The Eastern Archipelago Company, with an ambitious title but +too modest an exchequer, first attempted to open the mines soon after +the British occupation, but failed, and has been succeeded by three +others, all I believe Scotch, the last one stopping operations in 1878. +The cause of failure seems to have been the same in each +case--insufficient capital, local mismanagement, difficulty in obtaining +labour. In a country with a rainfall of perhaps over 120 inches a year, +water was naturally another difficulty in the deep workings, but this +might have been very easily overcome had the Companies been in a +position to purchase sufficiently powerful pumping engines. + +There were three workable seams of coal, one of them, I think, twelve +feet in thickness; the quality of the coal, though inferior to Welsh, +was superior to Australian, and well reported on by the engineers of +many steamers which had tried it; the vessels of the China squadron and +the numerous steamers engaged in the Far East offered a ready market for +the coal. + +In their effort to make a "show," successive managers have pretty nearly +exhausted the surface workings and so honeycombed the seams with their +different systems of developing their resources, that it would be, +perhaps, a difficult and expensive undertaking for even a substantial +company to make much of them now.[14] + +It is needless to add that the failure to develop this one internal +resource of Labuan was a great blow to the Colony, and on the cessation +of the last company's operations the revenue immediately declined, a +large number of workmen--European, Chinese and Natives--being thrown out +of employment, necessitating the closing of the shops in which they +spent their wages. It was found that both Chinese and the Natives of +Borneo proved capital miners under European supervision. Notwithstanding +the ill-luck that has attended it, the little Colony has not been a +burden on the British tax-payer since the year 1860, but has managed to +collect a revenue--chiefly from opium, tobacco, spirits, pawnbroking and +fish "farms" and from land rents and land sales--sufficient to meet its +small expenditure, at present about £4,000 a year. There have been no +British troops quartered in this island since 1871, and the only armed +force is the Native Constabulary, numbering, I think, a dozen rank and +file. Very seldom are the inhabitants cheered by the welcome visit of a +British gunboat. Still, all the formality of a British Crown Colony is +kept up. The administrator is by his subjects styled "His Excellency" +and the Members of the Legislative Council, Native and Europeans, are +addressed as the "Honourable so and so." An Officer, as may be supposed, +has to play many parts. The present Treasurer, for instance, is an +ex-Lieutenant of Her Majesty's Navy, and is at the same time Harbour +Master, Postmaster, Coroner, Police Magistrate, likewise a Judge of the +Supreme Court, Superintendent of Convicts, Surveyor-General, and Clerk +to the Legislative Council, and occasionally has, I believe, to write +official letters of reprimand or encouragement from himself in one +capacity to himself in another. + +The best thing about Labuan is, perhaps, the excellence of its fruit, +notably of its pumeloes, oranges and mangoes, for which the Colony is +indebted to the present Sir HUGH LOW, who was one of the first officials +under Sir JAMES BROOKE, and a man who left no stone unturned in his +efforts to promote the prosperity of the island. His name was known far +and wide in Northern Borneo and in the Sulu Archipelago. As an instance, +I was once proceeding up a river in the island of Basilan, to the North +of Sulu, with Captain C. E. BUCKLE, R.N., in two boats of H. M. S. +_Frolic_, when the natives, whom we could not see, opened fire on us +from the banks. I at once jumped up and shouted out that we were Mr. +Low's friends from Labuan, and in a very short time we were on friendly +terms with the natives, who conducted us to their village. They had +thought we might be Spaniards, and did not think it worth while to +enquire before tiring. The mention of the _Frolic_ reminds me that on +the termination of a somewhat lengthy cruise amongst the Sulu Islands, +then nominally undergoing blockade by Spanish cruisers, we were +returning to Labuan through the difficult and then only partially +surveyed Malawalli Channel, and after dinner we were congratulating one +another on having been so safely piloted through so many dangers, when +before the words were out of our mouths, we felt a shock and found +ourselves fast on an unmarked rock which has since had the honour of +bearing the name of our good little vessel. + +Besides Mr. Low's fruit garden, the only other European attempt at +planting was made by my Cousin, Dr. TREACHER, Colonial Surgeon, who +purchased an outlying island and opened a coco-nut plantation. I regret +to say that in neither case, owing to the decline of the Colony, was the +enterprise of the pioneers adequately rewarded. + +Labuan[15] at one time boasted a Colonial Chaplain and gave its name to +the Bishop's See; but in 1872 or 1873, the Church was "disestablished" +and the few European Officials who formed the congregation were unable +to support a Clergyman. There exists a pretty little wooden Church, and +the same indefatigable officer, whom I have described as filling most of +the Government appointments in the Colony, now acts as unpaid Chaplain, +having been licensed thereto by the Bishop of Singapore and Sarawak, and +reads the service and even preaches a sermon every Sunday to a +congregation which rarely numbers half a dozen. + + +Footnotes: + +[Footnote 13: My suggestion has taken shape more quickly than I +expected. In 1889 Labuan was put under the administration of the +Company.] + +[Footnote 14: Since the above was written, a fifth company--the Central +Borneo Company, Limited, of London--has taken in hand the Labuan coal +and, finding plenty of coal to work on without sinking a shaft, +confidently anticipate success. Their £1 shares recently went up to £4.] + +[Footnote 15: The administration of this little Crown Colony has since +been entrusted to the British North Borneo Company, their present +Governor, Mr. C. V. CREAGH, having been gazetted Governor of Labuan.] + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +The mode of acquisition of British North Borneo has been referred to in +former pages; it was by cession for annual money payments to the Sultans +of Brunai and of Sulu, who had conflicting claims to be the paramount +power in the northern portion of Borneo. The actual fact was that +neither of them exercised any real government or authority over by far +the greater portion, the inhabitants of the coast on the various rivers +following any Brunai, Illanun, Bajau, or Sulu Chief who had sufficient +force of character to bring himself to the front. The pagan tribes of +the interior owned allegiance to neither Sultan, and were left to govern +themselves, the Muhammadan coast people considering them fair game for +plunder and oppression whenever opportunity occurred, and using all +their endeavours to prevent Chinese and other foreign traders from +reaching them, acting themselves as middlemen, buying (bartering) at +very cheap rates from the aborigines and selling for the best price they +could obtain to the foreigner. + +I believe I am right in saying that the idea of forming a Company, +something after the manner of the East India Company, to take over and +govern North Borneo, originated in the following manner. In 1865 Mr. +MOSES, the unpaid Consul for the United Sates in Brunai, to whom +reference has been made before, acquired with his friends from the +Sultan of Brunai some concessions of territory with the right to govern +and collect revenues, their idea being to introduce Chinese and +establish a Colony. This they attempted to carry out on a small scale in +the Kimanis River, on the West Coast, but not having sufficient capital +the scheme collapsed, but the concession was retained. Mr. MOSES +subsequently lost his life at sea, and a Colonel TORREY became the chief +representative of the American syndicate. He was engaged in business in +China, where he met Baron VON OVERBECK, a merchant of Hongkong and +Austrian Consul-General, and interested him in the scheme. In 1875 the +Baron visited Borneo in company with the Colonel, interviewed the Sultan +of Brunai, and made enquiries as to the validity of the concessions, +with apparently satisfactory results, Mr. ALFRED DENT[16] was also a +China merchant well known in Shanghai, and he in turn was interested in +the idea by Baron OVERBECK. Thinking there might be something in the +scheme, he provided the required capital, chartered a steamer, the +_America_, and authorised Baron OVERBECK to proceed to Brunai to +endeavour, with Colonel TORREY'S assistance, to induce the Sultan and +his Ministers to transfer the American cessions to himself and the +Baron, or rather to cancel the previous ones and make out new ones in +their favour and that of their heirs, associates, successors and assigns +for so long as they should choose or desire to hold them. Baron VON +OVERBECK was accompanied by Colonel TORREY and a staff of three +Europeans, and, on settling some arrears due by the American Company, +succeeded in accomplishing the objects of his mission, after protracted +and tedious negotiations, and obtained a "chop" from the Sultan +nominating and appointing him supreme ruler, "with the title of Maharaja +of Sabah (North Borneo) and Raja of Gaya and Sandakan, with power of +life and death over the inhabitants, with all the absolute rights of +property vested in the Sultan over the soil of the country, and the +right to dispose of the same, as well as of the rights over the +productions of the country, whether mineral, vegetable, or animal, with +the rights of making laws, coining money, creating an army and navy, +levying customs rates on home and foreign trade and shipping, and other +dues and taxes on the inhabitants as to him might seem good or +expedient, together with all other powers and rights usually exercised +by and belonging to sovereign rulers, and which the Sultan thereby +delegated to him of his own free will; and the Sultan called upon all +foreign nations, with whom he had formed friendly treaties and +alliances, to acknowledge the said Maharaja as the Sultan himself in the +said territories and to respect his authority therein; and in the case +of the death or retirement from the said office of the said Maharaja, +then his duly appointed successor in the office of Supreme Ruler and +Governor-in-Chief of the Company's territories in Borneo should likewise +succeed to the office and title of Maharaja of Sabah and Raja of Gaya +and Sandakan, and all the powers above enumerated be vested in him." I +am quoting from the preamble to the Royal Charter. Some explanation of +the term "Sabah" as applied to the territory--a term which appears in +the Prayer Book version of the 72nd Psalm, verse 10, "The kings of +Arabia and Sabah shall bring gifts"--seems called for, but I regret to +say I have not been able to obtain a satisfactory one from the Brunai +people, who use it in connection only with a small portion of the West +Coast of Borneo, North of the Brunai river. Perhaps the following note, +which I take from Mr. W. E. MAXWELL'S "Manual of the Malay Language," +may have some slight bearing on the point:--"Sawa, Jawa, Saba, Jaba, +Zaba, etc., has evidently in all times been the capital local name in +Indonesia. The whole archipelago was pressed into an island of that name +by the Hindus and Romans. Even in the time of MARCO POLO we have only a +Java Major and a Java Minor. The Bugis apply the name of Jawa, _jawaka_ +(comp. the Polynesian _Sawaiki_, Ceramese _Sawai_) to the Moluccas. One +of the principal divisions of Battaland in Sumatra is called _Tanah_ +Jawa. PTOLEMY has both Jaba and Saba."--"Logan, Journ. Ind. Arch., iv, +338." In the Brunai use of the term, there is always some idea of a +Northerly direction; for instance, I have heard a Brunai man who was +passing from the South to the Northern side of his river, say he was +going _Saba_. When the Company's Government was first inaugurated, the +territory was, in official documents, mentioned as Sabah, a name which +is still current amongst the natives, to whom the now officially +accepted designation of _North Borneo_ is meaningless and difficult of +pronunciation. + +Having settled with the Brunai authorities, Baron VON OVERBECK next +proceeded to Sulu, and found the Sultan driven out of his capital, Sugh +or Jolo, by the Spaniards, with whom he was still at war, and residing +at Maibun, in the principal island of the Sulu Archipelago. After brief +negotiations, the Sultan made to Baron VON OVERBECK and Mr. ALFRED DENT +a grant of his rights and powers over the territories and lands +tributary to him on the mainland of the island of Borneo, from the +Pandassan River on the North West Coast to the Sibuko River on the East, +and further invested the Baron, or his duly appointed successor in the +office of supreme ruler of the Company's territories in Borneo, with the +high sounding titles of Datu Bandahara and Raja of Sandakan. + +On a company being formed to work the concessions, Baron VON OVERBECK +resigned these titles from the Brunai and Sulu Potentates and they have +not since been made use of, and the Baron himself terminated his +connection with the country. + +The grant from the Sultan of Sulu bears date the 22nd January, 1878, and +on the 22nd July of the same year he signed a treaty, or act of +re-submission to Spain. The Spanish Government claimed that, by previous +treaties with Sulu, the suzerainty of Spain over Sulu and its +dependencies in Borneo had been recognised and that consequently the +grant to Mr. DENT was void. The British Government did not, however, +fall in with this view, and in the early part of 1879, being then Acting +Consul-General in Borneo, I was despatched to Sulu and to different +points in North Borneo to publish, on behalf of our Government, a +protest against the claim of Spain to any portion of the country. In +March, 1885, a protocol was signed by which, in return for the +recognition by England and Germany of Spanish sovereignty throughout the +Archipelago of Sulu, Spain renounced all claims of sovereignty over +territories on the Continent of Borneo which had belonged to the Sultan +of Sulu, including the islands of Balambangan, Banguey and Malawali, as +well as all those comprised within a zone of three maritime leagues from +the coast. + +Holland also strenuously objected to the cessions and to their +recognition, on the ground that the general tenor of the Treaty of +London of 1824 shews that a mixed occupation by England and the +Netherlands of any island in the Indian Archipelago ought to be avoided. + +It is impossible to discover anything in the treaty which bears out this +contention. Borneo itself is not mentioned by name in the document, and +the following clauses are the only ones regulating the future +establishment of new Settlements in the Eastern Seas by either +Power:--"Article 6. It is agreed that orders shall be given by the two +Governments to their Officers and Agents in the East not to form any new +Settlements on any of the islands in the Eastern Seas, without previous +authority from their respective Governments in Europe. Art. 12. His +Britannic Majesty, however, engages, that no British Establishment shall +be made on the Carimon islands or on the islands of Battam, Bintang, +Lingin, or on any of the other islands South of the Straits of +Singapore, nor any treaty concluded by British authority with the chiefs +of those islands." Without doubt, if Holland in 1824 had been desirous +of prohibiting any British Settlement in the island of Borneo, such +prohibition would have been expressed in this treaty. True, perhaps half +of this great island is situated South of the Straits of Singapore, but +the island cannot therefore be correctly said to lie to the South of the +Straits and, at any rate, such a business-like nation as the Dutch would +have noticed a weak point here and have included Borneo in the list with +Battam and the other islands enumerated. Such was the view taken by Mr. +GLADSTONE'S Cabinet, and Lord GRANVILLE informed the Dutch Minister in +1882 that the XIIth Article of the Treaty could not be taken to apply to +Borneo, and "that as a a matter of international right they would have +no ground to object even to the absolute annexation of North Borneo by +Great Britain," and, moreover, as pointed out by his Lordship, the +British had already a settlement in Borneo, namely the island of Labuan, +ceded by the Sultan of Brunai in 1845 and confirmed by him in the Treaty +of 1847. The case of Raja BROOKE in Sarawak was also practically that of +a British Settlement in Borneo. + +Lord GRANVILLE closed the discussion by stating that the grant of the +Charter does not in any way imply the assumption of sovereign rights in +North Borneo, _i.e._, on the part of the British Government. + +There the matter rested, but now that the Government is proposing[17] to +include British North Borneo, Brunai and Sarawak under a formal "British +Protectorate," the Netherlands Government is again raising objections, +which they must be perfectly aware are groundless. It will be noted that +the Dutch do not lay any claim to North Borneo themselves, having always +recognized it as pertaining, with the Sulu Archipelago, to the Spanish +Crown. It is only to the presence of the British Government in North +Borneo that any objection is raised. In a "Resolution" of the Minister +of State, Governor-General of Netherlands India, dated 28th February, +1846, occurs the following:--"The parts of Borneo on which the +Netherlands does not exercise any influence are:-- + + _a._ The States of the Sultan of Brunai or Borneo Proper; + + * * * * * * + + _b._ The State of the Sultan of the Sulu Islands, having for + boundaries on the West, the River Kimanis, the North and + North-East Coasts as far as 3° N.L., where it is bounded by the + River Atas, forming the extreme frontier towards the North with + the State of Berow dependant on the Netherlands. + + _c._ All the islands of the Northern Coasts of Borneo." + +Knowing this, Mr. ALFRED DENT put the limit of his cession from Sulu at +the Sibuku River, the South bank of which is in N. Lat. 4° 5'; but +towards the end of 1879, that is, long after the date of the cession, +the Dutch hoisted their flag at Batu Tinagat in N. Lat. 4° 19', thereby +claiming the Sibuko and other rivers ceded by the Sultan of Sulu to the +British Company. The dispute is still under consideration by our Foreign +Office, but in September, 1883, in order to practically assert the +Company's claims, I, as their Governor, had a very pleasant trip in a +very small steam launch and steaming at full speed past two Dutch +gun-boats at anchor, landed at the South bank of the Sibuko, temporarily +hoisted the North Borneo flag, fired a _feu-de-joie_, blazed a tree, and +returning, exchanged visits with the Dutch gun-boats, and entertained +the Dutch Controlleur at dinner. Having carefully given the Commander of +one of the gun-boats the exact bearings of the blazed tree, he proceeded +in hot haste to the spot, and, I believe, exterminated the said tree. +The Dutch Government complained of our having violated Netherlands +territory, and matters then resumed their usual course, the Dutch +station at Batu Tinagat, or rather at the Tawas River, being maintained +unto this day. + +As is hereafter explained, the cession of coast line from the Sultan of +Brunai was not a continuous one, there being breaks on the West Coast in +the case of a few rivers which were not included. The annual tribute to +be paid to the Sultan was fixed at $12,000, and to the Pangeran +Tumonggong $3,000--extravagantly large sums when it is considered that +His Highness' revenue per annum from the larger portion of the territory +ceded was _nil_. In March, 1881, through negotiations conducted by Mr. +A. H. EVERETT, these sums were reduced to more reasonable proportions, +namely, $5,000 in the case of the Sultan, and $2,500 in that of the +Tumonggong. + +The intermediate rivers which were not included in the Sultan's cession +belonged to Chiefs of the blood royal, and the Sultan was unwilling to +order them to be ceded, but in 1883 Resident DAVIES procured the cession +from one of these Chiefs of the Pangalat River for an annual payment of +$300, and subsequently the Putalan River was acquired for $1,000 per +annum, and the Kawang River and the Mantanani Islands for lump sums of +$1,300 and $350 respectively. In 1884, after prolonged negotiations, I +was also enabled to obtain the cession of an important Province on the +West Coast, to the South of the original boundary, to which the name of +Dent Province has been given, and which includes the Padas and Kalias +Rivers, and in the same deed of cession were also included two rivers +which had been excepted in the first grant--the Tawaran and the +Bangawan. The annual tribute under this cession is $3,100. The principal +rivers within the Company's boundaries still unleased are the Kwala +Lama, Membakut, Inanam and Menkabong. For fiscal reasons, and for the +better prevention of the smuggling of arms and ammunition for sale to +head-hunting tribes, it is very desirable that the Government of these +remaining independent rivers should be acquired by the Company. + +On the completion of the negotiations with the two Sultans, Baron VON +OVERBECK, who was shortly afterwards joined by Mr. DENT, hoisted his +flag--the house flag of Mr. DENT'S firm--at Sandakan, on the East Coast, +and at Tampassuk and Pappar on the West, leaving at each a European, +with a few so-called Police to represent the new Government, agents from +the Sultans of Sulu and Brunai accompanying him to notify to the people +that the supreme power had been transferred to Europeans. The common +people heard the announcement with their usual apathy, but the officer +left in charge had a difficult part to play with the headmen who, in the +absence of any strong central Government, had practically usurped the +functions of Government in many of the rivers. These Chiefs feared, and +with reason, that not only would their importance vanish, but that trade +with the inland tribes would be thrown open to all, and slave dealing be +put a stop to under the new regime. At Sandakan, the Sultan's former +Governor refused to recognise the changed position of affairs, but he +had a resolute man to deal with in Mr. W. B. PRYER, and before he could +do much harm, he lost his life by the capsizing of his prahu while on a +trading voyage. + +At Tampassuk, Mr. PRETYMAN, the Resident, had a very uncomfortable post, +being in the midst of lawless, cattle-lifting and slave-dealing Bajaus +and Illanuns. He, with the able assistance of Mr. F. X. WITTI, an +ex-Naval officer of the Austrian Service, who subsequently lost his +life while exploring in the interior, and by balancing one tribe against +another, managed to retain his position without coming to blows, and, on +his relinquishing the service a few months afterwards, the arduous task +of representing the Government without the command of any force to back +up his authority developed on Mr. WITTI. In the case of the Pappar +River, the former Chief, Datu BAHAR, declined to relinquish his +position, and assumed a very defiant attitude. I was at that time in the +Labuan service, and I remember proceeding to Pappar in an English +man-of-war, in consequence of the disquieting rumours which had reached +us, and finding the Resident, Mr. A. H. EVERETT, on one side of the +small river with his house strongly blockaded and guns mounted in all +available positions, and the Datu on the other side of the stream, +immediately opposite to him, similarly armed to the teeth. But not a +shot was fired, and Datu BAHAR is now a peaceable subject of the +Company. + +The most difficult problem, however, which these officers had to solve +was that of keeping order, or trying to do so, amongst a lawless people, +with whom for years past might had been right, and who considered +kidnapping and cattle-lifting the occupations of honourable and high +spirited gentlemen. That they effected what they did, that they kept the +new flag flying and prepared the way for the Government of the Company, +reflects the highest credit upon their pluck and diplomatic ingenuity, +for they had neither police nor steam launches, nor the prestige which +would have attached to them had they been representatives of the British +Government, and under the well known British flag. They commenced their +work with none of the _éclat_ which surrounded Sir JAMES BROOKE in +Sarawak, where he found the people in successful rebellion against the +Sultan of Brunai, and was himself recognised as an agent of the British +Government, so powerful that he could get the Queen's ships to attack +the head hunting pirates, killing such numbers of them that, as I have +said, the Head money claimed and awarded by the British Government +reached the sum of £20,000. On the other hand, it is but fair to add +that the fame of Sir JAMES' exploits and the action taken by Her +Majesty's vessels, on his advice, in North-West Borneo years before, had +inspired the natives with a feeling of respect for Englishmen which must +have been a powerful factor in favour of the newly appointed officers. +The native tribes, too, inhabiting North Borneo were more sub-divided, +less warlike, and less powerful than those of Sarawak. + +The promoters of the scheme were fortunate in obtaining the services, +for the time being, as their chief representative in the East of Mr. W. +H. READ, C.M.G., an old friend of Sir JAMES BROOKE, and who, as a Member +of the Legislative Council of Singapore, and Consul-General for the +Netherlands, had acquired an intimate knowledge of the Malay character +and of the resources, capabilities and needs of Malayan countries. + +On his return to England, Mr. DENT found that, owing to the opposition +of the Dutch and Spanish Governments, and to the time required for a +full consideration of the subject by Her Majesty's Ministers, there +would be a considerable delay before a Royal Charter could be issued, +meanwhile, the expenditure of the embryo Government in Borneo was not +inconsiderable, and it was determined to form a "Provisional +Association" to carry on till a Chartered Company could be formed. + +Mr. DENT found an able supporter in Sir RUTHERFORD ALCOCK, K.C.B., who +energetically advocated the scheme from patriotic motives, recognising +the strategic and commercial advantages of the splendid harbours of +North Borneo and the probability of the country becoming in the near +future a not unimportant outlet for English commerce, now so heavily +weighted by prohibitive tariffs in Europe and America. + +The British North Borneo Provisional Association Limited, was formed in +1881, with a capital of £300,000, the Directors being Sir RUTHERFORD +ALCOCK, Mr. A. DENT, Mr. R. B. MARTIN, Admiral MAYNE, and Mr. W. H. +READ. The Association acquired from the original lessees the grants and +commissions from the Sultans, with the object of disposing of these +territories, lands and property to a Company to be incorporated by Royal +Charter. This Charter passed the Great Seal on the 1st November, 1881, +and constituted and incorporated the gentlemen above-mentioned as "The +British North Borneo Company." + +The Provisional Association was dissolved, and the Chartered Company +started on its career in May, 1882. The nominal capital was two million +pounds, in £20 shares, but the number of shares issued, including 4,500 +fully paid ones representing £90,000 to the vendors, was only 33,030, +equal to £660,600, but on 23,449 of these shares only £12 have so far +been called up. The actual cash, therefore, which the Company has had to +work with and to carry on the development of the country from the point +at which the original concessionaires and the Provisional Association +had left it, is, including some £1,000 received for shares forfeited, +about £384,000, and they have a right of call for £187,592 more. The +Charter gave official recognition to the concessions from the Native +Princes, conferred extensive powers on the Company as a corporate body, +provided for the just government of the natives and for the gradual +abolition of slavery, and reserved to the Crown the right of +disapproving of the person selected by the Company to be their Governor +in the East, and of controlling the Company's dealings with any Foreign +Power. + +The Charter also authorised the Company to use a distinctive flag, +indicating the British character of the undertaking, and the one +adopted, following the example of the English Colonies, is the British +flag, "defaced," as it is termed, with the Company's badge--a lion. I +have little doubt that this selection of the British flag, in lieu of +the one originally made use of, had a considerable effect in imbuing the +natives with an idea of the stability and permanence of the Company's +Government. + +Mr. DENT'S house flag was unknown to them before and, on the West Coast, +many thought that the Company's presence in the country might be only a +brief one, like that of its predecessor, the American syndicate, and, +consequently, were afraid to tender their allegiance, since, on the +Company's withdrawal, they would be left to the tender mercies of their +former Chiefs. But the British flag was well-known to those of them who +were traders, and they had seen it flying for many a year in the Colony +of Labuan and on board the vessels which had punished their piratical +acts in former days. + +Then, too, I was soon able to organise a Police Force mainly composed of +Sikhs, and was provided with a couple of steam-launches. Owing doubtless +to that and other causes, the refractory chiefs, soon after the +Company's formation, appeared to recognize that the game of opposition +to the new order of things was a hopeless one. + + +Footnotes: + +[Footnote 16: Now Sir ALFRED DENT, K.C.M.G.] + +[Footnote 17: The Protectorate has since been proclaimed.] + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +The area of the territory ceded by the original grants was estimated at +20,000 square miles, but the additions which have been already mentioned +now bring it up to about 31,000 square miles, including adjacent +islands, so that it is somewhat larger than Ceylon, which is credited +with only 25,365 square miles. In range of latitude, in temperature and +in rainfall, North Borneo presents many points of resemblance to Ceylon, +and it was at first thought that it might be possible to attract to the +new country some of the surplus capital, energy and aptitude for +planting which had been the foundation of Ceylon's prosperity. + +Even the expression "The New Ceylon" was employed as an alternative +designation for the country, and a description of it under that title +was published by the well known writer--Mr. JOSEPH HATTON. + +These hopes have not so far been realized, but on the other hand North +Borneo is rapidly becoming a second Sumatra, Dutchmen, Germans and some +English having discovered the suitability of its soil and climate for +producing tobacco of a quality fully equal to the famed Deli leaf of +that island. + +The coast line of the territory is about one thousand miles, and a +glance at the map will shew that it is furnished with capital harbours, +of which the principal are Gaya Bay on the West, Kudat in Marudu Bay on +the North, and Sandakan Harbour on the East. There are several others, +but at those enumerated the Company have opened their principal +stations. + +Of the three mentioned, the more striking is that of Sandakan, which is +15 miles in length, with a width varying from 11 miles, at its entrance, +to 5 miles at the broadest part. It is here that the present capital is +situated--Sandakan, a town containing a population of not more than +5,000 people, of whom perhaps thirty are Europeans and a thousand +Chinese., For its age, Sandakan has suffered serious vicissitudes. It +was founded by Mr. PRYER, in 1878, well up the bay, but was soon +afterwards burnt to the ground. It was then transferred to its present +position, nearer the mouth of the harbour, but in May, 1886, the whole +of what was known as the "Old Town" was utterly consumed by fire; in +about a couple of hours there being nothing left of the _atap_-built +shops and houses but the charred piles and posts on which they had been +raised above the ground. When a fire has once laid hold of an atap town, +probably no exertions would much avail to check it; certainly our +Chinese held this opinion, and it was impossible to get them to move +hand or foot in assisting the Europeans and Police in their efforts to +confine its ravages to as limited an area as possible. They entertain +the idea that such futile efforts tend only to aggravate the evil +spirits and increase their fury. The Hindu shopkeepers were successful +in saving their quarter of the town by means of looking glasses, long +prayers and chants. It is now forbidden to any one to erect atap houses +in the town, except in one specified area to which such structures are +confined. Most of the present houses are of plank, with tile, or +corrugated iron roofs, and the majority of the shops are built over the +sea, on substantial wooden piles, some of the principal "streets," +including that to which the ambitious name of "The Praya" has been +given, being similarly constructed on piles raised three or four feet +above high water mark. The reason is that, owing to the steep hills at +the back of the site, there is little available flat land for building +on, and, moreover, the pushing Chinese trader always likes to get his +shops as near as possible to the sea--the highway of the "prahus" which +bring him the products of the neighbouring rivers and islands. In time, +no doubt, the Sandakan hills will be used to reclaim more land from the +sea, and the town will cease to be an amphibious one. In the East there +are, from a sanitary point of view, some points of advantage in having a +tide-way passing under the houses. I should add that Sandakan is a +creation of the Company's and not a native town taken over by them. When +Mr. PRYER first hoisted his flag, there was only one solitary Chinaman +and no Europeans in the harbour, though at one time, during the Spanish +blockade of Sulu, a Singapore firm had established a trading station, +known as "Kampong German," using it as their head-quarters from which to +run the blockade of Sulu, which they successfully did for some +considerable time, to their no small gain and advantage. The success +attending the Germans' venture excited the emulation of the Chinese +traders of Labuan, who found their valuable Sulu trade cut off and, +through the good offices of the Government of the Colony, they were +enabled to charter the Sultan of Brunai's smart little yacht the +_Sultana_, and engaging the services as Captain of an ex-member of the +Labuan Legislative Council, they endeavoured to enact the roll of +blockade runner. After a trip or two, however, the _Sultana_ was taken +by the Spaniards, snugly at anchor in a Sulu harbour, the Captain and +Crew having time to make their escape. As she was not under the British +flag, the poor Sultan could obtain no redress, although the blockade was +not recognised as effective by the European Powers and English and +German vessels, similarly seized, had been restored to their owners. The +_Sultana_ proved a convenient despatch boat for the Spanish authorities. +The Sultan of Sulu to prove his friendship to the Labuan traders, had an +unfortunate man cut to pieces with krisses, on the charge of having +betrayed the vessel's position to the blockading cruisers. + +Sandakan is one of the few places in Borneo which has been opened and +settled without much fever and sickness ensuing, and this was due +chiefly to the soil being poor and sandy and to there being an abundance +of good, fresh, spring water. It may be stated, as a general rule, that +the richer the soil the more deadly will be the fever the pioneers will +have to encounter when the primeval jungle is first felled and the sun's +rays admitted to the virgin soil. + +Sandakan is the principal trading station in the Company's territory, +but with Hongkong only 1,200 miles distant in one direction, Manila 600 +miles in another, and Singapore 1,000 miles in a third, North Borneo can +never become an emporium for the trade of the surrounding countries and +islands, and the Court of Directors must rest content with developing +their own local trade and pushing forward, by wise and encouraging +regulations, the planting interest, which seems to have already taken +firm root in the country and which will prove to be the foundation of +its future prosperity. Gold and other minerals, including coal, are +known to exist, but the mineralogical exploration of a country covered +with forest and destitute of roads is a work requiring time, and we are +not yet in a position to pronounce on North Borneo's expectations in +regard to its mineral wealth. + +The gold on the Segama River, on the East coast, has been several times +reported on, and has been proved to exist in sufficient quantities to, +at any rate, well repay the labours of Chinese gold diggers, but the +district is difficult of access by water, and the Chinese are deferring +operations on a large scale until the Government has constructed a road +into the district. A European Company has obtained mineral concessions +on the river, but has not yet decided on its mode of operation, and +individual European diggers have tried their luck on the fields, +hitherto without meeting with much success, owing to heavy rains, +sickness and the difficulty of getting up stores. The Company will +probably find that Chinese diggers will not only stand the climate +better, but will be more easily governed, be satisfied with smaller +returns, and contribute as much or more than the Europeans to the +Government Treasury, by their consumption of opium, tobacco and other +excisable articles, by fees for gold licenses, and so forth. + +Another source of natural wealth lies in the virgin forest with which +the greater portion of the country is clothed, down to the water's edge. +Many of the trees are valuable as timber, especially the _Billian_, or +Borneo iron-wood tree, which is impervious to the attacks of white-ants +ashore and almost equally so to those of the _teredo navalis_ afloat, +and is wonderfully enduring of exposure to the tropical sun and the +tropical downpours of rain. I do not remember having ever come across a +bit of _billian_ that showed signs of decay during a residence of +seventeen years in the East. The wood is very heavy and sinks in water, +so that, in order to be shipped, it has to be floated on rafts of soft +wood, of which there is an abundance of excellent quality, of which one +kind--the red _serayah_--is likely to come into demand by builders in +England. Other of the woods, such as _mirabau_, _penagah_ and _rengas_, +have good grain and take a fine polish, causing them to be suitable for +the manufacture of furniture. The large tree which yields the Camphor +_barus_ of commerce also affords good timber. It is a _Dryobalanops_, +and is not to be confused with the _Cinnamomum camphora_, from which the +ordinary "camphor" is obtained and the wood of which retains the camphor +smell and is largely used by the Chinese in the manufacture of boxes, +the scented wood keeping off ants and other insects which are a pest in +the Far East. The Borneo camphor tree is found only in Borneo and +Sumatra. The camphor which is collected for export, principally to China +and India, by the natives, is found in a solid state in the trunk, but +only in a small percentage of the trees, which are felled by the +collectors. The price of this camphor _barus_ as it is termed, is said +to be nearly a hundred times as much as that of the ordinary camphor, +and it is used by the Chinese and Indians principally for embalming +purposes. Billian and other woods enumerated are all found near the +coast and, generally, in convenient proximity to some stream, and so +easily available for export. Sandakan harbour has some thirteen rivers +and streams running into it, and, as the native population is very +small, the jungle has been scarcely touched, and no better locality +could, therefore, be desired by a timber merchant. Two European Timber +Companies are now doing a good business there, and the Chinese also take +their share of the trade. China affords a ready and large market for +Borneo timber, being itself almost forestless, and for many years past +it has received iron-wood from Sarawak. Borneo timber has also been +exported to the Straits Settlements, Australia and Mauritius, and I hear +that an order has been given for England. Iron wood is only found in +certain districts, notably in Sandakan Bay and on the East coast, being +rarely met with on the West coast. I have seen a private letter from an +officer in command of a British man-of-war who had some samples of it on +board which came in very usefully when certain bearings of the screw +shaft were giving out on a long voyage, and were found to last _three +times_ as long as lignum vitæ. + +In process of time, as the country is opened up by roads and railways, +doubtless many other valuable kinds of timber trees will be brought to +light in the interior. + +A notice of Borneo Forests would be incomplete without a reference to +the mangroves, which are such a prominent feature of the country as one +approaches it by sea, lining much of the coast and forming, for mile +after mile, the actual banks of most of the rivers. Its thick, +dark-green, never changing foliage helps to give the new comer that +general impression of dull monotony in tropical scenery, which, perhaps, +no one, except the professed botanist, whose trained and practical eye +never misses the smallest detail, ever quite shakes off. + +The wood of the mangrove forms most excellent firewood, and is often +used by small steamers as an economical fuel in lieu of coal, and is +exported to China in the timber ships. The bark is also a separate +article of export, being used as a dye and for tanning, and is said to +contain nearly 42% of _tannin_. + +The value of the general exports from the territory is increasing every +year, having been $145,444 in 1881 and $525,879 in 1888. With the +exception of tobacco and pepper, the list is almost entirely made up of +the natural raw products of the land and sea--such as bees-wax, camphor, +damar, gutta percha, the sap of a large forest tree destroyed in the +process of collection of gutta, India rubber, from a creeper likewise +destroyed by the collectors, rattans, well known to every school boy, +sago, timber, edible birds'-nests, seed-pearls, Mother-o'-pearl shells +in small quantities, dried fish and dried sharks'-fins, trepang +(sea-slug or bêche-de-mer), aga, or edible sea-weed, tobacco (both +Native and European grown), pepper, and occasionally elephants' tusks--a +list which shews the country to be a rich store house of natural +productions, and one which will be added to, as the land is brought +under cultivation with coffee, tea, sugar, cocoa, Manila hemp, pine +apple fibre, and other tropical products for which the soil, and +especially the rainfall, temperature and climatic conditions generally, +including entire freedom from typhoons and earthquakes, eminently adapt +it, and many of which have already been tried with success on an +experimental scale. As regards pepper, it has been previously shewn that +North Borneo was in former days an exporter of this spice. Sugar has +been grown by the natives for their own consumption for many years, as +also tapioca, rice and Indian corn. It is not my object to give a +detailed list of the productions of the country, and I would refer any +reader who is anxious to be further enlightened on these and kindred +topics to the excellent "Hand-book of British North Borneo," prepared +for the Colonial and Indian Exhibition of 1886, at which the new Colony +was represented, and published by Messrs. WILLIAM CLOWES & SONS. + +The edible birds'-nests are already a source of considerable revenue to +the Government, who let out the collection of them for annual payments, +and also levy an export duty as they leave the country for China, which +is their only market. The nests are about the size of those of the +ordinary swallow and are formed by innumerable hosts of +swifts--_Collocalia fuciphaga_--entirely from a secretion of the glands +of the throat. These swifts build in caves, some of which are of very +large dimensions, and there are known to be some sixteen of them in +different parts of British North Borneo. With only one exception, the +caves occur in limestone rocks and, generally, at no great distance from +the sea, though some have been discovered in the interior, on the banks +of the Kinabatangan River. The exception above referred to is that of a +small cave on a sand-stone island at the entrance of Sandakan harbour. +The _Collocalia fuciphaga_ appears to be pretty well distributed over +the Malayan islands, but of these, Borneo and Java are the principal +sources of supply. Nests are also exported from the Andaman Islands, and +a revenue of £30,000 a year is said to be derived from the nests in the +small islands in the inland sea of Tab Sab, inhabited by natives of +Malay stock. + +The finest caves, or rather series of caves, as yet known in the +Company's territories are those of Gomanton, a limestone hill situated +at the head of the Sapa Gaia, one of the streams running into Sandakan +harbour. + +These grand caves, which are one of the most interesting sights in the +country, are, in fine weather, easily accessible from the town of +Sandakan, by a water journey across the harbour and up the Sapa Gaia, of +about twelve miles, and by a road from the point of debarkation to the +entrance of the lower caves, about eight miles in length. + +The height of the hill is estimated at 1,000 feet, and it contains two +distinct series of caves. The first series is on the "ground floor" and +is known as _Simud Hitam_, or "black entrance." The magnificent porch, +250 feet high and 100 broad, which gives admittance to this series, is +on a level with the river bank, and, on entering, you find yourself in a +spacious and lofty chamber well lighted from above by a large open +space, through which can be seen the entrance to the upper set of caves, +some 400 to 500 feet up the hill side. In this chamber is a large +deposit of guano, formed principally by the myriads of bats inhabiting +the caves in joint occupancy with the edible-nest-forming swifts. +Passing through this first chamber and turning a little to the right you +come to a porch leading into an extensive cave, which extends under the +upper series. This cave is filled half way up to its roof, with an +enormous deposit of guano, which has been estimated to be 40 to 50 feet +in depth. How far the cave extends has not been ascertained, as its +exploration, until some of the deposit is removed, would not be an easy +task, for the explorer would be compelled to walk along on the top of +the guano, which in some places is so soft that you sink in it almost up +to your waist. My friend Mr. C. A. BAMPFYLDE, in whose company I first +visited Gomanton, and who, as "Commissioner of Birds-nest Caves," drew +up a very interesting report on them, informed me that, though he had +found it impossible to explore right to the end, he had been a long way +in and was confident that the cave was of very large size. To reach the +upper series of caves, you leave Simud Hitam and clamber up the hill +side--a steep but not difficult climb, as the jagged limestone affords +sure footing. The entrance to this series, known as _Simud Putih_, or +"white entrance," is estimated to be at an elevation of 300 feet above +sea level, and the porch by which you enter them is about 30 feet high +by about 50 wide. The floor slopes steeply downwards and brings you into +an enormous cave, with smaller ones leading off it, all known to the +nest collectors by their different native names. You soon come to a +large black hole, which has never been explored, but which is said to +communicate with the large guano cave below, which has been already +described. Passing on, you enter a dome-like cave, the height of the +roof or ceiling of which has been estimated at 800 feet, but for the +accuracy of this guess I cannot vouch. The average height of the cave +before the domed portion is reached is supposed to be about 150 feet, +and Mr. BAMPFYLDE estimates the total length, from the entrance to the +furthest point, at a fifth of a mile. The Simud Putih series are badly +lighted, there being only a few "holes" in the roof of the dome, so that +torches or lights of some kind are required. There are large deposits of +guano in these caves also, which could be easily worked by lowering +quantities down into the Simud Hitam caves below, the floor of which, as +already stated, is on a level with the river bank, so that a tramway +could be laid right into them and the guano be carried down to the port +of shipment, at the mouth of the Sapa Gaia River. Samples of the guano +have been sent home, and have been analysed by Messrs. VOELCKER & CO. It +is rich in ammonia and nitrogen and has been valued at £5 to £7 a ton in +England. The bat-guano is said to be richer as a manure than that +derived from the swifts. To ascend to the top of Gomanton, one has to +emerge from the Simud Putih entrance and, by means of a ladder, reach an +overhanging ledge, whence a not very difficult climb brings one to the +cleared summit, from which a fine view of the surrounding country is +obtained, including Kina-balu, the sacred mountain of North Borneo. On +this summit will be found the holes already described as helping to +somewhat lighten the darkness of the dome-shaped cave, on the roof of +which we are in fact now standing. It is through these holes that the +natives lower themselves into the caves, by means of rattan ladders and, +in a most marvellous manner, gain a footing on the ceiling and construct +cane stages, by means of which they can reach any part of the roof and, +either by hand or by a suitable pole to the end of which is attached a +lighted candle, secure the wealth-giving luxury for the epicures of +China. There are two principal seasons for collecting the nests, and +care has to be taken that the collection is made punctually at the +proper time, before the eggs are all hatched, otherwise the nests become +dirty and fouled with feathers, &c., and discoloured and injured by the +damp, thereby losing much of their market value. Again, if the nests are +not collected for a season, the birds do not build many new ones in the +following season, but make use of the old ones, which thereby become +comparatively valueless. + +There are, roughly speaking, three qualities of nests, sufficiently +described by their names--white, red, and black--the best quality of +each fetching, at Sandakan, per catty of 1-1/3 lbs., $16, $7 and 8 cents +respectively. + +The question as to the true cause of the difference in the nests has not +yet been satisfactorily solved. Some allege that the red and black nests +are simply white ones deteriorated by not having been collected in due +season. I myself incline to agree with the natives that the nests are +formed by different birds, for the fact that, in one set of caves, black +nests are always found together in one part, and white ones in another, +though both are collected with equal care and punctuality, seems almost +inexplicable under the first theory. It is true that the different kinds +of nests are not found in the same season, and it is just possible that +the red and black nests may be the second efforts at building made by +the swifts after the collectors have disturbed them by gathering their +first, white ones. In the inferior nests, feathers are found _mixed up_ +with the gelatinous matter forming the walls, as though the glands were +unable to secrete a sufficient quantity of material, and the bird had to +eke it out with its own feathers. In the substance of the white nests no +feathers are found. + +Then, again, it is sometimes found in the case of two distinct caves, +situated at no great distance apart, that the one yields almost entirely +white nests, and the other nearly all red, or black ones, though the +collections are made with equal regularity in each. The natives, as I +have said, seem to think that there are two kinds of birds, and the Hon. +R. ABERCROMBY reports that, when he visited Gomanton, they shewed him +eggs of different size and explained that one was laid by the white-nest +bird and the other by the black-nest builder. Sir HUGH LOW, in his work +on Sarawak, published in 1848, asserts that there are "two different and +quite dissimilar kinds of birds, though both are swallows" (he should +have said swifts), and that the one which produces the white nest is +larger and of more lively colours, with a white belly, and is found on +the sea-coast, while the other is smaller and darker and found more in +the interior. He admits, however, that though he had opportunities of +observing the former, he had not been able to procure a specimen. + +The question is one which should be easily settled on the spot, and I +recommend it to the consideration of the authorities of the British +North Borneo Museum, which has been established at Sandakan. + +The annual value of the nests of Gomanton, when properly collected, has +been reckoned at $23,000, but I consider this an excessive estimate. My +friend Mr. A. COOK, the Treasurer of the Territory, to whose zeal and +perseverance the Company owes much, has arranged with the Buludupih +tribe to collect these nests on payment to the Government of a royalty +of $7,500 per annum, which is in addition to the export duty at the rate +of 10% _ad valorem_ paid by the Chinese exporters. + +The swifts and bats--the latter about the size of the ordinary English +bat--avail themselves of the shelter afforded by the caves without +incommoding one another, for, by a sort of Box and Cox arrangement, the +former occupy the caves during the night and the latter by day. + +Standing at the Simud Putih entrance about 5 P. M., the visitor will +suddenly hear a whirring sound from below, which is caused by the +myriads of bats issuing, for their nocturnal banquet, from the Simud +Itam caves, through the wide open space that has been described. They +come out in a regularly ascending continuous spiral or corkscrew coil, +revolving from left to right in a very rapid and regular manner. When +the top of the spiral coil reaches a certain height, a colony of bats +breaks off, and continuing to revolve in a well kept ring from left to +right gradually ascends higher and higher, until all of a sudden the +whole detachment dashes off in the direction of the sea, towards the +mangrove swamps and the _nipas_. Sometimes these detached colonies +reverse the direction of their revolutions after leaving the main body, +and, instead of from left to right, revolve from right to left. Some of +them continue for a long time revolving in a circle, and attain a great +height before darting off in quest of food, while others make up their +minds more expeditiously, after a few revolutions. Amongst the bats, +three white ones were, on the occasion of my visit, very conspicuous, +and our followers styled them the Raja, his wife and child. Hawks and +sea-eagles are quickly attracted to the spot, but only hover on the +outskirts of the revolving coil, occasionally snapping up a prize. I +also noticed several hornbills, but they appeared to have been only +attracted by curiosity. Mr. BAMPFYLDE informed me that, on a previous +visit, he had seen a large green snake settled on an overhanging branch +near which the bats passed and that occasionally he managed to secure a +victim. I timed the bats and found that they took almost exactly fifty +minutes to come out of the caves, a thick stream of them issuing all +that time and at a great pace, and the reader can endeavour to form for +himself some idea of their vast numbers. They had all got out by ten +minutes to six in the evening, and at about six o'clock the swifts began +to come home to roost. They came in in detached, independent parties, +and I found it impossible to time them, as some of them kept very late +hours. I slept in the Simud Putih cave on this occasion, and found that +next morning the bats returned about 5 A.M., and that the swifts went +out an hour afterwards. + +As shewing the mode of formation of these caves, I may add that I +noticed, imbedded in a boulder of rock in the upper caves, two pieces of +coral and several fossil marine shells, bivalves and others. + +The noise made by the bats going out for their evening promenade +resembled a combination of that of the surf breaking on a distant shore +and of steam being gently blown off from a vessel which has just come to +anchor. + +There are other interesting series of caves, and one--that of Madai, in +Darvel Bay on the East coast--was visited by the late Lady BRASSEY and +Miss BRASSEY in April, 1887, when British North Borneo was honoured by a +visit of the celebrated yacht the _Sunbeam_, with Lord BRASSEY and his +family on board. + +I accompanied the party on the trip to Madai, and shall not easily +forget the pluck and energy with which Lady BRASSEY, then in bad health, +surmounted the difficulties of the jungle track, and insisted upon +seeing all that was to be seen; or the gallant style in which Miss +BRASSEY unwearied after her long tramp through the forest, led the way +over the slippery boulders in the dark caves. + +The Chinese ascribe great strengthening powers to the soup made of the +birds'-nests, which they boil down into a syrup with barley sugar, and +sip out of tea cups. The gelatinous looking material of which the +substance of the nests is composed is in itself almost flavourless. + +It is also with the object of increasing their bodily powers that these +epicures consume the uninviting sea-slug or bêche-de-mer, and dried +sharks'-fins and cuttle fish. + +To conclude my brief sketch of Sandakan Harbour and of the Capital, it +should be stated that, in addition to being within easy distance of +Hongkong, it lies but little off the usual route of vessels proceeding +from China to Australian ports, and can be reached by half a day's +deviation of the ordinary track. + +Should, unfortunately, war arise with Russia, there is little doubt +their East Asiatic squadron would endeavour both to harass the +Australian trade and to damage, as much as possible, the coast towns, in +which case the advantages of Sandakan, midway between China and +Australia, as a base of operations for the British protecting fleet +would at once become manifest. It is somewhat unfortunate that a bar has +formed just outside the entrance of the harbour, with a depth of water +of four fathoms at low water, spring tides, so that ironclads of the +largest size would be denied admittance. + +There are at present, no steamers sailing direct from Borneo to England, +and nearly all the commerce from British North Borneo ports is carried +by local steamers to that great emporium of the trade of the Malayan +countries, Singapore, distant from Sandakan a thousand miles, and it is +a curious fact, that though many of the exports are ultimately intended +for the China market, _e.g._, edible birds'-nests, the Chinese traders +find it pays them better to send their produce to Singapore in the first +instance, instead of direct to Hongkong. This is partly accounted for by +the further fact that, though the Government has spent considerable sum +in endeavouring to attract Chinamen from China, the large proportion of +our Chinese traders and of the Chinese population generally has come to +us _viâ_ Singapore, after as it were having undergone there an education +in the knowledge of Malayan affairs. + +As further illustrating the commercial and strategical advantages of the +harbours of British North Borneo, it should be noted that the course +recommended by the Admiralty instructions for vessels proceeding to +China from the Straits, _viâ_ the Palawan passage, brings them within +ninety miles of the harbours of the West Coast. + +As to postal matters, British North Borneo, though not in the Postal +Union, has entered into arrangements for the exchange of direct closed +mails with the English Post Office, London, with which latter also, as +well as with Singapore and India, a system of Parcel Post and of Post +Office Orders has been established. + +The postal and inland revenue stamps, distinguished by the lion, which +has been adopted as the Company's badge, are well executed and in +considerable demand with stamp collectors, owing to their rarity. + +The Government also issues its own copper coinage, one cent and +half-cent pieces, manufactured in Birmingham and of the same intrinsic +value as those of Hongkong and the Straits Settlements. + +The revenue derived from its issue is an important item to the Colony's +finances, and considerable quantities have been put into circulation, +not only within the limits of the Company's territory, but also in +Brunai and in the British Colony of Labuan, where it has been proclaimed +a legal tender on the condition of the Company, in return for the profit +which they reap by its issue in the island, contributing to the +impoverished Colonial Treasury the yearly sum of $3,000. + +Trade, however, is still, to a great extent, carried on by a system of +barter with the Natives. The primitive currency medium in vogue under +the native regime has been described in the Chapters on Brunai. + +The silver currency is the Mexican and Spanish Dollar and the Japanese +Yen, supplemented by the small silver coinage of the Straits +Settlements. The Company has not yet minted any silver coinage, as the +profit thereon is small, but in the absence of a bank, the Treasury, for +the convenience of traders and planters, carries on banking business to +a certain extent, and issues bank notes of the values of $1, $5 and $25, +cash reserves equal to one-third of the value of the notes in +circulation being maintained.[18] + +Sir ALFRED DENT is taking steps to form a Banking Company at Sandakan, +the establishment of which would materially assist in the development of +the resources of the territory. + +British North Borneo is not in telegraphic communication with any part +of the world, except of course through Singapore, nor are there any +local telegraphs. The question, however, of supplementing the existing +cable between the Straits Settlements and China by another touching at +British territory in Borneo has more than once been mooted, and may yet +become a _fait accompli_. The Spanish Government appear to have decided +to unite Sulu by telegraphic communication with the rest of the world, +_viâ_ Manila, and this will bring Sandakan within 180 miles of the +telegraphic station. + + +Footnotes: + +[Footnote 18: Agencies of Singapore Banks have since been established at +Sandakan.] + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +In the eyes of the European planter, British North Borneo is chiefly +interesting as a field for the cultivation of tobacco, in rivalry to +Sumatra, and my readers may judge of the importance of this question +from a glance at the following figures, which shew the dividends +declared of late years by three of the principal Tobacco Planting +Companies in the latter island:-- + + Dividends paid by + + The Deli The Tabak The Amsterdam + In Maatschappi. Maatschappi. Deli Co. + + 1882 65 per cent. 25 per cent. 10 per cent. + + 1883 101 " 50 " 30 " + + 1884 77 " 60 " 30 " + + 1885 107 " 100 " 60 " + + 1886 108 " ..... ..... + +In Sumatra, under Dutch rule, tobacco culture can at present only be +carried on in certain districts, where the soil is suitable and where +the natives are not hostile, and, as most of the best land has been +taken up, and planters are beginning to feel harassed by the stringent +regulations and heavy taxation of the Dutch Government, both Dutch and +German planters are turning their attention to British North Borneo, +where they find the regulations easier, and the authorities most anxious +to welcome them, while, owing to the scanty population, there is plenty +of available land. It is but fair to say that the first experiment in +North Borneo was made by an English, or rather an Anglo-Chinese Company, +the China-Sabah Land Farming Company, who, on hurriedly selected land in +Sandakan and under the disadvantages which usually attend pioneers in a +new country, shipped a crop to England which was pronounced by experts +in 1886 to equal in quality the best Sumatra-grown leaf. Unfortunately, +this Company, which had wasted its resources on various experiments, +instead of confining itself to tobacco planting, was unable to continue +its operations, but a Dutch planter from Java, Count GELOES D'ELSLOO, +having carefully selected his land in Marudu Bay, obtained, in 1887, the +high average of $1 per lb. for his trial crop at Amsterdam, and, having +formed an influential Company in Europe, is energetically bringing a +large area under cultivation, and has informed me that he confidently +expects to rival Sumatra, not only in quality, but also in quantity of +leaf per acre, as some of his men have cut twelve pikuls per field, +whereas six pikuls per field is usually considered a good crop. The +question of "quantity" is a very important one, for quality without +quantity will never pay on a tobacco estate. Several Dutchmen have +followed Count GELOES' example, and two German Companies and one British +are now at work in the country. Altogether, fully 350,000 acres[19] of +land have been taken up for tobacco cultivation in British North Borneo +up to the present time. + +In selecting land for this crop, climate, that is, temperature and +rainfall, has equally to be considered with richness of soil. For +example, the soil of Java is as rich, or richer than that of Sumatra, +but owing to its much smaller rainfall, the tobacco it produces commands +nothing like the prices fetched by that of the former. The seasons and +rainfall in Borneo are found to be very similar to those of Sumatra. The +average recorded annual rainfall at Sandakan for the last seven years is +given by Dr. WALKER, the Principal Medical Officer, as 124.34 inches, +the range being from 156.9 to 101.26 inches per annum. + +Being so near the equator, roughly speaking between N. Latitudes 4 and +7, North Borneo has, unfortunately for the European residents whose lot +is cast there, nothing that can be called a winter, the temperature +remaining much about the same from year's end to year's end. It used to +seem to me that during the day the thermometer was generally about 83 or +85 in the shade, but, I believe, taking the year all round, night and +day, the mean temperature is 81, and the extremes recorded on the coast +line are 67.5 and 94.5. Dr. WALKER has not yet extended his stations to +the hills in the interior, but mentions it as probable that freezing +point is occasionally reached near the top of the Kinabalu Mountains, +which is 13,700 feet high; he adds that the lowest recorded temperature +he has found is 36.5, given by Sir SPENCER ST. JOHN in his "Life in the +Forests of the Far East." Snow has never been reported even on +Kinabalu, and I am informed that the Charles Louis Mountains in Dutch +New Guinea, are the only ones in tropical Asia where the limit of +perpetual snow is attained. I must stop to say a word in praise of +Kinabalu, "the Chinese Widow,"[20] the sacred mountain of North Borneo +whither the souls of the righteous Dusuns ascend after death. It can be +seen from both coasts, and appears to rear its isolated, solid bulk +almost straight out of the level country, so dwarfed are the +neighbouring hills by its height of 13,680 feet. The best view of it is +obtained, either at sunrise or at sunset, from the deck of a ship +proceeding along the West Coast, from which it is about twenty miles +inland. During the day time the Widow, as a rule, modestly veils her +features in the clouds. + +The effect when its huge mass is lighted up at evening by the last rays +of the setting sun is truly magnificent. + +On the spurs of Kinabalu and on the other lofty hills, of which there is +an abundance, no doubt, as the country becomes opened up by roads many +suitable sites for sanitoria will be discovered, and the day will come +when these hill sides, like those of Ceylon and Java, will be covered +with thriving plantations. + +Failing winter, the Bornean has to be content with the the change +afforded by a dry and a wet season, the latter being looked upon as the +"winter," and prevailing during the month of November, December and +January. But though the two seasons are sufficiently well defined and to +be depended upon by planters, yet there is never a month during the dry +season when no rain falls, nor in the wet season are fine days at all +rare. The dryest months appear to be March and April, and in June there +generally occurs what Doctor WALKER terms an "intermediate" and +moderately wet period. + +Tobacco is a crop which yields quick returns, for in about 110 to 120 +days after the seed is sown the plant is ripe for cutting. The _modus +operandi_ is somewhat after this fashion. First select your land, virgin +soil covered with untouched jungle, situated at a distance from the +sea, so that no salt breezes may jeopardise the proper burning qualities +of the future crop, and as devoid as possible of hills. Then, a point of +primary importance which will be again referred to, engage your Chinese +coolies, who have to sign agreements for fixed periods, and to be +carefully watched afterwards, as it is the custom to give them cash +advances on signing, the repayment of which they frequently endeavour to +avoid by slipping away just before your vessel sails and probably +engaging themselves to another master. + +Without the Chinese cooly, the tobacco planter is helpless, and if the +proper season is allowed to pass, a whole year may be lost. The Chinaman +is too expensive a machine to be employed on felling the forest, and for +this purpose, indeed, the Malay is more suitable and the work is +accordingly given him to do under contract. Simultaneously with the +felling, a track should be cut right through the heart of the estate by +the natives, to be afterwards ditched and drained and made passable for +carts by the Chinese coolies. + +That as much as possible of the felled jungle should be burned up is so +important a matter and one that so greatly affects the individual +Chinese labourer, that it is not left to the Malays to do, but, on the +completion of the felling, the whole area which is to be planted is +divided out into "fields," of about one acre each, and each "field" is +assigned by lot to a Chinese cooly, whose duty it is to carefully burn +the timber and plant, tend and finally cut the tobacco on his own +division, for which he is remunerated in accordance with the quality and +quantity of the leaf he is able to bring into the drying sheds. Each +"field," having been cleared as carefully as may be of the felled +timber, is next thoroughly hoed up, and a small "nursery" prepared in +which the seeds provided by the manager are planted and protected from +rain and sun by palm leaf mats (_kajangs_) raised on sticks. In about a +week, the young plants appear, and the Chinese tenant, as I may call +him, has to carefully water them morning and evening. As the young +seedlings grow up, their enemy, the worms and grubs, find them out and +attack them in such numbers that at least once a day, sometimes oftener, +the anxious planter has to go through his nursery and pick them off, +otherwise in a short time he would have no tobacco to plant out. About +thirty days after the seed has been sown, the seedlings are old enough +to be planted out in the field, which has been all the time carefully +prepared for their reception. The first thing to be done is to make +holes in the soil, at distances of two feet one way and three feet the +other, the earth in them being loosened and broken up so that the tender +roots should meet with no obstacles to their growth. As the holes are +ready for them, the seedlings are taken from the nursery and planted +out, being protected from the sun's rays either by fern, or coarse +grass, or, in the best managed estates, by a piece of wood, like a +roofing shingle, inserted in the soil in such a way as to provide the +required shelter. The watering has to be continued till the plants have +struck root, when the protecting shelter is removed and the earth banked +up round them, care being taken to daily inspect them and remove the +worms which have followed them from the nursery. The next operation is +that of "topping" the plants, that is, of stopping their further growth +by nipping off the heads. + +According to the richness of the soil and the general appearance of the +plants, this is ordered to be done by the European overseer after a +certain number of leaves have been produced. If the soil is poor, +perhaps only fourteen leaves will be allowed, while on the richest land +the plant can stand and properly ripen as many as twenty-four leaves. +The signs of ripening, which generally takes place in about three months +from the date of transplantation, are well known to the overseers and +are first shewn by a yellow tinge becoming apparent at the tips of the +leaves. + +The cooly thereupon cuts the plants down close to the ground and lightly +and carefully packs them into long baskets so as not to injure the +leaves, and carries them to the drying sheds. There they are examined by +the overseer of his division, who credits him with the value, based on +the quantity and quality of the crop he brings in, the price ranging +from $1 up to $8 per thousand trees. The plants are then tied in rows on +sticks, heads downwards, and hoisted up in tiers to dry in the shed. + +After hanging for a fortnight, they are sufficiently dry and, being +lowered down, are stripped of their leaves, which are tied up into small +bundles, similar leaves being roughly sorted together. + +The bundles of leaves are then taken to other sheds, where the very +important process of fermenting them is carried out. For this purpose, +they are put into orderly arranged heaps--small at first, but increased +in size till very little heat is given out, the heat being tested by a +thermometer, or even an ordinary piece of stick inserted into them. When +the fermentation is nearly completed and the leaves have attained a +fixed colour, they are carefully sorted according to colour, spottiness +and freedom from injury of any kind. The price realized in Europe is +greatly affected by the care with which the leaves have been fermented +and sorted. Spottiness is not always considered a defect, as it is +caused by the sun shining on the leaves when they have drops of rain on +them, and to this the best leaves are liable; but spotted leaves, broken +leaves and in short leaves having the same characteristics should be +carefully sorted together. After this sorting is completed as regards +class and quality, there is a further sorting in regard to length, and +the leaves are then tied together in bundles of thirty-five. These +bundles are put into large heaps and, when no more heating is apparent, +they are ready to be pressed under a strong screw press and sewn up in +bags which are carefully marked and shipped off to Europe--to Amsterdam +as a rule. + +As the coolies' payment is by "results," it is their interest to take +the greatest care of their crops; but for any outside work they may be +called on to perform, and for their services as sorters, etc. in the +sheds, they are paid extra. During the whole time, also, they receive, +for "subsistence" money, $4 or $3 a month. At the end of the season +their accounts are made up, being debited with the amount of the +original advance, subsistence money and cost of implements, and credited +with the value of the tobacco brought in and any wages that may be due +for outside work. Each estate possesses a hospital, in which bad cases +are treated by a qualified practitioner, while in trifling cases the +European overseer dispenses drugs, quinine being that in most demand. +If, owing to sickness, or other cause, the cooly has required assistance +in his field, the cost thereof is deducted in his final account. + +The men live in well constructed "barracks," erected by the owner of the +estate, and it is one of the duties of the Chinese "tindals," or +overseers acting under the Europeans to see that they are kept in a +cleanly, sanitary condition. + +The European overseers are under the orders of the head manager, and an +estate is divided in such a way that each overseer shall have under his +direct control and be responsible for the proper cultivation of about +100 fields. He receives a fixed salary, but his interest in his division +is augmented by the fact that he will receive a commission on the value +of the crop it produces. His work is onerous and, during the season, he +has little time to himself, but should be here, there, and everywhere in +his division, seeing that the coolies come out to work at the stated +times, that no field is allowed to get in a backward state, and that +worms are carefully removed, and, as a large proportion of the men are +probably _sinkehs_, that is, new arrivals who have never been on a +tobacco estate before, he has, with the assistance of the tindals, to +instruct them in their work. When the crop is brought in, he has to +examine each cooly's contribution, carefully inspecting each leaf, and +keeping an account of the value and quantity of each. + +Physical strength, intelligence and an innate desire of amassing +dollars, are three essential qualifications for a good tobacco cooly, +and, so far, they have only been found united in the Chinaman, the +European being out of the question as a field-labourer in the tropics. + +The coolies are, as a rule, procured through Chinese cooly brokers in +Penang or Singapore, but as regards North Borneo, the charges for +commission, transport and the advances--many of which, owing to death, +sickness and desertion, are never repaid--have become so heavy as to be +almost prohibitive, and my energetic friend, Count GELOES, has set the +example of procuring his coolies direct from China, instead of by the +old fashioned, roundabout way of the extortionate labour-brokers of the +Straits Settlements. North Borneo, it will be remembered, is situated +midway between Hongkong and Singapore, and the Court of Directors of +the Governing Company could do nothing better calculated to ensure the +success of their public-spirited enterprise than to inaugurate regular, +direct steam communication between their territory and Hongkong. In the +first instance, this could only be effected by a Government subsidy or +guarantee, but it is probable that, in a short time, a cargo and +passenger traffic would grow up which would permit of the subsidy being +gradually withdrawn. + +Many of the best men on a well managed estate will re-engage themselves +on the expiration of their term of agreement, receiving a fresh advance, +and some of them can be trusted to go back to China and engage their +clansmen for the estate. + +In British North Borneo the general welfare of the indentured coolies is +looked after by Government Officials, who act under the provisions of a +law entitled "The Estate Coolies and Labourers Protection Proclamation, +1883." + +Owing to the expense of procuring coolies and to the fact that every +operation of tobacco planting must be performed punctually at the proper +season of the year, and to the desirability of encouraging coolies to +re-engage themselves, it is manifestly the planters' interest to treat +his employés well, and to provide, so far as possible, for their health +and comfort on the estate, but, notwithstanding all the care that may be +taken, a considerable amount of sickness and many deaths must be allowed +for on tobacco estates, which, as a rule, are opened on virgin soil; +for, so long as there remains any untouched land on his estate, the +planter rarely makes use of land off which a crop has been taken. + +In North Borneo the jungle is generally felled towards the end of the +wet season, and planting commences in April or May. The Native Dusun, +Sulu and Brunai labour is available for jungle-felling and +house-building, and _nibong_ palms for posts and _nipa_ palms for +thatch, walls and _kajangs_ exist in abundance. + +Writing to the Court of Directors in 1884 I said:--"The experiment in +the Suanlambah conclusively proves so far that this country will do for +tobacco. * * * There seems every reason to conclude that it will do as +well here as in Sumatra. When this fact becomes known, I presume there +will be quite a small rush to the country, as the Dutch Government, I +hear, is not popular in Sumatra, and land available for tobacco there +is becoming scarcer." + +My anticipations have been verified, and the rush is already taking +place. + +The localities at present in favour with tobacco planters are Marudu Bay +and Banguey Island in the North, Labuk Bay and Darvel Bay in the +neighbourhood of the Silam Station, and the Kinabatangan River on the +East. + +The firstcomers obtained their land on very easy terms, some of them at +30 cents an acre, but the Court has now issued an order that in future +no planting land is to be disposed of for a less sum than $1[21] per +acre, free of quit-rent and on a lease for 999 years, with clauses +providing that a certain proportion be brought under cultivation. + +At present no export duty is levied on tobacco shipped from North +Borneo, and the Company has engaged that no such duty shall be imposed +before the 1st January, 1892, after which date it will be optional with +them to levy an export royalty at the rate of one dollar cent, or a +halfpenny, per lb., which rate, they promise, shall not be exceeded +during the succeeding twenty years. + +The tobacco cultivated in Sumatra and British North Borneo is used +chiefly for wrappers for cigars, for which purpose a very fine, thin, +elastic leaf is required and one that has a good colour and will burn +well and evenly, with a fine white ash. This quality of leaf commands a +much higher price than ordinary kinds, and, as stated, Count +GELOES'trial crop, from the Ranan Estate in Marudu Bay, averaged 1.83 +guilders, or about $1 (3/2) per lb. It is said that 2 lbs. or 2-1/2 lbs. +weight of Bornean tobacco will cover 1,000 cigars. + +Tobacco is not a new culture in Borneo, as some of the hill natives on +the West Coast of North Borneo have grown it in a rough and ready way +for years past, supplying the population of Brunai and surrounding +districts with a sun-dried article, which used to be preferred to that +produced in Java. The Malay name for tobacco is _tambako_, a corruption +of the Spanish and Portuguese term, but the Brunai people also know it +as _sigup_. + +It was probably introduced into Malay countries by the Portuguese, who +conquered Malacca in 1511, and by the Spanish, who settled in the +Philippines in 1565. Its use has become universal with men, women and +children, of all tribes and of all ranks. The native mode of using +tobacco has been referred to in my description of Brunai. + +Fibre-yielding plants are also now attracting attention in North Borneo, +especially the Manila hemp (_Musa textilis_) a species of banana, and +pine-apples, both of which grow freely. The British Borneo Trading and +Planting Company have acquired the patent for Borneo of DEATH'S +fibre-cleaning machines, and are experimenting with these products on a +considerable scale and, apparently, with good prospects of success.[22] +For a long time past, beautiful cloths have been manufactured of +pine-apple fibre in the Philippines, and as it is said that orders have +been received from France for Borneo pine-apple fibre, we shall perhaps +soon see it used in England under the name of French _silk_. + +In the Government Experimental Garden at Silam, in Darvel Bay, cocoa, +cinnamon and Liberian coffee have been found to do remarkably well. +Sappan-wood and _kapok_ or cotton flock also grow freely. + + +Footnotes: + +[Footnote 19: Governor CREAGH tells me 600,000 acres have now been +taken up.] + +[Footnote 20: For the native derivation of this appellation see page +54.] + +[Footnote 21: Raised in 1890 to $6 an acre.] + +[Footnote 22: The anticipated success has not been achieved as yet.] + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +Many people have a very erroneous idea of the objects and intentions of +the British North Borneo Company. Some, with a dim recollection of +untold wealth having been extracted from the natives of India in the +early days of the Honourable East India Company, conceive that the +Company can have no other object than that of fleecing our natives in +order to pay dividends; but the old saying, that it is a difficult +matter to steal a Highlander's pantaloons, is applicable to North +Borneo, for only a magician could extract anything much worth having in +the shape of loot from the easy going natives of the country, who, in a +far more practical sense than the Christians of Europe, are ready to say +"sufficient for the day is the evil thereof," and who do not look +forward and provide for the future, or heap up riches to leave to their +posterity. + +Some years ago, a correspondent of an English paper displayed his +ignorance on the matter by maintaining that the Company coerced the +natives and forced them to buy Manchester goods at extortionate prices. +An Oxford Don, when I first received my appointment as Governor, +imagined that I was going out as a sort of slave-driver, to compel the +poor natives to work, without wages, on the Company's plantations. But, +as a matter of fact, though entitled to do so by the Royal Charter, the +Company has elected to engage neither in trade nor in planting, deeming +that their desire to attract capital and population to their territory +will be best advanced by their leaving the field entirely open to +others, for otherwise there would always have been a suspicion that +rival traders and planters were handicapped in the race with a Company +which had the making and the administration of laws and the imposition +of taxation in its hands. + +It will be asked, then, if the Company do not make a profit out of +trading, or planting, or mining, what could have induced them to +undertake the Government of a tropical country, some 10,000 miles or +more distant from London, for Englishmen, as a rule, do not invest +hundreds of thousands of pounds with the philanthropic desire only of +benefitting an Eastern race? + +The answer to this question is not very plainly put in the Company's +prospectus, which states that its object "is the carrying on of the work +begun by the Provisional Association" (said in the previous paragraphs +of the prospectus to have been the successful accomplishment of the +_completion_ of the pioneer work) "and the further improvement and full +utilization of the vast natural resources of the country, by the +introduction of new capital and labour, which they intend shall be +stimulated, aided and protected by a just, humane and enlightened +Government. The benefits likely to flow from the accomplishment of this +object, in the opening up of new fields of tropical agriculture, new +channels of enterprise, and new markets for the world's manufactures, +are great and incontestable." I quite agree with the framer of the +prospectus that these benefits are great and incontestable, but then +they would be benefits conferred on the world at large at the expense of +the shareholders of the Company, and I presume that the source from +which the shareholders are to be recouped is the surplus revenues which +a wisely administered Government would ensure, by judiciously fostering +colonisation, principally by Chinese, by the sale of the vast acreages +of "waste" or Government lands, by leasing the right to work the +valuable timber forests and such minerals as may be found to exist in +workable quantities, by customs duties and the "farming out" of the +exclusive right to sell opium, spirits, tobacco, etc., and by other +methods of raising revenue in vogue in the Eastern Colonies of the +Crown. In fact, the sum invested by the shareholders is to be considered +in the light of a loan to the Colony--its public debt--to be repaid with +interest as the resources of the country are developed. Without +encroaching on land worked, or owned by the natives, the Company has a +large area of unoccupied land which it can dispose of for the highest +price obtainable. That this must be the case is evident from a +comparison with the Island of Ceylon, where Government land sales are +still held. The area of North Borneo, it has been seen, is larger than +that of Ceylon, but its population is only about 160,000, while that of +Ceylon is returned as 2,825,000; furthermore, notwithstanding this +comparatively large population, it is said that the land under +cultivation in Ceylon forms only about one-fifth of its total area. From +what I have said of the prospects of tobacco-planting in British North +Borneo, it will be understood that land is being rapidly taken up, and +the Company will soon be in a position to increase its selling price. +Town and station lands are sold under different conditions to that for +planting purposes, and are restricted as a rule to lots of the size of +66 feet by 33 feet. The lease is for 999 years, but there is an annual +quit-rent at the rate of $6 per lot, which is redeemable at fifteen +years' purchase. At Sandakan, lots of this size have at auction realized +a premium of $350. In all cases, coal, minerals, precious stones, edible +nests and guano are reserved to the Government, and, in order to +protect the native proprietors, it is provided that any foreigner +desirous of purchasing land from a native must do so through the +Government. + +Titles and mutations of titles to land are carefully registered and +recorded in the Land Office, under the provisions of the Hongkong +Registration of Documents Ordinance, which has been adopted in the +State. + +The local Government is administered by a Governor, selected by the +Court of Directors subject to the approval of the Secretary of State for +the Colonies. He is empowered to enact laws, which require confirmation +by the Court, and is assisted in his executive functions by a Government +Secretary, Residents, Assistant Residents, a Treasurer-General, a +Commissioner of Lands, a Superintendent of Public Works, Commandant, +Postmaster-General and other Heads of Departments usually to be found in +Crown Colonies, and the British Colonial Regulations are adhered to as +closely as circumstances admit. The title of Resident is borrowed from +the Dutch Colonies, and the duties of the post are analogous to those of +the Resident Councillors of Penang or Malacca, under the Governor of +Singapore, or of the Government Agents in Ceylon. The Governor can also +call to assist him in his deliberations a Council of Advice, composed of +some of the Heads of Departments and of natives of position nominated to +seats therein. + +The laws are in the form of "Proclamations" issued by the Governor under +the seal of the Territory. Most of the laws are adaptations, in whole or +in part, of Ordinances enacted in Eastern Colonies, such as the Straits +Settlements, Hongkong, Labuan and Fiji. + +The Indian Penal Code, the Indian Codes of Civil and Criminal Procedure +and the Indian Evidence and Contract Acts have been adopted in their +entirety, "so far as the same shall be applicable to the circumstances +of this Territory." + +The Proclamation making these and other Acts the law in North Borneo was +the first formal one issued, and bears date the 23rd December, 1881. + +The law relating to the protection of estate coolies and labourers has +been already referred to. + +The question of domestic slavery was one of the first with which the +Company had to grapple, the Royal Charter having ordained that "the +Company shall to the best of its power discourage and, as far as may be +practicable, abolish by degrees, any system of domestic servitude +existing among the tribes of the Coast or interior of Borneo; and no +foreigners whether European, Chinese or other, shall be allowed to own +slaves of any kind in the Company's territories." Slavery and kidnapping +were rampant in North Borneo under native regime and were one of the +chief obstacles to the unanimous acceptance of the Company's rule by the +Chiefs. At first the Residents and other officers confined their efforts +to prohibiting the importation of slaves for sale, and in assisting +slaves who were ill-treated to purchase their liberty. In 1883, a +Proclamation was issued which will have the effect of gradually +abolishing the system, as required by the Charter. Its chief provisions +are as follows:--No foreigners are allowed to hold slaves, and no slaves +can be imported for sale, nor can the natives buy slaves in a foreign +country and introduce them into Borneo _as slaves_, even should there be +no intention of selling them as such. Slaves taking refuge in the +country from abroad will not be surrendered, but slaves belonging to +natives of the country will be given up to their owners unless they can +prove ill-treatment, or that they have been brought into the territory +subsequently to the 1st November, 1883, and it is optional for any slave +to purchase his or her freedom by payment of a sum, the amount of which +is to be fixed, from time to time, by the Government. + +A woman also becomes free if she can prove that she has cohabited with +her master, or with any person other than her husband, with the +connivance of her master or mistress; and finally "all children born of +slave parents after the first day of November, 1883, and who would by +ancient custom be deemed to be slaves, are hereby proclaimed to be free, +and any person treating or attempting to treat any such children as +slaves shall be guilty of an offence under this Proclamation." The +punishment for offences against the provisions of this Proclamation +extends to imprisonment for ten years and to a fine up to five thousand +dollars. + +The late Mr. WITTI, one of the first officers of the Association, at my +request, drew up, in 1881, an interesting report on the system of +Slavery in force in the Tampassuk District, on the West Coast, of which +the following is a brief summary. Slaves in this district are divided +into two classes--those who are slaves in a strict and rigorous sense, +and those whose servitude is of a light description. The latter are +known as _anak mas_, and are the children of a slave mother by a free +man other than her master. If a female, she is the slave or _anak mas_ +of her mother's master, but cannot be sold by him; if a boy, he is +practically free, cannot be sold and, if he does not care to stay with +his master, can move about and earn his own living, not sharing his +earnings with his master, as is the case in some other districts. In +case of actual need, however, his master can call upon him for his +services. + +If an _anak mas_ girl marries a freeman, she at once becomes a free +woman, but a _brihan_, or marriage gift, of from two to two and a half +pikuls of brass gun--valued at $20 to $25 a pikul is payable by the +bridegroom to the master. + +If she marry a slave, she remains an _anak mas_, but such cases are very +rare and only take place when the husband is in a condition to pay a +suitable _brihan_ to the owner. + +If an ordinary slave woman becomes _enceinte_ by her owner, she and her +offspring are henceforth free and, she may remain as one of her late +master's wives. But the jealousy of the inmates of the harem often +causes abortion to be procured. + +The slaves, as a rule, have quite an easy time of it, living with and, +as their masters, sharing the food of the family and being supplied with +tobacco, betel-nut and other native luxuries. There is no difference +between them and free men in the matter of dress, and in the arms which +all carry, and the mere fact that they are allowed to wear arms is +pretty conclusive evidence of their not being bullied or oppressed. + +They assist in domestic duties and in the operations of harvest and +trading and so forth, but there is no such institution as a slave-gang, +working under task masters, a picture which is generally present to the +Englishman's mind when he hears of the existence of slavery. The slave +gang was an institution of the white slave-owner. Slave couples, +provided they support themselves, are allowed to set up house and +cultivate a patch of land. + +For such minor offences as laziness and attempting to escape, the master +can punish his slaves with strokes of the rattan, but if an owner +receives grave provocation and kills his slave, the matter will probably +not be taken notice of by the elders of the village. + +An incorrigible slave is sometimes punished by being sold out of the +district. + +If a slave is badly treated and insufficiently provided with food, his +offence in endeavouring to escape is generally condoned by public +opinion. If a slave is, without sufficient cause, maltreated by a +freeman, his master can demand compensation from the aggressor. Slaves +of one master can, with their owner's consent, marry, and no _brihan_ +is demanded, but if they belong to different masters, the woman's +master is entitled to a _brihan_ of one pikul, equal to $20 or $25. +They continue to be the slaves of their respective masters, but are +allowed to live together, and in case of a subsequent separation they +return to the houses of their masters. Should a freeman, other than her +master, wish to marry a slave, he practically buys her from her owner +with a _brihan_ of $60 or $75. + +Sometimes a favourite slave is raised to a position intermediate between +that of an ordinary slave and an _anak mas_, and is regarded as a +brother, or sister, father, mother, or child; but if he or she attempt +to escape, a reversion to the condition of an ordinary slave is the +result. Occasionally, slaves are given their freedom in fulfilment of a +vow to that effect made by the master in circumstances of extreme +danger, experienced in company with the slave. + +A slave once declared free can never be claimed again by his former +master. + +Debts contracted by a slave, either in his own name, or in that of his +master, are not recoverable. + +By their own extra work, after performing their service to their owners, +slaves can acquire private property and even themselves purchase and own +slaves. + +Infidel slaves, of both sexes, are compulsorily converted to +Muhammadanism and circumcized and, even though they should recover their +freedom, they seldom relapse. + +There are, or rather were, a large number of debt slaves in North +Borneo. For a debt of three pikuls--$60 to $75--a man might be enslaved +if his friends could not raise the requisite sum, and he would continue +to be a slave until the debt was paid, but, as a most usurious interest +was charged, it was almost always a hopeless task to attempt it. + +Sometimes an inveterate gambler would sell himself to pay off his debts +of honour, keeping the balance if any. + +The natives, regardless of the precepts of the Koran, would purchase any +slaves that were offered for sale, whether infidel or Muhammadan. The +importers were usually the Illanun and Sulu kidnappers, who would bring +in slaves of all tribes--Bajaus, Illanuns, Sulus, Brunais, Manilamen, +natives of Palawan and natives of the interior of Magindanau--all was +fish that came into their net. The selling price was as follows:--A boy, +about 2 pikuls, a man 3 pikuls. A girl, 3 to 4 pikuls, a young woman, 3 +to 5 pikuls. A person past middle age about 1-1/2 pikuls. A young +couple, 7 to 8 pikuls, an old couple, about 5 pikuls. The pikul was then +equivalent to $20 or $25. Mr. WITTI further stated that in Tampassuk the +proportion of free men to slaves was only one in three, and in Marudu +Bay only one in five. In Tampassuk there were more female than male +slaves. + +Mr. A. H. EVERETT reported that, in his district of Pappar-Kimanis, +there was no slave _trade_, and that the condition of the domestic +slaves was not one of hardship. + +Mr. W. B. PRYER, speaking for the East Coast, informed me that there +were only a few slaves in the interior, mostly Sulus who had been +kidnapped and sold up the rivers. Among the Sulus of the coast, the +relation was rather that of follower and lord than of slave and master. +When he first settled at Sandakan, he could not get men to work for him +for wages, they deemed it _degrading_ to do so, but they said they +would work for him if he would _buy_ them! Sulu, under Spanish +influence, and Bulungan, in Dutch Borneo, were the chief slave markets, +but the Spanish and Dutch are gradually suppressing this traffic. + +There was a colony of Illanuns and Balinini settled at Tunku and Teribas +on the East Coast, who did a considerable business in kidnapping, but in +1879 Commander E. EDWARDS, in H. M. S. _Kestrel_, attacked and burnt +their village, capturing and burning several piratical boats and prahus. + +Slavery, though not yet extinct in Borneo, has received a severe check +in British North Borneo and in Sarawak, and is rapidly dying out in both +countries; in fact it is a losing business to be a slave-owner now. + +Apart from the institution of slavery, which is sanctioned by the +Muhammadan religion, the religious customs and laws of the various +tribes "especially with respect to the holding, possession, transfer and +disposition of lands and goods, and testate or intestate succession +thereto, and marriage, divorce and legitimacy, and the rights of +property and personal rights" are carefully regarded by the Company's +Government, as in duty bound, according to the terms of Articles 8 and 9 +of the Royal Charter. The services of native headmen are utilised as +much as possible, and Courts composed of Native Magistrates have been +established, but at the same time efforts are made to carry the people +with the Government in ameliorating and advancing their social position, +and thus involves an amendment of some of the old customs and laws. + +Moreover, customs which are altogether repugnant to modern ideas are +checked or prohibited by the new Government; as, for example, the +time-honoured custom of a tribe periodically balancing the account of +the number of heads taken or lost by it from or to another tribe, an +audit which, it is strange to say, almost invariably results in the +discovery on the part of the stronger tribe that they are on the wrong +side of the account and have a balance to get from the others. These +hitherto interminable feuds, though not altogether put a stop to in the +interior, have been in many districts effectually brought to an end, +Government officers having been asked by the natives themselves to +undertake the examination of the accounts and the tribe who was found +to be on the debtor side paying, not human heads, but compensation in +goods at a fixed rate per head due. Another custom which the Company +found it impossible to recognize was that of _summungap_, which was, in +reality, nothing but a form of human sacrifice, the victim being a slave +bought for the purpose, and the object being to send a message to a +deceased relative. With this object in view, the slave used to be bound +and wrapped in cloth, when the relatives would dance round him and each +thrust a spear a short way into his body, repeating, as he did so, the +message which he wished conveyed. This operation was performed till the +slave succumbed. + +The Muhammadan practice of cutting off the hair of a woman convicted of +adultery, or of men flogging her with a rattan, and that of cutting off +the hand of a thief, have also not received the recognition of the +Company's Government. + +It has been shewn that the native population of North Borneo is very +small, only about five to the square mile, and as the country is fertile +and well-watered and possesses, for the tropics, a healthy climate, +there must be some exceptional cause for the scantiness of the +population. This is to be found chiefly in the absence, already referred +to, of any strong central Government in former days, and to the +consequent presence of all forms of lawlessness, piracy, slave-trading, +kidnapping and head-hunting. + +In more recent years, too, cholera and small-pox have made frightful +ravages amongst the natives, almost annihilating some of the tribes, for +the people knew of no remedies and, on the approach of the scourge, +deserted their homes and their sick and fled to the jungle, where +exposure and privation rendered them more than ever liable to the +disease. Since the Company's advent, efforts are being successfully made +to introduce vaccination, in which most of the people now have +confidence. + +This fact of a scanty native population has, in some ways, rendered the +introduction of the Company's Government a less arduous undertaking than +it might otherwise have proved, and has been a fortunate circumstance +for the shareholders, who have the more unowned and virgin land to +dispose of. In British North Borneo, luckily for the Company, there is +not, as there is in Sarawak, any one large, powerful tribe, whose +presence might have been a source of trouble, or even of danger to the +young Government, but the aborigines are split up into a number of petty +tribes, speaking very distinct dialects and, generally, at enmity +amongst themselves, so that a general coalition of the bad elements +amongst them is impossible. + +The institution and amusement of head-hunting appears never to have been +taken up and followed with so much energy and zeal in North Borneo as +among the Dyaks of Sarawak. I do not think that it was as a rule deemed +absolutely essential with any of our tribes that a young man should have +taken at least a head or two before he could venture to aspire to the +hand of the maiden who had led captive his heart. The heads of slain +enemies were originally taken by the conquerors as a substantial proof +and trophy of their successful prowess, which could not be gainsaid, and +it came, in time, to be considered the proper thing to be able to boast +of the possession of a large number of these ghastly tokens; and so an +ambitious youth, in his desire for applause, would not be particularly +careful from whom, or in what manner he obtained a head, and the victim +might be, not only a person with whom he had no quarrel, but even a +member of a friendly tribe, and the mode of acquisition might be, not by +a fair stand-up fight, a test of skill and courage, but by treachery and +ambush. Nor did it make very much difference whether the head obtained +was that of a man, a woman or a child, and in their petty wars it was +even conceived to be an honourable distinction to bring in the heads of +women and children, the reasoning being that the men of the attacked +tribe must have fought their best to defend their wives and children. + +The following incident, which occurred some years ago at the Colony of +Labuan, serves to shew how immaterial it was whether a friend, or foe, +or utter stranger was the victim. A Murut chief of the Trusan, a river +on the mainland over against Labuan, was desirous of obtaining some +fresh heads on the occasion of a marriage feast, and put to sea to a +district inhabited by a hostile tribe. Meeting with adverse winds, his +canoes were blown over to the British Colony; the Muruts landed, held +apparently friendly intercourse with some of the Kadaian (Muhammadan) +population and, after a visit of two or three days, made preparations to +sail; but meeting a Kadaian returning to his home alone, they shot him +and went off with his head--though the man was an entire stranger to +them, and they had no quarrel with any of his tribe. + +With the assistance of the Brunai authorities, the chief and several of +his accomplices were subsequently secured and sent for trial to Labuan. +The chief died in prison, while awaiting trial, but one or two of his +associates paid the penalty of their wanton crime. + +A short time afterwards, Mr. COOK and I visited the Lawas River for +sport, and took up our abode in a Murut long house, where, I remember, a +large basket of skulls was placed as an ornament at the head of my +sleeping place. One night, when all our men, with the exception of my +Chinese servant, were away in the jungle, trying to trap the then newly +discovered "Bulwer pheasant," some Muruts from the Trusan came over and +informed our hosts of the fate of their chief. On the receipt of this +intelligence, all the men of our house left it and repaired to one +adjoining, where a great "drink" was held, while the women indulged in a +loud, low, monotonous, heart-breaking wail, which they kept up for +several hours. Mr. COOK and myself agreed that things looked almost as +bad for us as they well could, and when, towards morning, the men +returned to our house, my Chinese boy clung to me in terror and--nothing +happened! But certainly I do not think I have ever passed such an +uncomfortable period of suspense. + +Writing to the Court of Directors of the East India Company a hundred +and thirteen years ago, Mr. YESSE, who concluded the pepper monopoly +agreement with the Brunai Government, referring to the Murut +predilection for head-hunting says:--"With respect to the Idaan, or +Muruts, as they are called here, I cannot give any account of their +disposition; but from what I have heard from the Borneyans, they are a +set of abandoned idolaters; one of their tenets, so strangely inhuman, I +cannot pass unnoticed, which is, that their future interest depends +upon the number of their fellow creatures they have killed in any +engagement, or common disputes, and count their degrees of happiness to +depend on the number of human skulls in their possession; from which, +and the wild, disorderly life they lead, unrestrained by any bond of +civil society, we ought not to be surprised if they are of a cruel and +vindictive disposition." I think this is rather a case of giving a dog a +bad name. + +I heard read once at a meeting of the Royal Geographical Society, an +eloquent paper on the Natives of the Andaman Islands, in which the +lecturer, after shewing that the Andamanese were suspicious, +treacherous, blood-thirsty, ungrateful and untruthful, concluded by +giving it as his opinion that they were very good fellows and in many +ways superior to white man. + +I do not go quite so far as he does, but I must say that many of the +aborigines are very pleasant good-natured creatures, and have a lot of +good qualities in them, which, with care and discriminating legislation +on the part of their new rulers, might be gradually developed, while the +evil qualities which they possess in common with all races of men, might +be _pari passu_ not extinguished, but reduced to a minimum. But this +result can only be secured by officers who are naturally of a +sympathetic disposition and ready to take the trouble of studying the +natives and entering into their thoughts and aspirations. + +In many instances, the Company has been fortunate in its choice of +officials, whose work has brought them into intimate connection with the +aborigines. + +A besetting sin of young officers is to expect too much--they are +conscious that their only aim is to advance the best interests of the +natives, and they are surprised and hurt at, what they consider, the +want of gratitude and backwardness in seconding their efforts evinced by +them. They forget that the people are as yet in the schoolboy stage, and +should try and remember how, in their own schoolboy days, they offered +opposition to the efforts of their masters for _their_ improvement, and +how little gratitude they felt, at the time, for all that was done for +them. Patience and sympathy are the two qualifications especially +requisite in officers selected for the management of native affairs. + +In addition to the indigenous population, there are, settled along the +coast and at the mouths of the principal rivers, large numbers of the +more highly civilized tribes of Malays, of whose presence in Borneo an +explanation has been attempted on a previous page. They are known as +Brunais--called by the Natives, for some unexplained reason, _orang +abai_--Sulus, Bajows, Illanuns and Balininis; there are also a few +Bugis, or natives of Celebes. + +These are the people who, before the Company's arrival, lorded it over +the more ignorant interior tribes, and prevented their having direct +dealings with traders and foreigners, and to whom, consequently, the +advent of a still more civilized race than themselves was very +distasteful. + +The habits of the Brunai people have already been sufficiently +described. + +The Sulus are, next to the Brunais, the most civilized race and, without +any exception, the most warlike and powerful. For nearly three +centuries, they have been more or less in a state of war with the +Spaniards of the Philippine Islands, and even now, though the Spaniards +have established a fortified port in their principal island, their +subjugation is by no means complete. + +The Spanish officials dare not go beyond the walls of their settlement, +unless armed and in force, and it is no rare thing for fanatical Sulus, +singly or in small parties, to make their way into the Spanish town, +under the guise of unarmed and friendly peasants, and then suddenly draw +their concealed krises and rush with fury on officers, soldiers and +civilians, generally managing to kill several before they are themselves +cut down. + +They are a much bolder and more independent race than the Brunais, who +have always stood in fear of them, and it was in consideration of its +undertaking to defend them against their attacks that the Brunai +Government conceded the exclusive trade in pepper to the East India +Company. Their religion--Muhammadanism--sits even more lightly on the +Sulus than on the Brunais, and their women, who are fairer and better +looking than their Brunai sisters, are never secluded or veiled, but +often take part in public deliberations and, in matters of business, are +even sharper than the men. + +The Sulus are a bloodthirsty and hard-hearted race, and, when an +opportunity occurs, are not always averse to kidnapping even their own +countrymen and selling them into slavery. They entertain a high notion +of their own importance, and are ever ready to resent with their krises +the slightest affront which they may conceive has been put upon them. + +In Borneo, they are found principally on the North-East Coast, and a +good many have settled in British North Borneo under the Company's +Government. They occasionally take contracts for felling jungle and +other work of similar character, but are less disposed than the Brunai +men to perform work for Europeans on regular wages. Among their good +qualities, it may be mentioned that they are faithful and trustworthy +followers of any European to whom they may become attached. Their +language is distinct from ordinary Malay, and is akin to that of the +Bisaias, one of the principal tribes of the Philippines, and is written +in the Arabic character; but many Malay terms have been adopted into the +language, and most of the trading and seafaring Sulus know enough Malay +to conclude a bargain. + +The most numerous Muhammadan race in British North Borneo is that of the +Bajows, who are found on both coasts, but, on the West Coast, not South +of the Pappar River. These are the _orang-laut_ (men of the sea) or +sea-gipsies of the old writers, and are the worst class that we have to +deal with, being of a treacherous and thievish disposition, and +confirmed gamblers and cattle-lifters. + +They also form a large proportion of the population of the Sulu Islands, +where they are, or used to be, noted kidnappers and pirates, though also +distinguished for their skill in pearl fisheries. Their religion is that +of Mahomet and their language Malay mixed, it is said, with Chinese and +Japanese elements; their women are not secluded, and it is a rare thing +for a Borneo Bajow to take the trouble of making the pilgrimage to +Mecca. They are found along the coasts of nearly all the Malay Islands +and, apparently, in former days lived entirely in their boats. In +British North Borneo, a large majority have taken to building houses +and residing on the shore, but when Mr. PRYER first settled at Sandakan, +there was a considerable community of them in the Bay, who had no houses +at all, but were born, bred, married and died in their small canoes. + +On the West Coast, the Bajows, who have for a long time been settled +ashore, appear to be of smaller build and darker colour than the other +Malays, with small sparkling black eyes, but on the East Coast, where +their condition is more primitive, Mr. PRYER thinks they are much larger +in stature and stronger and more swarthy than ordinary Malays. + +On the East Coast, there are no buffaloes or horned cattle, so that the +Bajows there have, or I should say _had_, to be content with kidnapping +only, and as an example of their daring I may relate that in, I think, +the year 1875, the Austrian Frigate _Friederich_, Captain Baron +OESTERREICHER, was surveying to the South of Darvel Bay, and, running +short of coal, sent an armed party ashore to cut firewood. The Bajows +watched their opportunity and, when the frigate was out of sight, seized +the cutter, notwithstanding the fire of the party on the shore, who +expended all their ammunition in vain, and carried off the two +boat-keepers, whose heads were subsequently shewn round in triumph in +the neighbouring islands. Baron OESTERREICHER was unable to discover the +retreat of these Bajows, and they remain unpunished to this day, and are +at present numbered among the subjects of the British North Borneo +Company. I have been since told that I have more than once unwittingly +shaken hands and had friendly intercourse with some of them. In fairness +to them I should add that it is more than probable that they mistook the +_Friederich_ for a vessel belonging to Spain, with whom their sovereign, +the Sultan of Sulu, was at that time at war. After this incident, and by +order of his Government, Baron OESTERREICHER visited Sandakan Bay and, I +believe, reported that he could discover no population there other than +monkeys. Altogether, he could not have carried away with him a very +favourable impression of Northern Borneo. On the West Coast, gambling +and cattle-lifting are the main pursuits of the gentlemanly Bajow, +pursuits which soon brought him into close and very uncomfortable +relations with the new Government, for which he entertains anything but +feelings of affection. One of the principal independent rivers on the +West Coast--_i. e._, rivers which have not yet been ceded to the +Company--is the Mengkabong, the majority of the inhabitants of which are +Bajows, so that it has become a sort of river of refuge for the bad +characters on the coast, as well as an entrepôt for the smuggling of +gunpowder for sale to the head-hunting tribes of the interior. The +existence of these independent and intermediate rivers on their West +Coast is a serious difficulty for the Company in its efforts to +establish good government and put down lawlessness, and every one having +at heart the true interests of the natives of Borneo must hope that the +Company will soon be successful in the negotiations which they have +opened for the acquisition of these rivers. The Kawang was an important +river, inhabited by a small number of Bajows, acquired by the Company in +1884, and the conduct of these people on one occasion affords a good +idea of their treachery and their hostility towards good government. An +interior tribe had made itself famous for its head-hunting proclivities, +and the Kawang was selected as the best route by which to reach their +district and inflict punishment upon them. The selection of this route +was not a politic one, seeing that the inhabitants _were_ Bajows, and +that they had but recently come under the Company's rule. The expedition +was detained a day or two at the Bajow village, as the full number of +Dusun baggage-carriers had not arrived, and the Bajows were called upon +to make up the deficiency, but did not do so. Matters were further +complicated by the Dusuns recognising some noted cattle-lifters in the +village, and demanding a buffalo which had been stolen from them. It +being impossible to obtain the required luggage carriers, it was +proposed to postpone the expedition, the stores were deposited in some +of the houses of the village and the Constabulary were "dismissed" and, +piling their arms, laid down under the shelter of some trees. Without +any warning one of two Bajows, with whom Dr. FRASER was having an +apparently friendly chat, discharged his musket point blank at the +Doctor, killing him on the spot, and seven others rushed among the +unarmed Constables and speared the Sikh Jemmadhar and the +Sergeant-Major and a private and then made off for the jungle. Captain +DE FONTAINE gallantly, but rashly started off in pursuit, before any one +could support him. He tripped and fell and was so severely wounded by +the Bajows, after killing three of them with his revolver, that he died +a few days afterwards at Sandakan. By this time the Sikhs had got their +rifles and firing on the retreating party killed three and wounded two. +Assistant Resident LITTLE, who had received a spear in his arm, shot his +opponent dead with his revolver. None of the other villagers took any +active part, and consequently were only punished by the imposition of a +fine. They subsequently all cleared out of the Company's territory. It +was a sad day for the little Colony at Sandakan when Mr. WHITEHEAD, a +naturalist who happened to be travelling in the neighbourhood at the +time, brought us the news of the melancholy affray, and the wounded +Captain DE FONTAINE and several Sikhs, to whose comfort and relief he +had, at much personal inconvenience, attended on the tedious voyage in a +small steam-launch from the Kawang to the Capital. On the East Coast, +also, their slave-dealing and kidnapping propensities brought the Bajows +into unfriendly relations with the Government, and their lawlessness +culminated in their kidnapping several Eraan birds' nest collectors, +whom they refused to surrender, and making preparations for resisting +any measures which might be taken to coerce them. As these same people +had, a short time previously, captured at sea some five Dutch subjects, +it was deemed that their offences brought them within the cognizance of +the Naval authorities, and Captain A. K. HOPE, R.N., at my request, +visited the district, in 1886, in H. M. S. _Zephyr_ and, finding that +the people of two of the Bajow villages refused to hold communication +with us, but prepared their boats for action, he opened fire on them +under the protection of which a party of the North Borneo Constabulary +landed and destroyed the villages, which were quickly deserted, and many +of the boats which had been used on piratical excursions. Happily, there +was no loss of life on either side, and a very wholesome and useful +lesson was given to the pirates without the shedding of blood, thanks +to the good arrangements and tact of Captain HOPE. In order that the +good results of this lesson should not be wasted, I revisited the scene +of the little engagement in the _Zephyr_ a few weeks subsequently, and +not long afterwards the British flag was again shewn in the district, by +Captain A. H. ALINGTON in H. M. S. _Satellite_, who interviewed the +offending chiefs and gave them sound advice as to their conduct in +future. + +Akin to the Bajows are the Illanuns and Balinini, Muhammadan peoples, +famous in former days as the most enterprising pirates of the Malayan +seas. The Balinini, Balignini or Balanguini--as their name is variously +written--originally came from a small island to the north of Sulu, and +the Illanuns from the south coast of the island of Mindanao--one of the +Philippines, but by the action of the Spanish and British cruisers their +power has been broken and they are found scattered in small numbers +throughout the Sulu Islands and on the seaboard of Northern Borneo, on +the West Coast of which they founded little independent settlements, +arrogating to their petty chiefs such high sounding titles as Sultan, +Maharajah and so forth. + +The Illanuns are a proud race and distinguished by wearing a much larger +sword than the other tribes, with a straight blade about 28 inches in +length. This sword is called a _kampilan_, and is used in conjunction +with a long, narrow, wooden shield, known by the name of _klassap_, and +in the use of these weapons the Illanuns are very expert and often boast +that, were it not for their gunpowder, no Europeans could stand up to +them, face to face. I believe, that it is these people who in former +days manufactured the chain armour of which I have seen several +specimens, but the use of which has now gone out of fashion. Those I +have are made of small brass rings linked together, and with plates of +brass or buffalo horn in front. The headpiece is of similar +construction. + +There are no Negritos in Borneo, although they exist in the Malay +Peninsula and the Philippines, and our explorers have failed to obtain +any specimens of the "tailed" people in whose existence many of the +Brunai people believe. The late Sultan of Brunai gravely assured me +that there was such a tribe, and that the individuals composing it were +in the habit of carrying about chairs with them, in the seat of each of +which there was a little hole, in which the lady or gentleman carefully +inserted her or his tail before settling down to a comfortable chat. +This belief in the existence of a tailed race appears to be widespread, +and in his "Pioneering in New Guinea" Mr. CHALMERS gives an amusing +account of a detailed description of such a tribe by a man who vowed _he +had lived with them_, and related how they were provided with long +sticks, with which to make holes in the ground before squatting down, +for the reception of their short stumpy tails! I think it is Mr. H. F. +ROMILLY who, in his interesting little work on the Western Pacific and +New Guinea, accounts for the prevalence of "yarns" of this class by +explaining that the natives regard Europeans as being vastly superior to +them in general knowledge and, when they find them asking such questions +as, for instance, whether there are tailed-people in the interior, jump +to the conclusion that the white men must have good grounds for +believing that they do exist, and then they gradually come to believe in +their existence themselves. There is, however, I think, some excuse for +the Brunai people's belief, for I have seen one tribe of Muruts who, in +addition to the usual small loin cloth, wear on their backs only a skin +of a long-tailed monkey, the tail of which hangs down behind in such a +manner as, when the men are a little distance off, to give one at first +glance the impression that it is part and parcel of the biped. + +In Labuan it used to be a very common occurrence for the graves of the +Europeans, of which unfortunately, owing to its bad climate when first +settled, there are a goodly number, to be found desecrated and the bones +scattered about. The perpetrators of these outrages have never been +discovered, notwithstanding the most stringent enquiries. It was once +thought that they were broken open by head-hunting tribes from the +mainland, but this theory was disproved by the fact that the skulls were +never carried away. As we know of no Borneo tribe which is in the habit +of breaking open graves, the only conclusion that can be come to is that +the graves were rifled under the supposition that the Europeans buried +treasure with their dead, though it is strange that their experiences of +failure never seemed to teach them that such was not the case. + +The Muhammadan natives are buried in the customary Muhammadan manner in +regular graveyards kept for the purpose. + +The aborigines generally bury their dead near their houses, erecting +over the graves little sheds adorned, in the case of chiefs, with bright +coloured clothes, umbrellas, etc. I once went to see the lying in state +of a deceased Datoh, who had been dead nine days. On entering the house +I looked about for the corpse in vain, till my attention was drawn to an +old earthen jar, tilted slightly forward, on the top of the old Chief's +goods--his sword, spear, gun and clothing. + +In this jar were the Datoh's remains, the poor old fellow having been +doubled up, head and heels together, and forced through the mouth of the +vessel, which was about two feet in diameter. The jar itself was about +four feet high. Over the corpse was thickly sprinkled the native +camphor, and the jar was closed with a piece of buffalo hide, well +sealed over with gum dammar. They told us the Datoh was dressed in his +best clothes and had his pipe with him, but nothing else. He was to be +buried that day in a small grave excavated near the house, just large +enough to contain the jar, and a buffalo was being killed and +intoxicating drink prepared for the numerous friends and followers who +were flocking in for the wake. Over his grave cannon would be fired to +arouse the spirits who were to lead him to Kinabalu, the people shouting +out "Turn neither to the right nor to the left, but proceed straight to +Kinabalu"--the sacred mountain where are collected the spirits of all +good Dusuns under, I believe, the presidency of a great spirit known as +Kinaringan. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +The population of North Borneo, as has been shewn, is very scanty, and +the great object of the new Government should be to attract population +and capital to their territory. Java is often quoted as an island which, +under Dutch rule, has attained great prosperity without any large +immigration of Chinese or other foreigners. This is true, but in Java +the Dutch had not only a fertile soil and good climate in their favour, +but found their Colony already thickly populated by native races who +had, under Hindu and Arab influences, made considerable advances in +civilization, in trade and in agriculture, and who, moreover, had been +accustomed to a strong Government. + +The Dutch, too, were in those days able to introduce a Government of a +paternal and despotic character which the British North Borneo Company +are, by the terms of the Royal Charter, precluded from imitating. + +It was Sir JAMES BROOKE'S wish to keep Sarawak for the natives, but his +successor has recognised the impolicy of so doing and admits that +"without the Chinese we can do nothing." Experience in the Straits +Settlements, the Malay Peninsula and Sarawak has shewn that the people +to cause rapid financial progress in Malayan countries are the +hard-working, money-loving Chinese, and these are the people whom the +Company should lay themselves out to attract to Borneo, as I have more +than once pointed out in the course of these remarks. It matters not +what it is that attracts them to the country, whether trade, as in +Singapore, agriculture, as in Johor and Sarawak, or mining as in Perak +and other of the Protected Native States of the Peninsula--once get them +to voluntarily immigrate, and govern them with firmness and justice, and +the financial success of the Company would, in my opinion, be assured. +The inducements for the Chinese to come to North Borneo are trade, +agriculture and possibly mining. The bulk of those already in the +country are traders, shop-keepers, artisans and the coolies employed by +them, and the numbers introduced by the European tobacco planters for +the cultivation of their estates, under the system already explained, is +yearly increasing. Very few are as yet engaged in agriculture on their +own account, and it must be confessed that the luxuriant tropical jungle +presents considerable difficulties to an agriculturist from China, +accustomed to a country devoid of forest, and it would be impossible for +Chinese peasants to open land in Borneo for themselves without monetary +assistance, in the first instance, from the Government or from +capitalists. In Sarawak Chinese pepper planters were attracted by free +passages in Government ships and by loans of money, amounting to a +considerable total, nearly all of which have since been repaid, while +the revenues of the State have been almost doubled. The British North +Borneo Company early recognised the desirability of encouraging Chinese +immigration, but set to work in too great haste and without judgment. + +They were fortunate in obtaining the services for a short time, as their +Commissioner of Chinese Immigration, of a man so well-known in China as +the late Sir WALTER MEDHURST, but he was appointed before the Company's +Government was securely established and before proper arrangements had +been made for the reception of the immigrants, or sufficient knowledge +obtained of the best localities in which to locate them. His influence +and the offer of free passages from China, induced many to try their +fortune in the Colony, but the majority of them were small shop-keepers, +tailors, boot-makers, and artisans, who naturally could not find a +profitable outlet for their energies in a newly opened country to which +capital (except that of the Governing Company) had not yet been +attracted, and a large proportion of the inhabitants of which were +satisfied with a loin cloth as the sole article of their attire. Great, +therefore, was their disappointment, and comparatively few remained to +try their luck in the country. One class of these immigrants, however, +took kindly to North Borneo--the Hakkas, an agricultural clan, many of +whom have embraced the Christian religion and are, in consequence, +somewhat looked down upon by their neighbours. They are a steady, +hard-working body of men, and cultivate vegetable and coffee gardens in +the vicinity of the Settlements and rear poultry and pigs. The women are +steady, and work almost as well as the men. They may form a valuable +factor in the colonization of the country and a source of cheap labour +for the planters in the future. + +Sir SPENCER ST. JOHN, formerly Her Britannic Majesty's Consul-General at +Brunai and who knew Borneo well, in his preface to the second edition +of his "Life in the Forests of the Far East," lays great stress on the +suitability of North Borneo for the immigration of Chinese on a very +large scale, and prophesied that "should the immigration once commence, +it would doubtless assume great proportions and continue until every +acre of useless jungle is cleared away, to give place to rice, pepper, +gambier, sugar-cane, cotton, coffee, indigo and those other products +which flourish on its fertile soil." No doubt a considerable impetus +would be given to the immigration of Chinese and the introduction of +Chinese as well as of European capital, were the British Government to +proclaim[23] formally a Protectorate over the country, meanwhile the +Company should try the effect of the offer of free passages from China +and from Singapore and of liberal allotments of suitable land to _bonâ +fide_ agriculturists. + +The sources of the Company's revenues have been referred to on a +previous page, and may be summarised here under the following principal +heads:--The "Farms" of Opium, Tobacco, Spirits, and of Pawnbroking, the +Rent of the edible birds'-nest caves, Market Dues, Duties on Imports and +Exports, Court Fines and Fees, Poll Tax on aborigines, House and Store +Rents, profit accruing from the introduction of the Company's copper or +bronze token coinage--a considerable item--Interest and Commission +resulting from the Banking business carried on by the Treasury pending +the establishment of a Banking Company, Land Sales and Quit-rents on +land alienated, and Postal Receipts. + +The Poll Tax is a source of revenue well-known in the East and not +objected to by most of our natives, with whom it takes the place of the +land rent which the Government of India imposes. To our aborigines a +land rent would be most distasteful at present, and they infinitely +prefer the Poll Tax and to be allowed to own and farm what land they +like without paying premium or rent. The more civilized tribes, +especially on the West coast, recognize private property in land, the +boundaries of their gardens and fields being carefully marked and +defined, and the property descending from fathers to children. The rate +of the Poll Tax is usually $2 for married couples and $1 for adult +bachelors per annum, and I believe this is about the same rate as that +collected by the British Government in Burma. At first sight it has the +appearance of a tax on marriage, but in the East generally women do a +great deal of the out-door as well as of the indoor work, so that a +married man is in a much better position than a bachelor for acquiring +wealth, as he can be engaged in collecting jungle produce, or in +trading, or in making money in other ways, while his womenkind are +planting out or gathering in the harvest. + +The amounts _received_ by the Company for the sale of their waste lands +has been as follows:-- + + 1882, $16,340 + + 1883, $25,449 + + 1884, $15,460 + + 1885, $2,860 + + 1886, $12,035 + + 1887,[24] $14,505 + +The receipts for 1888, owing to the rush for tobacco lands already +alluded to, and to the fact that the balances of the premia on lands +taken up in 1887 becomes due in that year, will be considerably larger +than those of any previous period. + +The most productive, and the most elastic source of revenue is that +derived from the Excise on the retail of opium and, with the +comparatively small number of Chinese at present in the country, this +amounted in 1887 to $19,980, having been only $4,537 in 1882.[25] The +next most substantial and promising item is the Customs Duties on Import +and Export, which from about $8,300 in 1882 have increased to $19,980 in +1887.[26] + +The local expenditure in Borneo is chiefly for salaries of the +officials, the armed Constabulary and for Gaols and Public Works, the +annual "rental" payable to the Sultans of Brunai and Sulu and others, +the subsidizing of steamers, Medical Services, Printing, Stationery, +Prospecting, Experimental Gardens and Harbour and Postal Services. The +designations of the principal officials employed by the Company in +Borneo have been given on a previous page; the salaries allowed them, as +a rule, can scarcely be called too liberal, and unfortunately the Court +of Directors does not at present feel that it is justified in +sanctioning any pension scheme. Those of my readers who are conversant +with the working of Public Offices will recognize that this decision of +the Directors deprives the service of one great incentive to hard and +continuous work and of a powerful factor in the maintenance of an +effective discipline, and it speaks volumes for the quality of the +officials, whose services the Company has been so fortunate as to secure +without this attraction, that it is served as faithfully, energetically +and zealously as any Government in the world. It I may be allowed to say +so here, I can never adequately express my sense of the valuable +assistance and support I received from the officers, with scarcely any +exception, during my six years' tenure of the appointment of Governor. +An excellent spirit pervades the service and, when the occasions have +arisen, there have never been wanting officers ready to risk their lives +in performing their duties, without hope of rewards or distinctions, +Victoria Crosses or medals. + +The figures below speak for the advance which the country is making, not +very rapidly, perhaps the shareholders may think, but certainly, though +slowly, surely and steadily:-- + + Revenue in 1883, $51,654, with the addition of Land Sales, + $25,449, a total of $77,103. + + Revenue in 1887, $142,687, with the addition of Land Sales, + $14,505, a total of $157,192. + + Expenditure in 1883, including expenditure on Capital Account, + $391,547. + + Expenditure in 1887, including expenditure on Capital Account, + $209,862. + +For reasons already mentioned, the revenue for 1888 is expected to +considerably exceed that of any previous year, while the expenditure +will probably not be more and may be less than that of 1887.[27] + +The expenses of the London office average, I believe, about £3,000 a +year. + +As Sir RUTHERFORD ALCOCK, their able and conscientious Chairman, +explained to the shareholders at a recent meeting, "with reference to +the important question of expenditure, the position of the Company was +that of a man coming into possession of a large estate which had been +long neglected, and which was little better than a wilderness. If any +rent roll was to be derived from such a property there must be, in the +first place, a large outlay in many ways before the land could be made +profitable, or indeed tenantable. That was what the Company had had to +do and what they had been doing; _and that had been the history of all +our Colonies_." I trust that the few observations I have offered will +have shewn my readers that, though British North Borneo might be +described as a wilderness so far as regards the absence of development +when the Company took possession of it, such a description is by no +means applicable to it when regard is had to its great and undoubted +natural resources. + +British North Borneo not being a Crown Colony, it has to provide itself +for the maintenance of order, both ashore and afloat, without assistance +from the Imperial Army or Navy, except such temporary assistance as has +been on two occasions accorded by Her Majesty's vessels, under +circumstances which have been detailed. There are no Imperial Troops +stationed either in Labuan or in any portion of Borneo, and the Company +has organized an armed Police Force to act both in a military and in a +civil capacity. + +The numbers of their Force do not much exceed two hundred of all ranks, +and are composed principally of Sikhs from the Punjaub and a few Dyaks +from Sarawak--an excellent mixture for fighting purposes, the Dyaks +being sufficiently courageous and expert in all the arts of jungle +warfare, while the pluck and cool steadiness under fire of the Sikhs is +too well-known to need comment here. The services of any number of Sikhs +can, it appears, be easily obtained for this sort of work, and some +years ago a party of them even took service with the native Sultan of +Sulu, who, however, proved a very indifferent paymaster and was soon +deserted by his mercenaries, who are the most money-grabbing lot of +warriors I have ever heard of. Large bodies of Sikhs are employed and +drilled as Armed Constables in Hongkong, in the Straits Settlements and +in the Protected Native States of the Malay Peninsula, who, after a +fixed time of service, return to their country, their places being at +once taken by their compatriots, and one cannot help thinking what +effect this might have in case of future disturbances in our Indian +Empire, should the Sikh natives make common cause with the malcontents. + +Fault has been found with the Company for not following the example of +Sarawak and raising an army and police from among its own people. This +certainly would have been the best policy had it only been feasible; but +the attempt was made and failed. + +As I have pointed out, British North Borneo is fortunate in not +possessing any powerful aboriginal tribe of pronounced warlike +instincts, such as the Dyaks of Sarawak. + +The Muhammadan Bajows might in time make good soldiers, but my +description of them will have shewn that the Company could not at +present place reliance in them. + +While on the subject of "fault finding," I may say that the Company has +also been blamed for its expenditure on public works and on subsidies +for steam communication with the outer world. + +But our critics may rest assured that, had not the Company proved its +faith in the country by expending some of its money on public works and +in providing facilities for the conveyance of intending colonists, +neither European capital nor Chinese population, so indispensable to the +success of their scheme, would have been attracted to their Territory as +is now being done--for the country and its new Government lacked the +prestige which attaches to a Colony opened by the Imperial Government. +The strange experiment, in the present day, of a London Company +inaugurating a Government in a tropical Colony, perhaps not unnaturally +caused a certain feeling of pique and uncharitableness in the breasts of +that class of people who cannot help being pleased at the non-success of +their neighbours' most cherished schemes, and who are always ready with +their "I told you so." The measure of success attained by British North +Borneo caused it to come in for its full share of this feeling, and I am +not sure that it was not increased and aggravated by the keen interest +which all the officers took in the performance of their novel duties--an +interest which, quite unintentionally, manifested itself, perhaps, in a +too enthusiastic and somewhat exaggerated estimate of the beauties and +resources of their adopted country and of the grandeur of its future +destiny and of its rapid progress, and which, so to speak, brought about +a reaction towards the opposite extreme in the minds of the class to +whom I refer. This enthusiasm was, to say the least, pardonable under +the circumstances, for all men are prone to think that objects which +intensely engross their whole attention are of more importance than the +world at large is pleased to admit. Every man worth his salt thinks his +own geese are swans. + +A notable exception to this narrow-mindedness was, however, displayed by +the Government of Singapore, especially by its present Governor, Sir +CECIL CLEMENTI SMITH, who let no opportunity pass of encouraging the +efforts of the infant Government by practical assistance and +unprejudiced counsel. + +Lord BRASSEY, whose visit to Borneo in the _Sunbeam_ I have mentioned, +showed a kindly appreciation of the efforts of the Company's officers, +and practically evinced his faith in the future of the country by +joining the Court of Directors on his return to England. + +In the number of the "Nineteenth Century" for August, 1887, is a sketch +of the then position of the portion of Borneo which is under the British +influence, from his pen. + +As the country is developed and land taken up by European planters and +Chinese, the Company will be called upon for further expenditure on +public works, in the shape of roads, for at present, in the interior, +there exist only rough native tracks, made use of by the natives when +there does not happen to be a river handy for the transport of +themselves and their goods. Though well watered enough, British North +Borneo possesses no rivers navigable for European vessels of any size, +except perhaps the Sibuku River, the possession of which is at the +present moment a subject of dispute with the the Dutch. This is due to +the natural configuration of the country. Borneo, towards the North, +becoming comparatively narrow and of roughly triangular shape, with the +apex to the North. The only other river of any size and navigable for +vessels drawing about nine feet over the bar, is the Kinabatangan, +which, like the Sibuku, is on the East side, the coast range of +mountains, of which Kinabalu forms a part, being at no great distance +from the West coast and so preventing the occurrence of any large rivers +on that side. From data already to hand, it is calculated that the +proceeds of Land Sales for 1887 and 1888 will equal the total revenue +from all other sources, and a portion of this will doubtless be set +aside for road making and other requisite public works. + +The question may be asked what has the Company done for North Borneo? + +A brief reply to this question would include the following points. The +Company has paved the way to the ultimate extinction of the practice of +slavery; it has dealt the final blow to the piracy and kidnapping which +still lingered on its coasts; it has substituted one strong and just +Government for numerous weak, cruel and unjust ones; it has opened +Courts of Justice which know no distinction between races and creeds, +between rich and poor, between master and slave; it is rapidly adjusting +ancient blood feuds between the tribes and putting a stop to the old +custom of head-hunting; it has broken down the barrier erected by the +coast Malays to prevent the aborigines having access to the outer world +and is thus enabling trade and its accompanying civilisation to reach +the interior races; and it is attracting European and Chinese capital to +the country and opening a market for British traders. + +These are some, and not inconsiderable ones, of the achievements of the +British North Borneo Company, which, in its humble way, affords another +example of the fact that the "expansion of Britain" has been in the main +due not to the exertions of its Government so much as to the energy and +enterprise of individual citizens, and Sir ALFRED DENT the the founder, +and Sir RUTHERFORD ALCOCK the guide and supporter of the British North +Borneo Company, cannot but feel a proud satisfaction in the reflection +that their energy and patient perseverance have resulted in conferring +upon so considerable a portion of the island of Borneo the benefits +above enumerated and in adding another Colony to the long list of the +Dependencies of the British Crown. + +In the matter of geographical exploration, too, the Company and its +officers have not been idle, as the map brought out by the Company +sufficiently shews, for previous maps of North Borneo will be found very +barren and uninteresting, the interior being almost a complete blank, +though possessing one natural feature which is conspicuous by its +absence in the more recent and trustworthy one, and that is the large +lake of Kinabalu, which the explorations of the late Mr. F. K. WITTI +have proved to be non-existent. Two explanations are given of the origin +of the myth of the Kinabalu Lake--one is that in the district, where it +was supposed to exist, extensive floods do take place in very wet +seasons, giving it the appearance of a lake, and, I believe there are +many similar instances in Dutch Borneo, where a tract of country liable +to be heavily flooded has been dignified with the name of _Danau_, which +is Malay for _lake_, so that the mistake of the European cartographers +is a pardonable one. The other explanation is that the district in +question is known to the aboriginal inhabitants as _Danau_, a word +which, in their language, has no particular meaning, but which, as above +stated, signifies, in Malay, a lake. The first European visitors would +have gained all their information from the Malay coast tribes, and the +reason for their mistaken supposition of the existence of a large lake +can be readily understood. The two principal pioneer explorers of +British North Borneo were WITTI and FRANK HATTON, both of whom met with +violent deaths. WITTI'S services as one of the first officers stationed +in the country, before the British North Borneo Company was formed, have +already been referred to, and I have drawn on his able report for a +short account of the slave system which formerly prevailed. He had +served in the Austrian Navy and was a very energetic, courageous and +accomplished man. Besides minor journeys, he had traversed the country +from West to East and from North to South, and it was on his last +journey from Pappar, on the West Coast, inland to the headwaters of the +Kinabatangan and Sambakong Rivers, that he was murdered by a tribe, +whose language none of his party understood, but whose confidence he had +endeavoured to win by reposing confidence in them, to the extent even of +letting them carry his carbine. He and his men had slept in the village +one night, and on the following day some of the tribe joined the party +as guides, but led them into the ambuscade, where the gallant WITTI and +many of his men were killed by _sumpitans_.[28] So far as we have been +able to ascertain the sole reason for the attack was the fact that WITTI +had come to the district from a tribe with whom these people were at +war, and he was, therefore, according to native custom, deemed also to +be an enemy. FRANK HATTON joined the Company's service with the object +of investigating the mineral resources of the country and in the course +of his work travelled over a great portion of the Territory, prosecuting +his journeys from both the West and the East coasts, and undergoing the +hardships incidental to travel in a roadless, tropical country with such +ability, pluck and success as surprised me in one so young and slight +and previously untrained and inexperienced in rough pioneering work. + +He more than once found himself in critical positions with inland +tribes, who had never seen or heard of a white man, but his calmness and +intrepidity carried him safely through such difficulties, and with +several chiefs he became a sworn brother, going through the peculiar +ceremonies customary on such occasions. In 1883, he was ascending the +Segama River to endeavour to verify the native reports of the existence +of gold in the district when, landing on the bank, he shot at and +wounded an elephant, and while following it up through the jungle, his +repeating rifle caught in a rattan and went off, the bullet passing +through his chest, causing almost immediate death. HATTON, before +leaving England, had given promise of a distinguished scientific career, +and his untimely fate was deeply mourned by his brother officers and a +large circle of friends. An interesting memoir of him has been published +by his father, Mr. JOSEPH HATTON, and a summary of his journeys and +those of WITTI, and other explorers in British North Borneo, appeared in +the "Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society and Monthly Record of +Geography" for March, 1888, being the substance of a paper read before +the Society by Admiral R. C. MAYNE, C.B., M.P. A memorial cross has been +erected at Sandakan, by their brother officers, to the memory of WITTI, +HATTON, DE FONTAINE and Sikh officers and privates who have lost their +lives in the service of the Government. + +To return for a moment to the matter of fault-finding, it would be +ridiculous to maintain that no mistakes have been made in launching +British North Borneo on its career as a British Dependency, but then I +do not suppose that any single Colony of the Crown has been, or will be +inaugurated without similar mistakes occurring, such, for instance, as +the withholding money where money was needed and could have been +profitably expended, and a too lavish expenditure in other and less +important directions. Examples will occur to every reader who has +studied our Colonial history. If we take the case of the Colony of the +Straits Settlements, now one of our most prosperous Crown Colonies and +which was founded by the East India Company, it will be seen that in +1826-7 the "mistakes" of the administration were on such a scale that +there was an annual deficit of £100,000, and the presence of the +Governor-General of India was called for to abolish useless offices and +effect retrenchments throughout the service. + +The British North Borneo Company possesses a valuable property, and one +which is daily increasing in value, and if they continue to manage it +with the care hitherto exhibited, and if, remembering that they are not +yet quite out of the wood, they are careful to avoid, on the one hand, a +too lavish expenditure and, on the other, an unwise parsimony, there +cannot, I should say, be a doubt that a fair return will, at no very +distant date, be made to them on the capital they have expended. + +As for the country _per se_, I consider that its success is now assured, +whether it remains under the rule of the Company or is received into the +fellowship of _bonâ fide_ Colonies of the Empire. + +In bringing to a conclusion my brief account of the Territory, some +notice of its suitability as a residence for Europeans may not be out of +place, as bearing on the question of "what are we to do with our boys?" + +I have my own experience of seventeen years' service in Northern Borneo, +and the authority of Dr. WALKER, the able Medical Officer of the +Government, for saying that in its general effect on the health of +Europeans, the climate of British North Borneo, as a whole, compares not +unfavourably with that of other tropical countries. + +There is no particular "unhealthy season," and Europeans who lead a +temperate and active life have little to complain of, except the total +absence of any cold season, to relieve the monotony of eternal summer. +On the hills of the interior, no doubt, an almost perfect climate could +be obtained. + +One great drawback to life for Europeans in all tropical places is the +fact that it is unwise to keep children out after they have attained the +age of seven or eight years, but up to that age the climate appears to +agree very well with them and they enjoy an immunity from measles, +whooping cough and other infantile diseases. This enforced separation +from wife and family is one of the greatest disadvantages in a career in +the tropics. + +We have not, unfortunately, had much experience as to how the climate of +British North Borneo affects English ladies, but, judging from +surrounding Colonies, I fear it will be found that they cannot stand it +quite so well as the men, owing, no doubt, to their not being able to +lead such an active life and to their not having official and business +matter to occupy their attention during the greater part of the day, as +is the case with their husbands. + +Of course, if sufficient care is taken to select a swampy spot, charged +with all the elements of fever and miasma, splendidly unhealthy +localities can be found in North Borneo, a residence in which would +prove fatal to the strongest constitution, and I have also pointed out +that on clearing new ground for plantations fever almost inevitably +occurs, but, as Dr. WALKER has remarked, the sickness of the newly +opened clearings does not last long when ordinary sanitary precautions +are duly observed. + +At present the only employers of Europeans are the Governing Company, +who have a long list of applicants for appointments, the Tobacco +Companies, and two Timber Companies. Nearly all the Tobacco Companies at +present at work are of foreign nationality and, doubtless, would give +the preference to Dutch and German managers and assistants. Until more +English Companies are formed, I fear there will be no opening in British +North Borneo for many young Englishmen not possessed of capital +sufficient to start planting on their own account. It will be remembered +that the trade in the natural products of the country is practically in +the hands of the Chinese. + +Among the other advantages of North Borneo is its entire freedom from +the presence of the larger carnivora--the tiger or the panther. Ashore, +with the exception of a few poisonous snakes--and during seventeen +years' residence I have never heard of a fatal result from a bite--there +is no animal which will attack man, but this is far from being the case +with the rivers and seas, which, in many places, abound in crocodiles +and sharks. The crocodiles are the most dreaded animals, and are found +in both fresh and salt water. Cases are not unknown of whole villages +being compelled to remove to a distance, owing to the presence of a +number of man-eating crocodiles in a particular bend of a river; this +happened to the village of Sebongan on the Kinabatangan River, which +has been quite abandoned. + +Crocodiles in time become very bold and will carry off people bathing on +the steps of their houses over the water, and even take them bodily out +of their canoes. + +At an estate on the island of Daat, I had two men thus carried off out +of their boats, at sea, after sunset, in both cases the mutilated bodies +being subsequently recovered. The largest crocodile I have seen was one +which was washed ashore on an island, dead, and which I found to measure +within an inch of twenty feet. + +Some natives entertain the theory that a crocodile will not touch you if +you are swimming or floating in the water and not holding on to any +thing, but this is a theory which I should not care to put practically +to the test myself. + +There is a native superstition in some parts of the West Coast, to the +effect that the washing of a mosquito curtain in a stream is sure to +excite the anger of the crocodiles and cause them to become dangerous. +So implicit was the belief in this superstition, that the Brunai +Government proclaimed it a punishable crime for any person to wash a +mosquito curtain in a running stream. + +When that Government was succeeded by the Company, this proclamation +fell into abeyance, but it unfortunately happened that a woman at +Mempakul, availing herself of the laxity of the law in this matter, did +actually wash her curtain in a creek, and that very night her husband +was seized and carried off by a crocodile while on the steps of his +house. Fortunately, an alarm was raised in time, and his friends managed +to rescue him, though badly wounded; but the belief in the superstition +cannot but have been strengthened by the incident. + +Some of the aboriginal natives on the West Coast are keen sportsmen and, +in the pursuit of deer and wild pig, employ a curious small dog, which +they call _asu_, not making use of the Malay word for dog--_anjing_. The +term _asu_ is that generally employed by the Javanese, from whose +country possibly the dog may have been introduced into Borneo. In +Brunai, dogs are called _kuyok_, a term said to be of Sumatran origin. + +On the North and East there are large herds of wild cattle said to +belong to two species, _Bos Banteng_ and _Bos Gaurus_ or _Bos +Sondaicus_. In the vicinity of Kudat they afford excellent sport, a +description of which has been given, in a number of the "Borneo Herald," +by Resident G. L. DAVIES, who, in addition to being a skilful manager of +the aborigines, is a keen sportsman. The native name for them on the +East Coast is _Lissang_ or _Seladang_, and on the North, _Tambadau_. In +some districts the water buffalo, _Bubalus Buffelus_, has run wild and +affords sport. + +The deer are of three kinds--the _Rusa_ or _Sambur_ (_Rusa +Aristotelis_), the _Kijang_ or roe, and the _Plandok_, or mousedeer, the +latter a delicately shaped little animal, smaller and lighter than the +European hare. With the natives it is an emblem of cunning, and there +are many short stories illustrating its supposed more than human +intelligence. Wild pig, the _Sus barbatus_, a kind distinct from the +Indian animal, and, I should say, less ferocious, is a pest all over +Borneo, breaking down fences and destroying crops. The jungle is too +universal and too thick to allow of pig-sticking from horseback, but +good sport can be had, with a spear, on foot, if a good pack of native +dogs is got together. + +It is on the East Coast only that elephants and rhinoceros, called +_Gajah_ and _Badak_ respectively, are found. The elephant is the same as +the Indian one and is fairly abundant; the rhinoceros is _Rhinoceros +sumatranus_, and is not so frequently met with. + +The elephant in Borneo is a timid animal and, therefore, difficult to +come up with in the thick jungle. None have been shot by Europeans so +far, but the natives, who can walk through the forest so much more +quietly, sometimes shoot them, and dead tusks are also often brought in +for sale. + +The natives in the East Coast are very few in numbers and on neither +coast is there any tribe of professional hunters, or _shikaris_, as in +India and Ceylon, so that, although game abounds, there are not, at +present, such facilities for Europeans desirous of engaging in sport as +in the countries named.[29] + +A little Malay bear occurs in Borneo, but is not often met with, and is +not a formidable animal. + +My readers all know that Borneo is the home of the _Orang-utan_ or +_Mias_, as it is called by the natives. No better description of the +animal could be desired than that given by WALLACE in his "Malay +Archipelago." There is an excellent picture of a young one in the second +volume of Dr. GUILLEMARD'S "Cruise of the Marchesa." Another curious +monkey, common in mangrove swamps, is the long-nosed ape, or _Pakatan_, +which possesses a fleshy probosis some three inches long. It is +difficult to tame, and does not live long in captivity. + +As in Sumatra, which Borneo much resembles in its fauna and flora, the +peacock is absent, and its place taken by the _Argus_ pheasant. Other +handsome pheasants are the _Fireback_ and the _Bulwer_ pheasants, the +latter so named after Governor Sir HENRY BULWER who took the first +specimen home in 1874. These pheasants do not rise in the jungle and +are, therefore, uninteresting to the Borneo sportsman. They are +frequently trapped by the natives. There are many kinds of pigeons, +which afford good sport. Snipe occur, but not plentifully. Curlew are +numerous in some localities, but very wild. The small China quail are +abundant on cleared spaces, as also is the painted plover, but cleared +spaces in Borneo are somewhat few and far between. So much for sport in +the new Colony. + +Let me conclude my paper by quoting the motto of the British North +Borneo Company--_Pergo et perago_--I under take a thing and go through +with it. Dogged persistence has, so far, given the Territory a fair +start on its way to prosperity, and the same perseverance will, in time, +be assuredly rewarded by complete success.[30] + + W. H. TREACHER. + + +P.S.--I cannot close this article without expressing my great +obligations to Mr. C. V. CREAGH, the present Governor of North Borneo, +and to Mr. KINDERSLEY, the Secretary to the Company in London, for +information which has been incorporated in these notes. + + +Footnotes: + +[Footnote 23: Now accomplished.] + +[Footnote 24: In 1888, $246,457.] + +[Footnote 25: In 1888, $22,755 were realized, and the Estimate for 1890 +is $70,000 for the Opium Farm.] + +[Footnote 26: In 1888, $22,755.] + +[Footnote 27: Revenue in 1888, $148,286, with addition of Land Sales, +$246,457, a total of $394,743. + +Expenditure in 1888, including Padas war expenses, $210,985, and +expenditure on Capital Account, $25,283--total $236,268.] + +[Footnote 28: The _sumpitan_, or native blow-pipe, has been frequently +described by writers on Borneo. It is a tube 6-1/2 feet long, carefully +perforated lengthwise and through which is fired a poisoned dart, which +has an extreme range of about 80 to 90 yards, but is effective at about +20 to 30 yards. It takes the place in Borneo of the bow and arrow of +savage tribes, and is used only by the aborigines and not by the +Muhammadan natives.] + +[Footnote 29: Dr. GUILLEMARD in his fascinating book, "The Cruise of +the Marchesa," states, that two English officers, both of them +well-known sportsmen, devoted four months to big game shooting in +British North Borneo and returned to Hongkong entirely unsuccessful. +Dr. GUILLEMARD was misinformed. The officers were not more than a week +in the country on their way to Hongkong from Singapore and Sarawak, and +did not devote their time to sport. Some other of the author's remarks +concerning British North Borneo are somewhat incorrect and appear to +have been based on information derived from a prejudiced source.] + +[Footnote 30: In 1889, the Company declared their first Dividend.] + + + + + * * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + + +The author's original spelling has been preserved as far as possible, +including any idiosyncrasies and inconsistencies in the spelling and +accenting of words. Changes have only been made in the case of obvious +typographical errors and where it was felt necessary to remove +ambiguity or improve readability. All changes have been documented +below. + +Inconsistencies in the hypenation of words preserved. ( blood-thirsty, +bloodthirsty; head-quarters, headquarters; kina-balu, kinabalu; +kina-batangan, kinabatangan; salt-water, saltwater; sand-stone, +sandstone; sea-board, seaboard; shop-keepers, shopkeepers; war-like, +warlike) + +Treatment of Blockquotes. There are several blocks of text where the +author quoted extensively from other documentary sources. In some +cases, very long paragraphs contain a mixture of the author's words and +quoted material. In order to enhance readability, the portions of text +which are quoted material have been separated out and indented as +blockquotes. This treatment has been given to: + + Pg. 33-37. The block of text beginning '"When," says he....' to + 'maintaining their gravity.' which was originally a single + contiguous paragraph. + + Pg. 37-40, several paragraphs beginning 'Mr. Darymple's + description....' to 'Singapore is to the straits of Malacca.' The + first paragraph from 'Mr. Darymple's description....' to + 'commercial enterprise' was originally a single contiguous + paragraph. This block of text is also unusual in that while + elsewhere, each new paragraph of quoted material began with a + doublequote mark, in this block, only some paragraphs do so while + others do not. This inconsistency on the part of the author has + been preserved. + + Pg. 54-55, several paragraphs beginning 'Javanese element, and + Hindu work....' to 'make a stone fort."' The section from + 'Javanese element, and Hindu work....' to 'country of + Saguntang.' was originally one contiguous paragraph. The quoted + material was originally printed with a doublequote mark at the + beginning of each line. These doublequote marks have been + removed except for those indicating the beginning and end of a + quotation. + + Pg. 58-62, several paragraphs beginning 'The agreement to so + transfer....' to 'reference will be made hereafter.' The + section from 'The agreement to so transfer....' to 'twenty in + number' was originally one contiguous paragraph. The block from + 'Mr. Brooke concludes....' to 'reference will be made + hereafter.' was also one contiguous paragraph. The quoted + material was originally printed with a doublequote mark at the + beginning of each line. These doublequote marks have been + removed except for those indicating the beginning and end of a + quotation. + +On Pg. 86 there is a short section of quoted material from '"Lieutenant +Little....' to 'await my arrival."' This quotation was originally +printed with a doublequote mark at the beginning of each line. The +doublequote marks have been removed. Because of its short length, the +quote has been left in the body of its parent paragraph, demarcated by +opening and closing doublequotes. + +When the author quoted extensively from other sources, he used a row of +between 3-6 asterisks to represent omitted material. This style has +been reproduced in this transcription. + +The author was inconsistent with respect to whether a space was added +between the letters in abbreviations such as A.M., R.N., i.e. and so +on. The original spacing has been preserved in all cases. + +The original text included an Errata with the following text: "Page +136, line 15, _for_ 'head of a thief' _read_ 'hand of a thief.'" The +required change has been incorporated into this ebook and hence the +Errata has not been transcribed. + +Table of Contents, Chapter VI., "expecttations" changed to +"expectations" (Original expectations of the Colony) + +Table of Contents, Chapter X., "Tranfer" changed to "Transfer". +(Transfer from natives) + +Pg. 2, "concesssions" changed to "concessions". (confirming the grants +and concessions acquired from the Sultans of Brunai) + +Pg. 9, "slighlty" changed to "slightly". (black and slightly oblique) + +Footnote 2 makes mention of an Appendix but the source document for +this transcription, although complete, did not have an Appendix. +Library catalogue entries for this title (with matching publication and +physical parameters) at libraries such as the Bodleian Library of +Oxford University (UK) and Harvard University make no mention of an +appendix and state that this title had 165 pages, which is exactly the +same as for the source document used. + +Pg. 21, "adapability" changed to "adaptability". (adaptability to +changed circumstances) + +Pg. 44, "fatening" changed to "fattening". (used for fattening pigs) + +Pg. 53, "invesiture" changed to "investiture". (his conversion and +investiture by the Sultan) + +Pg. 55, "beetwen" changed to "between". (quarrel ensued between them) + +Pg. 59, sentence ends after "had the desired effect" without +punctuation. This is followed by a row of asterisks (omitted material) +and then the beginning of a new sentence: "None joined....". As it is +unclear whether "had the desired effect" ends the sentence or there +were more words (which have been omitted), the original text is +preserved as is. + +Pg. 63, "poputation" changed to "population". (supporting a population) + +Pg. 70, "beloved" original printed with an inverted "e". Corrected. +(beloved of the Colonial) + +Pg. 72, "expirements" changed to "experiments". (but experiments are +being made) + +Pg. 74, "scarely" changed to "scarcely". (We can scarcely let) + +Pg. 75, "chaples" changed to "chapels". (twenty-five Mission chapels in +Sarawak) + +Pg. 79, "uncrupulous" changed to "unscrupulous". (most unscrupulous +agents) + +Pg. 87, "witb" changed to "with". (covered with a strong growth) + +Pg. 105, "authories" changed to "authorities". (for the Spanish +authorities) + +Pg. 114, "hat" changed to "that". (and found that next morning) + +Pg. 114, "he" changed to "the". (and that the swifts went) + +Pg. 116, "ino" changed to "into". (have been put into circulation) + +Pg. 120, "rear", last letter originally printed as an inverted "r". +Corrected. (and appears to rear its isolated) + +Pg. 120, inserted missing period at sentence end. (at all rare. The +dryest months) + +Pg. 124, "amasing" changed to "amassing". (an innate desire of amassing +dollars) + +Pg. 126, inserted missing period at sentence end. (Kinabatangan River +on the East.) + +Pg. 126, "ordidary" changed to "ordinary". (higher price than ordinary +kinds) + +Pg. 131, "hegrees" changed to "degrees". (abolish by degrees, any +system of) + +Pg. 132, duplicated word "an" removed. (If an _anak mas_ girl) + +Pg. 133, "incorrigble" changed to "incorrigible". (An incorrigible +slave) + +Pg. 133, "agressor" changed to "aggressor". (compensation from the +aggressor) + +Pg. 135, "pu-a stop to" changed to "put a stop to". (altogether put a +stop to in) + +Pg. 135, "effecttually" changed to "effectually". (effectually brought +to an end) + +Pg. 136, "and to the.consequent", extraneous dot removed. (and to the +consequent) + +Pg. 145, inserted missing period at end of sentence. (HOPE. In order +that the) + +Pg. 145, "Zepyhyr" changed to "Zephyr". (in the Zephyr a few weeks) + +Pg. 148, "acccustomed" changed "accustomed". (had been accustomed to) + +Pg. 149, "desirabilty" changed to "desirability". (recognised the +desirability) + +Pg. 152, "Expendiure" changed to "Expenditure". (Expenditure in 1887) + +Pg. 163, apparently extraneous comma removed from inside parenthesis of +"(_Rusa Aristotelis_,),". (_Rusa Aristotelis_), the) + +Pg. 164, "N better" changed to "No better". (No better description of +the) + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRITISH BORNEO*** + + +******* This file should be named 27547-8.txt or 27547-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/7/5/4/27547 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. 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H. Treacher</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: British Borneo</p> +<p> Sketches of Brunai, Sarawak, Labuan, and North Borneo</p> +<p>Author: W. H. Treacher</p> +<p>Release Date: December 16, 2008 [eBook #27547]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRITISH BORNEO***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3 class="center">E-text prepared by a Project Gutenberg volunteer<br /> + from digital material generously made available by<br /> + Internet Archive<br /> + (<a href="http://www.archive.org">http://www.archive.org</a>)</h3> +<p> </p> +<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;" cellpadding="10"> + <tr> + <td valign="top"> + Note: + </td> + <td> + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive. See + <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/yonderyo00gavarich"> + http://www.archive.org/details/yonderyo00gavarich</a> + </td> + </tr> +</table> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> + +<div class="center"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="Book cover" /> +</div> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h1> +BRITISH BORNEO:<br /> +<br /> +<span class="tiny"><i>SKETCHES OF</i></span><br /> +<small><i>BRUNAI, SARAWAK, LABUAN,</i></small><br /> +<span class="tiny"><i>AND</i></span><br /> +<small><i>NORTH BORNEO.</i></small></h1> + +<p> </p> + +<p class="title"><small>BY</small><br /> +<b>W. H. TREACHER, C.M.G., M.A. <span class="smcap">Oxon.</span>,</b><br /> +<small><i>Secretary to the Government of Perak,<br /> +Formerly Administrator of Labuan and H.B.M. Acting Consul-General in Borneo,<br /> +First Governor of British North Borneo.</i></small></p> + +<p> </p> + +<p class="center"><b>Reprinted from the Journal of the Straits Settlements Branch<br /> +of the Royal Asiatic Society.</b></p> + +<p> </p> + +<p class="center"><b>Singapore:</b><br /> +PRINTED AT THE GOVERNMENT PRINTING<br /> +DEPARTMENT.<br /> +1891. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2>TABLE OF CONTENTS.</h2> +<hr class="hr2" /> + +<table border="0" width="80%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Table of Contents"> + +<tr><td class="tochead">CHAPTER I. <span class="smcap">Pages</span> <a href="#CHAPTER_I">1-11</a>.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="toc">The Hudson's Bay Company's Charter, 1670. British North Borneo Company's +Charter, November 1881, as a territorial power. The example followed by Germany. +Borneo the second largest island in the world. Visited by Friar Odoric, 1322, by +Berthema, 1503; but not generally known until, in 1518 Portuguese, and in 1521 +Spanish, expeditions touched there. Report of Pigafetta, the companion of +Magellan, who found there a Chinese trading community. Origin of the name +Borneo; sometimes known as Kalamantan. Spanish attack on Brunai, 1573. +First Dutch connection, 1600; first British connection, 1609. Diamonds. Factory +established by East India Company at Banjermassin, 1702, expelled by natives. +British capture of Manila, 1762, and acquisition of Balambangan, followed by +cession of Northern Borneo and part of Palawan. Spanish claims to Borneo abandoned +by Protocol, 1885. Factory established at Balambangan, 1771, expelled by +Sulus, 1775; re-opened 1803 and abandoned the following year. Temporary +factory at Brunai. Pepper trade. Settlement of Singapore, 1819. Attracted +trade of Borneo, Celebes, &c. Pirates. Brooke acquired Sarawak 1840, the first +permanent British possession. Labuan a British Colony, 1846. The Dutch protest. +Their possessions in Borneo. Spanish claims. Concessions of territory +acquired by Mr. Dent, 1877-78. The monopolies of the first Europeans ruined +trade: better prospect now opening. United States connection with Borneo. +Population. Malays, their Mongolian origin. Traces of a Caucasic race, termed +Indonesians. Buludupih legend. Names of aboriginal tribes. Pagans and +Mahomedans.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td class="tochead">CHAPTER II. <span class="smcap">Pages</span> <a href="#CHAPTER_II">11-33</a>.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="toc">Description of Brunai, the capital, and its river. Not a typical Malayan river. +Spanish Catholic Mission. British Consulate. Inche Mahomed. Moses and +a former American Consulate. Pigafetta's estimate of population in 1521, 150,000. +Present estimate, 12,000. Decay of Brunai since British connection. Life of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[iv]</a></span>a Brunai noble; of the children; of the women. Modes of acquiring slaves: +'forced trade.' Condition of slaves. Character and customs of Brunai Malays. +Their religion, gambling, cock-fighting: <i>amoks</i>, marriage. Sultan and ministers +and officers of the state. How paid. Feudal rights—Ka-rájahan, Kouripan, +Pusaka. Ownership of land. Modes of taxation. Laws. Hajis. Punishments. +Executions. A naval officer's mistake. No army, navy, or police, but the people +universally armed. Cannon foundries. Brass guns as currency. Dollars and +copper coinage. Taxation. Revenue; tribute from Sarawak and North Borneo; +coal resources.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td class="tochead">CHAPTER III. <span class="smcap">Pages</span> <a href="#CHAPTER_III">33-62</a>.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="toc">Pigafetta's description of Brunai in 1521. Elephants. Reception by the King. +Use of spirituous liquors. Population. Floating Market. Spoons. Ladies +appearing in public. Obeisance. Modes of addressing nobles. The use of +yellow confined to the Royal Family. Umbrellas closed when passing the +Palace. Nobles only can sit in the stern of a boat. Ceremonies at a Royal +reception; bees-wax candles.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="toc">Mr. Dalrymple's description of Brunai in 1884. Quakers' meeting. Way to a +Malay's heart lies through his pocket. Market place and hideous women. +Beauties of the Harems. Present population. Cholera. Exports. Former +Chinese pepper plantations. Good water supply. Nobles corrupt; lower classes +not. The late Sultan Mumim. The present Sultan. Kampongs, or parishes and +guilds. Methods of fishing: Kèlongs; Rambat; peculiar mode of prawn-catching; +Serambau; Pukat; hook and line; tuba fishing. Sago. Tobacco; +its growth and use. Areca-nut; its use and effects. Costumes of men and +women. Jewellery. Weapons. The <i>kris</i>; <i>parang</i>; <i>bliong</i>; <i>parang ílang</i>. +The Kayans imitated by the Dyaks in a curious personal adornment. Canoes: +dug-outs; <i>pakerangan</i>; prahus; tongkangs; steering gear; similarity to ancient +Vikings' boat; boat races. Paddling. The Brunais teetotallers and temperate. +Business and political negotiations transacted through agents. Time no object. +The place of signatures taken by seals or <i>chops</i>. The great seal of state. Brunais +styled by the aborigines, <i>Orang Abai</i>. By religion Mahomedans, but Pagan +superstitions cling to them; instances. Traces of Javanese and Hindu influences. +A native chronicle of Brunai; Mahomedanism established about 1478; connection +of Chinese with Borneo; explanation of the name Kina-balu applied to the highest +mountain in the island. Pepper planting by Chinese in former years. Mention of +Brunai in Chinese history. Tradition of an expedition by Kublai Khan. The +Chinese driven away by misgovernment. Their descendants in the Bundu district. +Other traces of Chinese intercourse with Borneo. Their value as immigrants. +European expeditions against Brunai. How Rajah Brooke acquired Sarawak +amidst the roar of cannon. Brooke's heroic disinterestedness. His appointment as +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[v]</a></span>British confidential agent in Borneo. The episode of the murder of Rajah Muda +Hassim and his followers. Brunai attacked by Admiral Sir Thomas Cochrane. +Captain Rodney Mundy follows the Sultan into the jungle. The batteries razed +and peace proclaimed.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td class="tochead">CHAPTER IV. <span class="smcap">Pages</span> <a href="#CHAPTER_IV">63-77</a>.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="toc">Sarawak under the Brooke dynasty. By incorporation of other rivers extends +over 40,000 square miles, coast line 380 miles, population 280,000. Limbang +annexed by Sarawak. Further extension impossible. The Trusan river; 'trowser +wearers'; acquired by Sarawak. The Limbang, the rice pot of Brunai. The +Cross flown in the Muhamadan capital by pagan savages. A launch decorated +with skulls. Dyak militia, the Sarawak 'Rangers,' and native police force. +Peace of Sarawak kept by the people. Cheap government. Absolute Monarchy. +Nominated Councils. The 'Civil Service,' 'Residents.' Law, custom, equity +and common sense. Slavery abolished. Sources of revenue—'Opium Farm' +monopoly, poll tax, customs, excise, fines and fees. Revenue and expenditure. +Early financial straits. Sarawak offered to England, France and Holland. The +Borneo Company (Ltd.). Public debt. Advantages of Chinese immigration +'Without the Chinese we can do nothing.' Java an exception. Chinese are good +traders, agriculturists, miners, artizans, &c.: sober and law-abiding. Chinese +secret societies and faction fights; death penalty for membership. Insurrection +of Chinese, 1857. Chinese pepper and gambier planters. Exports—sago and +jungle produce. Minerals—antimony, cinnabar, coal. Trade—agriculture. Description +of the capital—Kuching. Sir Henry Keppel and Sir James Brooke. +Piracy. 'Head money.' Charges against Sir J. Brooke. Recognition of Sarawak +by United States and England. British protectorate. Death of Sir J. Brooke. +Protestant and Roman Catholic Missions. Bishops MacDougal and Hose. Father +Jackson. Mahomedans' conversion not attempted.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td class="tochead">CHAPTER V. <span class="smcap">Pages</span> <a href="#CHAPTER_V">77-84</a>.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="toc">Incident of the Limbang rebellion against Sultan of Brunai. Oppression of the +nobles. Irregular taxation—Chukei basoh batis, bongkar sauh, tulongan, chop +bibas, &c. The orang kayas. Repulse of the Tummonggong. Brunai threatened. +Intervention of the writer as acting Consul General. Datu Klassi. Meeting +broken up on news of attack by Muruts. Sultan's firman eventually accepted. +Demonstration by H.M.S. <i>Pegasus</i>. 'Cooking heads' in Brunai river. Death +of Sultan Mumim. Conditions of firman not observed by successor. Sir Frederick +Weld visits and reports on North Borneo and Brunai. Legitimate extension of +Sarawak to be encouraged.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td class="tochead"><span style="font-size: 67%;" class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[vi]</a></span>CHAPTER VI. <span class="smcap">Pages</span> <a href="#CHAPTER_VI">84-92</a>.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="toc">The Colony of Labuan, ceded to England in return for assistance against pirates. +For similar reasons monopoly of pepper trade granted to the East India Company +in 1774. First British connection with Labuan in 1775, on expulsion from Balambangan. +Belcher and Brooke visit Brunai, 1844, to enquire into alleged +detention of an European female. Offer of cession of Labuan. Rajah Muda Hassim. +At Sultan's request, British attack Osman, in Marudu Bay, 1845. Brooke recognised +as the Queen's agent in Borneo. Captain Mundy, R.N., under Lord +Palmerston's instructions, hoists British flag in Labuan, 24th Dec., 1846. Brooke +appointed the first Governor, 1847, being at the same time British representative +in Borneo, and independent ruler of Sarawak. His staff of 'Queen's officers'; +concluded present treaty with Brunai; ceased to be Governor 1851. Sir Hugh +Low, Sir J. Pope Hennessy, Sir Henry Bulwer, Sir Charles Lees. Original expectations +of the Colony not realized. Description of the island. The Kadayans. +Agriculture, timber, trade. Overshadowed by Singapore, Sarawak, and North +Borneo. Writer's suggestion for proclaiming British Protectorate over North Borneo, +and assigning to it the Government of Labuan, has been adopted. Population of +Labuan. Its coal measures and the failure of successive companies to work them; +now being worked by Central Borneo Company (Ltd.). Chinese and natives +worked well under Europeans. Revenue and expenditure. Labuan self-supporting +since 1860. High-sounding official titles. One officer plays many parts. +Labuan celebrated for its fruits, introduced by Sir Hugh Low. Sir Hugh's +influence; instance of, when writer was fired on by Sulus. H.M.S. <i>Frolic</i> on a +rock. Captain Buckle, R.N. Dr. Treacher's coco-nut plantation. The Church.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td class="tochead">CHAPTER VII. <span class="smcap">Pages</span> <a href="#CHAPTER_VII">92-103</a>.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="toc">British North Borneo; mode of acquisition; absence of any real native government; +oppression of the inland pagans by the coast Muhamadans. Failure of +American syndicate's Chinese colonization scheme in 1865. Colonel Torrey interests +Baron Overbeck in the American concessions; Overbeck interests Sir Alfred Dent, +who commissions him to acquire a transfer of the concessions from the Sultans of +Brunai and Sulu, 1877-78. The ceded territory known as Sabah. Meaning of the +term. Spanish claims on ground of suzerainty over Sulu. Not admitted by the +British Government. The writer ordered to protest against Spanish claims to +North Borneo, 1879. Spain renounced claims, by Protocol, 1885. Holland, on +ground of the Treaty of 1824, objected to a British settlement in Borneo; also +disputed the boundary between Dutch and British Borneo. The writer 'violates' +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[vii]</a></span>Netherland territory and hoists the Company's flag on the south bank of the +Siboku, 1883. Annual tribute paid to the Brunai Government. Certain intervening +independent rivers still to be acquired. Dent's first settlements at Sandakan, +Tampassuk, and Pappar. Messrs. Pryer, Pretyman, Witti, and Everett. +Opposition of Datu Bahar at Pappar. Difficult position of the pioneer officers. +Respect for Englishmen inspired by Brooke's exploits. Mr. W. H. Read. Mr. +Dent forms a 'Provisional Association' pending grant of a Royal Charter, 1881, +composed of Sir Rutherford Alcock, A. Dent, R. B. Martin, Admiral Mayne, +W. H. Read. Sir Rutherford energetically advocates the scheme from patriotic +motives. The British North Borneo Company incorporated by Royal Charter, +1st November, 1881; nominal capital two millions, £20 shares. 33,030 shares +issued. Powers and conditions of the Charter. Flag.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td class="tochead">CHAPTER VIII. <span class="smcap">Pages</span> <a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">103-117</a>.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="toc">Area of British North Borneo exceeds that of Ceylon; points of similarity; +styled 'The New Ceylon.' Joseph Hatton's book. Tobacco planters attracted +from Sumatra. Coast-line, harbours, stations. Sandakan town and harbour; +founded by Mr. Pryer. Destroyed by fire. Formerly used as a blockade station +by Germans trading with Sulu. Capture of the blockade runner <i>Sultana</i> by the +Spaniards. Rich virgin soil and fever. Owing to propinquity of Hongkong and +Singapore, North Borneo cannot become an emporium for eastern trade. Its +mineralogical resources not yet ascertained. Gold, coal, and other minerals +known to exist. Gold on the Segama river. Rich in timber. 'Billian' or iron-wood; +camphor. Timber Companies. On board one of Her Majesty's ships +billian proved three times as durable as lignum vitæ. Mangrove forests. +Monotony of tropical scenery. Trade—a list of exports. Edible birds'-nests. +Description of the great Gomanton birds'-nests caves. Mr Bampfylde. Bats' +Guano. Mode of collecting nests. Lady and Miss Brassey visit the Madai caves, +1887. Bêche-de-mer, shark fins, cuttle fish. Position of Sandakan on the route +between Australia and China—importance as a possible naval station. Shipping. +Postal arrangements. Coinage. Currency. Banking. Probable cable station.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td class="tochead">CHAPTER IX. <span class="smcap">Pages</span> <a href="#CHAPTER_IX">117-127</a>.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="toc">Importance of the territory as a field for the cultivation of the fine tobacco used +for 'wrappers.' Profits of Sumatra Tobacco Companies. Climate and Soil. +Rainfall. Seasons. Dr. Walker. The sacred mountain, Kina-balu. Description +of tobacco cultivation. Chinese the most suitable labour for tobacco; difficulty +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[viii]</a></span>in procuring sufficient coolies. Count Geloes d'Elsloo. Coolies protected by +Government. Terms on which land can be acquired. Tobacco export duty. +Tobacco grown and universally consumed by the natives. Fibre plants. Government +experimental garden. Sappan-wood. Cotton flock.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td class="tochead">CHAPTER X. <span class="smcap">Pages</span> <a href="#CHAPTER_X">127-147</a>.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="toc">Erroneous ideas as to the objects of the Company. Difficult to steal Highlanders' +trowsers. Natives 'take no thought for the morrow.' The Company does +not engage in trade or agriculture. The Company's capital is a loan to the country, +to be repaid with interest as the country developes under its administration. +Large area of land to be disposed of without encroaching on native rights. Land +sales regulations. Registration of titles. Minerals reserved. Transfer from natives +to foreigners effected through the Government. Form of Government—the +Governor, Residents, &c. Laws and Proclamations. The Indian Penal, Criminal, +and Civil procedure codes adopted. Slavery—provision in the Charter regarding. +Slave legislation by the Company. Summary of Mr. Witti's report on the slave +system. Messrs. Everett and Fryer's reports. Commander Edwards, R.N., attacks +the kidnapping village of Teribas in H.M.S. <i>Kestrel</i>. Slave keeping no longer +pays. Religious customs of the natives preserved by the Charter. Employment +of natives as Magistrates, &c. Head-hunting. Audit of 'Heads Account.' +Human sacrifices. Native punishments for adultery and theft. Causes of scanty +population. Absence of powerful warlike tribes. Head hunting—its origin. An +incident in Labuan. Mr. A. Cook. Mr. Jesse's report on the Muruts to the +East India Company. Good qualities of the aborigines. Advice to young officers. +The Muhamadans of the coast, the Brunais, Sulus, Bajows. Capture by Bajows +of a boat from an Austrian frigate. Baron Oesterreicher. Gambling and cattle +lifting. The independent intervening rivers. Fatal affray in the Kawang river: +death of de Fontaine, Fraser and others. Mr. Little. Mr. Whitehead. Bombardment +of Bajow villages by Captain A. K. Hope, R.N., H.M.S. <i>Zephyr</i>. Captain +Alington, R.N., in H.M.S. <i>Satellite</i>. The Illanuns and Balinini. Absence of +Negritos. The 'tailed' people. Desecration of European graves. Muhamadans' +sepulture. Burial customs of the aborigines.</td></tr> + + +<tr><td class="tochead">CHAPTER XI. <span class="smcap">Pages</span> <a href="#CHAPTER_XI">147-165</a>.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="toc">Importance of introducing Chinese into Borneo. Java not an example. Sir +Walter Medhurst Commissioner of Chinese immigration. The Hakka Chinese +settlers. Sir Spencer St. John on Chinese immigration. The revenue and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[ix]</a></span>expenditure of the territory. Zeal of the Company's officers. Armed Sikh and +Dyak police. Impossible to raise a native force. Heavy expenditure necessary in +the first instance. Carping critics. Cordial support from Sir Cecil Clementi Smith +and the Government of the Straits Settlements. Visit of Lord Brassey—his +article in the 'Nineteenth Century.' Further expenditure for roads, &c., will be +necessary. What the Company has done for Borneo. Geographical exploration. +Witti and Hatton. The lake struck off the map. Witti's murder. Hatton's +accidental death. Admiral Mayne, C.B. The <i>Sumpitan</i> or Blow-pipe. Errors +made in opening most colonies, e.g. the Straits Settlements. The future of the +country. The climate not unhealthy as a rule. Ladies. Game. No tigers. +Crocodiles. The native dog. Pig and deer. Wild cattle. Elephants and +Rhinoceros. Bear. Orang-utan. Long-nosed ape. Pheasants. The Company's +motto—<i>Pergo et perago</i>. Governor Creagh. Mr. Kindersley.</td></tr> + +</table> + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p> +<h1>BRITISH BORNEO:<br /> +<small>SKETCHES OF</small><br /> +BRUNAI, SARAWAK, LABUAN<br /> +<small>AND</small><br /> +NORTH BORNEO.</h1> + +<hr class="hr2" /> + + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>Chapter I.</h2> + +<div class="drop"> +<img src="images/dropcap.jpg" alt="I" width="50" height="100" class="cap" /> +<p class="cap_1">In 1670 <span class="smcap">Charles II</span> granted to the Hudson's Bay Company a Charter of +Incorporation, His Majesty delegating to the Company actual sovereignty +over a very large portion of British North America, and assigning to +them the exclusive monopoly of trade and mining in the territory. +Writing in 1869, Mr. <span class="smcap">William Forsyth</span>, <small>Q.C.</small>, says:—"I have endeavoured to +give an account of the constitution and history of the <i>last</i> of the +great proprietary companies of England, to whom a kind of delegated +authority was granted by the Crown. It was by some of these that distant +Colonies were founded, and one, the most powerful of them all, +established our Empire in the East and held the sceptre of the Great +Mogul. But they have passed away</p> +</div> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">——fuit Ilium et ingens<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Gloria Teucrorum—<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>and the Hudson's Bay Company will be no exception to the rule. It may +continue to exist as a Trading Company, but as a Territorial Power it +must make up its mind to fold its (buffalo) robes round it and die with +dignity." Prophesying is hazardous work. In November, 1881, two hundred +and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span>eleven years after the Hudson's Bay Charter, and twelve years after +the date of Mr. <span class="smcap">Forsyth's</span> article, Queen <span class="smcap">Victoria</span> granted a Charter of +Incorporation to the British North Borneo Company, which, by confirming +the grants and concessions acquired from the Sultans of Brunai and Sulu, +constitutes the Company the sovereign ruler over a territory of 31,000 +square miles, and, as the permission to trade, included in the Charter, +has not been taken advantage of, the British North Borneo Company now +does actually exist "as a Territorial Power" and not "as a Trading +Company."</p> + +<p>Not only this, but the example has been followed by Prince <span class="smcap">Bismarck</span>, and +German Companies, on similar lines, have been incorporated by their +Government on both coasts of Africa and in the Pacific; and another +British Company, to operate on the Niger River Districts, came into +existence by Royal Charter in July, 1886.</p> + +<p>It used to be by no means an unusual thing to find an educated person +ignorant not only of Borneo's position on the map, but almost of the +very existence of the island which, regarding Australia as a continent, +and yielding to the claims recently set up by New Guinea, is the second +largest island in the world, within whose limits could be comfortably +packed England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, with a sea of dense jungle +around them, as <span class="smcap">Wallace</span> has pointed out. Every school-board child now, +however, knows better than this.</p> + +<p>Though Friar <span class="smcap">Odoric</span> is said to have visited it about 1322, and <span class="smcap">Ludovico +Berthema</span>, of Bologna, between 1503 and 1507, the existence of this great +island, variously estimated to be from 263,000 to 300,000 square miles +in extent, did not become generally known to Europeans until, in 1518, +the Portuguese <span class="smcap">Lorenzo de Gomez</span> touched at the city of Brunai. He was +followed in 1521 by the Spanish expedition, which under the leadership +of the celebrated Portuguese circumnavigator <span class="smcap">Magellan</span>, had discovered +the Philippines, where, on the island of Mactan, their leader was killed +in April, 1520. An account of the voyage was written by <span class="smcap">Pigafetta</span>, an +Italian volunteer in the expedition, who accompanied the fleet to Brunai +after <span class="smcap">Magellan's</span> death, and published a glowing <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span>account of its wealth +and the brilliancy of its Court, with its royally caparisoned elephants, +a report which it is very difficult to reconcile with the present +squalid condition of the existing "Venice of Hovels," as it has been +styled from its palaces and houses being all built in, or rather over, +the river to which it owes its name.</p> + +<p>The Spaniards found at Brunai Chinese manufactures and Chinese trading +junks, and were so impressed with the importance of the place that they +gave the name of Borneo—a corruption of the native name Brunai—to the +whole island, though the inhabitants themselves know no such general +title for their country.</p> + +<p>In some works, Pulau Kalamantan, which would signify <i>wild mangoes +island</i>, is given as the native name for Borneo, but it is quite +unknown, at any rate throughout North Borneo, and the island is by no +means distinguished by any profusion of wild mangoes.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<p>In 1573, a Spanish Embassy to Brunai met with no very favourable +reception, and three years later an expedition from Manila attacked the +place and, deposing a usurping Sultan, re-instated his brother on the +throne, who, to shew his gratitude, declared his kingdom tributary to +Spain.</p> + +<p>The Portuguese Governor of the Moluccas, in 1526, claimed the honour of +being the first discoverer of Borneo, and this nation appears to have +carried on trade with some parts of the island till they were driven out +of their Colonies by the Dutch in 1609. But neither the Portuguese nor +the Spaniards seem to have made any decided attempt to gain a footing in +Borneo, and it is not until the early part of the 17th century that we +find the two great rivals in the eastern seas—the English and the Dutch +East India Trading Companies—turning their attention to the island. The +first Dutchman to visit Borneo was <span class="smcap">Oliver van Noort</span>, who anchored at +Brunai in December, 1600, but though the Sultan was friendly, the +natives made an attempt to seize his ship, and he sailed the following +month, having come to the conclusion that the city was a nest of rogues.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span>The first English connection with Borneo was in 1609, when trade was +opened with Sukadana, diamonds being said to form the principal portion +of it.</p> + +<p>The East India Company, in 1702, established a Factory at Banjermassin, +on the South Coast, but were expelled by the natives in 1706. Their +rivals, the Dutch, also established Trading Stations on the South and +South-West Coasts.</p> + +<p>In 1761, the East India Company concluded a treaty with the Sultan of +Sulu, and in the following year an English Fleet, under Admiral <span class="smcap">Drake</span> +and Sir <span class="smcap">William Draper</span> captured Manila, the capital of the Spanish +Colony of the Philippines. They found in confinement there a Sultan of +Sulu who, in gratitude for his release, ceded to the Company, on the +12th September, 1762, the island of Balambangan, and in January of the +following year Mr. <span class="smcap">Dalrymple</span> was deputed to take possession of it and +hoist the British flag. Towards the close of 1763, the Sultan of Sulu +added to his cession the northern portion of Borneo and the southern +half of Palawan, together with all the intermediate islands. Against all +these cessions the Spanish entered their protest, as they claimed the +suzerainty over the Sulu Archipelago and the Sulu Dependencies in Borneo +and the islands. This claim the Spaniards always persisted in, until, on +the 7th March, 1885, a Protocol was entered into by England and Germany +and Spain, whereby Spanish supremacy over the Sulu Archipelago was +recognised on condition of their abandoning all claim to the portions of +Northern Borneo which are now included in the British North Borneo +Company's concessions.</p> + +<p>In November, 1768, the Court of Directors in London, with the approval +of Her Majesty's Ministers, who promised to afford protection to the new +Colony, issued orders to the authorities at Bombay for the establishment +of a settlement at Balambangan with the intention of diverting to it the +China trade, of drawing to it the produce of the adjoining countries, +and of opening a port for the introduction of spices, etc. by the Bugis, +and for the sale of Indian commodities. The actual date of the +foundation of the settlement is not known, but Mr. F. C. <span class="smcap">Danvers</span> states +that in 1771 the Court ordered that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span>the Government should be vested in +"a chief and two other persons of Council," and that the earliest +proceedings extant are dated Sulu, 1773, and relate to a broil in the +streets between Mr. <span class="smcap">Alcock</span>, the second in the Council, and the Surgeon +of the <i>Britannia</i>.</p> + +<p>This was a somewhat unpropitious commencement, and in 1774 the Court are +found writing to Madras, to which Balambangan was subordinate, +complaining of the "imprudent management and profuse conduct" of the +Chief and Council.</p> + +<p>In February, 1775, Sulu pirates surprised the stockade, and drove out +the settlers, capturing booty valued at about a million dollars. The +Company's officials then proceeded to the island of Labuan, now a +British Crown Colony, and established a factory, which was maintained +but for a short time, at Brunai itself. In 1803 Balambangan was again +occupied, but as no commercial advantage accrued, it was abandoned in +the following year, and so ended all attempts on the part of the East +India Company to establish a Colony in Borneo.</p> + +<p>While at Balambangan, the officers, in 1774, entered into negotiations +with the Sultan of Brunai, and on undertaking to protect him against +Sulu and Mindanau pirates, acquired the exclusive trade in all the +pepper grown in his country.</p> + +<p>The settlement of Singapore, the present capital of the Straits +Settlements, by Sir <span class="smcap">Stamford Raffles</span>, under the orders of the East India +Company in 1819, again drew attention to Borneo, for that judiciously +selected and free port soon attracted to itself the trade of the +Celebes, Borneo and the surrounding countries, which was brought to it +by numerous fleets of small native boats. These fleets were constantly +harassed and attacked and their crews carried off into slavery by the +Balinini, Illanun, and Dyak pirates infesting the Borneo and Celebes +coasts, and the interference of the British Cruisers was urgently called +for and at length granted, and was followed, in the natural course of +events, by political intervention, resulting in the brilliant and +exciting episode whereby the modern successor of the olden heroes—Sir +James Brooke—obtained for his family, in 1840, the kingdom of Sarawak, +on the west coast of the island, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span>which he in time purged of its two +plague spots—head-hunting on shore, and piracy and slave-dealing +afloat—and left to his heir, who has worthily taken up and carried on +his work, the unique inheritance of a settled Eastern Kingdom, inhabited +by the once dreaded head-hunting Dyaks and piratical Mahomedan Malays, +the government of whom now rests absolutely in the hands of its one +paternally despotic white ruler, or Raja. Sarawak, although not yet +formally proclaimed a British Protectorate,<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> may thus be deemed the +first permanent British possession in Borneo. Sir <span class="smcap">James Brooke</span> was also +employed by the British Government to conclude, on 27th May, 1847, a +treaty with the Sultan of Brunai, whereby the cession to us of the small +island of Labuan, which had been occupied as a British Colony in +December, 1846, was confirmed, and the Sultan engaged that no +territorial cession of any portion of his country should ever be made to +any Foreign Power without the sanction of Great Britain.</p> + +<p>These proceedings naturally excited some little feeling of jealousy in +our Colonial neighbours—the Dutch—who ineffectually protested against +a British subject becoming the ruler of Sarawak, as a breach of the +tenor of the treaty of London of 1824, and they took steps to define +more accurately the boundaries of their own dependencies in such other +parts of Borneo as were still open to them. What we now call British +North Borneo, they appear at that time to have regarded as outside the +sphere of their influence, recognising the Spanish claim to it through +their suzerainty, already alluded to, over the Sulu Sultan.</p> + +<p>With this exception, and that of the Brunai Sultanate, already secured +by the British Treaty, and Sarawak, now the property of the <span class="smcap">Brooke</span> +family, the Dutch have acquired a nominal suzerainty over the whole of +the rest of Borneo, by treaties with the independent rulers—an area +comprising about two-thirds of the whole island, probably not a tenth +part of which is under their actual direct administrative control.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span>They appear to have been so pre-occupied with the affairs of their +important Colony of Java and its dependencies, and the prolonged, +exhausting and ruinously expensive war with the Achinese in Sumatra, +that beyond posting Government Residents at some of the more important +points, they have hitherto done nothing to attract European capital and +enterprise to Borneo, but it would now seem that the example set by the +British Company in the North is having its effect, and I hear of a +Tobacco Planting Company and of a Coal Company being formed to operate +on the East Coast of Dutch Borneo.</p> + +<p>The Spanish claim to North Borneo was a purely theoretical one, and not +only their claim, but that also of the Sulus through whom they claimed, +was vigorously disputed by the Sultans of Brunai, who denied that, as +asserted by the Sulus, any portion of Borneo had been ceded to them by a +former Sultan of Brunai, who had by their help defeated rival claimants +and been seated on the throne. The Sulus, on their side, would own no +allegiance to the Spaniards, with whom they had been more or less at war +for almost three centuries, and their actual hold over any portion of +North Borneo was of the slightest. Matters were in this position when +Mr. <span class="smcap">Alfred Dent</span>, now Sir <span class="smcap">Alfred Dent</span>, <small>K.C.M.G.</small>, fitted out an +expedition, and in December, 1877, and January, 1878, obtained from the +Sultans of Brunai and Sulu, in the manner hereafter detailed, the +sovereign control over the North portion of Borneo, from the Kimanis +river on the West to the Siboku river on the East, concessions which +were confirmed by Her Majesty's Royal Charter in November, 1881.</p> + +<p>I have now traced, in brief outline, the political history of Borneo +from the time when the country first became generally known to +Europeans—in 1518—down to its final division between Great Britain and +the Netherlands in 1881.</p> + +<p>If we can accept the statements of the earlier writers, Borneo was in +its most prosperous stage before it became subjected to European +influences, after which, owing to the mistaken and monopolising policy +of the Commercial Companies then holding sway in the East, the trade and +agriculture of this and other islands of the Malay Archipelago received +a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span>blow from which at any rate that of Borneo is only now recovering. By +the terms of its Charter, the British North Borneo Company is prohibited +from creating trade monopolies, and of its own accord it has decided not +to engage itself in trading transactions at all, and as Raja <span class="smcap">Brooke's</span> +Government is similar to that of a British Crown Colony, and the Dutch +Government no longer encourage monopolies, there is good ground for +believing that the wrong done is being righted, and that a brighter page +than ever is now being opened for Borneo and its natives.</p> + +<p>Before finishing with this part of the subject, I may mention that the +United States Government had entered into a treaty with the Sultan of +Brunai, in almost exactly the same words as the English one, including +the clause prohibiting cessions of territory without the consent of the +other party to the treaty, and, in 1878, Commodore <span class="smcap">Schufeldt</span> was ordered +by his Government to visit Borneo and report on the cessions obtained by +Mr. <span class="smcap">Dent</span>. I was Acting British Consul-General at the time, and before +leaving the Commodore informed me emphatically that he could discover no +American interests in Borneo, "neither white nor black."</p> + +<p>The native population of Borneo is given in books of reference as +between 1,750,000 and 2,500,000. The aborigines are of the Malay race, +which itself is a variety of the Mongolian and indeed, when inspecting +prisoners, I have often been puzzled to distinguish the Chinese from the +Malay, they being dressed alike and the distinctive <i>pig-tail</i> having +been shaved off the former as part of the prison discipline.</p> + +<p>These Mongolian Malays from High Asia, who presumably migrated to the +Archipelago <i>viâ</i> the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra, must, however, have +found Borneo and other of the islands partially occupied by a Caucasic +race, as amongst the aborigines are still found individuals of +distinctive Caucasic type, as has been pointed out to be the case with +the Buludupih tribe of British North Borneo, by Dr. <span class="smcap">Montano</span>, whom I had +the pleasure of meeting in Borneo in 1878-9. To these the name of +pre-Malays has been given, but Professor <span class="smcap">Keane</span>, to whom I beg to +acknowledge my indebtedness on <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>these points, prefers the title of +Indonesians. The scientific descriptions of a typical Malay is as +follows:—"Stature little over five feet, complexion olive yellow, head +brachy-cephalous or round, cheek-bones prominent, eyes black and +slightly oblique, nose small but not flat, nostrils dilated, hands small +and delicate, legs thin and weak, hair black, coarse and lank, beard +absent or scant;" but these Indonesians to whom belong most of the +indigenous inhabitants of Celebes, are taller and have fairer or light +brown complexions and regular features, connecting them with the brown +Polynesians of the Eastern Pacific "who may be regarded as their +descendants," and Professor <span class="smcap">Keane</span> accounts for their presence by +assuming "a remote migration of the Caucasic race to South-Eastern Asia, +of which evidences are not lacking in Camboja and elsewhere, and a +further onward movement, first to the Archipelago and then East to the +Pacific." It is needless to say that the aborigines themselves have the +haziest and most unscientific notion of their own origin, as the +following account, gravely related to me by a party of Buludupihs, will +exemplify:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p class="center">"<i>The Origin of the Buludupih Race.</i></p> + +<p>In past ages a Chinese<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> settler had taken to wife a daughter of the +aborigines, by whom he had a female child. Her parents lived in a hilly +district (<i>Bulud</i> = hill), covered with a large forest tree, known by +the name of <i>opih</i>. One day a jungle fire occurred, and after it was +over, the child jumped down from the house (native houses are raised on +piles off the ground), and went up to look at a half burnt <i>opih</i> log, +and suddenly disappeared and was never seen again. But the parents heard +the voice of a spirit issue from the log, announcing that it had taken +the child to wife and that, in course of time, the bereaved parents +would find an infant in the jungle, whom they were to consider as the +offspring of the marriage, <span class='pagenumbq'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span>and who would become the father of a new +race. The prophecy of the spirit was in due time fulfilled."</p> +</div> + +<p>It somewhat militates against the correctness of this history that the +Buludupihs are distinguished by the absence of Mongolian features.</p> + +<p>The general appellation given to the aborigines by the modern Malays—to +whom reference will be made later on—is <i>Dyak</i>, and they are divided +into numerous tribes, speaking very different dialects of the +Malayo-Polynesian stock, and known by distinctive names, the origin of +which is generally obscure, at least in British North Borneo, where +these names are <i>not</i>, as a rule, derived from those of the rivers on +which they dwell.</p> + +<p>The following are the names of some of the principal North Borneo +aboriginal tribes:—Kadaians, Dusuns, Ida'ans, Bisaias, Buludupihs, +Eraans, Subans, Sun-Dyaks, Muruts, Tagaas. Of these, the Kadaians, +Buludupihs, Eraans and one large section of the Bisaias have embraced +the religion of Mahomet; the others are Pagans, with no set form of +religion, no idols, but believing in spirits and in a future life, which +they localise on the top of the great mountain of Kina-balu. These +Pagans are a simple and more natural, less self-conscious, people than +their Mahomedan brethren, who are ahead of them in point of +civilization, but are more reserved, more proud and altogether less +"jolly," and appear, with their religion, to have acquired also some of +the characteristics of the modern or true Malays. A Pagan can sit, or +rather squat, with you and tell you legends, or, perhaps, on an occasion +join in a glass of grog, whereas the Mahomedan, especially the true +Malay, looks upon the Englishman as little removed from a "Kafir"—an +uncircumcised Philistine—who through ignorance constantly offends in +minor points of etiquette, who eats pig and drinks strong drink, is +ignorant of the dignity of repose, and whose accidental physical and +political superiority in the present world will be more than compensated +for by the very inferior and uncomfortable position he will attain in +the next. The aborigines inhabit the interior parts of North Borneo, and +all along the coast is found a fringe of true Malays, talking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> modern +Malay and using the Arabic written character, whereas the aborigines +possess not even the rudiments of an alphabet and, consequently, no +literature at all.</p> + +<p>How is the presence in Borneo of this more highly civilized product of +the Malay race, differing so profoundly in language and manners from +their kinsmen—the aborigines—to be accounted for? Professor <span class="smcap">Keane</span> once +more comes to our assistance, and solves the question by suggesting that +the Mongolian Malays from High Asia who settled in Sumatra, attained +there a real national development in comparatively recent times, and +after their conversion to Mahomedanism by the Arabs, from whom, as well +as from the Bhuddist missionaries who preceded them, they acquired arts +and an elementary civilization, spread to Borneo and other parts of +Malaysia and quickly asserted their superiority over the less advanced +portion of their race already settled there. This theory fits in well +with the native account of the distribution of the Malay race, which +makes Menangkabau, in Southern Sumatra, the centre whence they spread +over the Malayan islands and peninsula.</p> + +<p>The Professor further points out, that in prehistoric times the Malay +and Indonesian stock spread westwards to Madagascar and eastwards to the +Philippines and Formosa, Micronesia and Polynesia. "This astonishing +expansion of the Malaysian people throughout the Oceanic area is +sufficiently attested by the diffusion of common (Malayo-Polynesian) +speech from Madagascar to Easter Island and from Hawaii to New Zealand."</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<p class="center"><b>Footnotes:</b></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> The explanation <i>Sago Island</i> has been given, <i>lamantah</i> +being the native term for the raw sago sold to the factories.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> A British Protectorate was established over North Borneo on +the 12th May, over Sarawak on the 14th June, and over Brunai on the 17th +September, 1888. <i>Vide</i> Appendix.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> The Buludupihs inhabit the China or Kina-batangan river, +and Sir <span class="smcap">Hugh Low</span>, in a note to his history of the Sultans of Brunai, in +a number of the Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic +Society, says that it is probable that in former days the Chinese had a +Settlement or Factory at that river, as some versions of the native +history of Brunai expressly state that the Chinese wife of one of the +earliest Sultans was brought thence.</p></div> + +</div> + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>Chapter II.</h2> + +<p>The headquarters of the true Malay in Northern Borneo is the City of +Brunai, on the river of that name, on the North-West Coast of the +island, where resides the Court of the only nominally independent Sultan +now remaining in the Archipelago.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> + +<p>The Brunai river is probably the former mouth of the Limbang, and is now +more a salt water inlet than a river. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>Contrary, perhaps, to the general +idea, an ordinary eastern river, at any rate until the limit of +navigability for European craft is attained, is not, as a rule, a thing +of beauty by any means.</p> + +<p>The typical Malay river debouches through flat, fever-haunted swampy +country, where, for miles, nothing meets the eye but the monotonous dark +green of the level, interminable mangrove forest, with its fantastic, +interlacing roots, whose function it appears to be to extend seaward, +year by year, its dismal kingdom of black fetid mud, and to veil from +the rude eye of the intruder the tropical charms of the country at its +back. After some miles of this cheerless scenery, and at a point where +the fresh water begins to mingle with the salt, the handsome and useful +<i>nipa</i> palm, with leaves twenty to thirty feet in length, which supply +the native with the material for the walls and roof of his house, the +wrapper for his cigarette, the sugar for his breakfast table, the salt +for his daily needs and the strong drink to gladden his heart on his +feast days, becomes intermixed with the mangrove and finally takes its +place—a pleasing change, but still monotonous, as it is so dense that, +itself growing in the water, it quite shuts out all view of the bank and +surrounding country.</p> + +<p>One of the first signs of the fresh river water, is the occurrence on +the bank of the graceful <i>nibong</i> palm, with its straight, slender, +round stem, twenty to thirty feet in height, surmounted with a plume of +green leaves. This palm, cut into lengths and requiring no further +preparation, is universally employed by the Malay for the posts and +beams of his house, always raised several feet above the level of the +ground, or of the water, as the case may be, and, split up into lathes +of the requisite size, forms the frame-work of the walls and roof, and +constitutes the flooring throughout. With the pithy centre removed, the +<i>nibong</i> forms an efficient aqueduct, in the absence of bambu, and its +young, growing shoot affords a cabbage, or salad, second only to that +furnished by the coco-nut, which will next come into view, together with +the betel (<i>Areca</i>) nut palm, if the river visited is an inhabited one; +but if uninhabited, the traveller will find nothing but thick, almost +impenetrable jungle, with mighty trees shooting up one <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>hundred to a +hundred and fifty feet without a branch, in their endeavour to get their +share of the sun-light, and supporting on their trunks and branches +enormous creepers, rattans, graceful ferns and lovely orchids and other +luxuriant epiphytal growths. Such is the typical North Borneo river, to +which, however, the Brunai is a solitary exception. The mouth of the +Brunai river is approached between pretty verdant islets, and after +passing through a narrow and tortuous passage, formed naturally by +sandbanks and artificially by a barrier of stones, bare at low water, +laid down in former days to keep out the restless European, you find +your vessel, which to cross the bar should not draw more than thirteen +or fourteen feet, in deep water between green, grassy, hilly, +picturesque banks, with scarcely a sign of the abominable mangrove, or +even of the <i>nipa</i>, which, however, to specially mark the contrast +formed by this stream, are both to be found in abundance in the <i>upper</i> +portion of the river, which the steamer cannot enter. After passing a +small village or two, the first object which used to attract attention +was the brick ruins of a Roman Catholic Church, which had been erected +here by the late Father <span class="smcap">Cuarteron</span>, a Spanish Missionary of the Society +of the Propaganda Fide, who, originally a jovial sea captain, had the +good fortune to light upon a wrecked treasure ship in the Eastern seas, +and, feeling presumably unwonted twinges of conscience, decided to +devote the greater part of his wealth to the Church, in which he took +orders, eventually attaining the rank of Prefect Apostolic. His Mission, +unfortunately, was a complete failure, but though his assistants were +withdrawn, he stuck to his post to the last and, no doubt, did a certain +amount of good in liberating, from time to time, Spanish subjects he +found in slavery on the Borneo Coast.</p> + +<p>Had the poor fellow settled in the interior, amongst the Pagans, he +might, by his patience and the example of his good life, have made some +converts, but amongst the Mahomedans of the coast it was labour in vain. +The bricks of his Brunai Church have since been sold to form the +foundation of a steam sawmill.</p> + +<p>Turning a sharp corner, the British Consulate is reached, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>where +presides, and flies with pride the Union Jack, Her Majesty's Consular +Agent, Mr. or Inche <span class="smcap">Mahomet</span>, with his three wives and thirteen children. +He is a native of Malacca and a clever, zealous, courteous and +hospitable official, well versed in the political history of Brunai +since the advent of Sir <span class="smcap">James Brooke</span>.</p> + +<p>The British is the only Consulate now established at Brunai, but once +the stars and stripes proudly waved over the Consulate of an unpaid +American Consul. There was little scope at Brunai for a white man in +pursuit of the fleeting dollar, and one day the Consulate was burnt to +the ground, and a heavy claim for compensation for this alleged act of +incendiarism was sent in to the Sultan. His Highness disputed the claim, +and an American man-of-war was despatched to make enquiries on the spot. +In the end, the compensation claimed was not enforced, and Mr. <span class="smcap">Moses</span>, +the Consul, was not subsequently, I think, appointed to any other +diplomatic or consular post by the President of the Republic. A little +further on are the palaces, shops and houses of the city of Brunai, all, +with the exception of a few brick shops belonging to Chinamen, built +over the water in a reach where the river broadens out, and a vessel can +steam up the High Street and anchor abreast of the Royal Palace. When +<span class="smcap">Pigafetta</span> visited the port in 1521, he estimated the number of houses at +25,000, which, at the low average of six to a house, would give Brunai a +population of 150,000 people, many of whom were Chinese, cultivating +pepper gardens, traces of which can still be seen on the now deserted +hills. Sir <span class="smcap">Spencer St. John</span>, formerly H. B. M. Consul-General in Borneo, +and who put the population at 25,000 at the lowest in 1863, asserts that +fifteen is a fair average to assign to a Brunai house, which would make +the population in <span class="smcap">Pigafetta's</span> time 375,000. From his enquiries he found +that the highest number was seventy, in the Sultan's palace, and the +lowest seven, in a fisherman's small hut. <span class="smcap">Pigafetta</span>, however, probably +alluded to families, <i>fires</i> I think is the word he makes use of, and +more than one family is often found occupying a Brunai house. The +present population perhaps does not number <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>more than 12,000 or 15,000 +natives, and about eighty Chinese and a few Kling shop-keepers, as +natives of India are here styled. Writing in 1845, Sir <span class="smcap">James Brooke</span>, +then the Queen's first Commissioner to Brunai, says with reference to +this Sultanate:—"Here the experiment may be fairly tried, on the +smallest possible scale of expense, whether a beneficial European +influence may not re-animate a falling State and at the same time extend +our commerce. <span class="elided1"> * * *</span> If this tendency to decay and extinction be +inevitable, if this approximation of European policy to native +Government should be unable to arrest the fall of the Bornean dynasty, +yet we shall retrieve a people already habituated to European habits and +manners, industrious interior races; and if it become necessary, a +Colony gradually formed and ready to our hand in a rich and fertile +country," and elsewhere he admits that the regeneration of the Borneo +Malays through themselves was a hobby of his. The experiment has been +tried and, so far as concerns the re-animation of the Malay Government +of Brunai, the verdict must be "a complete failure." The English are a +practical race, and self-interest is the guide of nations in their +intercourse with one another; it was not to be supposed that they would +go out of their way to teach the degenerate Brunai aristocracy how to +govern in accordance with modern ideas; indeed, the Treaty we made with +them, by prohibiting, for instance, their levying customs duties, or +royalties, on the export of such jungle products as gutta percha and +India rubber, in the collection of which the trees yielding them are +entirely destroyed, and by practically suggesting to them the policy, or +rather the impolicy, of imposing the heavy due of $1 per registered ton +on all European Shipping entering their ports, whether in cargo or in +ballast, scarcely tended to stave off their collapse, and the Borneans +must have formed their own conclusions from the fact that when they gave +up portions of their territory to the <span class="smcap">Brookes</span> and to the British North +Borneo Company, the British Government no longer called for the +observance of these provisions of the Treaty in the ceded districts. The +English have got all they wanted from Brunai, but I think it can +scarcely be said that they have <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>done very much for it in return. I +remember that the late Sultan thought it an inexplicable thing that we +could not assist him to recover a debt due to him by one of the British +Coal Companies which tried their luck in Borneo. Moreover, even the +cession to their good and noble friend Sir <span class="smcap">James Brooke</span> of the Brunai +Province of Sarawak has been itself also, to a certain extent, a factor +in their Government's decay, that State, under the rule of the +Rája—<span class="smcap">Charles Brooke</span>—having attained its present prosperous condition +at the expense of Brunai and by gradually absorbing its territory.</p> + +<p>Between British North Borneo, on the one side, and Sarawak, on the +other, the sea-board of Brunai, which, when we first appeared on the +scene, extended from Cape Datu to Marudu Bay—some 700 miles—is now +reduced to 125 or 130 miles, and, besides the river on which it is +built, Brunai retains but two others of any importance, both of which +are in rebellion of a more or less vigorous character, and the whole +State of Brunai is so sick that its case is now under the consideration +of Her Majesty's Government.</p> + +<p>Thus ends in collapse the history of the last independent Malay +Government. Excepting only Johor (which is prosperous owing to its being +under the wing of Singapore, which fact gives confidence to European and +Chinese capitalists and Chinese labourers, and to its good fortune in +having a wise and just ruler in its Sultan, who owes his elevation to +British influences), all the Malay Governments throughout the Malay +Archipelago and in the Malay Peninsula are now subject either to the +English, the Dutch, the Spanish or the Portuguese. This decadence is not +due to any want of vitality in the race, for under European rule the +Malay increases his numbers, as witness the dense population of Java and +the rapidly growing Malay population of the Straits Settlements.</p> + +<p>That the Malay does so flourish in contact with the European and the +Chinese is no doubt to some extent due to his attachment to the +Mahomedan faith, which as a tee-total religion is, so far, the most +suitable one for a tropical race; it has also to be remembered that he +inhabits tropical countries, where the white man cannot perform out-door +labour <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>and appears only as a Government Official, a merchant or a +planter.</p> + +<p>But the decay of the Brunai aristocracy was probably inevitable. Take +the life of a young noble. He is the son of one of perhaps thirty women +in his father's harem, his mother is entirely without education, can +neither read nor write, is never allowed to appear in public or have any +influence in public affairs, indeed scarcely ever leaves her house, and +one of her principal excitements, perhaps, is the carrying on of an +intrigue, an excitement enhanced by the fact that discovery means +certain death to herself and her lover.</p> + +<p>Brunai being a water town, the youngster has little or no chance of a +run and game ashore, and any exercise he takes is confined to <i>being</i> +paddled up and down the river in a canoe, for to paddle himself would be +deemed much too degrading—a Brunai noble should never put his hand to +any honest physical work—even for his own recreation. I once imported a +Rob Roy canoe from England and amused myself by making long paddling +excursions, and I would also sometimes, to relieve the monotony of a +journey in a native boat, take a spell at the paddle with the men, and I +was gravely warned by a native friend that by such action I was +seriously compromising myself and lowering my position in the eyes of +the higher class of natives. At an early age the young noble becomes an +object of servile adulation to the numerous retainers and slaves, both +male and female, and is by them initiated in vicious practices and, +while still a boy, acquires from them some of the knowledge of a fast +man of the world. As a rule he receives no sort of school education. He +neither rides nor joins in the chase and, since the advent of Europeans, +there have been no wars to brace his nerves, or call out any of the +higher qualities of mind or body which may be latent in him; nor is +there any standing army or navy in which he might receive a beneficial +training. No political career, in the sense we attach to the term, is +open to him, and he has no feelings of patriotism whatever. That an +aristocracy thus nurtured should degenerate can cause no surprise. The +general term for the nobles amongst the Brunais is <i>Pangeran</i>, and their +numbers may be <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>guessed when it is understood that every son and +daughter of every many-wived noble is also a Pangeran.</p> + +<p>Some of these unfortunate noblemen have nothing wherewith to support +their position, and in very recent times I have actually seen a needy +Pangeran, in a British Colony where he could not live by oppression or +theft, driven to work in a coal mine or drive a buffalo cart.</p> + +<p>With the ordinary freeborn citizen of Brunai life opens under better +auspices. The children are left much to themselves and are merry, +precocious, naked little imps, able to look out for themselves at a very +much earlier age than is the case with European infants, and it is +wonderful to see quite little babies clambering up the rickety stairs +leading from the river to the house, or crawling unheeded on the +tottering verandahs. Almost before they can walk they can swim, and they +have been known to share their mother's cigarettes while still in arms. +All day long they amuse themselves in miniature canoes, rolling over and +over in the water, regardless of crocodiles. Happy children! they have +no school and no clothes—one might, perhaps, exclaim happy parents, +too! Malays are very kind and indulgent to their children and I do not +think I have seen or heard of a case of the application of the parental +hand to any part of the infant person. As soon as he is strong enough, +say eight or nine years of age, the young Malay, according to the +<i>kampong</i>, or division of the town, in which his lot has been cast, +joins in his father's trade and becomes a fisherman, a trader, or a +worker in brass or in iron as the case may be. The girls have an equally +free and easy time while young, their only garments being a silver fig +leaf, fastened to a chain or girdle round the waist. As they grow up +they help their mothers in their household duties, or by selling their +goods in the daily floating market; they marry young and are, as a rule, +kindly treated by their husbands. Although Mahomedans, they can go about +freely and unveiled, a privilege denied to their sisters of the higher +classes. The greatest misfortune for such a girl is, perhaps, the +possession of a pretty face and figure, which may result in her being +honoured with the attentions of a noble, in whose harem she <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>may be +secluded for the rest of her life, and, as her charms wane her supply of +both food and clothing is reduced to the lowest limit.</p> + +<p>By the treaty with Great Britain traffic in slaves is put down, that is, +Borneo is no longer the mart where, as in former days, the pirates can +bring in their captives for sale; but the slaves already in the place +have not been liberated, and a slave's children are slaves, so that +domestic slavery, as it is termed, exists on a very considerable scale +in Brunai. Slaves were acquired in the old days by purchase from pirates +and, on any pretext, from the Pagan tribes of Borneo. For instance, if a +feudal chief of an outlying river was in want of some cash, nothing was +easier than for him to convict a man, who was the father of several +children, of some imaginary offence, or neglect of duty, and his +children, girls and boys, would be seized and carried off to Brunai as +slaves. A favourite method was that of "forced trade." The chief would +send a large quantity of trade goods to a Pagan village and leave them +there to be sold at one hundred per cent, or more above their proper +value, all legitimate trade being prohibited meanwhile, and if the money +or barter goods were not forthcoming when demanded, the deficiency would +be made up in slaves. This kind of oppression was very rife in the +neighbourhood of the capital when I first became acquainted with Borneo +in 1871, but the power of the chiefs has been much curtailed of late, +owing to the extensive cessions of territory to Sarawak and the British +North Borneo Company, and their hold on the rivers left to them has +become very precarious, since the warlike Kyans passed under Rája +<span class="smcap">Brooke's</span> sway. This tribe, once the most powerful in Borneo, was always +ready at the Sultan's call to raid on any tribe who had incurred his +displeasure and revelled in the easy acquisition of fresh heads, over +which to hold the triumphal dance. The Brunai Malays are not a warlike +race, and the Rájas find that, without the Kyans, they are as a tiger +with its teeth drawn and its claws pared, and the Pagan tribes have not +been slow to make the discovery for themselves. Those on the Limbang +river have been in open rebellion for the last three or four years <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>and +are crying out to be taken under the protection of the Queen, or, +failing that, then under the "Kompani," as the British North Borneo +Company's Government like that of the East India Company in days gone +by, is styled, or under Sarawak.</p> + +<p>The condition of the domestic slaves is not a particularly hard one +unless, in the case of a girl, she is compelled to join the harem, when +she becomes technically free, but really only changes one sort of +servitude for another and more degrading one. With this exception, the +slaves live on friendly terms with their masters' families, and the +propinquity of a British Colony—Labuan—has tended to ameliorate their +condition, as an ill-used slave can generally find means to escape +thither and, so long as he remains there, he is a free man.</p> + +<p>The scientific description of a typical Malay has already been given, +and it answers well on almost all points for the Brunai specimen, except +that the nose, as well as being small, is, in European eyes, deficient +as to "bridge," and the legs cannot be described as weak, indeed the +Brunai Malay, male and female, is a somewhat fleshy animal. In +temperament, the Malay is described as "taciturn, undemonstrative, +little given to outward manifestations of joy or sorrow, courteous +towards each other, kind to their women and children. Not elated by good +or depressed by bad fortune, but capable of excesses when roused. Under +the influence of religious excitement, losses at gambling, jealousy or +other domestic troubles they are liable to <i>amok</i> or run-a-muck, an +expression which appears to have passed into the English language." With +strangers, the Brunai Malay is doubtless taciturn, but I have heard +Brunai ladies among themselves, while enjoying their betel-nut, rival +any old English gossips over their cup of tea, and on an expedition the +men will sometimes keep up a conversation long into the night till +begged to desist. Courtesy seems to be innate in every Malay of whatever +rank, both in their intercourse with one another and with strangers. The +meeting at Court of two Brunai nobles who, perhaps, entertain feelings +of the greatest hatred towards each other, is an interesting study, and +the display of mutual courtesy unrivalled. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>I need scarcely say that +horseplay and practical joking are unknown, contradiction is rarely +resorted to and "chaff" is only known in its mildest form. The lowest +Malay will never pass in front of you if it can be avoided, nor hand +anything to another across you. Unless in case of necessity, a Malay +will not arouse his friend from slumber, and then only in the gentlest +manner possible. It is bad manners to point at all, but, if it is +absolutely necessary to do so, the forefinger is never employed, but the +person or object is indicated, in a sort of shamefaced way, with the +thumb. It is impolite to bare a weapon in public, and Europeans often +show their ignorance of native etiquette by asking a Malay visitor to +let them examine the blade of the <i>kris</i> he is wearing. It is not +considered polite to enquire after the welfare of the female members of +a Brunai gentleman's household. For a Malay to uncover his head in your +presence would be an impertinence, but a guttural noise in his throat +after lunching with you is a polite way of expressing pleased +satisfaction with the excellence of the repast. This latter piece of +etiquette has probably been adopted from the Chinese. The low social +position assigned to women by Brunai Malays, as by nearly all Mahomedan +races, is of course a partial set-off to the general courtesy that +characterises them. The average intelligence of what may be called the +working class Malay is almost as far superior to that, say, of the +British country bumpkin as are his manners. Mr. <span class="smcap">H. O. Forbes</span> says in his +"Naturalist in the Eastern Archipelago" that he was struck with the +natives' acute observation in natural history and the accuracy with +which they could give the names, habits and uses of animals and plants +in the jungle, and the traveller cannot but admire the general handiness +and adaptability to changed circumstances and customs and quickness of +understanding of the Malay coolies whom he engages to accompany him.</p> + +<p>Cannot one imagine the stolid surprise and complete obfuscation of the +English peasant if an intelligent Malay traveller were to be suddenly +set down in his district, making enquiries as to the, to him, novel +forms of plants and animals and asking for minute information as to the +manners and customs of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>the new people amongst whom he found himself, +and, generally, seeking for information as the reasons for this and for +that?</p> + +<p>Their religion sits somewhat lightly on the Brunai Malays; the Mahomedan +Mosque in the capital was always in a very dirty and neglected state, +though prayers were said there daily, and I have never seen a Borneo +Malay under the influence of religious excitement.</p> + +<p>Gambling prevails, doubtless, and so does cock-righting, but neither is +the absorbing passion which it seems, from travellers' accounts, to be +with Malays elsewhere.</p> + +<p>When visiting the Spanish settlements in Sulu and Balabac, I was +surprised to find regular officially licensed cock-fighting pits, with a +special seat for the Spanish Governor, who was expected to be present on +high days and holidays. I have never come across a regular cockpit in +Brunai, or in any part of northern Borneo.</p> + +<p>The <i>amoks</i> that I have been cognisant of have, consequently, not been +due to either religious excitement, or to losses at gambling, but, in +nearly every case, to jealousy and domestic trouble, and their +occurrence almost entirely confined to the British Colony of Labuan +where, of course, the Mahomedan pains and penalties for female +delinquencies could not be enforced. I remember one poor fellow whom I +pitied very much. He had good reason to be jealous of his wife and, in +our courts, could not get the redress he sought. He explained to me that +a mist seemed to gather before his eyes and that he became utterly +unconscious of what he was doing—his will was quite out of his control. +Some half dozen people—children, men and women—were killed, or +desperately wounded before he was overpowered. He acknowledged his +guilt, and suffered death at the hands of the hangman with quiet +dignity. Many tragical incidents in the otherwise uneventful history of +Labuan may be traced to the manner in which marriages are contracted +amongst the Borneo Malays. Marriages of mere love are almost unknown; +they are generally a matter of bargain between the girls' parents and +the expectant bridegroom, or his parents, and, practically, everything +depends on <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>the amount of the dowry or <i>brihan</i>—literally "gift"—which +the swain can pay to the former. In their own country there exist +certain safeguards which prevent any abuse of this system, but it was +found that under the English law a clever parent could manage to dispose +of his daughter's hand several times over, so that really the plot of +Mrs. <span class="smcap">Campbell Praed's</span> somewhat unpleasant play "Arianne" was anticipated +in the little colony of Labuan. I was once called upon, as Coroner, to +inquire into the deaths of a young man and his handsome young wife, who +were discovered lying dead, side by side, on the floor of their house. +The woman was found to be fearfully cut about; the man had but one +wound, in his abdomen, penetrating the bowels. There was only one weapon +by which the double murder could have been committed, a knife with a six +inch blade, and circumstances seemed to point to the probability that +the woman had first stabbed the man, who had then wrenched the knife +from her grasp and hacked her to death. The man was not quite dead when +found and he accused the dead woman of stabbing him. It was found, that +they had not long been married and that, apparently with the girl's +consent, her father had been negociating for her marriage with another. +The father himself was subsequently the first man murdered in British +North Borneo after the assumption of the Government by the Company, and +his murderer was the first victim of the law in the new Colony. +Altogether a tragical story.</p> + +<p>Many years ago another <i>amok</i>, which was near being tragical, had an +almost comical termination. The then Colonial Treasurer was an +entertaining Irishman of rather mature age. Walking down to his office +one day he found in the road a Malay hacking at his wife and another +man. Home rule not being then in fashion with the Irish, the Treasurer, +armed only with his sun umbrella, attempted to interfere, when the +<i>amoker</i> turned furiously on him and the Irish official, who was of +spare build, took to his heels and made good his escape, the chase, +though a serious matter to him, causing irrepressible mirth to +onlookers. The man was never captured, and his victims, though +disfigured, recovered. I remember<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> being struck by the contemptuous +reply of Sir <span class="smcap">Hugh Low's</span> Chinese servant when he warned him to be on his +guard, as there was an <i>amoker</i> at large, and alluded to Mr. C.'s narrow +escape—it was to the effect that the Treasurer was foolish to interfere +in other people's concerns. This unwillingness to busy oneself in +others' affairs, which sometimes has the appearance of callousness, is +characteristic of Malays and Chinese.</p> + +<p>The readers of a book of travels are somewhat under a disadvantage in +forming their opinion of a country, in that incidents are focussed for +them by those of the same nature being grouped together. I do not wish +it to be thought that murders and <i>amoks</i> are at all common occurrences +in Northern Borneo, indeed they are very few and far between, and +criminal acts of all kinds are remarkably infrequent, that is, of +course, if we regard head-hunting as an amusement sanctioned by usage, +especially as, in the parts under native government, there is a total +absence of any kind of police force, while every man carries arms, and +houses with palm leaf walls and innocent of locks, bolts and bars, offer +unusual temptations to the burglariously inclined. My wife and I nearly +always slept without a watchman and with the doors and windows unclosed, +the servants' offices being detached from the house, and we have never +had any of our property stolen except by a "boy."</p> + +<p>Brunai is governed by a Sultan styled Iang-di-pertuan, "he who rules," +and four principal Ministers of State, "Wazirs"—the Pangeran Bandahara, +the Pangeran di Gadong, the Pangeran Pamancha and the Pangeran +Temenggong. These Ministers are generally men of the royal blood, and +fly distinctive flags at their residences, that of the Bandahara being +white, of the di Gadong, green, and of the Temenggong, red. The flags +are remarkably simple and inexpensive, but quite distinctive, each +consisting of a square bit of bunting or cloth of the requisite colour, +with the exception of the Temenggong's, which is cut in the shape of a +burgee. The Sultan's flag is a plain piece of yellow bunting, yellow +being the Brunei royal colour, and no man, except the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span>Sovereign, is +permitted to exhibit that colour in any portion of his dress. It shows +how little importance attaches to the female sex that a lady, even a +slave, can sport yellow in her dress, or any colour she chooses. +Theoretically the duties of the Bandahara are those of a Home Secretary; +the di Gadong is Keeper of the Seal and Chancellor of the Exchequer; the +Pamancha's functions I am rather uncertain about, as the post has +remained unfilled for many years past, but they would seem to partake of +those of a Home Secretary; and the Temenggong is the War Minister and +Military and Naval Commander-in-chief, and appears also to hear and +decide criminal and civil cases in the city of Brunai. These +appointments are made by the Sultan, and for life, but it will be +understood that, in such a rough and ready system of government as that +of Brunai, the actual influence of each Minister depends entirely on his +own character and that of the Sultan. Sometimes one Minister will +practically usurp the functions of some, or, perhaps, all the others, +leaving them only their titles and revenues, while often, on a vacancy +occurring, the Sultan does not make a fresh appointment, but himself +appropriates the revenue of the office leaving the duties to take care +of themselves.</p> + +<p>To look after trade and commerce there is, in theory, an inferior +Minister, the Pangeran Shabander.</p> + +<p>There is another class of Ministers—<i>Mantri</i>—who are selected by the +Sultan from among the people, and are chosen for their intelligence and +for the influence and following they have amongst the citizens. They +possess very considerable political power, their opinions being asked on +important matters. Such are the two Juwatans and the Orang Kaya di +Gadong, who may be looked upon as the principal officers of the Sultan +and the Wazirs.</p> + +<p>The State officials are paid by the revenues of certain districts which +are assigned, as will be seen below, to the different offices.</p> + +<p>The Mahomedan Malays, it has already been explained, were an invading +and conquering race in Borneo, and their chiefs would seem to have +divided the country, or, rather, the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>inhabitants, amongst themselves, +in much the same way as England was parcelled out among the followers of +<span class="smcap">William the Conqueror</span>. The people of all the rivers<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> and of the +interior, up to the limits where the Brunai Malays can enforce their +authority, own as their feudal lord and pay taxes to either the Sultan, +in his unofficial capacity, or to one of the nobles, or else they are +attached to the office of Sultan or one of the great Ministers of State, +and, again theoretically speaking, all the districts in the Sultanate +are known, from the fact of the people on them belonging to a noble, or +to the reigning Sultan for the time being, or to one of the Ministers of +State, as either:—</p> + +<table border="0" width="90%" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" summary="Types of districts"> + +<tr><td></td><td class="tdrt">1.</td><td class="tdl">Ka-rájahan—belonging to the Sultan or Rája.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdrt">or</td><td class="tdrt">2.</td><td class="tdl">Kouripan—belonging to certain public officials during their term +of office.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdrt">or</td><td class="tdrt">3.</td><td class="tdl">Pusaka or Tulin—belonging to the Sultan or any of the nobles in +their unofficial capacity.</td></tr> + +</table> + +<p>The crown and the feudal chiefs did not assert any claim to the land; +there are, for instance, no "crown lands," and, in the case of land not +owned or occupied, any native could settle upon and cultivate it without +payment of any rent or land tax, either to the Sultan or to the feudal +chief of the district; consequently, land was comparatively little +regarded, and what the feudal chief claimed was the people and not the +land, so much so that, as pointed out by Mr. <span class="smcap">P. Leys</span> in a Consular +report, in the case of the people removing from one river to another, +they did not become the followers of the chief who owned the population +amongst whom they settled, but remained subject to their former lord, +who had the right of following them and collecting from them his taxes +as before. It is only of quite recent years, imitating the example of +the English in Labuan, where all the land was assumed to be the property +of the Sovereign and leased to individuals for a term of years, that the +nobles have, in some instances, put forward a claim to ownership of the +land on which their followers <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>chose to settle, and have endeavoured to +pose as semi-independent princes. These feudal chiefs tax, or used to +tax, their followers in proportion to their inability to resist their +lords' demands. A poll tax, usually at the rate of $2 for married men +and $1 for bachelors, is a form of taxation to which, in the absence of +any land tax, no objection is made, but the chiefs had also the power of +levying special taxes at their own sweet will, when they found their +expenditure in excess of their income, and advantage was taken of any +delay in payment of taxes, or of any breach of the peace, or act of +theft occurring in a district, to impose excessive fines on the +delinquents, all of which if paid went to the chief; and if the fine +could not be paid, the defaulter's children might be seized and +eventually sold into slavery. The system of "forced trade" I have +alluded to when speaking on the subject of domestic slavery. The chiefs +were all absentees and, while drawing everything they could out of their +districts, did nothing for their wretched followers. The taxes were +collected by their messengers and slaves, unscrupulous men who were paid +by what they could get out of the people in excess of what they were +bidden to demand, and who, while engaged in levying the contributions, +lived at free quarters on the people, who naturally did their best to +expedite their departure. Petty cases of dispute were settled by headmen +appointed by the chief and termed <i>orang kaya</i>, literally "rich men." +These <i>orang kayas</i> were often selected from their possessing some +little property and being at the same time subservient to the chief. In +many cases, it seemed to me, that they were chosen for their superior +stupidity and pliability. I have made use of the past tense throughout +my description of these feudal chiefs as, happily, for reasons already +given, the "good old times" are rapidly passing away.</p> + +<p>The laws of Brunai are, in theory, those inculcated by the Korán and +there are one or two officials who have some slight knowledge of +Mahomedan law. Owing to the cheap facilities offered by the numerous +steamers at Singapore, there are many Hajis—that is, persons who have +made the pilgrimage to Mecca—amongst the Brunais and the Kadaaans, +amongst <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>the latter more especially, but of course a visit to Mecca does +not necessarily imply that the pilgrim has obtained any actual knowledge +of the holy book, which some of them can decipher, the Malays having +adopted the Arabic alphabet, but without, however, understanding the +meaning of the Arabic words of which it consists. A friend of mine, son +of the principal exponent of Mahomedan law in the capital, and who +became naturalised as a British subject, had studied law in +Constantinople.</p> + +<p>There is no gaol in Brunai, and fines are found to be a more profitable +mode of punishment than incarceration, the judge generally pocketing the +fine, and when it does become necessary to keep an offender in +detention, it is done by placing his feet in the stocks, which are set +up on the public staging or landing before the reception room of the +Sultan, or of one of his chief Ministers, and the wretched man may be +kept there for months.</p> + +<p>The punishment for theft, sanctioned by the Korán, is by cutting oft the +right hand, but this barbarous, though effective, penalty has been +discountenanced by the English. On one occasion, however, when acting as +H. B. M. Consul-General, I received my information too late to +interfere. I had been on a visit to the late Sultan in a British +gunboat, and anchored off the palace. During the evening, just before +dinner, notwithstanding the watch kept on deck, some natives came +alongside and managed to hook out through the ports my gold watch and +chain from off the Captain's table, and the first Lieutenant's revolver +from his cabin. During our interview next morning with the Sultan, I +twitted him on the skill and daring of Brunai thieves, who could +perpetrate a theft from a friendly war-ship before the windows of the +Royal palace. The Sultan said nothing, but was evidently much annoyed, +and a few weeks afterwards the revolver and the remains of my watch and +chain were sent to me at Labuan, with a letter saying that three thieves +had been punished by having had their hands chopped off. I subsequently +heard that two of the unfortunate men had died from the effects of this +cruel punishment.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>On another occasion, some Brunai thieves skilfully dismounted and +carried off two brass signal guns from the poop of a merchant steamer at +anchor in the river, eluding the vigilance of the quarter-master, while +the skipper and some of the officers were asleep on the skylight close +by. The guns were subsequently recovered.</p> + +<p>Execution is either by means of the bow string or the <i>kris</i>.</p> + +<p>I had once the unpleasant duty of having to witness the execution by the +bow string of a man named <span class="smcap">Maidin</span>, as it was feared that, being the son +of a favourite officer of the Sultan, the execution might be a sham one. +This man, with others, had raided a small settlement of Chinese traders +from Labuan on the Borneo coast, killing several of the shop-keepers and +looting the settlement. So weak was the central government, and so +little importance did they attach to the murder of a few Chinese, that, +notwithstanding the efforts of the British Consul, <span class="smcap">Maidin</span> remained at +liberty for nearly two years after the commission of the crime.</p> + +<p>The execution took place at night. The murderer was bound, with his +hands behind his back, in a large canoe, and a noose of rope was placed +round his neck. Two men stood behind him; a short stick was inserted in +the noose and twisted round and round by the two executioners, thereby +causing the rope to compress the windpipe. <span class="smcap">Maidin's</span> struggles were soon +over.</p> + +<p>In the case of common people the <i>kris</i> is used, the executioner +standing behind the criminal and pressing the <i>kris</i> downwards, through +the shoulder, into the heart. This mode of execution has been retained +by the European rulers of Sarawak. In British North Borneo the English +mode by hanging has been adopted.</p> + +<p>Formerly, when ancient customs were more strictly observed, any person +using insulting expressions in talking of members of the Royal family +was punished by having his tongue slit, and I was once shewn by the +Temenggong, in whose official keeping it was, the somewhat cumbrous pair +of scissors wherewith this punishment was inflicted, but I have never +heard of its having been used during the last twenty years, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>although +opportunities could not have been wanting.</p> + +<p>I was once horrified by being informed by an observant British Naval +Officer, who had been to Brunai on duty, that he had been disgusted by +noticing, notwithstanding our long connection with Brunai and supposed +influence with the Sultan, so barbarous a mode of execution as that of +keeping the criminal exposed, without food, day and night, on a stage on +high posts in the river. I had never heard of this process, and soon +discovered that my friend had mistaken men fishing, for criminals +undergoing execution. Two men perch themselves up on posts, some +distance apart, and let down by ropes a net into the river. Waiting +patiently—and Brunais can sit still contentedly doing nothing for +hours—they remain motionless until a shoal of fish passes over the net, +when it is partially raised and the fish taken out by a third man, and +the operation repeated.</p> + +<p>I do not think my naval friend ever published his Brunai reminiscences.</p> + +<p>I have already said there is no police force in Brunai; an official +makes use of his own slaves to carry out his orders, where an European +would call in the police. Neither is there any army and navy, but the +theory is that the Sultan and Ministers can call on the Brunai people to +follow them to war, but as they give neither pay nor sufficient food +their call is not numerously responded to.</p> + +<p>Every Brunai man has his own arms, spear, kris and buckler, supplemented +by an old English "Tower" musket, or rifle, or by one of Chinese +manufacture with an imitation of the Tower mark. The <i>parang</i>, or +chopper, or cutlass, is always carried by a Malay, being used for all +kinds of work, agricultural and other, and is also a useful weapon of +offence or defence.</p> + +<p>Brunai is celebrated for its brass cannon foundries and still produces +handsome pieces of considerable size. <span class="smcap">Pigafetta</span> describes cannon as +being frequently discharged at Brunai during his visit there in 1521. +Brass guns were formerly part of the currency in Brunai and, even now, +you often hear the price of an article given as so many pikuls (a pikul += <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>133<span class="frac"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>3</sub></span> lbs), or catties (a catty = 1<span class="frac"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>3</sub></span> lbs) of brass gun. The +brass for the guns is chiefly furnished by the Chinese cash, which is +current in the town.</p> + +<p>In former days, in addition to brass guns, pieces of grey shirting +(<i>belachu</i>) and of Nankin (<i>kain asap</i>) and small bits of iron were +legal tender, and I have seen a specimen of a Brunei copper coinage one +Sultan tried to introduce, but it was found to be so easily imitated by +his subjects that it was withdrawn from circulation. At the present day +silver dollars, Straits Settlements small silver pieces, and the copper +coinage of Singapore, Sarawak and British North Borneo all pass current, +the copper, however, unfortunately predominating. Recently the Sultan +obtained $10,000 of a copper coin of his own from Birmingham, but the +traders and the Governments of Singapore and Labuan appear to have +discountenanced its use, and he probably will not try a second shipment.</p> + +<p>The profit on the circulation of copper coinage, which is only a token, +is of course considerable, and the British North Borneo Company obtained +a substantial addition to its revenue from the large amount of its coin +circulated in Brunai. When the Sultan first mooted the idea of obtaining +his own coin from England, one of the Company's officers expostulated +feelingly with him, and I was told by an onlooker that the contrast of +the expressions of the countenances of the immobile Malay and of the +mobile European was most amusing. All that the Sultan replied to the +objections of the officer was "It does not signify, Sir, my coin can +circulate in your country and yours can circulate in mine," knowing well +all the time the profit the Company was making.</p> + +<p>The inhabitants of the city of Brunai are very lightly taxed, and there +is no direct taxation. As above explained, there is no land tax, nor +ground rent, and every man builds his own house and is his own landlord. +The right of retailing the following articles is "farmed" out to the +highest bidder by the Government, and their price consequently enhanced +to the consumer:—Opium (but only a few of the nobles use the drug), +foreign tobacco, curry stuff, wines and spirits (not used by the +natives), salt, gambier (used for chewing with the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>betel or <i>areca</i> +nut), tea (little used by the natives) and earth-nut and coco-nut oil. +There are no Municipal rates and taxes, the tidal river acting as a self +cleansing street and sewer at the same time; neither are there any +demands from a Poor Law Board.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, there being no Army, Navy, Police, nor public +buildings to keep up, the expenses of Government are wonderfully light +also.</p> + +<p>Other Government receipts, in addition to the above, are rent of Chinese +house-boats or rather shop-boats, pawnbroking and gambling licenses, a +"farm" of the export of hides, royalties on sago and gutta percha, +tonnage dues on European vessels visiting the port, and others. The +salaries and expenses of the Government Departments are defrayed from +the revenues of the rivers, or districts attached to them.</p> + +<p>Considerable annual payments are now made by Sarawak and British North +Borneo for the territorial cessions obtained by them. The annual +contribution by Sarawak is about $16,000, and by the British North +Borneo $11,800. These sums are apportioned amongst the Sultan and nobles +who had interests in the ceded districts. I may say here that the +payment by British North Borneo to the Sultan of the State, under the +arrangement made by Mr. <span class="smcap">Dent</span> already referred to, is one of $5,000 per +annum.</p> + +<p>An annual payment is also made by Mr. <span class="smcap">W. C. Cowie</span> for the sole right<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> +of working coal in the Sultanate, which he holds for a period of several +years. Coal occurs throughout the island of Borneo, and its existence +has long been known. It is worked on a small scale in Sarawak and in +some portions of Dutch Borneo, and the unsuccessful attempts to develope +the coal resources of the Colony of Labuan will be referred to later on.</p> + +<p>In the Brunai Sultanate, with which we are at present concerned, coal +occurs abundantly in the Brunai river and elsewhere, but it is only at +present worked by Mr. <span class="smcap">Cowie</span> and his partners at Muara, at the mouth of +the Brunai river<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>—Muara, indeed, signifying in Malay a river's mouth. +The Revd. <span class="smcap">J. E. Tennison-Wood</span>, well known in Australia as an authority +on geological questions, thus describes the Muara coalfields:—"About +twenty miles to the South-west of Labuan is the mouth of the Brunai +river. Here the rocks are of quite a different character, and much +older. There are sandstones, shales, and grits, with ferruginous joints. +The beds are inclined at angles of 25 to 45 degrees. They are often +altered into a kind of chert. At Muara there is an outcrop of coal seams +twenty, twenty-five and twenty-six feet thick. The coal is of excellent +quality, quite bitumenised, and not brittle. The beds are being worked +by private enterprise. I saw no fossils, but the beds and the coal +reminded me much of the older Australian coals along the Hunter river. +The mines are of great value. They are rented for a few thousand dollars +by two enterprising Scotchmen, from the Sultan of Brunai. The same +sovereign would part with the place altogether for little or nothing. +Why not have our coaling station there? Or what if Germany, France or +Russia should purchase the same from the independent Sultan of Brunai?" +As if to give point to the concluding remarks, a Russian man-of-war +visited Muara and Brunai early in 1887, and shewed considerable interest +in the coal mines.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<p class="center"><b>Footnotes:</b></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> He has since been "protected"—see ante <a href="#Footnote_2_2">page 6, note</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Owing to the absence of roads and the consequent importance +of rivers as means of getting about, nearly all districts in Borneo are +named after their principal river.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> This right was transferred by Mr. <span class="smcap">Cowie</span> to Rája <span class="smcap">Brooke</span> in +1833.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> The British Protectorate has obviated the danger.</p></div> + +</div> + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>Chapter III.</h2> + + +<p>The fairest way, perhaps, of giving my readers an idea of what Brunai +was and what it is, will be by quoting first from the description of the +Italian <span class="smcap">Pigafetta</span>, who was there in 1521, and then from that of my +friend the late Mr. <span class="smcap">Stair Elphinstone Dalrymple</span>, who visited the city +with me in 1884. <span class="smcap">Pigafetta's</span> description I extract from <span class="smcap">Crawford's</span> +<i>Descriptive Dictionary of the Indian Islands</i>.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>"When," says he, "we reached the city, we had to wait two hours in the +<i>prahu</i> (boat or barge) until there had arrived two elephants, +caparisoned in silk-cloth, and twelve men, each <span class='pagenumbq'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>furnished with a +porcelain vase, covered with silk, to receive and to cover our presents. +We mounted the elephants, the twelve men going before, carrying the +presents. We thus proceeded to the house of the Governor, who gave us a +supper of many dishes. Next day we were left at our leisure until twelve +o'clock, when we proceeded to the King's palace. We were mounted, as +before, on elephants, the men bearing the gifts going before us. From +the Governor's house to the palace the streets were full of people armed +with swords, lances and targets; the King had so ordered it. Still +mounted on the elephants we entered the court of the palace. We then +dismounted, ascended a stair, accompanied by the Governor and some +chiefs and entered a great hall full of courtiers. Here we were seated +on carpets, the presents being placed near to us. At the end of the +great hall, but raised above it, there was one of less extent hung with +silken cloth, in which were two curtains, on raising which, there +appeared two windows, which lighted the hall. Here, as a guard to the +King, there were three hundred men with naked rapiers in hand resting on +their thighs. At the farther end of this smaller hall, there was a great +window with a brocade curtain before it, on raising which, we saw the +King seated at a table masticating betel, and a little boy, his son, +beside him. Behind him women only were to be seen. A chieftain then +informed us, that we must not address the King directly, but that if we +had anything to say, we must say it to him, and he would communicate it +to a courtier of higher rank than himself within the lesser hall. This +person, in his turn, would explain our wishes to the Governor's brother, +and he, speaking through a tube in an aperture of the wall would +communicate our sentiments to a courtier near the King, who would make +them known to his Majesty. Meanwhile, we were instructed to make three +obeisances to the King with the joined hands over the head, and raising, +first one foot and then the other, and then kissing the hands. This is +the royal salutation. <span class="elided1"> * * *</span> All the persons present in the palace had +their loins covered with gold embroidered cloth and silk, wore poiniards +with golden hilts, orna<span class='pagenumbq'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>mented with pearls and precious stones, and had +many rings on their fingers.</p> + +<p class="elided2"> * * * * * *</p> + +<p>We remounted the elephants and returned to the house of the Governor. +<span class="elided1"> * * *</span> After this there came to the house of the Governor ten men, with as +many large wooden trays, in each of which were ten or twelve porcelain +saucers with the flesh of various animals, that is, of calves, capons, +pullets, pea-fowls and others, and various kinds of fish, so that of +meat alone there were thirty or two-and-thirty dishes. We supped on the +ground on mats of palm-leaf. At each mouthful we drank a porcelain +cupful, the size of an egg, of a distilled liquor made from rice. We ate +also rice and sweetmeats, using spoons of gold, shaped like our own. In +the place where we passed the two nights, there were always burning two +torches of white wax, placed on tall chandeliers of silver, and two oil +lamps of four wicks each, while two men watched to look after them. Next +morning we came on the same elephants to the sea side, where forthwith +there were ready for us two <i>prahus</i>, in which we were reconducted to +the ships."</p></div> + +<p>Of the town itself he says:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>"The city is entirely built in the saltwater, the King's house and those of some chieftains excepted. +It contains 25,000 <i>fires</i>, or families. The houses are all of wood and +stand on strong piles to keep them high from the ground. When the flood +tide makes, the women, in boats, go through the city selling +necessaries. In front of the King's palace there is a rampart +constructed of large bricks, with barbacans in the manner of a fortress, +on which are mounted fifty-six brass and six iron cannon."</p> +</div> + +<p>With the exception of the statement concerning the number of families, Mr. +<span class="smcap">Crawford</span> considers <span class="smcap">Pigafetta's</span> account contains abundant internal +evidence of intelligence and truthfulness. I may be allowed to point out +that, seeing only the King's house and those of some of the nobles were +on <i>terra firma</i>, there could have been little use for elephants in the +city and probably the two elephants <span class="smcap">Pigafetta</span> mentions were the only +ones there, kept for State purposes. It is a curious fact that though in +its fauna Borneo <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>much resembles Sumatra, yet, while elephants abound in +the latter island, none are to be found in Borneo, except in a +restricted area on the North-East Coast, in the territories of the North +Borneo Company. It would appear, too, that the tenets of the Mahomedan +religion were not strictly observed in those days. Now, no Brunai noble +would think of offering you spirits, nor would ladies on any account be +permitted to appear in public, especially if Europeans were among the +audience. The consumption of spirits seems to have been on a very +liberal scale, and it is not surprising to find <span class="smcap">Pigafetta</span> remarking +further on that some of the Spaniards became intoxicated. Spoons, +whether of gold or other material, have long since been discarded by all +respectable Brunais, only Pagans make use of such things, the Mahomedans +employ the fingers which Allah has given them. The description of the +women holding their market in boats stands good of to-day, but the +wooden houses, instead of being on "strong piles," now stand on +ricketty, round <i>nibong</i> palm posts. The description of the obeisance to +the King is scarcely exaggerated, except that it is now performed +squatting cross-legged—<i>sila</i>—the respectful attitude indoors, from +the Sanskrit çîl, to meditate, to worship (for an inferior never stands +in the presence of his superior), and has been dispensed with in the +case of Europeans, who shake hands. Though the nobles have now +comparatively little power, they address each other and are addressed by +the commonalty in the most respectful tone, words derived from the +Sanskrit being often employed in addressing superiors, or equals if both +are of high rank, such as <i>Baginda</i>, <i>Duli Paduka</i>, <i>Ianda</i>, and in +addressing a superior the speaker only alludes to himself as a slave, +<i>Amba</i>, <i>Sahaya</i>. I have already referred to the prohibition of the use +of yellow by others than the Royal family, and may add that it is a +grave offence for a person of ordinary rank to pass the palace steps +with his umbrella up, and it is forbidden to him to sit in the after +part of his boat or canoe, that place being reserved for nobles. At an +audience with the Sultan, or with one of the Wazirs, considerable +ceremony is still observed. Whatever the time of the day, a thick bees' +wax candle, about three <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>feet long is lighted and placed on the floor +alongside the European visitor, if he is a person of any rank, and it is +etiquette for him to carry the candle away with him at the conclusion of +his visit, especially if at night. It was a severe test of the courteous +decorum of the Malay nobles when on one occasion, a young officer, who +accompanied me, not only spilt his cup of coffee over his bright new +uniform, but, when impressively bidding adieu to H. H. the Sultan, stood +for sometime unconsciously astride over my lighted candle. Not a muscle +of the faces of the nobles moved, but the Europeans were scarcely so +successful in maintaining their gravity.</p> + +<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">Dalrymple's</span> description of Brunai, furnished to the <i>Field</i> in +August, 1884, is as follows:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>"On a broad river, sweeping round in an +imposing curve from the South-Eastward, with abrupt ranges of sandstone +hills, for the most part cleared of forest, hemming it in on either +side, and a glimpse of lofty blue mountains towering skywards far away +to the North-East, is a long straggling collection of <i>atap</i> (thatch +made of leaves of <i>nibong</i> palm) and <i>kajang</i> (mats of ditto) houses, or +rather huts, built on piles over the water, and forming a gigantic +crescent on either bank of the broad, curving stream. This is the city +of Brunai, the capital of the Yang di Pertuan, the Sultan of Brunai, +<i>ætat</i> one hundred or more, and now in his dotage: the abode of some +15,000 Malays, whose language is as different from the Singapore Malay +as Cornish is from Cockney English, and the coign of vantage from which +a set of effete and corrupt <i>Pangerans</i> extended oppressive rule over +the coasts of North-West Borneo, from Sampanmangiu Point to the Sarawak +River in days gone by, ere British enterprise stepped in, swept the Sulu +and Illanun pirates from the sea, and opened the rivers to commercial +enterprise.</p> + +<p>"Standing on the summit of one of the above-mentioned hills, a fine +bird's eye view is obtained of the city below. The ramshackle houses are +all built in irregular blocks or clusters, but present on either side a +regular frontage to the broad river, and following its sweeping curve, +form two imposing crescent, divided by a fine water-way. Behind these +main <span class='pagenumbq'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>crescents are various other blocks and clusters of buildings, +built higgledy piggledy and without plan of any sort. On the true left +bank are some Chinese shops built of brick, and on the opposite bank a +brick house of superior pretensions and a waving banner proclaiming the +abode of the Chinese Consular Agent of the British North Borneo Company. <span class="elided1"> * * *</span></p> + +<p>"A heterogeneous collection of buildings on the right side of the upper +part of the city forms the <i>palace</i> (save the mark!) of the Sultan +himself. A little further down a large, straggling, but substantial +plank building, with a corrugated iron roof, marks the abode of the +Pangeran Temenggong, a son of the former Sultan and the heir apparent to +the throne of Brunai. Two steam launches are lying opposite at anchor, +one the property of the Sultan, the other belonging to the heir +apparent. <span class="elided1"> * * *</span></p> + +<p>"The public reception room of the Sultan's palace is a long apartment +with wooden pillars running along either side, and supporting a raised +roof. Beyond these on either side, are lateral compartments. At the far +end, in the centre of a kind of alcove, is the Sultan's throne. The +floors are covered with matting. <span class="elided1"> * * *</span></p> + +<p>"Although the glories of Brunai have departed, and it is only the shadow +of what it was when <span class="smcap">Pigafetta</span> visited it, a certain amount of state is +still kept up on occasions. A boat comes sweeping down the river crowded +with Malays, a white flag waving from its stern, seven paddles flashing +on either side, and an array of white umbrellas midships. <i>It is</i> the +Pangeran di Gadong coming in state to pay a ceremonial visit. As it +sweeps alongside, the Pangeran is seen sitting on a gorgeous carpet, +surrounded by his officials. One holds an umbrella over his head, while +another holds aloft the <i>tongkat kraidan</i>, a long guilded staff, +surmounted by a plume of yellow horse hair, which hangs down round it. +The most striking point in the attire of the Pangeran and his Officers +is the beauty of the <i>krises</i> with which they are armed, the handles +being of carved ivory ornamented with gold, and the sheaths of +beautifully polished wood, resembling satin wood. Cigars and coffee are +produced, and a <i>bichara</i> ensues. A <span class='pagenumbq'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>Quakers' meeting is no bad metaphor +to describe a Malay <i>bichara</i>. The Pangerans sit round in a circle +smoking solemnly for some time, until a question is put to them, to +which a brief reply is given, followed by another prolonged pause.</p> + +<p>"In this way the business on which they have come is gradually +approached.</p> + +<p>"Their manners are as polished as their faces are immobile, and the way +to a Malay's heart lies through his pocket.</p> + +<p>"To the outsider, Brunai is a city of hideous old women, for such alone +are met with in the thronged market place where some hundreds of market +boats jostle each other, while their inmates shriek and haggle over +their bargains, or during a water promenade while threading the +labyrinths of this Oriental Venice; but if acquainted with its +intricacies, or if paying a ceremonial visit to any of the leading +Pangerans, many a glimpse may be had of some fair skinned beauty peeping +through some handy crevice in the <i>kajang</i> wall, or, in the latter case, +a crowd of light-skinned, dark-eyed houris may be seen looking with all +their might out of a window in the harem behind, from which they are +privileged to peep into the hall of audience.</p> + +<p>"The present population of Brunai cannot exceed 12,000 to 15,000 souls, a +great number having succumbed to the terrible epidemic of cholera a year +ago. The exports consist of sago, gutta percha, camphor, india-rubber, +edible birds' nests, gum dammar, etc., and what money there is in the +city is almost entirely in the hands of the Chinese traders. <span class="elided1"> * * *</span></p> + +<p>"In the old days, when it enjoyed a numerous Chinese population, the +surrounding hills were covered with pepper plantations, and there was a +large junk trade with China. At present Brunai lives on her exports of +jungle produce and sago, furnished by a noble river—the Limbang, whose +valley lies but a short distance to the Eastward. One great advantage +the city enjoys is a copious supply of pure water, drawn from springs at +the base of the hills below the town on the left bank of the river. <span class="elided1"> * * *</span></p> + +<p>"Such is a slight sketch of Brunai of the Brunais. If the Pangerans are +corrupt, the lower classes are not, but are law <span class='pagenumbq'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>abiding, though not +industrious. And the day may yet come when their city may lift her head +up again, and be to North Borneo what Singapore is to the straits of +Malacca."</p></div> + +<p>This description gives a capital idea of modern Brunai, and I would only +observe that, from the colour of his flag and umbrellas the nobleman who +paid the state visit must have been the Bandahara and not the Di Gadong.</p> + +<p>The aged Sultan to whom Mr. <span class="smcap">Dalrymple</span> refers was the late Sultan <span class="smcap">Mumim</span>, +who, though not in the direct line, was raised to the throne, on the +death of the Sultan <span class="smcap">Omar Ali Saifudin</span>, to whom he had been Prime +Minister, by the influence of the English, towards whom he had always +acted as a loyal friend. He was popularly supposed to be over a hundred +years old when he died and, though said to have had some fifty wives and +concubines, he was childless. He died on the 29th May, 1885, having +previously, on the advice of Sir <span class="smcap">C. C. Lees</span>, then British +Consul-General, declared his Temenggong, the son of <span class="smcap">Omar Ali Saifudin</span> to +be his successor. The Temenggong accended the throne, without any +opposition, with the title of Sultan, but found a kingdom distracted by +rebellion in the provinces and reduced to less than a fourth of its size +when the treaty was made with Great Britain in 1847.</p> + +<p>I have said that there is no ground rent in Borneo, and that every one +builds his own house and is his own landlord, but I should add that he +builds his house in the <i>kampong</i>, or parish, to which, according to his +occupation, he belongs and into which the city is divided. For instance, +on entering the city, the first <i>kampong</i> on the left is an important +one in a town where fish is the principal article of animal food. It is +the <i>kampong</i> of the men who catch fish by means of bambu fishing +stakes, or traps, described hereafter, and supply the largest quantity +of that article to the market; it is known as the <i>Kampong Pablat</i>.</p> + +<p>Next to it is the <i>Kampong Perambat</i>, from the casting net which its +inhabitants use in fishing. Another parish is called <i>Membakut</i> and its +houses are built on firm ground, being principally the shops of Chinese +and Klings. The last <i>kampong</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> on this side is that of <i>Burong Pingé</i>, +formerly a very important one, where dwelt the principal and richest +Malay traders. It is now much reduced in size, European steamers and +Chinese enterprise having altered entirely the character of the trade +from the time when the old Brunai <i>nakodahs</i> (master or owner of a +trading boat) would cruise leisurely up and down the coast, waiting for +months at a time in a river while trade was being brought in. The +workers in brass, the jewellers, the makers of gold brocade, of mats, of +brass guns, the oil manufacturers, and the rice cleaners, all have their +own <i>kampongs</i> and are jealous of the honour of each member of their +corporation. The Sultan and nearly all the chief nobles have their +houses on the true left bank of the river, <i>i.e.</i>, on the right bank +ascending.</p> + +<p>The fishing interest is an important one, and various methods are +employed to capture the supply for the market.</p> + +<p>The <i>kélong</i> is a weir composed of nets made of split bambu, fastened in +an upright position, side by side, to posts fixed into the bed of the +stream, or into the sand in the shallow water of a harbour. There are +two long rows of these posts with attached nets, one much longer than +the other which gradually converge in the deeper water, where a simple +trap is constructed with a narrow entrance. The fish passing up or down +stream, meeting with the obstruction, follow up the walls of the +<i>kélong</i> and eventually enter the trap, whence they are removed at low +water. These <i>kélong</i>, or fishing stakes as they are termed, are a well +known sight to all travellers entering Malay ports and rivers. All sorts +of fish are caught in this way, and alligators of some size are +occasionally secured in them.</p> + +<p>The <i>rambat</i> is a circular casting net, loaded with leaden or iron +weights at the circumference, and with a spread sometimes of thirty +feet. Great skill, acquired by long practice, is shewn by the fisherman +in throwing this net over a shoal of fish which he has sighted, in such +a manner that all the outer edge touches the water simultaneously; the +weights then cause the edges of the circumference to sink and gradually +close together, encompassing the fish, and the net is drawn <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>up by a +rope attached to its centre, the other end of which the fisherman had +retained in his hand. The skill of the thrower is further enhanced by +the fact that he, as a rule, balances himself in the bow of a small +"dug-out," or canoe, in which a European could scarcely keep his footing +at all. The <i>rambat</i> can also be thrown from the bank, or the beach, and +is used in fresh and salt water. Only small fish and prawns are caught +in this way. Prawns are also caught in small <i>kélong</i> with very fine +split bambu nets, but a method is also employed in the Brunai river +which I have not heard of elsewhere. A specially prepared canoe is made +use of, the gunwale on one side being cut away and its place taken up by +a flat ledge, projecting over the water. The fisherman sits paddling in +the stern, keeping the ledged side towards the bank and leaning over so +as to cause the said ledge to be almost level with the water.</p> + +<p>From the same side there projects a long bambu, with wooden teeth on its +under side, like a comb, fastened to the stern, but projecting outwards, +forwards and slightly upwards, the teeth increasing in length towards +its far end, and as they sweep the surface of the water the startled +prawns, shut in by the bank on one side, in their efforts to avoid the +teeth of the comb, jump into the canoe in large quantities.</p> + +<p>I have described the method of using the dip net, or <i>serambau</i>, on +<a href="#Page_30">page 30</a>. Many kinds of nets are in use, one—the <i>pukat</i>—being similar to +our seine or drag net.</p> + +<p>The hook and line are also used, especially for deep sea fishing, and +fish of large size are thus caught.</p> + +<p>A favourite occasional amusement is <i>tuba</i> fishing. The <i>tuba</i> is a +plant the juice of which has strong narcotic properties. Bundles of the +roots are collected and put into the bottom of the canoes, and when the +fishing ground is reached, generally a bend in a river, or the mouth of +a stream which is barred at low tide, water is poured over the <i>tuba</i> +and the juice expressed by beating it with short sticks. The fluid, thus +charged with the narcotic poison, is then baled out of the canoes into +the stream and the surface is quickly covered by all sorts of fish in +all stages of intoxication, the smaller ones <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>even succumbing altogether +to the poison.</p> + +<p>The large fish are secured by spearing, amid much excitement, the eager +sportsmen often overbalancing themselves and falling headlong into the +water to the great amusement of the more lucky ones. I remember reading +an account of a dignified representative of Her Majesty once joining in +the sport and displaying a pair of heels in this way to his admiring +subjects. The <i>tuba</i> does not affect the flesh of the fish, which is +brought to the table without any special preparation.</p> + +<p>The principal export from Brunai is sago flour. The sago palm is known +to the natives under the name of <i>rumbiah</i>, the pith, after its first +preliminary washing, is called <i>lamantah</i> (<i>i.e.</i>, raw), and after its +preparation for export by the Chinese, <i>sagu</i>. The botanical name is +<i>Metroxylon</i>, <i>M. Lævis</i> being that of the variety the trunk of which is +unprotected, and <i>M. Rumphii</i> that of the kind which is armed with long +and strong spikes, serving to ward off the attacks of the wild pigs from +the young palm.</p> + +<p>This palm is indigenous in the Malayan Archipelago and grows to the +height of twenty to forty feet, in swampy land along the banks of rivers +not far from the sea, but out of the reach of tidal influences. A +plantation once started goes "on for ever," with scarcely any care or +attention from the proprietor, as the palm propagates itself by numerous +off-shots, which take the place of the parent tree when it is cut down +for the purpose of being converted into food, or when it dies, which, +unlike most other palms, it does after it has once flowered and seeded, +<i>i.e.</i>, after it has attained the age of ten or fifteen years.</p> + +<p>It can also be propagated from the seed, but these are often +unproductive.</p> + +<p>If required for food purposes, the sago palm must be cut down at its +base before it begins to flower, as afterwards the pith or <i>farina</i> +becomes dried up and useless. The trunk is then stripped of its leaves +and, if it is intended to work it up at its owner's house, it is cut +into convenient lengths and floated down the river; if the pith is to be +extracted on the spot the trunk is split in two, longitudinally, and is +found to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>contain a mass of starchy pith, kept together by filaments of +woody fibre, and when this is worked out by means of bambu hatchets +nothing but a thin rind, the outer bark, is left. To separate the starch +from the woody fibre, the pith is placed on a mat in a frame work over a +trough by the river side; the sago washer then mounts up and, pouring +fresh water over the pith, commences vigorously dancing about on it with +his bare feet, the result being that the starch becomes dissolved in the +water and runs off with it into the trough below, while the woody fibre +remains on the mat and is thrown away, or, if the washer is not a +Mahomedan, used for fatening pigs. The starch thus obtained is not yet +quite pure, and under the name of <i>lamantah</i> is sold to Chinese and +undergoes a further process of washing, this time by hand, in large, +solid, wooden troughs and tubs. When sufficiently purified, it is +sun-dried and, as a fine white flour, is packed in gunny bags for the +Singapore market. At Singapore, some of this flour—a very small +proportion—is converted into the pearl sago of the shops, but the +greater portion is sent on direct to Europe, where it is used for sizing +cloth, in the manufacture of beer, for confectionery, &c.</p> + +<p>It will be seen that the sago palm thus affords food and also employment +to a considerable number of both natives and Chinese and, requiring +little or no trouble in cultivation, it is a perfect gift of the gods to +the natives in the districts where it occurs. It is a curious fact that, +though abounding in Sarawak, in the districts near Brunai and in the +southern parts of British North Borneo on the West Coast, it seems to +stop short suddenly at the Putatan River, near Gaya Bay, and is not +found indigenous in the North nor on the North-East. Some time ago I +sent a quantity of young shoots to a Chief living on the Labuk River, +near Sandakan, on the East Coast, but have not yet heard whether they +have proved a success.</p> + +<p>A nasty sour smell is inseparable from a sago factory, but the health of +the coolies, who live in the factory, does not appear to be affected by +it.</p> + +<p>The Brunais and natives of sago districts consume a considerable +quantity of sago flour, which is boiled into a thick, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span>tasteless paste, +called <i>boyat</i> and eaten by being twisted into a large ball round a +stick and inserted into the mouth—an ungraceful operation. Tamarind, or +some very acid sauce is used to impart to it some flavour. Sago is of +course cheaper than rice, but the latter is, as a rule, much preferred +by the native, and is found more nutritious and <i>lasting</i>. <span class="smcap">Logan</span>, in the +<i>Journal of the Indian Archipelago</i>, calculates that three sago palms +yield more nutritive matter than an acre of wheat, and six trees more +than an acre of potatoes. The plantain and banana also flourish, under +cultivation, in Borneo, and Mr. <span class="smcap">Burbidge</span>, in his preface to the <i>Gardens +of the Sun</i>, points out that it fruits all the year round and that its +produce is to that of wheat as 133 : 1, and to that of the potato as 44 +: 1. What a Paradise! some of my readers will exclaim. There can be no +want here! I am sure the figures and calculations above quoted are +absolutely correct, but I have certainly seen want and poverty in +Borneo, and these tropical countries are not quite the earthly paradises +which some old writers would have us believe. For our poor British +"unemployed," at any rate, I fear Borneo can never be a refuge, as the +sun would there be more fatal than the deadly cold here, and the race +could not be kept up without visits to colder climates. But if sago and +bananas are so plentiful and so nourishing, as we are taught by the +experts, it does seem somewhat remarkable, in this age of invention, +that some means cannot be devised of bringing together the prolific food +stores of the East and the starving thousands of the West.</p> + +<p>Both before, during and after the day's work, the Malays, man and woman, +boy and girl, solace and refresh themselves with tobacco and with the +areca-nut, or the <i>betel</i> nut as, for some unexplained reason, it is +called in English books, though <i>betel</i> is the name of the pepper leaf +in which the areca-nut is wrapped and with which it is masticated.</p> + +<p>A good deal of the tobacco now used in Brunai is imported from Java or +Palembang (Sumatra), but a considerable portion is grown in the hilly +districts on the West Coast of North Borneo, in the vicinity of Gaya +Bay, by the Muruts. It is unfermented and sun-dried, but has not at all +a bad flavour <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>and is sometimes used by European pipe smokers. The +Brunai Malays and the natives generally, as a rule, smoke the tobacco in +the form of cigarettes, the place of paper being taken by the fine inner +leaf of the <i>nipa</i> palm, properly prepared by drying. The Court +cigarettes are monstrous things, fully eight inches long sometimes, and +deftly fashioned by the fingers of the ladies of the harem.</p> + +<p>Some of the inland natives, who are unable to procure <i>nipa</i> leaf +(<i>dahun kirei</i>), use roughly made wooden pipes, and the leaf of the +maize plant is also occasionally substituted for the <i>nipa</i>. It is a +common practice with persons of both sexes to insert a "quid" of tobacco +in their cheek, or between the upper lip and the gum. This latter +practice does not add to the appearance of a race not overburdened with +facial charms. The tobacco is allowed to remain in position for a long +time, but it is not chewed. The custom of areca-nut chewing has been so +often described that I will only remind the reader that the nut is the +produce of a graceful and slender palm, which flourishes under +cultivation in all Malayan countries and is called by Malays <i>pinang</i>. +It is of about the size of a nutmeg and, for chewing, is cut into pieces +of convenient size and made into a neat little packet with the green +leaf of the aromatic betel pepper plant, and with the addition of a +little gambier (the inspissated juice of the leaves of the <i>uncaria +gambir</i>) and of fine lime, prepared by burning sea shells. Thus +prepared, the bolus has an undoubtedly stimulating effect on the nerves +and promotes the flow of saliva. I have known fresh vigour put into an +almost utterly exhausted boat's crew by their partaking of this +stimulant.</p> + +<p>It tinges the saliva and the lips bright red, but, contrary to a very +commonly received opinion, has no effect of making the teeth black. This +blackening of the teeth is produced by rubbing in burnt coco-nut shell, +pounded up with oil, the dental enamel being sometimes first filed off. +Toothache and decayed teeth are almost unknown amongst the natives, but +whether this is in some measure due to the chewing of the areca-nut I am +unable to say.</p> + +<p>It used to be a disagreeable, but not unusual sight, to see <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>the old +Sultan at an audience remove the areca-nut he had been masticating and +hand it to a small boy, who placed it in his mouth and kept it there +until the aged monarch again required it.</p> + +<p>The clothing of the Brunai Malays is simple and suitable to the climate. +The one garment common to men, women and children is the <i>sarong</i>, which +in its general signification means a sheath or covering, <i>e.g.</i>, the +sheath of a sword is a <i>sarong</i>, and the envelope enclosing a letter is +likewise its <i>sarong</i>. The <i>sarong</i> or sheath of the Brunai human being +is a piece of cotton cloth, of Tartan pattern, sewn down the side and +resembling an ordinary skirt, or petticoat, except that it is not +pleated or attached to a band at the waist and is, therefore, the same +width all the way down. It is worn as a petticoat, being fastened at the +waist sometimes by a belt or girdle, but more often the upper part is +merely twisted into its own folds. Both men and women frequently wear +nothing but this garment, the men being naked from the waist up, but the +women generally concealing the breasts by fastening the <i>sarong</i> high up +under the arms; but for full dress the women wear in addition a short +sleeved jacket of dark blue cotton cloth, reaching to the waist, the +tight sleeves being ornamented with a row of half-a-dozen jingling +buttons, of gold if possible, and a round hat of plaited <i>pandan</i> +(screw-pine) leaves, or of <i>nipa</i> leaf completes the Brunai woman's +costume. No stockings, slippers, or shoes are worn. Ladies of rank and +wealth substitute silk and gold brocade for the cotton material used by +their poorer sisters and, in lieu of a hat, cover their head and the +greater part of the face with a <i>selendang</i>, or long scarf of gold +brocade. They occasionally also wear slippers. The gold brocade is a +specialty of Brunai manufacture and is very handsome, the gold thread +being woven in tasteful patterns on a ground of yellow, green, red or +dark blue silk. The materials are obtained from China. The cotton +<i>sarongs</i> are also woven in Brunai of European cotton twist, but +inferior and cheap imitations are now imported from Switzerland and +Manchester. In addition to the <i>sarong</i>, the Brunai man, when fully +dressed, wears a pair of loose cotton trowsers, tied round <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>the waist, +and in this case the <i>sarong</i> is so folded as to reach only half way +down to the knee, instead of to the ankle, as ordinarily.</p> + +<p>A short sleeved cotton jacket, generally white, covers his body and his +head dress is a small coloured kerchief called <i>dastar</i>, the Persian +word for turban.</p> + +<p>The nobles wear silks instead of cottons and with them a small but +handsome <i>kris</i>, stuck into the <i>sarong</i>, is <i>de rigueur</i> for full +dress. A gold or silver betel-nut box might almost be considered as part +of the full dress, as they are never without one on state occasions, it +being carried by an attendant.</p> + +<p>The women are fond of jewellery, and there are some clever gold and +silversmiths in the city, whose designs appear to be imitated from the +Javanese. Rings, earrings, broaches to fasten the jacket at the neck, +elaborate hairpins, massive silver or gold belts, with large gold +buckles, and bracelets of gold or silver are the usual articles +possessed by a lady of position.</p> + +<p>The characteristic earring is quite a specialty of Brunai art, and is of +the size and nearly the shape of a very large champagne cork, +necessitating a huge hole being made for its reception in the lobes of +the ear. It is made hollow, of gold or silver, or of light wood gilt, or +sometimes only painted, or even quite plain, and is stuck, lengthwise, +through the hole in the ear, the ends projecting on either side. When +the ladies are not in full dress, this hole occasionally affords a +convenient receptacle for the cigarette, or any other small article not +in use for the time being.</p> + +<p>The men never wear any jewellery, except, perhaps, one silver ring, +which is supposed to have come from the holy city—Mecca.</p> + +<p>The Malay <i>kris</i> is too well known to need description here. It is a +dagger or poignard with a blade varying in length from six inches to two +feet. This blade is not invariably wavy, or serpentine, as often +supposed, but is sometimes quite straight. It is always sharp on both +edges and is fashioned from iron imported from Singapore, by Brunai +artificers. Great <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span>taste is displayed in the handle, which is often of +delicately carved ivory and gold, and just below the attachment of the +handle, the blade is broadened out, forming a hilt, the under edge of +which is generally fancifully carved. Age adds greatly to the value of +the <i>kris</i> and the history of many is handed down. The highest price I +know of being given for a Brunai <i>kris</i> was $100, paid by the present +Sultan for one he presented to the British North Borneo Company on his +accession to the throne, but I have heard of higher prices being asked. +Very handsomely grained and highly polished wood is used for the sheath +and the two pieces forming it are frequently so skilfully joined as to +have the appearance of being in one. Though naturally a stabbing weapon, +the Malays of Brunai generally use it for cutting, and after an <i>amok</i> +the blade employed is often found bent out of all shape.</p> + +<p>The <i>parang</i> is simply an ordinary cutlass, with a blade two feet in +length. As we generally carry a pocket knife about with us, so the +Brunai Malay always wears his <i>parang</i>, or has it near at hand, using it +for every purpose where cutting is required, from paring his nails to +cutting the posts of which his house is built, or weeding his patch of +rice land.</p> + +<p>With this and his <i>bliong</i> he performs all his carpentry work; from +felling the enormous timber tree in the jungle to the construction of +his house and boat. The <i>bliong</i> is indeed a most useful implement and +can perform wonders in the hands of a Malay. It is in the shape of a +small adze, but according to the way it is fitted into the handle it can +be used either as an axe or adze. The Malays with this instrument can +make planks and posts as smooth as a European carpenter is able to do +with his plane.</p> + +<p>The <i>parang ílang</i> is a fighting weapon, with a peculiarity in the shape +of the blade which, Dr. <span class="smcap">Taylor</span> informs me, is not known to occur in the +weapons of any other country, and consists in the surface of the near +side being flat, as in an ordinary blade, while that of the off side is +distinctly convex. This necessitates rather careful handling in the case +of a novice, as the convexity is liable to cause the blade to glance off +any hard substance and inflict a wound on its wielder. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>This weapon is +manufactured in Brunai, but is the proper arm of the Kyans and, now, +also of the Sarawak Dyaks, who are closely allied to them and who, in +this as in other matters, such as the curious perforation of a part of +their person, which has been described by several writers, are following +their example. The Kyans were once the most formidable Sub-Malay tribe +in Northern Borneo and have been alluded to in preceding pages. On the +West coast, their headquarters is the Baram River, which has recently +been added to Sarawak, but they stretch right across to the East Coast +and Dutch territory.</p> + +<p>There are many kinds of canoes, from the simple dug-out, with scarcely +any free-board, to the <i>pakerangan</i>, a boat the construction of which is +confined to only two rivers in North Borneo. It is built up of planks +fastened together by wooden pegs, carvel fashion, on a small keel, or +<i>lunas</i>. It is sharp at both ends, has very good lines, is a good sea +boat and well adapted for crossing river bars. It is not made in Brunai +itself, but is bought from the makers up the coast and invariably used +by the Brunai fishermen, who are the best and most powerful paddlers to +be found anywhere. The trading boats—<i>prahus</i> or <i>tongkangs</i>—are +clumsy, badly fastened craft, not often exceeding 30 tons burthen, and +modelled on the Chinese junk, generally two-masted, the foremast raking +forward, and furnished with rattan rigging and large lug sails. This +forward rake, I believe, was not unusual, in former days, in European +craft, and is said to aid in tacking. The natives now, however, are +getting into the way of building and rigging their boats in humble +imitation of the Europeans. The <i>prahus</i> are generally furnished with +long sweeps, useful when the wind falls and in ascending winding rivers, +when the breeze cannot be depended on. The canoes are propelled and +steered by single-bladed paddles. They also generally carry a small +sail, often made of the remnants of different gaily coloured garments, +and a fleet of little craft with their gaudy sails is a pleasing sight +on a fresh, bright morning. At the sports held by the Europeans on New +Year's Day, the Queen's Birthday and other festivals, native <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>canoe +races are always included and are contested with the keenest possible +excitement by the competitors. A Brunai Malay takes to the water and to +his tiny canoe almost before he is able to walk. Use has with him become +second nature and, really, I have known some Brunai men paddle all day +long, chatting and singing and chewing betel-nut, as though they felt it +no exertion whatever.</p> + +<p>In the larger canoes one sees the first step towards a fixed rudder and +tiller, a modified form of paddle being fixed securely to one <i>side</i> of +the stern, in such a way that the blade can be turned so as either to +have its edges fore and aft, or its sides presented at a greater or less +angle to the water, according to the direction in which it is desired to +steer the boat.</p> + +<p>I was much interested, in going over the Pitt-Rivers collection, at the +Oxford University Museum, to find that in the model of a Viking boat the +steering gear is arranged in almost exactly the same manner as that of +the modern Malay canoe; and indeed, the lines generally of the two boats +are somewhat alike.</p> + +<p>To the European novice, paddling is severe work, more laborious than +rowing; but then a Brunai man is always in "training," more or less; he +is a teetotaller and very temperate in eating and drinking; indeed the +amount of fluid they take is, considering the climate, wonderfully +small. They scarcely drink during meals, and afterwards, as a rule, only +wash their mouths out, instead of taking a long draught like the +European.</p> + +<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">Dalrymple</span> is right in saying that a State visit is like a Quakers' +meeting. Seldom is any important business more than broached on such an +occasion; the details of difficult negotiations are generally discussed +and arranged by means of confidential agents, who often find it to their +pecuniary advantage to prolong matters to the limit of their employer's +patience. The Brunai Malays are very nice, polite fellows to have to +deal with, but they have not the slightest conception of the value of +time, and the expression <i>nanti dahulu</i> (wait a bit) is as often in +their mouths as that of <i>malua</i> (by-and-by) is by Miss <span class="smcap">Gordon Cumming</span> +said to be in those of the Fijians. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>A lady friend of mine, who found a +difficulty in acquiring Malay, pronounced <i>nanti dahulu</i>, or <i>nanti +dulu</i> as generally spoken, "nanty doodle," and suggested that "the nanty +doodles" could be a good name for "the Brunai Malays."</p> + +<p>As writing is a somewhat rare accomplishment, state documents are not +signed but sealed—"<i>chopped</i>" it is called—and much importance is +accordingly attached to the official seals or <i>chops</i>, which are large +circular metal stamps, and the <i>chop</i> is affixed by oiling the stamps, +blacking it over the flame of a candle and pressing it on the document +to be sealed. The <i>chop</i> bears, in Arabic characters, the name, style +and title of the Official using it. The Sultan's Chop is the Great Seal +of State and is distinguished by being the only one of which the +circumference can be quite round and unbroken; the edges of those of the +Wazirs are always notched.</p> + +<p>By the aboriginal tribes of Borneo, the Brunai people are always spoken +of as <i>Orang Abai</i>, or Abai men, but though I have often enquired both +of the aborigines and of the Brunais themselves, I have not been able to +obtain any explanation of the term, nor of its derivation.</p> + +<p>As already stated, the religion of the Brunais is Mahomedanism; but they +do not observe its precepts and forms with any very great strictness, +nor are they proselytisers, so that comparatively few of the surrounding +pagans have embraced the religion of their conquerors.</p> + +<p>Many of their old superstitions still influence them, as, in the early +days of Christianity, the belief in the old heathen gods and goddesses +were found underlying the superstructure of the new faith and tinging +its ritual and forms of worship. There still flourishes and survives, +influencing to the present day the life of the Brunais, the old Spirit +worship and a real belief in the power of evil spirits (<i>hantus</i>) to +cause ill-luck, sickness and death, to counteract which spells, charms +and prayers are made use of, together with propitiatory offerings. Most +of them wear some charm to ward off sickness, and others to shield them +from death in battle. If you are travelling in the jungle and desire to +quench your thirst at a brook, your Brunai follower will first lay his +<i>parang</i>, or cutlass in the bed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>of the stream, with its point towards +the source, so that the Spirit of the brook shall be powerless to harm +you.</p> + +<p>In caves and on small islands you frequently find platforms and little +models of houses and boats—propitiatory offerings to <i>hantus</i>. In times +of general sickness a large model of a boat is sometimes made and decked +with flags and launched out to sea in the hope that the evil spirit who +has brought the epidemic may take his departure therein. At Labuan it +was difficult to prevail on a Malay messenger to pass after sunset by +the gaol, where executions took place, or by the churchyard, for fear of +the ghosts haunting those localities.</p> + +<p>Javanese element, and Hindu work in gold has been discovered buried in +the island of Pappan, situated between Labuan and Brunai. Mr. <span class="smcap">Inche +Mahomet</span>, H. B. M.'s Consular Agent in Brunai, was good enough to procure +for me a native history of Brunai, called the <i>Telselah Besar</i>, or +principal history. This history states that the first Mahomedan +Sovereign of Brunai was Sultan <span class="smcap">Mahomet</span> and that, before his conversion +and investiture by the Sultan of Johor, his kingdom had been tributary +to the State of Majapahit, on the fall of which kingdom the Brunai +Government transferred its allegiance to Johor. Majapahit<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> was the +last Javanese kingdom professing Hinduism, and from its overthrow dates +the triumph of Mahomedanism in Java. This occurred in <small>A.D.</small> 1478, which, +if the chronicle can be trusted, must have been about the period of the +commencement of the Mahomedan period in Brunai. Inclusive of this Sultan +<span class="smcap">Mahomet</span> and of the late Sultan <span class="smcap">Mumim</span>, who died in May, 1885, +twenty-three Mahomedan Sultans have reigned in Brunai and, allowing +eighteen years for an average reign, this brings us within a few years +of the date assigned to the overthrow of the kingdom of Majapahit, and +bears testimony to the reliability of the chronicle. I will quote the +first few paragraphs of the <i>Telselah</i>, as they will give the reader an +idea of a Brunai history and also because they allude to the connection +of the Chinese with Borneo and afford a fanciful explanation of the +origin of the name of the mountain of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>Kinabalu, in British North +Borneo, which is 13,700 feet in height:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>"This is the genealogy of all the Rájas who have occupied the royal +throne of the Government of Brunai, the abode of peace, from generation +to generation, who inherited the royal drum and the bell, the tokens +from the country of Johore, <i>kamal almakam</i>, and who also possessed the +royal drum from Menangkabau, namely, from the country of Saguntang.</p> + +<p>"This was the commencement of the kingdom of Brunai and of the +introduction of the Mahomedan religion and of the Code of Laws of the +prophet, the beloved of God, in the country of Brunai—that is to say +(in the reign of) His Highness Sultan <span class="smcap">Mahomet</span>. But before His Majesty's +time the country of Brunai was still infidel, and a dependency of +Majapahit. On the death of the Batara of Majapahit and of the <span class="smcap">Patih Gaja +Medah</span> the kingdom of Majapahit fell, and Brunai ceased to pay tribute, +which used to consist of one jar of the juice of the young betel-nut +every year.</p> + +<p>"In the time of the Sultan <span class="smcap">Bahtri</span> of the kingdom of Johor, Tuan <span class="smcap">Alak +Betatar</span> and <span class="smcap">Patih Berbahi</span> were summoned to Johor, and the former was +appointed Sultan <span class="smcap">Mahomet</span> by the Sultan of Johor, who conferred on him +the royal drum and assigned him five provinces, namely, Kaluka, Seribas, +Sadong, Samarahan and Sarawak. <span class="smcap">Patih Berbai</span> was given the title of +Bandhara Sri Maharaja. After a stay of some little time in Johor, His +Highness the Sultan <span class="smcap">Mahomet</span> returned to Brunai; but His Highness had no +male issue and only one daughter. At that time also the Emperor of China +ordered two of his ministers to obtain possession of the precious stone +of the dragon of the mountain Kinabalu. Numbers of Chinese were devoured +by the dragon and still possession was not obtained of the stone. For +this reason they gave the mountain the name of Kinabalu (<i>Kina</i> = +Chinese; <i>balu</i> = <i>widow</i>).</p> + +<p>"The name of one of the Chinese Ministers was <i>Ong Kang</i> and of another +<span class="smcap">Ong Sum Ping</span>, and the latter had recourse to a stratagem. He made a box +with glass sides and placed a large lighted candle therein, and <span class='pagenumbq'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>when +the dragon went forth to feed, <span class="smcap">Ong Sum Ping</span> seized the precious stone +and put the lamp in its place and u the dragon mistook it for the +precious stone. Having now obtained possession of the precious stone all +the junks set sail for China, and when they had got a long way off from +Kinabalu, <span class="smcap">Ong Kang</span> asked <span class="smcap">Ong Sum Ping</span> for the stone, and thereupon a +quarrel ensued between them. <span class="smcap">Ong Kang</span> continued to press his demand for +the precious stone, and <span class="smcap">Ong Sum Ping</span> became out of humour and sullen and +refused to return to China and made his way back to Brunai. On arriving +there, he espoused the Princess, the daughter of Sultan <span class="smcap">Mahomet</span>, and he +obtained the title of Sultan <span class="smcap">Ahamat</span>.</p> + +<p>"The Sultan <span class="smcap">Ahamat</span> had one daughter, who was remarkably beautiful. It +came to pass that a Sheriff named <span class="smcap">Alli</span>, a descendant of <span class="smcap">Amir Hassan</span> +(<i>one of the grandchildren of the prophet</i>) came from the country of +Taif to Brunai. Hearing of the fame of the beauty of the Sultan's +daughter, he became enamoured of her and the Sultan accepted him as his +son-in-law and the Government of Brunai was handed over to him by His +Highness and he was styled Sultan <span class="smcap">Berkat</span>. He enforced the Code of Laws +of the beloved of God and erected a mosque in Brunai, and, moreover, +ordered the Chinese population to make a stone fort."</p> +</div> + +<p>The connection of the Chinese with Brunai was an important event in +Borneo history and it was certainly to them that the flourishing +condition of the capital when visited by <span class="smcap">Pigafetta</span> in 1521 was due. They +were the sole planters of the pepper gardens, the monopoly of the trade +in the produce of which the East India Company negotiated for in 1774, +when the crop was reported to the Company to have been 4,000 pikuls, +equal to about 240 tons, valued on the spot at 17<span class="frac"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>4</sub></span> Spanish dollars +per pikul. The Company's Agent expressly reported that the Chinese were +the only pepper planters, that the aborigines did not plant it, and that +the produce was disposed of to Chinese junks, which visited the port and +which he trusted would, when the exclusive trade in this article was in +the hands of the Company, be diverted <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>from Brunai to Balambangan.</p> + +<p>The station at this latter island, as already mentioned, was abandoned +in 1775, and the English trade with Brunai appears soon afterwards to +have come to an end.</p> + +<p>From extracts from the Journal of the Batavia Society of Arts and +Sciences published in <i>The British North Borneo Herald</i> of the 1st +October, 1886, the first mention of Brunai in Chinese history appears to +be in the year 669, when the King of Polo, which is stated to be another +name for Bunlai (corruption of "Brunai"), sent an envoy to Pekin, who +came to Court with the envoy of Siam. Again, in the year 1406, another +Brunai envoy was appointed, who took with him a tribute of the products +of the country, and the chronicle goes on to say that it is reported +"that the present King is a man from Fukien, who followed <span class="smcap">Cheng Ho</span> when +he went to this country and who settled there."</p> + +<p>This account was written in 1618 and alludes to the Chinese shipping +then frequenting Brunai. It is by some supposed that the northern +portion of Borneo was the destination of the unsuccessful expedition +which <span class="smcap">Kublai Khan</span> sent out in the year 1292.</p> + +<p>Towards the close of the eighteenth century a Government seems to have +arisen in Brunai which knew not <span class="smcap">Ong Sum Ping</span> and, in 1809, Mr. <span class="smcap">Hunt</span> +reported that Chinese junks had ceased visiting Brunai and, owing no +doubt to the rapacious and piratical character of the native Government, +the pepper gardens were gradually deserted and the Chinese left the +country. A few of the natives had, however, acquired the art of pepper +cultivation, especially the Dusuns of Pappar, Kimanis and Bundu and when +the Colony of Labuan was founded, 1846, there was still a small trade in +pepper with those rivers. The Brunai Rájas, however, received their +revenues and taxes in this commodity and their exhorbitant demands +gradually led to the abandonment of its cultivation.</p> + +<p>These rivers have since passed under the Government of the British North +Borneo Company, and in Bundu, owing partly to the security now afforded +to life and property and partly to the very high price which pepper at +present realizes <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span>on account of the Dutch blockade of Achin—Achin +having been of late years the principal pepper-growing country—the +natives are again turning their attention to this article. I may remark +here that the people of Bundu claim and shew evidence of Chinese +descent, and even set up in their houses the little altar and joss which +one is accustomed to see in Chinamen's shops. The Brunai Malays call the +Chinese <i>Orang Kina</i> and evidence of their connection with Borneo is +seen in such names as <i>Kina-batangan</i>, a river near Sandakan on the +north-east coast, <i>Kina-balu</i>, the mountain above referred to, and +<i>Kina-benua</i>, a district in Labuan. They have also left their mark in +the very superior mode of cultivation and irrigation of rice fields on +some rivers on the north-west coast as compared with the primitive mode +practised in other parts of Northern Borneo. It is now the object of the +Governments of Sarawak and of British North Borneo to attract Chinese to +their respective countries by all the means in their power. This has, to +a considerable extent, been successfully achieved by the present Rája +<span class="smcap">Brooke</span>, and a large area of his territory is now under pepper +cultivation with a very marked influence on the public revenues. This +subject will be again alluded to when I come to speak of British North +Borneo.</p> + +<p>It would appear that Brunai was once or twice attacked by the Spaniards, +the last occasion being in 1645.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> It has also had the honour in more +recent times, of receiving the attentions of a British naval expedition, +which was brought about in this wise. Sir <span class="smcap">James</span>, then Mr. <span class="smcap">Brooke</span>, had +first visited Sarawak in 1839 and found the district in rebellion +against its ruler, a Brunai Rája named <span class="smcap">Muda Hassim</span>, who, being a friend +to the English, received Mr. <span class="smcap">Brooke</span> with cordiality. Mr. <span class="smcap">Brooke</span> returned +to Sarawak in the following year and this time assisted <span class="smcap">Muda Hassim</span> to +put down the rebellion and finally, on the 24th September, 1841, the +Malay Rája <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span>retired from his position as Governor in favour of the +Englishman.</p> + +<p>The agreement to so transfer the Government was not signed without the +application of a little pressure, for we find the following account of +it in Mr. <span class="smcap">Brooke's</span> Journal, edited by Captain <span class="smcap">Rodney Mundy</span>, <small>R. N.</small>, in +two volumes, and published by <span class="smcap">John Murray</span> in 1848:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>"October 1st, 1841. Events of great importance have occurred during the +last month. I will shortly narrate them. The advent of the <i>Royalist</i> +and <i>Swift</i> and a second visit from the <i>Diana</i> on her return from +Brunei with the shipwrecked crew of the <i>Sultana</i>, strengthened my +position, as it gave evidence that the Singapore authorities were on the +alert, and otherwise did good to my cause by creating an impression +amongst the natives of my power and influence with the Governor of the +Straits Settlements. Now, then, was my time for pushing measures to +extremity against my subtle enemy the arch-intriguer <span class="smcap">Makota</span>." This Chief +was a Malay hostile to English interest. "I had previously made several +strong remonstrances, and urged for an answer to a letter I had +addressed to <span class="smcap">Muda Hassim</span>, in which I had recapitulated in detail the +whole particulars of our agreement, concluding by a positive demand +either to allow me to retrace my steps by repayment of the sums which he +had induced me to expend, or to confer upon me the grant of the +Government of the country according to his repeated promises; and I +ended by stating that if he would not do either one or the other I +<i>must find means to right myself</i>. Thus did I, for the first time since +my arrival in the land, present anything in the shape of a menace before +the Rája, my former remonstrances only going so far as to threaten to +take away my own person and vessels from the river." Mr. <span class="smcap">Brooke's</span> demand +for an investigation into <span class="smcap">Makota's</span> conduct was politely shelved and Mr. +<span class="smcap">Brooke</span> deemed "the moment for action had now arrived. My conscience told +me that I was bound no longer to submit to such injustice, and I was +resolved to test the strength of our respective parties. Repairing on +board the yacht, I mustered my people, explain<span class='pagenumbq'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>ed my intentions and mode +of operation, and having loaded the vessel's guns with grape and +canister, and brought her broadside to bear, I proceeded on shore with a +detachment fully armed, and taking up a position at the entrance of the +Rája's palace, demanded and obtained an immediate audience. In a few +words I pointed out the villany of <span class="smcap">Makota</span>, his tyranny and oppression of +all classes, and my determination to attack him by force, and drive him +from the country. I explained to the Raja that several Chiefs and a +large body of Siniawan Dyaks were ready to assist me, and the only +course left to prevent bloodshed was immediately to proclaim me Governor +of the country. This unmistakeable demonstration had the desired effect +<span class="elided1"> * * *</span> None joined the party of <span class="smcap">Makota</span>, and his paid followers were not +more than twenty in number.</p> + +<p>"Under the guns of the <i>Royalist</i>, and with a small body of men to +protect me personally, and the great majority of all classes with me, it +is not surprising that the negotiation proceeded rapidly to a favourable +issue. The document was quickly drawn up, sealed, signed, and delivered; +and on the 24th of September, 1841, I was declared Rája and Governor of +Sarawak amidst the roar of cannon, and a general display of flags and +banners from the shore and boats on the river."</p> +</div> + +<p>This is a somewhat lengthy quotation, but the language is so graphic and +so honest that I need make no apologies for introducing it and, indeed, +it is the fairest way of exhibiting Mr. <span class="smcap">Brooke's</span> objects and reasons and +is, moreover, interesting as shewing under what circumstances and +conditions the first permanent English settlement was formed in Borneo.</p> + +<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">Brooke</span> concludes his account of his accession to the Government in +words that remind us of another unselfish and modest hero—General +<span class="smcap">Gordon</span>. He says:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>"Difficulty followed upon difficulty; the dread of pecuniary failure, +the doubt of receiving support or assistance; this and much more +presents itself to my mind. But I have tied myself to the stake. I have +heaped faggots around me. I stand upon a cask of gunpowder, and if +others bring the torch I shall not shrink, I feel within me the firm, +unchangeable <span class='pagenumbq'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>conviction of doing right which nothing can shake. I see +the benefits I am conferring. The oppressed, the wretched, the outlawed +have found in me their only protector. They now hope and trust; and they +shall not be disappointed while I have life to uphold them. God has so +far used me as a humble instrument of his hidden Providence; and +whatever be the result, whatever my fate, I know the example will not be +thrown away. I know it tends to a good end in His own time. He can open +a path for me through all difficulties, raise me up friends who will +share with me in the task, awaken the energies of the great and +powerful, so that they may protect this unhappy people. I trust it may +be so: but if God wills otherwise; if the time be not yet arrived; if it +be the Almighty's will that the flickering taper shall be extinguished +ere it be replaced by a steady beacon, I submit, in the firm and humble +assurance that His ways are better than my ways, and that the term of my +life is better in His hands than in my own."</p> +</div> + +<p>On the 1st August, 1842, this cession of Sarawak to Mr. <span class="smcap">Brooke</span> was +confirmed by His Highness Sultan <span class="smcap">Omar Ali Saifudin</span>, under the Great +Seal. <span class="smcap">Muda Hassim</span> was the uncle of the Sultan, who was a sovereign of +weak, vacillating disposition, at one time guided by the advice of his +uncle, who was the leader of the "English party," and expressing his +desire for the Queen's assistance to put down piracy and disorder and +offering, in return, to cede to the British the island of Labuan; at +another following his own natural inclinations and siding altogether +with the party of disorder, who were resolved to maintain affairs as +they were in the "good old times," knowing that when the reign of law +and order should be established their day and their power and ability to +aggrandize and enrich themselves at the expense of the aborigines and +the common people would come to an end. There is no doubt that Mr. +<span class="smcap">Brooke</span> himself considered it would be for the good of the country that +<span class="smcap">Muda Hassim</span> should be raised to the throne and the Sultan certainly +entertained a not altogether ill-founded dread that it was intended to +depose him in the latter's favour, the more so as a large majority of +the Brunai people were known to be in his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>interest. In the early part +of 1845 <span class="smcap">Muda Hassim</span> appears to have been in favour with the Sultan, and +was publicly announced as successor to the throne with the title of +<i>Sultan Muda</i> (muda = young, the usual Malay title for the heir apparent +to the Crown), and the document recognising the appointment of Mr. +<span class="smcap">Brooke</span> as the Queen's Confidential Agent in Borneo was written in the +name of the Sultan and of <span class="smcap">Muda Hassim</span> conjointly, and concludes by +saying that the two writers express the hope that through the Queen's +assistance they will be enabled to <i>settle the Government of Borneo</i>. In +April, 1846, however, Mr. <span class="smcap">Brooke</span> received the startling intelligence +that in the December, or January previous, the Sultan had ordered the +murder of his uncle <span class="smcap">Muda Hassim</span> and of several of the Ràja's brothers +and nobles of his party, in all some thirteen Ràjas and many of their +followers. <span class="smcap">Muda Hassim</span>, finding resistance useless, retreated to his +boat and ignited a cask of powder, but the explosion not killing him, he +blew his brains out with a pistol. His brother, Pangeran <span class="smcap">Budrudin</span>, one +of the most enlightened nobles in Brunai, likewise terminated his +existence by an explosion of gunpowder. Representations being made to +Sir <span class="smcap">Thomas Cochrane</span>, the Admiral in command of the station, he proceeded +in person to Borneo with a squadron of eight vessels, including two +steamers. The Sultan, foreseeing the punishment that was inevitable, +erected some well-placed batteries to defend his town. Only the two +steamers and one sailing vessel of war, together with boats from the +other vessels and a force of six hundred men were able to ascend the +river and, such was the rotten state of the kingdom of Borneo Proper and +so unwarlike the disposition of its degenerate people that after firing +a few shots, whereby two of the British force were killed and a few +wounded, the batteries were deserted, the Sultan and his followers fled +to the jungle, and the capital remained at the Admiral's disposition. +Captain <span class="smcap">Rodney Mundy</span>, accompanied by Mr. <span class="smcap">Brooke</span>, with a force of five +hundred men was despatched in pursuit of His Highness, but it is +needless to add that, though the difficulties of marching through a +trackless country under a tropical downpour of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>rain were pluckily +surmounted, it was found impossible to come up with the Royal fugitive. +Negotiations were subsequently entered into with the Prime Minister, +Pangeran <span class="smcap">Mumim</span>, an intelligent noble, who afterwards became Sultan, and +on the 19th July, 1846, the batteries were razed to the ground and the +Admiral issued a Proclamation to the effect that hostilities would cease +if the Sultan would return and govern lawfully, suppress piracy and +respect his engagements with the British Government; but that if he +persisted in his evil courses the squadron would return and burn down +the capital. The same day Admiral <span class="smcap">Cochrane</span> and his squadron steamed +away. It is perhaps superfluous to add that this was the first and the +last time that the Brunai Government attempted to try conclusions with +the British, and in the following year a formal treaty was concluded to +which reference will be made hereafter.</p> + +<p class="center">(<i>To be continued.</i>)</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<p class="center"><b>Footnotes:</b></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> <span class="smcap">Crawfurd's</span> Dictionary—Indian Islands—<i>Majapait</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Captain <span class="smcap">Rodney Mundy</span>, <small>R. N.</small>, states that in 1846 he +captured at Brunai ten large Spanish brass guns, the longest being 14 +feet 6 inches, cast in the time of <span class="smcap">Charles III</span> of Spain and the most +beautiful specimens of workmanship he had ever seen. <span class="smcap">Charles III</span> reigned +between 1759 and 1788.</p></div> + +</div> + + +<hr /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>Chapter IV.</h2> + + +<p>Having alluded to the circumstances under which the Government of +Sarawak became vested in the <span class="smcap">Brooke</span> family, it may be of interest if I +give a brief outline of the history of that State under its European +rulers up to the present time. The territory acquired by Sir <span class="smcap">James +Brooke</span> in 1841 and known as Sarawak Proper, was a small district with a +coast line of sixty miles and with an average depth inland of fifty +miles—an area of three thousand square miles. Since that date, however, +rivers and districts lying to the northward have been acquired by +cessions for annual payments from the Brunai Government and have been +incorporated with the original district of Sarawak, which has given its +name to the enlarged territory, and the present area of Raja <span class="smcap">Brooke's</span> +possessions is stated to be about 40,000 square miles, supporting a +population of 280,000 souls, and possessing a coast line of 380 miles. +The most recent acquisition of territory was in 1884, so that the young +State has shewn a very vigorous growth since its birth in 1841—at the +rate of about 860 square miles a year, or an increase of thirteen times +its original size in the space of forty-three years.</p> + +<p>Now, alas, there are no "more lands to conquer," or acquire, unless the +present kingdom of Brunai, or Borneo Proper, as it is styled by the old +geographers, is altogether <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>swallowed up by its offspring, which, under +its white ruler, has developed a vitality never evinced under the rule +of the Royal house of Brunai in its best days.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p> + +<p>The limit of Sarawak's coast line to the South-West is Cape, or +<i>Tanjong</i>, Datu, on the other side of which commences the Dutch portion +of Borneo, so that expansion in that direction is barred. To the +North-East the boundary is Labuk Pulai the Eastern limit of the +watershed, on the coast, of the important river Barram which was +acquired by Raja <span class="smcap">Brooke</span>, in 1881, for an annual payment of £1,000. +Beyond this commences what is left of the Brunai Sultanate, there being +but one stream of any importance between the Barram river and that on +which the capital—Brunai—is situated. But Sarawak does not rest here; +it acquired, in 1884, from the then Pangeran Tumonggong, who is now +Sultan, the Trusan, a river to the East of the Brunai, under somewhat +exceptional circumstances. The natives of the river were in rebellion +against the Brunai Government, and in November, 1884, a party of Sarawak +Dyaks, who had been trading and collecting jungle produce in the +neighbourhood of the capital, having been warned by their own Government +to leave the country because of its disturbed condition, and having +further been warned also by the Sultan not to enter the Trusan, could +not refrain from visiting that river on their homeward journey, in order +to collect some outstanding trade debts. They were received is so +friendly a manner, that their suspicions were not in the slightest +degree aroused, and they took no precautions, believing themselves to be +amongst friends. Suddenly in the night they were attacked while asleep +in their boats, and the whole party, numbering about seventeen, +massacred, with the exception of one man who, though wounded, managed to +effect his escape and ultimately found his way to Labuan, where he was +treated in the Government Hospital and made a recovery. The heads of the +murdered men were, as is customary, taken by the murderers. No very +distinct reason can be given for the attack, except that the Trusan +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>people were in a "slaying" mood, being on the "war-path" and in arms +against their own Government, and it has also been said that those +particular Dyaks happened to be wearing trowsers instead of their +ordinary <i>chawat</i>, or loin cloth, and, as their enemies, the Brunais, +were trowser-wearers, the Trusan people thought fit to consider all +natives wearing such extravagant clothing as their enemies. The Sarawak +Government, on hearing of the incident, at once despatched Mr. <span class="smcap">Maxwell</span>, +the Chief Resident, to demand redress. The Brunai Government, having no +longer the warlike Kyans at their beck and call, that tribe having +passed to Raja <span class="smcap">Brooke</span> with the river Barram, were wholly unable to +undertake the punishment of the offenders. Mr. <span class="smcap">Maxwell</span> then demanded as +compensation the sum of $22,000, basing his calculations on the amount +which some time previously the British Government had exacted in the +case of some British subjects who had been murdered in another river.</p> + +<p>This demand the bankrupt Government of Brunai was equally incompetent to +comply with, and, thereupon, the matter was settled by the transfer of +the river to Raja <span class="smcap">Brooke</span> in consideration of the large annual payment of +$4,500, two years' rental—$9,000, being paid in advance, and Sarawak +thus acquired, as much by good luck as through good management, a <i>pied +à terre</i> in the very centre of the Brunai Sultanate and practically +blocked the advance of their northern rivals—the Company—on the +capital. This river was the <i>kouripan</i> (see <i>ante</i>, <a href="#Page_26">page 26</a>) of the +present Sultan, and a feeling of pique which he then entertained against +the Government of British North Borneo, on account of their refusing him +a monetary loan to which he conceived he had a claim, caused him to make +this cession with a better grace and more readily than might otherwise +have been the case, for he was well aware that the British North Borneo +Company viewed with some jealousy the extension of Sarawak territory in +this direction, having, more than probably, themselves an ambition to +carry their own southern boundary as near to Brunai as circumstances +would admit. The same feeling on the part of the Tumonggong induced him +to listen to Mr. <span class="smcap">Maxwell's</span> proposals for the cession to Sarawak of a +still <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span>more important river—the Limbang—one on which the existence of +Brunai itself as an independent State may be said to depend. But the +then reigning Sultan and the other Ministers of State refused their +sanction, and the Tumonggong, since his accession to the throne, has +also very decidedly changed his point of view, and is now in accord with +the large majority of his Brunai subjects to whom such a cession would +be most distasteful. It should be explained that the Limbang is an +important sago-producing river, close to the capital and forming an +actual portion of the Brunai river itself, with the waters of which it +mingles; indeed, the Brunai river is probably the former mouth of the +Limbang, and is itself but a salt-water inlet, producing nothing but +fish and prawns. As the Brunais themselves put it, the Limbang is their +<i>priuk nasi</i>, their rice pot, an expression which gains the greater +force when it is remembered that rice is the chief food with this +eastern people, in a more emphatic sense even than bread is with us. +This question of the Limbang river will afford a good instance and +specimen of the oppressive government, or want of government, on the +part of the Brunai rulers, and I will return to it again, continuing now +my short glance at Sarawak's progress. Raja <span class="smcap">Brooke</span> has had little +difficulty in establishing his authority in the districts acquired from +time to time, for not only were the people glad to be freed from the +tyranny of the Brunai Rajas, but the fame of both the present Raja and +of his famous uncle Sir <span class="smcap">James</span> had spread far and wide in Borneo, and, in +addition, it was well known that the Sarawak Government had at its back +its war-like Dyak tribes, who, now that "head-hunting" has been stopped +amongst them, would have heartily welcomed the chance of a little +legitimate fighting and "at the commandment of the Magistrate to wear +weapons and serve in the wars," as the XXXVIIth Article of our Church +permits. In the Trusan, the Sarawak flag was freely distributed and +joyfully accepted, and in a short time the Brunai river was dotted with +little roughly "dug-out" canoes, manned by repulsive-looking, naked, +skin-diseased savages, each proudly flying an enormous Sarawak ensign, +with its Christian symbol of the Cross, in the Muhammadan capital.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>A fine was imposed and paid for the murder of the Sarawak Dyaks, and the +heads delivered up to Mr. <span class="smcap">A. H. Everett</span>, the Resident of the new +district, who thus found his little launch on one occasion decorated in +an unusual manner with these ghastly trophies, which were, I believe, +forwarded to the sorrowing relatives at home.</p> + +<p>In addition to these levies of warriors expert in jungle fighting, on +which the Government can always count, the Raja has a small standing +army known as the "Sarawak Rangers," recruited from excellent +material—the natives of the country—under European Officers, armed +with breech-loading rifles, and numbering two hundred and fifty or three +hundred men. There is, in addition, a small Police Force, likewise +composed of natives, as also are the crews of the small steamers and +launches which form the Sarawak Navy. With the exception, therefore, of +the European Officers, there is no foreign element in the military, +naval and civil forces of the State, and the peace of the people is kept +by the people themselves, a state of things which makes for the +stability and popularity of the Government, besides enabling it to +provide for the defence of the country and the preservation of internal +order at a lower relative cost than probably any other Asiatic country +the Government of which is in the hand of Europeans. Sir <span class="smcap">James Brooke</span> +did not marry, and died in 1868, having appointed as his successor the +present Raja <span class="smcap">Charles Johnson</span>, who has taken the name of <span class="smcap">Brooke</span>, and has +proclaimed his eldest son, a youth of sixteen, heir apparent, with the +title of Raja Muda. The form of Government is that of an absolute +monarchy, but the Raja is assisted by a Supreme Council composed of two +European officials and four natives nominated by himself. There is also +a General Council of some fifty members, which is not usually convened +more frequently than once in two or three years. For administrative +purposes, the country is divided into Divisions, each under a European +Resident with European and Native Assistants. The Resident administers +justice, and is responsible for the collection of the Revenue and the +preservation of order in the district, reporting direct to the Raja. +Salaries are on an equitable scale, and the regulations for leave and +pension on retirement are conceived in a liberal spirit.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>There is no published Code of Laws, but the Raja, when the occasion +arises, issues regulations and proclamations for the guidance of +officials, who, in criminal cases, follow as much as possible the Indian +Criminal Code. Much is left to the common sense of the Judicial +Officers, native customs and religious prejudices receive due +consideration, and there is a right of appeal to the Raja. Slavery was +in full force when Sir <span class="smcap">James Brooke</span> assumed the Government, all captives +in the numerous tribal wars and piratical expeditions being kept or sold +as slaves.</p> + +<p>Means were taken to mitigate as much as possible the condition of the +slaves, not, as a rule, a very hard one in these countries, and to +gradually abolish the system altogether, which latter object was to be +accomplished by 1888.</p> + +<p>The principal item of revenue is the annual sum paid by the person who +secures from the Government the sole right of importing, preparing for +consumption, and retailing opium throughout the State. The holder of +this monopoly is known as the "Opium Farmer" and the monopoly is termed +the "Opium Farm." These expressions have occasionally given rise to the +notion that the opium-producing poppy is cultivated locally under +Government supervision, and I have seen it included among the list of +Borneo products in a recent geographical work. It is evident that the +system of farming out this monopoly has a tendency to limit the +consumption of the drug, as, owing to the heavy rental paid to the +Government, the retail price of the article to the consumer is very much +enhanced.</p> + +<p>Were the monopoly abolished, it would be impossible for the Government +efficiently to check the contraband importation of so easily smuggled an +article as prepared opium, or <i>chandu</i>, and by lowering the price the +consumption would be increased.</p> + +<p>The use of the drug is almost entirely confined to the Chinese portion +of the population. A poll-tax, customs and excise duties, mining +royalties and fines and fees make up the rest of the revenue, which in +1884 amounted to $237,752 and in 1885 to $315,264. The expenditure for +the same years is given by Vice-Consul <span class="smcap">Cadell</span> as $234,161 and $321,264, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>respectively. In the early days of Sarawak, it was a very serious +problem to find the money to pay the expenses of a most economical +Government. Sir <span class="smcap">James Brooke</span> sunk all his own fortune—£30,000—in the +country, and took so gloomy a view of the financial prospects of his +kingdom that, on the refusal of England to annex it, he offered it first +to France and then to Holland. Fortunately these offers were never +carried into effect, and, with the assistance of the Borneo Company (not +to be confused with the British North Borneo Company), who acquired the +concession of the right to work the minerals in Sarawak, bad times were +tided over, and, by patient perseverance, the finances of the State have +been brought to their present satisfactory condition. What the amount of +the national public debt is, I am not in a position to say, but, like +all other countries aspiring to be civilized, it possesses a small one. +The improvement in the financial position was undoubtedly chiefly due to +the influx of Chinese, especially of gambier and pepper planters, who +were attracted by liberal concessions of land and monetary assistance in +the first instance from the Government. The present Raja has himself +said that "without the Chinese we can do nothing," and we have only to +turn to the British possession in the far East—the Straits Settlements, +the Malay Peninsula, and Hongkong—to see that this is the case. For +instance, the revenue of the Straits Settlements in 1887 was $3,847,475, +of which the opium farm alone—that is a tax practically speaking borne +by the Chinese population—contributed $1,779,600, or not very short of +one half of the whole, and they of course contribute in many other ways +as well. The frugal, patient, industrious, go-ahead, money-making +Chinaman is undoubtedly the colonist for the sparsely inhabited islands +of the Malay archipelago. Where, as in Java, there is a large native +population and the struggle for existence has compelled the natives to +adopt habits of industry, the presence of the Chinaman is not a +necessity, but in a country like Borneo, where the inhabitants, from +time immemorial, except during unusual periods of drought or epidemic +sickness, have never found the problem of existence bear hard upon them, +it is impossible to impress upon the natives that they ought to have +"wants," whether <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>they feel them or not, and that the pursuit of the +dollar for the sake of mere possession is an ennobling object, +differentiating the simple savage from the complicated product of the +higher civilization. The Malay, in his ignorance, thinks that if he can +obtain clothing suitable to the climate, a hut which adequately protects +him from sun and rain, and a wife to be the mother of his children and +the cooker of his meals, he should therewith rest content; but, then, no +country made up of units possessed of this simple faith can ever come to +anything—can ever be civilized, and hence the necessity for the Chinese +immigrant in Eastern Colonies that want to shew an annual revenue +advancing by leaps and bounds. The Chinaman, too, in addition to his +valuable properties as a keen trader and a man of business, collecting +from the natives the products of the country, which he passes on to the +European merchant, from whom he obtains the European fabrics and +American "notions" to barter with the natives, is also a good +agriculturist, whether on a large or small scale; he is muscular and can +endure both heat and cold, and so is, at any rate in the tropics, far +and away a superior animal to the white labourer, whether for +agricultural or mining work, as an artizan, or as a hewer of wood and +drawer of water, as a cook, a housemaid or a washerwoman. He can learn +any trade that a white man can teach him, from ship-building to +watchmaking, and he does not drink and requires scarcely any holidays or +Sundays, occasionally only a day to worship his ancestors.</p> + +<p>It will be said that if he does not drink he smokes opium. Yes! he does, +and this, as we have seen, is what makes him so beloved of the Colonial +Chancellors of the Exchequer. At the same time he is, if strict justice +and firmness are shewn him, wonderfully law-abiding and orderly. Faction +fights, and serious ones no doubt, do occur between rival classes and +rival secret societies, but to nothing like the extent that would be the +case were they white men. It is not, I think, sufficiently borne in +mind, that a very large proportion of the Chinese there are of the +lower, I may say of the lowest, orders, many of them of the criminal +class and the scourings of some of the large cities of China, who arrive +at their destination in possession of nothing but a pair of trowsers and +a jacket and, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>may be, an opium pipe; in addition to this they come from +different provinces, between the inhabitants of which there has always +been rivalry, and the languages of which are so entirely different that +it is a usual thing to find Chinese of different provinces compelled to +carry on their conversation in Malay or "pidgeon" English, and finally, +as though the elements of danger were not already sufficient, they are +pressed on their arrival to join rival secret societies, between which +the utmost enmity and hatred exists. Taking all these things into +consideration, I maintain that the Chinaman is a good and orderly +citizen and that his good qualities, especially as a revenue-payer in +the Far East, much more than counterbalance his bad ones. The secret +societies, whose organization permeates Chinese society from the top to +the bottom, are the worst feature in the social condition of the Chinese +colonists, and in Sarawak a summary method of suppressing them has been +adopted. The penalty for belonging to one of these societies is death. +When Sir <span class="smcap">James Brooke</span> took over Sarawak, there was a considerable +Chinese population, settled for generations in the country and recruited +from Dutch territory, where they had been subject to no supervision by +the Government, whose hold over the country was merely nominal. They +were principally gold diggers, and being accustomed to manage their own +affairs and settle their disputes amongst themselves, they resented any +interference from the new rulers, and, in 1857, a misunderstanding +concerning the opium revenue having occurred, they suddenly rose in arms +and seized the capital. It was some time before the Raja's forces could +be collected and let loose upon them, when large numbers were killed and +the majority of the survivors took refuge in Dutch territory.</p> + +<p>The scheme for introducing Chinese pepper and gambier planters into +Sarawak was set on foot in 1878 or 1879, and has proved a decided +success, though, as Vice-Consul <span class="smcap">Cadell</span> remarked in 1886, it is difficult +to understand why even larger numbers have not availed themselves of the +terms offered "since coolies have the protection of the Sarawak +Government, which further grants them free passages from Singapore, +whilst the climate is a healthy one, and there are <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>no dangers to be +feared from wild animals, tigers being unknown in Sarawak." The fact +remains that, though there is plenty of available land, there is an +insufficiency of Chinese labour still. The quantity of pepper exported +in 1885 was 392 tons, valued at £19,067, and of gambier 1,370 tons, +valued at £23,772.</p> + +<p>Sarawak is said to supply more than half of the sago produce of the +world. The value of the sago it exported in 1885 is returned at £35,953. +Of the purely uncultivated jungle products that figure in the exports +the principal are gutta-percha, India rubber, and rattans.</p> + +<p>Both antimony ores and cinnabar (an ore of quicksilver) are worked by +the Borneo Company, but the exports of the former ore and of quicksilver +are steadily decreasing, and fresh deposits are being sought for. Only +one deposit of cinnabar has so far been discovered, that was in 1867. +Antimony was first discovered in Sarawak in 1824, and-for a long time it +was from this source that the principal supplies for Europe and America +were obtained. The ores are found "generally as boulders deep in clayey +soil, or perched on tower-like summits and craggy pinnacles and, +sometimes, in dykes <i>in situ</i>." The ores, too poor for shipment, are +reduced locally, and the <i>regulus</i> exported to London. Coal is abundant, +but is not yet worked on any considerable scale.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> The Borneo Company +excepted, all the trade of the country is in the hands of Chinese and +Natives, nor has the Government hitherto taken steps to attract European +capital for planting, but experiments are being made with the public +funds under European supervision in the planting of cinchona, coffee, +and tobacco. The capital of Sarawak is <i>Kuching</i>, which in Malay +signifies a "cat." It is situated about fifteen miles up the Sarawak +river and, when Sir <span class="smcap">James</span> first arrived, was a wretched native town, +with palm leaf huts and a population, including a few Chinese and Klings +(natives of India), of some two thousand. Kuching now possesses a well +built "Istana," or Palace of the Raja, a Fort, impregnable to natives, a +substantial<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> Gaol, Court House, Government Offices, Public Market and +Church, and is the headquarters of the Bishop of Singapore and Sarawak, +who is the head of the Protestant Mission in the country. There is a +well built brick Chinese trading quarter, or "bazaar," the Europeans +have comfortable bungalows, and the present population is said to number +twelve thousand.</p> + +<p>In the early days of his reign, Sir <span class="smcap">James Brooke</span> was energetically +assisted in his great work of suppressing piracy and rendering the seas +and rivers safe for the passage of the peaceful trader, by the British +men-of-war on the China Station, and was singularly fortunate in having +an energetic co-adjutor in Captain (now Admiral) Sir <span class="smcap">Henry Keppel</span>, +<small>K.C.B.</small></p> + +<p>It will give some idea of the extent to which piracy, then almost the +sole occupation of the Illanun, Balinini, and Sea Dyak tribes, was +indulged in that the "Headmoney," then paid by the British Government +for pirates destroyed, amounted in these expeditions to the large total +of £20,000, the awarding of which sum occasioned a great stir at the +time and led to the abolition of this system of "payment by results." +Mr. <span class="smcap">Hume</span> took exception altogether to the action of Sir <span class="smcap">James Brooke</span>, +and, in 1851, charges were brought against him, and a Royal Commission +appointed to take evidence on the spot, or rather at Singapore.</p> + +<p>A man like <span class="smcap">Brooke</span>, of an enthusiastic, impulsive, unselfish and almost +Quixotic disposition, who wore his heart on his sleeve and let his +opinions of men and their actions be freely known, could not but have +incurred the enmity of many meaner, self-seeking minds. The Commission, +after hearing all that could be brought against him, found that there +was nothing proved, but it was not deemed advisable that Sir <span class="smcap">James</span> +should continue to act as the British representative in Borneo and as +Governor of the Colony of Labuan, positions which were indeed +incompatible with that of the independent ruler of Sarawak. Sarawak +independence was first recognised by the Americans, and the British +followed suit in 1863, when a Vice-Consulate was established there. The +question of formally proclaiming a British Protectorate over Sarawak is +now being <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span>considered, and it is to be hoped, will be carried into +effect.<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> The <i>personel</i> of the Government is purely British, most of +the merchants and traders are of British nationality, and the whole +trade of the country finds its way to the British Colony of the Straits +Settlements.</p> + +<p>We can scarcely let a country such as this, with its local and other +resources, so close to Singapore and on the route to China, fall into +the hands of any other European Power, and the only means of preventing +such a catastrophe is by the proclamation of a Protectorate over it—a +Protectorate which, so long as the successors of Raja <span class="smcap">Brooke</span> prove their +competence to govern, should be worked so as to interfere as little as +possible in the internal affairs of the State. The virulently hostile +and ignorant criticisms to which Sir <span class="smcap">James Brooke</span> was subjected in +England, and the financial difficulties of this little kingdom, coupled +with a serious dispute with a nephew whom he had appointed his +successor, but whom he was compelled to depose, embittered the last +years of his life. To the end he fought his foes in his old, plucky, +honest, vigorous and straightforward style. He died in June, 1868, from +a paralytic stroke, and was succeeded by his nephew, the present Raja. +What Sir <span class="smcap">James Brooke</span> might have accomplished had he not been hampered +by an opposition based on ignorance and imperfect knowledge at home, we +cannot say; what he did achieve, I have endeavoured briefly to sketch, +and unprejudiced minds cannot but deem the founding of a prosperous +State and the total extirpation of piracy, slavery and head-hunting, a +monument worthy of a high, noble and unselfish nature.</p> + +<p>In addition to that of the Church of England, there has, within the last +few years, been established a Roman Catholic Mission, under the auspices +of the St. Joseph's College, Mill Hill.</p> + +<p>The Muhammadans, including all the true Malay inhabitants, do not make +any concerted effort to disseminate the doctrines of their faith.</p> + +<p>The following information relative to the Church of England Mission has +been kindly furnished me by the Right <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span>Reverend Dr. <span class="smcap">Hose</span>, the present +Bishop of "Singapore, Labuan and Sarawak," which is the official title +of his extensive See which includes the Colony of the Straits +Settlements—Penang, Province Wellesley, Malacca and Singapore—and its +Dependencies, the Protected States of the Malay Peninsula, the State of +Sarawak, the Crown Colony of Labuan, the Territories of the British +North Borneo Company and the Congregation of English people scattered +over Malaya.</p> + +<p>The Mission was, in the first instance, set on foot by the efforts of +Lady <span class="smcap">Burdett-Coutts</span> and others in 1847, when Sir <span class="smcap">James Brooke</span> was in +England and his doings in the Far East had excited much interest and +enthusiasm, and was specially organized under the name of the "Borneo +Church Mission." The late Reverend <span class="smcap">T. McDougall</span>, was the first +Missionary, and subsequently became the first Bishop. His name was once +well known, owing to a wrong construction put upon his action, on one +occasion, in making use of fire arms when a vessel, on which he was +aboard, came across a fleet of pirates. He was a gifted, practical and +energetic man and had the interest of his Mission at heart, and, in +addition to other qualifications, added the very useful one, in his +position, of being a qualified medical man. Bishop <span class="smcap">McDougall</span> was +succeeded on his retirement by Bishop <span class="smcap">Chambers</span>, who had experience +gained while a Missionary in the country. The present Bishop was +appointed in 1881. The Mission was eventually taken over by the Society +for the Propagation of the Gospel, and this Society defrays, with +unimportant exceptions, the whole cost of the See.</p> + +<p>Dr. <span class="smcap">Hose</span> has under him in Sarawak eight men in holy orders, of whom six +are Europeans, one Chinese and one Eurasian. The influence of the +Missionaries has spread over the Skerang, Balau and Sibuyan tribes of +<i>Sea</i>-Dyaks, and also among the <i>Land</i>-Dyaks near Kuching, the Capital, +and among the Chinese of that town and the neighbouring pepper +plantations.</p> + +<p>There are now seven churches and twenty-five Mission chapels in Sarawak, +and about 4,000 baptized Christians of the Church of England. The +Mission also provides means of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span>education and, through its press, +publishes translations of the Bible, the Prayer Book and other religious +and educational works, in Malay and in two Dyak dialects, which latter +have only become written languages since the establishment of the +Mission. In their Boys' School, at Kuching, over a hundred boys are +under instruction by an English Master, assisted by a staff of Native +Assistants; there is also a Girls' School, under a European Mistress, +and schools at all the Mission Stations. The Government of Sarawak +allows a small grant-in-aid to the schools and a salary of £200 a year +to one of the Missionaries, who acts as Government Chaplain.</p> + +<p>The Roman Catholic Mission commenced its works in Sarawak in 1881, and +is under the direction of the Reverend Father <span class="smcap">Jackson</span>, Prefect +Apostolic, who has also two or three Missionaries employed in British +North Borneo. In Sarawak there are six or eight European priests and +schoolmasters and a sisterhood of four or five nuns. In Kuching they +have a Chapel and School and a station among the Land-Dyaks in the +vicinity. They have recently established a station and erected a Chapel +on the Kanowit River, an affluent of the Rejang. The Missionaries are +mostly foreigners and, I believe, are under a vow to spend the remainder +of their days in the East, without returning to Europe.</p> + +<p>Their only reward is their consciousness of doing, or trying to do good, +and any surplus of their meagre stipends which remains, after providing +the barest necessaries of life, is refunded to the Society. I do not +know what success is attending them in Sarawak, but in British North +Borneo and Labuan, where they found that Father <span class="smcap">Quarteron's</span> labours had +left scarcely any impression, their efforts up to present have met with +little success, and experiments in several rivers have had to be +abandoned, owing to the utter carelessness of the Pagan natives as to +matters relating to religion. When I left North Borneo in 1887, their +only station which appeared to show a prospect of success was one under +Father <span class="smcap">Pundleider</span>, amongst the semi-Chinese of Bundu, to whom reference +has been made on a previous page. But these people, while permitting +their children to be educated and baptized by the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>Father, did not think +it worth their while to join the Church themselves.</p> + +<p>Neither Mission has attempted to convert the Muhammadan tribes, and +indeed it would, at present, be perfectly useless to do so and, from the +Government point of view, impolitic and inadvisable as well.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<p class="center"><b>Footnotes:</b></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> On the 17th March, 1890 the Limbang River was forcibly +annexed by Sarawak, subject to the Queen's sanction.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Since this was written, Raja Sir <span class="smcap">Charles Brooke</span> has +acquired valuable coal concessions at Muara, at the mouth of the Brunai +river, and the development of the coal resources of the State is being +energetically pushed forward.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> This has since been formally proclaimed.</p></div> + +</div> + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>Chapter V.</h2> + + +<p>I will now take a glance at the incident of the rebellion of the +inhabitants of the Limbang, the important river near Brunai to which +allusion has already been made, as from this one sample he will be able +to judge of the ordinary state of affairs in districts near the Capital, +since the establishment of Labuan as a Crown Colony and the conclusion +of the treaty and the appointment of a British Consul-General in Brunai, +and will also be able to attempt to imagine the oppression prevalent +before those events took place. The river, being a fertile and well +populated one and near Brunai, had been from old times the common purse +of the numerous nobles who, either by inheritance, or in virtue of their +official positions, as I have explained, owned as their followers the +inhabitants of the various villages situated on its banks, and many were +the devices employed to extort the uttermost farthing from the +unfortunate people, who were quite incapable of offering any resistance +because the warlike Kyan tribe was ever ready at hand to sweep down upon +them at the behest of their Brunai oppressors. The system of <i>dagang +sera</i> (forced trade) I have already explained. Some of the other devices +I will now enumerate. <i>Chukei basoh batis</i>, or the tax of washing feet, +a contribution, varying in amount at the sweet will of the imposer, +levied when the lord of the village, or his chief agent, did it the +honour of a visit. <i>Chukei bongkar-sauh</i>, or tax on weighing anchor, +similarly levied when the lord took his departure and perhaps therefore, +paid with more willingness. <i>Chukei tolongan</i>, or tax of assistance, +levied when the lord had need of funds for some special purpose or on a +special occasion such as a wedding—and these are numerous amongst +polygamists—a birth,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> the building of a house or of a vessel. <i>Chop +bibas</i>, literally a free seal; this was a permission granted by the +Sultan to some noble and needy favourite to levy a contribution for his +own use anywhere he thought he could most easily enforce it. The method +of inventing imaginary crimes and delinquencies and punishing them with +heavy fines has been already mentioned. Then there are import and export +duties as to which no reasonable complaint can be made, but a real +grievance and hindrance to legitimate trade was the effort which the +Malays, supported by their rulers, made to prevent the interior tribes +trading direct with the Chinese and other foreign traders—acting +themselves as middlemen, so that but a very small share of profit fell +to the aborigines. The lords, too, had the right of appointing as many +<i>orang kayas</i>, or headmen, from among the natives as they chose, a +present being expected on their elevation to that position and another +on their death. In many rivers there was also an annual poll-tax, but +this does not appear to have been collected in the Limbang. Sir <span class="smcap">Spencer +St. John</span>, writing in 1856, gives, in his "Life in the Forests of the Far +East," several instances of the grievous oppression practiced on the +Limbang people. Amongst others he mentions how a native, in a fit of +desperation, had killed an extortionate tax-gatherer. Instead of having +the offender arrested and punished, the Sultan ordered his village to be +attacked, when fifty persons were killed and an equal number of women +and children were made prisoners and kept as slaves by His Highness. The +immediate cause of the rebellion to which I am now referring was the +extraordinary extortion practised by one of the principal Ministers of +State. The revenues of his office were principally derived from the +Limbang River and, as the Sultan was very old, he determined to make the +best possible use of the short time remaining to him to extract all he +could from his wretched feudatories. To aid him in his design, he +obtained, with the assistance of the British North Borneo Company, a +steam launch, and the Limbang people subsequently pointed out to me this +launch and complained bitterly that it was with the money forced out of +them that this means of oppressing them had been purchased. He then +employed the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span>most unscrupulous agents he could discover, imposed +outrageous fines for trifling offences, and would even interfere if he +heard of any private disputes among the villagers, adjudicate unasked in +their cases, taking care always to inflict a heavy fine which went, not +to the party aggrieved, but into his own pocket. If the fines could not +be paid, and this was often the case, owing to their being purposely +fixed at such a high rate, the delinquent's sago plantations—the +principal wealth of the people in the Limbang River—would be +confiscated and became the private property of the Minister, or of some +of the members of his household. The patience of the people was at +length exhausted, and they remembered that the Brunai nobles could no +longer call in the Kayans to enforce their exactions, that tribe having +become subjects to Raja <span class="smcap">Brooke</span>. About the month of August, 1884, two of +the Minister's messengers, or tax collectors, who were engaged in the +usual process of squeezing the people, were fired on and killed by the +Bisayas, the principal pagan tribe in the river. The Tumonggong +determined to punish this outrage in person and probably thought his +august presence on the spot in a steam-launch, would quickly bring the +natives to their knees and afford him a grand opportunity of +replenishing his treasury.</p> + +<p>He accordingly ascended the river with a considerable force in +September, and great must have been his surprise when he found that his +messenger, sent in advance to call the people to meet him, was fired on +and killed. He could scarcely have believed the evidence of his own +ears, however, when shortly afterwards his royal launch and little fleet +were fired on from the river banks. For two days was this firing kept +up, the Brunais having great difficulty in returning it, owing to the +river being low and the banks steep and lined with large trees, behind +which the natives took shelter, and, a few casualties having occurred on +board and one of the Royal guns having burst, which was known as the +<i>Amiral Muminin</i>, the Tumonggong deemed it expedient to retire and +returned ignominiously to Brunai. The rebels, emboldened by the impunity +they had so far enjoyed, were soon found to be hovering round the +outskirts of the capital, and every <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>now and then an outlying house +would be attacked during the night and the headless corpses of its +occupants be found on the morrow. There being no forts and no organized +force to resist attack, the houses, moreover, being nearly all +constructed of highly inflammable palm leaf thatch and matting, a +universal panic prevailed amongst all classes, when the Limbang people +announced their intention of firing the town. Considerable distress too +prevailed, as the spirit of rebellion had spread to all the districts +near the capital, and the Brunai people who had settled in them were +compelled to flee for their lives, leaving their property in the hands +of the insurgents, while the people of the city were unable to follow +their usual avocations—trading, planting, sago washing and so forth, +the Brunai River, as has been pointed out, producing nothing itself. +British trade being thus affected by the continuance of such a state of +affairs, and the British subjects in the city being in daily fear from +the apprehended attack by the rebels, the English Consul-General did +what he could to try and arrange matters. A certain Datu <span class="smcap">Klassie</span>, one of +the most influential of the Bisaya Chiefs, came into Brunai without any +followers, but bringing with him, as a proof of the friendliness of his +mission, his wife. Instead of utilizing the services of this Chief in +opening communication with the natives, the Tumonggong, maddened by his +ignominious defeat, seized both Datu <span class="smcap">Klassie</span> and his wife and placed +them in the public stocks, heavily ironed.</p> + +<p>I was Acting Consul-General at the time, and my assistance in arranging +matters had been requested by the Brunai Government, while the Bisayas +also had expressed their warm desire to meet and consult with me if I +would trust myself amongst them, and I at once arranged so to do; but, +being well aware that my mission would be perfectly futile unless I was +the bearer of terms from the Sultan and unless Datu <span class="smcap">Klassie</span> and his wife +were released, I refused to take any steps until these two points were +conceded.</p> + +<p>This was a bitter pill for the Brunai Rajas and especially for the +Tumonggong, who, though perfectly aware that he was quite unable, not +only to punish the rebels, but even to defend the city against their +attacks, yet clung to the vain hope that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span>the British Government might +be induced to regard them as pirates and so interfere in accordance with +the terms of the treaty, or that the Raja of Sarawak would construe some +old agreement made with Sir <span class="smcap">James Brooke</span> as necessitating his rendering +armed assistance.</p> + +<p>However, owing to the experience, tact, perseverance and intelligence of +Inche <span class="smcap">Mahomet</span>, the Consular Agent, we gained our point after protracted +negotiations, and obtained the seals of the Sultan, the Bandahara, the +Di Gadong and the Tumonggong himself to a document, by which it was +provided that, on condition of the Limbang people laying down their arms +and allowing free intercourse with Brunai, all arbitrary taxation such +as that which has been described should be for ever abolished, but that, +in lieu therefor, a fixed poll-tax should be paid by all adult males, at +the rate of $3 per annum by married men and $2 by bachelors; that on the +death of an <i>orang kaya</i> the contribution to be paid to the feudal lord +should be fixed at one pikul of brass gun, equal to about $21; that the +possession of their sago plantations should be peaceably enjoyed by +their owners; that jungle products should be collected without tax, +except in the case of gutta percha, on which a royalty of 5% <i>ad +valorem</i> should be paid, instead of the 20% then exacted; that the taxes +should be collected by the headmen punctually and transmitted to Brunai, +and that four Brunai tax-gatherers, who were mentioned by name and whose +rapacious and criminal action had been instrumental in provoking the +rebellion, should be forbidden ever again to enter the Limbang River; +that a free pardon should be granted to the rebels.</p> + +<p>Accompanied by Inche <span class="smcap">Mahomet</span> and with some Bisaya interpreters, I +proceeded up the Limbang River, on the 21st October, in a steam-launch, +towing the boats of Pangeran <span class="smcap">Istri Nagara</span> and of the Datu <span class="smcap">Ahamat</span>, who +were deputed to accompany us and represent the Brunai Government.</p> + +<p>Several hundred of the natives assembled to meet us, and the Government +conditions were read out and explained. It was evident that the people +found it difficult to place much reliance in the promises of the Rajas, +although the document was formally attested by the seals of the Sultan +and of his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>three Ministers, and a duplicate had been prepared for them +to keep in their custody for future reference. It was seen, too, that +there were a number of Muhammadans in the crowd who appeared adverse to +the acceptance of the terms offered, and, doubtless, many of them were +acting at the instigation of the Tumonggong's party, who by no means +relished so peaceful a solution of the difficulties their chief's action +had brought about.</p> + +<p>Whilst the conference was still going on and the various clauses of the +<i>firman</i> were being debated, news arrived that the Rajas had, in the +basest manner, let loose the Trusan Muruts on the district the day we +had sailed for the Limbang, and that these wretches had murdered and +carried off the heads of four women, two of whom were pregnant, and two +young unmarried girls and of two men who were at work in their gardens.</p> + +<p>This treacherous action was successful in breaking up the meeting, and +was not far from causing the massacre of at any rate the Brunai portion +of our party, and the Pangeran and the Datu quickly betook themselves to +their boats and scuttled off to Brunai not waiting for the steam-launch.</p> + +<p>But we determined not to be beaten by the Rajas' manoeuvres, and so, +though a letter reached me from the Sultan warning me of what had +occurred and urging me to return to Brunai, we stuck to our posts, and +ultimately were rewarded by the Bisayas returning and the majority of +their principal chiefs signing, or rather marking the document embodying +their new constitution, as it might be termed, in token of their +acquiescence—a result which should be placed to the credit of the +indefatigable Inche <span class="smcap">Mahomet</span>, whose services I am happy to say were +specially recognised in a despatch from the Foreign Office. Returning to +Brunai, I demanded the release of Datu <span class="smcap">Klassie</span>, as had been agreed upon, +but it was only after I had made use of very plain language to his +messengers that the Tumonggong gave orders for his release and that of +his wife, whom I had the pleasure of taking up the river and restoring +to their friends.</p> + +<p>H. M. S. <i>Pegasus</i> calling at Labuan soon afterwards, I seized the +opportunity to request Captain <span class="smcap">Bickford</span> to make a little demonstration +in Brunai, which was not often visited <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>by a man-of-war, with the double +object of restoring confidence to the British subjects there and the +traders generally and of exacting a public apology for the disgraceful +conduct of the Government in allowing the Muruts to attack the Limbang +people while we were up that river. Captain <span class="smcap">Bickford</span> at once complied +with my request, and, as the <i>Pegasus</i> drew too much water to cross the +bar, the boats were manned and armed and towed up to the city by a +steam-launch. It was rather a joke against me that the launch which +towed up the little flotilla designed to overawe Brunai was sent for the +occasion by one of the principal Ministers of the Sultan. It was placed +at my disposal by the Pangeran Di Gadong, who was then a bitter enemy of +the Tumonggong, and glad to witness his discomfiture. This was on the +3rd November, 1884.</p> + +<p>With reference to the heads taken on the occasion mentioned above, I may +add that the Muruts were allowed to retain them, and the disgusting +sight was to be seen, at one of the watering places in the town, of +these savages "cooking" and preparing the heads for keeping in their +houses.</p> + +<p>As the Brunai Government was weak and powerless, I am of opinion that +the agreement with the Limbang people might have been easily worked had +the British Government thought it worth while to insist upon its +observance. As it was, hostilities did cease, the headmen came down and +visited the old Sultan, and trade recommenced. In June, 1885, Sultan +<span class="smcap">Mumim</span> died, at the age, according to Native statements, which are very +unreliable on such points, of 114 years, and was succeeded by the +Tumonggong, who was proclaimed Sultan on the 5th June of the same year, +when I had the honour of being present at the ceremony, which was not of +an imposing character. The new Sultan did not forget the mortifying +treatment he had received at the hands of the Limbang people, and +refused to receive their Chiefs. He retained, too, in his own hands the +appointment of Tumonggong, and with it the rights of that office over +the Limbang River, and it became the interest of many different parties +to prevent the completion of the pacification of that district. The +gentleman for whom I had been acting as <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>Consul-General soon afterwards +returned to his post. In May, 1887, Sir <span class="smcap">Frederick Weld</span>, Governor of the +Straits Settlements, was despatched to Brunai by Her Majesty's +Government, on a special mission, to report on the affairs of the Brunai +Sultanate and as to recent cessions of territory made, or in course of +negotiation, to the British North Borneo Company and to Sarawak. His +report has not been yet made public. There were at one time grave +objections to allowing Raja <span class="smcap">Brooke</span> to extend his territory, as there was +no guarantee that some one of his successors might not prefer a life of +inglorious ease in England to the task of governing natives in the +tropics, and sell his kingdom to the highest bidder—say France or +Germany; but if the British Protectorate over Sarawak is formally +proclaimed, there would appear to be no reasonable objection to the +<span class="smcap">Brookes</span> establishing their Government in such other districts as the +Sultan may see good of his own free will to cede, but it should be the +duty of the British Government to see that their ally is fairly treated +and that any cessions he may make are entirely voluntary and not brought +about by coercion in any form—direct or indirect.</p> + + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>Chapter VI.</h2> + + +<p>The British Colony of Labuan was obtained by cession from the Sultan of +Brunai and was in the shape of a <i>quid pro quo</i> for assistance in +suppressing piracy in the neighbouring seas, which the Brunai Government +was supposed to have at heart, but in all probability, the real reason +of the willingness on the Sultan's part to cede it was his desire to +obtain a powerful ally to assist him in reasserting his authority in +many parts of the North and West portions of his dominions, where the +allegiance of the people had been transferred to the Sultan of Sulu and +to Illanun and Balinini piratical leaders. It was a similar reason +which, in 1774, induced the Brunai Government to grant to the East India +Company the monopoly of the trade in pepper, and is explained in Mr. +<span class="smcap">Jesse's</span> letter to the Court of Directors as follows. He says that he +found the reason of their unanimous inclination to cultivate the +friendship and alliance of the Company was their desire for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>"protection +from their piratical neighbours, the Sulus and Mindanaos, and others, +who make continual depredations on their coast, by taking advantage of +their natural timidity."</p> + +<p>The first connection of the British with Labuan was on the occasion of +their being expelled by the Sulus from Balambangan, in 1775, when they +took temporary refuge on the island.</p> + +<p>In 1844, Captain Sir <span class="smcap">Edward Belcher</span> visited Brunai to enquire into +rumours of the detention of a European female in the country—rumours +which proved to be unfounded. Sir <span class="smcap">James Brooke</span> accompanied him, and on +this occasion the Sultan, who had been terrified by a report that his +capital was to be attacked by a British squadron of sixteen or seventeen +vessels, addressed a document, in conjunction with Raja Muda <span class="smcap">Hassim</span>, to +the Queen of England, requesting her aid "for the suppression of piracy +and the encouragement and extension of trade; and to assist in +forwarding these objects they are willing to cede, to the Queen of +England, the Island of Labuan, and its islets on such terms as may +hereafter be arranged by any person appointed by Her Majesty. The Sultan +and the Raja Muda <span class="smcap">Hassim</span> consider that an English Settlement on Labuan +will be of great service to the natives of the coast, and will draw a +considerable trade from the northward, and from China; and should Her +Majesty the Queen of England decide upon the measure, the Sultan and the +Raja Muda <span class="smcap">Hassim</span> promise to afford every assistance to the English +authorities." In February of the following year, the Sultan and Raja +Muda <span class="smcap">Hassim</span>, in a letter accepting Sir <span class="smcap">James Brooke</span> as Her Majesty's +Agent in Borneo, without specially mentioning Labuan, expressed their +adherence to their former declarations, conveyed through Sir <span class="smcap">Edward +Belcher</span>, and asked for immediate assistance "to protect Borneo from the +pirates of Marudu," a Bay situated at the northern extremity of +Borneo—assistance which was rendered in the following August, when the +village of Marudu was attacked and destroyed, though it is perhaps open +to doubt whether the chief, <span class="smcap">Osman</span>, quite deserved the punishment he +received. On the 1st March of the same year (1845) the Sultan verbally +asked Sir <span class="smcap">James Brooke</span> whether and at what time the English <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>proposed to +take possession of Labuan. Then followed the episode already narrated of +the murder by the Sultan of Raja Muda <span class="smcap">Hassim</span> and his family and the +taking of Brunai by Admiral <span class="smcap">Cochrane's</span> Squadron. In November, 1846, +instructions were received in Singapore, from Lord <span class="smcap">Palmerston</span>, to take +possession of Labuan, and Captain <span class="smcap">Rodney Mundy</span> was selected for this +service. He arrived in Brunai in December, and gives an amusing account +of how he proceeded to carry out his orders and obtain the <i>voluntary</i> +cession of the island. As a preliminary, he sent "Lieutenant <span class="smcap">Little</span> in +charge of the boats of the <i>Iris</i> and <i>Wolf</i>, armed with twenty marines, +to the capital, with orders to moor them in line of battle opposite the +Sultan's palace, and to await my arrival." On reaching the palace, +Captain <span class="smcap">Mundy</span> produced a brief document, to which he requested the +Sultan to affix his seal, and which provided for eternal friendship +between the two countries, and for the cession of Labuan, in +consideration of which the Queen engaged to use her best endeavours to +suppress piracy and protect lawful commerce. The document of 1844 had +stated that Labuan would be ceded "on such terms as may hereafter be +arranged," and a promise to suppress piracy, the profits in which were +shared by the Sultan and his nobles, was by no means regarded by them as +a fair set off; it was a condition with which they would have readily +dispensed. The Sultan ventured to remark that the present treaty was +different to the previous one, and that a money payment was required in +exchange for the cession of territory. Captain <span class="smcap">Mundy</span> replied that the +former treaty had been broken when Her Majesty's Ships were fired on by +the Brunai forts, and "at last I turned to the Sultan, and exclaimed +firmly, 'Bobo chop bobo chop!' followed up by a few other Malay words, +the tenor of which was, that I recommended His Majesty to put his seal +forthwith." And he did so. Captain <span class="smcap">Mundy</span> hoisted the British Flag at +Labuan on the 24th December, 1846, and there still exists at Labuan in +the place where it was erected by the gallant Captain, a granite slab, +with an inscription recording the fact of the formal taking possession +of the island in Her Majesty's name.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span>In the following year, Sir <span class="smcap">James Brooke</span> was appointed the first Governor +of the new Colony, retaining his position as the British representative +in Brunai, and being also the ruler of Sarawak, the independence of +which was not formally recognised by the English Government until the +year 1863. Sir <span class="smcap">James</span> was assisted at Labuan by a Lieutenant-Governor and +staff of European Officers, who on their way through Singapore are said +to have somewhat offended the susceptibilities of the Officials of that +Settlement by pointing to the fact that they were Queen's Officers, +whereas the Straits Settlements were at that time still under the +Government of the East India Company. Sir <span class="smcap">James Brooke</span> held the position +of Governor until 1851, and the post has since been filled by such +well-known administrators as Sir <span class="smcap">Hugh Low</span>, Sir <span class="smcap">John Pope Hennessy</span>, Sir +<span class="smcap">Henry E. Bulwer</span> and Sir <span class="smcap">Charles Lees</span>, but the expectations formed at its +foundation have never been realized and the little Colony appears to be +in a moribund condition, the Governorship having been left unfilled +since 1881. On the 27th May, 1847, Sir <span class="smcap">James Brooke</span> concluded the Treaty +with the Sultan of Brunai which is still in force. Labuan is situated +off the mouth of the Brunai River and has an area of thirty square +miles. It was uninhabited when we took it, being only occasionally +visited by fishermen. It was then covered, like all tropical countries, +whether the soil is rich or poor, with dense forest, some of the trees +being valuable as timber, but most of this has since been destroyed, +partly by the successive coal companies, who required large quantities +of timber for their mines, but chiefly by the destructive mode of +cultivation practised by the Kadyans and other squatters from Borneo, +who were allowed to destroy the forest for a crop or two of rice, the +soil, except in the flooded plains, being not rich enough to carry more +than one or two such harvests under such primitive methods of +agriculture as only are known to the natives. The lands so cleared were +deserted and were soon covered with a strong growth of fern and coarse +useless <i>lalang</i> grass, difficult to eradicate, and it is well known +that, when a tropical forest is once destroyed and the land left to +itself, the new jungle which may in time spring up rarely contains any +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span>of the valuable timber trees which composed the original forest.</p> + +<p>A few cargoes of timber were also exported by Chinese to Hongkong. Great +hopes were entertained that the establishment of a European Government +and a free port on an island lying alongside so rich a country as Borneo +would result in its becoming an emporium and collecting station for the +various products of, at any rate, the northern and western portions of +this country and perhaps, too, of the Sulu Archipelago. Many causes +prevented the realization of these hopes. In the first place, no +successful efforts were made to restore good government on the mainland, +and without a fairly good government and safety to life and property, +trade could not be developed. Then again Labuan was overshaded by the +prosperous Colony of Singapore, which is the universal emporium for all +these islands, and, with the introduction of steamers, it was soon found +that only the trade of the coast immediately opposite to Labuan could be +depended upon, that of the rest' including Sarawak and the City of +Brunai, going direct to Singapore, for which port Labuan became a +subsidiary and unimportant collecting station. The Spanish authorities +did what they could to prevent trade with the Sulu Islands, and, on the +signing of the Protocol between that country and Great Britain and +Germany freeing the trade from restrictions, Sulu produce has been +carried by steamers direct to Singapore. Since 1881, the British North +Borneo Company having opened ports to the North, the greater portion of +the trade of their possessions likewise finds its way direct by steamers +to the same port.</p> + +<p>Labuan has never shipped cargoes direct to England, and its importance +as a collecting station for Singapore is now diminishing, for the +reasons above-mentioned.</p> + +<p>Most or a large portion of the trade that now falls to its share comes +from the southern portion of the British North Borneo Company's +territories, from which it is distant, at the nearest point, only about +six miles, and the most reasonable solution of the Labuan question would +certainly appear to be the proclamation of a British Protectorate over +North Borneo, to which, under proper guarantees, might be assigned the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>task of carrying on the government of Labuan, a task which it could +easily and economically undertake, having a sufficiently well organised +staff ready to hand.<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> By the Royal Charter it is already provided +that the appointment of the Company's Governor in Borneo is subject to +the sanction of Her Majesty's Secretary of State, and the two Officers +hitherto selected have been Colonial servants, whose service have been +<i>lent</i> by the Colonial Office to the Company.</p> + +<p>The Census taken in 1881 gives the total population of Labuan as 5,995, +but it has probably decreased considerably since that time. The number +of Chinese supposed to be settled there is about 300 or 400—traders, +shopkeepers, coolies and sago-washers; the preparation of sago flour +from the raw sago, or <i>lamuntah</i>, brought in from the mainland by the +natives, being the principal industry of the island and employing three +or four factories, in which no machinery is used. All the traders are +only agents of Singapore firms and are in a small way of business. There +is no European firm, or shop, in the island. Coal of good quality for +raising steam is plentiful, especially at the North end of the island, +and very sanguine expectations of the successful working of these coal +measures were for a long time entertained, but have hitherto not been +realised. The Eastern Archipelago Company, with an ambitious title but +too modest an exchequer, first attempted to open the mines soon after +the British occupation, but failed, and has been succeeded by three +others, all I believe Scotch, the last one stopping operations in 1878. +The cause of failure seems to have been the same in each +case—insufficient capital, local mismanagement, difficulty in obtaining +labour. In a country with a rainfall of perhaps over 120 inches a year, +water was naturally another difficulty in the deep workings, but this +might have been very easily overcome had the Companies been in a +position to purchase sufficiently powerful pumping engines.</p> + +<p>There were three workable seams of coal, one of them, I think, twelve +feet in thickness; the quality of the coal, though <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>inferior to Welsh, +was superior to Australian, and well reported on by the engineers of +many steamers which had tried it; the vessels of the China squadron and +the numerous steamers engaged in the Far East offered a ready market for +the coal.</p> + +<p>In their effort to make a "show," successive managers have pretty nearly +exhausted the surface workings and so honeycombed the seams with their +different systems of developing their resources, that it would be, +perhaps, a difficult and expensive undertaking for even a substantial +company to make much of them now.<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></p> + +<p>It is needless to add that the failure to develop this one internal +resource of Labuan was a great blow to the Colony, and on the cessation +of the last company's operations the revenue immediately declined, a +large number of workmen—European, Chinese and Natives—being thrown out +of employment, necessitating the closing of the shops in which they +spent their wages. It was found that both Chinese and the Natives of +Borneo proved capital miners under European supervision. Notwithstanding +the ill-luck that has attended it, the little Colony has not been a +burden on the British tax-payer since the year 1860, but has managed to +collect a revenue—chiefly from opium, tobacco, spirits, pawnbroking and +fish "farms" and from land rents and land sales—sufficient to meet its +small expenditure, at present about £4,000 a year. There have been no +British troops quartered in this island since 1871, and the only armed +force is the Native Constabulary, numbering, I think, a dozen rank and +file. Very seldom are the inhabitants cheered by the welcome visit of a +British gunboat. Still, all the formality of a British Crown Colony is +kept up. The administrator is by his subjects styled "His Excellency" +and the Members of the Legislative Council, Native and Europeans, are +addressed as the "Honourable so and so." An Officer, as may be supposed, +has to play many parts. The present Treasurer, for instance, is an +ex-Lieutenant of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>Her Majesty's Navy, and is at the same time Harbour +Master, Postmaster, Coroner, Police Magistrate, likewise a Judge of the +Supreme Court, Superintendent of Convicts, Surveyor-General, and Clerk +to the Legislative Council, and occasionally has, I believe, to write +official letters of reprimand or encouragement from himself in one +capacity to himself in another.</p> + +<p>The best thing about Labuan is, perhaps, the excellence of its fruit, +notably of its pumeloes, oranges and mangoes, for which the Colony is +indebted to the present Sir <span class="smcap">Hugh Low</span>, who was one of the first officials +under Sir <span class="smcap">James Brooke</span>, and a man who left no stone unturned in his +efforts to promote the prosperity of the island. His name was known far +and wide in Northern Borneo and in the Sulu Archipelago. As an instance, +I was once proceeding up a river in the island of Basilan, to the North +of Sulu, with Captain <span class="smcap">C. E. Buckle</span>, <small>R.N.</small>, in two boats of H. M. S. +<i>Frolic</i>, when the natives, whom we could not see, opened fire on us +from the banks. I at once jumped up and shouted out that we were Mr. +Low's friends from Labuan, and in a very short time we were on friendly +terms with the natives, who conducted us to their village. They had +thought we might be Spaniards, and did not think it worth while to +enquire before tiring. The mention of the <i>Frolic</i> reminds me that on +the termination of a somewhat lengthy cruise amongst the Sulu Islands, +then nominally undergoing blockade by Spanish cruisers, we were +returning to Labuan through the difficult and then only partially +surveyed Malawalli Channel, and after dinner we were congratulating one +another on having been so safely piloted through so many dangers, when +before the words were out of our mouths, we felt a shock and found +ourselves fast on an unmarked rock which has since had the honour of +bearing the name of our good little vessel.</p> + +<p>Besides Mr. Low's fruit garden, the only other European attempt at +planting was made by my Cousin, Dr. <span class="smcap">Treacher</span>, Colonial Surgeon, who +purchased an outlying island and opened a coco-nut plantation. I regret +to say that in neither case, owing to the decline of the Colony, was the +enterprise of the pioneers adequately rewarded.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>Labuan<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> at one time boasted a Colonial Chaplain and gave its name to +the Bishop's See; but in 1872 or 1873, the Church was "disestablished" +and the few European Officials who formed the congregation were unable +to support a Clergyman. There exists a pretty little wooden Church, and +the same indefatigable officer, whom I have described as filling most of +the Government appointments in the Colony, now acts as unpaid Chaplain, +having been licensed thereto by the Bishop of Singapore and Sarawak, and +reads the service and even preaches a sermon every Sunday to a +congregation which rarely numbers half a dozen.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<p class="center"><b>Footnotes:</b></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> My suggestion has taken shape more quickly than I +expected. In 1889 Labuan was put under the administration of the +Company.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> Since the above was written, a fifth company—the Central +Borneo Company, Limited, of London—has taken in hand the Labuan coal +and, finding plenty of coal to work on without sinking a shaft, +confidently anticipate success. Their £1 shares recently went up to £4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> The administration of this little Crown Colony has since +been entrusted to the British North Borneo Company, their present +Governor, Mr. <span class="smcap">C. V. Creagh</span>, having been gazetted Governor of Labuan.</p></div> + +</div> + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>Chapter VII.</h2> + + +<p>The mode of acquisition of British North Borneo has been referred to in +former pages; it was by cession for annual money payments to the Sultans +of Brunai and of Sulu, who had conflicting claims to be the paramount +power in the northern portion of Borneo. The actual fact was that +neither of them exercised any real government or authority over by far +the greater portion, the inhabitants of the coast on the various rivers +following any Brunai, Illanun, Bajau, or Sulu Chief who had sufficient +force of character to bring himself to the front. The pagan tribes of +the interior owned allegiance to neither Sultan, and were left to govern +themselves, the Muhammadan coast people considering them fair game for +plunder and oppression whenever opportunity occurred, and using all +their endeavours to prevent Chinese and other foreign traders from +reaching them, acting themselves as middlemen, buying (bartering) at +very cheap rates from the aborigines and selling for the best price they +could obtain to the foreigner.</p> + +<p>I believe I am right in saying that the idea of forming a Company, +something after the manner of the East India Company, to take over and +govern North Borneo, originated in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span>following manner. In 1865 Mr. +<span class="smcap">Moses</span>, the unpaid Consul for the United Sates in Brunai, to whom +reference has been made before, acquired with his friends from the +Sultan of Brunai some concessions of territory with the right to govern +and collect revenues, their idea being to introduce Chinese and +establish a Colony. This they attempted to carry out on a small scale in +the Kimanis River, on the West Coast, but not having sufficient capital +the scheme collapsed, but the concession was retained. Mr. <span class="smcap">Moses</span> +subsequently lost his life at sea, and a Colonel <span class="smcap">Torrey</span> became the chief +representative of the American syndicate. He was engaged in business in +China, where he met Baron <span class="smcap">von Overbeck</span>, a merchant of Hongkong and +Austrian Consul-General, and interested him in the scheme. In 1875 the +Baron visited Borneo in company with the Colonel, interviewed the Sultan +of Brunai, and made enquiries as to the validity of the concessions, +with apparently satisfactory results, Mr. <span class="smcap">Alfred Dent</span><a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> was also a +China merchant well known in Shanghai, and he in turn was interested in +the idea by Baron <span class="smcap">Overbeck</span>. Thinking there might be something in the +scheme, he provided the required capital, chartered a steamer, the +<i>America</i>, and authorised Baron <span class="smcap">Overbeck</span> to proceed to Brunai to +endeavour, with Colonel <span class="smcap">Torrey's</span> assistance, to induce the Sultan and +his Ministers to transfer the American cessions to himself and the +Baron, or rather to cancel the previous ones and make out new ones in +their favour and that of their heirs, associates, successors and assigns +for so long as they should choose or desire to hold them. Baron <span class="smcap">von +Overbeck</span> was accompanied by Colonel <span class="smcap">Torrey</span> and a staff of three +Europeans, and, on settling some arrears due by the American Company, +succeeded in accomplishing the objects of his mission, after protracted +and tedious negotiations, and obtained a "chop" from the Sultan +nominating and appointing him supreme ruler, "with the title of Maharaja +of Sabah (North Borneo) and Raja of Gaya and Sandakan, with power of +life and death over the inhabitants, with all the absolute rights of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span>property vested in the Sultan over the soil of the country, and the +right to dispose of the same, as well as of the rights over the +productions of the country, whether mineral, vegetable, or animal, with +the rights of making laws, coining money, creating an army and navy, +levying customs rates on home and foreign trade and shipping, and other +dues and taxes on the inhabitants as to him might seem good or +expedient, together with all other powers and rights usually exercised +by and belonging to sovereign rulers, and which the Sultan thereby +delegated to him of his own free will; and the Sultan called upon all +foreign nations, with whom he had formed friendly treaties and +alliances, to acknowledge the said Maharaja as the Sultan himself in the +said territories and to respect his authority therein; and in the case +of the death or retirement from the said office of the said Maharaja, +then his duly appointed successor in the office of Supreme Ruler and +Governor-in-Chief of the Company's territories in Borneo should likewise +succeed to the office and title of Maharaja of Sabah and Raja of Gaya +and Sandakan, and all the powers above enumerated be vested in him." I +am quoting from the preamble to the Royal Charter. Some explanation of +the term "Sabah" as applied to the territory—a term which appears in +the Prayer Book version of the 72nd Psalm, verse 10, "The kings of +Arabia and Sabah shall bring gifts"—seems called for, but I regret to +say I have not been able to obtain a satisfactory one from the Brunai +people, who use it in connection only with a small portion of the West +Coast of Borneo, North of the Brunai river. Perhaps the following note, +which I take from Mr. <span class="smcap">W. E. Maxwell's</span> "Manual of the Malay Language," +may have some slight bearing on the point:—"Sawa, Jawa, Saba, Jaba, +Zaba, etc., has evidently in all times been the capital local name in +Indonesia. The whole archipelago was pressed into an island of that name +by the Hindus and Romans. Even in the time of <span class="smcap">Marco Polo</span> we have only a +Java Major and a Java Minor. The Bugis apply the name of Jawa, <i>jawaka</i> +(comp. the Polynesian <i>Sawaiki</i>, Ceramese <i>Sawai</i>) to the Moluccas. One +of the principal divisions of Battaland in Sumatra is called <i>Tanah</i> +Jawa. <span class="smcap">Ptolemy</span> has both Jaba and Saba."—"Logan, Journ. Ind. Arch., iv, +338." In the Brunai use of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span>the term, there is always some idea of a +Northerly direction; for instance, I have heard a Brunai man who was +passing from the South to the Northern side of his river, say he was +going <i>Saba</i>. When the Company's Government was first inaugurated, the +territory was, in official documents, mentioned as Sabah, a name which +is still current amongst the natives, to whom the now officially +accepted designation of <i>North Borneo</i> is meaningless and difficult of +pronunciation.</p> + +<p>Having settled with the Brunai authorities, Baron <span class="smcap">von Overbeck</span> next +proceeded to Sulu, and found the Sultan driven out of his capital, Sugh +or Jolo, by the Spaniards, with whom he was still at war, and residing +at Maibun, in the principal island of the Sulu Archipelago. After brief +negotiations, the Sultan made to Baron <span class="smcap">von Overbeck</span> and Mr. <span class="smcap">Alfred Dent</span> +a grant of his rights and powers over the territories and lands +tributary to him on the mainland of the island of Borneo, from the +Pandassan River on the North West Coast to the Sibuko River on the East, +and further invested the Baron, or his duly appointed successor in the +office of supreme ruler of the Company's territories in Borneo, with the +high sounding titles of Datu Bandahara and Raja of Sandakan.</p> + +<p>On a company being formed to work the concessions, Baron <span class="smcap">von Overbeck</span> +resigned these titles from the Brunai and Sulu Potentates and they have +not since been made use of, and the Baron himself terminated his +connection with the country.</p> + +<p>The grant from the Sultan of Sulu bears date the 22nd January, 1878, and +on the 22nd July of the same year he signed a treaty, or act of +re-submission to Spain. The Spanish Government claimed that, by previous +treaties with Sulu, the suzerainty of Spain over Sulu and its +dependencies in Borneo had been recognised and that consequently the +grant to Mr. <span class="smcap">Dent</span> was void. The British Government did not, however, +fall in with this view, and in the early part of 1879, being then Acting +Consul-General in Borneo, I was despatched to Sulu and to different +points in North Borneo to publish, on behalf of our Government, a +protest against the claim of Spain to any portion of the country. In +March, 1885, a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span>protocol was signed by which, in return for the +recognition by England and Germany of Spanish sovereignty throughout the +Archipelago of Sulu, Spain renounced all claims of sovereignty over +territories on the Continent of Borneo which had belonged to the Sultan +of Sulu, including the islands of Balambangan, Banguey and Malawali, as +well as all those comprised within a zone of three maritime leagues from +the coast.</p> + +<p>Holland also strenuously objected to the cessions and to their +recognition, on the ground that the general tenor of the Treaty of +London of 1824 shews that a mixed occupation by England and the +Netherlands of any island in the Indian Archipelago ought to be avoided.</p> + +<p>It is impossible to discover anything in the treaty which bears out this +contention. Borneo itself is not mentioned by name in the document, and +the following clauses are the only ones regulating the future +establishment of new Settlements in the Eastern Seas by either +Power:—"Article 6. It is agreed that orders shall be given by the two +Governments to their Officers and Agents in the East not to form any new +Settlements on any of the islands in the Eastern Seas, without previous +authority from their respective Governments in Europe. Art. 12. His +Britannic Majesty, however, engages, that no British Establishment shall +be made on the Carimon islands or on the islands of Battam, Bintang, +Lingin, or on any of the other islands South of the Straits of +Singapore, nor any treaty concluded by British authority with the chiefs +of those islands." Without doubt, if Holland in 1824 had been desirous +of prohibiting any British Settlement in the island of Borneo, such +prohibition would have been expressed in this treaty. True, perhaps half +of this great island is situated South of the Straits of Singapore, but +the island cannot therefore be correctly said to lie to the South of the +Straits and, at any rate, such a business-like nation as the Dutch would +have noticed a weak point here and have included Borneo in the list with +Battam and the other islands enumerated. Such was the view taken by Mr. +<span class="smcap">Gladstone's</span> Cabinet, and Lord <span class="smcap">Granville</span> informed the Dutch Minister in +1882 that the XIIth Article of the Treaty could not be taken to apply to +Borneo, and "that as a a matter of international right they would have +no ground to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>object even to the absolute annexation of North Borneo by +Great Britain," and, moreover, as pointed out by his Lordship, the +British had already a settlement in Borneo, namely the island of Labuan, +ceded by the Sultan of Brunai in 1845 and confirmed by him in the Treaty +of 1847. The case of Raja <span class="smcap">Brooke</span> in Sarawak was also practically that of +a British Settlement in Borneo.</p> + +<p>Lord <span class="smcap">Granville</span> closed the discussion by stating that the grant of the +Charter does not in any way imply the assumption of sovereign rights in +North Borneo, <i>i.e.</i>, on the part of the British Government.</p> + +<p>There the matter rested, but now that the Government is proposing<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> to +include British North Borneo, Brunai and Sarawak under a formal "British +Protectorate," the Netherlands Government is again raising objections, +which they must be perfectly aware are groundless. It will be noted that +the Dutch do not lay any claim to North Borneo themselves, having always +recognized it as pertaining, with the Sulu Archipelago, to the Spanish +Crown. It is only to the presence of the British Government in North +Borneo that any objection is raised. In a "Resolution" of the Minister +of State, Governor-General of Netherlands India, dated 28th February, +1846, occurs the following:—"The parts of Borneo on which the +Netherlands does not exercise any influence are:—</p> + +<p class="lefthang"><i>a.</i> The States of the Sultan of Brunai or Borneo Proper;</p> + +<p class="lefthang center"><span class="elided1">* * * * *</span></p> + +<p class="lefthang"><i>b.</i> The State of the Sultan of the Sulu Islands, having for boundaries +on the West, the River Kimanis, the North and North-East Coasts as far +as 3° N.L., where it is bounded by the River Atas, forming the extreme +frontier towards the North with the State of Berow dependant on the +Netherlands.</p> + +<p class="lefthang"><i>c.</i> All the islands of the Northern Coasts of Borneo."</p> + +<p>Knowing this, Mr. <span class="smcap">Alfred Dent</span> put the limit of his cession from Sulu at +the Sibuku River, the South bank of which is in N. Lat. 4° 5'; but +towards the end of 1879, that is, long <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>after the date of the cession, +the Dutch hoisted their flag at Batu Tinagat in N. Lat. 4° 19', thereby +claiming the Sibuko and other rivers ceded by the Sultan of Sulu to the +British Company. The dispute is still under consideration by our Foreign +Office, but in September, 1883, in order to practically assert the +Company's claims, I, as their Governor, had a very pleasant trip in a +very small steam launch and steaming at full speed past two Dutch +gun-boats at anchor, landed at the South bank of the Sibuko, temporarily +hoisted the North Borneo flag, fired a <i>feu-de-joie</i>, blazed a tree, and +returning, exchanged visits with the Dutch gun-boats, and entertained +the Dutch Controlleur at dinner. Having carefully given the Commander of +one of the gun-boats the exact bearings of the blazed tree, he proceeded +in hot haste to the spot, and, I believe, exterminated the said tree. +The Dutch Government complained of our having violated Netherlands +territory, and matters then resumed their usual course, the Dutch +station at Batu Tinagat, or rather at the Tawas River, being maintained +unto this day.</p> + +<p>As is hereafter explained, the cession of coast line from the Sultan of +Brunai was not a continuous one, there being breaks on the West Coast in +the case of a few rivers which were not included. The annual tribute to +be paid to the Sultan was fixed at $12,000, and to the Pangeran +Tumonggong $3,000—extravagantly large sums when it is considered that +His Highness' revenue per annum from the larger portion of the territory +ceded was <i>nil</i>. In March, 1881, through negotiations conducted by Mr. +<span class="smcap">A. H. Everett</span>, these sums were reduced to more reasonable proportions, +namely, $5,000 in the case of the Sultan, and $2,500 in that of the +Tumonggong.</p> + +<p>The intermediate rivers which were not included in the Sultan's cession +belonged to Chiefs of the blood royal, and the Sultan was unwilling to +order them to be ceded, but in 1883 Resident <span class="smcap">Davies</span> procured the cession +from one of these Chiefs of the Pangalat River for an annual payment of +$300, and subsequently the Putalan River was acquired for $1,000 per +annum, and the Kawang River and the Mantanani Islands for lump sums of +$1,300 and $350 respectively. In 1884, after prolonged negotiations, I +was also enabled to obtain the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span>cession of an important Province on the +West Coast, to the South of the original boundary, to which the name of +Dent Province has been given, and which includes the Padas and Kalias +Rivers, and in the same deed of cession were also included two rivers +which had been excepted in the first grant—the Tawaran and the +Bangawan. The annual tribute under this cession is $3,100. The principal +rivers within the Company's boundaries still unleased are the Kwala +Lama, Membakut, Inanam and Menkabong. For fiscal reasons, and for the +better prevention of the smuggling of arms and ammunition for sale to +head-hunting tribes, it is very desirable that the Government of these +remaining independent rivers should be acquired by the Company.</p> + +<p>On the completion of the negotiations with the two Sultans, Baron <span class="smcap">von +Overbeck</span>, who was shortly afterwards joined by Mr. <span class="smcap">Dent</span>, hoisted his +flag—the house flag of Mr. <span class="smcap">Dent's</span> firm—at Sandakan, on the East Coast, +and at Tampassuk and Pappar on the West, leaving at each a European, +with a few so-called Police to represent the new Government, agents from +the Sultans of Sulu and Brunai accompanying him to notify to the people +that the supreme power had been transferred to Europeans. The common +people heard the announcement with their usual apathy, but the officer +left in charge had a difficult part to play with the headmen who, in the +absence of any strong central Government, had practically usurped the +functions of Government in many of the rivers. These Chiefs feared, and +with reason, that not only would their importance vanish, but that trade +with the inland tribes would be thrown open to all, and slave dealing be +put a stop to under the new regime. At Sandakan, the Sultan's former +Governor refused to recognise the changed position of affairs, but he +had a resolute man to deal with in Mr. <span class="smcap">W. B. Pryer</span>, and before he could +do much harm, he lost his life by the capsizing of his prahu while on a +trading voyage.</p> + +<p>At Tampassuk, Mr. <span class="smcap">Pretyman</span>, the Resident, had a very uncomfortable post, +being in the midst of lawless, cattle-lifting and slave-dealing Bajaus +and Illanuns. He, with the able assistance of Mr. F. X. <span class="smcap">Witti</span>, an +ex-Naval officer of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>Austrian Service, who subsequently lost his +life while exploring in the interior, and by balancing one tribe against +another, managed to retain his position without coming to blows, and, on +his relinquishing the service a few months afterwards, the arduous task +of representing the Government without the command of any force to back +up his authority developed on Mr. <span class="smcap">Witti</span>. In the case of the Pappar +River, the former Chief, Datu <span class="smcap">Bahar</span>, declined to relinquish his +position, and assumed a very defiant attitude. I was at that time in the +Labuan service, and I remember proceeding to Pappar in an English +man-of-war, in consequence of the disquieting rumours which had reached +us, and finding the Resident, Mr. <span class="smcap">A. H. Everett</span>, on one side of the +small river with his house strongly blockaded and guns mounted in all +available positions, and the Datu on the other side of the stream, +immediately opposite to him, similarly armed to the teeth. But not a +shot was fired, and Datu <span class="smcap">Bahar</span> is now a peaceable subject of the +Company.</p> + +<p>The most difficult problem, however, which these officers had to solve +was that of keeping order, or trying to do so, amongst a lawless people, +with whom for years past might had been right, and who considered +kidnapping and cattle-lifting the occupations of honourable and high +spirited gentlemen. That they effected what they did, that they kept the +new flag flying and prepared the way for the Government of the Company, +reflects the highest credit upon their pluck and diplomatic ingenuity, +for they had neither police nor steam launches, nor the prestige which +would have attached to them had they been representatives of the British +Government, and under the well known British flag. They commenced their +work with none of the <i>éclat</i> which surrounded Sir <span class="smcap">James Brooke</span> in +Sarawak, where he found the people in successful rebellion against the +Sultan of Brunai, and was himself recognised as an agent of the British +Government, so powerful that he could get the Queen's ships to attack +the head hunting pirates, killing such numbers of them that, as I have +said, the Head money claimed and awarded by the British Government +reached the sum of £20,000. On the other hand, it is but fair to add +that the fame of Sir <span class="smcap">James'</span> exploits and the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>action taken by Her +Majesty's vessels, on his advice, in North-West Borneo years before, had +inspired the natives with a feeling of respect for Englishmen which must +have been a powerful factor in favour of the newly appointed officers. +The native tribes, too, inhabiting North Borneo were more sub-divided, +less warlike, and less powerful than those of Sarawak.</p> + +<p>The promoters of the scheme were fortunate in obtaining the services, +for the time being, as their chief representative in the East of Mr. <span class="smcap">W. +H. Read</span>, <small>C.M.G.</small>, an old friend of Sir <span class="smcap">James Brooke</span>, and who, as a Member +of the Legislative Council of Singapore, and Consul-General for the +Netherlands, had acquired an intimate knowledge of the Malay character +and of the resources, capabilities and needs of Malayan countries.</p> + +<p>On his return to England, Mr. <span class="smcap">Dent</span> found that, owing to the opposition +of the Dutch and Spanish Governments, and to the time required for a +full consideration of the subject by Her Majesty's Ministers, there +would be a considerable delay before a Royal Charter could be issued, +meanwhile, the expenditure of the embryo Government in Borneo was not +inconsiderable, and it was determined to form a "Provisional +Association" to carry on till a Chartered Company could be formed.</p> + +<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">Dent</span> found an able supporter in Sir <span class="smcap">Rutherford Alcock</span>, <small>K.C.B.</small>, who +energetically advocated the scheme from patriotic motives, recognising +the strategic and commercial advantages of the splendid harbours of +North Borneo and the probability of the country becoming in the near +future a not unimportant outlet for English commerce, now so heavily +weighted by prohibitive tariffs in Europe and America.</p> + +<p>The British North Borneo Provisional Association Limited, was formed in +1881, with a capital of £300,000, the Directors being Sir <span class="smcap">Rutherford +Alcock</span>, Mr. <span class="smcap">A. Dent</span>, Mr. <span class="smcap">R. B. Martin</span>, Admiral <span class="smcap">Mayne</span>, and Mr. <span class="smcap">W. H. +Read</span>. The Association acquired from the original lessees the grants and +commissions from the Sultans, with the object of disposing of these +territories, lands and property to a Company to be incorporated by Royal +Charter. This Charter passed the Great <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span>Seal on the 1st November, 1881, +and constituted and incorporated the gentlemen above-mentioned as "The +British North Borneo Company."</p> + +<p>The Provisional Association was dissolved, and the Chartered Company +started on its career in May, 1882. The nominal capital was two million +pounds, in £20 shares, but the number of shares issued, including 4,500 +fully paid ones representing £90,000 to the vendors, was only 33,030, +equal to £660,600, but on 23,449 of these shares only £12 have so far +been called up. The actual cash, therefore, which the Company has had to +work with and to carry on the development of the country from the point +at which the original concessionaires and the Provisional Association +had left it, is, including some £1,000 received for shares forfeited, +about £384,000, and they have a right of call for £187,592 more. The +Charter gave official recognition to the concessions from the Native +Princes, conferred extensive powers on the Company as a corporate body, +provided for the just government of the natives and for the gradual +abolition of slavery, and reserved to the Crown the right of +disapproving of the person selected by the Company to be their Governor +in the East, and of controlling the Company's dealings with any Foreign +Power.</p> + +<p>The Charter also authorised the Company to use a distinctive flag, +indicating the British character of the undertaking, and the one +adopted, following the example of the English Colonies, is the British +flag, "defaced," as it is termed, with the Company's badge—a lion. I +have little doubt that this selection of the British flag, in lieu of +the one originally made use of, had a considerable effect in imbuing the +natives with an idea of the stability and permanence of the Company's +Government.</p> + +<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">Dent's</span> house flag was unknown to them before and, on the West Coast, +many thought that the Company's presence in the country might be only a +brief one, like that of its predecessor, the American syndicate, and, +consequently, were afraid to tender their allegiance, since, on the +Company's withdrawal, they would be left to the tender mercies of their +former Chiefs. But the British flag was well-known to those of them who +were traders, and they had seen it flying <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>for many a year in the Colony +of Labuan and on board the vessels which had punished their piratical +acts in former days.</p> + +<p>Then, too, I was soon able to organise a Police Force mainly composed of +Sikhs, and was provided with a couple of steam-launches. Owing doubtless +to that and other causes, the refractory chiefs, soon after the +Company's formation, appeared to recognize that the game of opposition +to the new order of things was a hopeless one.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<p class="center"><b>Footnotes:</b></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Now Sir <span class="smcap">Alfred Dent</span>, <small>K.C.M.G.</small></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> The Protectorate has since been proclaimed.</p></div> + +</div> + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>Chapter VIII.</h2> + + +<p>The area of the territory ceded by the original grants was estimated at +20,000 square miles, but the additions which have been already mentioned +now bring it up to about 31,000 square miles, including adjacent +islands, so that it is somewhat larger than Ceylon, which is credited +with only 25,365 square miles. In range of latitude, in temperature and +in rainfall, North Borneo presents many points of resemblance to Ceylon, +and it was at first thought that it might be possible to attract to the +new country some of the surplus capital, energy and aptitude for +planting which had been the foundation of Ceylon's prosperity.</p> + +<p>Even the expression "The New Ceylon" was employed as an alternative +designation for the country, and a description of it under that title +was published by the well known writer—Mr. <span class="smcap">Joseph Hatton</span>.</p> + +<p>These hopes have not so far been realized, but on the other hand North +Borneo is rapidly becoming a second Sumatra, Dutchmen, Germans and some +English having discovered the suitability of its soil and climate for +producing tobacco of a quality fully equal to the famed Deli leaf of +that island.</p> + +<p>The coast line of the territory is about one thousand miles, and a +glance at the map will shew that it is furnished with capital harbours, +of which the principal are Gaya Bay on the West, Kudat in Marudu Bay on +the North, and Sandakan Harbour on the East. There are several others, +but at those enumerated the Company have opened their principal +stations.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>Of the three mentioned, the more striking is that of Sandakan, which is +15 miles in length, with a width varying from 11 miles, at its entrance, +to 5 miles at the broadest part. It is here that the present capital is +situated—Sandakan, a town containing a population of not more than +5,000 people, of whom perhaps thirty are Europeans and a thousand +Chinese., For its age, Sandakan has suffered serious vicissitudes. It +was founded by Mr. <span class="smcap">Pryer</span>, in 1878, well up the bay, but was soon +afterwards burnt to the ground. It was then transferred to its present +position, nearer the mouth of the harbour, but in May, 1886, the whole +of what was known as the "Old Town" was utterly consumed by fire; in +about a couple of hours there being nothing left of the <i>atap</i>-built +shops and houses but the charred piles and posts on which they had been +raised above the ground. When a fire has once laid hold of an atap town, +probably no exertions would much avail to check it; certainly our +Chinese held this opinion, and it was impossible to get them to move +hand or foot in assisting the Europeans and Police in their efforts to +confine its ravages to as limited an area as possible. They entertain +the idea that such futile efforts tend only to aggravate the evil +spirits and increase their fury. The Hindu shopkeepers were successful +in saving their quarter of the town by means of looking glasses, long +prayers and chants. It is now forbidden to any one to erect atap houses +in the town, except in one specified area to which such structures are +confined. Most of the present houses are of plank, with tile, or +corrugated iron roofs, and the majority of the shops are built over the +sea, on substantial wooden piles, some of the principal "streets," +including that to which the ambitious name of "The Praya" has been +given, being similarly constructed on piles raised three or four feet +above high water mark. The reason is that, owing to the steep hills at +the back of the site, there is little available flat land for building +on, and, moreover, the pushing Chinese trader always likes to get his +shops as near as possible to the sea—the highway of the "prahus" which +bring him the products of the neighbouring rivers and islands. In time, +no doubt, the Sandakan hills will be used to reclaim more land from the +sea, and the town will cease to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>be an amphibious one. In the East there +are, from a sanitary point of view, some points of advantage in having a +tide-way passing under the houses. I should add that Sandakan is a +creation of the Company's and not a native town taken over by them. When +Mr. <span class="smcap">Pryer</span> first hoisted his flag, there was only one solitary Chinaman +and no Europeans in the harbour, though at one time, during the Spanish +blockade of Sulu, a Singapore firm had established a trading station, +known as "Kampong German," using it as their head-quarters from which to +run the blockade of Sulu, which they successfully did for some +considerable time, to their no small gain and advantage. The success +attending the Germans' venture excited the emulation of the Chinese +traders of Labuan, who found their valuable Sulu trade cut off and, +through the good offices of the Government of the Colony, they were +enabled to charter the Sultan of Brunai's smart little yacht the +<i>Sultana</i>, and engaging the services as Captain of an ex-member of the +Labuan Legislative Council, they endeavoured to enact the roll of +blockade runner. After a trip or two, however, the <i>Sultana</i> was taken +by the Spaniards, snugly at anchor in a Sulu harbour, the Captain and +Crew having time to make their escape. As she was not under the British +flag, the poor Sultan could obtain no redress, although the blockade was +not recognised as effective by the European Powers and English and +German vessels, similarly seized, had been restored to their owners. The +<i>Sultana</i> proved a convenient despatch boat for the Spanish authorities. +The Sultan of Sulu to prove his friendship to the Labuan traders, had an +unfortunate man cut to pieces with krisses, on the charge of having +betrayed the vessel's position to the blockading cruisers.</p> + +<p>Sandakan is one of the few places in Borneo which has been opened and +settled without much fever and sickness ensuing, and this was due +chiefly to the soil being poor and sandy and to there being an abundance +of good, fresh, spring water. It may be stated, as a general rule, that +the richer the soil the more deadly will be the fever the pioneers will +have to encounter when the primeval jungle is first felled and the sun's +rays admitted to the virgin soil.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>Sandakan is the principal trading station in the Company's territory, +but with Hongkong only 1,200 miles distant in one direction, Manila 600 +miles in another, and Singapore 1,000 miles in a third, North Borneo can +never become an emporium for the trade of the surrounding countries and +islands, and the Court of Directors must rest content with developing +their own local trade and pushing forward, by wise and encouraging +regulations, the planting interest, which seems to have already taken +firm root in the country and which will prove to be the foundation of +its future prosperity. Gold and other minerals, including coal, are +known to exist, but the mineralogical exploration of a country covered +with forest and destitute of roads is a work requiring time, and we are +not yet in a position to pronounce on North Borneo's expectations in +regard to its mineral wealth.</p> + +<p>The gold on the Segama River, on the East coast, has been several times +reported on, and has been proved to exist in sufficient quantities to, +at any rate, well repay the labours of Chinese gold diggers, but the +district is difficult of access by water, and the Chinese are deferring +operations on a large scale until the Government has constructed a road +into the district. A European Company has obtained mineral concessions +on the river, but has not yet decided on its mode of operation, and +individual European diggers have tried their luck on the fields, +hitherto without meeting with much success, owing to heavy rains, +sickness and the difficulty of getting up stores. The Company will +probably find that Chinese diggers will not only stand the climate +better, but will be more easily governed, be satisfied with smaller +returns, and contribute as much or more than the Europeans to the +Government Treasury, by their consumption of opium, tobacco and other +excisable articles, by fees for gold licenses, and so forth.</p> + +<p>Another source of natural wealth lies in the virgin forest with which +the greater portion of the country is clothed, down to the water's edge. +Many of the trees are valuable as timber, especially the <i>Billian</i>, or +Borneo iron-wood tree, which is impervious to the attacks of white-ants +ashore and almost equally so to those of the <i>teredo navalis</i> afloat, +and is wonderfully enduring of exposure to the tropical sun and the +tropical <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>downpours of rain. I do not remember having ever come across a +bit of <i>billian</i> that showed signs of decay during a residence of +seventeen years in the East. The wood is very heavy and sinks in water, +so that, in order to be shipped, it has to be floated on rafts of soft +wood, of which there is an abundance of excellent quality, of which one +kind—the red <i>serayah</i>—is likely to come into demand by builders in +England. Other of the woods, such as <i>mirabau</i>, <i>penagah</i> and <i>rengas</i>, +have good grain and take a fine polish, causing them to be suitable for +the manufacture of furniture. The large tree which yields the Camphor +<i>barus</i> of commerce also affords good timber. It is a <i>Dryobalanops</i>, +and is not to be confused with the <i>Cinnamomum camphora</i>, from which the +ordinary "camphor" is obtained and the wood of which retains the camphor +smell and is largely used by the Chinese in the manufacture of boxes, +the scented wood keeping off ants and other insects which are a pest in +the Far East. The Borneo camphor tree is found only in Borneo and +Sumatra. The camphor which is collected for export, principally to China +and India, by the natives, is found in a solid state in the trunk, but +only in a small percentage of the trees, which are felled by the +collectors. The price of this camphor <i>barus</i> as it is termed, is said +to be nearly a hundred times as much as that of the ordinary camphor, +and it is used by the Chinese and Indians principally for embalming +purposes. Billian and other woods enumerated are all found near the +coast and, generally, in convenient proximity to some stream, and so +easily available for export. Sandakan harbour has some thirteen rivers +and streams running into it, and, as the native population is very +small, the jungle has been scarcely touched, and no better locality +could, therefore, be desired by a timber merchant. Two European Timber +Companies are now doing a good business there, and the Chinese also take +their share of the trade. China affords a ready and large market for +Borneo timber, being itself almost forestless, and for many years past +it has received iron-wood from Sarawak. Borneo timber has also been +exported to the Straits Settlements, Australia and Mauritius, and I hear +that an order has been given for England. Iron wood is only found in +certain districts, notably in Sandakan Bay and on <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span>the East coast, being +rarely met with on the West coast. I have seen a private letter from an +officer in command of a British man-of-war who had some samples of it on +board which came in very usefully when certain bearings of the screw +shaft were giving out on a long voyage, and were found to last <i>three +times</i> as long as lignum vitæ.</p> + +<p>In process of time, as the country is opened up by roads and railways, +doubtless many other valuable kinds of timber trees will be brought to +light in the interior.</p> + +<p>A notice of Borneo Forests would be incomplete without a reference to +the mangroves, which are such a prominent feature of the country as one +approaches it by sea, lining much of the coast and forming, for mile +after mile, the actual banks of most of the rivers. Its thick, +dark-green, never changing foliage helps to give the new comer that +general impression of dull monotony in tropical scenery, which, perhaps, +no one, except the professed botanist, whose trained and practical eye +never misses the smallest detail, ever quite shakes off.</p> + +<p>The wood of the mangrove forms most excellent firewood, and is often +used by small steamers as an economical fuel in lieu of coal, and is +exported to China in the timber ships. The bark is also a separate +article of export, being used as a dye and for tanning, and is said to +contain nearly 42% of <i>tannin</i>.</p> + +<p>The value of the general exports from the territory is increasing every +year, having been $145,444 in 1881 and $525,879 in 1888. With the +exception of tobacco and pepper, the list is almost entirely made up of +the natural raw products of the land and sea—such as bees-wax, camphor, +damar, gutta percha, the sap of a large forest tree destroyed in the +process of collection of gutta, India rubber, from a creeper likewise +destroyed by the collectors, rattans, well known to every school boy, +sago, timber, edible birds'-nests, seed-pearls, Mother-o'-pearl shells +in small quantities, dried fish and dried sharks'-fins, trepang +(sea-slug or bêche-de-mer), aga, or edible sea-weed, tobacco (both +Native and European grown), pepper, and occasionally elephants' tusks—a +list which shews the country to be a rich store house of natural +productions, and one which will be added to, as the land is brought +under cultivation with coffee, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>tea, sugar, cocoa, Manila hemp, pine +apple fibre, and other tropical products for which the soil, and +especially the rainfall, temperature and climatic conditions generally, +including entire freedom from typhoons and earthquakes, eminently adapt +it, and many of which have already been tried with success on an +experimental scale. As regards pepper, it has been previously shewn that +North Borneo was in former days an exporter of this spice. Sugar has +been grown by the natives for their own consumption for many years, as +also tapioca, rice and Indian corn. It is not my object to give a +detailed list of the productions of the country, and I would refer any +reader who is anxious to be further enlightened on these and kindred +topics to the excellent "Hand-book of British North Borneo," prepared +for the Colonial and Indian Exhibition of 1886, at which the new Colony +was represented, and published by Messrs. <span class="smcap">William Clowes & Sons</span>.</p> + +<p>The edible birds'-nests are already a source of considerable revenue to +the Government, who let out the collection of them for annual payments, +and also levy an export duty as they leave the country for China, which +is their only market. The nests are about the size of those of the +ordinary swallow and are formed by innumerable hosts of +swifts—<i>Collocalia fuciphaga</i>—entirely from a secretion of the glands +of the throat. These swifts build in caves, some of which are of very +large dimensions, and there are known to be some sixteen of them in +different parts of British North Borneo. With only one exception, the +caves occur in limestone rocks and, generally, at no great distance from +the sea, though some have been discovered in the interior, on the banks +of the Kinabatangan River. The exception above referred to is that of a +small cave on a sand-stone island at the entrance of Sandakan harbour. +The <i>Collocalia fuciphaga</i> appears to be pretty well distributed over +the Malayan islands, but of these, Borneo and Java are the principal +sources of supply. Nests are also exported from the Andaman Islands, and +a revenue of £30,000 a year is said to be derived from the nests in the +small islands in the inland sea of Tab Sab, inhabited by natives of +Malay stock.</p> + +<p>The finest caves, or rather series of caves, as yet known in the +Company's territories are those of Gomanton, a limestone <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>hill situated +at the head of the Sapa Gaia, one of the streams running into Sandakan +harbour.</p> + +<p>These grand caves, which are one of the most interesting sights in the +country, are, in fine weather, easily accessible from the town of +Sandakan, by a water journey across the harbour and up the Sapa Gaia, of +about twelve miles, and by a road from the point of debarkation to the +entrance of the lower caves, about eight miles in length.</p> + +<p>The height of the hill is estimated at 1,000 feet, and it contains two +distinct series of caves. The first series is on the "ground floor" and +is known as <i>Simud Hitam</i>, or "black entrance." The magnificent porch, +250 feet high and 100 broad, which gives admittance to this series, is +on a level with the river bank, and, on entering, you find yourself in a +spacious and lofty chamber well lighted from above by a large open +space, through which can be seen the entrance to the upper set of caves, +some 400 to 500 feet up the hill side. In this chamber is a large +deposit of guano, formed principally by the myriads of bats inhabiting +the caves in joint occupancy with the edible-nest-forming swifts. +Passing through this first chamber and turning a little to the right you +come to a porch leading into an extensive cave, which extends under the +upper series. This cave is filled half way up to its roof, with an +enormous deposit of guano, which has been estimated to be 40 to 50 feet +in depth. How far the cave extends has not been ascertained, as its +exploration, until some of the deposit is removed, would not be an easy +task, for the explorer would be compelled to walk along on the top of +the guano, which in some places is so soft that you sink in it almost up +to your waist. My friend Mr. <span class="smcap">C. A. Bampfylde</span>, in whose company I first +visited Gomanton, and who, as "Commissioner of Birds-nest Caves," drew +up a very interesting report on them, informed me that, though he had +found it impossible to explore right to the end, he had been a long way +in and was confident that the cave was of very large size. To reach the +upper series of caves, you leave Simud Hitam and clamber up the hill +side—a steep but not difficult climb, as the jagged limestone affords +sure footing. The entrance to this series, known as <i>Simud Putih</i>, or +"white entrance," is estimated to be at an <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>elevation of 300 feet above +sea level, and the porch by which you enter them is about 30 feet high +by about 50 wide. The floor slopes steeply downwards and brings you into +an enormous cave, with smaller ones leading off it, all known to the +nest collectors by their different native names. You soon come to a +large black hole, which has never been explored, but which is said to +communicate with the large guano cave below, which has been already +described. Passing on, you enter a dome-like cave, the height of the +roof or ceiling of which has been estimated at 800 feet, but for the +accuracy of this guess I cannot vouch. The average height of the cave +before the domed portion is reached is supposed to be about 150 feet, +and Mr. <span class="smcap">Bampfylde</span> estimates the total length, from the entrance to the +furthest point, at a fifth of a mile. The Simud Putih series are badly +lighted, there being only a few "holes" in the roof of the dome, so that +torches or lights of some kind are required. There are large deposits of +guano in these caves also, which could be easily worked by lowering +quantities down into the Simud Hitam caves below, the floor of which, as +already stated, is on a level with the river bank, so that a tramway +could be laid right into them and the guano be carried down to the port +of shipment, at the mouth of the Sapa Gaia River. Samples of the guano +have been sent home, and have been analysed by Messrs. <span class="smcap">Voelcker & Co.</span> It +is rich in ammonia and nitrogen and has been valued at £5 to £7 a ton in +England. The bat-guano is said to be richer as a manure than that +derived from the swifts. To ascend to the top of Gomanton, one has to +emerge from the Simud Putih entrance and, by means of a ladder, reach an +overhanging ledge, whence a not very difficult climb brings one to the +cleared summit, from which a fine view of the surrounding country is +obtained, including Kina-balu, the sacred mountain of North Borneo. On +this summit will be found the holes already described as helping to +somewhat lighten the darkness of the dome-shaped cave, on the roof of +which we are in fact now standing. It is through these holes that the +natives lower themselves into the caves, by means of rattan ladders and, +in a most marvellous manner, gain a footing on the ceiling and construct +cane stages, by means of which they can reach any part of the roof <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>and, +either by hand or by a suitable pole to the end of which is attached a +lighted candle, secure the wealth-giving luxury for the epicures of +China. There are two principal seasons for collecting the nests, and +care has to be taken that the collection is made punctually at the +proper time, before the eggs are all hatched, otherwise the nests become +dirty and fouled with feathers, &c., and discoloured and injured by the +damp, thereby losing much of their market value. Again, if the nests are +not collected for a season, the birds do not build many new ones in the +following season, but make use of the old ones, which thereby become +comparatively valueless.</p> + +<p>There are, roughly speaking, three qualities of nests, sufficiently +described by their names—white, red, and black—the best quality of +each fetching, at Sandakan, per catty of 1<span class="frac"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>3</sub></span> lbs., $16, $7 and 8 cents +respectively.</p> + +<p>The question as to the true cause of the difference in the nests has not +yet been satisfactorily solved. Some allege that the red and black nests +are simply white ones deteriorated by not having been collected in due +season. I myself incline to agree with the natives that the nests are +formed by different birds, for the fact that, in one set of caves, black +nests are always found together in one part, and white ones in another, +though both are collected with equal care and punctuality, seems almost +inexplicable under the first theory. It is true that the different kinds +of nests are not found in the same season, and it is just possible that +the red and black nests may be the second efforts at building made by +the swifts after the collectors have disturbed them by gathering their +first, white ones. In the inferior nests, feathers are found <i>mixed up</i> +with the gelatinous matter forming the walls, as though the glands were +unable to secrete a sufficient quantity of material, and the bird had to +eke it out with its own feathers. In the substance of the white nests no +feathers are found.</p> + +<p>Then, again, it is sometimes found in the case of two distinct caves, +situated at no great distance apart, that the one yields almost entirely +white nests, and the other nearly all red, or black ones, though the +collections are made with equal regularity in each. The natives, as I +have said, seem to think that there are two kinds of birds, and the Hon. +<span class="smcap">R. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span>Abercromby</span> reports that, when he visited Gomanton, they shewed him +eggs of different size and explained that one was laid by the white-nest +bird and the other by the black-nest builder. Sir <span class="smcap">Hugh Low</span>, in his work +on Sarawak, published in 1848, asserts that there are "two different and +quite dissimilar kinds of birds, though both are swallows" (he should +have said swifts), and that the one which produces the white nest is +larger and of more lively colours, with a white belly, and is found on +the sea-coast, while the other is smaller and darker and found more in +the interior. He admits, however, that though he had opportunities of +observing the former, he had not been able to procure a specimen.</p> + +<p>The question is one which should be easily settled on the spot, and I +recommend it to the consideration of the authorities of the British +North Borneo Museum, which has been established at Sandakan.</p> + +<p>The annual value of the nests of Gomanton, when properly collected, has +been reckoned at $23,000, but I consider this an excessive estimate. My +friend Mr. <span class="smcap">A. Cook</span>, the Treasurer of the Territory, to whose zeal and +perseverance the Company owes much, has arranged with the Buludupih +tribe to collect these nests on payment to the Government of a royalty +of $7,500 per annum, which is in addition to the export duty at the rate +of 10% <i>ad valorem</i> paid by the Chinese exporters.</p> + +<p>The swifts and bats—the latter about the size of the ordinary English +bat—avail themselves of the shelter afforded by the caves without +incommoding one another, for, by a sort of Box and Cox arrangement, the +former occupy the caves during the night and the latter by day.</p> + +<p>Standing at the Simud Putih entrance about 5 <small>P. M.</small>, the visitor will +suddenly hear a whirring sound from below, which is caused by the +myriads of bats issuing, for their nocturnal banquet, from the Simud +Itam caves, through the wide open space that has been described. They +come out in a regularly ascending continuous spiral or corkscrew coil, +revolving from left to right in a very rapid and regular manner. When +the top of the spiral coil reaches a certain height, a colony of bats +breaks off, and continuing to revolve in a well kept ring from left to +right gradually ascends higher and higher, until all of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span>a sudden the +whole detachment dashes off in the direction of the sea, towards the +mangrove swamps and the <i>nipas</i>. Sometimes these detached colonies +reverse the direction of their revolutions after leaving the main body, +and, instead of from left to right, revolve from right to left. Some of +them continue for a long time revolving in a circle, and attain a great +height before darting off in quest of food, while others make up their +minds more expeditiously, after a few revolutions. Amongst the bats, +three white ones were, on the occasion of my visit, very conspicuous, +and our followers styled them the Raja, his wife and child. Hawks and +sea-eagles are quickly attracted to the spot, but only hover on the +outskirts of the revolving coil, occasionally snapping up a prize. I +also noticed several hornbills, but they appeared to have been only +attracted by curiosity. Mr. <span class="smcap">Bampfylde</span> informed me that, on a previous +visit, he had seen a large green snake settled on an overhanging branch +near which the bats passed and that occasionally he managed to secure a +victim. I timed the bats and found that they took almost exactly fifty +minutes to come out of the caves, a thick stream of them issuing all +that time and at a great pace, and the reader can endeavour to form for +himself some idea of their vast numbers. They had all got out by ten +minutes to six in the evening, and at about six o'clock the swifts began +to come home to roost. They came in in detached, independent parties, +and I found it impossible to time them, as some of them kept very late +hours. I slept in the Simud Putih cave on this occasion, and found that +next morning the bats returned about 5 <small>A.M.</small>, and that the swifts went +out an hour afterwards.</p> + +<p>As shewing the mode of formation of these caves, I may add that I +noticed, imbedded in a boulder of rock in the upper caves, two pieces of +coral and several fossil marine shells, bivalves and others.</p> + +<p>The noise made by the bats going out for their evening promenade +resembled a combination of that of the surf breaking on a distant shore +and of steam being gently blown off from a vessel which has just come to +anchor.</p> + +<p>There are other interesting series of caves, and one—that of Madai, in +Darvel Bay on the East coast—was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span>visited by the late Lady <span class="smcap">Brassey</span> and +Miss <span class="smcap">Brassey</span> in April, 1887, when British North Borneo was honoured by a +visit of the celebrated yacht the <i>Sunbeam</i>, with Lord <span class="smcap">Brassey</span> and his +family on board.</p> + +<p>I accompanied the party on the trip to Madai, and shall not easily +forget the pluck and energy with which Lady <span class="smcap">Brassey</span>, then in bad health, +surmounted the difficulties of the jungle track, and insisted upon +seeing all that was to be seen; or the gallant style in which Miss +<span class="smcap">Brassey</span> unwearied after her long tramp through the forest, led the way +over the slippery boulders in the dark caves.</p> + +<p>The Chinese ascribe great strengthening powers to the soup made of the +birds'-nests, which they boil down into a syrup with barley sugar, and +sip out of tea cups. The gelatinous looking material of which the +substance of the nests is composed is in itself almost flavourless.</p> + +<p>It is also with the object of increasing their bodily powers that these +epicures consume the uninviting sea-slug or bêche-de-mer, and dried +sharks'-fins and cuttle fish.</p> + +<p>To conclude my brief sketch of Sandakan Harbour and of the Capital, it +should be stated that, in addition to being within easy distance of +Hongkong, it lies but little off the usual route of vessels proceeding +from China to Australian ports, and can be reached by half a day's +deviation of the ordinary track.</p> + +<p>Should, unfortunately, war arise with Russia, there is little doubt +their East Asiatic squadron would endeavour both to harass the +Australian trade and to damage, as much as possible, the coast towns, in +which case the advantages of Sandakan, midway between China and +Australia, as a base of operations for the British protecting fleet +would at once become manifest. It is somewhat unfortunate that a bar has +formed just outside the entrance of the harbour, with a depth of water +of four fathoms at low water, spring tides, so that ironclads of the +largest size would be denied admittance.</p> + +<p>There are at present, no steamers sailing direct from Borneo to England, +and nearly all the commerce from British North Borneo ports is carried +by local steamers to that great emporium of the trade of the Malayan +countries, Singapore, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>distant from Sandakan a thousand miles, and it is +a curious fact, that though many of the exports are ultimately intended +for the China market, <i>e.g.</i>, edible birds'-nests, the Chinese traders +find it pays them better to send their produce to Singapore in the first +instance, instead of direct to Hongkong. This is partly accounted for by +the further fact that, though the Government has spent considerable sum +in endeavouring to attract Chinamen from China, the large proportion of +our Chinese traders and of the Chinese population generally has come to +us <i>viâ</i> Singapore, after as it were having undergone there an education +in the knowledge of Malayan affairs.</p> + +<p>As further illustrating the commercial and strategical advantages of the +harbours of British North Borneo, it should be noted that the course +recommended by the Admiralty instructions for vessels proceeding to +China from the Straits, <i>viâ</i> the Palawan passage, brings them within +ninety miles of the harbours of the West Coast.</p> + +<p>As to postal matters, British North Borneo, though not in the Postal +Union, has entered into arrangements for the exchange of direct closed +mails with the English Post Office, London, with which latter also, as +well as with Singapore and India, a system of Parcel Post and of Post +Office Orders has been established.</p> + +<p>The postal and inland revenue stamps, distinguished by the lion, which +has been adopted as the Company's badge, are well executed and in +considerable demand with stamp collectors, owing to their rarity.</p> + +<p>The Government also issues its own copper coinage, one cent and +half-cent pieces, manufactured in Birmingham and of the same intrinsic +value as those of Hongkong and the Straits Settlements.</p> + +<p>The revenue derived from its issue is an important item to the Colony's +finances, and considerable quantities have been put into circulation, +not only within the limits of the Company's territory, but also in +Brunai and in the British Colony of Labuan, where it has been proclaimed +a legal tender on the condition of the Company, in return for the profit +which they reap by its issue in the island, contributing to the +impoverished Colonial Treasury the yearly sum of $3,000.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span>Trade, however, is still, to a great extent, carried on by a system of +barter with the Natives. The primitive currency medium in vogue under +the native regime has been described in the Chapters on Brunai.</p> + +<p>The silver currency is the Mexican and Spanish Dollar and the Japanese +Yen, supplemented by the small silver coinage of the Straits +Settlements. The Company has not yet minted any silver coinage, as the +profit thereon is small, but in the absence of a bank, the Treasury, for +the convenience of traders and planters, carries on banking business to +a certain extent, and issues bank notes of the values of $1, $5 and $25, +cash reserves equal to one-third of the value of the notes in +circulation being maintained.<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p> + +<p>Sir <span class="smcap">Alfred Dent</span> is taking steps to form a Banking Company at Sandakan, +the establishment of which would materially assist in the development of +the resources of the territory.</p> + +<p>British North Borneo is not in telegraphic communication with any part +of the world, except of course through Singapore, nor are there any +local telegraphs. The question, however, of supplementing the existing +cable between the Straits Settlements and China by another touching at +British territory in Borneo has more than once been mooted, and may yet +become a <i>fait accompli</i>. The Spanish Government appear to have decided +to unite Sulu by telegraphic communication with the rest of the world, +<i>viâ</i> Manila, and this will bring Sandakan within 180 miles of the +telegraphic station.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<p class="center"><b>Footnotes:</b></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Agencies of Singapore Banks have since been established at +Sandakan.</p></div> + +</div> + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>Chapter IX.</h2> + + +<p>In the eyes of the European planter, British North Borneo is chiefly +interesting as a field for the cultivation of tobacco, in rivalry to +Sumatra, and my readers may judge of the importance of this question +from a glance at the following figures, which shew the dividends +declared of late years by three of the principal Tobacco Planting +Companies in the latter island:—</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span></p> + +<table style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1.5em;" border="0" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" summary="Dividends by Dutch +tobacco companies"> + +<tr><td rowspan="2" class="tdc bt br">In</td><td colspan="6" class="tdc bt">Dividends paid by</td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2" class="tdc bt br">The Deli Maatschappi.</td> +<td colspan="2" class="tdc bt br">The Tabak Maatschappi.</td> +<td colspan="2" class="tdc bt">The Amsterdam Deli Co.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdc bt br">1882</td> +<td class="tdrm bt">65</td><td class="tdlm bt br">per cent.</td> +<td class="tdrm bt">25</td><td class="tdlm bt br">per cent.</td> +<td class="tdrm bt">10</td><td class="tdlm bt">per cent.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdc br">1883</td> +<td class="tdrm">101</td><td class="tdlm2 br">"</td> +<td class="tdrm">50</td><td class="tdlm2 br">"</td> +<td class="tdrm">30</td><td class="tdlm2">"</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdc br">1884</td> +<td class="tdrm">77</td><td class="tdlm2 br">"</td> +<td class="tdrm">60</td><td class="tdlm2 br">"</td> +<td class="tdrm">30</td><td class="tdlm2">"</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdc br">1885</td> +<td class="tdrm">107</td><td class="tdlm2 br">"</td> +<td class="tdrm">100</td><td class="tdlm2 br">"</td> +<td class="tdrm">60</td><td class="tdlm2">"</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdc br bb">1885</td> +<td class="tdrm bb">108</td><td class="tdlm2 br bb">"</td> +<td colspan="2" class="tdc br bb">.....</td> +<td colspan="2" class="tdc bb">.....</td></tr> + +</table> + +<p>In Sumatra, under Dutch rule, tobacco culture can at present only be +carried on in certain districts, where the soil is suitable and where +the natives are not hostile, and, as most of the best land has been +taken up, and planters are beginning to feel harassed by the stringent +regulations and heavy taxation of the Dutch Government, both Dutch and +German planters are turning their attention to British North Borneo, +where they find the regulations easier, and the authorities most anxious +to welcome them, while, owing to the scanty population, there is plenty +of available land. It is but fair to say that the first experiment in +North Borneo was made by an English, or rather an Anglo-Chinese Company, +the China-Sabah Land Farming Company, who, on hurriedly selected land in +Sandakan and under the disadvantages which usually attend pioneers in a +new country, shipped a crop to England which was pronounced by experts +in 1886 to equal in quality the best Sumatra-grown leaf. Unfortunately, +this Company, which had wasted its resources on various experiments, +instead of confining itself to tobacco planting, was unable to continue +its operations, but a Dutch planter from Java, Count <span class="smcap">Geloes d'Elsloo</span>, +having carefully selected his land in Marudu Bay, obtained, in 1887, the +high average of $1 per lb. for his trial crop at Amsterdam, and, having +formed an influential Company in Europe, is energetically bringing a +large area under <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span>cultivation, and has informed me that he confidently +expects to rival Sumatra, not only in quality, but also in quantity of +leaf per acre, as some of his men have cut twelve pikuls per field, +whereas six pikuls per field is usually considered a good crop. The +question of "quantity" is a very important one, for quality without +quantity will never pay on a tobacco estate. Several Dutchmen have +followed Count <span class="smcap">Geloes'</span> example, and two German Companies and one British +are now at work in the country. Altogether, fully 350,000 acres<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> of +land have been taken up for tobacco cultivation in British North Borneo +up to the present time.</p> + +<p>In selecting land for this crop, climate, that is, temperature and +rainfall, has equally to be considered with richness of soil. For +example, the soil of Java is as rich, or richer than that of Sumatra, +but owing to its much smaller rainfall, the tobacco it produces commands +nothing like the prices fetched by that of the former. The seasons and +rainfall in Borneo are found to be very similar to those of Sumatra. The +average recorded annual rainfall at Sandakan for the last seven years is +given by Dr. <span class="smcap">Walker</span>, the Principal Medical Officer, as 124.34 inches, +the range being from 156.9 to 101.26 inches per annum.</p> + +<p>Being so near the equator, roughly speaking between N. Latitudes 4 and +7, North Borneo has, unfortunately for the European residents whose lot +is cast there, nothing that can be called a winter, the temperature +remaining much about the same from year's end to year's end. It used to +seem to me that during the day the thermometer was generally about 83 or +85 in the shade, but, I believe, taking the year all round, night and +day, the mean temperature is 81, and the extremes recorded on the coast +line are 67.5 and 94.5. Dr. <span class="smcap">Walker</span> has not yet extended his stations to +the hills in the interior, but mentions it as probable that freezing +point is occasionally reached near the top of the Kinabalu Mountains, +which is 13,700 feet high; he adds that the lowest recorded temperature +he has found is 36.5, given by Sir <span class="smcap">Spencer St. John</span> in his "Life in the +Forests of the Far East." Snow has never <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span>been reported even on +Kinabalu, and I am informed that the Charles Louis Mountains in Dutch +New Guinea, are the only ones in tropical Asia where the limit of +perpetual snow is attained. I must stop to say a word in praise of +Kinabalu, "the Chinese Widow,"<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> the sacred mountain of North Borneo +whither the souls of the righteous Dusuns ascend after death. It can be +seen from both coasts, and appears to rear its isolated, solid bulk +almost straight out of the level country, so dwarfed are the +neighbouring hills by its height of 13,680 feet. The best view of it is +obtained, either at sunrise or at sunset, from the deck of a ship +proceeding along the West Coast, from which it is about twenty miles +inland. During the day time the Widow, as a rule, modestly veils her +features in the clouds.</p> + +<p>The effect when its huge mass is lighted up at evening by the last rays +of the setting sun is truly magnificent.</p> + +<p>On the spurs of Kinabalu and on the other lofty hills, of which there is +an abundance, no doubt, as the country becomes opened up by roads many +suitable sites for sanitoria will be discovered, and the day will come +when these hill sides, like those of Ceylon and Java, will be covered +with thriving plantations.</p> + +<p>Failing winter, the Bornean has to be content with the the change +afforded by a dry and a wet season, the latter being looked upon as the +"winter," and prevailing during the month of November, December and +January. But though the two seasons are sufficiently well defined and to +be depended upon by planters, yet there is never a month during the dry +season when no rain falls, nor in the wet season are fine days at all +rare. The dryest months appear to be March and April, and in June there +generally occurs what Doctor <span class="smcap">Walker</span> terms an "intermediate" and +moderately wet period.</p> + +<p>Tobacco is a crop which yields quick returns, for in about 110 to 120 +days after the seed is sown the plant is ripe for cutting. The <i>modus +operandi</i> is somewhat after this fashion. First select your land, virgin +soil covered with untouched<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> jungle, situated at a distance from the +sea, so that no salt breezes may jeopardise the proper burning qualities +of the future crop, and as devoid as possible of hills. Then, a point of +primary importance which will be again referred to, engage your Chinese +coolies, who have to sign agreements for fixed periods, and to be +carefully watched afterwards, as it is the custom to give them cash +advances on signing, the repayment of which they frequently endeavour to +avoid by slipping away just before your vessel sails and probably +engaging themselves to another master.</p> + +<p>Without the Chinese cooly, the tobacco planter is helpless, and if the +proper season is allowed to pass, a whole year may be lost. The Chinaman +is too expensive a machine to be employed on felling the forest, and for +this purpose, indeed, the Malay is more suitable and the work is +accordingly given him to do under contract. Simultaneously with the +felling, a track should be cut right through the heart of the estate by +the natives, to be afterwards ditched and drained and made passable for +carts by the Chinese coolies.</p> + +<p>That as much as possible of the felled jungle should be burned up is so +important a matter and one that so greatly affects the individual +Chinese labourer, that it is not left to the Malays to do, but, on the +completion of the felling, the whole area which is to be planted is +divided out into "fields," of about one acre each, and each "field" is +assigned by lot to a Chinese cooly, whose duty it is to carefully burn +the timber and plant, tend and finally cut the tobacco on his own +division, for which he is remunerated in accordance with the quality and +quantity of the leaf he is able to bring into the drying sheds. Each +"field," having been cleared as carefully as may be of the felled +timber, is next thoroughly hoed up, and a small "nursery" prepared in +which the seeds provided by the manager are planted and protected from +rain and sun by palm leaf mats (<i>kajangs</i>) raised on sticks. In about a +week, the young plants appear, and the Chinese tenant, as I may call +him, has to carefully water them morning and evening. As the young +seedlings grow up, their enemy, the worms and grubs, find them out and +attack them in such numbers that at least once a day, sometimes oftener, +the anxious planter <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>has to go through his nursery and pick them off, +otherwise in a short time he would have no tobacco to plant out. About +thirty days after the seed has been sown, the seedlings are old enough +to be planted out in the field, which has been all the time carefully +prepared for their reception. The first thing to be done is to make +holes in the soil, at distances of two feet one way and three feet the +other, the earth in them being loosened and broken up so that the tender +roots should meet with no obstacles to their growth. As the holes are +ready for them, the seedlings are taken from the nursery and planted +out, being protected from the sun's rays either by fern, or coarse +grass, or, in the best managed estates, by a piece of wood, like a +roofing shingle, inserted in the soil in such a way as to provide the +required shelter. The watering has to be continued till the plants have +struck root, when the protecting shelter is removed and the earth banked +up round them, care being taken to daily inspect them and remove the +worms which have followed them from the nursery. The next operation is +that of "topping" the plants, that is, of stopping their further growth +by nipping off the heads.</p> + +<p>According to the richness of the soil and the general appearance of the +plants, this is ordered to be done by the European overseer after a +certain number of leaves have been produced. If the soil is poor, +perhaps only fourteen leaves will be allowed, while on the richest land +the plant can stand and properly ripen as many as twenty-four leaves. +The signs of ripening, which generally takes place in about three months +from the date of transplantation, are well known to the overseers and +are first shewn by a yellow tinge becoming apparent at the tips of the +leaves.</p> + +<p>The cooly thereupon cuts the plants down close to the ground and lightly +and carefully packs them into long baskets so as not to injure the +leaves, and carries them to the drying sheds. There they are examined by +the overseer of his division, who credits him with the value, based on +the quantity and quality of the crop he brings in, the price ranging +from $1 up to $8 per thousand trees. The plants are then tied in rows on +sticks, heads downwards, and hoisted up in tiers to dry in the shed.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span>After hanging for a fortnight, they are sufficiently dry and, being +lowered down, are stripped of their leaves, which are tied up into small +bundles, similar leaves being roughly sorted together.</p> + +<p>The bundles of leaves are then taken to other sheds, where the very +important process of fermenting them is carried out. For this purpose, +they are put into orderly arranged heaps—small at first, but increased +in size till very little heat is given out, the heat being tested by a +thermometer, or even an ordinary piece of stick inserted into them. When +the fermentation is nearly completed and the leaves have attained a +fixed colour, they are carefully sorted according to colour, spottiness +and freedom from injury of any kind. The price realized in Europe is +greatly affected by the care with which the leaves have been fermented +and sorted. Spottiness is not always considered a defect, as it is +caused by the sun shining on the leaves when they have drops of rain on +them, and to this the best leaves are liable; but spotted leaves, broken +leaves and in short leaves having the same characteristics should be +carefully sorted together. After this sorting is completed as regards +class and quality, there is a further sorting in regard to length, and +the leaves are then tied together in bundles of thirty-five. These +bundles are put into large heaps and, when no more heating is apparent, +they are ready to be pressed under a strong screw press and sewn up in +bags which are carefully marked and shipped off to Europe—to Amsterdam +as a rule.</p> + +<p>As the coolies' payment is by "results," it is their interest to take +the greatest care of their crops; but for any outside work they may be +called on to perform, and for their services as sorters, etc. in the +sheds, they are paid extra. During the whole time, also, they receive, +for "subsistence" money, $4 or $3 a month. At the end of the season +their accounts are made up, being debited with the amount of the +original advance, subsistence money and cost of implements, and credited +with the value of the tobacco brought in and any wages that may be due +for outside work. Each estate possesses a hospital, in which bad cases +are treated by a qualified practitioner, while in trifling cases the +European overseer dispenses drugs,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> quinine being that in most demand. +If, owing to sickness, or other cause, the cooly has required assistance +in his field, the cost thereof is deducted in his final account.</p> + +<p>The men live in well constructed "barracks," erected by the owner of the +estate, and it is one of the duties of the Chinese "tindals," or +overseers acting under the Europeans to see that they are kept in a +cleanly, sanitary condition.</p> + +<p>The European overseers are under the orders of the head manager, and an +estate is divided in such a way that each overseer shall have under his +direct control and be responsible for the proper cultivation of about +100 fields. He receives a fixed salary, but his interest in his division +is augmented by the fact that he will receive a commission on the value +of the crop it produces. His work is onerous and, during the season, he +has little time to himself, but should be here, there, and everywhere in +his division, seeing that the coolies come out to work at the stated +times, that no field is allowed to get in a backward state, and that +worms are carefully removed, and, as a large proportion of the men are +probably <i>sinkehs</i>, that is, new arrivals who have never been on a +tobacco estate before, he has, with the assistance of the tindals, to +instruct them in their work. When the crop is brought in, he has to +examine each cooly's contribution, carefully inspecting each leaf, and +keeping an account of the value and quantity of each.</p> + +<p>Physical strength, intelligence and an innate desire of amassing +dollars, are three essential qualifications for a good tobacco cooly, +and, so far, they have only been found united in the Chinaman, the +European being out of the question as a field-labourer in the tropics.</p> + +<p>The coolies are, as a rule, procured through Chinese cooly brokers in +Penang or Singapore, but as regards North Borneo, the charges for +commission, transport and the advances—many of which, owing to death, +sickness and desertion, are never repaid—have become so heavy as to be +almost prohibitive, and my energetic friend, Count <span class="smcap">Geloes</span>, has set the +example of procuring his coolies direct from China, instead of by the +old fashioned, roundabout way of the extortionate labour-brokers of the +Straits Settlements. North Borneo, it will be remembered, is situated +midway between Hongkong and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span>Singapore, and the Court of Directors of +the Governing Company could do nothing better calculated to ensure the +success of their public-spirited enterprise than to inaugurate regular, +direct steam communication between their territory and Hongkong. In the +first instance, this could only be effected by a Government subsidy or +guarantee, but it is probable that, in a short time, a cargo and +passenger traffic would grow up which would permit of the subsidy being +gradually withdrawn.</p> + +<p>Many of the best men on a well managed estate will re-engage themselves +on the expiration of their term of agreement, receiving a fresh advance, +and some of them can be trusted to go back to China and engage their +clansmen for the estate.</p> + +<p>In British North Borneo the general welfare of the indentured coolies is +looked after by Government Officials, who act under the provisions of a +law entitled "The Estate Coolies and Labourers Protection Proclamation, +1883."</p> + +<p>Owing to the expense of procuring coolies and to the fact that every +operation of tobacco planting must be performed punctually at the proper +season of the year, and to the desirability of encouraging coolies to +re-engage themselves, it is manifestly the planters' interest to treat +his employés well, and to provide, so far as possible, for their health +and comfort on the estate, but, notwithstanding all the care that may be +taken, a considerable amount of sickness and many deaths must be allowed +for on tobacco estates, which, as a rule, are opened on virgin soil; +for, so long as there remains any untouched land on his estate, the +planter rarely makes use of land off which a crop has been taken.</p> + +<p>In North Borneo the jungle is generally felled towards the end of the +wet season, and planting commences in April or May. The Native Dusun, +Sulu and Brunai labour is available for jungle-felling and +house-building, and <i>nibong</i> palms for posts and <i>nipa</i> palms for +thatch, walls and <i>kajangs</i> exist in abundance.</p> + +<p>Writing to the Court of Directors in 1884 I said:—"The experiment in the +Suanlambah conclusively proves so far that this country will do for +tobacco. <span class="elided1"> * * *</span> There seems every reason to conclude that it will do as +well here as in Sumatra. When this fact becomes known, I presume there +will be <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span>quite a small rush to the country, as the Dutch Government, I +hear, is not popular in Sumatra, and land available for tobacco there is +becoming scarcer."</p> + +<p>My anticipations have been verified, and the rush is already taking +place.</p> + +<p>The localities at present in favour with tobacco planters are Marudu Bay +and Banguey Island in the North, Labuk Bay and Darvel Bay in the +neighbourhood of the Silam Station, and the Kinabatangan River on the +East.</p> + +<p>The firstcomers obtained their land on very easy terms, some of them at +30 cents an acre, but the Court has now issued an order that in future +no planting land is to be disposed of for a less sum than $1<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> per +acre, free of quit-rent and on a lease for 999 years, with clauses +providing that a certain proportion be brought under cultivation.</p> + +<p>At present no export duty is levied on tobacco shipped from North +Borneo, and the Company has engaged that no such duty shall be imposed +before the 1st January, 1892, after which date it will be optional with +them to levy an export royalty at the rate of one dollar cent, or a +halfpenny, per lb., which rate, they promise, shall not be exceeded +during the succeeding twenty years.</p> + +<p>The tobacco cultivated in Sumatra and British North Borneo is used +chiefly for wrappers for cigars, for which purpose a very fine, thin, +elastic leaf is required and one that has a good colour and will burn +well and evenly, with a fine white ash. This quality of leaf commands a +much higher price than ordinary kinds, and, as stated, Count +<span class="smcap">Geloes'</span>trial crop, from the Ranan Estate in Marudu Bay, averaged 1.83 +guilders, or about $1 (<span class="frac"><sup>3</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></span>) per lb. It is said that 2 lbs. or 2<span class="frac"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></span> lbs. +weight of Bornean tobacco will cover 1,000 cigars.</p> + +<p>Tobacco is not a new culture in Borneo, as some of the hill natives on +the West Coast of North Borneo have grown it in a rough and ready way +for years past, supplying the population of Brunai and surrounding +districts with a sun-dried article, which used to be preferred to that +produced in Java. The Malay name for tobacco is <i>tambako</i>, a corruption +of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>Spanish and Portuguese term, but the Brunai people also know it +as <i>sigup</i>.</p> + +<p>It was probably introduced into Malay countries by the Portuguese, who +conquered Malacca in 1511, and by the Spanish, who settled in the +Philippines in 1565. Its use has become universal with men, women and +children, of all tribes and of all ranks. The native mode of using +tobacco has been referred to in my description of Brunai.</p> + +<p>Fibre-yielding plants are also now attracting attention in North Borneo, +especially the Manila hemp (<i>Musa textilis</i>) a species of banana, and +pine-apples, both of which grow freely. The British Borneo Trading and +Planting Company have acquired the patent for Borneo of <span class="smcap">Death's</span> +fibre-cleaning machines, and are experimenting with these products on a +considerable scale and, apparently, with good prospects of success.<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> +For a long time past, beautiful cloths have been manufactured of +pine-apple fibre in the Philippines, and as it is said that orders have +been received from France for Borneo pine-apple fibre, we shall perhaps +soon see it used in England under the name of French <i>silk</i>.</p> + +<p>In the Government Experimental Garden at Silam, in Darvel Bay, cocoa, +cinnamon and Liberian coffee have been found to do remarkably well. +Sappan-wood and <i>kapok</i> or cotton flock also grow freely.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<p class="center"><b>Footnotes:</b></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Governor <span class="smcap">Creagh</span> tells me 600,000 acres have now been taken +up.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> For the native derivation of this appellation see <a href="#Page_54">page 54</a>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> Raised in 1890 to $6 an acre.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> The anticipated success has not been achieved as yet.</p></div> + +</div> + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>Chapter X.</h2> + + +<p>Many people have a very erroneous idea of the objects and intentions of +the British North Borneo Company. Some, with a dim recollection of +untold wealth having been extracted from the natives of India in the +early days of the Honourable East India Company, conceive that the +Company can have no other object than that of fleecing our natives in +order to pay dividends; but the old saying, that it is a difficult +matter to steal a Highlander's pantaloons, is applicable to North +Borneo, for only a magician could extract anything much worth having in +the shape of loot from the easy going natives <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span>of the country, who, in a +far more practical sense than the Christians of Europe, are ready to say +"sufficient for the day is the evil thereof," and who do not look +forward and provide for the future, or heap up riches to leave to their +posterity.</p> + +<p>Some years ago, a correspondent of an English paper displayed his +ignorance on the matter by maintaining that the Company coerced the +natives and forced them to buy Manchester goods at extortionate prices. +An Oxford Don, when I first received my appointment as Governor, +imagined that I was going out as a sort of slave-driver, to compel the +poor natives to work, without wages, on the Company's plantations. But, +as a matter of fact, though entitled to do so by the Royal Charter, the +Company has elected to engage neither in trade nor in planting, deeming +that their desire to attract capital and population to their territory +will be best advanced by their leaving the field entirely open to +others, for otherwise there would always have been a suspicion that +rival traders and planters were handicapped in the race with a Company +which had the making and the administration of laws and the imposition +of taxation in its hands.</p> + +<p>It will be asked, then, if the Company do not make a profit out of +trading, or planting, or mining, what could have induced them to +undertake the Government of a tropical country, some 10,000 miles or +more distant from London, for Englishmen, as a rule, do not invest +hundreds of thousands of pounds with the philanthropic desire only of +benefitting an Eastern race?</p> + +<p>The answer to this question is not very plainly put in the Company's +prospectus, which states that its object "is the carrying on of the work +begun by the Provisional Association" (said in the previous paragraphs +of the prospectus to have been the successful accomplishment of the +<i>completion</i> of the pioneer work) "and the further improvement and full +utilization of the vast natural resources of the country, by the +introduction of new capital and labour, which they intend shall be +stimulated, aided and protected by a just, humane and enlightened +Government. The benefits likely to flow from the accomplishment of this +object, in the opening up of new fields of tropical agriculture, new +channels of enterprise, and new <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span>markets for the world's manufactures, +are great and incontestable." I quite agree with the framer of the +prospectus that these benefits are great and incontestable, but then +they would be benefits conferred on the world at large at the expense of +the shareholders of the Company, and I presume that the source from +which the shareholders are to be recouped is the surplus revenues which +a wisely administered Government would ensure, by judiciously fostering +colonisation, principally by Chinese, by the sale of the vast acreages +of "waste" or Government lands, by leasing the right to work the +valuable timber forests and such minerals as may be found to exist in +workable quantities, by customs duties and the "farming out" of the +exclusive right to sell opium, spirits, tobacco, etc., and by other +methods of raising revenue in vogue in the Eastern Colonies of the +Crown. In fact, the sum invested by the shareholders is to be considered +in the light of a loan to the Colony—its public debt—to be repaid with +interest as the resources of the country are developed. Without +encroaching on land worked, or owned by the natives, the Company has a +large area of unoccupied land which it can dispose of for the highest +price obtainable. That this must be the case is evident from a +comparison with the Island of Ceylon, where Government land sales are +still held. The area of North Borneo, it has been seen, is larger than +that of Ceylon, but its population is only about 160,000, while that of +Ceylon is returned as 2,825,000; furthermore, notwithstanding this +comparatively large population, it is said that the land under +cultivation in Ceylon forms only about one-fifth of its total area. From +what I have said of the prospects of tobacco-planting in British North +Borneo, it will be understood that land is being rapidly taken up, and +the Company will soon be in a position to increase its selling price. +Town and station lands are sold under different conditions to that for +planting purposes, and are restricted as a rule to lots of the size of +66 feet by 33 feet. The lease is for 999 years, but there is an annual +quit-rent at the rate of $6 per lot, which is redeemable at fifteen +years' purchase. At Sandakan, lots of this size have at auction realized +a premium of $350. In all cases, coal, minerals, precious stones, edible +nests and guano <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span>are reserved to the Government, and, in order to +protect the native proprietors, it is provided that any foreigner +desirous of purchasing land from a native must do so through the +Government.</p> + +<p>Titles and mutations of titles to land are carefully registered and +recorded in the Land Office, under the provisions of the Hongkong +Registration of Documents Ordinance, which has been adopted in the +State.</p> + +<p>The local Government is administered by a Governor, selected by the +Court of Directors subject to the approval of the Secretary of State for +the Colonies. He is empowered to enact laws, which require confirmation +by the Court, and is assisted in his executive functions by a Government +Secretary, Residents, Assistant Residents, a Treasurer-General, a +Commissioner of Lands, a Superintendent of Public Works, Commandant, +Postmaster-General and other Heads of Departments usually to be found in +Crown Colonies, and the British Colonial Regulations are adhered to as +closely as circumstances admit. The title of Resident is borrowed from +the Dutch Colonies, and the duties of the post are analogous to those of +the Resident Councillors of Penang or Malacca, under the Governor of +Singapore, or of the Government Agents in Ceylon. The Governor can also +call to assist him in his deliberations a Council of Advice, composed of +some of the Heads of Departments and of natives of position nominated to +seats therein.</p> + +<p>The laws are in the form of "Proclamations" issued by the Governor under +the seal of the Territory. Most of the laws are adaptations, in whole or +in part, of Ordinances enacted in Eastern Colonies, such as the Straits +Settlements, Hongkong, Labuan and Fiji.</p> + +<p>The Indian Penal Code, the Indian Codes of Civil and Criminal Procedure +and the Indian Evidence and Contract Acts have been adopted in their +entirety, "so far as the same shall be applicable to the circumstances +of this Territory."</p> + +<p>The Proclamation making these and other Acts the law in North Borneo was +the first formal one issued, and bears date the 23rd December, 1881.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span>The law relating to the protection of estate coolies and labourers has +been already referred to.</p> + +<p>The question of domestic slavery was one of the first with which the +Company had to grapple, the Royal Charter having ordained that "the +Company shall to the best of its power discourage and, as far as may be +practicable, abolish by degrees, any system of domestic servitude +existing among the tribes of the Coast or interior of Borneo; and no +foreigners whether European, Chinese or other, shall be allowed to own +slaves of any kind in the Company's territories." Slavery and kidnapping +were rampant in North Borneo under native regime and were one of the +chief obstacles to the unanimous acceptance of the Company's rule by the +Chiefs. At first the Residents and other officers confined their efforts +to prohibiting the importation of slaves for sale, and in assisting +slaves who were ill-treated to purchase their liberty. In 1883, a +Proclamation was issued which will have the effect of gradually +abolishing the system, as required by the Charter. Its chief provisions +are as follows:—No foreigners are allowed to hold slaves, and no slaves +can be imported for sale, nor can the natives buy slaves in a foreign +country and introduce them into Borneo <i>as slaves</i>, even should there be +no intention of selling them as such. Slaves taking refuge in the +country from abroad will not be surrendered, but slaves belonging to +natives of the country will be given up to their owners unless they can +prove ill-treatment, or that they have been brought into the territory +subsequently to the 1st November, 1883, and it is optional for any slave +to purchase his or her freedom by payment of a sum, the amount of which +is to be fixed, from time to time, by the Government.</p> + +<p>A woman also becomes free if she can prove that she has cohabited with +her master, or with any person other than her husband, with the +connivance of her master or mistress; and finally "all children born of +slave parents after the first day of November, 1883, and who would by +ancient custom be deemed to be slaves, are hereby proclaimed to be free, +and any person treating or attempting to treat any such children as +slaves shall be guilty of an offence under this Proclamation." The +punishment for offences against the provisions <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span>of this Proclamation +extends to imprisonment for ten years and to a fine up to five thousand +dollars.</p> + +<p>The late Mr. <span class="smcap">Witti</span>, one of the first officers of the Association, at my +request, drew up, in 1881, an interesting report on the system of +Slavery in force in the Tampassuk District, on the West Coast, of which +the following is a brief summary. Slaves in this district are divided +into two classes—those who are slaves in a strict and rigorous sense, +and those whose servitude is of a light description. The latter are +known as <i>anak mas</i>, and are the children of a slave mother by a free +man other than her master. If a female, she is the slave or <i>anak mas</i> +of her mother's master, but cannot be sold by him; if a boy, he is +practically free, cannot be sold and, if he does not care to stay with +his master, can move about and earn his own living, not sharing his +earnings with his master, as is the case in some other districts. In +case of actual need, however, his master can call upon him for his +services.</p> + +<p>If an <i>anak mas</i> girl marries a freeman, she at once becomes a free +woman, but a <i>brihan</i>, or marriage gift, of from two to two and a half +pikuls of brass gun—valued at $20 to $25 a pikul is payable by the +bridegroom to the master.</p> + +<p>If she marry a slave, she remains an <i>anak mas</i>, but such cases are very +rare and only take place when the husband is in a condition to pay a +suitable <i>brihan</i> to the owner.</p> + +<p>If an ordinary slave woman becomes <i>enceinte</i> by her owner, she and her +offspring are henceforth free and, she may remain as one of her late +master's wives. But the jealousy of the inmates of the harem often +causes abortion to be procured.</p> + +<p>The slaves, as a rule, have quite an easy time of it, living with and, +as their masters, sharing the food of the family and being supplied with +tobacco, betel-nut and other native luxuries. There is no difference +between them and free men in the matter of dress, and in the arms which +all carry, and the mere fact that they are allowed to wear arms is +pretty conclusive evidence of their not being bullied or oppressed.</p> + +<p>They assist in domestic duties and in the operations of harvest and +trading and so forth, but there is no such institution as a slave-gang, +working under task masters, a picture which <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span>is generally present to the +Englishman's mind when he hears of the existence of slavery. The slave +gang was an institution of the white slave-owner. Slave couples, +provided they support themselves, are allowed to set up house and +cultivate a patch of land.</p> + +<p>For such minor offences as laziness and attempting to escape, the master +can punish his slaves with strokes of the rattan, but if an owner +receives grave provocation and kills his slave, the matter will probably +not be taken notice of by the elders of the village.</p> + +<p>An incorrigible slave is sometimes punished by being sold out of the +district.</p> + +<p>If a slave is badly treated and insufficiently provided with food, his +offence in endeavouring to escape is generally condoned by public +opinion. If a slave is, without sufficient cause, maltreated by a +freeman, his master can demand compensation from the aggressor. Slaves of +one master can, with their owner's consent, marry, and no <i>brihan</i> is +demanded, but if they belong to different masters, the woman's master is +entitled to a <i>brihan</i> of one pikul, equal to $20 or $25. They continue +to be the slaves of their respective masters, but are allowed to live +together, and in case of a subsequent separation they return to the +houses of their masters. Should a freeman, other than her master, wish +to marry a slave, he practically buys her from her owner with a <i>brihan</i> +of $60 or $75.</p> + +<p>Sometimes a favourite slave is raised to a position intermediate between +that of an ordinary slave and an <i>anak mas</i>, and is regarded as a +brother, or sister, father, mother, or child; but if he or she attempt +to escape, a reversion to the condition of an ordinary slave is the +result. Occasionally, slaves are given their freedom in fulfilment of a +vow to that effect made by the master in circumstances of extreme +danger, experienced in company with the slave.</p> + +<p>A slave once declared free can never be claimed again by his former +master.</p> + +<p>Debts contracted by a slave, either in his own name, or in that of his +master, are not recoverable.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span>By their own extra work, after performing their service to their owners, +slaves can acquire private property and even themselves purchase and own +slaves.</p> + +<p>Infidel slaves, of both sexes, are compulsorily converted to +Muhammadanism and circumcized and, even though they should recover their +freedom, they seldom relapse.</p> + +<p>There are, or rather were, a large number of debt slaves in North +Borneo. For a debt of three pikuls—$60 to $75—a man might be enslaved +if his friends could not raise the requisite sum, and he would continue +to be a slave until the debt was paid, but, as a most usurious interest +was charged, it was almost always a hopeless task to attempt it.</p> + +<p>Sometimes an inveterate gambler would sell himself to pay off his debts +of honour, keeping the balance if any.</p> + +<p>The natives, regardless of the precepts of the Koran, would purchase any +slaves that were offered for sale, whether infidel or Muhammadan. The +importers were usually the Illanun and Sulu kidnappers, who would bring +in slaves of all tribes—Bajaus, Illanuns, Sulus, Brunais, Manilamen, +natives of Palawan and natives of the interior of Magindanau—all was +fish that came into their net. The selling price was as follows:—A boy, +about 2 pikuls, a man 3 pikuls. A girl, 3 to 4 pikuls, a young woman, 3 +to 5 pikuls. A person past middle age about 1<span class="frac"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></span> pikuls. A young +couple, 7 to 8 pikuls, an old couple, about 5 pikuls. The pikul was then +equivalent to $20 or $25. Mr. <span class="smcap">Witti</span> further stated that in Tampassuk the +proportion of free men to slaves was only one in three, and in Marudu +Bay only one in five. In Tampassuk there were more female than male +slaves.</p> + +<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">A. H. Everett</span> reported that, in his district of Pappar-Kimanis, +there was no slave <i>trade</i>, and that the condition of the domestic +slaves was not one of hardship.</p> + +<p>Mr. <span class="smcap">W. B. Pryer</span>, speaking for the East Coast, informed me that there +were only a few slaves in the interior, mostly Sulus who had been +kidnapped and sold up the rivers. Among the Sulus of the coast, the +relation was rather that of follower and lord than of slave and master. +When he first settled at Sandakan, he could not get men to work for him +for wages, they deemed it <i>degrading</i> to do so, but they said they +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span>would work for him if he would <i>buy</i> them! Sulu, under Spanish +influence, and Bulungan, in Dutch Borneo, were the chief slave markets, +but the Spanish and Dutch are gradually suppressing this traffic.</p> + +<p>There was a colony of Illanuns and Balinini settled at Tunku and Teribas +on the East Coast, who did a considerable business in kidnapping, but in +1879 Commander <span class="smcap">E. Edwards</span>, in H. M. S. <i>Kestrel</i>, attacked and burnt +their village, capturing and burning several piratical boats and prahus.</p> + +<p>Slavery, though not yet extinct in Borneo, has received a severe check +in British North Borneo and in Sarawak, and is rapidly dying out in both +countries; in fact it is a losing business to be a slave-owner now.</p> + +<p>Apart from the institution of slavery, which is sanctioned by the +Muhammadan religion, the religious customs and laws of the various +tribes "especially with respect to the holding, possession, transfer and +disposition of lands and goods, and testate or intestate succession +thereto, and marriage, divorce and legitimacy, and the rights of +property and personal rights" are carefully regarded by the Company's +Government, as in duty bound, according to the terms of Articles 8 and 9 +of the Royal Charter. The services of native headmen are utilised as +much as possible, and Courts composed of Native Magistrates have been +established, but at the same time efforts are made to carry the people +with the Government in ameliorating and advancing their social position, +and thus involves an amendment of some of the old customs and laws.</p> + +<p>Moreover, customs which are altogether repugnant to modern ideas are +checked or prohibited by the new Government; as, for example, the +time-honoured custom of a tribe periodically balancing the account of +the number of heads taken or lost by it from or to another tribe, an +audit which, it is strange to say, almost invariably results in the +discovery on the part of the stronger tribe that they are on the wrong +side of the account and have a balance to get from the others. These +hitherto interminable feuds, though not altogether put a stop to in the +interior, have been in many districts effectually brought to an end, +Government officers having been asked by the natives themselves to +undertake the examination<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> of the accounts and the tribe who was found +to be on the debtor side paying, not human heads, but compensation in +goods at a fixed rate per head due. Another custom which the Company +found it impossible to recognize was that of <i>summungap</i>, which was, in +reality, nothing but a form of human sacrifice, the victim being a slave +bought for the purpose, and the object being to send a message to a +deceased relative. With this object in view, the slave used to be bound +and wrapped in cloth, when the relatives would dance round him and each +thrust a spear a short way into his body, repeating, as he did so, the +message which he wished conveyed. This operation was performed till the +slave succumbed.</p> + +<p>The Muhammadan practice of cutting off the hair of a woman convicted of +adultery, or of men flogging her with a rattan, and that of cutting off +the hand of a thief, have also not received the recognition of the +Company's Government.</p> + +<p>It has been shewn that the native population of North Borneo is very +small, only about five to the square mile, and as the country is fertile +and well-watered and possesses, for the tropics, a healthy climate, +there must be some exceptional cause for the scantiness of the +population. This is to be found chiefly in the absence, already referred +to, of any strong central Government in former days, and to the +consequent presence of all forms of lawlessness, piracy, slave-trading, +kidnapping and head-hunting.</p> + +<p>In more recent years, too, cholera and small-pox have made frightful +ravages amongst the natives, almost annihilating some of the tribes, for +the people knew of no remedies and, on the approach of the scourge, +deserted their homes and their sick and fled to the jungle, where +exposure and privation rendered them more than ever liable to the +disease. Since the Company's advent, efforts are being successfully made +to introduce vaccination, in which most of the people now have +confidence.</p> + +<p>This fact of a scanty native population has, in some ways, rendered the +introduction of the Company's Government a less arduous undertaking than +it might otherwise have proved, and has been a fortunate circumstance +for the shareholders, who have the more unowned and virgin land to +dispose of. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span>In British North Borneo, luckily for the Company, there is +not, as there is in Sarawak, any one large, powerful tribe, whose +presence might have been a source of trouble, or even of danger to the +young Government, but the aborigines are split up into a number of petty +tribes, speaking very distinct dialects and, generally, at enmity +amongst themselves, so that a general coalition of the bad elements +amongst them is impossible.</p> + +<p>The institution and amusement of head-hunting appears never to have been +taken up and followed with so much energy and zeal in North Borneo as +among the Dyaks of Sarawak. I do not think that it was as a rule deemed +absolutely essential with any of our tribes that a young man should have +taken at least a head or two before he could venture to aspire to the +hand of the maiden who had led captive his heart. The heads of slain +enemies were originally taken by the conquerors as a substantial proof +and trophy of their successful prowess, which could not be gainsaid, and +it came, in time, to be considered the proper thing to be able to boast +of the possession of a large number of these ghastly tokens; and so an +ambitious youth, in his desire for applause, would not be particularly +careful from whom, or in what manner he obtained a head, and the victim +might be, not only a person with whom he had no quarrel, but even a +member of a friendly tribe, and the mode of acquisition might be, not by +a fair stand-up fight, a test of skill and courage, but by treachery and +ambush. Nor did it make very much difference whether the head obtained +was that of a man, a woman or a child, and in their petty wars it was +even conceived to be an honourable distinction to bring in the heads of +women and children, the reasoning being that the men of the attacked +tribe must have fought their best to defend their wives and children.</p> + +<p>The following incident, which occurred some years ago at the Colony of +Labuan, serves to shew how immaterial it was whether a friend, or foe, +or utter stranger was the victim. A Murut chief of the Trusan, a river +on the mainland over against Labuan, was desirous of obtaining some +fresh heads on the occasion of a marriage feast, and put to sea to a +district inhabited by a hostile tribe. Meeting with adverse<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> winds, his +canoes were blown over to the British Colony; the Muruts landed, held +apparently friendly intercourse with some of the Kadaian (Muhammadan) +population and, after a visit of two or three days, made preparations to +sail; but meeting a Kadaian returning to his home alone, they shot him +and went off with his head—though the man was an entire stranger to +them, and they had no quarrel with any of his tribe.</p> + +<p>With the assistance of the Brunai authorities, the chief and several of +his accomplices were subsequently secured and sent for trial to Labuan. +The chief died in prison, while awaiting trial, but one or two of his +associates paid the penalty of their wanton crime.</p> + +<p>A short time afterwards, Mr. <span class="smcap">Cook</span> and I visited the Lawas River for +sport, and took up our abode in a Murut long house, where, I remember, a +large basket of skulls was placed as an ornament at the head of my +sleeping place. One night, when all our men, with the exception of my +Chinese servant, were away in the jungle, trying to trap the then newly +discovered "Bulwer pheasant," some Muruts from the Trusan came over and +informed our hosts of the fate of their chief. On the receipt of this +intelligence, all the men of our house left it and repaired to one +adjoining, where a great "drink" was held, while the women indulged in a +loud, low, monotonous, heart-breaking wail, which they kept up for +several hours. Mr. <span class="smcap">Cook</span> and myself agreed that things looked almost as +bad for us as they well could, and when, towards morning, the men +returned to our house, my Chinese boy clung to me in terror and—nothing +happened! But certainly I do not think I have ever passed such an +uncomfortable period of suspense.</p> + +<p>Writing to the Court of Directors of the East India Company a hundred +and thirteen years ago, Mr. <span class="smcap">Yesse</span>, who concluded the pepper monopoly +agreement with the Brunai Government, referring to the Murut +predilection for head-hunting says:—"With respect to the Idaan, or +Muruts, as they are called here, I cannot give any account of their +disposition; but from what I have heard from the Borneyans, they are a +set of abandoned idolaters; one of their tenets, so strangely inhuman, I +cannot pass unnoticed, which is, that their future <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span>interest depends +upon the number of their fellow creatures they have killed in any +engagement, or common disputes, and count their degrees of happiness to +depend on the number of human skulls in their possession; from which, +and the wild, disorderly life they lead, unrestrained by any bond of +civil society, we ought not to be surprised if they are of a cruel and +vindictive disposition." I think this is rather a case of giving a dog a +bad name.</p> + +<p>I heard read once at a meeting of the Royal Geographical Society, an +eloquent paper on the Natives of the Andaman Islands, in which the +lecturer, after shewing that the Andamanese were suspicious, +treacherous, blood-thirsty, ungrateful and untruthful, concluded by +giving it as his opinion that they were very good fellows and in many +ways superior to white man.</p> + +<p>I do not go quite so far as he does, but I must say that many of the +aborigines are very pleasant good-natured creatures, and have a lot of +good qualities in them, which, with care and discriminating legislation +on the part of their new rulers, might be gradually developed, while the +evil qualities which they possess in common with all races of men, might +be <i>pari passu</i> not extinguished, but reduced to a minimum. But this +result can only be secured by officers who are naturally of a +sympathetic disposition and ready to take the trouble of studying the +natives and entering into their thoughts and aspirations.</p> + +<p>In many instances, the Company has been fortunate in its choice of +officials, whose work has brought them into intimate connection with the +aborigines.</p> + +<p>A besetting sin of young officers is to expect too much—they are +conscious that their only aim is to advance the best interests of the +natives, and they are surprised and hurt at, what they consider, the +want of gratitude and backwardness in seconding their efforts evinced by +them. They forget that the people are as yet in the schoolboy stage, and +should try and remember how, in their own schoolboy days, they offered +opposition to the efforts of their masters for <i>their</i> improvement, and +how little gratitude they felt, at the time, for all that was done for +them. Patience and sympathy are the two <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span>qualifications especially +requisite in officers selected for the management of native affairs.</p> + +<p>In addition to the indigenous population, there are, settled along the +coast and at the mouths of the principal rivers, large numbers of the +more highly civilized tribes of Malays, of whose presence in Borneo an +explanation has been attempted on a previous page. They are known as +Brunais—called by the Natives, for some unexplained reason, <i>orang +abai</i>—Sulus, Bajows, Illanuns and Balininis; there are also a few +Bugis, or natives of Celebes.</p> + +<p>These are the people who, before the Company's arrival, lorded it over +the more ignorant interior tribes, and prevented their having direct +dealings with traders and foreigners, and to whom, consequently, the +advent of a still more civilized race than themselves was very +distasteful.</p> + +<p>The habits of the Brunai people have already been sufficiently +described.</p> + +<p>The Sulus are, next to the Brunais, the most civilized race and, without +any exception, the most warlike and powerful. For nearly three +centuries, they have been more or less in a state of war with the +Spaniards of the Philippine Islands, and even now, though the Spaniards +have established a fortified port in their principal island, their +subjugation is by no means complete.</p> + +<p>The Spanish officials dare not go beyond the walls of their settlement, +unless armed and in force, and it is no rare thing for fanatical Sulus, +singly or in small parties, to make their way into the Spanish town, +under the guise of unarmed and friendly peasants, and then suddenly draw +their concealed krises and rush with fury on officers, soldiers and +civilians, generally managing to kill several before they are themselves +cut down.</p> + +<p>They are a much bolder and more independent race than the Brunais, who +have always stood in fear of them, and it was in consideration of its +undertaking to defend them against their attacks that the Brunai +Government conceded the exclusive trade in pepper to the East India +Company. Their religion—Muhammadanism—sits even more lightly on the +Sulus than on the Brunais, and their women, who are fairer and better +looking than their Brunai sisters, are never secluded <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span>or veiled, but +often take part in public deliberations and, in matters of business, are +even sharper than the men.</p> + +<p>The Sulus are a bloodthirsty and hard-hearted race, and, when an +opportunity occurs, are not always averse to kidnapping even their own +countrymen and selling them into slavery. They entertain a high notion +of their own importance, and are ever ready to resent with their krises +the slightest affront which they may conceive has been put upon them.</p> + +<p>In Borneo, they are found principally on the North-East Coast, and a +good many have settled in British North Borneo under the Company's +Government. They occasionally take contracts for felling jungle and +other work of similar character, but are less disposed than the Brunai +men to perform work for Europeans on regular wages. Among their good +qualities, it may be mentioned that they are faithful and trustworthy +followers of any European to whom they may become attached. Their +language is distinct from ordinary Malay, and is akin to that of the +Bisaias, one of the principal tribes of the Philippines, and is written +in the Arabic character; but many Malay terms have been adopted into the +language, and most of the trading and seafaring Sulus know enough Malay +to conclude a bargain.</p> + +<p>The most numerous Muhammadan race in British North Borneo is that of the +Bajows, who are found on both coasts, but, on the West Coast, not South +of the Pappar River. These are the <i>orang-laut</i> (men of the sea) or +sea-gipsies of the old writers, and are the worst class that we have to +deal with, being of a treacherous and thievish disposition, and +confirmed gamblers and cattle-lifters.</p> + +<p>They also form a large proportion of the population of the Sulu Islands, +where they are, or used to be, noted kidnappers and pirates, though also +distinguished for their skill in pearl fisheries. Their religion is that +of Mahomet and their language Malay mixed, it is said, with Chinese and +Japanese elements; their women are not secluded, and it is a rare thing +for a Borneo Bajow to take the trouble of making the pilgrimage to +Mecca. They are found along the coasts of nearly all the Malay Islands +and, apparently, in former days lived entirely in their boats. In +British North Borneo, a large majority<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> have taken to building houses +and residing on the shore, but when Mr. <span class="smcap">Pryer</span> first settled at Sandakan, +there was a considerable community of them in the Bay, who had no houses +at all, but were born, bred, married and died in their small canoes.</p> + +<p>On the West Coast, the Bajows, who have for a long time been settled +ashore, appear to be of smaller build and darker colour than the other +Malays, with small sparkling black eyes, but on the East Coast, where +their condition is more primitive, Mr. <span class="smcap">Pryer</span> thinks they are much larger +in stature and stronger and more swarthy than ordinary Malays.</p> + +<p>On the East Coast, there are no buffaloes or horned cattle, so that the +Bajows there have, or I should say <i>had</i>, to be content with kidnapping +only, and as an example of their daring I may relate that in, I think, +the year 1875, the Austrian Frigate <i>Friederich</i>, Captain Baron +<span class="smcap">Oesterreicher</span>, was surveying to the South of Darvel Bay, and, running +short of coal, sent an armed party ashore to cut firewood. The Bajows +watched their opportunity and, when the frigate was out of sight, seized +the cutter, notwithstanding the fire of the party on the shore, who +expended all their ammunition in vain, and carried off the two +boat-keepers, whose heads were subsequently shewn round in triumph in +the neighbouring islands. Baron <span class="smcap">Oesterreicher</span> was unable to discover the +retreat of these Bajows, and they remain unpunished to this day, and are +at present numbered among the subjects of the British North Borneo +Company. I have been since told that I have more than once unwittingly +shaken hands and had friendly intercourse with some of them. In fairness +to them I should add that it is more than probable that they mistook the +<i>Friederich</i> for a vessel belonging to Spain, with whom their sovereign, +the Sultan of Sulu, was at that time at war. After this incident, and by +order of his Government, Baron <span class="smcap">Oesterreicher</span> visited Sandakan Bay and, I +believe, reported that he could discover no population there other than +monkeys. Altogether, he could not have carried away with him a very +favourable impression of Northern Borneo. On the West Coast, gambling +and cattle-lifting are the main pursuits of the gentlemanly Bajow, +pursuits which soon brought him into close and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span>very uncomfortable +relations with the new Government, for which he entertains anything but +feelings of affection. One of the principal independent rivers on the +West Coast—<i>i. e.</i>, rivers which have not yet been ceded to the +Company—is the Mengkabong, the majority of the inhabitants of which are +Bajows, so that it has become a sort of river of refuge for the bad +characters on the coast, as well as an entrepôt for the smuggling of +gunpowder for sale to the head-hunting tribes of the interior. The +existence of these independent and intermediate rivers on their West +Coast is a serious difficulty for the Company in its efforts to +establish good government and put down lawlessness, and every one having +at heart the true interests of the natives of Borneo must hope that the +Company will soon be successful in the negotiations which they have +opened for the acquisition of these rivers. The Kawang was an important +river, inhabited by a small number of Bajows, acquired by the Company in +1884, and the conduct of these people on one occasion affords a good +idea of their treachery and their hostility towards good government. An +interior tribe had made itself famous for its head-hunting proclivities, +and the Kawang was selected as the best route by which to reach their +district and inflict punishment upon them. The selection of this route +was not a politic one, seeing that the inhabitants <i>were</i> Bajows, and +that they had but recently come under the Company's rule. The expedition +was detained a day or two at the Bajow village, as the full number of +Dusun baggage-carriers had not arrived, and the Bajows were called upon +to make up the deficiency, but did not do so. Matters were further +complicated by the Dusuns recognising some noted cattle-lifters in the +village, and demanding a buffalo which had been stolen from them. It +being impossible to obtain the required luggage carriers, it was +proposed to postpone the expedition, the stores were deposited in some +of the houses of the village and the Constabulary were "dismissed" and, +piling their arms, laid down under the shelter of some trees. Without +any warning one of two Bajows, with whom Dr. <span class="smcap">Fraser</span> was having an +apparently friendly chat, discharged his musket point blank at the +Doctor, killing him on the spot, and seven others rushed among the +unarmed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span>Constables and speared the Sikh Jemmadhar and the +Sergeant-Major and a private and then made off for the jungle. Captain +<span class="smcap">De Fontaine</span> gallantly, but rashly started off in pursuit, before any one +could support him. He tripped and fell and was so severely wounded by +the Bajows, after killing three of them with his revolver, that he died +a few days afterwards at Sandakan. By this time the Sikhs had got their +rifles and firing on the retreating party killed three and wounded two. +Assistant Resident <span class="smcap">Little</span>, who had received a spear in his arm, shot his +opponent dead with his revolver. None of the other villagers took any +active part, and consequently were only punished by the imposition of a +fine. They subsequently all cleared out of the Company's territory. It +was a sad day for the little Colony at Sandakan when Mr. <span class="smcap">Whitehead</span>, a +naturalist who happened to be travelling in the neighbourhood at the +time, brought us the news of the melancholy affray, and the wounded +Captain <span class="smcap">De Fontaine</span> and several Sikhs, to whose comfort and relief he +had, at much personal inconvenience, attended on the tedious voyage in a +small steam-launch from the Kawang to the Capital. On the East Coast, +also, their slave-dealing and kidnapping propensities brought the Bajows +into unfriendly relations with the Government, and their lawlessness +culminated in their kidnapping several Eraan birds' nest collectors, +whom they refused to surrender, and making preparations for resisting +any measures which might be taken to coerce them. As these same people +had, a short time previously, captured at sea some five Dutch subjects, +it was deemed that their offences brought them within the cognizance of +the Naval authorities, and Captain <span class="smcap">A. K. Hope</span>, <small>R.N.</small>, at my request, +visited the district, in 1886, in H. M. S. <i>Zephyr</i> and, finding that +the people of two of the Bajow villages refused to hold communication +with us, but prepared their boats for action, he opened fire on them +under the protection of which a party of the North Borneo Constabulary +landed and destroyed the villages, which were quickly deserted, and many +of the boats which had been used on piratical excursions. Happily, there +was no loss of life on either side, and a very wholesome and useful +lesson was given to the pirates without the shedding <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span>of blood, thanks +to the good arrangements and tact of Captain <span class="smcap">Hope</span>. In order that the +good results of this lesson should not be wasted, I revisited the scene +of the little engagement in the <i>Zephyr</i> a few weeks subsequently, and +not long afterwards the British flag was again shewn in the district, by +Captain <span class="smcap">A. H. Alington</span> in H. M. S. <i>Satellite</i>, who interviewed the +offending chiefs and gave them sound advice as to their conduct in +future.</p> + +<p>Akin to the Bajows are the Illanuns and Balinini, Muhammadan peoples, +famous in former days as the most enterprising pirates of the Malayan +seas. The Balinini, Balignini or Balanguini—as their name is variously +written—originally came from a small island to the north of Sulu, and +the Illanuns from the south coast of the island of Mindanao—one of the +Philippines, but by the action of the Spanish and British cruisers their +power has been broken and they are found scattered in small numbers +throughout the Sulu Islands and on the seaboard of Northern Borneo, on +the West Coast of which they founded little independent settlements, +arrogating to their petty chiefs such high sounding titles as Sultan, +Maharajah and so forth.</p> + +<p>The Illanuns are a proud race and distinguished by wearing a much larger +sword than the other tribes, with a straight blade about 28 inches in +length. This sword is called a <i>kampilan</i>, and is used in conjunction +with a long, narrow, wooden shield, known by the name of <i>klassap</i>, and +in the use of these weapons the Illanuns are very expert and often boast +that, were it not for their gunpowder, no Europeans could stand up to +them, face to face. I believe, that it is these people who in former +days manufactured the chain armour of which I have seen several +specimens, but the use of which has now gone out of fashion. Those I +have are made of small brass rings linked together, and with plates of +brass or buffalo horn in front. The headpiece is of similar +construction.</p> + +<p>There are no Negritos in Borneo, although they exist in the Malay +Peninsula and the Philippines, and our explorers have failed to obtain +any specimens of the "tailed" people in whose existence many of the +Brunai people believe. The late <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span>Sultan of Brunai gravely assured me +that there was such a tribe, and that the individuals composing it were +in the habit of carrying about chairs with them, in the seat of each of +which there was a little hole, in which the lady or gentleman carefully +inserted her or his tail before settling down to a comfortable chat. +This belief in the existence of a tailed race appears to be widespread, +and in his "Pioneering in New Guinea" Mr. <span class="smcap">Chalmers</span> gives an amusing +account of a detailed description of such a tribe by a man who vowed <i>he +had lived with them</i>, and related how they were provided with long +sticks, with which to make holes in the ground before squatting down, +for the reception of their short stumpy tails! I think it is Mr. <span class="smcap">H. F. +Romilly</span> who, in his interesting little work on the Western Pacific and +New Guinea, accounts for the prevalence of "yarns" of this class by +explaining that the natives regard Europeans as being vastly superior to +them in general knowledge and, when they find them asking such questions +as, for instance, whether there are tailed-people in the interior, jump +to the conclusion that the white men must have good grounds for +believing that they do exist, and then they gradually come to believe in +their existence themselves. There is, however, I think, some excuse for +the Brunai people's belief, for I have seen one tribe of Muruts who, in +addition to the usual small loin cloth, wear on their backs only a skin +of a long-tailed monkey, the tail of which hangs down behind in such a +manner as, when the men are a little distance off, to give one at first +glance the impression that it is part and parcel of the biped.</p> + +<p>In Labuan it used to be a very common occurrence for the graves of the +Europeans, of which unfortunately, owing to its bad climate when first +settled, there are a goodly number, to be found desecrated and the bones +scattered about. The perpetrators of these outrages have never been +discovered, notwithstanding the most stringent enquiries. It was once +thought that they were broken open by head-hunting tribes from the +mainland, but this theory was disproved by the fact that the skulls were +never carried away. As we know of no Borneo tribe which is in the habit +of breaking open graves, the only conclusion that can be come to is that +the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span>graves were rifled under the supposition that the Europeans buried +treasure with their dead, though it is strange that their experiences of +failure never seemed to teach them that such was not the case.</p> + +<p>The Muhammadan natives are buried in the customary Muhammadan manner in +regular graveyards kept for the purpose.</p> + +<p>The aborigines generally bury their dead near their houses, erecting +over the graves little sheds adorned, in the case of chiefs, with bright +coloured clothes, umbrellas, etc. I once went to see the lying in state +of a deceased Datoh, who had been dead nine days. On entering the house +I looked about for the corpse in vain, till my attention was drawn to an +old earthen jar, tilted slightly forward, on the top of the old Chief's +goods—his sword, spear, gun and clothing.</p> + +<p>In this jar were the Datoh's remains, the poor old fellow having been +doubled up, head and heels together, and forced through the mouth of the +vessel, which was about two feet in diameter. The jar itself was about +four feet high. Over the corpse was thickly sprinkled the native +camphor, and the jar was closed with a piece of buffalo hide, well +sealed over with gum dammar. They told us the Datoh was dressed in his +best clothes and had his pipe with him, but nothing else. He was to be +buried that day in a small grave excavated near the house, just large +enough to contain the jar, and a buffalo was being killed and +intoxicating drink prepared for the numerous friends and followers who +were flocking in for the wake. Over his grave cannon would be fired to +arouse the spirits who were to lead him to Kinabalu, the people shouting +out "Turn neither to the right nor to the left, but proceed straight to +Kinabalu"—the sacred mountain where are collected the spirits of all +good Dusuns under, I believe, the presidency of a great spirit known as +Kinaringan.</p> + + +<hr /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>Chapter XI</h2> + + +<p>The population of North Borneo, as has been shewn, is very scanty, and +the great object of the new Government should be <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span>to attract population +and capital to their territory. Java is often quoted as an island which, +under Dutch rule, has attained great prosperity without any large +immigration of Chinese or other foreigners. This is true, but in Java +the Dutch had not only a fertile soil and good climate in their favour, +but found their Colony already thickly populated by native races who +had, under Hindu and Arab influences, made considerable advances in +civilization, in trade and in agriculture, and who, moreover, had been +accustomed to a strong Government.</p> + +<p>The Dutch, too, were in those days able to introduce a Government of a +paternal and despotic character which the British North Borneo Company +are, by the terms of the Royal Charter, precluded from imitating.</p> + +<p>It was Sir <span class="smcap">James Brooke's</span> wish to keep Sarawak for the natives, but his +successor has recognised the impolicy of so doing and admits that +"without the Chinese we can do nothing." Experience in the Straits +Settlements, the Malay Peninsula and Sarawak has shewn that the people +to cause rapid financial progress in Malayan countries are the +hard-working, money-loving Chinese, and these are the people whom the +Company should lay themselves out to attract to Borneo, as I have more +than once pointed out in the course of these remarks. It matters not +what it is that attracts them to the country, whether trade, as in +Singapore, agriculture, as in Johor and Sarawak, or mining as in Perak +and other of the Protected Native States of the Peninsula—once get them +to voluntarily immigrate, and govern them with firmness and justice, and +the financial success of the Company would, in my opinion, be assured. +The inducements for the Chinese to come to North Borneo are trade, +agriculture and possibly mining. The bulk of those already in the +country are traders, shop-keepers, artisans and the coolies employed by +them, and the numbers introduced by the European tobacco planters for +the cultivation of their estates, under the system already explained, is +yearly increasing. Very few are as yet engaged in agriculture on their +own account, and it must be confessed that the luxuriant tropical jungle +presents considerable difficulties to an agriculturist from China, +accustomed to a country devoid of forest, and it would be impossible for +Chinese <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span>peasants to open land in Borneo for themselves without monetary +assistance, in the first instance, from the Government or from +capitalists. In Sarawak Chinese pepper planters were attracted by free +passages in Government ships and by loans of money, amounting to a +considerable total, nearly all of which have since been repaid, while +the revenues of the State have been almost doubled. The British North +Borneo Company early recognised the desirability of encouraging Chinese +immigration, but set to work in too great haste and without judgment.</p> + +<p>They were fortunate in obtaining the services for a short time, as their +Commissioner of Chinese Immigration, of a man so well-known in China as +the late Sir <span class="smcap">Walter Medhurst</span>, but he was appointed before the Company's +Government was securely established and before proper arrangements had +been made for the reception of the immigrants, or sufficient knowledge +obtained of the best localities in which to locate them. His influence +and the offer of free passages from China, induced many to try their +fortune in the Colony, but the majority of them were small shop-keepers, +tailors, boot-makers, and artisans, who naturally could not find a +profitable outlet for their energies in a newly opened country to which +capital (except that of the Governing Company) had not yet been +attracted, and a large proportion of the inhabitants of which were +satisfied with a loin cloth as the sole article of their attire. Great, +therefore, was their disappointment, and comparatively few remained to +try their luck in the country. One class of these immigrants, however, +took kindly to North Borneo—the Hakkas, an agricultural clan, many of +whom have embraced the Christian religion and are, in consequence, +somewhat looked down upon by their neighbours. They are a steady, +hard-working body of men, and cultivate vegetable and coffee gardens in +the vicinity of the Settlements and rear poultry and pigs. The women are +steady, and work almost as well as the men. They may form a valuable +factor in the colonization of the country and a source of cheap labour +for the planters in the future.</p> + +<p>Sir <span class="smcap">Spencer St. John</span>, formerly Her Britannic Majesty's Consul-General at +Brunai and who knew Borneo well, in his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span>preface to the second edition +of his "Life in the Forests of the Far East," lays great stress on the +suitability of North Borneo for the immigration of Chinese on a very +large scale, and prophesied that "should the immigration once commence, +it would doubtless assume great proportions and continue until every +acre of useless jungle is cleared away, to give place to rice, pepper, +gambier, sugar-cane, cotton, coffee, indigo and those other products +which flourish on its fertile soil." No doubt a considerable impetus +would be given to the immigration of Chinese and the introduction of +Chinese as well as of European capital, were the British Government to +proclaim<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> formally a Protectorate over the country, meanwhile the +Company should try the effect of the offer of free passages from China +and from Singapore and of liberal allotments of suitable land to <i>bonâ +fide</i> agriculturists.</p> + +<p>The sources of the Company's revenues have been referred to on a +previous page, and may be summarised here under the following principal +heads:—The "Farms" of Opium, Tobacco, Spirits, and of Pawnbroking, the +Rent of the edible birds'-nest caves, Market Dues, Duties on Imports and +Exports, Court Fines and Fees, Poll Tax on aborigines, House and Store +Rents, profit accruing from the introduction of the Company's copper or +bronze token coinage—a considerable item—Interest and Commission +resulting from the Banking business carried on by the Treasury pending +the establishment of a Banking Company, Land Sales and Quit-rents on +land alienated, and Postal Receipts.</p> + +<p>The Poll Tax is a source of revenue well-known in the East and not +objected to by most of our natives, with whom it takes the place of the +land rent which the Government of India imposes. To our aborigines a +land rent would be most distasteful at present, and they infinitely +prefer the Poll Tax and to be allowed to own and farm what land they +like without paying premium or rent. The more civilized tribes, +especially on the West coast, recognize private property in land, the +boundaries of their gardens and fields being carefully <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span>marked and +defined, and the property descending from fathers to children. The rate +of the Poll Tax is usually $2 for married couples and $1 for adult +bachelors per annum, and I believe this is about the same rate as that +collected by the British Government in Burma. At first sight it has the +appearance of a tax on marriage, but in the East generally women do a +great deal of the out-door as well as of the indoor work, so that a +married man is in a much better position than a bachelor for acquiring +wealth, as he can be engaged in collecting jungle produce, or in +trading, or in making money in other ways, while his womenkind are +planting out or gathering in the harvest.</p> + +<p>The amounts <i>received</i> by the Company for the sale of their waste lands +has been as follows:—</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" summary="Income from sale of land"> + +<tr><td class="tdlm">1882,</td><td class="tdrm">$16,340</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdlm">1883,</td><td class="tdrm">$25,449</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdlm">1884,</td><td class="tdrm">$15,460</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdlm">1885,</td><td class="tdrm">$2,860</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdlm">1886,</td><td class="tdrm">$12,035</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdlm">1887,<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></td> +<td class="tdrm">$14,505</td></tr> + +</table> + +<p>The receipts for 1888, owing to the rush for tobacco lands already +alluded to, and to the fact that the balances of the premia on lands +taken up in 1887 becomes due in that year, will be considerably larger +than those of any previous period.</p> + +<p>The most productive, and the most elastic source of revenue is that +derived from the Excise on the retail of opium and, with the +comparatively small number of Chinese at present in the country, this +amounted in 1887 to $19,980, having been only $4,537 in 1882.<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> The +next most substantial and promising item is the Customs Duties on Import +and Export, which from about $8,300 in 1882 have increased to $19,980 in +1887.<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></p> + +<p>The local expenditure in Borneo is chiefly for salaries of the +officials, the armed Constabulary and for Gaols and Public Works, the +annual "rental" payable to the Sultans of Brunai and Sulu and others, +the subsidizing of steamers, Medical <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span>Services, Printing, Stationery, +Prospecting, Experimental Gardens and Harbour and Postal Services. The +designations of the principal officials employed by the Company in +Borneo have been given on a previous page; the salaries allowed them, as +a rule, can scarcely be called too liberal, and unfortunately the Court +of Directors does not at present feel that it is justified in +sanctioning any pension scheme. Those of my readers who are conversant +with the working of Public Offices will recognize that this decision of +the Directors deprives the service of one great incentive to hard and +continuous work and of a powerful factor in the maintenance of an +effective discipline, and it speaks volumes for the quality of the +officials, whose services the Company has been so fortunate as to secure +without this attraction, that it is served as faithfully, energetically +and zealously as any Government in the world. It I may be allowed to say +so here, I can never adequately express my sense of the valuable +assistance and support I received from the officers, with scarcely any +exception, during my six years' tenure of the appointment of Governor. +An excellent spirit pervades the service and, when the occasions have +arisen, there have never been wanting officers ready to risk their lives +in performing their duties, without hope of rewards or distinctions, +Victoria Crosses or medals.</p> + +<p>The figures below speak for the advance which the country is making, not +very rapidly, perhaps the shareholders may think, but certainly, though +slowly, surely and steadily:—</p> + +<div class="indent5"> +<p>Revenue in 1883, $51,654, with the addition of Land Sales, $25,449, a +total of $77,103.</p> + +<p>Revenue in 1887, $142,687, with the addition of Land Sales, $14,505, a +total of $157,192.</p> + +<p>Expenditure in 1883, including expenditure on Capital Account, $391,547.</p> + +<p>Expenditure in 1887, including expenditure on Capital Account, $209,862.</p> +</div> + +<p>For reasons already mentioned, the revenue for 1888 is expected to +considerably exceed that of any previous year, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span>while the expenditure +will probably not be more and may be less than that of 1887.<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></p> + +<p>The expenses of the London office average, I believe, about £3,000 a +year.</p> + +<p>As Sir <span class="smcap">Rutherford Alcock</span>, their able and conscientious Chairman, +explained to the shareholders at a recent meeting, "with reference to +the important question of expenditure, the position of the Company was +that of a man coming into possession of a large estate which had been +long neglected, and which was little better than a wilderness. If any +rent roll was to be derived from such a property there must be, in the +first place, a large outlay in many ways before the land could be made +profitable, or indeed tenantable. That was what the Company had had to +do and what they had been doing; <i>and that had been the history of all +our Colonies</i>." I trust that the few observations I have offered will +have shewn my readers that, though British North Borneo might be +described as a wilderness so far as regards the absence of development +when the Company took possession of it, such a description is by no +means applicable to it when regard is had to its great and undoubted +natural resources.</p> + +<p>British North Borneo not being a Crown Colony, it has to provide itself +for the maintenance of order, both ashore and afloat, without assistance +from the Imperial Army or Navy, except such temporary assistance as has +been on two occasions accorded by Her Majesty's vessels, under +circumstances which have been detailed. There are no Imperial Troops +stationed either in Labuan or in any portion of Borneo, and the Company +has organized an armed Police Force to act both in a military and in a +civil capacity.</p> + +<p>The numbers of their Force do not much exceed two hundred of all ranks, +and are composed principally of Sikhs from the Punjaub and a few Dyaks +from Sarawak—an excellent mixture for fighting purposes, the Dyaks +being sufficiently <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span>courageous and expert in all the arts of jungle +warfare, while the pluck and cool steadiness under fire of the Sikhs is +too well-known to need comment here. The services of any number of Sikhs +can, it appears, be easily obtained for this sort of work, and some +years ago a party of them even took service with the native Sultan of +Sulu, who, however, proved a very indifferent paymaster and was soon +deserted by his mercenaries, who are the most money-grabbing lot of +warriors I have ever heard of. Large bodies of Sikhs are employed and +drilled as Armed Constables in Hongkong, in the Straits Settlements and +in the Protected Native States of the Malay Peninsula, who, after a +fixed time of service, return to their country, their places being at +once taken by their compatriots, and one cannot help thinking what +effect this might have in case of future disturbances in our Indian +Empire, should the Sikh natives make common cause with the malcontents.</p> + +<p>Fault has been found with the Company for not following the example of +Sarawak and raising an army and police from among its own people. This +certainly would have been the best policy had it only been feasible; but +the attempt was made and failed.</p> + +<p>As I have pointed out, British North Borneo is fortunate in not +possessing any powerful aboriginal tribe of pronounced warlike +instincts, such as the Dyaks of Sarawak.</p> + +<p>The Muhammadan Bajows might in time make good soldiers, but my +description of them will have shewn that the Company could not at +present place reliance in them.</p> + +<p>While on the subject of "fault finding," I may say that the Company has +also been blamed for its expenditure on public works and on subsidies +for steam communication with the outer world.</p> + +<p>But our critics may rest assured that, had not the Company proved its +faith in the country by expending some of its money on public works and +in providing facilities for the conveyance of intending colonists, +neither European capital nor Chinese population, so indispensable to the +success of their scheme, would have been attracted to their Territory as +is now being done—for the country and its new Government lacked the +prestige which attaches to a Colony opened by <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span>the Imperial Government. +The strange experiment, in the present day, of a London Company +inaugurating a Government in a tropical Colony, perhaps not unnaturally +caused a certain feeling of pique and uncharitableness in the breasts of +that class of people who cannot help being pleased at the non-success of +their neighbours' most cherished schemes, and who are always ready with +their "I told you so." The measure of success attained by British North +Borneo caused it to come in for its full share of this feeling, and I am +not sure that it was not increased and aggravated by the keen interest +which all the officers took in the performance of their novel duties—an +interest which, quite unintentionally, manifested itself, perhaps, in a +too enthusiastic and somewhat exaggerated estimate of the beauties and +resources of their adopted country and of the grandeur of its future +destiny and of its rapid progress, and which, so to speak, brought about +a reaction towards the opposite extreme in the minds of the class to +whom I refer. This enthusiasm was, to say the least, pardonable under +the circumstances, for all men are prone to think that objects which +intensely engross their whole attention are of more importance than the +world at large is pleased to admit. Every man worth his salt thinks his +own geese are swans.</p> + +<p>A notable exception to this narrow-mindedness was, however, displayed by +the Government of Singapore, especially by its present Governor, Sir +<span class="smcap">Cecil Clementi Smith</span>, who let no opportunity pass of encouraging the +efforts of the infant Government by practical assistance and +unprejudiced counsel.</p> + +<p>Lord <span class="smcap">Brassey</span>, whose visit to Borneo in the <i>Sunbeam</i> I have mentioned, +showed a kindly appreciation of the efforts of the Company's officers, +and practically evinced his faith in the future of the country by +joining the Court of Directors on his return to England.</p> + +<p>In the number of the "Nineteenth Century" for August, 1887, is a sketch +of the then position of the portion of Borneo which is under the British +influence, from his pen.</p> + +<p>As the country is developed and land taken up by European planters and +Chinese, the Company will be called upon <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span>for further expenditure on +public works, in the shape of roads, for at present, in the interior, +there exist only rough native tracks, made use of by the natives when +there does not happen to be a river handy for the transport of +themselves and their goods. Though well watered enough, British North +Borneo possesses no rivers navigable for European vessels of any size, +except perhaps the Sibuku River, the possession of which is at the +present moment a subject of dispute with the the Dutch. This is due to +the natural configuration of the country. Borneo, towards the North, +becoming comparatively narrow and of roughly triangular shape, with the +apex to the North. The only other river of any size and navigable for +vessels drawing about nine feet over the bar, is the Kinabatangan, +which, like the Sibuku, is on the East side, the coast range of +mountains, of which Kinabalu forms a part, being at no great distance +from the West coast and so preventing the occurrence of any large rivers +on that side. From data already to hand, it is calculated that the +proceeds of Land Sales for 1887 and 1888 will equal the total revenue +from all other sources, and a portion of this will doubtless be set +aside for road making and other requisite public works.</p> + +<p>The question may be asked what has the Company done for North Borneo?</p> + +<p>A brief reply to this question would include the following points. The +Company has paved the way to the ultimate extinction of the practice of +slavery; it has dealt the final blow to the piracy and kidnapping which +still lingered on its coasts; it has substituted one strong and just +Government for numerous weak, cruel and unjust ones; it has opened +Courts of Justice which know no distinction between races and creeds, +between rich and poor, between master and slave; it is rapidly adjusting +ancient blood feuds between the tribes and putting a stop to the old +custom of head-hunting; it has broken down the barrier erected by the +coast Malays to prevent the aborigines having access to the outer world +and is thus enabling trade and its accompanying civilisation to reach +the interior races; and it is attracting European and Chinese capital to +the country and opening a market for British traders.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span>These are some, and not inconsiderable ones, of the achievements of the +British North Borneo Company, which, in its humble way, affords another +example of the fact that the "expansion of Britain" has been in the main +due not to the exertions of its Government so much as to the energy and +enterprise of individual citizens, and Sir <span class="smcap">Alfred Dent</span> the the founder, +and Sir <span class="smcap">Rutherford Alcock</span> the guide and supporter of the British North +Borneo Company, cannot but feel a proud satisfaction in the reflection +that their energy and patient perseverance have resulted in conferring +upon so considerable a portion of the island of Borneo the benefits +above enumerated and in adding another Colony to the long list of the +Dependencies of the British Crown.</p> + +<p>In the matter of geographical exploration, too, the Company and its +officers have not been idle, as the map brought out by the Company +sufficiently shews, for previous maps of North Borneo will be found very +barren and uninteresting, the interior being almost a complete blank, +though possessing one natural feature which is conspicuous by its +absence in the more recent and trustworthy one, and that is the large +lake of Kinabalu, which the explorations of the late Mr. <span class="smcap">F. K. Witti</span> +have proved to be non-existent. Two explanations are given of the origin +of the myth of the Kinabalu Lake—one is that in the district, where it +was supposed to exist, extensive floods do take place in very wet +seasons, giving it the appearance of a lake, and, I believe there are +many similar instances in Dutch Borneo, where a tract of country liable +to be heavily flooded has been dignified with the name of <i>Danau</i>, which +is Malay for <i>lake</i>, so that the mistake of the European cartographers +is a pardonable one. The other explanation is that the district in +question is known to the aboriginal inhabitants as <i>Danau</i>, a word +which, in their language, has no particular meaning, but which, as above +stated, signifies, in Malay, a lake. The first European visitors would +have gained all their information from the Malay coast tribes, and the +reason for their mistaken supposition of the existence of a large lake +can be readily understood. The two principal pioneer explorers of +British North Borneo were <span class="smcap">Witti</span> and <span class="smcap">Frank Hatton</span>, both of whom met with +violent deaths. <span class="smcap">Witti's</span> <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span>services as one of the first officers stationed +in the country, before the British North Borneo Company was formed, have +already been referred to, and I have drawn on his able report for a +short account of the slave system which formerly prevailed. He had +served in the Austrian Navy and was a very energetic, courageous and +accomplished man. Besides minor journeys, he had traversed the country +from West to East and from North to South, and it was on his last +journey from Pappar, on the West Coast, inland to the headwaters of the +Kinabatangan and Sambakong Rivers, that he was murdered by a tribe, +whose language none of his party understood, but whose confidence he had +endeavoured to win by reposing confidence in them, to the extent even of +letting them carry his carbine. He and his men had slept in the village +one night, and on the following day some of the tribe joined the party +as guides, but led them into the ambuscade, where the gallant <span class="smcap">Witti</span> and +many of his men were killed by <i>sumpitans</i>.<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> So far as we have been +able to ascertain the sole reason for the attack was the fact that <span class="smcap">Witti</span> +had come to the district from a tribe with whom these people were at +war, and he was, therefore, according to native custom, deemed also to +be an enemy. <span class="smcap">Frank Hatton</span> joined the Company's service with the object +of investigating the mineral resources of the country and in the course +of his work travelled over a great portion of the Territory, prosecuting +his journeys from both the West and the East coasts, and undergoing the +hardships incidental to travel in a roadless, tropical country with such +ability, pluck and success as surprised me in one so young and slight +and previously untrained and inexperienced in rough pioneering work.</p> + +<p>He more than once found himself in critical positions with inland +tribes, who had never seen or heard of a white man, but his calmness and +intrepidity carried him safely through <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span>such difficulties, and with +several chiefs he became a sworn brother, going through the peculiar +ceremonies customary on such occasions. In 1883, he was ascending the +Segama River to endeavour to verify the native reports of the existence +of gold in the district when, landing on the bank, he shot at and +wounded an elephant, and while following it up through the jungle, his +repeating rifle caught in a rattan and went off, the bullet passing +through his chest, causing almost immediate death. <span class="smcap">Hatton</span>, before +leaving England, had given promise of a distinguished scientific career, +and his untimely fate was deeply mourned by his brother officers and a +large circle of friends. An interesting memoir of him has been published +by his father, Mr. <span class="smcap">Joseph Hatton</span>, and a summary of his journeys and +those of<span class="smcap"> Witti</span>, and other explorers in British North Borneo, appeared in +the "Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society and Monthly Record of +Geography" for March, 1888, being the substance of a paper read before +the Society by Admiral <span class="smcap">R. C. Mayne</span>, <small>C.B.</small>, <small>M.P.</small> A memorial cross has been +erected at Sandakan, by their brother officers, to the memory of <span class="smcap">Witti</span>, +<span class="smcap">Hatton</span>, <span class="smcap">de Fontaine</span> and Sikh officers and privates who have lost their +lives in the service of the Government.</p> + +<p>To return for a moment to the matter of fault-finding, it would be +ridiculous to maintain that no mistakes have been made in launching +British North Borneo on its career as a British Dependency, but then I +do not suppose that any single Colony of the Crown has been, or will be +inaugurated without similar mistakes occurring, such, for instance, as +the withholding money where money was needed and could have been +profitably expended, and a too lavish expenditure in other and less +important directions. Examples will occur to every reader who has +studied our Colonial history. If we take the case of the Colony of the +Straits Settlements, now one of our most prosperous Crown Colonies and +which was founded by the East India Company, it will be seen that in +1826-7 the "mistakes" of the administration were on such a scale that +there was an annual deficit of £100,000, and the presence of the +Governor-General of India was called for to abolish useless offices and +effect retrenchments throughout the service.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span>The British North Borneo Company possesses a valuable property, and one +which is daily increasing in value, and if they continue to manage it +with the care hitherto exhibited, and if, remembering that they are not +yet quite out of the wood, they are careful to avoid, on the one hand, a +too lavish expenditure and, on the other, an unwise parsimony, there +cannot, I should say, be a doubt that a fair return will, at no very +distant date, be made to them on the capital they have expended.</p> + +<p>As for the country <i>per se</i>, I consider that its success is now assured, +whether it remains under the rule of the Company or is received into the +fellowship of <i>bonâ fide</i> Colonies of the Empire.</p> + +<p>In bringing to a conclusion my brief account of the Territory, some +notice of its suitability as a residence for Europeans may not be out of +place, as bearing on the question of "what are we to do with our boys?"</p> + +<p>I have my own experience of seventeen years' service in Northern Borneo, +and the authority of Dr. <span class="smcap">Walker</span>, the able Medical Officer of the +Government, for saying that in its general effect on the health of +Europeans, the climate of British North Borneo, as a whole, compares not +unfavourably with that of other tropical countries.</p> + +<p>There is no particular "unhealthy season," and Europeans who lead a +temperate and active life have little to complain of, except the total +absence of any cold season, to relieve the monotony of eternal summer. +On the hills of the interior, no doubt, an almost perfect climate could +be obtained.</p> + +<p>One great drawback to life for Europeans in all tropical places is the +fact that it is unwise to keep children out after they have attained the +age of seven or eight years, but up to that age the climate appears to +agree very well with them and they enjoy an immunity from measles, +whooping cough and other infantile diseases. This enforced separation +from wife and family is one of the greatest disadvantages in a career in +the tropics.</p> + +<p>We have not, unfortunately, had much experience as to how the climate of +British North Borneo affects English ladies, but, judging from +surrounding Colonies, I fear it will be found <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span>that they cannot stand it +quite so well as the men, owing, no doubt, to their not being able to +lead such an active life and to their not having official and business +matter to occupy their attention during the greater part of the day, as +is the case with their husbands.</p> + +<p>Of course, if sufficient care is taken to select a swampy spot, charged +with all the elements of fever and miasma, splendidly unhealthy +localities can be found in North Borneo, a residence in which would +prove fatal to the strongest constitution, and I have also pointed out +that on clearing new ground for plantations fever almost inevitably +occurs, but, as Dr. <span class="smcap">Walker</span> has remarked, the sickness of the newly +opened clearings does not last long when ordinary sanitary precautions +are duly observed.</p> + +<p>At present the only employers of Europeans are the Governing Company, +who have a long list of applicants for appointments, the Tobacco +Companies, and two Timber Companies. Nearly all the Tobacco Companies at +present at work are of foreign nationality and, doubtless, would give +the preference to Dutch and German managers and assistants. Until more +English Companies are formed, I fear there will be no opening in British +North Borneo for many young Englishmen not possessed of capital +sufficient to start planting on their own account. It will be remembered +that the trade in the natural products of the country is practically in +the hands of the Chinese.</p> + +<p>Among the other advantages of North Borneo is its entire freedom from +the presence of the larger carnivora—the tiger or the panther. Ashore, +with the exception of a few poisonous snakes—and during seventeen +years' residence I have never heard of a fatal result from a bite—there +is no animal which will attack man, but this is far from being the case +with the rivers and seas, which, in many places, abound in crocodiles +and sharks. The crocodiles are the most dreaded animals, and are found +in both fresh and salt water. Cases are not unknown of whole villages +being compelled to remove to a distance, owing to the presence of a +number of man-eating crocodiles in a particular bend of a river; this +happened <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span>to the village of Sebongan on the Kinabatangan River, which +has been quite abandoned.</p> + +<p>Crocodiles in time become very bold and will carry off people bathing on +the steps of their houses over the water, and even take them bodily out +of their canoes.</p> + +<p>At an estate on the island of Daat, I had two men thus carried off out +of their boats, at sea, after sunset, in both cases the mutilated bodies +being subsequently recovered. The largest crocodile I have seen was one +which was washed ashore on an island, dead, and which I found to measure +within an inch of twenty feet.</p> + +<p>Some natives entertain the theory that a crocodile will not touch you if +you are swimming or floating in the water and not holding on to any +thing, but this is a theory which I should not care to put practically +to the test myself.</p> + +<p>There is a native superstition in some parts of the West Coast, to the +effect that the washing of a mosquito curtain in a stream is sure to +excite the anger of the crocodiles and cause them to become dangerous. +So implicit was the belief in this superstition, that the Brunai +Government proclaimed it a punishable crime for any person to wash a +mosquito curtain in a running stream.</p> + +<p>When that Government was succeeded by the Company, this proclamation +fell into abeyance, but it unfortunately happened that a woman at +Mempakul, availing herself of the laxity of the law in this matter, did +actually wash her curtain in a creek, and that very night her husband +was seized and carried off by a crocodile while on the steps of his +house. Fortunately, an alarm was raised in time, and his friends managed +to rescue him, though badly wounded; but the belief in the superstition +cannot but have been strengthened by the incident.</p> + +<p>Some of the aboriginal natives on the West Coast are keen sportsmen and, +in the pursuit of deer and wild pig, employ a curious small dog, which +they call <i>asu</i>, not making use of the Malay word for dog—<i>anjing</i>. The +term <i>asu</i> is that generally employed by the Javanese, from whose +country possibly the dog may have been introduced into Borneo. In +Brunai, dogs <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span>are called <i>kuyok</i>, a term said to be of Sumatran origin.</p> + +<p>On the North and East there are large herds of wild cattle said to +belong to two species, <i>Bos Banteng</i> and <i>Bos Gaurus</i> or <i>Bos +Sondaicus</i>. In the vicinity of Kudat they afford excellent sport, a +description of which has been given, in a number of the "Borneo Herald," +by Resident <span class="smcap">G. L. Davies</span>, who, in addition to being a skilful manager of +the aborigines, is a keen sportsman. The native name for them on the +East Coast is <i>Lissang</i> or <i>Seladang</i>, and on the North, <i>Tambadau</i>. In +some districts the water buffalo, <i>Bubalus Buffelus</i>, has run wild and +affords sport.</p> + +<p>The deer are of three kinds—the <i>Rusa</i> or <i>Sambur</i> (<i>Rusa +Aristotelis</i>), the <i>Kijang</i> or roe, and the <i>Plandok</i>, or mousedeer, the +latter a delicately shaped little animal, smaller and lighter than the +European hare. With the natives it is an emblem of cunning, and there +are many short stories illustrating its supposed more than human +intelligence. Wild pig, the <i>Sus barbatus</i>, a kind distinct from the +Indian animal, and, I should say, less ferocious, is a pest all over +Borneo, breaking down fences and destroying crops. The jungle is too +universal and too thick to allow of pig-sticking from horseback, but +good sport can be had, with a spear, on foot, if a good pack of native +dogs is got together.</p> + +<p>It is on the East Coast only that elephants and rhinoceros, called +<i>Gajah</i> and <i>Badak</i> respectively, are found. The elephant is the same as +the Indian one and is fairly abundant; the rhinoceros is <i>Rhinoceros +sumatranus</i>, and is not so frequently met with.</p> + +<p>The elephant in Borneo is a timid animal and, therefore, difficult to +come up with in the thick jungle. None have been shot by Europeans so +far, but the natives, who can walk through the forest so much more +quietly, sometimes shoot them, and dead tusks are also often brought in +for sale.</p> + +<p>The natives in the East Coast are very few in numbers and on neither +coast is there any tribe of professional hunters, or <i>shikaris</i>, as in +India and Ceylon, so that, although game abounds, there are not, at +present, such facilities for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span>Europeans desirous of engaging in sport as +in the countries named.<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a></p> + +<p>A little Malay bear occurs in Borneo, but is not often met with, and is +not a formidable animal.</p> + +<p>My readers all know that Borneo is the home of the <i>Orang-utan</i> or +<i>Mias</i>, as it is called by the natives. No better description of the +animal could be desired than that given by <span class="smcap">Wallace</span> in his "Malay +Archipelago." There is an excellent picture of a young one in the second +volume of Dr. <span class="smcap">Guillemard's</span> "Cruise of the Marchesa." Another curious +monkey, common in mangrove swamps, is the long-nosed ape, or <i>Pakatan</i>, +which possesses a fleshy probosis some three inches long. It is +difficult to tame, and does not live long in captivity.</p> + +<p>As in Sumatra, which Borneo much resembles in its fauna and flora, the +peacock is absent, and its place taken by the <i>Argus</i> pheasant. Other +handsome pheasants are the <i>Fireback</i> and the <i>Bulwer</i> pheasants, the +latter so named after Governor Sir <span class="smcap">Henry Bulwer</span> who took the first +specimen home in 1874. These pheasants do not rise in the jungle and +are, therefore, uninteresting to the Borneo sportsman. They are +frequently trapped by the natives. There are many kinds of pigeons, +which afford good sport. Snipe occur, but not plentifully. Curlew are +numerous in some localities, but very wild. The small China quail are +abundant on cleared spaces, as also is the painted plover, but cleared +spaces in Borneo are somewhat few and far between. So much for sport in +the new Colony.</p> + +<p>Let me conclude my paper by quoting the motto of the British North +Borneo Company—<i>Pergo et perago</i>—I under <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span>take a thing and go through +with it. Dogged persistence has, so far, given the Territory a fair +start on its way to prosperity, and the same perseverance will, in time, +be assuredly rewarded by complete success.<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p> + +<p class="sigblock">W. H. TREACHER.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p>P.S.—I cannot close this article without expressing my great +obligations to Mr. <span class="smcap">C. V. Creagh</span>, the present Governor of North Borneo, +and to Mr. <span class="smcap">Kindersley</span>, the Secretary to the Company in London, for +information which has been incorporated in these notes.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<p class="center"><b>Footnotes:</b></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> Now accomplished.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> In 1888, $246,457.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> In 1888, $22,755 were realized, and the Estimate for 1890 +is $70,000 for the Opium Farm.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> In 1888, $22,755.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> Revenue in 1888, $148,286, with addition of Land Sales, +$246,457, a total of $394,743. +</p><p> +Expenditure in 1888, including Padas war expenses, $210,985, and +expenditure on Capital Account, $25,283—total $236,268.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> The <i>sumpitan</i>, or native blow-pipe, has been frequently +described by writers on Borneo. It is a tube 6<span class="frac"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub></span> feet long, carefully +perforated lengthwise and through which is fired a poisoned dart, which +has an extreme range of about 80 to 90 yards, but is effective at about +20 to 30 yards. It takes the place in Borneo of the bow and arrow of +savage tribes, and is used only by the aborigines and not by the +Muhammadan natives.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> Dr. <span class="smcap">Guillemard</span> in his fascinating book, "The Cruise of the +Marchesa," states, that two English officers, both of them well-known +sportsmen, devoted four months to big game shooting in British North +Borneo and returned to Hongkong entirely unsuccessful. Dr. <span class="smcap">Guillemard</span> +was misinformed. The officers were not more than a week in the country +on their way to Hongkong from Singapore and Sarawak, and did not devote +their time to sport. Some other of the author's remarks concerning +British North Borneo are somewhat incorrect and appear to have been +based on information derived from a prejudiced source.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> In 1889, the Company declared their first Dividend.</p></div> + +</div> + +<p> </p> + +<hr /> + +<p> </p> + +<div class="tnote"> + +<p class="center"><b>Transcriber's Notes:</b></p> + +<p>The author's original spelling has been preserved as far as possible, +including any idiosyncrasies and inconsistencies in the spelling and +accenting of words. Changes have only been made in the case of obvious +typographical errors and where it was felt necessary to remove +ambiguity or improve readability. All changes have been documented +below.</p> + +<p>Inconsistencies in the hypenation of words preserved. ( blood-thirsty, +bloodthirsty; head-quarters, headquarters; kina-balu, kinabalu; +kina-batangan, kinabatangan; salt-water, saltwater; sand-stone, +sandstone; sea-board, seaboard; shop-keepers, shopkeepers; war-like, +warlike)</p> + +<p>Treatment of Blockquotes. There are several blocks of text where the +author quoted extensively from other documentary sources. In some +cases, very long paragraphs contain a mixture of the author's words and +quoted material. In order to enhance readability, the portions of text +which are quoted material have been separated out and indented as +blockquotes. This treatment has been given to:</p> + +<div class="indent5"> +<p>Pg. 33-37. The block of text beginning '"When," says he....' to +'maintaining their gravity.' which was originally a single +contiguous paragraph.</p> + +<p>Pg. 37-40, several paragraphs beginning 'Mr. Darymple's +description....' to 'Singapore is to the straits of Malacca.' The +first paragraph from 'Mr. Darymple's description....' to +'commercial enterprise' was originally a single contiguous +paragraph. This block of text is also unusual in that while +elsewhere, each new paragraph of quoted material began with a +doublequote mark, in this block, only some paragraphs do so while +others do not. This inconsistency on the part of the author has +been preserved.</p> + +<p>Pg. 54-55, several paragraphs beginning 'Javanese element, and +Hindu work....' to 'make a stone fort."' The section from +'Javanese element, and Hindu work....' to 'country of +Saguntang.' was originally one contiguous paragraph. The quoted +material was originally printed with a doublequote mark at the +beginning of each line. These doublequote marks have been +removed except for those indicating the beginning and end of a +quotation.</p> + +<p>Pg. 58-62, several paragraphs beginning 'The agreement to so +transfer....' to 'reference will be made hereafter.' The +section from 'The agreement to so transfer....' to 'twenty in +number' was originally one contiguous paragraph. The block from +'Mr. Brooke concludes....' to 'reference will be made +hereafter.' was also one contiguous paragraph. The quoted +material was originally printed with a doublequote mark at the +beginning of each line. These doublequote marks have been +removed except for those indicating the beginning and end of a +quotation.</p> +</div> + +<p>On Pg. 86 there is a short section of quoted material from '"Lieutenant +Little....' to 'await my arrival."' This quotation was originally +printed with a doublequote mark at the beginning of each line. The +doublequote marks have been removed. Because of its short length, the +quote has been left in the body of its parent paragraph, demarcated by +opening and closing doublequotes.</p> + +<p>When the author quoted extensively from other sources, he used a row of +between 3-6 asterisks to represent omitted material. This style has +been reproduced in this transcription.</p> + +<p>The author was inconsistent with respect to whether a space was added +between the letters in abbreviations such as A.M., R.N., i.e. and so +on. The original spacing has been preserved in all cases.</p> + +<p>The original text included an Errata with the following text: "Page +136, line 15, <i>for</i> 'head of a thief' <i>read</i> 'hand of a thief.'" The +required change has been incorporated into this ebook and hence the +Errata has not been transcribed.</p> + +<p>Table of Contents, Chapter VI., "expecttations" changed to +"expectations" (Original expectations of the Colony)</p> + +<p>Table of Contents, Chapter X., "Tranfer" changed to "Transfer". +(Transfer from natives)</p> + +<p>Pg. 2, "concesssions" changed to "concessions". (confirming the grants +and concessions acquired from the Sultans of Brunai)</p> + +<p>Pg. 9, "slighlty" changed to "slightly". (black and slightly oblique)</p> + +<p>Footnote 2 makes mention of an Appendix but the source document for +this transcription, although complete, did not have an Appendix. +Library catalogue entries for this title (with matching publication and +physical parameters) at libraries such as the Bodleian Library of +Oxford University (UK) and Harvard University make no mention of an +appendix and state that this title had 165 pages, which is exactly the +same as for the source document used.</p> + +<p>Pg. 21, "adapability" changed to "adaptability". (adaptability to +changed circumstances)</p> + +<p>Pg. 44, "fatening" changed to "fattening". (used for fattening pigs)</p> + +<p>Pg. 53, "invesiture" changed to "investiture". (his conversion and +investiture by the Sultan)</p> + +<p>Pg. 55, "beetwen" changed to "between". (quarrel ensued between them)</p> + +<p>Pg. 59, sentence ends after "had the desired effect" without +punctuation. This is followed by a row of asterisks (omitted material) +and then the beginning of a new sentence: "None joined....". As it is +unclear whether "had the desired effect" ends the sentence or there +were more words (which have been omitted), the original text is +preserved as is.</p> + +<p>Pg. 63, "poputation" changed to "population". (supporting a population)</p> + +<p>Pg. 70, "beloved" original printed with an inverted "e". Corrected. +(beloved of the Colonial)</p> + +<p>Pg. 72, "expirements" changed to "experiments". (but experiments are +being made)</p> + +<p>Pg. 74, "scarely" changed to "scarcely". (We can scarcely let)</p> + +<p>Pg. 75, "chaples" changed to "chapels". (twenty-five Mission chapels in +Sarawak)</p> + +<p>Pg. 79, "uncrupulous" changed to "unscrupulous". (most unscrupulous +agents)</p> + +<p>Pg. 87, "witb" changed to "with". (covered with a strong growth)</p> + +<p>Pg. 105, "authories" changed to "authorities". (for the Spanish +authorities)</p> + +<p>Pg. 114, "hat" changed to "that". (and found that next morning)</p> + +<p>Pg. 114, "he" changed to "the". (and that the swifts went)</p> + +<p>Pg. 116, "ino" changed to "into". (have been put into circulation)</p> + +<p>Pg. 120, "rear", last letter originally printed as an inverted "r". +Corrected. (and appears to rear its isolated)</p> + +<p>Pg. 120, inserted missing period at sentence end. (at all rare. The +dryest months)</p> + +<p>Pg. 124, "amasing" changed to "amassing". (an innate desire of amassing +dollars)</p> + +<p>Pg. 126, inserted missing period at sentence end. (Kinabatangan River +on the East.)</p> + +<p>Pg. 126, "ordidary" changed to "ordinary". (higher price than ordinary +kinds)</p> + +<p>Pg. 131, "hegrees" changed to "degrees". (abolish by degrees, any +system of)</p> + +<p>Pg. 132, duplicated word "an" removed. (If an <i>anak mas</i> girl)</p> + +<p>Pg. 133, "incorrigble" changed to "incorrigible". (An incorrigible +slave)</p> + +<p>Pg. 133, "agressor" changed to "aggressor". (compensation from the +aggressor)</p> + +<p>Pg. 135, "pu-a stop to" changed to "put a stop to". (altogether put a +stop to in)</p> + +<p>Pg. 135, "effecttually" changed to "effectually". (effectually brought +to an end)</p> + +<p>Pg. 136, "and to the.consequent", extraneous dot removed. (and to the +consequent)</p> + +<p>Pg. 145, inserted missing period at end of sentence. (<span class="smcap">Hope</span>. In order +that the)</p> + +<p>Pg. 145, "Zepyhyr" changed to "Zephyr". (in the Zephyr a few weeks)</p> + +<p>Pg. 148, "acccustomed" changed "accustomed". (had been accustomed to)</p> + +<p>Pg. 149, "desirabilty" changed to "desirability". (recognised the +desirability)</p> + +<p>Pg. 152, "Expendiure" changed to "Expenditure". (Expenditure in 1887)</p> + +<p>Pg. 163, apparently extraneous comma removed from inside parenthesis of +"(<i>Rusa Aristotelis</i>,),". (<i>Rusa Aristotelis</i>), the)</p> + +<p>Pg. 164, "N better" changed to "No better". (No better description of +the)</p> + +</div> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRITISH BORNEO***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 27547-h.txt or 27547-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/7/5/4/27547">http://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/5/4/27547</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL">http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/GUTINDEX.ALL</a> + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** +</pre> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/27547-h/images/cover.jpg b/27547-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..099e9ef --- /dev/null +++ b/27547-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/27547-h/images/dropcap.jpg b/27547-h/images/dropcap.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..541f5c4 --- /dev/null +++ b/27547-h/images/dropcap.jpg diff --git a/27547.txt b/27547.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d6a0fa3 --- /dev/null +++ b/27547.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6941 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, British Borneo, by W. H. Treacher + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: British Borneo + Sketches of Brunai, Sarawak, Labuan, and North Borneo + + +Author: W. H. Treacher + + + +Release Date: December 16, 2008 [eBook #27547] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRITISH BORNEO*** + + +E-text prepared by a Project Gutenberg volunteer from digital material +generously made available by Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org) + + + +Note: Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive. See + http://www.archive.org/details/yonderyo00gavarich + + + + + +BRITISH BORNEO: + +Sketches of Brunai, Sarawak, Labuan, and North Borneo. + +by + +W. H. TREACHER, C.M.G., M.A. OXON., +Secretary to the Government of Perak, +Formerly Administrator of Labuan and +H.B.M. Acting Consul-General in Borneo, +First Governor of British North Borneo. + + + + + + + +Reprinted from the Journal of the Straits Settlements Branch +of the Royal Asiatic Society. + +Singapore: +Printed at the Government Printing Department. +1891. + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS. + + + CHAPTER I. PAGES 1-11. + + THE Hudson's Bay Company's Charter, 1670. British North Borneo + Company's Charter, November 1881, as a territorial power. The + example followed by Germany. Borneo the second largest island in + the world. Visited by Friar Odoric, 1322, by Berthema, 1503; but + not generally known until, in 1518 Portuguese, and in 1521 + Spanish, expeditions touched there. Report of Pigafetta, the + companion of Magellan, who found there a Chinese trading + community. Origin of the name Borneo; sometimes known as + Kalamantan. Spanish attack on Brunai, 1573. First Dutch + connection, 1600; first British connection, 1609. Diamonds. + Factory established by East India Company at Banjermassin, 1702, + expelled by natives. British capture of Manila, 1762, and + acquisition of Balambangan, followed by cession of Northern Borneo + and part of Palawan. Spanish claims to Borneo abandoned by + Protocol, 1885. Factory established at Balambangan, 1771, expelled + by Sulus, 1775; re-opened 1803 and abandoned the following year. + Temporary factory at Brunai. Pepper trade. Settlement of + Singapore, 1819. Attracted trade of Borneo, Celebes, &c. Pirates. + Brooke acquired Sarawak 1840, the first permanent British + possession. Labuan a British Colony, 1846. The Dutch protest. + Their possessions in Borneo. Spanish claims. Concessions of + territory acquired by Mr. Dent, 1877-78. The monopolies of the + first Europeans ruined trade: better prospect now opening. United + States connection with Borneo. Population. Malays, their Mongolian + origin. Traces of a Caucasic race, termed Indonesians. Buludupih + legend. Names of aboriginal tribes. Pagans and Mahomedans. + + + CHAPTER II. PAGES 11-33. + + Description of Brunai, the capital, and its river. Not a typical + Malayan river. Spanish Catholic Mission. British Consulate. Inche + Mahomed. Moses and a former American Consulate. Pigafetta's + estimate of population in 1521, 150,000. Present estimate, 12,000. + Decay of Brunai since British connection. Life of a Brunai noble; + of the children; of the women. Modes of acquiring slaves: 'forced + trade.' Condition of slaves. Character and customs of Brunai + Malays. Their religion, gambling, cock-fighting: _amoks_, + marriage. Sultan and ministers and officers of the state. How + paid. Feudal rights--Ka-rajahan, Kouripan, Pusaka. Ownership of + land. Modes of taxation. Laws. Hajis. Punishments. Executions. A + naval officer's mistake. No army, navy, or police, but the people + universally armed. Cannon foundries. Brass guns as currency. + Dollars and copper coinage. Taxation. Revenue; tribute from + Sarawak and North Borneo; coal resources. + + + CHAPTER III. PAGES 33-62. + + Pigafetta's description of Brunai in 1521. Elephants. Reception by + the King. Use of spirituous liquors. Population. Floating Market. + Spoons. Ladies appearing in public. Obeisance. Modes of addressing + nobles. The use of yellow confined to the Royal Family. Umbrellas + closed when passing the Palace. Nobles only can sit in the stern + of a boat. Ceremonies at a Royal reception; bees-wax candles. + + Mr. Dalrymple's description of Brunai in 1884. Quakers' meeting. + Way to a Malay's heart lies through his pocket. Market place and + hideous women. Beauties of the Harems. Present population. + Cholera. Exports. Former Chinese pepper plantations. Good water + supply. Nobles corrupt; lower classes not. The late Sultan Mumim. + The present Sultan. Kampongs, or parishes and guilds. Methods of + fishing: Kelongs; Rambat; peculiar mode of prawn-catching; + Serambau; Pukat; hook and line; tuba fishing. Sago. Tobacco; its + growth and use. Areca-nut; its use and effects. Costumes of men + and women. Jewellery. Weapons. The _kris_; _parang_; _bliong_; + _parang ilang_. The Kayans imitated by the Dyaks in a curious + personal adornment. Canoes: dug-outs; _pakerangan_; prahus; + tongkangs; steering gear; similarity to ancient Vikings' boat; + boat races. Paddling. The Brunais teetotallers and temperate. + Business and political negotiations transacted through agents. + Time no object. The place of signatures taken by seals or _chops_. + The great seal of state. Brunais styled by the aborigines, _Orang + Abai_. By religion Mahomedans, but Pagan superstitions cling to + them; instances. Traces of Javanese and Hindu influences. A native + chronicle of Brunai; Mahomedanism established about 1478; + connection of Chinese with Borneo; explanation of the name + Kina-balu applied to the highest mountain in the island. Pepper + planting by Chinese in former years. Mention of Brunai in Chinese + history. Tradition of an expedition by Kublai Khan. The Chinese + driven away by misgovernment. Their descendants in the Bundu + district. Other traces of Chinese intercourse with Borneo. Their + value as immigrants. European expeditions against Brunai. How + Rajah Brooke acquired Sarawak amidst the roar of cannon. Brooke's + heroic disinterestedness. His appointment as British confidential + agent in Borneo. The episode of the murder of Rajah Muda Hassim + and his followers. Brunai attacked by Admiral Sir Thomas Cochrane. + Captain Rodney Mundy follows the Sultan into the jungle. The + batteries razed and peace proclaimed. + + + CHAPTER IV. PAGES 63-77. + + Sarawak under the Brooke dynasty. By incorporation of other rivers + extends over 40,000 square miles, coast line 380 miles, population + 280,000. Limbang annexed by Sarawak. Further extension impossible. + The Trusan river; 'trowser wearers'; acquired by Sarawak. The + Limbang, the rice pot of Brunai. The Cross flown in the Muhamadan + capital by pagan savages. A launch decorated with skulls. Dyak + militia, the Sarawak 'Rangers,' and native police force. Peace of + Sarawak kept by the people. Cheap government. Absolute Monarchy. + Nominated Councils. The 'Civil Service,' 'Residents.' Law, custom, + equity and common sense. Slavery abolished. Sources of + revenue--'Opium Farm' monopoly, poll tax, customs, excise, fines + and fees. Revenue and expenditure. Early financial straits. + Sarawak offered to England, France and Holland. The Borneo Company + (Ltd.). Public debt. Advantages of Chinese immigration 'Without + the Chinese we can do nothing.' Java an exception. Chinese are + good traders, agriculturists, miners, artizans, &c.: sober and + law-abiding. Chinese secret societies and faction fights; death + penalty for membership. Insurrection of Chinese, 1857. Chinese + pepper and gambier planters. Exports--sago and jungle produce. + Minerals--antimony, cinnabar, coal. Trade--agriculture. + Description of the capital--Kuching. Sir Henry Keppel and Sir + James Brooke. Piracy. 'Head money.' Charges against Sir J. Brooke. + Recognition of Sarawak by United States and England. British + protectorate. Death of Sir J. Brooke. Protestant and Roman + Catholic Missions. Bishops MacDougal and Hose. Father Jackson. + Mahomedans' conversion not attempted. + + + CHAPTER V. PAGES 77-84. + + Incident of the Limbang rebellion against Sultan of Brunai. + Oppression of the nobles. Irregular taxation--Chukei basoh batis, + bongkar sauh, tulongan, chop bibas, &c. The orang kayas. Repulse + of the Tummonggong. Brunai threatened. Intervention of the writer + as acting Consul General. Datu Klassi. Meeting broken up on news + of attack by Muruts. Sultan's firman eventually accepted. + Demonstration by H.M.S. _Pegasus_. 'Cooking heads' in Brunai + river. Death of Sultan Mumim. Conditions of firman not observed by + successor. Sir Frederick Weld visits and reports on North Borneo + and Brunai. Legitimate extension of Sarawak to be encouraged. + + + CHAPTER VI. PAGES 84-92. + + The Colony of Labuan, ceded to England in return for assistance + against pirates. For similar reasons monopoly of pepper trade + granted to the East India Company in 1774. First British + connection with Labuan in 1775, on expulsion from Balambangan. + Belcher and Brooke visit Brunai, 1844, to enquire into alleged + detention of an European female. Offer of cession of Labuan. Rajah + Muda Hassim. At Sultan's request, British attack Osman, in Marudu + Bay, 1845. Brooke recognised as the Queen's agent in Borneo. + Captain Mundy, R.N., under Lord Palmerston's instructions, hoists + British flag in Labuan, 24th Dec., 1846. Brooke appointed the + first Governor, 1847, being at the same time British + representative in Borneo, and independent ruler of Sarawak. His + staff of 'Queen's officers'; concluded present treaty with Brunai; + ceased to be Governor 1851. Sir Hugh Low, Sir J. Pope Hennessy, + Sir Henry Bulwer, Sir Charles Lees. Original expectations of the + Colony not realized. Description of the island. The Kadayans. + Agriculture, timber, trade. Overshadowed by Singapore, Sarawak, + and North Borneo. Writer's suggestion for proclaiming British + Protectorate over North Borneo, and assigning to it the Government + of Labuan, has been adopted. Population of Labuan. Its coal + measures and the failure of successive companies to work them; now + being worked by Central Borneo Company (Ltd.). Chinese and natives + worked well under Europeans. Revenue and expenditure. Labuan + self-supporting since 1860. High-sounding official titles. One + officer plays many parts. Labuan celebrated for its fruits, + introduced by Sir Hugh Low. Sir Hugh's influence; instance of, + when writer was fired on by Sulus. H.M.S. _Frolic_ on a rock. + Captain Buckle, R.N. Dr. Treacher's coco-nut plantation. The + Church. + + + CHAPTER VII. PAGES 92-103. + + British North Borneo; mode of acquisition; absence of any real + native government; oppression of the inland pagans by the coast + Muhamadans. Failure of American syndicate's Chinese colonization + scheme in 1865. Colonel Torrey interests Baron Overbeck in the + American concessions; Overbeck interests Sir Alfred Dent, who + commissions him to acquire a transfer of the concessions from the + Sultans of Brunai and Sulu, 1877-78. The ceded territory known as + Sabah. Meaning of the term. Spanish claims on ground of suzerainty + over Sulu. Not admitted by the British Government. The writer + ordered to protest against Spanish claims to North Borneo, 1879. + Spain renounced claims, by Protocol, 1885. Holland, on ground of + the Treaty of 1824, objected to a British settlement in Borneo; + also disputed the boundary between Dutch and British Borneo. The + writer 'violates' Netherland territory and hoists the Company's + flag on the south bank of the Siboku, 1883. Annual tribute paid to + the Brunai Government. Certain intervening independent rivers + still to be acquired. Dent's first settlements at Sandakan, + Tampassuk, and Pappar. Messrs. Pryer, Pretyman, Witti, and + Everett. Opposition of Datu Bahar at Pappar. Difficult position of + the pioneer officers. Respect for Englishmen inspired by Brooke's + exploits. Mr. W. H. Read. Mr. Dent forms a 'Provisional + Association' pending grant of a Royal Charter, 1881, composed of + Sir Rutherford Alcock, A. Dent, R. B. Martin, Admiral Mayne, W. H. + Read. Sir Rutherford energetically advocates the scheme from + patriotic motives. The British North Borneo Company incorporated + by Royal Charter, 1st November, 1881; nominal capital two + millions, L20 shares. 33,030 shares issued. Powers and conditions + of the Charter. Flag. + + + CHAPTER VIII. PAGES 103-117. + + Area of British North Borneo exceeds that of Ceylon; points of + similarity; styled 'The New Ceylon.' Joseph Hatton's book. Tobacco + planters attracted from Sumatra. Coast-line, harbours, stations. + Sandakan town and harbour; founded by Mr. Pryer. Destroyed by + fire. Formerly used as a blockade station by Germans trading with + Sulu. Capture of the blockade runner _Sultana_ by the Spaniards. + Rich virgin soil and fever. Owing to propinquity of Hongkong and + Singapore, North Borneo cannot become an emporium for eastern + trade. Its mineralogical resources not yet ascertained. Gold, + coal, and other minerals known to exist. Gold on the Segama river. + Rich in timber. 'Billian' or iron-wood; camphor. Timber Companies. + On board one of Her Majesty's ships billian proved three times as + durable as lignum vitae. Mangrove forests. Monotony of tropical + scenery. Trade--a list of exports. Edible birds'-nests. + Description of the great Gomanton birds'-nests caves. Mr + Bampfylde. Bats' Guano. Mode of collecting nests. Lady and Miss + Brassey visit the Madai caves, 1887. Beche-de-mer, shark fins, + cuttle fish. Position of Sandakan on the route between Australia + and China--importance as a possible naval station. Shipping. + Postal arrangements. Coinage. Currency. Banking. Probable cable + station. + + + CHAPTER IX. PAGES 117-127. + + Importance of the territory as a field for the cultivation of the + fine tobacco used for 'wrappers.' Profits of Sumatra Tobacco + Companies. Climate and Soil. Rainfall. Seasons. Dr. Walker. The + sacred mountain, Kina-balu. Description of tobacco cultivation. + Chinese the most suitable labour for tobacco; difficulty in + procuring sufficient coolies. Count Geloes d'Elsloo. Coolies + protected by Government. Terms on which land can be acquired. + Tobacco export duty. Tobacco grown and universally consumed by the + natives. Fibre plants. Government experimental garden. + Sappan-wood. Cotton flock. + + + CHAPTER X. PAGES 127-147. + + Erroneous ideas as to the objects of the Company. Difficult to + steal Highlanders' trowsers. Natives 'take no thought for the + morrow.' The Company does not engage in trade or agriculture. The + Company's capital is a loan to the country, to be repaid with + interest as the country developes under its administration. Large + area of land to be disposed of without encroaching on native + rights. Land sales regulations. Registration of titles. Minerals + reserved. Transfer from natives to foreigners effected through the + Government. Form of Government--the Governor, Residents, &c. Laws + and Proclamations. The Indian Penal, Criminal, and Civil procedure + codes adopted. Slavery--provision in the Charter regarding. Slave + legislation by the Company. Summary of Mr. Witti's report on the + slave system. Messrs. Everett and Fryer's reports. Commander + Edwards, R.N., attacks the kidnapping village of Teribas in H.M.S. + _Kestrel_. Slave keeping no longer pays. Religious customs of the + natives preserved by the Charter. Employment of natives as + Magistrates, &c. Head-hunting. Audit of 'Heads Account.' Human + sacrifices. Native punishments for adultery and theft. Causes of + scanty population. Absence of powerful warlike tribes. Head + hunting--its origin. An incident in Labuan. Mr. A. Cook. Mr. + Jesse's report on the Muruts to the East India Company. Good + qualities of the aborigines. Advice to young officers. The + Muhamadans of the coast, the Brunais, Sulus, Bajows. Capture by + Bajows of a boat from an Austrian frigate. Baron Oesterreicher. + Gambling and cattle lifting. The independent intervening rivers. + Fatal affray in the Kawang river: death of de Fontaine, Fraser and + others. Mr. Little. Mr. Whitehead. Bombardment of Bajow villages + by Captain A. K. Hope, R.N., H.M.S. _Zephyr_. Captain Alington, + R.N., in H.M.S. _Satellite_. The Illanuns and Balinini. Absence of + Negritos. The 'tailed' people. Desecration of European graves. + Muhamadans' sepulture. Burial customs of the aborigines. + + + CHAPTER XI. PAGES 147-165. + + Importance of introducing Chinese into Borneo. Java not an + example. Sir Walter Medhurst Commissioner of Chinese immigration. + The Hakka Chinese settlers. Sir Spencer St. John on Chinese + immigration. The revenue and expenditure of the territory. Zeal + of the Company's officers. Armed Sikh and Dyak police. Impossible + to raise a native force. Heavy expenditure necessary in the first + instance. Carping critics. Cordial support from Sir Cecil Clementi + Smith and the Government of the Straits Settlements. Visit of Lord + Brassey--his article in the 'Nineteenth Century.' Further + expenditure for roads, &c., will be necessary. What the Company + has done for Borneo. Geographical exploration. Witti and Hatton. + The lake struck off the map. Witti's murder. Hatton's accidental + death. Admiral Mayne, C.B. The _Sumpitan_ or Blow-pipe. Errors + made in opening most colonies, e.g. the Straits Settlements. The + future of the country. The climate not unhealthy as a rule. + Ladies. Game. No tigers. Crocodiles. The native dog. Pig and deer. + Wild cattle. Elephants and Rhinoceros. Bear. Orang-utan. + Long-nosed ape. Pheasants. The Company's motto--_Pergo et perago_. + Governor Creagh. Mr. Kindersley. + + + + +BRITISH BORNEO: +SKETCHES OF +BRUNAI, SARAWAK, LABUAN +AND +NORTH BORNEO. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +In 1670 CHARLES II granted to the Hudson's Bay Company a Charter of +Incorporation, His Majesty delegating to the Company actual sovereignty +over a very large portion of British North America, and assigning to +them the exclusive monopoly of trade and mining in the territory. +Writing in 1869, Mr. WILLIAM FORSYTH, Q.C., says:--"I have endeavoured +to give an account of the constitution and history of the _last_ of the +great proprietary companies of England, to whom a kind of delegated +authority was granted by the Crown. It was by some of these that distant +Colonies were founded, and one, the most powerful of them all, +established our Empire in the East and held the sceptre of the Great +Mogul. But they have passed away + + ----fuit Ilium et ingens + Gloria Teucrorum-- + +and the Hudson's Bay Company will be no exception to the rule. It may +continue to exist as a Trading Company, but as a Territorial Power it +must make up its mind to fold its (buffalo) robes round it and die with +dignity." Prophesying is hazardous work. In November, 1881, two hundred +and eleven years after the Hudson's Bay Charter, and twelve years after +the date of Mr. FORSYTH'S article, Queen VICTORIA granted a Charter of +Incorporation to the British North Borneo Company, which, by confirming +the grants and concessions acquired from the Sultans of Brunai and Sulu, +constitutes the Company the sovereign ruler over a territory of 31,000 +square miles, and, as the permission to trade, included in the Charter, +has not been taken advantage of, the British North Borneo Company now +does actually exist "as a Territorial Power" and not "as a Trading +Company." + +Not only this, but the example has been followed by Prince BISMARCK, and +German Companies, on similar lines, have been incorporated by their +Government on both coasts of Africa and in the Pacific; and another +British Company, to operate on the Niger River Districts, came into +existence by Royal Charter in July, 1886. + +It used to be by no means an unusual thing to find an educated person +ignorant not only of Borneo's position on the map, but almost of the +very existence of the island which, regarding Australia as a continent, +and yielding to the claims recently set up by New Guinea, is the second +largest island in the world, within whose limits could be comfortably +packed England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, with a sea of dense jungle +around them, as WALLACE has pointed out. Every school-board child now, +however, knows better than this. + +Though Friar ODORIC is said to have visited it about 1322, and LUDOVICO +BERTHEMA, of Bologna, between 1503 and 1507, the existence of this great +island, variously estimated to be from 263,000 to 300,000 square miles +in extent, did not become generally known to Europeans until, in 1518, +the Portuguese LORENZO DE GOMEZ touched at the city of Brunai. He was +followed in 1521 by the Spanish expedition, which under the leadership +of the celebrated Portuguese circumnavigator MAGELLAN, had discovered +the Philippines, where, on the island of Mactan, their leader was killed +in April, 1520. An account of the voyage was written by PIGAFETTA, an +Italian volunteer in the expedition, who accompanied the fleet to Brunai +after MAGELLAN'S death, and published a glowing account of its wealth +and the brilliancy of its Court, with its royally caparisoned elephants, +a report which it is very difficult to reconcile with the present +squalid condition of the existing "Venice of Hovels," as it has been +styled from its palaces and houses being all built in, or rather over, +the river to which it owes its name. + +The Spaniards found at Brunai Chinese manufactures and Chinese trading +junks, and were so impressed with the importance of the place that they +gave the name of Borneo--a corruption of the native name Brunai--to the +whole island, though the inhabitants themselves know no such general +title for their country. + +In some works, Pulau Kalamantan, which would signify _wild mangoes +island_, is given as the native name for Borneo, but it is quite +unknown, at any rate throughout North Borneo, and the island is by no +means distinguished by any profusion of wild mangoes.[1] + +In 1573, a Spanish Embassy to Brunai met with no very favourable +reception, and three years later an expedition from Manila attacked the +place and, deposing a usurping Sultan, re-instated his brother on the +throne, who, to shew his gratitude, declared his kingdom tributary to +Spain. + +The Portuguese Governor of the Moluccas, in 1526, claimed the honour of +being the first discoverer of Borneo, and this nation appears to have +carried on trade with some parts of the island till they were driven out +of their Colonies by the Dutch in 1609. But neither the Portuguese nor +the Spaniards seem to have made any decided attempt to gain a footing in +Borneo, and it is not until the early part of the 17th century that we +find the two great rivals in the eastern seas--the English and the Dutch +East India Trading Companies--turning their attention to the island. The +first Dutchman to visit Borneo was OLIVER VAN NOORT, who anchored at +Brunai in December, 1600, but though the Sultan was friendly, the +natives made an attempt to seize his ship, and he sailed the following +month, having come to the conclusion that the city was a nest of rogues. + +The first English connection with Borneo was in 1609, when trade was +opened with Sukadana, diamonds being said to form the principal portion +of it. + +The East India Company, in 1702, established a Factory at Banjermassin, +on the South Coast, but were expelled by the natives in 1706. Their +rivals, the Dutch, also established Trading Stations on the South and +South-West Coasts. + +In 1761, the East India Company concluded a treaty with the Sultan of +Sulu, and in the following year an English Fleet, under Admiral DRAKE +and Sir WILLIAM DRAPER captured Manila, the capital of the Spanish +Colony of the Philippines. They found in confinement there a Sultan of +Sulu who, in gratitude for his release, ceded to the Company, on the +12th September, 1762, the island of Balambangan, and in January of the +following year Mr. DALRYMPLE was deputed to take possession of it and +hoist the British flag. Towards the close of 1763, the Sultan of Sulu +added to his cession the northern portion of Borneo and the southern +half of Palawan, together with all the intermediate islands. Against all +these cessions the Spanish entered their protest, as they claimed the +suzerainty over the Sulu Archipelago and the Sulu Dependencies in Borneo +and the islands. This claim the Spaniards always persisted in, until, on +the 7th March, 1885, a Protocol was entered into by England and Germany +and Spain, whereby Spanish supremacy over the Sulu Archipelago was +recognised on condition of their abandoning all claim to the portions of +Northern Borneo which are now included in the British North Borneo +Company's concessions. + +In November, 1768, the Court of Directors in London, with the approval +of Her Majesty's Ministers, who promised to afford protection to the new +Colony, issued orders to the authorities at Bombay for the establishment +of a settlement at Balambangan with the intention of diverting to it the +China trade, of drawing to it the produce of the adjoining countries, +and of opening a port for the introduction of spices, etc. by the Bugis, +and for the sale of Indian commodities. The actual date of the +foundation of the settlement is not known, but Mr. F. C. DANVERS states +that in 1771 the Court ordered that the Government should be vested in +"a chief and two other persons of Council," and that the earliest +proceedings extant are dated Sulu, 1773, and relate to a broil in the +streets between Mr. ALCOCK, the second in the Council, and the Surgeon +of the _Britannia_. + +This was a somewhat unpropitious commencement, and in 1774 the Court are +found writing to Madras, to which Balambangan was subordinate, +complaining of the "imprudent management and profuse conduct" of the +Chief and Council. + +In February, 1775, Sulu pirates surprised the stockade, and drove out +the settlers, capturing booty valued at about a million dollars. The +Company's officials then proceeded to the island of Labuan, now a +British Crown Colony, and established a factory, which was maintained +but for a short time, at Brunai itself. In 1803 Balambangan was again +occupied, but as no commercial advantage accrued, it was abandoned in +the following year, and so ended all attempts on the part of the East +India Company to establish a Colony in Borneo. + +While at Balambangan, the officers, in 1774, entered into negotiations +with the Sultan of Brunai, and on undertaking to protect him against +Sulu and Mindanau pirates, acquired the exclusive trade in all the +pepper grown in his country. + +The settlement of Singapore, the present capital of the Straits +Settlements, by Sir STAMFORD RAFFLES, under the orders of the East India +Company in 1819, again drew attention to Borneo, for that judiciously +selected and free port soon attracted to itself the trade of the +Celebes, Borneo and the surrounding countries, which was brought to it +by numerous fleets of small native boats. These fleets were constantly +harassed and attacked and their crews carried off into slavery by the +Balinini, Illanun, and Dyak pirates infesting the Borneo and Celebes +coasts, and the interference of the British Cruisers was urgently called +for and at length granted, and was followed, in the natural course of +events, by political intervention, resulting in the brilliant and +exciting episode whereby the modern successor of the olden heroes--Sir +James Brooke--obtained for his family, in 1840, the kingdom of Sarawak, +on the west coast of the island, which he in time purged of its two +plague spots--head-hunting on shore, and piracy and slave-dealing +afloat--and left to his heir, who has worthily taken up and carried on +his work, the unique inheritance of a settled Eastern Kingdom, inhabited +by the once dreaded head-hunting Dyaks and piratical Mahomedan Malays, +the government of whom now rests absolutely in the hands of its one +paternally despotic white ruler, or Raja. Sarawak, although not yet +formally proclaimed a British Protectorate,[2] may thus be deemed the +first permanent British possession in Borneo. Sir JAMES BROOKE was also +employed by the British Government to conclude, on 27th May, 1847, a +treaty with the Sultan of Brunai, whereby the cession to us of the small +island of Labuan, which had been occupied as a British Colony in +December, 1846, was confirmed, and the Sultan engaged that no +territorial cession of any portion of his country should ever be made to +any Foreign Power without the sanction of Great Britain. + +These proceedings naturally excited some little feeling of jealousy in +our Colonial neighbours--the Dutch--who ineffectually protested against +a British subject becoming the ruler of Sarawak, as a breach of the +tenor of the treaty of London of 1824, and they took steps to define +more accurately the boundaries of their own dependencies in such other +parts of Borneo as were still open to them. What we now call British +North Borneo, they appear at that time to have regarded as outside the +sphere of their influence, recognising the Spanish claim to it through +their suzerainty, already alluded to, over the Sulu Sultan. + +With this exception, and that of the Brunai Sultanate, already secured +by the British Treaty, and Sarawak, now the property of the BROOKE +family, the Dutch have acquired a nominal suzerainty over the whole of +the rest of Borneo, by treaties with the independent rulers--an area +comprising about two-thirds of the whole island, probably not a tenth +part of which is under their actual direct administrative control. + +They appear to have been so pre-occupied with the affairs of their +important Colony of Java and its dependencies, and the prolonged, +exhausting and ruinously expensive war with the Achinese in Sumatra, +that beyond posting Government Residents at some of the more important +points, they have hitherto done nothing to attract European capital and +enterprise to Borneo, but it would now seem that the example set by the +British Company in the North is having its effect, and I hear of a +Tobacco Planting Company and of a Coal Company being formed to operate +on the East Coast of Dutch Borneo. + +The Spanish claim to North Borneo was a purely theoretical one, and not +only their claim, but that also of the Sulus through whom they claimed, +was vigorously disputed by the Sultans of Brunai, who denied that, as +asserted by the Sulus, any portion of Borneo had been ceded to them by a +former Sultan of Brunai, who had by their help defeated rival claimants +and been seated on the throne. The Sulus, on their side, would own no +allegiance to the Spaniards, with whom they had been more or less at war +for almost three centuries, and their actual hold over any portion of +North Borneo was of the slightest. Matters were in this position when +Mr. ALFRED DENT, now Sir ALFRED DENT, K.C.M.G., fitted out an +expedition, and in December, 1877, and January, 1878, obtained from the +Sultans of Brunai and Sulu, in the manner hereafter detailed, the +sovereign control over the North portion of Borneo, from the Kimanis +river on the West to the Siboku river on the East, concessions which +were confirmed by Her Majesty's Royal Charter in November, 1881. + +I have now traced, in brief outline, the political history of Borneo +from the time when the country first became generally known to +Europeans--in 1518--down to its final division between Great Britain and +the Netherlands in 1881. + +If we can accept the statements of the earlier writers, Borneo was in +its most prosperous stage before it became subjected to European +influences, after which, owing to the mistaken and monopolising policy +of the Commercial Companies then holding sway in the East, the trade and +agriculture of this and other islands of the Malay Archipelago received +a blow from which at any rate that of Borneo is only now recovering. By +the terms of its Charter, the British North Borneo Company is prohibited +from creating trade monopolies, and of its own accord it has decided not +to engage itself in trading transactions at all, and as Raja BROOKE'S +Government is similar to that of a British Crown Colony, and the Dutch +Government no longer encourage monopolies, there is good ground for +believing that the wrong done is being righted, and that a brighter page +than ever is now being opened for Borneo and its natives. + +Before finishing with this part of the subject, I may mention that the +United States Government had entered into a treaty with the Sultan of +Brunai, in almost exactly the same words as the English one, including +the clause prohibiting cessions of territory without the consent of the +other party to the treaty, and, in 1878, Commodore SCHUFELDT was ordered +by his Government to visit Borneo and report on the cessions obtained by +Mr. DENT. I was Acting British Consul-General at the time, and before +leaving the Commodore informed me emphatically that he could discover no +American interests in Borneo, "neither white nor black." + +The native population of Borneo is given in books of reference as +between 1,750,000 and 2,500,000. The aborigines are of the Malay race, +which itself is a variety of the Mongolian and indeed, when inspecting +prisoners, I have often been puzzled to distinguish the Chinese from the +Malay, they being dressed alike and the distinctive _pig-tail_ having +been shaved off the former as part of the prison discipline. + +These Mongolian Malays from High Asia, who presumably migrated to the +Archipelago _via_ the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra, must, however, have +found Borneo and other of the islands partially occupied by a Caucasic +race, as amongst the aborigines are still found individuals of +distinctive Caucasic type, as has been pointed out to be the case with +the Buludupih tribe of British North Borneo, by Dr. MONTANO, whom I had +the pleasure of meeting in Borneo in 1878-9. To these the name of +pre-Malays has been given, but Professor KEANE, to whom I beg to +acknowledge my indebtedness on these points, prefers the title of +Indonesians. The scientific descriptions of a typical Malay is as +follows:--"Stature little over five feet, complexion olive yellow, head +brachy-cephalous or round, cheek-bones prominent, eyes black and +slightly oblique, nose small but not flat, nostrils dilated, hands small +and delicate, legs thin and weak, hair black, coarse and lank, beard +absent or scant;" but these Indonesians to whom belong most of the +indigenous inhabitants of Celebes, are taller and have fairer or light +brown complexions and regular features, connecting them with the brown +Polynesians of the Eastern Pacific "who may be regarded as their +descendants," and Professor KEANE accounts for their presence by +assuming "a remote migration of the Caucasic race to South-Eastern Asia, +of which evidences are not lacking in Camboja and elsewhere, and a +further onward movement, first to the Archipelago and then East to the +Pacific." It is needless to say that the aborigines themselves have the +haziest and most unscientific notion of their own origin, as the +following account, gravely related to me by a party of Buludupihs, will +exemplify:-- + + "_The Origin of the Buludupih Race._ + + In past ages a Chinese[3] settler had taken to wife a daughter + of the aborigines, by whom he had a female child. Her parents + lived in a hilly district (_Bulud_ = hill), covered with a large + forest tree, known by the name of _opih_. One day a jungle fire + occurred, and after it was over, the child jumped down from the + house (native houses are raised on piles off the ground), and + went up to look at a half burnt _opih_ log, and suddenly + disappeared and was never seen again. But the parents heard the + voice of a spirit issue from the log, announcing that it had + taken the child to wife and that, in course of time, the + bereaved parents would find an infant in the jungle, whom they + were to consider as the offspring of the marriage, and who + would become the father of a new race. The prophecy of the + spirit was in due time fulfilled." + +It somewhat militates against the correctness of this history that the +Buludupihs are distinguished by the absence of Mongolian features. + +The general appellation given to the aborigines by the modern Malays--to +whom reference will be made later on--is _Dyak_, and they are divided +into numerous tribes, speaking very different dialects of the +Malayo-Polynesian stock, and known by distinctive names, the origin of +which is generally obscure, at least in British North Borneo, where +these names are _not_, as a rule, derived from those of the rivers on +which they dwell. + +The following are the names of some of the principal North Borneo +aboriginal tribes:--Kadaians, Dusuns, Ida'ans, Bisaias, Buludupihs, +Eraans, Subans, Sun-Dyaks, Muruts, Tagaas. Of these, the Kadaians, +Buludupihs, Eraans and one large section of the Bisaias have embraced +the religion of Mahomet; the others are Pagans, with no set form of +religion, no idols, but believing in spirits and in a future life, which +they localise on the top of the great mountain of Kina-balu. These +Pagans are a simple and more natural, less self-conscious, people than +their Mahomedan brethren, who are ahead of them in point of +civilization, but are more reserved, more proud and altogether less +"jolly," and appear, with their religion, to have acquired also some of +the characteristics of the modern or true Malays. A Pagan can sit, or +rather squat, with you and tell you legends, or, perhaps, on an occasion +join in a glass of grog, whereas the Mahomedan, especially the true +Malay, looks upon the Englishman as little removed from a "Kafir"--an +uncircumcised Philistine--who through ignorance constantly offends in +minor points of etiquette, who eats pig and drinks strong drink, is +ignorant of the dignity of repose, and whose accidental physical and +political superiority in the present world will be more than compensated +for by the very inferior and uncomfortable position he will attain in +the next. The aborigines inhabit the interior parts of North Borneo, and +all along the coast is found a fringe of true Malays, talking modern +Malay and using the Arabic written character, whereas the aborigines +possess not even the rudiments of an alphabet and, consequently, no +literature at all. + +How is the presence in Borneo of this more highly civilized product of +the Malay race, differing so profoundly in language and manners from +their kinsmen--the aborigines--to be accounted for? Professor KEANE once +more comes to our assistance, and solves the question by suggesting that +the Mongolian Malays from High Asia who settled in Sumatra, attained +there a real national development in comparatively recent times, and +after their conversion to Mahomedanism by the Arabs, from whom, as well +as from the Bhuddist missionaries who preceded them, they acquired arts +and an elementary civilization, spread to Borneo and other parts of +Malaysia and quickly asserted their superiority over the less advanced +portion of their race already settled there. This theory fits in well +with the native account of the distribution of the Malay race, which +makes Menangkabau, in Southern Sumatra, the centre whence they spread +over the Malayan islands and peninsula. + +The Professor further points out, that in prehistoric times the Malay +and Indonesian stock spread westwards to Madagascar and eastwards to the +Philippines and Formosa, Micronesia and Polynesia. "This astonishing +expansion of the Malaysian people throughout the Oceanic area is +sufficiently attested by the diffusion of common (Malayo-Polynesian) +speech from Madagascar to Easter Island and from Hawaii to New Zealand." + + +Footnotes: + +[Footnote 1: The explanation _Sago Island_ has been given, _lamantah_ +being the native term for the raw sago sold to the factories.] + +[Footnote 2: A British Protectorate was established over North Borneo on +the 12th May, over Sarawak on the 14th June, and over Brunai on the 17th +September, 1888. _Vide_ Appendix.] + +[Footnote 3: The Buludupihs inhabit the China or Kina-batangan river, +and Sir HUGH LOW, in a note to his history of the Sultans of Brunai, in +a number of the Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic +Society, says that it is probable that in former days the Chinese had a +Settlement or Factory at that river, as some versions of the native +history of Brunai expressly state that the Chinese wife of one of the +earliest Sultans was brought thence.] + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +The headquarters of the true Malay in Northern Borneo is the City of +Brunai, on the river of that name, on the North-West Coast of the +island, where resides the Court of the only nominally independent Sultan +now remaining in the Archipelago.[4] + +The Brunai river is probably the former mouth of the Limbang, and is now +more a salt water inlet than a river. Contrary, perhaps, to the general +idea, an ordinary eastern river, at any rate until the limit of +navigability for European craft is attained, is not, as a rule, a thing +of beauty by any means. + +The typical Malay river debouches through flat, fever-haunted swampy +country, where, for miles, nothing meets the eye but the monotonous dark +green of the level, interminable mangrove forest, with its fantastic, +interlacing roots, whose function it appears to be to extend seaward, +year by year, its dismal kingdom of black fetid mud, and to veil from +the rude eye of the intruder the tropical charms of the country at its +back. After some miles of this cheerless scenery, and at a point where +the fresh water begins to mingle with the salt, the handsome and useful +_nipa_ palm, with leaves twenty to thirty feet in length, which supply +the native with the material for the walls and roof of his house, the +wrapper for his cigarette, the sugar for his breakfast table, the salt +for his daily needs and the strong drink to gladden his heart on his +feast days, becomes intermixed with the mangrove and finally takes its +place--a pleasing change, but still monotonous, as it is so dense that, +itself growing in the water, it quite shuts out all view of the bank and +surrounding country. + +One of the first signs of the fresh river water, is the occurrence on +the bank of the graceful _nibong_ palm, with its straight, slender, +round stem, twenty to thirty feet in height, surmounted with a plume of +green leaves. This palm, cut into lengths and requiring no further +preparation, is universally employed by the Malay for the posts and +beams of his house, always raised several feet above the level of the +ground, or of the water, as the case may be, and, split up into lathes +of the requisite size, forms the frame-work of the walls and roof, and +constitutes the flooring throughout. With the pithy centre removed, the +_nibong_ forms an efficient aqueduct, in the absence of bambu, and its +young, growing shoot affords a cabbage, or salad, second only to that +furnished by the coco-nut, which will next come into view, together with +the betel (_Areca_) nut palm, if the river visited is an inhabited one; +but if uninhabited, the traveller will find nothing but thick, almost +impenetrable jungle, with mighty trees shooting up one hundred to a +hundred and fifty feet without a branch, in their endeavour to get their +share of the sun-light, and supporting on their trunks and branches +enormous creepers, rattans, graceful ferns and lovely orchids and other +luxuriant epiphytal growths. Such is the typical North Borneo river, to +which, however, the Brunai is a solitary exception. The mouth of the +Brunai river is approached between pretty verdant islets, and after +passing through a narrow and tortuous passage, formed naturally by +sandbanks and artificially by a barrier of stones, bare at low water, +laid down in former days to keep out the restless European, you find +your vessel, which to cross the bar should not draw more than thirteen +or fourteen feet, in deep water between green, grassy, hilly, +picturesque banks, with scarcely a sign of the abominable mangrove, or +even of the _nipa_, which, however, to specially mark the contrast +formed by this stream, are both to be found in abundance in the _upper_ +portion of the river, which the steamer cannot enter. After passing a +small village or two, the first object which used to attract attention +was the brick ruins of a Roman Catholic Church, which had been erected +here by the late Father CUARTERON, a Spanish Missionary of the Society +of the Propaganda Fide, who, originally a jovial sea captain, had the +good fortune to light upon a wrecked treasure ship in the Eastern seas, +and, feeling presumably unwonted twinges of conscience, decided to +devote the greater part of his wealth to the Church, in which he took +orders, eventually attaining the rank of Prefect Apostolic. His Mission, +unfortunately, was a complete failure, but though his assistants were +withdrawn, he stuck to his post to the last and, no doubt, did a certain +amount of good in liberating, from time to time, Spanish subjects he +found in slavery on the Borneo Coast. + +Had the poor fellow settled in the interior, amongst the Pagans, he +might, by his patience and the example of his good life, have made some +converts, but amongst the Mahomedans of the coast it was labour in vain. +The bricks of his Brunai Church have since been sold to form the +foundation of a steam sawmill. + +Turning a sharp corner, the British Consulate is reached, where +presides, and flies with pride the Union Jack, Her Majesty's Consular +Agent, Mr. or Inche MAHOMET, with his three wives and thirteen children. +He is a native of Malacca and a clever, zealous, courteous and +hospitable official, well versed in the political history of Brunai +since the advent of Sir JAMES BROOKE. + +The British is the only Consulate now established at Brunai, but once +the stars and stripes proudly waved over the Consulate of an unpaid +American Consul. There was little scope at Brunai for a white man in +pursuit of the fleeting dollar, and one day the Consulate was burnt to +the ground, and a heavy claim for compensation for this alleged act of +incendiarism was sent in to the Sultan. His Highness disputed the claim, +and an American man-of-war was despatched to make enquiries on the spot. +In the end, the compensation claimed was not enforced, and Mr. MOSES, +the Consul, was not subsequently, I think, appointed to any other +diplomatic or consular post by the President of the Republic. A little +further on are the palaces, shops and houses of the city of Brunai, all, +with the exception of a few brick shops belonging to Chinamen, built +over the water in a reach where the river broadens out, and a vessel can +steam up the High Street and anchor abreast of the Royal Palace. When +PIGAFETTA visited the port in 1521, he estimated the number of houses at +25,000, which, at the low average of six to a house, would give Brunai a +population of 150,000 people, many of whom were Chinese, cultivating +pepper gardens, traces of which can still be seen on the now deserted +hills. Sir SPENCER ST. JOHN, formerly H. B. M. Consul-General in Borneo, +and who put the population at 25,000 at the lowest in 1863, asserts that +fifteen is a fair average to assign to a Brunai house, which would make +the population in PIGAFETTA'S time 375,000. From his enquiries he found +that the highest number was seventy, in the Sultan's palace, and the +lowest seven, in a fisherman's small hut. PIGAFETTA, however, probably +alluded to families, _fires_ I think is the word he makes use of, and +more than one family is often found occupying a Brunai house. The +present population perhaps does not number more than 12,000 or 15,000 +natives, and about eighty Chinese and a few Kling shop-keepers, as +natives of India are here styled. Writing in 1845, Sir JAMES BROOKE, +then the Queen's first Commissioner to Brunai, says with reference to +this Sultanate:--"Here the experiment may be fairly tried, on the +smallest possible scale of expense, whether a beneficial European +influence may not re-animate a falling State and at the same time +extend our commerce. * * * If this tendency to decay and extinction +be inevitable, if this approximation of European policy to native +Government should be unable to arrest the fall of the Bornean dynasty, +yet we shall retrieve a people already habituated to European habits and +manners, industrious interior races; and if it become necessary, a +Colony gradually formed and ready to our hand in a rich and fertile +country," and elsewhere he admits that the regeneration of the Borneo +Malays through themselves was a hobby of his. The experiment has been +tried and, so far as concerns the re-animation of the Malay Government +of Brunai, the verdict must be "a complete failure." The English are a +practical race, and self-interest is the guide of nations in their +intercourse with one another; it was not to be supposed that they would +go out of their way to teach the degenerate Brunai aristocracy how to +govern in accordance with modern ideas; indeed, the Treaty we made with +them, by prohibiting, for instance, their levying customs duties, or +royalties, on the export of such jungle products as gutta percha and +India rubber, in the collection of which the trees yielding them are +entirely destroyed, and by practically suggesting to them the policy, or +rather the impolicy, of imposing the heavy due of $1 per registered ton +on all European Shipping entering their ports, whether in cargo or in +ballast, scarcely tended to stave off their collapse, and the Borneans +must have formed their own conclusions from the fact that when they gave +up portions of their territory to the BROOKES and to the British North +Borneo Company, the British Government no longer called for the +observance of these provisions of the Treaty in the ceded districts. The +English have got all they wanted from Brunai, but I think it can +scarcely be said that they have done very much for it in return. I +remember that the late Sultan thought it an inexplicable thing that we +could not assist him to recover a debt due to him by one of the British +Coal Companies which tried their luck in Borneo. Moreover, even the +cession to their good and noble friend Sir JAMES BROOKE of the Brunai +Province of Sarawak has been itself also, to a certain extent, a factor +in their Government's decay, that State, under the rule of the +Raja--CHARLES BROOKE--having attained its present prosperous condition +at the expense of Brunai and by gradually absorbing its territory. + +Between British North Borneo, on the one side, and Sarawak, on the +other, the sea-board of Brunai, which, when we first appeared on the +scene, extended from Cape Datu to Marudu Bay--some 700 miles--is now +reduced to 125 or 130 miles, and, besides the river on which it is +built, Brunai retains but two others of any importance, both of which +are in rebellion of a more or less vigorous character, and the whole +State of Brunai is so sick that its case is now under the consideration +of Her Majesty's Government. + +Thus ends in collapse the history of the last independent Malay +Government. Excepting only Johor (which is prosperous owing to its being +under the wing of Singapore, which fact gives confidence to European and +Chinese capitalists and Chinese labourers, and to its good fortune in +having a wise and just ruler in its Sultan, who owes his elevation to +British influences), all the Malay Governments throughout the Malay +Archipelago and in the Malay Peninsula are now subject either to the +English, the Dutch, the Spanish or the Portuguese. This decadence is not +due to any want of vitality in the race, for under European rule the +Malay increases his numbers, as witness the dense population of Java and +the rapidly growing Malay population of the Straits Settlements. + +That the Malay does so flourish in contact with the European and the +Chinese is no doubt to some extent due to his attachment to the +Mahomedan faith, which as a tee-total religion is, so far, the most +suitable one for a tropical race; it has also to be remembered that he +inhabits tropical countries, where the white man cannot perform out-door +labour and appears only as a Government Official, a merchant or a +planter. + +But the decay of the Brunai aristocracy was probably inevitable. Take +the life of a young noble. He is the son of one of perhaps thirty women +in his father's harem, his mother is entirely without education, can +neither read nor write, is never allowed to appear in public or have any +influence in public affairs, indeed scarcely ever leaves her house, and +one of her principal excitements, perhaps, is the carrying on of an +intrigue, an excitement enhanced by the fact that discovery means +certain death to herself and her lover. + +Brunai being a water town, the youngster has little or no chance of a +run and game ashore, and any exercise he takes is confined to _being_ +paddled up and down the river in a canoe, for to paddle himself would be +deemed much too degrading--a Brunai noble should never put his hand to +any honest physical work--even for his own recreation. I once imported a +Rob Roy canoe from England and amused myself by making long paddling +excursions, and I would also sometimes, to relieve the monotony of a +journey in a native boat, take a spell at the paddle with the men, and I +was gravely warned by a native friend that by such action I was +seriously compromising myself and lowering my position in the eyes of +the higher class of natives. At an early age the young noble becomes an +object of servile adulation to the numerous retainers and slaves, both +male and female, and is by them initiated in vicious practices and, +while still a boy, acquires from them some of the knowledge of a fast +man of the world. As a rule he receives no sort of school education. He +neither rides nor joins in the chase and, since the advent of Europeans, +there have been no wars to brace his nerves, or call out any of the +higher qualities of mind or body which may be latent in him; nor is +there any standing army or navy in which he might receive a beneficial +training. No political career, in the sense we attach to the term, is +open to him, and he has no feelings of patriotism whatever. That an +aristocracy thus nurtured should degenerate can cause no surprise. The +general term for the nobles amongst the Brunais is _Pangeran_, and their +numbers may be guessed when it is understood that every son and +daughter of every many-wived noble is also a Pangeran. + +Some of these unfortunate noblemen have nothing wherewith to support +their position, and in very recent times I have actually seen a needy +Pangeran, in a British Colony where he could not live by oppression or +theft, driven to work in a coal mine or drive a buffalo cart. + +With the ordinary freeborn citizen of Brunai life opens under better +auspices. The children are left much to themselves and are merry, +precocious, naked little imps, able to look out for themselves at a very +much earlier age than is the case with European infants, and it is +wonderful to see quite little babies clambering up the rickety stairs +leading from the river to the house, or crawling unheeded on the +tottering verandahs. Almost before they can walk they can swim, and they +have been known to share their mother's cigarettes while still in arms. +All day long they amuse themselves in miniature canoes, rolling over and +over in the water, regardless of crocodiles. Happy children! they have +no school and no clothes--one might, perhaps, exclaim happy parents, +too! Malays are very kind and indulgent to their children and I do not +think I have seen or heard of a case of the application of the parental +hand to any part of the infant person. As soon as he is strong enough, +say eight or nine years of age, the young Malay, according to the +_kampong_, or division of the town, in which his lot has been cast, +joins in his father's trade and becomes a fisherman, a trader, or a +worker in brass or in iron as the case may be. The girls have an equally +free and easy time while young, their only garments being a silver fig +leaf, fastened to a chain or girdle round the waist. As they grow up +they help their mothers in their household duties, or by selling their +goods in the daily floating market; they marry young and are, as a rule, +kindly treated by their husbands. Although Mahomedans, they can go about +freely and unveiled, a privilege denied to their sisters of the higher +classes. The greatest misfortune for such a girl is, perhaps, the +possession of a pretty face and figure, which may result in her being +honoured with the attentions of a noble, in whose harem she may be +secluded for the rest of her life, and, as her charms wane her supply of +both food and clothing is reduced to the lowest limit. + +By the treaty with Great Britain traffic in slaves is put down, that is, +Borneo is no longer the mart where, as in former days, the pirates can +bring in their captives for sale; but the slaves already in the place +have not been liberated, and a slave's children are slaves, so that +domestic slavery, as it is termed, exists on a very considerable scale +in Brunai. Slaves were acquired in the old days by purchase from pirates +and, on any pretext, from the Pagan tribes of Borneo. For instance, if a +feudal chief of an outlying river was in want of some cash, nothing was +easier than for him to convict a man, who was the father of several +children, of some imaginary offence, or neglect of duty, and his +children, girls and boys, would be seized and carried off to Brunai as +slaves. A favourite method was that of "forced trade." The chief would +send a large quantity of trade goods to a Pagan village and leave them +there to be sold at one hundred per cent, or more above their proper +value, all legitimate trade being prohibited meanwhile, and if the money +or barter goods were not forthcoming when demanded, the deficiency would +be made up in slaves. This kind of oppression was very rife in the +neighbourhood of the capital when I first became acquainted with Borneo +in 1871, but the power of the chiefs has been much curtailed of late, +owing to the extensive cessions of territory to Sarawak and the British +North Borneo Company, and their hold on the rivers left to them has +become very precarious, since the warlike Kyans passed under Raja +BROOKE'S sway. This tribe, once the most powerful in Borneo, was always +ready at the Sultan's call to raid on any tribe who had incurred his +displeasure and revelled in the easy acquisition of fresh heads, over +which to hold the triumphal dance. The Brunai Malays are not a warlike +race, and the Rajas find that, without the Kyans, they are as a tiger +with its teeth drawn and its claws pared, and the Pagan tribes have not +been slow to make the discovery for themselves. Those on the Limbang +river have been in open rebellion for the last three or four years and +are crying out to be taken under the protection of the Queen, or, +failing that, then under the "Kompani," as the British North Borneo +Company's Government like that of the East India Company in days gone +by, is styled, or under Sarawak. + +The condition of the domestic slaves is not a particularly hard one +unless, in the case of a girl, she is compelled to join the harem, when +she becomes technically free, but really only changes one sort of +servitude for another and more degrading one. With this exception, the +slaves live on friendly terms with their masters' families, and the +propinquity of a British Colony--Labuan--has tended to ameliorate their +condition, as an ill-used slave can generally find means to escape +thither and, so long as he remains there, he is a free man. + +The scientific description of a typical Malay has already been given, +and it answers well on almost all points for the Brunai specimen, except +that the nose, as well as being small, is, in European eyes, deficient +as to "bridge," and the legs cannot be described as weak, indeed the +Brunai Malay, male and female, is a somewhat fleshy animal. In +temperament, the Malay is described as "taciturn, undemonstrative, +little given to outward manifestations of joy or sorrow, courteous +towards each other, kind to their women and children. Not elated by good +or depressed by bad fortune, but capable of excesses when roused. Under +the influence of religious excitement, losses at gambling, jealousy or +other domestic troubles they are liable to _amok_ or run-a-muck, an +expression which appears to have passed into the English language." With +strangers, the Brunai Malay is doubtless taciturn, but I have heard +Brunai ladies among themselves, while enjoying their betel-nut, rival +any old English gossips over their cup of tea, and on an expedition the +men will sometimes keep up a conversation long into the night till +begged to desist. Courtesy seems to be innate in every Malay of whatever +rank, both in their intercourse with one another and with strangers. The +meeting at Court of two Brunai nobles who, perhaps, entertain feelings +of the greatest hatred towards each other, is an interesting study, and +the display of mutual courtesy unrivalled. I need scarcely say that +horseplay and practical joking are unknown, contradiction is rarely +resorted to and "chaff" is only known in its mildest form. The lowest +Malay will never pass in front of you if it can be avoided, nor hand +anything to another across you. Unless in case of necessity, a Malay +will not arouse his friend from slumber, and then only in the gentlest +manner possible. It is bad manners to point at all, but, if it is +absolutely necessary to do so, the forefinger is never employed, but the +person or object is indicated, in a sort of shamefaced way, with the +thumb. It is impolite to bare a weapon in public, and Europeans often +show their ignorance of native etiquette by asking a Malay visitor to +let them examine the blade of the _kris_ he is wearing. It is not +considered polite to enquire after the welfare of the female members of +a Brunai gentleman's household. For a Malay to uncover his head in your +presence would be an impertinence, but a guttural noise in his throat +after lunching with you is a polite way of expressing pleased +satisfaction with the excellence of the repast. This latter piece of +etiquette has probably been adopted from the Chinese. The low social +position assigned to women by Brunai Malays, as by nearly all Mahomedan +races, is of course a partial set-off to the general courtesy that +characterises them. The average intelligence of what may be called the +working class Malay is almost as far superior to that, say, of the +British country bumpkin as are his manners. Mr. H. O. FORBES says in his +"Naturalist in the Eastern Archipelago" that he was struck with the +natives' acute observation in natural history and the accuracy with +which they could give the names, habits and uses of animals and plants +in the jungle, and the traveller cannot but admire the general handiness +and adaptability to changed circumstances and customs and quickness of +understanding of the Malay coolies whom he engages to accompany him. + +Cannot one imagine the stolid surprise and complete obfuscation of the +English peasant if an intelligent Malay traveller were to be suddenly +set down in his district, making enquiries as to the, to him, novel +forms of plants and animals and asking for minute information as to the +manners and customs of the new people amongst whom he found himself, +and, generally, seeking for information as the reasons for this and for +that? + +Their religion sits somewhat lightly on the Brunai Malays; the Mahomedan +Mosque in the capital was always in a very dirty and neglected state, +though prayers were said there daily, and I have never seen a Borneo +Malay under the influence of religious excitement. + +Gambling prevails, doubtless, and so does cock-righting, but neither is +the absorbing passion which it seems, from travellers' accounts, to be +with Malays elsewhere. + +When visiting the Spanish settlements in Sulu and Balabac, I was +surprised to find regular officially licensed cock-fighting pits, with a +special seat for the Spanish Governor, who was expected to be present on +high days and holidays. I have never come across a regular cockpit in +Brunai, or in any part of northern Borneo. + +The _amoks_ that I have been cognisant of have, consequently, not been +due to either religious excitement, or to losses at gambling, but, in +nearly every case, to jealousy and domestic trouble, and their +occurrence almost entirely confined to the British Colony of Labuan +where, of course, the Mahomedan pains and penalties for female +delinquencies could not be enforced. I remember one poor fellow whom I +pitied very much. He had good reason to be jealous of his wife and, in +our courts, could not get the redress he sought. He explained to me that +a mist seemed to gather before his eyes and that he became utterly +unconscious of what he was doing--his will was quite out of his control. +Some half dozen people--children, men and women--were killed, or +desperately wounded before he was overpowered. He acknowledged his +guilt, and suffered death at the hands of the hangman with quiet +dignity. Many tragical incidents in the otherwise uneventful history of +Labuan may be traced to the manner in which marriages are contracted +amongst the Borneo Malays. Marriages of mere love are almost unknown; +they are generally a matter of bargain between the girls' parents and +the expectant bridegroom, or his parents, and, practically, everything +depends on the amount of the dowry or _brihan_--literally "gift"--which +the swain can pay to the former. In their own country there exist +certain safeguards which prevent any abuse of this system, but it was +found that under the English law a clever parent could manage to dispose +of his daughter's hand several times over, so that really the plot of +Mrs. CAMPBELL PRAED'S somewhat unpleasant play "Arianne" was anticipated +in the little colony of Labuan. I was once called upon, as Coroner, to +inquire into the deaths of a young man and his handsome young wife, who +were discovered lying dead, side by side, on the floor of their house. +The woman was found to be fearfully cut about; the man had but one +wound, in his abdomen, penetrating the bowels. There was only one weapon +by which the double murder could have been committed, a knife with a six +inch blade, and circumstances seemed to point to the probability that +the woman had first stabbed the man, who had then wrenched the knife +from her grasp and hacked her to death. The man was not quite dead when +found and he accused the dead woman of stabbing him. It was found, that +they had not long been married and that, apparently with the girl's +consent, her father had been negociating for her marriage with another. +The father himself was subsequently the first man murdered in British +North Borneo after the assumption of the Government by the Company, and +his murderer was the first victim of the law in the new Colony. +Altogether a tragical story. + +Many years ago another _amok_, which was near being tragical, had an +almost comical termination. The then Colonial Treasurer was an +entertaining Irishman of rather mature age. Walking down to his office +one day he found in the road a Malay hacking at his wife and another +man. Home rule not being then in fashion with the Irish, the Treasurer, +armed only with his sun umbrella, attempted to interfere, when the +_amoker_ turned furiously on him and the Irish official, who was of +spare build, took to his heels and made good his escape, the chase, +though a serious matter to him, causing irrepressible mirth to +onlookers. The man was never captured, and his victims, though +disfigured, recovered. I remember being struck by the contemptuous +reply of Sir HUGH LOW'S Chinese servant when he warned him to be on his +guard, as there was an _amoker_ at large, and alluded to Mr. C.'s narrow +escape--it was to the effect that the Treasurer was foolish to interfere +in other people's concerns. This unwillingness to busy oneself in +others' affairs, which sometimes has the appearance of callousness, is +characteristic of Malays and Chinese. + +The readers of a book of travels are somewhat under a disadvantage in +forming their opinion of a country, in that incidents are focussed for +them by those of the same nature being grouped together. I do not wish +it to be thought that murders and _amoks_ are at all common occurrences +in Northern Borneo, indeed they are very few and far between, and +criminal acts of all kinds are remarkably infrequent, that is, of +course, if we regard head-hunting as an amusement sanctioned by usage, +especially as, in the parts under native government, there is a total +absence of any kind of police force, while every man carries arms, and +houses with palm leaf walls and innocent of locks, bolts and bars, offer +unusual temptations to the burglariously inclined. My wife and I nearly +always slept without a watchman and with the doors and windows unclosed, +the servants' offices being detached from the house, and we have never +had any of our property stolen except by a "boy." + +Brunai is governed by a Sultan styled Iang-di-pertuan, "he who rules," +and four principal Ministers of State, "Wazirs"--the Pangeran Bandahara, +the Pangeran di Gadong, the Pangeran Pamancha and the Pangeran +Temenggong. These Ministers are generally men of the royal blood, and +fly distinctive flags at their residences, that of the Bandahara being +white, of the di Gadong, green, and of the Temenggong, red. The flags +are remarkably simple and inexpensive, but quite distinctive, each +consisting of a square bit of bunting or cloth of the requisite colour, +with the exception of the Temenggong's, which is cut in the shape of a +burgee. The Sultan's flag is a plain piece of yellow bunting, yellow +being the Brunei royal colour, and no man, except the Sovereign, is +permitted to exhibit that colour in any portion of his dress. It shows +how little importance attaches to the female sex that a lady, even a +slave, can sport yellow in her dress, or any colour she chooses. +Theoretically the duties of the Bandahara are those of a Home Secretary; +the di Gadong is Keeper of the Seal and Chancellor of the Exchequer; the +Pamancha's functions I am rather uncertain about, as the post has +remained unfilled for many years past, but they would seem to partake of +those of a Home Secretary; and the Temenggong is the War Minister and +Military and Naval Commander-in-chief, and appears also to hear and +decide criminal and civil cases in the city of Brunai. These +appointments are made by the Sultan, and for life, but it will be +understood that, in such a rough and ready system of government as that +of Brunai, the actual influence of each Minister depends entirely on his +own character and that of the Sultan. Sometimes one Minister will +practically usurp the functions of some, or, perhaps, all the others, +leaving them only their titles and revenues, while often, on a vacancy +occurring, the Sultan does not make a fresh appointment, but himself +appropriates the revenue of the office leaving the duties to take care +of themselves. + +To look after trade and commerce there is, in theory, an inferior +Minister, the Pangeran Shabander. + +There is another class of Ministers--_Mantri_--who are selected by the +Sultan from among the people, and are chosen for their intelligence and +for the influence and following they have amongst the citizens. They +possess very considerable political power, their opinions being asked on +important matters. Such are the two Juwatans and the Orang Kaya di +Gadong, who may be looked upon as the principal officers of the Sultan +and the Wazirs. + +The State officials are paid by the revenues of certain districts which +are assigned, as will be seen below, to the different offices. + +The Mahomedan Malays, it has already been explained, were an invading +and conquering race in Borneo, and their chiefs would seem to have +divided the country, or, rather, the inhabitants, amongst themselves, +in much the same way as England was parcelled out among the followers of +WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. The people of all the rivers[5] and of the +interior, up to the limits where the Brunai Malays can enforce their +authority, own as their feudal lord and pay taxes to either the Sultan, +in his unofficial capacity, or to one of the nobles, or else they are +attached to the office of Sultan or one of the great Ministers of State, +and, again theoretically speaking, all the districts in the Sultanate +are known, from the fact of the people on them belonging to a noble, or +to the reigning Sultan for the time being, or to one of the Ministers of +State, as either:-- + + 1. Ka-rajahan--belonging to the Sultan or Raja. + + or 2. Kouripan--belonging to certain public officials during + their term of office. + + or 3. Pusaka or Tulin--belonging to the Sultan or any of the + nobles in their unofficial capacity. + +The crown and the feudal chiefs did not assert any claim to the land; +there are, for instance, no "crown lands," and, in the case of land not +owned or occupied, any native could settle upon and cultivate it without +payment of any rent or land tax, either to the Sultan or to the feudal +chief of the district; consequently, land was comparatively little +regarded, and what the feudal chief claimed was the people and not the +land, so much so that, as pointed out by Mr. P. LEYS in a Consular +report, in the case of the people removing from one river to another, +they did not become the followers of the chief who owned the population +amongst whom they settled, but remained subject to their former lord, +who had the right of following them and collecting from them his taxes +as before. It is only of quite recent years, imitating the example of +the English in Labuan, where all the land was assumed to be the property +of the Sovereign and leased to individuals for a term of years, that the +nobles have, in some instances, put forward a claim to ownership of the +land on which their followers chose to settle, and have endeavoured to +pose as semi-independent princes. These feudal chiefs tax, or used to +tax, their followers in proportion to their inability to resist their +lords' demands. A poll tax, usually at the rate of $2 for married men +and $1 for bachelors, is a form of taxation to which, in the absence of +any land tax, no objection is made, but the chiefs had also the power of +levying special taxes at their own sweet will, when they found their +expenditure in excess of their income, and advantage was taken of any +delay in payment of taxes, or of any breach of the peace, or act of +theft occurring in a district, to impose excessive fines on the +delinquents, all of which if paid went to the chief; and if the fine +could not be paid, the defaulter's children might be seized and +eventually sold into slavery. The system of "forced trade" I have +alluded to when speaking on the subject of domestic slavery. The chiefs +were all absentees and, while drawing everything they could out of their +districts, did nothing for their wretched followers. The taxes were +collected by their messengers and slaves, unscrupulous men who were paid +by what they could get out of the people in excess of what they were +bidden to demand, and who, while engaged in levying the contributions, +lived at free quarters on the people, who naturally did their best to +expedite their departure. Petty cases of dispute were settled by headmen +appointed by the chief and termed _orang kaya_, literally "rich men." +These _orang kayas_ were often selected from their possessing some +little property and being at the same time subservient to the chief. In +many cases, it seemed to me, that they were chosen for their superior +stupidity and pliability. I have made use of the past tense throughout +my description of these feudal chiefs as, happily, for reasons already +given, the "good old times" are rapidly passing away. + +The laws of Brunai are, in theory, those inculcated by the Koran and +there are one or two officials who have some slight knowledge of +Mahomedan law. Owing to the cheap facilities offered by the numerous +steamers at Singapore, there are many Hajis--that is, persons who have +made the pilgrimage to Mecca--amongst the Brunais and the Kadaaans, +amongst the latter more especially, but of course a visit to Mecca does +not necessarily imply that the pilgrim has obtained any actual knowledge +of the holy book, which some of them can decipher, the Malays having +adopted the Arabic alphabet, but without, however, understanding the +meaning of the Arabic words of which it consists. A friend of mine, son +of the principal exponent of Mahomedan law in the capital, and who +became naturalised as a British subject, had studied law in +Constantinople. + +There is no gaol in Brunai, and fines are found to be a more profitable +mode of punishment than incarceration, the judge generally pocketing the +fine, and when it does become necessary to keep an offender in +detention, it is done by placing his feet in the stocks, which are set +up on the public staging or landing before the reception room of the +Sultan, or of one of his chief Ministers, and the wretched man may be +kept there for months. + +The punishment for theft, sanctioned by the Koran, is by cutting oft the +right hand, but this barbarous, though effective, penalty has been +discountenanced by the English. On one occasion, however, when acting as +H. B. M. Consul-General, I received my information too late to +interfere. I had been on a visit to the late Sultan in a British +gunboat, and anchored off the palace. During the evening, just before +dinner, notwithstanding the watch kept on deck, some natives came +alongside and managed to hook out through the ports my gold watch and +chain from off the Captain's table, and the first Lieutenant's revolver +from his cabin. During our interview next morning with the Sultan, I +twitted him on the skill and daring of Brunai thieves, who could +perpetrate a theft from a friendly war-ship before the windows of the +Royal palace. The Sultan said nothing, but was evidently much annoyed, +and a few weeks afterwards the revolver and the remains of my watch and +chain were sent to me at Labuan, with a letter saying that three thieves +had been punished by having had their hands chopped off. I subsequently +heard that two of the unfortunate men had died from the effects of this +cruel punishment. + +On another occasion, some Brunai thieves skilfully dismounted and +carried off two brass signal guns from the poop of a merchant steamer at +anchor in the river, eluding the vigilance of the quarter-master, while +the skipper and some of the officers were asleep on the skylight close +by. The guns were subsequently recovered. + +Execution is either by means of the bow string or the _kris_. + +I had once the unpleasant duty of having to witness the execution by the +bow string of a man named MAIDIN, as it was feared that, being the son +of a favourite officer of the Sultan, the execution might be a sham one. +This man, with others, had raided a small settlement of Chinese traders +from Labuan on the Borneo coast, killing several of the shop-keepers and +looting the settlement. So weak was the central government, and so +little importance did they attach to the murder of a few Chinese, that, +notwithstanding the efforts of the British Consul, MAIDIN remained at +liberty for nearly two years after the commission of the crime. + +The execution took place at night. The murderer was bound, with his +hands behind his back, in a large canoe, and a noose of rope was placed +round his neck. Two men stood behind him; a short stick was inserted in +the noose and twisted round and round by the two executioners, thereby +causing the rope to compress the windpipe. MAIDIN'S struggles were soon +over. + +In the case of common people the _kris_ is used, the executioner +standing behind the criminal and pressing the _kris_ downwards, through +the shoulder, into the heart. This mode of execution has been retained +by the European rulers of Sarawak. In British North Borneo the English +mode by hanging has been adopted. + +Formerly, when ancient customs were more strictly observed, any person +using insulting expressions in talking of members of the Royal family +was punished by having his tongue slit, and I was once shewn by the +Temenggong, in whose official keeping it was, the somewhat cumbrous pair +of scissors wherewith this punishment was inflicted, but I have never +heard of its having been used during the last twenty years, although +opportunities could not have been wanting. + +I was once horrified by being informed by an observant British Naval +Officer, who had been to Brunai on duty, that he had been disgusted by +noticing, notwithstanding our long connection with Brunai and supposed +influence with the Sultan, so barbarous a mode of execution as that of +keeping the criminal exposed, without food, day and night, on a stage on +high posts in the river. I had never heard of this process, and soon +discovered that my friend had mistaken men fishing, for criminals +undergoing execution. Two men perch themselves up on posts, some +distance apart, and let down by ropes a net into the river. Waiting +patiently--and Brunais can sit still contentedly doing nothing for +hours--they remain motionless until a shoal of fish passes over the net, +when it is partially raised and the fish taken out by a third man, and +the operation repeated. + +I do not think my naval friend ever published his Brunai reminiscences. + +I have already said there is no police force in Brunai; an official +makes use of his own slaves to carry out his orders, where an European +would call in the police. Neither is there any army and navy, but the +theory is that the Sultan and Ministers can call on the Brunai people to +follow them to war, but as they give neither pay nor sufficient food +their call is not numerously responded to. + +Every Brunai man has his own arms, spear, kris and buckler, supplemented +by an old English "Tower" musket, or rifle, or by one of Chinese +manufacture with an imitation of the Tower mark. The _parang_, or +chopper, or cutlass, is always carried by a Malay, being used for all +kinds of work, agricultural and other, and is also a useful weapon of +offence or defence. + +Brunai is celebrated for its brass cannon foundries and still produces +handsome pieces of considerable size. PIGAFETTA describes cannon as +being frequently discharged at Brunai during his visit there in 1521. +Brass guns were formerly part of the currency in Brunai and, even now, +you often hear the price of an article given as so many pikuls (a pikul += 133-1/3 lbs), or catties (a catty = 1-1/3 lbs) of brass gun. The +brass for the guns is chiefly furnished by the Chinese cash, which is +current in the town. + +In former days, in addition to brass guns, pieces of grey shirting +(_belachu_) and of Nankin (_kain asap_) and small bits of iron were +legal tender, and I have seen a specimen of a Brunei copper coinage one +Sultan tried to introduce, but it was found to be so easily imitated by +his subjects that it was withdrawn from circulation. At the present day +silver dollars, Straits Settlements small silver pieces, and the copper +coinage of Singapore, Sarawak and British North Borneo all pass current, +the copper, however, unfortunately predominating. Recently the Sultan +obtained $10,000 of a copper coin of his own from Birmingham, but the +traders and the Governments of Singapore and Labuan appear to have +discountenanced its use, and he probably will not try a second shipment. + +The profit on the circulation of copper coinage, which is only a token, +is of course considerable, and the British North Borneo Company obtained +a substantial addition to its revenue from the large amount of its coin +circulated in Brunai. When the Sultan first mooted the idea of obtaining +his own coin from England, one of the Company's officers expostulated +feelingly with him, and I was told by an onlooker that the contrast of +the expressions of the countenances of the immobile Malay and of the +mobile European was most amusing. All that the Sultan replied to the +objections of the officer was "It does not signify, Sir, my coin can +circulate in your country and yours can circulate in mine," knowing well +all the time the profit the Company was making. + +The inhabitants of the city of Brunai are very lightly taxed, and there +is no direct taxation. As above explained, there is no land tax, nor +ground rent, and every man builds his own house and is his own landlord. +The right of retailing the following articles is "farmed" out to the +highest bidder by the Government, and their price consequently enhanced +to the consumer:--Opium (but only a few of the nobles use the drug), +foreign tobacco, curry stuff, wines and spirits (not used by the +natives), salt, gambier (used for chewing with the betel or _areca_ +nut), tea (little used by the natives) and earth-nut and coco-nut oil. +There are no Municipal rates and taxes, the tidal river acting as a self +cleansing street and sewer at the same time; neither are there any +demands from a Poor Law Board. + +On the other hand, there being no Army, Navy, Police, nor public +buildings to keep up, the expenses of Government are wonderfully light +also. + +Other Government receipts, in addition to the above, are rent of Chinese +house-boats or rather shop-boats, pawnbroking and gambling licenses, a +"farm" of the export of hides, royalties on sago and gutta percha, +tonnage dues on European vessels visiting the port, and others. The +salaries and expenses of the Government Departments are defrayed from +the revenues of the rivers, or districts attached to them. + +Considerable annual payments are now made by Sarawak and British North +Borneo for the territorial cessions obtained by them. The annual +contribution by Sarawak is about $16,000, and by the British North +Borneo $11,800. These sums are apportioned amongst the Sultan and nobles +who had interests in the ceded districts. I may say here that the +payment by British North Borneo to the Sultan of the State, under the +arrangement made by Mr. DENT already referred to, is one of $5,000 per +annum. + +An annual payment is also made by Mr. W. C. COWIE for the sole right[6] +of working coal in the Sultanate, which he holds for a period of several +years. Coal occurs throughout the island of Borneo, and its existence +has long been known. It is worked on a small scale in Sarawak and in +some portions of Dutch Borneo, and the unsuccessful attempts to develope +the coal resources of the Colony of Labuan will be referred to later on. + +In the Brunai Sultanate, with which we are at present concerned, coal +occurs abundantly in the Brunai river and elsewhere, but it is only at +present worked by Mr. COWIE and his partners at Muara, at the mouth of +the Brunai river--Muara, indeed, signifying in Malay a river's mouth. +The Revd. J. E. TENNISON-WOOD, well known in Australia as an authority +on geological questions, thus describes the Muara coalfields:--"About +twenty miles to the South-west of Labuan is the mouth of the Brunai +river. Here the rocks are of quite a different character, and much +older. There are sandstones, shales, and grits, with ferruginous joints. +The beds are inclined at angles of 25 to 45 degrees. They are often +altered into a kind of chert. At Muara there is an outcrop of coal seams +twenty, twenty-five and twenty-six feet thick. The coal is of excellent +quality, quite bitumenised, and not brittle. The beds are being worked +by private enterprise. I saw no fossils, but the beds and the coal +reminded me much of the older Australian coals along the Hunter river. +The mines are of great value. They are rented for a few thousand dollars +by two enterprising Scotchmen, from the Sultan of Brunai. The same +sovereign would part with the place altogether for little or nothing. +Why not have our coaling station there? Or what if Germany, France or +Russia should purchase the same from the independent Sultan of Brunai?" +As if to give point to the concluding remarks, a Russian man-of-war +visited Muara and Brunai early in 1887, and shewed considerable interest +in the coal mines.[7] + + +Footnotes: + +[Footnote 4: He has since been "protected"--see ante page 6, note.] + +[Footnote 5: Owing to the absence of roads and the consequent importance +of rivers as means of getting about, nearly all districts in Borneo are +named after their principal river.] + +[Footnote 6: This right was transferred by Mr. COWIE to Raja BROOKE in +1833.] + +[Footnote 7: The British Protectorate has obviated the danger.] + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +The fairest way, perhaps, of giving my readers an idea of what Brunai +was and what it is, will be by quoting first from the description of the +Italian PIGAFETTA, who was there in 1521, and then from that of my +friend the late Mr. STAIR ELPHINSTONE DALRYMPLE, who visited the city +with me in 1884. PIGAFETTA'S description I extract from CRAWFORD'S +_Descriptive Dictionary of the Indian Islands_. + + "When," says he, "we reached the city, we had to wait two hours + in the _prahu_ (boat or barge) until there had arrived two + elephants, caparisoned in silk-cloth, and twelve men, each + furnished with a porcelain vase, covered with silk, to receive + and to cover our presents. We mounted the elephants, the twelve + men going before, carrying the presents. We thus proceeded to + the house of the Governor, who gave us a supper of many dishes. + Next day we were left at our leisure until twelve o'clock, when + we proceeded to the King's palace. We were mounted, as before, + on elephants, the men bearing the gifts going before us. From + the Governor's house to the palace the streets were full of + people armed with swords, lances and targets; the King had so + ordered it. Still mounted on the elephants we entered the court + of the palace. We then dismounted, ascended a stair, accompanied + by the Governor and some chiefs and entered a great hall full of + courtiers. Here we were seated on carpets, the presents being + placed near to us. At the end of the great hall, but raised + above it, there was one of less extent hung with silken cloth, + in which were two curtains, on raising which, there appeared + two windows, which lighted the hall. Here, as a guard to the + King, there were three hundred men with naked rapiers in hand + resting on their thighs. At the farther end of this smaller + hall, there was a great window with a brocade curtain before + it, on raising which, we saw the King seated at a table + masticating betel, and a little boy, his son, beside him. Behind + him women only were to be seen. A chieftain then informed us, + that we must not address the King directly, but that if we had + anything to say, we must say it to him, and he would communicate + it to a courtier of higher rank than himself within the lesser + hall. This person, in his turn, would explain our wishes to the + Governor's brother, and he, speaking through a tube in an + aperture of the wall would communicate our sentiments to a + courtier near the King, who would make them known to his + Majesty. Meanwhile, we were instructed to make three obeisances + to the King with the joined hands over the head, and raising, + first one foot and then the other, and then kissing the hands. + This is the royal salutation. * * * All the persons present in + the palace had their loins covered with gold embroidered cloth + and silk, wore poiniards with golden hilts, ornamented with + pearls and precious stones, and had many rings on their fingers. + + * * * * * * + + We remounted the elephants and returned to the house of the + Governor. * * * After this there came to the house of the + Governor ten men, with as many large wooden trays, in each of + which were ten or twelve porcelain saucers with the flesh of + various animals, that is, of calves, capons, pullets, pea-fowls + and others, and various kinds of fish, so that of meat alone + there were thirty or two-and-thirty dishes. We supped on the + ground on mats of palm-leaf. At each mouthful we drank a + porcelain cupful, the size of an egg, of a distilled liquor made + from rice. We ate also rice and sweetmeats, using spoons of + gold, shaped like our own. In the place where we passed the two + nights, there were always burning two torches of white wax, + placed on tall chandeliers of silver, and two oil lamps of four + wicks each, while two men watched to look after them. Next + morning we came on the same elephants to the sea side, where + forthwith there were ready for us two _prahus_, in which we were + reconducted to the ships." + +Of the town itself he says:-- + + "The city is entirely built in the saltwater, the King's house + and those of some chieftains excepted. It contains 25,000 + _fires_, or families. The houses are all of wood and stand on + strong piles to keep them high from the ground. When the flood + tide makes, the women, in boats, go through the city selling + necessaries. In front of the King's palace there is a rampart + constructed of large bricks, with barbacans in the manner of a + fortress, on which are mounted fifty-six brass and six iron + cannon." + +With the exception of the statement concerning the number of families, +Mr. CRAWFORD considers PIGAFETTA'S account contains abundant internal +evidence of intelligence and truthfulness. I may be allowed to point out +that, seeing only the King's house and those of some of the nobles were +on _terra firma_, there could have been little use for elephants in the +city and probably the two elephants PIGAFETTA mentions were the only +ones there, kept for State purposes. It is a curious fact that though in +its fauna Borneo much resembles Sumatra, yet, while elephants abound in +the latter island, none are to be found in Borneo, except in a +restricted area on the North-East Coast, in the territories of the North +Borneo Company. It would appear, too, that the tenets of the Mahomedan +religion were not strictly observed in those days. Now, no Brunai noble +would think of offering you spirits, nor would ladies on any account be +permitted to appear in public, especially if Europeans were among the +audience. The consumption of spirits seems to have been on a very +liberal scale, and it is not surprising to find PIGAFETTA remarking +further on that some of the Spaniards became intoxicated. Spoons, +whether of gold or other material, have long since been discarded by all +respectable Brunais, only Pagans make use of such things, the Mahomedans +employ the fingers which Allah has given them. The description of the +women holding their market in boats stands good of to-day, but the +wooden houses, instead of being on "strong piles," now stand on +ricketty, round _nibong_ palm posts. The description of the obeisance to +the King is scarcely exaggerated, except that it is now performed +squatting cross-legged--_sila_--the respectful attitude indoors, from +the Sanskrit cil, to meditate, to worship (for an inferior never stands +in the presence of his superior), and has been dispensed with in the +case of Europeans, who shake hands. Though the nobles have now +comparatively little power, they address each other and are addressed by +the commonalty in the most respectful tone, words derived from the +Sanskrit being often employed in addressing superiors, or equals if both +are of high rank, such as _Baginda_, _Duli Paduka_, _Ianda_, and in +addressing a superior the speaker only alludes to himself as a slave, +_Amba_, _Sahaya_. I have already referred to the prohibition of the use +of yellow by others than the Royal family, and may add that it is a +grave offence for a person of ordinary rank to pass the palace steps +with his umbrella up, and it is forbidden to him to sit in the after +part of his boat or canoe, that place being reserved for nobles. At an +audience with the Sultan, or with one of the Wazirs, considerable +ceremony is still observed. Whatever the time of the day, a thick bees' +wax candle, about three feet long is lighted and placed on the floor +alongside the European visitor, if he is a person of any rank, and it is +etiquette for him to carry the candle away with him at the conclusion of +his visit, especially if at night. It was a severe test of the courteous +decorum of the Malay nobles when on one occasion, a young officer, who +accompanied me, not only spilt his cup of coffee over his bright new +uniform, but, when impressively bidding adieu to H. H. the Sultan, stood +for sometime unconsciously astride over my lighted candle. Not a muscle +of the faces of the nobles moved, but the Europeans were scarcely so +successful in maintaining their gravity. + +Mr. DALRYMPLE'S description of Brunai, furnished to the _Field_ in +August, 1884, is as follows:-- + + "On a broad river, sweeping round in an imposing curve from the + South-Eastward, with abrupt ranges of sandstone hills, for the + most part cleared of forest, hemming it in on either side, and a + glimpse of lofty blue mountains towering skywards far away to + the North-East, is a long straggling collection of _atap_ + (thatch made of leaves of _nibong_ palm) and _kajang_ (mats of + ditto) houses, or rather huts, built on piles over the water, + and forming a gigantic crescent on either bank of the broad, + curving stream. This is the city of Brunai, the capital of the + Yang di Pertuan, the Sultan of Brunai, _aetat_ one hundred or + more, and now in his dotage: the abode of some 15,000 Malays, + whose language is as different from the Singapore Malay as + Cornish is from Cockney English, and the coign of vantage from + which a set of effete and corrupt _Pangerans_ extended + oppressive rule over the coasts of North-West Borneo, from + Sampanmangiu Point to the Sarawak River in days gone by, ere + British enterprise stepped in, swept the Sulu and Illanun + pirates from the sea, and opened the rivers to commercial + enterprise. + + "Standing on the summit of one of the above-mentioned hills, a + fine bird's eye view is obtained of the city below. The + ramshackle houses are all built in irregular blocks or clusters, + but present on either side a regular frontage to the broad + river, and following its sweeping curve, form two imposing + crescent, divided by a fine water-way. Behind these main + crescents are various other blocks and clusters of buildings, + built higgledy piggledy and without plan of any sort. On the + true left bank are some Chinese shops built of brick, and on the + opposite bank a brick house of superior pretensions and a waving + banner proclaiming the abode of the Chinese Consular Agent of + the British North Borneo Company. * * * + + "A heterogeneous collection of buildings on the right side of the + upper part of the city forms the _palace_ (save the mark!) of + the Sultan himself. A little further down a large, straggling, + but substantial plank building, with a corrugated iron roof, + marks the abode of the Pangeran Temenggong, a son of the former + Sultan and the heir apparent to the throne of Brunai. Two steam + launches are lying opposite at anchor, one the property of the + Sultan, the other belonging to the heir apparent. * * * + + "The public reception room of the Sultan's palace is a long + apartment with wooden pillars running along either side, and + supporting a raised roof. Beyond these on either side, are + lateral compartments. At the far end, in the centre of a kind of + alcove, is the Sultan's throne. The floors are covered with + matting. * * * + + "Although the glories of Brunai have departed, and it is only the + shadow of what it was when PIGAFETTA visited it, a certain + amount of state is still kept up on occasions. A boat comes + sweeping down the river crowded with Malays, a white flag waving + from its stern, seven paddles flashing on either side, and an + array of white umbrellas midships. _It is_ the Pangeran di + Gadong coming in state to pay a ceremonial visit. As it sweeps + alongside, the Pangeran is seen sitting on a gorgeous carpet, + surrounded by his officials. One holds an umbrella over his + head, while another holds aloft the _tongkat kraidan_, a long + guilded staff, surmounted by a plume of yellow horse hair, which + hangs down round it. The most striking point in the attire of + the Pangeran and his Officers is the beauty of the _krises_ with + which they are armed, the handles being of carved ivory + ornamented with gold, and the sheaths of beautifully polished + wood, resembling satin wood. Cigars and coffee are produced, and + a _bichara_ ensues. A Quakers' meeting is no bad metaphor to + describe a Malay _bichara_. The Pangerans sit round in a circle + smoking solemnly for some time, until a question is put to them, + to which a brief reply is given, followed by another prolonged + pause. + + "In this way the business on which they have come is gradually + approached. + + "Their manners are as polished as their faces are immobile, and + the way to a Malay's heart lies through his pocket. + + "To the outsider, Brunai is a city of hideous old women, for such + alone are met with in the thronged market place where some + hundreds of market boats jostle each other, while their inmates + shriek and haggle over their bargains, or during a water + promenade while threading the labyrinths of this Oriental + Venice; but if acquainted with its intricacies, or if paying a + ceremonial visit to any of the leading Pangerans, many a glimpse + may be had of some fair skinned beauty peeping through some + handy crevice in the _kajang_ wall, or, in the latter case, a + crowd of light-skinned, dark-eyed houris may be seen looking + with all their might out of a window in the harem behind, from + which they are privileged to peep into the hall of audience. + + "The present population of Brunai cannot exceed 12,000 to 15,000 + souls, a great number having succumbed to the terrible epidemic + of cholera a year ago. The exports consist of sago, gutta + percha, camphor, india-rubber, edible birds' nests, gum dammar, + etc., and what money there is in the city is almost entirely in + the hands of the Chinese traders. * * * + + "In the old days, when it enjoyed a numerous Chinese population, + the surrounding hills were covered with pepper plantations, and + there was a large junk trade with China. At present Brunai lives + on her exports of jungle produce and sago, furnished by a noble + river--the Limbang, whose valley lies but a short distance to + the Eastward. One great advantage the city enjoys is a copious + supply of pure water, drawn from springs at the base of the + hills below the town on the left bank of the river. * * * + + "Such is a slight sketch of Brunai of the Brunais. If the + Pangerans are corrupt, the lower classes are not, but are law + abiding, though not industrious. And the day may yet come when + their city may lift her head up again, and be to North Borneo + what Singapore is to the straits of Malacca." + +This description gives a capital idea of modern Brunai, and I would only +observe that, from the colour of his flag and umbrellas the nobleman who +paid the state visit must have been the Bandahara and not the Di Gadong. + +The aged Sultan to whom Mr. DALRYMPLE refers was the late Sultan MUMIM, +who, though not in the direct line, was raised to the throne, on the +death of the Sultan OMAR ALI SAIFUDIN, to whom he had been Prime +Minister, by the influence of the English, towards whom he had always +acted as a loyal friend. He was popularly supposed to be over a hundred +years old when he died and, though said to have had some fifty wives and +concubines, he was childless. He died on the 29th May, 1885, having +previously, on the advice of Sir C. C. LEES, then British +Consul-General, declared his Temenggong, the son of OMAR ALI SAIFUDIN to +be his successor. The Temenggong accended the throne, without any +opposition, with the title of Sultan, but found a kingdom distracted by +rebellion in the provinces and reduced to less than a fourth of its size +when the treaty was made with Great Britain in 1847. + +I have said that there is no ground rent in Borneo, and that every one +builds his own house and is his own landlord, but I should add that he +builds his house in the _kampong_, or parish, to which, according to his +occupation, he belongs and into which the city is divided. For instance, +on entering the city, the first _kampong_ on the left is an important +one in a town where fish is the principal article of animal food. It is +the _kampong_ of the men who catch fish by means of bambu fishing +stakes, or traps, described hereafter, and supply the largest quantity +of that article to the market; it is known as the _Kampong Pablat_. + +Next to it is the _Kampong Perambat_, from the casting net which its +inhabitants use in fishing. Another parish is called _Membakut_ and its +houses are built on firm ground, being principally the shops of Chinese +and Klings. The last _kampong_ on this side is that of _Burong Pinge_, +formerly a very important one, where dwelt the principal and richest +Malay traders. It is now much reduced in size, European steamers and +Chinese enterprise having altered entirely the character of the trade +from the time when the old Brunai _nakodahs_ (master or owner of a +trading boat) would cruise leisurely up and down the coast, waiting for +months at a time in a river while trade was being brought in. The +workers in brass, the jewellers, the makers of gold brocade, of mats, of +brass guns, the oil manufacturers, and the rice cleaners, all have their +own _kampongs_ and are jealous of the honour of each member of their +corporation. The Sultan and nearly all the chief nobles have their +houses on the true left bank of the river, _i.e._, on the right bank +ascending. + +The fishing interest is an important one, and various methods are +employed to capture the supply for the market. + +The _kelong_ is a weir composed of nets made of split bambu, fastened in +an upright position, side by side, to posts fixed into the bed of the +stream, or into the sand in the shallow water of a harbour. There are +two long rows of these posts with attached nets, one much longer than +the other which gradually converge in the deeper water, where a simple +trap is constructed with a narrow entrance. The fish passing up or down +stream, meeting with the obstruction, follow up the walls of the +_kelong_ and eventually enter the trap, whence they are removed at low +water. These _kelong_, or fishing stakes as they are termed, are a well +known sight to all travellers entering Malay ports and rivers. All sorts +of fish are caught in this way, and alligators of some size are +occasionally secured in them. + +The _rambat_ is a circular casting net, loaded with leaden or iron +weights at the circumference, and with a spread sometimes of thirty +feet. Great skill, acquired by long practice, is shewn by the fisherman +in throwing this net over a shoal of fish which he has sighted, in such +a manner that all the outer edge touches the water simultaneously; the +weights then cause the edges of the circumference to sink and gradually +close together, encompassing the fish, and the net is drawn up by a +rope attached to its centre, the other end of which the fisherman had +retained in his hand. The skill of the thrower is further enhanced by +the fact that he, as a rule, balances himself in the bow of a small +"dug-out," or canoe, in which a European could scarcely keep his footing +at all. The _rambat_ can also be thrown from the bank, or the beach, and +is used in fresh and salt water. Only small fish and prawns are caught +in this way. Prawns are also caught in small _kelong_ with very fine +split bambu nets, but a method is also employed in the Brunai river +which I have not heard of elsewhere. A specially prepared canoe is made +use of, the gunwale on one side being cut away and its place taken up by +a flat ledge, projecting over the water. The fisherman sits paddling in +the stern, keeping the ledged side towards the bank and leaning over so +as to cause the said ledge to be almost level with the water. + +From the same side there projects a long bambu, with wooden teeth on its +under side, like a comb, fastened to the stern, but projecting outwards, +forwards and slightly upwards, the teeth increasing in length towards +its far end, and as they sweep the surface of the water the startled +prawns, shut in by the bank on one side, in their efforts to avoid the +teeth of the comb, jump into the canoe in large quantities. + +I have described the method of using the dip net, or _serambau_, on page +30. Many kinds of nets are in use, one--the _pukat_--being similar to +our seine or drag net. + +The hook and line are also used, especially for deep sea fishing, and +fish of large size are thus caught. + +A favourite occasional amusement is _tuba_ fishing. The _tuba_ is a +plant the juice of which has strong narcotic properties. Bundles of the +roots are collected and put into the bottom of the canoes, and when the +fishing ground is reached, generally a bend in a river, or the mouth of +a stream which is barred at low tide, water is poured over the _tuba_ +and the juice expressed by beating it with short sticks. The fluid, thus +charged with the narcotic poison, is then baled out of the canoes into +the stream and the surface is quickly covered by all sorts of fish in +all stages of intoxication, the smaller ones even succumbing altogether +to the poison. + +The large fish are secured by spearing, amid much excitement, the eager +sportsmen often overbalancing themselves and falling headlong into the +water to the great amusement of the more lucky ones. I remember reading +an account of a dignified representative of Her Majesty once joining in +the sport and displaying a pair of heels in this way to his admiring +subjects. The _tuba_ does not affect the flesh of the fish, which is +brought to the table without any special preparation. + +The principal export from Brunai is sago flour. The sago palm is known +to the natives under the name of _rumbiah_, the pith, after its first +preliminary washing, is called _lamantah_ (_i.e._, raw), and after its +preparation for export by the Chinese, _sagu_. The botanical name is +_Metroxylon_, _M. Laevis_ being that of the variety the trunk of which is +unprotected, and _M. Rumphii_ that of the kind which is armed with long +and strong spikes, serving to ward off the attacks of the wild pigs from +the young palm. + +This palm is indigenous in the Malayan Archipelago and grows to the +height of twenty to forty feet, in swampy land along the banks of rivers +not far from the sea, but out of the reach of tidal influences. A +plantation once started goes "on for ever," with scarcely any care or +attention from the proprietor, as the palm propagates itself by numerous +off-shots, which take the place of the parent tree when it is cut down +for the purpose of being converted into food, or when it dies, which, +unlike most other palms, it does after it has once flowered and seeded, +_i.e._, after it has attained the age of ten or fifteen years. + +It can also be propagated from the seed, but these are often +unproductive. + +If required for food purposes, the sago palm must be cut down at its +base before it begins to flower, as afterwards the pith or _farina_ +becomes dried up and useless. The trunk is then stripped of its leaves +and, if it is intended to work it up at its owner's house, it is cut +into convenient lengths and floated down the river; if the pith is to be +extracted on the spot the trunk is split in two, longitudinally, and is +found to contain a mass of starchy pith, kept together by filaments of +woody fibre, and when this is worked out by means of bambu hatchets +nothing but a thin rind, the outer bark, is left. To separate the starch +from the woody fibre, the pith is placed on a mat in a frame work over a +trough by the river side; the sago washer then mounts up and, pouring +fresh water over the pith, commences vigorously dancing about on it with +his bare feet, the result being that the starch becomes dissolved in the +water and runs off with it into the trough below, while the woody fibre +remains on the mat and is thrown away, or, if the washer is not a +Mahomedan, used for fattening pigs. The starch thus obtained is not yet +quite pure, and under the name of _lamantah_ is sold to Chinese and +undergoes a further process of washing, this time by hand, in large, +solid, wooden troughs and tubs. When sufficiently purified, it is +sun-dried and, as a fine white flour, is packed in gunny bags for the +Singapore market. At Singapore, some of this flour--a very small +proportion--is converted into the pearl sago of the shops, but the +greater portion is sent on direct to Europe, where it is used for sizing +cloth, in the manufacture of beer, for confectionery, &c. + +It will be seen that the sago palm thus affords food and also employment +to a considerable number of both natives and Chinese and, requiring +little or no trouble in cultivation, it is a perfect gift of the gods to +the natives in the districts where it occurs. It is a curious fact that, +though abounding in Sarawak, in the districts near Brunai and in the +southern parts of British North Borneo on the West Coast, it seems to +stop short suddenly at the Putatan River, near Gaya Bay, and is not +found indigenous in the North nor on the North-East. Some time ago I +sent a quantity of young shoots to a Chief living on the Labuk River, +near Sandakan, on the East Coast, but have not yet heard whether they +have proved a success. + +A nasty sour smell is inseparable from a sago factory, but the health of +the coolies, who live in the factory, does not appear to be affected by +it. + +The Brunais and natives of sago districts consume a considerable +quantity of sago flour, which is boiled into a thick, tasteless paste, +called _boyat_ and eaten by being twisted into a large ball round a +stick and inserted into the mouth--an ungraceful operation. Tamarind, or +some very acid sauce is used to impart to it some flavour. Sago is of +course cheaper than rice, but the latter is, as a rule, much preferred +by the native, and is found more nutritious and _lasting_. LOGAN, in the +_Journal of the Indian Archipelago_, calculates that three sago palms +yield more nutritive matter than an acre of wheat, and six trees more +than an acre of potatoes. The plantain and banana also flourish, under +cultivation, in Borneo, and Mr. BURBIDGE, in his preface to the _Gardens +of the Sun_, points out that it fruits all the year round and that its +produce is to that of wheat as 133 : 1, and to that of the potato as +44 : 1. What a Paradise! some of my readers will exclaim. There can be +no want here! I am sure the figures and calculations above quoted are +absolutely correct, but I have certainly seen want and poverty in +Borneo, and these tropical countries are not quite the earthly +paradises which some old writers would have us believe. For our poor +British "unemployed," at any rate, I fear Borneo can never be a refuge, +as the sun would there be more fatal than the deadly cold here, and the +race could not be kept up without visits to colder climates. But if +sago and bananas are so plentiful and so nourishing, as we are taught +by the experts, it does seem somewhat remarkable, in this age of +invention, that some means cannot be devised of bringing together the +prolific food stores of the East and the starving thousands of the +West. + +Both before, during and after the day's work, the Malays, man and woman, +boy and girl, solace and refresh themselves with tobacco and with the +areca-nut, or the _betel_ nut as, for some unexplained reason, it is +called in English books, though _betel_ is the name of the pepper leaf +in which the areca-nut is wrapped and with which it is masticated. + +A good deal of the tobacco now used in Brunai is imported from Java or +Palembang (Sumatra), but a considerable portion is grown in the hilly +districts on the West Coast of North Borneo, in the vicinity of Gaya +Bay, by the Muruts. It is unfermented and sun-dried, but has not at all +a bad flavour and is sometimes used by European pipe smokers. The +Brunai Malays and the natives generally, as a rule, smoke the tobacco in +the form of cigarettes, the place of paper being taken by the fine inner +leaf of the _nipa_ palm, properly prepared by drying. The Court +cigarettes are monstrous things, fully eight inches long sometimes, and +deftly fashioned by the fingers of the ladies of the harem. + +Some of the inland natives, who are unable to procure _nipa_ leaf +(_dahun kirei_), use roughly made wooden pipes, and the leaf of the +maize plant is also occasionally substituted for the _nipa_. It is a +common practice with persons of both sexes to insert a "quid" of tobacco +in their cheek, or between the upper lip and the gum. This latter +practice does not add to the appearance of a race not overburdened with +facial charms. The tobacco is allowed to remain in position for a long +time, but it is not chewed. The custom of areca-nut chewing has been so +often described that I will only remind the reader that the nut is the +produce of a graceful and slender palm, which flourishes under +cultivation in all Malayan countries and is called by Malays _pinang_. +It is of about the size of a nutmeg and, for chewing, is cut into pieces +of convenient size and made into a neat little packet with the green +leaf of the aromatic betel pepper plant, and with the addition of a +little gambier (the inspissated juice of the leaves of the _uncaria +gambir_) and of fine lime, prepared by burning sea shells. Thus +prepared, the bolus has an undoubtedly stimulating effect on the nerves +and promotes the flow of saliva. I have known fresh vigour put into an +almost utterly exhausted boat's crew by their partaking of this +stimulant. + +It tinges the saliva and the lips bright red, but, contrary to a very +commonly received opinion, has no effect of making the teeth black. This +blackening of the teeth is produced by rubbing in burnt coco-nut shell, +pounded up with oil, the dental enamel being sometimes first filed off. +Toothache and decayed teeth are almost unknown amongst the natives, but +whether this is in some measure due to the chewing of the areca-nut I am +unable to say. + +It used to be a disagreeable, but not unusual sight, to see the old +Sultan at an audience remove the areca-nut he had been masticating and +hand it to a small boy, who placed it in his mouth and kept it there +until the aged monarch again required it. + +The clothing of the Brunai Malays is simple and suitable to the climate. +The one garment common to men, women and children is the _sarong_, which +in its general signification means a sheath or covering, _e.g._, the +sheath of a sword is a _sarong_, and the envelope enclosing a letter is +likewise its _sarong_. The _sarong_ or sheath of the Brunai human being +is a piece of cotton cloth, of Tartan pattern, sewn down the side and +resembling an ordinary skirt, or petticoat, except that it is not +pleated or attached to a band at the waist and is, therefore, the same +width all the way down. It is worn as a petticoat, being fastened at the +waist sometimes by a belt or girdle, but more often the upper part is +merely twisted into its own folds. Both men and women frequently wear +nothing but this garment, the men being naked from the waist up, but the +women generally concealing the breasts by fastening the _sarong_ high up +under the arms; but for full dress the women wear in addition a short +sleeved jacket of dark blue cotton cloth, reaching to the waist, the +tight sleeves being ornamented with a row of half-a-dozen jingling +buttons, of gold if possible, and a round hat of plaited _pandan_ +(screw-pine) leaves, or of _nipa_ leaf completes the Brunai woman's +costume. No stockings, slippers, or shoes are worn. Ladies of rank and +wealth substitute silk and gold brocade for the cotton material used by +their poorer sisters and, in lieu of a hat, cover their head and the +greater part of the face with a _selendang_, or long scarf of gold +brocade. They occasionally also wear slippers. The gold brocade is a +specialty of Brunai manufacture and is very handsome, the gold thread +being woven in tasteful patterns on a ground of yellow, green, red or +dark blue silk. The materials are obtained from China. The cotton +_sarongs_ are also woven in Brunai of European cotton twist, but +inferior and cheap imitations are now imported from Switzerland and +Manchester. In addition to the _sarong_, the Brunai man, when fully +dressed, wears a pair of loose cotton trowsers, tied round the waist, +and in this case the _sarong_ is so folded as to reach only half way +down to the knee, instead of to the ankle, as ordinarily. + +A short sleeved cotton jacket, generally white, covers his body and his +head dress is a small coloured kerchief called _dastar_, the Persian +word for turban. + +The nobles wear silks instead of cottons and with them a small but +handsome _kris_, stuck into the _sarong_, is _de rigueur_ for full +dress. A gold or silver betel-nut box might almost be considered as part +of the full dress, as they are never without one on state occasions, it +being carried by an attendant. + +The women are fond of jewellery, and there are some clever gold and +silversmiths in the city, whose designs appear to be imitated from the +Javanese. Rings, earrings, broaches to fasten the jacket at the neck, +elaborate hairpins, massive silver or gold belts, with large gold +buckles, and bracelets of gold or silver are the usual articles +possessed by a lady of position. + +The characteristic earring is quite a specialty of Brunai art, and is of +the size and nearly the shape of a very large champagne cork, +necessitating a huge hole being made for its reception in the lobes of +the ear. It is made hollow, of gold or silver, or of light wood gilt, or +sometimes only painted, or even quite plain, and is stuck, lengthwise, +through the hole in the ear, the ends projecting on either side. When +the ladies are not in full dress, this hole occasionally affords a +convenient receptacle for the cigarette, or any other small article not +in use for the time being. + +The men never wear any jewellery, except, perhaps, one silver ring, +which is supposed to have come from the holy city--Mecca. + +The Malay _kris_ is too well known to need description here. It is a +dagger or poignard with a blade varying in length from six inches to two +feet. This blade is not invariably wavy, or serpentine, as often +supposed, but is sometimes quite straight. It is always sharp on both +edges and is fashioned from iron imported from Singapore, by Brunai +artificers. Great taste is displayed in the handle, which is often of +delicately carved ivory and gold, and just below the attachment of the +handle, the blade is broadened out, forming a hilt, the under edge of +which is generally fancifully carved. Age adds greatly to the value of +the _kris_ and the history of many is handed down. The highest price I +know of being given for a Brunai _kris_ was $100, paid by the present +Sultan for one he presented to the British North Borneo Company on his +accession to the throne, but I have heard of higher prices being asked. +Very handsomely grained and highly polished wood is used for the sheath +and the two pieces forming it are frequently so skilfully joined as to +have the appearance of being in one. Though naturally a stabbing weapon, +the Malays of Brunai generally use it for cutting, and after an _amok_ +the blade employed is often found bent out of all shape. + +The _parang_ is simply an ordinary cutlass, with a blade two feet in +length. As we generally carry a pocket knife about with us, so the +Brunai Malay always wears his _parang_, or has it near at hand, using it +for every purpose where cutting is required, from paring his nails to +cutting the posts of which his house is built, or weeding his patch of +rice land. + +With this and his _bliong_ he performs all his carpentry work; from +felling the enormous timber tree in the jungle to the construction of +his house and boat. The _bliong_ is indeed a most useful implement and +can perform wonders in the hands of a Malay. It is in the shape of a +small adze, but according to the way it is fitted into the handle it can +be used either as an axe or adze. The Malays with this instrument can +make planks and posts as smooth as a European carpenter is able to do +with his plane. + +The _parang ilang_ is a fighting weapon, with a peculiarity in the shape +of the blade which, Dr. TAYLOR informs me, is not known to occur in the +weapons of any other country, and consists in the surface of the near +side being flat, as in an ordinary blade, while that of the off side is +distinctly convex. This necessitates rather careful handling in the case +of a novice, as the convexity is liable to cause the blade to glance off +any hard substance and inflict a wound on its wielder. This weapon is +manufactured in Brunai, but is the proper arm of the Kyans and, now, +also of the Sarawak Dyaks, who are closely allied to them and who, in +this as in other matters, such as the curious perforation of a part of +their person, which has been described by several writers, are following +their example. The Kyans were once the most formidable Sub-Malay tribe +in Northern Borneo and have been alluded to in preceding pages. On the +West coast, their headquarters is the Baram River, which has recently +been added to Sarawak, but they stretch right across to the East Coast +and Dutch territory. + +There are many kinds of canoes, from the simple dug-out, with scarcely +any free-board, to the _pakerangan_, a boat the construction of which is +confined to only two rivers in North Borneo. It is built up of planks +fastened together by wooden pegs, carvel fashion, on a small keel, or +_lunas_. It is sharp at both ends, has very good lines, is a good sea +boat and well adapted for crossing river bars. It is not made in Brunai +itself, but is bought from the makers up the coast and invariably used +by the Brunai fishermen, who are the best and most powerful paddlers to +be found anywhere. The trading boats--_prahus_ or _tongkangs_--are +clumsy, badly fastened craft, not often exceeding 30 tons burthen, and +modelled on the Chinese junk, generally two-masted, the foremast raking +forward, and furnished with rattan rigging and large lug sails. This +forward rake, I believe, was not unusual, in former days, in European +craft, and is said to aid in tacking. The natives now, however, are +getting into the way of building and rigging their boats in humble +imitation of the Europeans. The _prahus_ are generally furnished with +long sweeps, useful when the wind falls and in ascending winding rivers, +when the breeze cannot be depended on. The canoes are propelled and +steered by single-bladed paddles. They also generally carry a small +sail, often made of the remnants of different gaily coloured garments, +and a fleet of little craft with their gaudy sails is a pleasing sight +on a fresh, bright morning. At the sports held by the Europeans on New +Year's Day, the Queen's Birthday and other festivals, native canoe +races are always included and are contested with the keenest possible +excitement by the competitors. A Brunai Malay takes to the water and to +his tiny canoe almost before he is able to walk. Use has with him become +second nature and, really, I have known some Brunai men paddle all day +long, chatting and singing and chewing betel-nut, as though they felt it +no exertion whatever. + +In the larger canoes one sees the first step towards a fixed rudder and +tiller, a modified form of paddle being fixed securely to one _side_ of +the stern, in such a way that the blade can be turned so as either to +have its edges fore and aft, or its sides presented at a greater or less +angle to the water, according to the direction in which it is desired to +steer the boat. + +I was much interested, in going over the Pitt-Rivers collection, at the +Oxford University Museum, to find that in the model of a Viking boat the +steering gear is arranged in almost exactly the same manner as that of +the modern Malay canoe; and indeed, the lines generally of the two boats +are somewhat alike. + +To the European novice, paddling is severe work, more laborious than +rowing; but then a Brunai man is always in "training," more or less; he +is a teetotaller and very temperate in eating and drinking; indeed the +amount of fluid they take is, considering the climate, wonderfully +small. They scarcely drink during meals, and afterwards, as a rule, only +wash their mouths out, instead of taking a long draught like the +European. + +Mr. DALRYMPLE is right in saying that a State visit is like a Quakers' +meeting. Seldom is any important business more than broached on such an +occasion; the details of difficult negotiations are generally discussed +and arranged by means of confidential agents, who often find it to their +pecuniary advantage to prolong matters to the limit of their employer's +patience. The Brunai Malays are very nice, polite fellows to have to +deal with, but they have not the slightest conception of the value of +time, and the expression _nanti dahulu_ (wait a bit) is as often in +their mouths as that of _malua_ (by-and-by) is by Miss GORDON CUMMING +said to be in those of the Fijians. A lady friend of mine, who found a +difficulty in acquiring Malay, pronounced _nanti dahulu_, or _nanti +dulu_ as generally spoken, "nanty doodle," and suggested that "the nanty +doodles" could be a good name for "the Brunai Malays." + +As writing is a somewhat rare accomplishment, state documents are not +signed but sealed--"_chopped_" it is called--and much importance is +accordingly attached to the official seals or _chops_, which are large +circular metal stamps, and the _chop_ is affixed by oiling the stamps, +blacking it over the flame of a candle and pressing it on the document +to be sealed. The _chop_ bears, in Arabic characters, the name, style +and title of the Official using it. The Sultan's Chop is the Great Seal +of State and is distinguished by being the only one of which the +circumference can be quite round and unbroken; the edges of those of the +Wazirs are always notched. + +By the aboriginal tribes of Borneo, the Brunai people are always spoken +of as _Orang Abai_, or Abai men, but though I have often enquired both +of the aborigines and of the Brunais themselves, I have not been able to +obtain any explanation of the term, nor of its derivation. + +As already stated, the religion of the Brunais is Mahomedanism; but they +do not observe its precepts and forms with any very great strictness, +nor are they proselytisers, so that comparatively few of the surrounding +pagans have embraced the religion of their conquerors. + +Many of their old superstitions still influence them, as, in the early +days of Christianity, the belief in the old heathen gods and goddesses +were found underlying the superstructure of the new faith and tinging +its ritual and forms of worship. There still flourishes and survives, +influencing to the present day the life of the Brunais, the old Spirit +worship and a real belief in the power of evil spirits (_hantus_) to +cause ill-luck, sickness and death, to counteract which spells, charms +and prayers are made use of, together with propitiatory offerings. Most +of them wear some charm to ward off sickness, and others to shield them +from death in battle. If you are travelling in the jungle and desire to +quench your thirst at a brook, your Brunai follower will first lay his +_parang_, or cutlass in the bed of the stream, with its point towards +the source, so that the Spirit of the brook shall be powerless to harm +you. + +In caves and on small islands you frequently find platforms and little +models of houses and boats--propitiatory offerings to _hantus_. In times +of general sickness a large model of a boat is sometimes made and decked +with flags and launched out to sea in the hope that the evil spirit who +has brought the epidemic may take his departure therein. At Labuan it +was difficult to prevail on a Malay messenger to pass after sunset by +the gaol, where executions took place, or by the churchyard, for fear of +the ghosts haunting those localities. + +Javanese element, and Hindu work in gold has been discovered buried in +the island of Pappan, situated between Labuan and Brunai. Mr. INCHE +MAHOMET, H. B. M.'s Consular Agent in Brunai, was good enough to procure +for me a native history of Brunai, called the _Telselah Besar_, or +principal history. This history states that the first Mahomedan +Sovereign of Brunai was Sultan MAHOMET and that, before his conversion +and investiture by the Sultan of Johor, his kingdom had been tributary +to the State of Majapahit, on the fall of which kingdom the Brunai +Government transferred its allegiance to Johor. Majapahit[8] was the +last Javanese kingdom professing Hinduism, and from its overthrow dates +the triumph of Mahomedanism in Java. This occurred in A.D. 1478, which, +if the chronicle can be trusted, must have been about the period of the +commencement of the Mahomedan period in Brunai. Inclusive of this Sultan +MAHOMET and of the late Sultan MUMIM, who died in May, 1885, +twenty-three Mahomedan Sultans have reigned in Brunai and, allowing +eighteen years for an average reign, this brings us within a few years +of the date assigned to the overthrow of the kingdom of Majapahit, and +bears testimony to the reliability of the chronicle. I will quote the +first few paragraphs of the _Telselah_, as they will give the reader an +idea of a Brunai history and also because they allude to the connection +of the Chinese with Borneo and afford a fanciful explanation of the +origin of the name of the mountain of Kinabalu, in British North +Borneo, which is 13,700 feet in height:-- + + "This is the genealogy of all the Rajas who have occupied the + royal throne of the Government of Brunai, the abode of peace, + from generation to generation, who inherited the royal drum and + the bell, the tokens from the country of Johore, _kamal + almakam_, and who also possessed the royal drum from + Menangkabau, namely, from the country of Saguntang. + + "This was the commencement of the kingdom of Brunai and of the + introduction of the Mahomedan religion and of the Code of Laws + of the prophet, the beloved of God, in the country of + Brunai--that is to say (in the reign of) His Highness Sultan + MAHOMET. But before His Majesty's time the country of Brunai was + still infidel, and a dependency of Majapahit. On the death of + the Batara of Majapahit and of the PATIH GAJA MEDAH the kingdom + of Majapahit fell, and Brunai ceased to pay tribute, which used + to consist of one jar of the juice of the young betel-nut every + year. + + "In the time of the Sultan BAHTRI of the kingdom of Johor, Tuan + ALAK BETATAR and PATIH BERBAHI were summoned to Johor, and the + former was appointed Sultan MAHOMET by the Sultan of Johor, who + conferred on him the royal drum and assigned him five provinces, + namely, Kaluka, Seribas, Sadong, Samarahan and Sarawak. PATIH + BERBAI was given the title of Bandhara Sri Maharaja. After a + stay of some little time in Johor, His Highness the Sultan + MAHOMET returned to Brunai; but His Highness had no male issue + and only one daughter. At that time also the Emperor of China + ordered two of his ministers to obtain possession of the + precious stone of the dragon of the mountain Kinabalu. Numbers + of Chinese were devoured by the dragon and still possession was + not obtained of the stone. For this reason they gave the + mountain the name of Kinabalu (_Kina_ = Chinese; _balu_ = + _widow_). + + "The name of one of the Chinese Ministers was _Ong Kang_ and of + another ONG SUM PING, and the latter had recourse to a + stratagem. He made a box with glass sides and placed a large + lighted candle therein, and when the dragon went forth to feed, + ONG SUM PING seized the precious stone and put the lamp in its + place and u the dragon mistook it for the precious stone. Having + now obtained possession of the precious stone all the junks set + sail for China, and when they had got a long way off from + Kinabalu, ONG KANG asked ONG SUM PING for the stone, and + thereupon a quarrel ensued between them. ONG KANG continued to + press his demand for the precious stone, and ONG SUM PING became + out of humour and sullen and refused to return to China and made + his way back to Brunai. On arriving there, he espoused the + Princess, the daughter of Sultan MAHOMET, and he obtained the + title of Sultan AHAMAT. + + "The Sultan AHAMAT had one daughter, who was remarkably + beautiful. It came to pass that a Sheriff named ALLI, a + descendant of AMIR HASSAN (_one of the grandchildren of the + prophet_) came from the country of Taif to Brunai. Hearing of + the fame of the beauty of the Sultan's daughter, he became + enamoured of her and the Sultan accepted him as his son-in-law + and the Government of Brunai was handed over to him by His + Highness and he was styled Sultan BERKAT. He enforced the Code + of Laws of the beloved of God and erected a mosque in Brunai, + and, moreover, ordered the Chinese population to make a stone + fort." + +The connection of the Chinese with Brunai was an important event in +Borneo history and it was certainly to them that the flourishing +condition of the capital when visited by PIGAFETTA in 1521 was due. They +were the sole planters of the pepper gardens, the monopoly of the trade +in the produce of which the East India Company negotiated for in 1774, +when the crop was reported to the Company to have been 4,000 pikuls, +equal to about 240 tons, valued on the spot at 17-1/4 Spanish dollars +per pikul. The Company's Agent expressly reported that the Chinese were +the only pepper planters, that the aborigines did not plant it, and that +the produce was disposed of to Chinese junks, which visited the port and +which he trusted would, when the exclusive trade in this article was in +the hands of the Company, be diverted from Brunai to Balambangan. + +The station at this latter island, as already mentioned, was abandoned +in 1775, and the English trade with Brunai appears soon afterwards to +have come to an end. + +From extracts from the Journal of the Batavia Society of Arts and +Sciences published in _The British North Borneo Herald_ of the 1st +October, 1886, the first mention of Brunai in Chinese history appears to +be in the year 669, when the King of Polo, which is stated to be another +name for Bunlai (corruption of "Brunai"), sent an envoy to Pekin, who +came to Court with the envoy of Siam. Again, in the year 1406, another +Brunai envoy was appointed, who took with him a tribute of the products +of the country, and the chronicle goes on to say that it is reported +"that the present King is a man from Fukien, who followed CHENG HO when +he went to this country and who settled there." + +This account was written in 1618 and alludes to the Chinese shipping +then frequenting Brunai. It is by some supposed that the northern +portion of Borneo was the destination of the unsuccessful expedition +which KUBLAI KHAN sent out in the year 1292. + +Towards the close of the eighteenth century a Government seems to have +arisen in Brunai which knew not ONG SUM PING and, in 1809, Mr. HUNT +reported that Chinese junks had ceased visiting Brunai and, owing no +doubt to the rapacious and piratical character of the native Government, +the pepper gardens were gradually deserted and the Chinese left the +country. A few of the natives had, however, acquired the art of pepper +cultivation, especially the Dusuns of Pappar, Kimanis and Bundu and when +the Colony of Labuan was founded, 1846, there was still a small trade in +pepper with those rivers. The Brunai Rajas, however, received their +revenues and taxes in this commodity and their exhorbitant demands +gradually led to the abandonment of its cultivation. + +These rivers have since passed under the Government of the British North +Borneo Company, and in Bundu, owing partly to the security now afforded +to life and property and partly to the very high price which pepper at +present realizes on account of the Dutch blockade of Achin--Achin +having been of late years the principal pepper-growing country--the +natives are again turning their attention to this article. I may remark +here that the people of Bundu claim and shew evidence of Chinese +descent, and even set up in their houses the little altar and joss which +one is accustomed to see in Chinamen's shops. The Brunai Malays call the +Chinese _Orang Kina_ and evidence of their connection with Borneo is +seen in such names as _Kina-batangan_, a river near Sandakan on the +north-east coast, _Kina-balu_, the mountain above referred to, and +_Kina-benua_, a district in Labuan. They have also left their mark in +the very superior mode of cultivation and irrigation of rice fields on +some rivers on the north-west coast as compared with the primitive mode +practised in other parts of Northern Borneo. It is now the object of the +Governments of Sarawak and of British North Borneo to attract Chinese to +their respective countries by all the means in their power. This has, to +a considerable extent, been successfully achieved by the present Raja +BROOKE, and a large area of his territory is now under pepper +cultivation with a very marked influence on the public revenues. This +subject will be again alluded to when I come to speak of British North +Borneo. + +It would appear that Brunai was once or twice attacked by the Spaniards, +the last occasion being in 1645.[9] It has also had the honour in more +recent times, of receiving the attentions of a British naval expedition, +which was brought about in this wise. Sir JAMES, then Mr. BROOKE, had +first visited Sarawak in 1839 and found the district in rebellion +against its ruler, a Brunai Raja named MUDA HASSIM, who, being a friend +to the English, received Mr. BROOKE with cordiality. Mr. BROOKE returned +to Sarawak in the following year and this time assisted MUDA HASSIM to +put down the rebellion and finally, on the 24th September, 1841, the +Malay Raja retired from his position as Governor in favour of the +Englishman. + +The agreement to so transfer the Government was not signed without the +application of a little pressure, for we find the following account of +it in Mr. BROOKE'S Journal, edited by Captain RODNEY MUNDY, R. N., in +two volumes, and published by JOHN MURRAY in 1848:-- + + "October 1st, 1841. Events of great importance have occurred + during the last month. I will shortly narrate them. The advent + of the _Royalist_ and _Swift_ and a second visit from the + _Diana_ on her return from Brunei with the shipwrecked crew of + the _Sultana_, strengthened my position, as it gave evidence + that the Singapore authorities were on the alert, and otherwise + did good to my cause by creating an impression amongst the + natives of my power and influence with the Governor of the + Straits Settlements. Now, then, was my time for pushing measures + to extremity against my subtle enemy the arch-intriguer MAKOTA." + This Chief was a Malay hostile to English interest. "I had + previously made several strong remonstrances, and urged for an + answer to a letter I had addressed to MUDA HASSIM, in which I + had recapitulated in detail the whole particulars of our + agreement, concluding by a positive demand either to allow me to + retrace my steps by repayment of the sums which he had induced + me to expend, or to confer upon me the grant of the Government + of the country according to his repeated promises; and I ended + by stating that if he would not do either one or the other I + _must find means to right myself_. Thus did I, for the first + time since my arrival in the land, present anything in the shape + of a menace before the Raja, my former remonstrances only going + so far as to threaten to take away my own person and vessels + from the river." Mr. BROOKE'S demand for an investigation into + MAKOTA'S conduct was politely shelved and Mr. BROOKE deemed "the + moment for action had now arrived. My conscience told me that I + was bound no longer to submit to such injustice, and I was + resolved to test the strength of our respective parties. + Repairing on board the yacht, I mustered my people, explained + my intentions and mode of operation, and having loaded the + vessel's guns with grape and canister, and brought her broadside + to bear, I proceeded on shore with a detachment fully armed, and + taking up a position at the entrance of the Raja's palace, + demanded and obtained an immediate audience. In a few words I + pointed out the villany of MAKOTA, his tyranny and oppression of + all classes, and my determination to attack him by force, and + drive him from the country. I explained to the Raja that several + Chiefs and a large body of Siniawan Dyaks were ready to assist + me, and the only course left to prevent bloodshed was + immediately to proclaim me Governor of the country. This + unmistakeable demonstration had the desired effect * * * None + joined the party of MAKOTA, and his paid followers were not more + than twenty in number. + + "Under the guns of the _Royalist_, and with a small body of men + to protect me personally, and the great majority of all classes + with me, it is not surprising that the negotiation proceeded + rapidly to a favourable issue. The document was quickly drawn + up, sealed, signed, and delivered; and on the 24th of September, + 1841, I was declared Raja and Governor of Sarawak amidst the + roar of cannon, and a general display of flags and banners from + the shore and boats on the river." + +This is a somewhat lengthy quotation, but the language is so graphic and +so honest that I need make no apologies for introducing it and, indeed, +it is the fairest way of exhibiting Mr. BROOKE'S objects and reasons and +is, moreover, interesting as shewing under what circumstances and +conditions the first permanent English settlement was formed in Borneo. + +Mr. BROOKE concludes his account of his accession to the Government in +words that remind us of another unselfish and modest hero--General +GORDON. He says:-- + + "Difficulty followed upon difficulty; the dread of pecuniary + failure, the doubt of receiving support or assistance; this and + much more presents itself to my mind. But I have tied myself to + the stake. I have heaped faggots around me. I stand upon a cask + of gunpowder, and if others bring the torch I shall not shrink, + I feel within me the firm, unchangeable conviction of doing + right which nothing can shake. I see the benefits I am + conferring. The oppressed, the wretched, the outlawed have found + in me their only protector. They now hope and trust; and they + shall not be disappointed while I have life to uphold them. God + has so far used me as a humble instrument of his hidden + Providence; and whatever be the result, whatever my fate, I know + the example will not be thrown away. I know it tends to a good + end in His own time. He can open a path for me through all + difficulties, raise me up friends who will share with me in the + task, awaken the energies of the great and powerful, so that + they may protect this unhappy people. I trust it may be so: but + if God wills otherwise; if the time be not yet arrived; if it be + the Almighty's will that the flickering taper shall be + extinguished ere it be replaced by a steady beacon, I submit, in + the firm and humble assurance that His ways are better than my + ways, and that the term of my life is better in His hands than + in my own." + +On the 1st August, 1842, this cession of Sarawak to Mr. BROOKE was +confirmed by His Highness Sultan OMAR ALI SAIFUDIN, under the Great +Seal. MUDA HASSIM was the uncle of the Sultan, who was a sovereign of +weak, vacillating disposition, at one time guided by the advice of his +uncle, who was the leader of the "English party," and expressing his +desire for the Queen's assistance to put down piracy and disorder and +offering, in return, to cede to the British the island of Labuan; at +another following his own natural inclinations and siding altogether +with the party of disorder, who were resolved to maintain affairs as +they were in the "good old times," knowing that when the reign of law +and order should be established their day and their power and ability to +aggrandize and enrich themselves at the expense of the aborigines and +the common people would come to an end. There is no doubt that Mr. +BROOKE himself considered it would be for the good of the country that +MUDA HASSIM should be raised to the throne and the Sultan certainly +entertained a not altogether ill-founded dread that it was intended to +depose him in the latter's favour, the more so as a large majority of +the Brunai people were known to be in his interest. In the early part +of 1845 MUDA HASSIM appears to have been in favour with the Sultan, and +was publicly announced as successor to the throne with the title of +_Sultan Muda_ (muda = young, the usual Malay title for the heir apparent +to the Crown), and the document recognising the appointment of Mr. +BROOKE as the Queen's Confidential Agent in Borneo was written in the +name of the Sultan and of MUDA HASSIM conjointly, and concludes by +saying that the two writers express the hope that through the Queen's +assistance they will be enabled to _settle the Government of Borneo_. In +April, 1846, however, Mr. BROOKE received the startling intelligence +that in the December, or January previous, the Sultan had ordered the +murder of his uncle MUDA HASSIM and of several of the Raja's brothers +and nobles of his party, in all some thirteen Rajas and many of their +followers. MUDA HASSIM, finding resistance useless, retreated to his +boat and ignited a cask of powder, but the explosion not killing him, he +blew his brains out with a pistol. His brother, Pangeran BUDRUDIN, one +of the most enlightened nobles in Brunai, likewise terminated his +existence by an explosion of gunpowder. Representations being made to +Sir THOMAS COCHRANE, the Admiral in command of the station, he proceeded +in person to Borneo with a squadron of eight vessels, including two +steamers. The Sultan, foreseeing the punishment that was inevitable, +erected some well-placed batteries to defend his town. Only the two +steamers and one sailing vessel of war, together with boats from the +other vessels and a force of six hundred men were able to ascend the +river and, such was the rotten state of the kingdom of Borneo Proper and +so unwarlike the disposition of its degenerate people that after firing +a few shots, whereby two of the British force were killed and a few +wounded, the batteries were deserted, the Sultan and his followers fled +to the jungle, and the capital remained at the Admiral's disposition. +Captain RODNEY MUNDY, accompanied by Mr. BROOKE, with a force of five +hundred men was despatched in pursuit of His Highness, but it is +needless to add that, though the difficulties of marching through a +trackless country under a tropical downpour of rain were pluckily +surmounted, it was found impossible to come up with the Royal fugitive. +Negotiations were subsequently entered into with the Prime Minister, +Pangeran MUMIM, an intelligent noble, who afterwards became Sultan, and +on the 19th July, 1846, the batteries were razed to the ground and the +Admiral issued a Proclamation to the effect that hostilities would cease +if the Sultan would return and govern lawfully, suppress piracy and +respect his engagements with the British Government; but that if he +persisted in his evil courses the squadron would return and burn down +the capital. The same day Admiral COCHRANE and his squadron steamed +away. It is perhaps superfluous to add that this was the first and the +last time that the Brunai Government attempted to try conclusions with +the British, and in the following year a formal treaty was concluded to +which reference will be made hereafter. + +(_To be continued._) + + +Footnotes: + +[Footnote 8: CRAWFURD'S Dictionary--Indian Islands--_Majapait_.] + +[Footnote 9: Captain RODNEY MUNDY, R. N., states that in 1846 he +captured at Brunai ten large Spanish brass guns, the longest being +14 feet 6 inches, cast in the time of CHARLES III of Spain and the +most beautiful specimens of workmanship he had ever seen. CHARLES III +reigned between 1759 and 1788.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +Having alluded to the circumstances under which the Government of +Sarawak became vested in the BROOKE family, it may be of interest if I +give a brief outline of the history of that State under its European +rulers up to the present time. The territory acquired by Sir JAMES +BROOKE in 1841 and known as Sarawak Proper, was a small district with a +coast line of sixty miles and with an average depth inland of fifty +miles--an area of three thousand square miles. Since that date, however, +rivers and districts lying to the northward have been acquired by +cessions for annual payments from the Brunai Government and have been +incorporated with the original district of Sarawak, which has given its +name to the enlarged territory, and the present area of Raja BROOKE'S +possessions is stated to be about 40,000 square miles, supporting a +population of 280,000 souls, and possessing a coast line of 380 miles. +The most recent acquisition of territory was in 1884, so that the young +State has shewn a very vigorous growth since its birth in 1841--at the +rate of about 860 square miles a year, or an increase of thirteen times +its original size in the space of forty-three years. + +Now, alas, there are no "more lands to conquer," or acquire, unless the +present kingdom of Brunai, or Borneo Proper, as it is styled by the old +geographers, is altogether swallowed up by its offspring, which, under +its white ruler, has developed a vitality never evinced under the rule +of the Royal house of Brunai in its best days.[10] + +The limit of Sarawak's coast line to the South-West is Cape, or +_Tanjong_, Datu, on the other side of which commences the Dutch portion +of Borneo, so that expansion in that direction is barred. To the +North-East the boundary is Labuk Pulai the Eastern limit of the +watershed, on the coast, of the important river Barram which was +acquired by Raja BROOKE, in 1881, for an annual payment of L1,000. +Beyond this commences what is left of the Brunai Sultanate, there being +but one stream of any importance between the Barram river and that on +which the capital--Brunai--is situated. But Sarawak does not rest here; +it acquired, in 1884, from the then Pangeran Tumonggong, who is now +Sultan, the Trusan, a river to the East of the Brunai, under somewhat +exceptional circumstances. The natives of the river were in rebellion +against the Brunai Government, and in November, 1884, a party of Sarawak +Dyaks, who had been trading and collecting jungle produce in the +neighbourhood of the capital, having been warned by their own Government +to leave the country because of its disturbed condition, and having +further been warned also by the Sultan not to enter the Trusan, could +not refrain from visiting that river on their homeward journey, in order +to collect some outstanding trade debts. They were received is so +friendly a manner, that their suspicions were not in the slightest +degree aroused, and they took no precautions, believing themselves to be +amongst friends. Suddenly in the night they were attacked while asleep +in their boats, and the whole party, numbering about seventeen, +massacred, with the exception of one man who, though wounded, managed to +effect his escape and ultimately found his way to Labuan, where he was +treated in the Government Hospital and made a recovery. The heads of the +murdered men were, as is customary, taken by the murderers. No very +distinct reason can be given for the attack, except that the Trusan +people were in a "slaying" mood, being on the "war-path" and in arms +against their own Government, and it has also been said that those +particular Dyaks happened to be wearing trowsers instead of their +ordinary _chawat_, or loin cloth, and, as their enemies, the Brunais, +were trowser-wearers, the Trusan people thought fit to consider all +natives wearing such extravagant clothing as their enemies. The Sarawak +Government, on hearing of the incident, at once despatched Mr. MAXWELL, +the Chief Resident, to demand redress. The Brunai Government, having no +longer the warlike Kyans at their beck and call, that tribe having +passed to Raja BROOKE with the river Barram, were wholly unable to +undertake the punishment of the offenders. Mr. MAXWELL then demanded as +compensation the sum of $22,000, basing his calculations on the amount +which some time previously the British Government had exacted in the +case of some British subjects who had been murdered in another river. + +This demand the bankrupt Government of Brunai was equally incompetent to +comply with, and, thereupon, the matter was settled by the transfer of +the river to Raja BROOKE in consideration of the large annual payment of +$4,500, two years' rental--$9,000, being paid in advance, and Sarawak +thus acquired, as much by good luck as through good management, a _pied +a terre_ in the very centre of the Brunai Sultanate and practically +blocked the advance of their northern rivals--the Company--on the +capital. This river was the _kouripan_ (see _ante_, page 26) of the +present Sultan, and a feeling of pique which he then entertained against +the Government of British North Borneo, on account of their refusing him +a monetary loan to which he conceived he had a claim, caused him to make +this cession with a better grace and more readily than might otherwise +have been the case, for he was well aware that the British North Borneo +Company viewed with some jealousy the extension of Sarawak territory in +this direction, having, more than probably, themselves an ambition to +carry their own southern boundary as near to Brunai as circumstances +would admit. The same feeling on the part of the Tumonggong induced him +to listen to Mr. MAXWELL'S proposals for the cession to Sarawak of a +still more important river--the Limbang--one on which the existence of +Brunai itself as an independent State may be said to depend. But the +then reigning Sultan and the other Ministers of State refused their +sanction, and the Tumonggong, since his accession to the throne, has +also very decidedly changed his point of view, and is now in accord with +the large majority of his Brunai subjects to whom such a cession would +be most distasteful. It should be explained that the Limbang is an +important sago-producing river, close to the capital and forming an +actual portion of the Brunai river itself, with the waters of which it +mingles; indeed, the Brunai river is probably the former mouth of the +Limbang, and is itself but a salt-water inlet, producing nothing but +fish and prawns. As the Brunais themselves put it, the Limbang is their +_priuk nasi_, their rice pot, an expression which gains the greater +force when it is remembered that rice is the chief food with this +eastern people, in a more emphatic sense even than bread is with us. +This question of the Limbang river will afford a good instance and +specimen of the oppressive government, or want of government, on the +part of the Brunai rulers, and I will return to it again, continuing now +my short glance at Sarawak's progress. Raja BROOKE has had little +difficulty in establishing his authority in the districts acquired from +time to time, for not only were the people glad to be freed from the +tyranny of the Brunai Rajas, but the fame of both the present Raja and +of his famous uncle Sir JAMES had spread far and wide in Borneo, and, in +addition, it was well known that the Sarawak Government had at its back +its war-like Dyak tribes, who, now that "head-hunting" has been stopped +amongst them, would have heartily welcomed the chance of a little +legitimate fighting and "at the commandment of the Magistrate to wear +weapons and serve in the wars," as the XXXVIIth Article of our Church +permits. In the Trusan, the Sarawak flag was freely distributed and +joyfully accepted, and in a short time the Brunai river was dotted with +little roughly "dug-out" canoes, manned by repulsive-looking, naked, +skin-diseased savages, each proudly flying an enormous Sarawak ensign, +with its Christian symbol of the Cross, in the Muhammadan capital. + +A fine was imposed and paid for the murder of the Sarawak Dyaks, and the +heads delivered up to Mr. A. H. EVERETT, the Resident of the new +district, who thus found his little launch on one occasion decorated in +an unusual manner with these ghastly trophies, which were, I believe, +forwarded to the sorrowing relatives at home. + +In addition to these levies of warriors expert in jungle fighting, on +which the Government can always count, the Raja has a small standing +army known as the "Sarawak Rangers," recruited from excellent +material--the natives of the country--under European Officers, armed +with breech-loading rifles, and numbering two hundred and fifty or three +hundred men. There is, in addition, a small Police Force, likewise +composed of natives, as also are the crews of the small steamers and +launches which form the Sarawak Navy. With the exception, therefore, of +the European Officers, there is no foreign element in the military, +naval and civil forces of the State, and the peace of the people is kept +by the people themselves, a state of things which makes for the +stability and popularity of the Government, besides enabling it to +provide for the defence of the country and the preservation of internal +order at a lower relative cost than probably any other Asiatic country +the Government of which is in the hand of Europeans. Sir JAMES BROOKE +did not marry, and died in 1868, having appointed as his successor the +present Raja CHARLES JOHNSON, who has taken the name of BROOKE, and has +proclaimed his eldest son, a youth of sixteen, heir apparent, with the +title of Raja Muda. The form of Government is that of an absolute +monarchy, but the Raja is assisted by a Supreme Council composed of two +European officials and four natives nominated by himself. There is also +a General Council of some fifty members, which is not usually convened +more frequently than once in two or three years. For administrative +purposes, the country is divided into Divisions, each under a European +Resident with European and Native Assistants. The Resident administers +justice, and is responsible for the collection of the Revenue and the +preservation of order in the district, reporting direct to the Raja. +Salaries are on an equitable scale, and the regulations for leave and +pension on retirement are conceived in a liberal spirit. + +There is no published Code of Laws, but the Raja, when the occasion +arises, issues regulations and proclamations for the guidance of +officials, who, in criminal cases, follow as much as possible the Indian +Criminal Code. Much is left to the common sense of the Judicial +Officers, native customs and religious prejudices receive due +consideration, and there is a right of appeal to the Raja. Slavery was +in full force when Sir JAMES BROOKE assumed the Government, all captives +in the numerous tribal wars and piratical expeditions being kept or sold +as slaves. + +Means were taken to mitigate as much as possible the condition of the +slaves, not, as a rule, a very hard one in these countries, and to +gradually abolish the system altogether, which latter object was to be +accomplished by 1888. + +The principal item of revenue is the annual sum paid by the person who +secures from the Government the sole right of importing, preparing for +consumption, and retailing opium throughout the State. The holder of +this monopoly is known as the "Opium Farmer" and the monopoly is termed +the "Opium Farm." These expressions have occasionally given rise to the +notion that the opium-producing poppy is cultivated locally under +Government supervision, and I have seen it included among the list of +Borneo products in a recent geographical work. It is evident that the +system of farming out this monopoly has a tendency to limit the +consumption of the drug, as, owing to the heavy rental paid to the +Government, the retail price of the article to the consumer is very much +enhanced. + +Were the monopoly abolished, it would be impossible for the Government +efficiently to check the contraband importation of so easily smuggled an +article as prepared opium, or _chandu_, and by lowering the price the +consumption would be increased. + +The use of the drug is almost entirely confined to the Chinese portion +of the population. A poll-tax, customs and excise duties, mining +royalties and fines and fees make up the rest of the revenue, which in +1884 amounted to $237,752 and in 1885 to $315,264. The expenditure for +the same years is given by Vice-Consul CADELL as $234,161 and $321,264, +respectively. In the early days of Sarawak, it was a very serious +problem to find the money to pay the expenses of a most economical +Government. Sir JAMES BROOKE sunk all his own fortune--L30,000--in the +country, and took so gloomy a view of the financial prospects of his +kingdom that, on the refusal of England to annex it, he offered it first +to France and then to Holland. Fortunately these offers were never +carried into effect, and, with the assistance of the Borneo Company (not +to be confused with the British North Borneo Company), who acquired the +concession of the right to work the minerals in Sarawak, bad times were +tided over, and, by patient perseverance, the finances of the State have +been brought to their present satisfactory condition. What the amount of +the national public debt is, I am not in a position to say, but, like +all other countries aspiring to be civilized, it possesses a small one. +The improvement in the financial position was undoubtedly chiefly due to +the influx of Chinese, especially of gambier and pepper planters, who +were attracted by liberal concessions of land and monetary assistance in +the first instance from the Government. The present Raja has himself +said that "without the Chinese we can do nothing," and we have only to +turn to the British possession in the far East--the Straits Settlements, +the Malay Peninsula, and Hongkong--to see that this is the case. For +instance, the revenue of the Straits Settlements in 1887 was $3,847,475, +of which the opium farm alone--that is a tax practically speaking borne +by the Chinese population--contributed $1,779,600, or not very short of +one half of the whole, and they of course contribute in many other ways +as well. The frugal, patient, industrious, go-ahead, money-making +Chinaman is undoubtedly the colonist for the sparsely inhabited islands +of the Malay archipelago. Where, as in Java, there is a large native +population and the struggle for existence has compelled the natives to +adopt habits of industry, the presence of the Chinaman is not a +necessity, but in a country like Borneo, where the inhabitants, from +time immemorial, except during unusual periods of drought or epidemic +sickness, have never found the problem of existence bear hard upon them, +it is impossible to impress upon the natives that they ought to have +"wants," whether they feel them or not, and that the pursuit of the +dollar for the sake of mere possession is an ennobling object, +differentiating the simple savage from the complicated product of the +higher civilization. The Malay, in his ignorance, thinks that if he can +obtain clothing suitable to the climate, a hut which adequately protects +him from sun and rain, and a wife to be the mother of his children and +the cooker of his meals, he should therewith rest content; but, then, no +country made up of units possessed of this simple faith can ever come to +anything--can ever be civilized, and hence the necessity for the Chinese +immigrant in Eastern Colonies that want to shew an annual revenue +advancing by leaps and bounds. The Chinaman, too, in addition to his +valuable properties as a keen trader and a man of business, collecting +from the natives the products of the country, which he passes on to the +European merchant, from whom he obtains the European fabrics and +American "notions" to barter with the natives, is also a good +agriculturist, whether on a large or small scale; he is muscular and can +endure both heat and cold, and so is, at any rate in the tropics, far +and away a superior animal to the white labourer, whether for +agricultural or mining work, as an artizan, or as a hewer of wood and +drawer of water, as a cook, a housemaid or a washerwoman. He can learn +any trade that a white man can teach him, from ship-building to +watchmaking, and he does not drink and requires scarcely any holidays or +Sundays, occasionally only a day to worship his ancestors. + +It will be said that if he does not drink he smokes opium. Yes! he does, +and this, as we have seen, is what makes him so beloved of the Colonial +Chancellors of the Exchequer. At the same time he is, if strict justice +and firmness are shewn him, wonderfully law-abiding and orderly. Faction +fights, and serious ones no doubt, do occur between rival classes and +rival secret societies, but to nothing like the extent that would be the +case were they white men. It is not, I think, sufficiently borne in +mind, that a very large proportion of the Chinese there are of the +lower, I may say of the lowest, orders, many of them of the criminal +class and the scourings of some of the large cities of China, who arrive +at their destination in possession of nothing but a pair of trowsers and +a jacket and, may be, an opium pipe; in addition to this they come from +different provinces, between the inhabitants of which there has always +been rivalry, and the languages of which are so entirely different that +it is a usual thing to find Chinese of different provinces compelled to +carry on their conversation in Malay or "pidgeon" English, and finally, +as though the elements of danger were not already sufficient, they are +pressed on their arrival to join rival secret societies, between which +the utmost enmity and hatred exists. Taking all these things into +consideration, I maintain that the Chinaman is a good and orderly +citizen and that his good qualities, especially as a revenue-payer in +the Far East, much more than counterbalance his bad ones. The secret +societies, whose organization permeates Chinese society from the top to +the bottom, are the worst feature in the social condition of the Chinese +colonists, and in Sarawak a summary method of suppressing them has been +adopted. The penalty for belonging to one of these societies is death. +When Sir JAMES BROOKE took over Sarawak, there was a considerable +Chinese population, settled for generations in the country and recruited +from Dutch territory, where they had been subject to no supervision by +the Government, whose hold over the country was merely nominal. They +were principally gold diggers, and being accustomed to manage their own +affairs and settle their disputes amongst themselves, they resented any +interference from the new rulers, and, in 1857, a misunderstanding +concerning the opium revenue having occurred, they suddenly rose in arms +and seized the capital. It was some time before the Raja's forces could +be collected and let loose upon them, when large numbers were killed and +the majority of the survivors took refuge in Dutch territory. + +The scheme for introducing Chinese pepper and gambier planters into +Sarawak was set on foot in 1878 or 1879, and has proved a decided +success, though, as Vice-Consul CADELL remarked in 1886, it is difficult +to understand why even larger numbers have not availed themselves of the +terms offered "since coolies have the protection of the Sarawak +Government, which further grants them free passages from Singapore, +whilst the climate is a healthy one, and there are no dangers to be +feared from wild animals, tigers being unknown in Sarawak." The fact +remains that, though there is plenty of available land, there is an +insufficiency of Chinese labour still. The quantity of pepper exported +in 1885 was 392 tons, valued at L19,067, and of gambier 1,370 tons, +valued at L23,772. + +Sarawak is said to supply more than half of the sago produce of the +world. The value of the sago it exported in 1885 is returned at L35,953. +Of the purely uncultivated jungle products that figure in the exports +the principal are gutta-percha, India rubber, and rattans. + +Both antimony ores and cinnabar (an ore of quicksilver) are worked by +the Borneo Company, but the exports of the former ore and of quicksilver +are steadily decreasing, and fresh deposits are being sought for. Only +one deposit of cinnabar has so far been discovered, that was in 1867. +Antimony was first discovered in Sarawak in 1824, and-for a long time it +was from this source that the principal supplies for Europe and America +were obtained. The ores are found "generally as boulders deep in clayey +soil, or perched on tower-like summits and craggy pinnacles and, +sometimes, in dykes _in situ_." The ores, too poor for shipment, are +reduced locally, and the _regulus_ exported to London. Coal is abundant, +but is not yet worked on any considerable scale.[11] The Borneo Company +excepted, all the trade of the country is in the hands of Chinese and +Natives, nor has the Government hitherto taken steps to attract European +capital for planting, but experiments are being made with the public +funds under European supervision in the planting of cinchona, coffee, +and tobacco. The capital of Sarawak is _Kuching_, which in Malay +signifies a "cat." It is situated about fifteen miles up the Sarawak +river and, when Sir JAMES first arrived, was a wretched native town, +with palm leaf huts and a population, including a few Chinese and Klings +(natives of India), of some two thousand. Kuching now possesses a well +built "Istana," or Palace of the Raja, a Fort, impregnable to natives, a +substantial Gaol, Court House, Government Offices, Public Market and +Church, and is the headquarters of the Bishop of Singapore and Sarawak, +who is the head of the Protestant Mission in the country. There is a +well built brick Chinese trading quarter, or "bazaar," the Europeans +have comfortable bungalows, and the present population is said to number +twelve thousand. + +In the early days of his reign, Sir JAMES BROOKE was energetically +assisted in his great work of suppressing piracy and rendering the seas +and rivers safe for the passage of the peaceful trader, by the British +men-of-war on the China Station, and was singularly fortunate in having +an energetic co-adjutor in Captain (now Admiral) Sir HENRY KEPPEL, +K.C.B. + +It will give some idea of the extent to which piracy, then almost the +sole occupation of the Illanun, Balinini, and Sea Dyak tribes, was +indulged in that the "Headmoney," then paid by the British Government +for pirates destroyed, amounted in these expeditions to the large total +of L20,000, the awarding of which sum occasioned a great stir at the +time and led to the abolition of this system of "payment by results." +Mr. HUME took exception altogether to the action of Sir JAMES BROOKE, +and, in 1851, charges were brought against him, and a Royal Commission +appointed to take evidence on the spot, or rather at Singapore. + +A man like BROOKE, of an enthusiastic, impulsive, unselfish and almost +Quixotic disposition, who wore his heart on his sleeve and let his +opinions of men and their actions be freely known, could not but have +incurred the enmity of many meaner, self-seeking minds. The Commission, +after hearing all that could be brought against him, found that there +was nothing proved, but it was not deemed advisable that Sir JAMES +should continue to act as the British representative in Borneo and as +Governor of the Colony of Labuan, positions which were indeed +incompatible with that of the independent ruler of Sarawak. Sarawak +independence was first recognised by the Americans, and the British +followed suit in 1863, when a Vice-Consulate was established there. The +question of formally proclaiming a British Protectorate over Sarawak is +now being considered, and it is to be hoped, will be carried into +effect.[12] The _personel_ of the Government is purely British, most of +the merchants and traders are of British nationality, and the whole +trade of the country finds its way to the British Colony of the Straits +Settlements. + +We can scarcely let a country such as this, with its local and other +resources, so close to Singapore and on the route to China, fall into +the hands of any other European Power, and the only means of preventing +such a catastrophe is by the proclamation of a Protectorate over it--a +Protectorate which, so long as the successors of Raja BROOKE prove their +competence to govern, should be worked so as to interfere as little as +possible in the internal affairs of the State. The virulently hostile +and ignorant criticisms to which Sir JAMES BROOKE was subjected in +England, and the financial difficulties of this little kingdom, coupled +with a serious dispute with a nephew whom he had appointed his +successor, but whom he was compelled to depose, embittered the last +years of his life. To the end he fought his foes in his old, plucky, +honest, vigorous and straightforward style. He died in June, 1868, from +a paralytic stroke, and was succeeded by his nephew, the present Raja. +What Sir JAMES BROOKE might have accomplished had he not been hampered +by an opposition based on ignorance and imperfect knowledge at home, we +cannot say; what he did achieve, I have endeavoured briefly to sketch, +and unprejudiced minds cannot but deem the founding of a prosperous +State and the total extirpation of piracy, slavery and head-hunting, a +monument worthy of a high, noble and unselfish nature. + +In addition to that of the Church of England, there has, within the last +few years, been established a Roman Catholic Mission, under the auspices +of the St. Joseph's College, Mill Hill. + +The Muhammadans, including all the true Malay inhabitants, do not make +any concerted effort to disseminate the doctrines of their faith. + +The following information relative to the Church of England Mission has +been kindly furnished me by the Right Reverend Dr. HOSE, the present +Bishop of "Singapore, Labuan and Sarawak," which is the official title +of his extensive See which includes the Colony of the Straits +Settlements--Penang, Province Wellesley, Malacca and Singapore and--its +Dependencies, the Protected States of the Malay Peninsula, the State of +Sarawak, the Crown Colony of Labuan, the Territories of the British +North Borneo Company and the Congregation of English people scattered +over Malaya. + +The Mission was, in the first instance, set on foot by the efforts of +Lady BURDETT-COUTTS and others in 1847, when Sir JAMES BROOKE was in +England and his doings in the Far East had excited much interest and +enthusiasm, and was specially organized under the name of the "Borneo +Church Mission." The late Reverend T. MCDOUGALL, was the first +Missionary, and subsequently became the first Bishop. His name was once +well known, owing to a wrong construction put upon his action, on one +occasion, in making use of fire arms when a vessel, on which he was +aboard, came across a fleet of pirates. He was a gifted, practical and +energetic man and had the interest of his Mission at heart, and, in +addition to other qualifications, added the very useful one, in his +position, of being a qualified medical man. Bishop MCDOUGALL was +succeeded on his retirement by Bishop CHAMBERS, who had experience +gained while a Missionary in the country. The present Bishop was +appointed in 1881. The Mission was eventually taken over by the Society +for the Propagation of the Gospel, and this Society defrays, with +unimportant exceptions, the whole cost of the See. + +Dr. HOSE has under him in Sarawak eight men in holy orders, of whom six +are Europeans, one Chinese and one Eurasian. The influence of the +Missionaries has spread over the Skerang, Balau and Sibuyan tribes of +_Sea_-Dyaks, and also among the _Land_-Dyaks near Kuching, the Capital, +and among the Chinese of that town and the neighbouring pepper +plantations. + +There are now seven churches and twenty-five Mission chapels in Sarawak, +and about 4,000 baptized Christians of the Church of England. The +Mission also provides means of education and, through its press, +publishes translations of the Bible, the Prayer Book and other religious +and educational works, in Malay and in two Dyak dialects, which latter +have only become written languages since the establishment of the +Mission. In their Boys' School, at Kuching, over a hundred boys are +under instruction by an English Master, assisted by a staff of Native +Assistants; there is also a Girls' School, under a European Mistress, +and schools at all the Mission Stations. The Government of Sarawak +allows a small grant-in-aid to the schools and a salary of L200 a year +to one of the Missionaries, who acts as Government Chaplain. + +The Roman Catholic Mission commenced its works in Sarawak in 1881, and +is under the direction of the Reverend Father JACKSON, Prefect +Apostolic, who has also two or three Missionaries employed in British +North Borneo. In Sarawak there are six or eight European priests and +schoolmasters and a sisterhood of four or five nuns. In Kuching they +have a Chapel and School and a station among the Land-Dyaks in the +vicinity. They have recently established a station and erected a Chapel +on the Kanowit River, an affluent of the Rejang. The Missionaries are +mostly foreigners and, I believe, are under a vow to spend the remainder +of their days in the East, without returning to Europe. + +Their only reward is their consciousness of doing, or trying to do good, +and any surplus of their meagre stipends which remains, after providing +the barest necessaries of life, is refunded to the Society. I do not +know what success is attending them in Sarawak, but in British North +Borneo and Labuan, where they found that Father QUARTERON'S labours had +left scarcely any impression, their efforts up to present have met with +little success, and experiments in several rivers have had to be +abandoned, owing to the utter carelessness of the Pagan natives as to +matters relating to religion. When I left North Borneo in 1887, their +only station which appeared to show a prospect of success was one under +Father PUNDLEIDER, amongst the semi-Chinese of Bundu, to whom reference +has been made on a previous page. But these people, while permitting +their children to be educated and baptized by the Father, did not think +it worth their while to join the Church themselves. + +Neither Mission has attempted to convert the Muhammadan tribes, and +indeed it would, at present, be perfectly useless to do so and, from the +Government point of view, impolitic and inadvisable as well. + + +Footnotes: + +[Footnote 10: On the 17th March, 1890 the Limbang River was forcibly +annexed by Sarawak, subject to the Queen's sanction.] + +[Footnote 11: Since this was written, Raja Sir CHARLES BROOKE has +acquired valuable coal concessions at Muara, at the mouth of the Brunai +river, and the development of the coal resources of the State is being +energetically pushed forward.] + +[Footnote 12: This has since been formally proclaimed.] + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +I will now take a glance at the incident of the rebellion of the +inhabitants of the Limbang, the important river near Brunai to which +allusion has already been made, as from this one sample he will be able +to judge of the ordinary state of affairs in districts near the Capital, +since the establishment of Labuan as a Crown Colony and the conclusion +of the treaty and the appointment of a British Consul-General in Brunai, +and will also be able to attempt to imagine the oppression prevalent +before those events took place. The river, being a fertile and well +populated one and near Brunai, had been from old times the common purse +of the numerous nobles who, either by inheritance, or in virtue of their +official positions, as I have explained, owned as their followers the +inhabitants of the various villages situated on its banks, and many were +the devices employed to extort the uttermost farthing from the +unfortunate people, who were quite incapable of offering any resistance +because the warlike Kyan tribe was ever ready at hand to sweep down upon +them at the behest of their Brunai oppressors. The system of _dagang +sera_ (forced trade) I have already explained. Some of the other devices +I will now enumerate. _Chukei basoh batis_, or the tax of washing feet, +a contribution, varying in amount at the sweet will of the imposer, +levied when the lord of the village, or his chief agent, did it the +honour of a visit. _Chukei bongkar-sauh_, or tax on weighing anchor, +similarly levied when the lord took his departure and perhaps therefore, +paid with more willingness. _Chukei tolongan_, or tax of assistance, +levied when the lord had need of funds for some special purpose or on a +special occasion such as a wedding--and these are numerous amongst +polygamists--a birth, the building of a house or of a vessel. _Chop +bibas_, literally a free seal; this was a permission granted by the +Sultan to some noble and needy favourite to levy a contribution for his +own use anywhere he thought he could most easily enforce it. The method +of inventing imaginary crimes and delinquencies and punishing them with +heavy fines has been already mentioned. Then there are import and export +duties as to which no reasonable complaint can be made, but a real +grievance and hindrance to legitimate trade was the effort which the +Malays, supported by their rulers, made to prevent the interior tribes +trading direct with the Chinese and other foreign traders--acting +themselves as middlemen, so that but a very small share of profit fell +to the aborigines. The lords, too, had the right of appointing as many +_orang kayas_, or headmen, from among the natives as they chose, a +present being expected on their elevation to that position and another +on their death. In many rivers there was also an annual poll-tax, but +this does not appear to have been collected in the Limbang. Sir SPENCER +ST. JOHN, writing in 1856, gives, in his "Life in the Forests of the Far +East," several instances of the grievous oppression practiced on the +Limbang people. Amongst others he mentions how a native, in a fit of +desperation, had killed an extortionate tax-gatherer. Instead of having +the offender arrested and punished, the Sultan ordered his village to be +attacked, when fifty persons were killed and an equal number of women +and children were made prisoners and kept as slaves by His Highness. The +immediate cause of the rebellion to which I am now referring was the +extraordinary extortion practised by one of the principal Ministers of +State. The revenues of his office were principally derived from the +Limbang River and, as the Sultan was very old, he determined to make the +best possible use of the short time remaining to him to extract all he +could from his wretched feudatories. To aid him in his design, he +obtained, with the assistance of the British North Borneo Company, a +steam launch, and the Limbang people subsequently pointed out to me this +launch and complained bitterly that it was with the money forced out of +them that this means of oppressing them had been purchased. He then +employed the most unscrupulous agents he could discover, imposed +outrageous fines for trifling offences, and would even interfere if he +heard of any private disputes among the villagers, adjudicate unasked in +their cases, taking care always to inflict a heavy fine which went, not +to the party aggrieved, but into his own pocket. If the fines could not +be paid, and this was often the case, owing to their being purposely +fixed at such a high rate, the delinquent's sago plantations--the +principal wealth of the people in the Limbang River--would be +confiscated and became the private property of the Minister, or of some +of the members of his household. The patience of the people was at +length exhausted, and they remembered that the Brunai nobles could no +longer call in the Kayans to enforce their exactions, that tribe having +become subjects to Raja BROOKE. About the month of August, 1884, two of +the Minister's messengers, or tax collectors, who were engaged in the +usual process of squeezing the people, were fired on and killed by the +Bisayas, the principal pagan tribe in the river. The Tumonggong +determined to punish this outrage in person and probably thought his +august presence on the spot in a steam-launch, would quickly bring the +natives to their knees and afford him a grand opportunity of +replenishing his treasury. + +He accordingly ascended the river with a considerable force in +September, and great must have been his surprise when he found that his +messenger, sent in advance to call the people to meet him, was fired on +and killed. He could scarcely have believed the evidence of his own +ears, however, when shortly afterwards his royal launch and little fleet +were fired on from the river banks. For two days was this firing kept +up, the Brunais having great difficulty in returning it, owing to the +river being low and the banks steep and lined with large trees, behind +which the natives took shelter, and, a few casualties having occurred on +board and one of the Royal guns having burst, which was known as the +_Amiral Muminin_, the Tumonggong deemed it expedient to retire and +returned ignominiously to Brunai. The rebels, emboldened by the impunity +they had so far enjoyed, were soon found to be hovering round the +outskirts of the capital, and every now and then an outlying house +would be attacked during the night and the headless corpses of its +occupants be found on the morrow. There being no forts and no organized +force to resist attack, the houses, moreover, being nearly all +constructed of highly inflammable palm leaf thatch and matting, a +universal panic prevailed amongst all classes, when the Limbang people +announced their intention of firing the town. Considerable distress too +prevailed, as the spirit of rebellion had spread to all the districts +near the capital, and the Brunai people who had settled in them were +compelled to flee for their lives, leaving their property in the hands +of the insurgents, while the people of the city were unable to follow +their usual avocations--trading, planting, sago washing and so forth, +the Brunai River, as has been pointed out, producing nothing itself. +British trade being thus affected by the continuance of such a state of +affairs, and the British subjects in the city being in daily fear from +the apprehended attack by the rebels, the English Consul-General did +what he could to try and arrange matters. A certain Datu KLASSIE, one of +the most influential of the Bisaya Chiefs, came into Brunai without any +followers, but bringing with him, as a proof of the friendliness of his +mission, his wife. Instead of utilizing the services of this Chief in +opening communication with the natives, the Tumonggong, maddened by his +ignominious defeat, seized both Datu KLASSIE and his wife and placed +them in the public stocks, heavily ironed. + +I was Acting Consul-General at the time, and my assistance in arranging +matters had been requested by the Brunai Government, while the Bisayas +also had expressed their warm desire to meet and consult with me if I +would trust myself amongst them, and I at once arranged so to do; but, +being well aware that my mission would be perfectly futile unless I was +the bearer of terms from the Sultan and unless Datu KLASSIE and his wife +were released, I refused to take any steps until these two points were +conceded. + +This was a bitter pill for the Brunai Rajas and especially for the +Tumonggong, who, though perfectly aware that he was quite unable, not +only to punish the rebels, but even to defend the city against their +attacks, yet clung to the vain hope that the British Government might +be induced to regard them as pirates and so interfere in accordance with +the terms of the treaty, or that the Raja of Sarawak would construe some +old agreement made with Sir JAMES BROOKE as necessitating his rendering +armed assistance. + +However, owing to the experience, tact, perseverance and intelligence of +Inche MAHOMET, the Consular Agent, we gained our point after protracted +negotiations, and obtained the seals of the Sultan, the Bandahara, the +Di Gadong and the Tumonggong himself to a document, by which it was +provided that, on condition of the Limbang people laying down their arms +and allowing free intercourse with Brunai, all arbitrary taxation such +as that which has been described should be for ever abolished, but that, +in lieu therefor, a fixed poll-tax should be paid by all adult males, at +the rate of $3 per annum by married men and $2 by bachelors; that on the +death of an _orang kaya_ the contribution to be paid to the feudal lord +should be fixed at one pikul of brass gun, equal to about $21; that the +possession of their sago plantations should be peaceably enjoyed by +their owners; that jungle products should be collected without tax, +except in the case of gutta percha, on which a royalty of 5% _ad +valorem_ should be paid, instead of the 20% then exacted; that the taxes +should be collected by the headmen punctually and transmitted to Brunai, +and that four Brunai tax-gatherers, who were mentioned by name and whose +rapacious and criminal action had been instrumental in provoking the +rebellion, should be forbidden ever again to enter the Limbang River; +that a free pardon should be granted to the rebels. + +Accompanied by Inche MAHOMET and with some Bisaya interpreters, I +proceeded up the Limbang River, on the 21st October, in a steam-launch, +towing the boats of Pangeran ISTRI NAGARA and of the Datu AHAMAT, who +were deputed to accompany us and represent the Brunai Government. + +Several hundred of the natives assembled to meet us, and the Government +conditions were read out and explained. It was evident that the people +found it difficult to place much reliance in the promises of the Rajas, +although the document was formally attested by the seals of the Sultan +and of his three Ministers, and a duplicate had been prepared for them +to keep in their custody for future reference. It was seen, too, that +there were a number of Muhammadans in the crowd who appeared adverse to +the acceptance of the terms offered, and, doubtless, many of them were +acting at the instigation of the Tumonggong's party, who by no means +relished so peaceful a solution of the difficulties their chief's action +had brought about. + +Whilst the conference was still going on and the various clauses of the +_firman_ were being debated, news arrived that the Rajas had, in the +basest manner, let loose the Trusan Muruts on the district the day we +had sailed for the Limbang, and that these wretches had murdered and +carried off the heads of four women, two of whom were pregnant, and two +young unmarried girls and of two men who were at work in their gardens. + +This treacherous action was successful in breaking up the meeting, and +was not far from causing the massacre of at any rate the Brunai portion +of our party, and the Pangeran and the Datu quickly betook themselves to +their boats and scuttled off to Brunai not waiting for the steam-launch. + +But we determined not to be beaten by the Rajas' manoeuvres, and so, +though a letter reached me from the Sultan warning me of what had +occurred and urging me to return to Brunai, we stuck to our posts, and +ultimately were rewarded by the Bisayas returning and the majority of +their principal chiefs signing, or rather marking the document embodying +their new constitution, as it might be termed, in token of their +acquiescence--a result which should be placed to the credit of the +indefatigable Inche MAHOMET, whose services I am happy to say were +specially recognised in a despatch from the Foreign Office. Returning to +Brunai, I demanded the release of Datu KLASSIE, as had been agreed upon, +but it was only after I had made use of very plain language to his +messengers that the Tumonggong gave orders for his release and that of +his wife, whom I had the pleasure of taking up the river and restoring +to their friends. + +H. M. S. _Pegasus_ calling at Labuan soon afterwards, I seized the +opportunity to request Captain BICKFORD to make a little demonstration +in Brunai, which was not often visited by a man-of-war, with the double +object of restoring confidence to the British subjects there and the +traders generally and of exacting a public apology for the disgraceful +conduct of the Government in allowing the Muruts to attack the Limbang +people while we were up that river. Captain BICKFORD at once complied +with my request, and, as the _Pegasus_ drew too much water to cross the +bar, the boats were manned and armed and towed up to the city by a +steam-launch. It was rather a joke against me that the launch which +towed up the little flotilla designed to overawe Brunai was sent for the +occasion by one of the principal Ministers of the Sultan. It was placed +at my disposal by the Pangeran Di Gadong, who was then a bitter enemy of +the Tumonggong, and glad to witness his discomfiture. This was on the +3rd November, 1884. + +With reference to the heads taken on the occasion mentioned above, I may +add that the Muruts were allowed to retain them, and the disgusting +sight was to be seen, at one of the watering places in the town, of +these savages "cooking" and preparing the heads for keeping in their +houses. + +As the Brunai Government was weak and powerless, I am of opinion that +the agreement with the Limbang people might have been easily worked had +the British Government thought it worth while to insist upon its +observance. As it was, hostilities did cease, the headmen came down and +visited the old Sultan, and trade recommenced. In June, 1885, Sultan +MUMIM died, at the age, according to Native statements, which are very +unreliable on such points, of 114 years, and was succeeded by the +Tumonggong, who was proclaimed Sultan on the 5th June of the same year, +when I had the honour of being present at the ceremony, which was not of +an imposing character. The new Sultan did not forget the mortifying +treatment he had received at the hands of the Limbang people, and +refused to receive their Chiefs. He retained, too, in his own hands the +appointment of Tumonggong, and with it the rights of that office over +the Limbang River, and it became the interest of many different parties +to prevent the completion of the pacification of that district. The +gentleman for whom I had been acting as Consul-General soon afterwards +returned to his post. In May, 1887, Sir FREDERICK WELD, Governor of the +Straits Settlements, was despatched to Brunai by Her Majesty's +Government, on a special mission, to report on the affairs of the Brunai +Sultanate and as to recent cessions of territory made, or in course of +negotiation, to the British North Borneo Company and to Sarawak. His +report has not been yet made public. There were at one time grave +objections to allowing Raja BROOKE to extend his territory, as there was +no guarantee that some one of his successors might not prefer a life of +inglorious ease in England to the task of governing natives in the +tropics, and sell his kingdom to the highest bidder--say France or +Germany; but if the British Protectorate over Sarawak is formally +proclaimed, there would appear to be no reasonable objection to the +BROOKES establishing their Government in such other districts as the +Sultan may see good of his own free will to cede, but it should be the +duty of the British Government to see that their ally is fairly treated +and that any cessions he may make are entirely voluntary and not brought +about by coercion in any form--direct or indirect. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +The British Colony of Labuan was obtained by cession from the Sultan of +Brunai and was in the shape of a _quid pro quo_ for assistance in +suppressing piracy in the neighbouring seas, which the Brunai Government +was supposed to have at heart, but in all probability, the real reason +of the willingness on the Sultan's part to cede it was his desire to +obtain a powerful ally to assist him in reasserting his authority in +many parts of the North and West portions of his dominions, where the +allegiance of the people had been transferred to the Sultan of Sulu and +to Illanun and Balinini piratical leaders. It was a similar reason +which, in 1774, induced the Brunai Government to grant to the East India +Company the monopoly of the trade in pepper, and is explained in Mr. +JESSE'S letter to the Court of Directors as follows. He says that he +found the reason of their unanimous inclination to cultivate the +friendship and alliance of the Company was their desire for "protection +from their piratical neighbours, the Sulus and Mindanaos, and others, +who make continual depredations on their coast, by taking advantage of +their natural timidity." + +The first connection of the British with Labuan was on the occasion of +their being expelled by the Sulus from Balambangan, in 1775, when they +took temporary refuge on the island. + +In 1844, Captain Sir EDWARD BELCHER visited Brunai to enquire into +rumours of the detention of a European female in the country--rumours +which proved to be unfounded. Sir JAMES BROOKE accompanied him, and on +this occasion the Sultan, who had been terrified by a report that his +capital was to be attacked by a British squadron of sixteen or seventeen +vessels, addressed a document, in conjunction with Raja Muda HASSIM, to +the Queen of England, requesting her aid "for the suppression of piracy +and the encouragement and extension of trade; and to assist in +forwarding these objects they are willing to cede, to the Queen of +England, the Island of Labuan, and its islets on such terms as may +hereafter be arranged by any person appointed by Her Majesty. The Sultan +and the Raja Muda HASSIM consider that an English Settlement on Labuan +will be of great service to the natives of the coast, and will draw a +considerable trade from the northward, and from China; and should Her +Majesty the Queen of England decide upon the measure, the Sultan and the +Raja Muda HASSIM promise to afford every assistance to the English +authorities." In February of the following year, the Sultan and Raja +Muda HASSIM, in a letter accepting Sir JAMES BROOKE as Her Majesty's +Agent in Borneo, without specially mentioning Labuan, expressed their +adherence to their former declarations, conveyed through Sir EDWARD +BELCHER, and asked for immediate assistance "to protect Borneo from the +pirates of Marudu," a Bay situated at the northern extremity of +Borneo--assistance which was rendered in the following August, when the +village of Marudu was attacked and destroyed, though it is perhaps open +to doubt whether the chief, OSMAN, quite deserved the punishment he +received. On the 1st March of the same year (1845) the Sultan verbally +asked Sir JAMES BROOKE whether and at what time the English proposed to +take possession of Labuan. Then followed the episode already narrated of +the murder by the Sultan of Raja Muda HASSIM and his family and the +taking of Brunai by Admiral COCHRANE'S Squadron. In November, 1846, +instructions were received in Singapore, from Lord PALMERSTON, to take +possession of Labuan, and Captain RODNEY MUNDY was selected for this +service. He arrived in Brunai in December, and gives an amusing account +of how he proceeded to carry out his orders and obtain the _voluntary_ +cession of the island. As a preliminary, he sent "Lieutenant LITTLE in +charge of the boats of the _Iris_ and _Wolf_, armed with twenty marines, +to the capital, with orders to moor them in line of battle opposite the +Sultan's palace, and to await my arrival." On reaching the palace, +Captain MUNDY produced a brief document, to which he requested the +Sultan to affix his seal, and which provided for eternal friendship +between the two countries, and for the cession of Labuan, in +consideration of which the Queen engaged to use her best endeavours to +suppress piracy and protect lawful commerce. The document of 1844 had +stated that Labuan would be ceded "on such terms as may hereafter be +arranged," and a promise to suppress piracy, the profits in which were +shared by the Sultan and his nobles, was by no means regarded by them as +a fair set off; it was a condition with which they would have readily +dispensed. The Sultan ventured to remark that the present treaty was +different to the previous one, and that a money payment was required in +exchange for the cession of territory. Captain MUNDY replied that the +former treaty had been broken when Her Majesty's Ships were fired on by +the Brunai forts, and "at last I turned to the Sultan, and exclaimed +firmly, 'Bobo chop bobo chop!' followed up by a few other Malay words, +the tenor of which was, that I recommended His Majesty to put his seal +forthwith." And he did so. Captain MUNDY hoisted the British Flag at +Labuan on the 24th December, 1846, and there still exists at Labuan in +the place where it was erected by the gallant Captain, a granite slab, +with an inscription recording the fact of the formal taking possession +of the island in Her Majesty's name. + +In the following year, Sir JAMES BROOKE was appointed the first Governor +of the new Colony, retaining his position as the British representative +in Brunai, and being also the ruler of Sarawak, the independence of +which was not formally recognised by the English Government until the +year 1863. Sir JAMES was assisted at Labuan by a Lieutenant-Governor and +staff of European Officers, who on their way through Singapore are said +to have somewhat offended the susceptibilities of the Officials of that +Settlement by pointing to the fact that they were Queen's Officers, +whereas the Straits Settlements were at that time still under the +Government of the East India Company. Sir JAMES BROOKE held the position +of Governor until 1851, and the post has since been filled by such +well-known administrators as Sir HUGH LOW, Sir JOHN POPE HENNESSY, Sir +HENRY E. BULWER and Sir CHARLES LEES, but the expectations formed at its +foundation have never been realized and the little Colony appears to be +in a moribund condition, the Governorship having been left unfilled +since 1881. On the 27th May, 1847, Sir JAMES BROOKE concluded the Treaty +with the Sultan of Brunai which is still in force. Labuan is situated +off the mouth of the Brunai River and has an area of thirty square +miles. It was uninhabited when we took it, being only occasionally +visited by fishermen. It was then covered, like all tropical countries, +whether the soil is rich or poor, with dense forest, some of the trees +being valuable as timber, but most of this has since been destroyed, +partly by the successive coal companies, who required large quantities +of timber for their mines, but chiefly by the destructive mode of +cultivation practised by the Kadyans and other squatters from Borneo, +who were allowed to destroy the forest for a crop or two of rice, the +soil, except in the flooded plains, being not rich enough to carry more +than one or two such harvests under such primitive methods of +agriculture as only are known to the natives. The lands so cleared were +deserted and were soon covered with a strong growth of fern and coarse +useless _lalang_ grass, difficult to eradicate, and it is well known +that, when a tropical forest is once destroyed and the land left to +itself, the new jungle which may in time spring up rarely contains any +of the valuable timber trees which composed the original forest. + +A few cargoes of timber were also exported by Chinese to Hongkong. Great +hopes were entertained that the establishment of a European Government +and a free port on an island lying alongside so rich a country as Borneo +would result in its becoming an emporium and collecting station for the +various products of, at any rate, the northern and western portions of +this country and perhaps, too, of the Sulu Archipelago. Many causes +prevented the realization of these hopes. In the first place, no +successful efforts were made to restore good government on the mainland, +and without a fairly good government and safety to life and property, +trade could not be developed. Then again Labuan was overshaded by the +prosperous Colony of Singapore, which is the universal emporium for all +these islands, and, with the introduction of steamers, it was soon found +that only the trade of the coast immediately opposite to Labuan could be +depended upon, that of the rest' including Sarawak and the City of +Brunai, going direct to Singapore, for which port Labuan became a +subsidiary and unimportant collecting station. The Spanish authorities +did what they could to prevent trade with the Sulu Islands, and, on the +signing of the Protocol between that country and Great Britain and +Germany freeing the trade from restrictions, Sulu produce has been +carried by steamers direct to Singapore. Since 1881, the British North +Borneo Company having opened ports to the North, the greater portion of +the trade of their possessions likewise finds its way direct by steamers +to the same port. + +Labuan has never shipped cargoes direct to England, and its importance +as a collecting station for Singapore is now diminishing, for the +reasons above-mentioned. + +Most or a large portion of the trade that now falls to its share comes +from the southern portion of the British North Borneo Company's +territories, from which it is distant, at the nearest point, only about +six miles, and the most reasonable solution of the Labuan question would +certainly appear to be the proclamation of a British Protectorate over +North Borneo, to which, under proper guarantees, might be assigned the +task of carrying on the government of Labuan, a task which it could +easily and economically undertake, having a sufficiently well organised +staff ready to hand.[13] By the Royal Charter it is already provided +that the appointment of the Company's Governor in Borneo is subject to +the sanction of Her Majesty's Secretary of State, and the two Officers +hitherto selected have been Colonial servants, whose service have been +_lent_ by the Colonial Office to the Company. + +The Census taken in 1881 gives the total population of Labuan as 5,995, +but it has probably decreased considerably since that time. The number +of Chinese supposed to be settled there is about 300 or 400--traders, +shopkeepers, coolies and sago-washers; the preparation of sago flour +from the raw sago, or _lamuntah_, brought in from the mainland by the +natives, being the principal industry of the island and employing three +or four factories, in which no machinery is used. All the traders are +only agents of Singapore firms and are in a small way of business. There +is no European firm, or shop, in the island. Coal of good quality for +raising steam is plentiful, especially at the North end of the island, +and very sanguine expectations of the successful working of these coal +measures were for a long time entertained, but have hitherto not been +realised. The Eastern Archipelago Company, with an ambitious title but +too modest an exchequer, first attempted to open the mines soon after +the British occupation, but failed, and has been succeeded by three +others, all I believe Scotch, the last one stopping operations in 1878. +The cause of failure seems to have been the same in each +case--insufficient capital, local mismanagement, difficulty in obtaining +labour. In a country with a rainfall of perhaps over 120 inches a year, +water was naturally another difficulty in the deep workings, but this +might have been very easily overcome had the Companies been in a +position to purchase sufficiently powerful pumping engines. + +There were three workable seams of coal, one of them, I think, twelve +feet in thickness; the quality of the coal, though inferior to Welsh, +was superior to Australian, and well reported on by the engineers of +many steamers which had tried it; the vessels of the China squadron and +the numerous steamers engaged in the Far East offered a ready market for +the coal. + +In their effort to make a "show," successive managers have pretty nearly +exhausted the surface workings and so honeycombed the seams with their +different systems of developing their resources, that it would be, +perhaps, a difficult and expensive undertaking for even a substantial +company to make much of them now.[14] + +It is needless to add that the failure to develop this one internal +resource of Labuan was a great blow to the Colony, and on the cessation +of the last company's operations the revenue immediately declined, a +large number of workmen--European, Chinese and Natives--being thrown out +of employment, necessitating the closing of the shops in which they +spent their wages. It was found that both Chinese and the Natives of +Borneo proved capital miners under European supervision. Notwithstanding +the ill-luck that has attended it, the little Colony has not been a +burden on the British tax-payer since the year 1860, but has managed to +collect a revenue--chiefly from opium, tobacco, spirits, pawnbroking and +fish "farms" and from land rents and land sales--sufficient to meet its +small expenditure, at present about L4,000 a year. There have been no +British troops quartered in this island since 1871, and the only armed +force is the Native Constabulary, numbering, I think, a dozen rank and +file. Very seldom are the inhabitants cheered by the welcome visit of a +British gunboat. Still, all the formality of a British Crown Colony is +kept up. The administrator is by his subjects styled "His Excellency" +and the Members of the Legislative Council, Native and Europeans, are +addressed as the "Honourable so and so." An Officer, as may be supposed, +has to play many parts. The present Treasurer, for instance, is an +ex-Lieutenant of Her Majesty's Navy, and is at the same time Harbour +Master, Postmaster, Coroner, Police Magistrate, likewise a Judge of the +Supreme Court, Superintendent of Convicts, Surveyor-General, and Clerk +to the Legislative Council, and occasionally has, I believe, to write +official letters of reprimand or encouragement from himself in one +capacity to himself in another. + +The best thing about Labuan is, perhaps, the excellence of its fruit, +notably of its pumeloes, oranges and mangoes, for which the Colony is +indebted to the present Sir HUGH LOW, who was one of the first officials +under Sir JAMES BROOKE, and a man who left no stone unturned in his +efforts to promote the prosperity of the island. His name was known far +and wide in Northern Borneo and in the Sulu Archipelago. As an instance, +I was once proceeding up a river in the island of Basilan, to the North +of Sulu, with Captain C. E. BUCKLE, R.N., in two boats of H. M. S. +_Frolic_, when the natives, whom we could not see, opened fire on us +from the banks. I at once jumped up and shouted out that we were Mr. +Low's friends from Labuan, and in a very short time we were on friendly +terms with the natives, who conducted us to their village. They had +thought we might be Spaniards, and did not think it worth while to +enquire before tiring. The mention of the _Frolic_ reminds me that on +the termination of a somewhat lengthy cruise amongst the Sulu Islands, +then nominally undergoing blockade by Spanish cruisers, we were +returning to Labuan through the difficult and then only partially +surveyed Malawalli Channel, and after dinner we were congratulating one +another on having been so safely piloted through so many dangers, when +before the words were out of our mouths, we felt a shock and found +ourselves fast on an unmarked rock which has since had the honour of +bearing the name of our good little vessel. + +Besides Mr. Low's fruit garden, the only other European attempt at +planting was made by my Cousin, Dr. TREACHER, Colonial Surgeon, who +purchased an outlying island and opened a coco-nut plantation. I regret +to say that in neither case, owing to the decline of the Colony, was the +enterprise of the pioneers adequately rewarded. + +Labuan[15] at one time boasted a Colonial Chaplain and gave its name to +the Bishop's See; but in 1872 or 1873, the Church was "disestablished" +and the few European Officials who formed the congregation were unable +to support a Clergyman. There exists a pretty little wooden Church, and +the same indefatigable officer, whom I have described as filling most of +the Government appointments in the Colony, now acts as unpaid Chaplain, +having been licensed thereto by the Bishop of Singapore and Sarawak, and +reads the service and even preaches a sermon every Sunday to a +congregation which rarely numbers half a dozen. + + +Footnotes: + +[Footnote 13: My suggestion has taken shape more quickly than I +expected. In 1889 Labuan was put under the administration of the +Company.] + +[Footnote 14: Since the above was written, a fifth company--the Central +Borneo Company, Limited, of London--has taken in hand the Labuan coal +and, finding plenty of coal to work on without sinking a shaft, +confidently anticipate success. Their L1 shares recently went up to L4.] + +[Footnote 15: The administration of this little Crown Colony has since +been entrusted to the British North Borneo Company, their present +Governor, Mr. C. V. CREAGH, having been gazetted Governor of Labuan.] + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +The mode of acquisition of British North Borneo has been referred to in +former pages; it was by cession for annual money payments to the Sultans +of Brunai and of Sulu, who had conflicting claims to be the paramount +power in the northern portion of Borneo. The actual fact was that +neither of them exercised any real government or authority over by far +the greater portion, the inhabitants of the coast on the various rivers +following any Brunai, Illanun, Bajau, or Sulu Chief who had sufficient +force of character to bring himself to the front. The pagan tribes of +the interior owned allegiance to neither Sultan, and were left to govern +themselves, the Muhammadan coast people considering them fair game for +plunder and oppression whenever opportunity occurred, and using all +their endeavours to prevent Chinese and other foreign traders from +reaching them, acting themselves as middlemen, buying (bartering) at +very cheap rates from the aborigines and selling for the best price they +could obtain to the foreigner. + +I believe I am right in saying that the idea of forming a Company, +something after the manner of the East India Company, to take over and +govern North Borneo, originated in the following manner. In 1865 Mr. +MOSES, the unpaid Consul for the United Sates in Brunai, to whom +reference has been made before, acquired with his friends from the +Sultan of Brunai some concessions of territory with the right to govern +and collect revenues, their idea being to introduce Chinese and +establish a Colony. This they attempted to carry out on a small scale in +the Kimanis River, on the West Coast, but not having sufficient capital +the scheme collapsed, but the concession was retained. Mr. MOSES +subsequently lost his life at sea, and a Colonel TORREY became the chief +representative of the American syndicate. He was engaged in business in +China, where he met Baron VON OVERBECK, a merchant of Hongkong and +Austrian Consul-General, and interested him in the scheme. In 1875 the +Baron visited Borneo in company with the Colonel, interviewed the Sultan +of Brunai, and made enquiries as to the validity of the concessions, +with apparently satisfactory results, Mr. ALFRED DENT[16] was also a +China merchant well known in Shanghai, and he in turn was interested in +the idea by Baron OVERBECK. Thinking there might be something in the +scheme, he provided the required capital, chartered a steamer, the +_America_, and authorised Baron OVERBECK to proceed to Brunai to +endeavour, with Colonel TORREY'S assistance, to induce the Sultan and +his Ministers to transfer the American cessions to himself and the +Baron, or rather to cancel the previous ones and make out new ones in +their favour and that of their heirs, associates, successors and assigns +for so long as they should choose or desire to hold them. Baron VON +OVERBECK was accompanied by Colonel TORREY and a staff of three +Europeans, and, on settling some arrears due by the American Company, +succeeded in accomplishing the objects of his mission, after protracted +and tedious negotiations, and obtained a "chop" from the Sultan +nominating and appointing him supreme ruler, "with the title of Maharaja +of Sabah (North Borneo) and Raja of Gaya and Sandakan, with power of +life and death over the inhabitants, with all the absolute rights of +property vested in the Sultan over the soil of the country, and the +right to dispose of the same, as well as of the rights over the +productions of the country, whether mineral, vegetable, or animal, with +the rights of making laws, coining money, creating an army and navy, +levying customs rates on home and foreign trade and shipping, and other +dues and taxes on the inhabitants as to him might seem good or +expedient, together with all other powers and rights usually exercised +by and belonging to sovereign rulers, and which the Sultan thereby +delegated to him of his own free will; and the Sultan called upon all +foreign nations, with whom he had formed friendly treaties and +alliances, to acknowledge the said Maharaja as the Sultan himself in the +said territories and to respect his authority therein; and in the case +of the death or retirement from the said office of the said Maharaja, +then his duly appointed successor in the office of Supreme Ruler and +Governor-in-Chief of the Company's territories in Borneo should likewise +succeed to the office and title of Maharaja of Sabah and Raja of Gaya +and Sandakan, and all the powers above enumerated be vested in him." I +am quoting from the preamble to the Royal Charter. Some explanation of +the term "Sabah" as applied to the territory--a term which appears in +the Prayer Book version of the 72nd Psalm, verse 10, "The kings of +Arabia and Sabah shall bring gifts"--seems called for, but I regret to +say I have not been able to obtain a satisfactory one from the Brunai +people, who use it in connection only with a small portion of the West +Coast of Borneo, North of the Brunai river. Perhaps the following note, +which I take from Mr. W. E. MAXWELL'S "Manual of the Malay Language," +may have some slight bearing on the point:--"Sawa, Jawa, Saba, Jaba, +Zaba, etc., has evidently in all times been the capital local name in +Indonesia. The whole archipelago was pressed into an island of that name +by the Hindus and Romans. Even in the time of MARCO POLO we have only a +Java Major and a Java Minor. The Bugis apply the name of Jawa, _jawaka_ +(comp. the Polynesian _Sawaiki_, Ceramese _Sawai_) to the Moluccas. One +of the principal divisions of Battaland in Sumatra is called _Tanah_ +Jawa. PTOLEMY has both Jaba and Saba."--"Logan, Journ. Ind. Arch., iv, +338." In the Brunai use of the term, there is always some idea of a +Northerly direction; for instance, I have heard a Brunai man who was +passing from the South to the Northern side of his river, say he was +going _Saba_. When the Company's Government was first inaugurated, the +territory was, in official documents, mentioned as Sabah, a name which +is still current amongst the natives, to whom the now officially +accepted designation of _North Borneo_ is meaningless and difficult of +pronunciation. + +Having settled with the Brunai authorities, Baron VON OVERBECK next +proceeded to Sulu, and found the Sultan driven out of his capital, Sugh +or Jolo, by the Spaniards, with whom he was still at war, and residing +at Maibun, in the principal island of the Sulu Archipelago. After brief +negotiations, the Sultan made to Baron VON OVERBECK and Mr. ALFRED DENT +a grant of his rights and powers over the territories and lands +tributary to him on the mainland of the island of Borneo, from the +Pandassan River on the North West Coast to the Sibuko River on the East, +and further invested the Baron, or his duly appointed successor in the +office of supreme ruler of the Company's territories in Borneo, with the +high sounding titles of Datu Bandahara and Raja of Sandakan. + +On a company being formed to work the concessions, Baron VON OVERBECK +resigned these titles from the Brunai and Sulu Potentates and they have +not since been made use of, and the Baron himself terminated his +connection with the country. + +The grant from the Sultan of Sulu bears date the 22nd January, 1878, and +on the 22nd July of the same year he signed a treaty, or act of +re-submission to Spain. The Spanish Government claimed that, by previous +treaties with Sulu, the suzerainty of Spain over Sulu and its +dependencies in Borneo had been recognised and that consequently the +grant to Mr. DENT was void. The British Government did not, however, +fall in with this view, and in the early part of 1879, being then Acting +Consul-General in Borneo, I was despatched to Sulu and to different +points in North Borneo to publish, on behalf of our Government, a +protest against the claim of Spain to any portion of the country. In +March, 1885, a protocol was signed by which, in return for the +recognition by England and Germany of Spanish sovereignty throughout the +Archipelago of Sulu, Spain renounced all claims of sovereignty over +territories on the Continent of Borneo which had belonged to the Sultan +of Sulu, including the islands of Balambangan, Banguey and Malawali, as +well as all those comprised within a zone of three maritime leagues from +the coast. + +Holland also strenuously objected to the cessions and to their +recognition, on the ground that the general tenor of the Treaty of +London of 1824 shews that a mixed occupation by England and the +Netherlands of any island in the Indian Archipelago ought to be avoided. + +It is impossible to discover anything in the treaty which bears out this +contention. Borneo itself is not mentioned by name in the document, and +the following clauses are the only ones regulating the future +establishment of new Settlements in the Eastern Seas by either +Power:--"Article 6. It is agreed that orders shall be given by the two +Governments to their Officers and Agents in the East not to form any new +Settlements on any of the islands in the Eastern Seas, without previous +authority from their respective Governments in Europe. Art. 12. His +Britannic Majesty, however, engages, that no British Establishment shall +be made on the Carimon islands or on the islands of Battam, Bintang, +Lingin, or on any of the other islands South of the Straits of +Singapore, nor any treaty concluded by British authority with the chiefs +of those islands." Without doubt, if Holland in 1824 had been desirous +of prohibiting any British Settlement in the island of Borneo, such +prohibition would have been expressed in this treaty. True, perhaps half +of this great island is situated South of the Straits of Singapore, but +the island cannot therefore be correctly said to lie to the South of the +Straits and, at any rate, such a business-like nation as the Dutch would +have noticed a weak point here and have included Borneo in the list with +Battam and the other islands enumerated. Such was the view taken by Mr. +GLADSTONE'S Cabinet, and Lord GRANVILLE informed the Dutch Minister in +1882 that the XIIth Article of the Treaty could not be taken to apply to +Borneo, and "that as a a matter of international right they would have +no ground to object even to the absolute annexation of North Borneo by +Great Britain," and, moreover, as pointed out by his Lordship, the +British had already a settlement in Borneo, namely the island of Labuan, +ceded by the Sultan of Brunai in 1845 and confirmed by him in the Treaty +of 1847. The case of Raja BROOKE in Sarawak was also practically that of +a British Settlement in Borneo. + +Lord GRANVILLE closed the discussion by stating that the grant of the +Charter does not in any way imply the assumption of sovereign rights in +North Borneo, _i.e._, on the part of the British Government. + +There the matter rested, but now that the Government is proposing[17] to +include British North Borneo, Brunai and Sarawak under a formal "British +Protectorate," the Netherlands Government is again raising objections, +which they must be perfectly aware are groundless. It will be noted that +the Dutch do not lay any claim to North Borneo themselves, having always +recognized it as pertaining, with the Sulu Archipelago, to the Spanish +Crown. It is only to the presence of the British Government in North +Borneo that any objection is raised. In a "Resolution" of the Minister +of State, Governor-General of Netherlands India, dated 28th February, +1846, occurs the following:--"The parts of Borneo on which the +Netherlands does not exercise any influence are:-- + + _a._ The States of the Sultan of Brunai or Borneo Proper; + + * * * * * * + + _b._ The State of the Sultan of the Sulu Islands, having for + boundaries on the West, the River Kimanis, the North and + North-East Coasts as far as 3 deg. N.L., where it is bounded by the + River Atas, forming the extreme frontier towards the North with + the State of Berow dependant on the Netherlands. + + _c._ All the islands of the Northern Coasts of Borneo." + +Knowing this, Mr. ALFRED DENT put the limit of his cession from Sulu at +the Sibuku River, the South bank of which is in N. Lat. 4 deg. 5'; but +towards the end of 1879, that is, long after the date of the cession, +the Dutch hoisted their flag at Batu Tinagat in N. Lat. 4 deg. 19', thereby +claiming the Sibuko and other rivers ceded by the Sultan of Sulu to the +British Company. The dispute is still under consideration by our Foreign +Office, but in September, 1883, in order to practically assert the +Company's claims, I, as their Governor, had a very pleasant trip in a +very small steam launch and steaming at full speed past two Dutch +gun-boats at anchor, landed at the South bank of the Sibuko, temporarily +hoisted the North Borneo flag, fired a _feu-de-joie_, blazed a tree, and +returning, exchanged visits with the Dutch gun-boats, and entertained +the Dutch Controlleur at dinner. Having carefully given the Commander of +one of the gun-boats the exact bearings of the blazed tree, he proceeded +in hot haste to the spot, and, I believe, exterminated the said tree. +The Dutch Government complained of our having violated Netherlands +territory, and matters then resumed their usual course, the Dutch +station at Batu Tinagat, or rather at the Tawas River, being maintained +unto this day. + +As is hereafter explained, the cession of coast line from the Sultan of +Brunai was not a continuous one, there being breaks on the West Coast in +the case of a few rivers which were not included. The annual tribute to +be paid to the Sultan was fixed at $12,000, and to the Pangeran +Tumonggong $3,000--extravagantly large sums when it is considered that +His Highness' revenue per annum from the larger portion of the territory +ceded was _nil_. In March, 1881, through negotiations conducted by Mr. +A. H. EVERETT, these sums were reduced to more reasonable proportions, +namely, $5,000 in the case of the Sultan, and $2,500 in that of the +Tumonggong. + +The intermediate rivers which were not included in the Sultan's cession +belonged to Chiefs of the blood royal, and the Sultan was unwilling to +order them to be ceded, but in 1883 Resident DAVIES procured the cession +from one of these Chiefs of the Pangalat River for an annual payment of +$300, and subsequently the Putalan River was acquired for $1,000 per +annum, and the Kawang River and the Mantanani Islands for lump sums of +$1,300 and $350 respectively. In 1884, after prolonged negotiations, I +was also enabled to obtain the cession of an important Province on the +West Coast, to the South of the original boundary, to which the name of +Dent Province has been given, and which includes the Padas and Kalias +Rivers, and in the same deed of cession were also included two rivers +which had been excepted in the first grant--the Tawaran and the +Bangawan. The annual tribute under this cession is $3,100. The principal +rivers within the Company's boundaries still unleased are the Kwala +Lama, Membakut, Inanam and Menkabong. For fiscal reasons, and for the +better prevention of the smuggling of arms and ammunition for sale to +head-hunting tribes, it is very desirable that the Government of these +remaining independent rivers should be acquired by the Company. + +On the completion of the negotiations with the two Sultans, Baron VON +OVERBECK, who was shortly afterwards joined by Mr. DENT, hoisted his +flag--the house flag of Mr. DENT'S firm--at Sandakan, on the East Coast, +and at Tampassuk and Pappar on the West, leaving at each a European, +with a few so-called Police to represent the new Government, agents from +the Sultans of Sulu and Brunai accompanying him to notify to the people +that the supreme power had been transferred to Europeans. The common +people heard the announcement with their usual apathy, but the officer +left in charge had a difficult part to play with the headmen who, in the +absence of any strong central Government, had practically usurped the +functions of Government in many of the rivers. These Chiefs feared, and +with reason, that not only would their importance vanish, but that trade +with the inland tribes would be thrown open to all, and slave dealing be +put a stop to under the new regime. At Sandakan, the Sultan's former +Governor refused to recognise the changed position of affairs, but he +had a resolute man to deal with in Mr. W. B. PRYER, and before he could +do much harm, he lost his life by the capsizing of his prahu while on a +trading voyage. + +At Tampassuk, Mr. PRETYMAN, the Resident, had a very uncomfortable post, +being in the midst of lawless, cattle-lifting and slave-dealing Bajaus +and Illanuns. He, with the able assistance of Mr. F. X. WITTI, an +ex-Naval officer of the Austrian Service, who subsequently lost his +life while exploring in the interior, and by balancing one tribe against +another, managed to retain his position without coming to blows, and, on +his relinquishing the service a few months afterwards, the arduous task +of representing the Government without the command of any force to back +up his authority developed on Mr. WITTI. In the case of the Pappar +River, the former Chief, Datu BAHAR, declined to relinquish his +position, and assumed a very defiant attitude. I was at that time in the +Labuan service, and I remember proceeding to Pappar in an English +man-of-war, in consequence of the disquieting rumours which had reached +us, and finding the Resident, Mr. A. H. EVERETT, on one side of the +small river with his house strongly blockaded and guns mounted in all +available positions, and the Datu on the other side of the stream, +immediately opposite to him, similarly armed to the teeth. But not a +shot was fired, and Datu BAHAR is now a peaceable subject of the +Company. + +The most difficult problem, however, which these officers had to solve +was that of keeping order, or trying to do so, amongst a lawless people, +with whom for years past might had been right, and who considered +kidnapping and cattle-lifting the occupations of honourable and high +spirited gentlemen. That they effected what they did, that they kept the +new flag flying and prepared the way for the Government of the Company, +reflects the highest credit upon their pluck and diplomatic ingenuity, +for they had neither police nor steam launches, nor the prestige which +would have attached to them had they been representatives of the British +Government, and under the well known British flag. They commenced their +work with none of the _eclat_ which surrounded Sir JAMES BROOKE in +Sarawak, where he found the people in successful rebellion against the +Sultan of Brunai, and was himself recognised as an agent of the British +Government, so powerful that he could get the Queen's ships to attack +the head hunting pirates, killing such numbers of them that, as I have +said, the Head money claimed and awarded by the British Government +reached the sum of L20,000. On the other hand, it is but fair to add +that the fame of Sir JAMES' exploits and the action taken by Her +Majesty's vessels, on his advice, in North-West Borneo years before, had +inspired the natives with a feeling of respect for Englishmen which must +have been a powerful factor in favour of the newly appointed officers. +The native tribes, too, inhabiting North Borneo were more sub-divided, +less warlike, and less powerful than those of Sarawak. + +The promoters of the scheme were fortunate in obtaining the services, +for the time being, as their chief representative in the East of Mr. W. +H. READ, C.M.G., an old friend of Sir JAMES BROOKE, and who, as a Member +of the Legislative Council of Singapore, and Consul-General for the +Netherlands, had acquired an intimate knowledge of the Malay character +and of the resources, capabilities and needs of Malayan countries. + +On his return to England, Mr. DENT found that, owing to the opposition +of the Dutch and Spanish Governments, and to the time required for a +full consideration of the subject by Her Majesty's Ministers, there +would be a considerable delay before a Royal Charter could be issued, +meanwhile, the expenditure of the embryo Government in Borneo was not +inconsiderable, and it was determined to form a "Provisional +Association" to carry on till a Chartered Company could be formed. + +Mr. DENT found an able supporter in Sir RUTHERFORD ALCOCK, K.C.B., who +energetically advocated the scheme from patriotic motives, recognising +the strategic and commercial advantages of the splendid harbours of +North Borneo and the probability of the country becoming in the near +future a not unimportant outlet for English commerce, now so heavily +weighted by prohibitive tariffs in Europe and America. + +The British North Borneo Provisional Association Limited, was formed in +1881, with a capital of L300,000, the Directors being Sir RUTHERFORD +ALCOCK, Mr. A. DENT, Mr. R. B. MARTIN, Admiral MAYNE, and Mr. W. H. +READ. The Association acquired from the original lessees the grants and +commissions from the Sultans, with the object of disposing of these +territories, lands and property to a Company to be incorporated by Royal +Charter. This Charter passed the Great Seal on the 1st November, 1881, +and constituted and incorporated the gentlemen above-mentioned as "The +British North Borneo Company." + +The Provisional Association was dissolved, and the Chartered Company +started on its career in May, 1882. The nominal capital was two million +pounds, in L20 shares, but the number of shares issued, including 4,500 +fully paid ones representing L90,000 to the vendors, was only 33,030, +equal to L660,600, but on 23,449 of these shares only L12 have so far +been called up. The actual cash, therefore, which the Company has had to +work with and to carry on the development of the country from the point +at which the original concessionaires and the Provisional Association +had left it, is, including some L1,000 received for shares forfeited, +about L384,000, and they have a right of call for L187,592 more. The +Charter gave official recognition to the concessions from the Native +Princes, conferred extensive powers on the Company as a corporate body, +provided for the just government of the natives and for the gradual +abolition of slavery, and reserved to the Crown the right of +disapproving of the person selected by the Company to be their Governor +in the East, and of controlling the Company's dealings with any Foreign +Power. + +The Charter also authorised the Company to use a distinctive flag, +indicating the British character of the undertaking, and the one +adopted, following the example of the English Colonies, is the British +flag, "defaced," as it is termed, with the Company's badge--a lion. I +have little doubt that this selection of the British flag, in lieu of +the one originally made use of, had a considerable effect in imbuing the +natives with an idea of the stability and permanence of the Company's +Government. + +Mr. DENT'S house flag was unknown to them before and, on the West Coast, +many thought that the Company's presence in the country might be only a +brief one, like that of its predecessor, the American syndicate, and, +consequently, were afraid to tender their allegiance, since, on the +Company's withdrawal, they would be left to the tender mercies of their +former Chiefs. But the British flag was well-known to those of them who +were traders, and they had seen it flying for many a year in the Colony +of Labuan and on board the vessels which had punished their piratical +acts in former days. + +Then, too, I was soon able to organise a Police Force mainly composed of +Sikhs, and was provided with a couple of steam-launches. Owing doubtless +to that and other causes, the refractory chiefs, soon after the +Company's formation, appeared to recognize that the game of opposition +to the new order of things was a hopeless one. + + +Footnotes: + +[Footnote 16: Now Sir ALFRED DENT, K.C.M.G.] + +[Footnote 17: The Protectorate has since been proclaimed.] + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +The area of the territory ceded by the original grants was estimated at +20,000 square miles, but the additions which have been already mentioned +now bring it up to about 31,000 square miles, including adjacent +islands, so that it is somewhat larger than Ceylon, which is credited +with only 25,365 square miles. In range of latitude, in temperature and +in rainfall, North Borneo presents many points of resemblance to Ceylon, +and it was at first thought that it might be possible to attract to the +new country some of the surplus capital, energy and aptitude for +planting which had been the foundation of Ceylon's prosperity. + +Even the expression "The New Ceylon" was employed as an alternative +designation for the country, and a description of it under that title +was published by the well known writer--Mr. JOSEPH HATTON. + +These hopes have not so far been realized, but on the other hand North +Borneo is rapidly becoming a second Sumatra, Dutchmen, Germans and some +English having discovered the suitability of its soil and climate for +producing tobacco of a quality fully equal to the famed Deli leaf of +that island. + +The coast line of the territory is about one thousand miles, and a +glance at the map will shew that it is furnished with capital harbours, +of which the principal are Gaya Bay on the West, Kudat in Marudu Bay on +the North, and Sandakan Harbour on the East. There are several others, +but at those enumerated the Company have opened their principal +stations. + +Of the three mentioned, the more striking is that of Sandakan, which is +15 miles in length, with a width varying from 11 miles, at its entrance, +to 5 miles at the broadest part. It is here that the present capital is +situated--Sandakan, a town containing a population of not more than +5,000 people, of whom perhaps thirty are Europeans and a thousand +Chinese., For its age, Sandakan has suffered serious vicissitudes. It +was founded by Mr. PRYER, in 1878, well up the bay, but was soon +afterwards burnt to the ground. It was then transferred to its present +position, nearer the mouth of the harbour, but in May, 1886, the whole +of what was known as the "Old Town" was utterly consumed by fire; in +about a couple of hours there being nothing left of the _atap_-built +shops and houses but the charred piles and posts on which they had been +raised above the ground. When a fire has once laid hold of an atap town, +probably no exertions would much avail to check it; certainly our +Chinese held this opinion, and it was impossible to get them to move +hand or foot in assisting the Europeans and Police in their efforts to +confine its ravages to as limited an area as possible. They entertain +the idea that such futile efforts tend only to aggravate the evil +spirits and increase their fury. The Hindu shopkeepers were successful +in saving their quarter of the town by means of looking glasses, long +prayers and chants. It is now forbidden to any one to erect atap houses +in the town, except in one specified area to which such structures are +confined. Most of the present houses are of plank, with tile, or +corrugated iron roofs, and the majority of the shops are built over the +sea, on substantial wooden piles, some of the principal "streets," +including that to which the ambitious name of "The Praya" has been +given, being similarly constructed on piles raised three or four feet +above high water mark. The reason is that, owing to the steep hills at +the back of the site, there is little available flat land for building +on, and, moreover, the pushing Chinese trader always likes to get his +shops as near as possible to the sea--the highway of the "prahus" which +bring him the products of the neighbouring rivers and islands. In time, +no doubt, the Sandakan hills will be used to reclaim more land from the +sea, and the town will cease to be an amphibious one. In the East there +are, from a sanitary point of view, some points of advantage in having a +tide-way passing under the houses. I should add that Sandakan is a +creation of the Company's and not a native town taken over by them. When +Mr. PRYER first hoisted his flag, there was only one solitary Chinaman +and no Europeans in the harbour, though at one time, during the Spanish +blockade of Sulu, a Singapore firm had established a trading station, +known as "Kampong German," using it as their head-quarters from which to +run the blockade of Sulu, which they successfully did for some +considerable time, to their no small gain and advantage. The success +attending the Germans' venture excited the emulation of the Chinese +traders of Labuan, who found their valuable Sulu trade cut off and, +through the good offices of the Government of the Colony, they were +enabled to charter the Sultan of Brunai's smart little yacht the +_Sultana_, and engaging the services as Captain of an ex-member of the +Labuan Legislative Council, they endeavoured to enact the roll of +blockade runner. After a trip or two, however, the _Sultana_ was taken +by the Spaniards, snugly at anchor in a Sulu harbour, the Captain and +Crew having time to make their escape. As she was not under the British +flag, the poor Sultan could obtain no redress, although the blockade was +not recognised as effective by the European Powers and English and +German vessels, similarly seized, had been restored to their owners. The +_Sultana_ proved a convenient despatch boat for the Spanish authorities. +The Sultan of Sulu to prove his friendship to the Labuan traders, had an +unfortunate man cut to pieces with krisses, on the charge of having +betrayed the vessel's position to the blockading cruisers. + +Sandakan is one of the few places in Borneo which has been opened and +settled without much fever and sickness ensuing, and this was due +chiefly to the soil being poor and sandy and to there being an abundance +of good, fresh, spring water. It may be stated, as a general rule, that +the richer the soil the more deadly will be the fever the pioneers will +have to encounter when the primeval jungle is first felled and the sun's +rays admitted to the virgin soil. + +Sandakan is the principal trading station in the Company's territory, +but with Hongkong only 1,200 miles distant in one direction, Manila 600 +miles in another, and Singapore 1,000 miles in a third, North Borneo can +never become an emporium for the trade of the surrounding countries and +islands, and the Court of Directors must rest content with developing +their own local trade and pushing forward, by wise and encouraging +regulations, the planting interest, which seems to have already taken +firm root in the country and which will prove to be the foundation of +its future prosperity. Gold and other minerals, including coal, are +known to exist, but the mineralogical exploration of a country covered +with forest and destitute of roads is a work requiring time, and we are +not yet in a position to pronounce on North Borneo's expectations in +regard to its mineral wealth. + +The gold on the Segama River, on the East coast, has been several times +reported on, and has been proved to exist in sufficient quantities to, +at any rate, well repay the labours of Chinese gold diggers, but the +district is difficult of access by water, and the Chinese are deferring +operations on a large scale until the Government has constructed a road +into the district. A European Company has obtained mineral concessions +on the river, but has not yet decided on its mode of operation, and +individual European diggers have tried their luck on the fields, +hitherto without meeting with much success, owing to heavy rains, +sickness and the difficulty of getting up stores. The Company will +probably find that Chinese diggers will not only stand the climate +better, but will be more easily governed, be satisfied with smaller +returns, and contribute as much or more than the Europeans to the +Government Treasury, by their consumption of opium, tobacco and other +excisable articles, by fees for gold licenses, and so forth. + +Another source of natural wealth lies in the virgin forest with which +the greater portion of the country is clothed, down to the water's edge. +Many of the trees are valuable as timber, especially the _Billian_, or +Borneo iron-wood tree, which is impervious to the attacks of white-ants +ashore and almost equally so to those of the _teredo navalis_ afloat, +and is wonderfully enduring of exposure to the tropical sun and the +tropical downpours of rain. I do not remember having ever come across a +bit of _billian_ that showed signs of decay during a residence of +seventeen years in the East. The wood is very heavy and sinks in water, +so that, in order to be shipped, it has to be floated on rafts of soft +wood, of which there is an abundance of excellent quality, of which one +kind--the red _serayah_--is likely to come into demand by builders in +England. Other of the woods, such as _mirabau_, _penagah_ and _rengas_, +have good grain and take a fine polish, causing them to be suitable for +the manufacture of furniture. The large tree which yields the Camphor +_barus_ of commerce also affords good timber. It is a _Dryobalanops_, +and is not to be confused with the _Cinnamomum camphora_, from which the +ordinary "camphor" is obtained and the wood of which retains the camphor +smell and is largely used by the Chinese in the manufacture of boxes, +the scented wood keeping off ants and other insects which are a pest in +the Far East. The Borneo camphor tree is found only in Borneo and +Sumatra. The camphor which is collected for export, principally to China +and India, by the natives, is found in a solid state in the trunk, but +only in a small percentage of the trees, which are felled by the +collectors. The price of this camphor _barus_ as it is termed, is said +to be nearly a hundred times as much as that of the ordinary camphor, +and it is used by the Chinese and Indians principally for embalming +purposes. Billian and other woods enumerated are all found near the +coast and, generally, in convenient proximity to some stream, and so +easily available for export. Sandakan harbour has some thirteen rivers +and streams running into it, and, as the native population is very +small, the jungle has been scarcely touched, and no better locality +could, therefore, be desired by a timber merchant. Two European Timber +Companies are now doing a good business there, and the Chinese also take +their share of the trade. China affords a ready and large market for +Borneo timber, being itself almost forestless, and for many years past +it has received iron-wood from Sarawak. Borneo timber has also been +exported to the Straits Settlements, Australia and Mauritius, and I hear +that an order has been given for England. Iron wood is only found in +certain districts, notably in Sandakan Bay and on the East coast, being +rarely met with on the West coast. I have seen a private letter from an +officer in command of a British man-of-war who had some samples of it on +board which came in very usefully when certain bearings of the screw +shaft were giving out on a long voyage, and were found to last _three +times_ as long as lignum vitae. + +In process of time, as the country is opened up by roads and railways, +doubtless many other valuable kinds of timber trees will be brought to +light in the interior. + +A notice of Borneo Forests would be incomplete without a reference to +the mangroves, which are such a prominent feature of the country as one +approaches it by sea, lining much of the coast and forming, for mile +after mile, the actual banks of most of the rivers. Its thick, +dark-green, never changing foliage helps to give the new comer that +general impression of dull monotony in tropical scenery, which, perhaps, +no one, except the professed botanist, whose trained and practical eye +never misses the smallest detail, ever quite shakes off. + +The wood of the mangrove forms most excellent firewood, and is often +used by small steamers as an economical fuel in lieu of coal, and is +exported to China in the timber ships. The bark is also a separate +article of export, being used as a dye and for tanning, and is said to +contain nearly 42% of _tannin_. + +The value of the general exports from the territory is increasing every +year, having been $145,444 in 1881 and $525,879 in 1888. With the +exception of tobacco and pepper, the list is almost entirely made up of +the natural raw products of the land and sea--such as bees-wax, camphor, +damar, gutta percha, the sap of a large forest tree destroyed in the +process of collection of gutta, India rubber, from a creeper likewise +destroyed by the collectors, rattans, well known to every school boy, +sago, timber, edible birds'-nests, seed-pearls, Mother-o'-pearl shells +in small quantities, dried fish and dried sharks'-fins, trepang +(sea-slug or beche-de-mer), aga, or edible sea-weed, tobacco (both +Native and European grown), pepper, and occasionally elephants' tusks--a +list which shews the country to be a rich store house of natural +productions, and one which will be added to, as the land is brought +under cultivation with coffee, tea, sugar, cocoa, Manila hemp, pine +apple fibre, and other tropical products for which the soil, and +especially the rainfall, temperature and climatic conditions generally, +including entire freedom from typhoons and earthquakes, eminently adapt +it, and many of which have already been tried with success on an +experimental scale. As regards pepper, it has been previously shewn that +North Borneo was in former days an exporter of this spice. Sugar has +been grown by the natives for their own consumption for many years, as +also tapioca, rice and Indian corn. It is not my object to give a +detailed list of the productions of the country, and I would refer any +reader who is anxious to be further enlightened on these and kindred +topics to the excellent "Hand-book of British North Borneo," prepared +for the Colonial and Indian Exhibition of 1886, at which the new Colony +was represented, and published by Messrs. WILLIAM CLOWES & SONS. + +The edible birds'-nests are already a source of considerable revenue to +the Government, who let out the collection of them for annual payments, +and also levy an export duty as they leave the country for China, which +is their only market. The nests are about the size of those of the +ordinary swallow and are formed by innumerable hosts of +swifts--_Collocalia fuciphaga_--entirely from a secretion of the glands +of the throat. These swifts build in caves, some of which are of very +large dimensions, and there are known to be some sixteen of them in +different parts of British North Borneo. With only one exception, the +caves occur in limestone rocks and, generally, at no great distance from +the sea, though some have been discovered in the interior, on the banks +of the Kinabatangan River. The exception above referred to is that of a +small cave on a sand-stone island at the entrance of Sandakan harbour. +The _Collocalia fuciphaga_ appears to be pretty well distributed over +the Malayan islands, but of these, Borneo and Java are the principal +sources of supply. Nests are also exported from the Andaman Islands, and +a revenue of L30,000 a year is said to be derived from the nests in the +small islands in the inland sea of Tab Sab, inhabited by natives of +Malay stock. + +The finest caves, or rather series of caves, as yet known in the +Company's territories are those of Gomanton, a limestone hill situated +at the head of the Sapa Gaia, one of the streams running into Sandakan +harbour. + +These grand caves, which are one of the most interesting sights in the +country, are, in fine weather, easily accessible from the town of +Sandakan, by a water journey across the harbour and up the Sapa Gaia, of +about twelve miles, and by a road from the point of debarkation to the +entrance of the lower caves, about eight miles in length. + +The height of the hill is estimated at 1,000 feet, and it contains two +distinct series of caves. The first series is on the "ground floor" and +is known as _Simud Hitam_, or "black entrance." The magnificent porch, +250 feet high and 100 broad, which gives admittance to this series, is +on a level with the river bank, and, on entering, you find yourself in a +spacious and lofty chamber well lighted from above by a large open +space, through which can be seen the entrance to the upper set of caves, +some 400 to 500 feet up the hill side. In this chamber is a large +deposit of guano, formed principally by the myriads of bats inhabiting +the caves in joint occupancy with the edible-nest-forming swifts. +Passing through this first chamber and turning a little to the right you +come to a porch leading into an extensive cave, which extends under the +upper series. This cave is filled half way up to its roof, with an +enormous deposit of guano, which has been estimated to be 40 to 50 feet +in depth. How far the cave extends has not been ascertained, as its +exploration, until some of the deposit is removed, would not be an easy +task, for the explorer would be compelled to walk along on the top of +the guano, which in some places is so soft that you sink in it almost up +to your waist. My friend Mr. C. A. BAMPFYLDE, in whose company I first +visited Gomanton, and who, as "Commissioner of Birds-nest Caves," drew +up a very interesting report on them, informed me that, though he had +found it impossible to explore right to the end, he had been a long way +in and was confident that the cave was of very large size. To reach the +upper series of caves, you leave Simud Hitam and clamber up the hill +side--a steep but not difficult climb, as the jagged limestone affords +sure footing. The entrance to this series, known as _Simud Putih_, or +"white entrance," is estimated to be at an elevation of 300 feet above +sea level, and the porch by which you enter them is about 30 feet high +by about 50 wide. The floor slopes steeply downwards and brings you into +an enormous cave, with smaller ones leading off it, all known to the +nest collectors by their different native names. You soon come to a +large black hole, which has never been explored, but which is said to +communicate with the large guano cave below, which has been already +described. Passing on, you enter a dome-like cave, the height of the +roof or ceiling of which has been estimated at 800 feet, but for the +accuracy of this guess I cannot vouch. The average height of the cave +before the domed portion is reached is supposed to be about 150 feet, +and Mr. BAMPFYLDE estimates the total length, from the entrance to the +furthest point, at a fifth of a mile. The Simud Putih series are badly +lighted, there being only a few "holes" in the roof of the dome, so that +torches or lights of some kind are required. There are large deposits of +guano in these caves also, which could be easily worked by lowering +quantities down into the Simud Hitam caves below, the floor of which, as +already stated, is on a level with the river bank, so that a tramway +could be laid right into them and the guano be carried down to the port +of shipment, at the mouth of the Sapa Gaia River. Samples of the guano +have been sent home, and have been analysed by Messrs. VOELCKER & CO. It +is rich in ammonia and nitrogen and has been valued at L5 to L7 a ton in +England. The bat-guano is said to be richer as a manure than that +derived from the swifts. To ascend to the top of Gomanton, one has to +emerge from the Simud Putih entrance and, by means of a ladder, reach an +overhanging ledge, whence a not very difficult climb brings one to the +cleared summit, from which a fine view of the surrounding country is +obtained, including Kina-balu, the sacred mountain of North Borneo. On +this summit will be found the holes already described as helping to +somewhat lighten the darkness of the dome-shaped cave, on the roof of +which we are in fact now standing. It is through these holes that the +natives lower themselves into the caves, by means of rattan ladders and, +in a most marvellous manner, gain a footing on the ceiling and construct +cane stages, by means of which they can reach any part of the roof and, +either by hand or by a suitable pole to the end of which is attached a +lighted candle, secure the wealth-giving luxury for the epicures of +China. There are two principal seasons for collecting the nests, and +care has to be taken that the collection is made punctually at the +proper time, before the eggs are all hatched, otherwise the nests become +dirty and fouled with feathers, &c., and discoloured and injured by the +damp, thereby losing much of their market value. Again, if the nests are +not collected for a season, the birds do not build many new ones in the +following season, but make use of the old ones, which thereby become +comparatively valueless. + +There are, roughly speaking, three qualities of nests, sufficiently +described by their names--white, red, and black--the best quality of +each fetching, at Sandakan, per catty of 1-1/3 lbs., $16, $7 and 8 cents +respectively. + +The question as to the true cause of the difference in the nests has not +yet been satisfactorily solved. Some allege that the red and black nests +are simply white ones deteriorated by not having been collected in due +season. I myself incline to agree with the natives that the nests are +formed by different birds, for the fact that, in one set of caves, black +nests are always found together in one part, and white ones in another, +though both are collected with equal care and punctuality, seems almost +inexplicable under the first theory. It is true that the different kinds +of nests are not found in the same season, and it is just possible that +the red and black nests may be the second efforts at building made by +the swifts after the collectors have disturbed them by gathering their +first, white ones. In the inferior nests, feathers are found _mixed up_ +with the gelatinous matter forming the walls, as though the glands were +unable to secrete a sufficient quantity of material, and the bird had to +eke it out with its own feathers. In the substance of the white nests no +feathers are found. + +Then, again, it is sometimes found in the case of two distinct caves, +situated at no great distance apart, that the one yields almost entirely +white nests, and the other nearly all red, or black ones, though the +collections are made with equal regularity in each. The natives, as I +have said, seem to think that there are two kinds of birds, and the Hon. +R. ABERCROMBY reports that, when he visited Gomanton, they shewed him +eggs of different size and explained that one was laid by the white-nest +bird and the other by the black-nest builder. Sir HUGH LOW, in his work +on Sarawak, published in 1848, asserts that there are "two different and +quite dissimilar kinds of birds, though both are swallows" (he should +have said swifts), and that the one which produces the white nest is +larger and of more lively colours, with a white belly, and is found on +the sea-coast, while the other is smaller and darker and found more in +the interior. He admits, however, that though he had opportunities of +observing the former, he had not been able to procure a specimen. + +The question is one which should be easily settled on the spot, and I +recommend it to the consideration of the authorities of the British +North Borneo Museum, which has been established at Sandakan. + +The annual value of the nests of Gomanton, when properly collected, has +been reckoned at $23,000, but I consider this an excessive estimate. My +friend Mr. A. COOK, the Treasurer of the Territory, to whose zeal and +perseverance the Company owes much, has arranged with the Buludupih +tribe to collect these nests on payment to the Government of a royalty +of $7,500 per annum, which is in addition to the export duty at the rate +of 10% _ad valorem_ paid by the Chinese exporters. + +The swifts and bats--the latter about the size of the ordinary English +bat--avail themselves of the shelter afforded by the caves without +incommoding one another, for, by a sort of Box and Cox arrangement, the +former occupy the caves during the night and the latter by day. + +Standing at the Simud Putih entrance about 5 P. M., the visitor will +suddenly hear a whirring sound from below, which is caused by the +myriads of bats issuing, for their nocturnal banquet, from the Simud +Itam caves, through the wide open space that has been described. They +come out in a regularly ascending continuous spiral or corkscrew coil, +revolving from left to right in a very rapid and regular manner. When +the top of the spiral coil reaches a certain height, a colony of bats +breaks off, and continuing to revolve in a well kept ring from left to +right gradually ascends higher and higher, until all of a sudden the +whole detachment dashes off in the direction of the sea, towards the +mangrove swamps and the _nipas_. Sometimes these detached colonies +reverse the direction of their revolutions after leaving the main body, +and, instead of from left to right, revolve from right to left. Some of +them continue for a long time revolving in a circle, and attain a great +height before darting off in quest of food, while others make up their +minds more expeditiously, after a few revolutions. Amongst the bats, +three white ones were, on the occasion of my visit, very conspicuous, +and our followers styled them the Raja, his wife and child. Hawks and +sea-eagles are quickly attracted to the spot, but only hover on the +outskirts of the revolving coil, occasionally snapping up a prize. I +also noticed several hornbills, but they appeared to have been only +attracted by curiosity. Mr. BAMPFYLDE informed me that, on a previous +visit, he had seen a large green snake settled on an overhanging branch +near which the bats passed and that occasionally he managed to secure a +victim. I timed the bats and found that they took almost exactly fifty +minutes to come out of the caves, a thick stream of them issuing all +that time and at a great pace, and the reader can endeavour to form for +himself some idea of their vast numbers. They had all got out by ten +minutes to six in the evening, and at about six o'clock the swifts began +to come home to roost. They came in in detached, independent parties, +and I found it impossible to time them, as some of them kept very late +hours. I slept in the Simud Putih cave on this occasion, and found that +next morning the bats returned about 5 A.M., and that the swifts went +out an hour afterwards. + +As shewing the mode of formation of these caves, I may add that I +noticed, imbedded in a boulder of rock in the upper caves, two pieces of +coral and several fossil marine shells, bivalves and others. + +The noise made by the bats going out for their evening promenade +resembled a combination of that of the surf breaking on a distant shore +and of steam being gently blown off from a vessel which has just come to +anchor. + +There are other interesting series of caves, and one--that of Madai, in +Darvel Bay on the East coast--was visited by the late Lady BRASSEY and +Miss BRASSEY in April, 1887, when British North Borneo was honoured by a +visit of the celebrated yacht the _Sunbeam_, with Lord BRASSEY and his +family on board. + +I accompanied the party on the trip to Madai, and shall not easily +forget the pluck and energy with which Lady BRASSEY, then in bad health, +surmounted the difficulties of the jungle track, and insisted upon +seeing all that was to be seen; or the gallant style in which Miss +BRASSEY unwearied after her long tramp through the forest, led the way +over the slippery boulders in the dark caves. + +The Chinese ascribe great strengthening powers to the soup made of the +birds'-nests, which they boil down into a syrup with barley sugar, and +sip out of tea cups. The gelatinous looking material of which the +substance of the nests is composed is in itself almost flavourless. + +It is also with the object of increasing their bodily powers that these +epicures consume the uninviting sea-slug or beche-de-mer, and dried +sharks'-fins and cuttle fish. + +To conclude my brief sketch of Sandakan Harbour and of the Capital, it +should be stated that, in addition to being within easy distance of +Hongkong, it lies but little off the usual route of vessels proceeding +from China to Australian ports, and can be reached by half a day's +deviation of the ordinary track. + +Should, unfortunately, war arise with Russia, there is little doubt +their East Asiatic squadron would endeavour both to harass the +Australian trade and to damage, as much as possible, the coast towns, in +which case the advantages of Sandakan, midway between China and +Australia, as a base of operations for the British protecting fleet +would at once become manifest. It is somewhat unfortunate that a bar has +formed just outside the entrance of the harbour, with a depth of water +of four fathoms at low water, spring tides, so that ironclads of the +largest size would be denied admittance. + +There are at present, no steamers sailing direct from Borneo to England, +and nearly all the commerce from British North Borneo ports is carried +by local steamers to that great emporium of the trade of the Malayan +countries, Singapore, distant from Sandakan a thousand miles, and it is +a curious fact, that though many of the exports are ultimately intended +for the China market, _e.g._, edible birds'-nests, the Chinese traders +find it pays them better to send their produce to Singapore in the first +instance, instead of direct to Hongkong. This is partly accounted for by +the further fact that, though the Government has spent considerable sum +in endeavouring to attract Chinamen from China, the large proportion of +our Chinese traders and of the Chinese population generally has come to +us _via_ Singapore, after as it were having undergone there an education +in the knowledge of Malayan affairs. + +As further illustrating the commercial and strategical advantages of the +harbours of British North Borneo, it should be noted that the course +recommended by the Admiralty instructions for vessels proceeding to +China from the Straits, _via_ the Palawan passage, brings them within +ninety miles of the harbours of the West Coast. + +As to postal matters, British North Borneo, though not in the Postal +Union, has entered into arrangements for the exchange of direct closed +mails with the English Post Office, London, with which latter also, as +well as with Singapore and India, a system of Parcel Post and of Post +Office Orders has been established. + +The postal and inland revenue stamps, distinguished by the lion, which +has been adopted as the Company's badge, are well executed and in +considerable demand with stamp collectors, owing to their rarity. + +The Government also issues its own copper coinage, one cent and +half-cent pieces, manufactured in Birmingham and of the same intrinsic +value as those of Hongkong and the Straits Settlements. + +The revenue derived from its issue is an important item to the Colony's +finances, and considerable quantities have been put into circulation, +not only within the limits of the Company's territory, but also in +Brunai and in the British Colony of Labuan, where it has been proclaimed +a legal tender on the condition of the Company, in return for the profit +which they reap by its issue in the island, contributing to the +impoverished Colonial Treasury the yearly sum of $3,000. + +Trade, however, is still, to a great extent, carried on by a system of +barter with the Natives. The primitive currency medium in vogue under +the native regime has been described in the Chapters on Brunai. + +The silver currency is the Mexican and Spanish Dollar and the Japanese +Yen, supplemented by the small silver coinage of the Straits +Settlements. The Company has not yet minted any silver coinage, as the +profit thereon is small, but in the absence of a bank, the Treasury, for +the convenience of traders and planters, carries on banking business to +a certain extent, and issues bank notes of the values of $1, $5 and $25, +cash reserves equal to one-third of the value of the notes in +circulation being maintained.[18] + +Sir ALFRED DENT is taking steps to form a Banking Company at Sandakan, +the establishment of which would materially assist in the development of +the resources of the territory. + +British North Borneo is not in telegraphic communication with any part +of the world, except of course through Singapore, nor are there any +local telegraphs. The question, however, of supplementing the existing +cable between the Straits Settlements and China by another touching at +British territory in Borneo has more than once been mooted, and may yet +become a _fait accompli_. The Spanish Government appear to have decided +to unite Sulu by telegraphic communication with the rest of the world, +_via_ Manila, and this will bring Sandakan within 180 miles of the +telegraphic station. + + +Footnotes: + +[Footnote 18: Agencies of Singapore Banks have since been established at +Sandakan.] + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +In the eyes of the European planter, British North Borneo is chiefly +interesting as a field for the cultivation of tobacco, in rivalry to +Sumatra, and my readers may judge of the importance of this question +from a glance at the following figures, which shew the dividends +declared of late years by three of the principal Tobacco Planting +Companies in the latter island:-- + + Dividends paid by + + The Deli The Tabak The Amsterdam + In Maatschappi. Maatschappi. Deli Co. + + 1882 65 per cent. 25 per cent. 10 per cent. + + 1883 101 " 50 " 30 " + + 1884 77 " 60 " 30 " + + 1885 107 " 100 " 60 " + + 1886 108 " ..... ..... + +In Sumatra, under Dutch rule, tobacco culture can at present only be +carried on in certain districts, where the soil is suitable and where +the natives are not hostile, and, as most of the best land has been +taken up, and planters are beginning to feel harassed by the stringent +regulations and heavy taxation of the Dutch Government, both Dutch and +German planters are turning their attention to British North Borneo, +where they find the regulations easier, and the authorities most anxious +to welcome them, while, owing to the scanty population, there is plenty +of available land. It is but fair to say that the first experiment in +North Borneo was made by an English, or rather an Anglo-Chinese Company, +the China-Sabah Land Farming Company, who, on hurriedly selected land in +Sandakan and under the disadvantages which usually attend pioneers in a +new country, shipped a crop to England which was pronounced by experts +in 1886 to equal in quality the best Sumatra-grown leaf. Unfortunately, +this Company, which had wasted its resources on various experiments, +instead of confining itself to tobacco planting, was unable to continue +its operations, but a Dutch planter from Java, Count GELOES D'ELSLOO, +having carefully selected his land in Marudu Bay, obtained, in 1887, the +high average of $1 per lb. for his trial crop at Amsterdam, and, having +formed an influential Company in Europe, is energetically bringing a +large area under cultivation, and has informed me that he confidently +expects to rival Sumatra, not only in quality, but also in quantity of +leaf per acre, as some of his men have cut twelve pikuls per field, +whereas six pikuls per field is usually considered a good crop. The +question of "quantity" is a very important one, for quality without +quantity will never pay on a tobacco estate. Several Dutchmen have +followed Count GELOES' example, and two German Companies and one British +are now at work in the country. Altogether, fully 350,000 acres[19] of +land have been taken up for tobacco cultivation in British North Borneo +up to the present time. + +In selecting land for this crop, climate, that is, temperature and +rainfall, has equally to be considered with richness of soil. For +example, the soil of Java is as rich, or richer than that of Sumatra, +but owing to its much smaller rainfall, the tobacco it produces commands +nothing like the prices fetched by that of the former. The seasons and +rainfall in Borneo are found to be very similar to those of Sumatra. The +average recorded annual rainfall at Sandakan for the last seven years is +given by Dr. WALKER, the Principal Medical Officer, as 124.34 inches, +the range being from 156.9 to 101.26 inches per annum. + +Being so near the equator, roughly speaking between N. Latitudes 4 and +7, North Borneo has, unfortunately for the European residents whose lot +is cast there, nothing that can be called a winter, the temperature +remaining much about the same from year's end to year's end. It used to +seem to me that during the day the thermometer was generally about 83 or +85 in the shade, but, I believe, taking the year all round, night and +day, the mean temperature is 81, and the extremes recorded on the coast +line are 67.5 and 94.5. Dr. WALKER has not yet extended his stations to +the hills in the interior, but mentions it as probable that freezing +point is occasionally reached near the top of the Kinabalu Mountains, +which is 13,700 feet high; he adds that the lowest recorded temperature +he has found is 36.5, given by Sir SPENCER ST. JOHN in his "Life in the +Forests of the Far East." Snow has never been reported even on +Kinabalu, and I am informed that the Charles Louis Mountains in Dutch +New Guinea, are the only ones in tropical Asia where the limit of +perpetual snow is attained. I must stop to say a word in praise of +Kinabalu, "the Chinese Widow,"[20] the sacred mountain of North Borneo +whither the souls of the righteous Dusuns ascend after death. It can be +seen from both coasts, and appears to rear its isolated, solid bulk +almost straight out of the level country, so dwarfed are the +neighbouring hills by its height of 13,680 feet. The best view of it is +obtained, either at sunrise or at sunset, from the deck of a ship +proceeding along the West Coast, from which it is about twenty miles +inland. During the day time the Widow, as a rule, modestly veils her +features in the clouds. + +The effect when its huge mass is lighted up at evening by the last rays +of the setting sun is truly magnificent. + +On the spurs of Kinabalu and on the other lofty hills, of which there is +an abundance, no doubt, as the country becomes opened up by roads many +suitable sites for sanitoria will be discovered, and the day will come +when these hill sides, like those of Ceylon and Java, will be covered +with thriving plantations. + +Failing winter, the Bornean has to be content with the the change +afforded by a dry and a wet season, the latter being looked upon as the +"winter," and prevailing during the month of November, December and +January. But though the two seasons are sufficiently well defined and to +be depended upon by planters, yet there is never a month during the dry +season when no rain falls, nor in the wet season are fine days at all +rare. The dryest months appear to be March and April, and in June there +generally occurs what Doctor WALKER terms an "intermediate" and +moderately wet period. + +Tobacco is a crop which yields quick returns, for in about 110 to 120 +days after the seed is sown the plant is ripe for cutting. The _modus +operandi_ is somewhat after this fashion. First select your land, virgin +soil covered with untouched jungle, situated at a distance from the +sea, so that no salt breezes may jeopardise the proper burning qualities +of the future crop, and as devoid as possible of hills. Then, a point of +primary importance which will be again referred to, engage your Chinese +coolies, who have to sign agreements for fixed periods, and to be +carefully watched afterwards, as it is the custom to give them cash +advances on signing, the repayment of which they frequently endeavour to +avoid by slipping away just before your vessel sails and probably +engaging themselves to another master. + +Without the Chinese cooly, the tobacco planter is helpless, and if the +proper season is allowed to pass, a whole year may be lost. The Chinaman +is too expensive a machine to be employed on felling the forest, and for +this purpose, indeed, the Malay is more suitable and the work is +accordingly given him to do under contract. Simultaneously with the +felling, a track should be cut right through the heart of the estate by +the natives, to be afterwards ditched and drained and made passable for +carts by the Chinese coolies. + +That as much as possible of the felled jungle should be burned up is so +important a matter and one that so greatly affects the individual +Chinese labourer, that it is not left to the Malays to do, but, on the +completion of the felling, the whole area which is to be planted is +divided out into "fields," of about one acre each, and each "field" is +assigned by lot to a Chinese cooly, whose duty it is to carefully burn +the timber and plant, tend and finally cut the tobacco on his own +division, for which he is remunerated in accordance with the quality and +quantity of the leaf he is able to bring into the drying sheds. Each +"field," having been cleared as carefully as may be of the felled +timber, is next thoroughly hoed up, and a small "nursery" prepared in +which the seeds provided by the manager are planted and protected from +rain and sun by palm leaf mats (_kajangs_) raised on sticks. In about a +week, the young plants appear, and the Chinese tenant, as I may call +him, has to carefully water them morning and evening. As the young +seedlings grow up, their enemy, the worms and grubs, find them out and +attack them in such numbers that at least once a day, sometimes oftener, +the anxious planter has to go through his nursery and pick them off, +otherwise in a short time he would have no tobacco to plant out. About +thirty days after the seed has been sown, the seedlings are old enough +to be planted out in the field, which has been all the time carefully +prepared for their reception. The first thing to be done is to make +holes in the soil, at distances of two feet one way and three feet the +other, the earth in them being loosened and broken up so that the tender +roots should meet with no obstacles to their growth. As the holes are +ready for them, the seedlings are taken from the nursery and planted +out, being protected from the sun's rays either by fern, or coarse +grass, or, in the best managed estates, by a piece of wood, like a +roofing shingle, inserted in the soil in such a way as to provide the +required shelter. The watering has to be continued till the plants have +struck root, when the protecting shelter is removed and the earth banked +up round them, care being taken to daily inspect them and remove the +worms which have followed them from the nursery. The next operation is +that of "topping" the plants, that is, of stopping their further growth +by nipping off the heads. + +According to the richness of the soil and the general appearance of the +plants, this is ordered to be done by the European overseer after a +certain number of leaves have been produced. If the soil is poor, +perhaps only fourteen leaves will be allowed, while on the richest land +the plant can stand and properly ripen as many as twenty-four leaves. +The signs of ripening, which generally takes place in about three months +from the date of transplantation, are well known to the overseers and +are first shewn by a yellow tinge becoming apparent at the tips of the +leaves. + +The cooly thereupon cuts the plants down close to the ground and lightly +and carefully packs them into long baskets so as not to injure the +leaves, and carries them to the drying sheds. There they are examined by +the overseer of his division, who credits him with the value, based on +the quantity and quality of the crop he brings in, the price ranging +from $1 up to $8 per thousand trees. The plants are then tied in rows on +sticks, heads downwards, and hoisted up in tiers to dry in the shed. + +After hanging for a fortnight, they are sufficiently dry and, being +lowered down, are stripped of their leaves, which are tied up into small +bundles, similar leaves being roughly sorted together. + +The bundles of leaves are then taken to other sheds, where the very +important process of fermenting them is carried out. For this purpose, +they are put into orderly arranged heaps--small at first, but increased +in size till very little heat is given out, the heat being tested by a +thermometer, or even an ordinary piece of stick inserted into them. When +the fermentation is nearly completed and the leaves have attained a +fixed colour, they are carefully sorted according to colour, spottiness +and freedom from injury of any kind. The price realized in Europe is +greatly affected by the care with which the leaves have been fermented +and sorted. Spottiness is not always considered a defect, as it is +caused by the sun shining on the leaves when they have drops of rain on +them, and to this the best leaves are liable; but spotted leaves, broken +leaves and in short leaves having the same characteristics should be +carefully sorted together. After this sorting is completed as regards +class and quality, there is a further sorting in regard to length, and +the leaves are then tied together in bundles of thirty-five. These +bundles are put into large heaps and, when no more heating is apparent, +they are ready to be pressed under a strong screw press and sewn up in +bags which are carefully marked and shipped off to Europe--to Amsterdam +as a rule. + +As the coolies' payment is by "results," it is their interest to take +the greatest care of their crops; but for any outside work they may be +called on to perform, and for their services as sorters, etc. in the +sheds, they are paid extra. During the whole time, also, they receive, +for "subsistence" money, $4 or $3 a month. At the end of the season +their accounts are made up, being debited with the amount of the +original advance, subsistence money and cost of implements, and credited +with the value of the tobacco brought in and any wages that may be due +for outside work. Each estate possesses a hospital, in which bad cases +are treated by a qualified practitioner, while in trifling cases the +European overseer dispenses drugs, quinine being that in most demand. +If, owing to sickness, or other cause, the cooly has required assistance +in his field, the cost thereof is deducted in his final account. + +The men live in well constructed "barracks," erected by the owner of the +estate, and it is one of the duties of the Chinese "tindals," or +overseers acting under the Europeans to see that they are kept in a +cleanly, sanitary condition. + +The European overseers are under the orders of the head manager, and an +estate is divided in such a way that each overseer shall have under his +direct control and be responsible for the proper cultivation of about +100 fields. He receives a fixed salary, but his interest in his division +is augmented by the fact that he will receive a commission on the value +of the crop it produces. His work is onerous and, during the season, he +has little time to himself, but should be here, there, and everywhere in +his division, seeing that the coolies come out to work at the stated +times, that no field is allowed to get in a backward state, and that +worms are carefully removed, and, as a large proportion of the men are +probably _sinkehs_, that is, new arrivals who have never been on a +tobacco estate before, he has, with the assistance of the tindals, to +instruct them in their work. When the crop is brought in, he has to +examine each cooly's contribution, carefully inspecting each leaf, and +keeping an account of the value and quantity of each. + +Physical strength, intelligence and an innate desire of amassing +dollars, are three essential qualifications for a good tobacco cooly, +and, so far, they have only been found united in the Chinaman, the +European being out of the question as a field-labourer in the tropics. + +The coolies are, as a rule, procured through Chinese cooly brokers in +Penang or Singapore, but as regards North Borneo, the charges for +commission, transport and the advances--many of which, owing to death, +sickness and desertion, are never repaid--have become so heavy as to be +almost prohibitive, and my energetic friend, Count GELOES, has set the +example of procuring his coolies direct from China, instead of by the +old fashioned, roundabout way of the extortionate labour-brokers of the +Straits Settlements. North Borneo, it will be remembered, is situated +midway between Hongkong and Singapore, and the Court of Directors of +the Governing Company could do nothing better calculated to ensure the +success of their public-spirited enterprise than to inaugurate regular, +direct steam communication between their territory and Hongkong. In the +first instance, this could only be effected by a Government subsidy or +guarantee, but it is probable that, in a short time, a cargo and +passenger traffic would grow up which would permit of the subsidy being +gradually withdrawn. + +Many of the best men on a well managed estate will re-engage themselves +on the expiration of their term of agreement, receiving a fresh advance, +and some of them can be trusted to go back to China and engage their +clansmen for the estate. + +In British North Borneo the general welfare of the indentured coolies is +looked after by Government Officials, who act under the provisions of a +law entitled "The Estate Coolies and Labourers Protection Proclamation, +1883." + +Owing to the expense of procuring coolies and to the fact that every +operation of tobacco planting must be performed punctually at the proper +season of the year, and to the desirability of encouraging coolies to +re-engage themselves, it is manifestly the planters' interest to treat +his employes well, and to provide, so far as possible, for their health +and comfort on the estate, but, notwithstanding all the care that may be +taken, a considerable amount of sickness and many deaths must be allowed +for on tobacco estates, which, as a rule, are opened on virgin soil; +for, so long as there remains any untouched land on his estate, the +planter rarely makes use of land off which a crop has been taken. + +In North Borneo the jungle is generally felled towards the end of the +wet season, and planting commences in April or May. The Native Dusun, +Sulu and Brunai labour is available for jungle-felling and +house-building, and _nibong_ palms for posts and _nipa_ palms for +thatch, walls and _kajangs_ exist in abundance. + +Writing to the Court of Directors in 1884 I said:--"The experiment in +the Suanlambah conclusively proves so far that this country will do for +tobacco. * * * There seems every reason to conclude that it will do as +well here as in Sumatra. When this fact becomes known, I presume there +will be quite a small rush to the country, as the Dutch Government, I +hear, is not popular in Sumatra, and land available for tobacco there +is becoming scarcer." + +My anticipations have been verified, and the rush is already taking +place. + +The localities at present in favour with tobacco planters are Marudu Bay +and Banguey Island in the North, Labuk Bay and Darvel Bay in the +neighbourhood of the Silam Station, and the Kinabatangan River on the +East. + +The firstcomers obtained their land on very easy terms, some of them at +30 cents an acre, but the Court has now issued an order that in future +no planting land is to be disposed of for a less sum than $1[21] per +acre, free of quit-rent and on a lease for 999 years, with clauses +providing that a certain proportion be brought under cultivation. + +At present no export duty is levied on tobacco shipped from North +Borneo, and the Company has engaged that no such duty shall be imposed +before the 1st January, 1892, after which date it will be optional with +them to levy an export royalty at the rate of one dollar cent, or a +halfpenny, per lb., which rate, they promise, shall not be exceeded +during the succeeding twenty years. + +The tobacco cultivated in Sumatra and British North Borneo is used +chiefly for wrappers for cigars, for which purpose a very fine, thin, +elastic leaf is required and one that has a good colour and will burn +well and evenly, with a fine white ash. This quality of leaf commands a +much higher price than ordinary kinds, and, as stated, Count +GELOES'trial crop, from the Ranan Estate in Marudu Bay, averaged 1.83 +guilders, or about $1 (3/2) per lb. It is said that 2 lbs. or 2-1/2 lbs. +weight of Bornean tobacco will cover 1,000 cigars. + +Tobacco is not a new culture in Borneo, as some of the hill natives on +the West Coast of North Borneo have grown it in a rough and ready way +for years past, supplying the population of Brunai and surrounding +districts with a sun-dried article, which used to be preferred to that +produced in Java. The Malay name for tobacco is _tambako_, a corruption +of the Spanish and Portuguese term, but the Brunai people also know it +as _sigup_. + +It was probably introduced into Malay countries by the Portuguese, who +conquered Malacca in 1511, and by the Spanish, who settled in the +Philippines in 1565. Its use has become universal with men, women and +children, of all tribes and of all ranks. The native mode of using +tobacco has been referred to in my description of Brunai. + +Fibre-yielding plants are also now attracting attention in North Borneo, +especially the Manila hemp (_Musa textilis_) a species of banana, and +pine-apples, both of which grow freely. The British Borneo Trading and +Planting Company have acquired the patent for Borneo of DEATH'S +fibre-cleaning machines, and are experimenting with these products on a +considerable scale and, apparently, with good prospects of success.[22] +For a long time past, beautiful cloths have been manufactured of +pine-apple fibre in the Philippines, and as it is said that orders have +been received from France for Borneo pine-apple fibre, we shall perhaps +soon see it used in England under the name of French _silk_. + +In the Government Experimental Garden at Silam, in Darvel Bay, cocoa, +cinnamon and Liberian coffee have been found to do remarkably well. +Sappan-wood and _kapok_ or cotton flock also grow freely. + + +Footnotes: + +[Footnote 19: Governor CREAGH tells me 600,000 acres have now been +taken up.] + +[Footnote 20: For the native derivation of this appellation see page +54.] + +[Footnote 21: Raised in 1890 to $6 an acre.] + +[Footnote 22: The anticipated success has not been achieved as yet.] + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +Many people have a very erroneous idea of the objects and intentions of +the British North Borneo Company. Some, with a dim recollection of +untold wealth having been extracted from the natives of India in the +early days of the Honourable East India Company, conceive that the +Company can have no other object than that of fleecing our natives in +order to pay dividends; but the old saying, that it is a difficult +matter to steal a Highlander's pantaloons, is applicable to North +Borneo, for only a magician could extract anything much worth having in +the shape of loot from the easy going natives of the country, who, in a +far more practical sense than the Christians of Europe, are ready to say +"sufficient for the day is the evil thereof," and who do not look +forward and provide for the future, or heap up riches to leave to their +posterity. + +Some years ago, a correspondent of an English paper displayed his +ignorance on the matter by maintaining that the Company coerced the +natives and forced them to buy Manchester goods at extortionate prices. +An Oxford Don, when I first received my appointment as Governor, +imagined that I was going out as a sort of slave-driver, to compel the +poor natives to work, without wages, on the Company's plantations. But, +as a matter of fact, though entitled to do so by the Royal Charter, the +Company has elected to engage neither in trade nor in planting, deeming +that their desire to attract capital and population to their territory +will be best advanced by their leaving the field entirely open to +others, for otherwise there would always have been a suspicion that +rival traders and planters were handicapped in the race with a Company +which had the making and the administration of laws and the imposition +of taxation in its hands. + +It will be asked, then, if the Company do not make a profit out of +trading, or planting, or mining, what could have induced them to +undertake the Government of a tropical country, some 10,000 miles or +more distant from London, for Englishmen, as a rule, do not invest +hundreds of thousands of pounds with the philanthropic desire only of +benefitting an Eastern race? + +The answer to this question is not very plainly put in the Company's +prospectus, which states that its object "is the carrying on of the work +begun by the Provisional Association" (said in the previous paragraphs +of the prospectus to have been the successful accomplishment of the +_completion_ of the pioneer work) "and the further improvement and full +utilization of the vast natural resources of the country, by the +introduction of new capital and labour, which they intend shall be +stimulated, aided and protected by a just, humane and enlightened +Government. The benefits likely to flow from the accomplishment of this +object, in the opening up of new fields of tropical agriculture, new +channels of enterprise, and new markets for the world's manufactures, +are great and incontestable." I quite agree with the framer of the +prospectus that these benefits are great and incontestable, but then +they would be benefits conferred on the world at large at the expense of +the shareholders of the Company, and I presume that the source from +which the shareholders are to be recouped is the surplus revenues which +a wisely administered Government would ensure, by judiciously fostering +colonisation, principally by Chinese, by the sale of the vast acreages +of "waste" or Government lands, by leasing the right to work the +valuable timber forests and such minerals as may be found to exist in +workable quantities, by customs duties and the "farming out" of the +exclusive right to sell opium, spirits, tobacco, etc., and by other +methods of raising revenue in vogue in the Eastern Colonies of the +Crown. In fact, the sum invested by the shareholders is to be considered +in the light of a loan to the Colony--its public debt--to be repaid with +interest as the resources of the country are developed. Without +encroaching on land worked, or owned by the natives, the Company has a +large area of unoccupied land which it can dispose of for the highest +price obtainable. That this must be the case is evident from a +comparison with the Island of Ceylon, where Government land sales are +still held. The area of North Borneo, it has been seen, is larger than +that of Ceylon, but its population is only about 160,000, while that of +Ceylon is returned as 2,825,000; furthermore, notwithstanding this +comparatively large population, it is said that the land under +cultivation in Ceylon forms only about one-fifth of its total area. From +what I have said of the prospects of tobacco-planting in British North +Borneo, it will be understood that land is being rapidly taken up, and +the Company will soon be in a position to increase its selling price. +Town and station lands are sold under different conditions to that for +planting purposes, and are restricted as a rule to lots of the size of +66 feet by 33 feet. The lease is for 999 years, but there is an annual +quit-rent at the rate of $6 per lot, which is redeemable at fifteen +years' purchase. At Sandakan, lots of this size have at auction realized +a premium of $350. In all cases, coal, minerals, precious stones, edible +nests and guano are reserved to the Government, and, in order to +protect the native proprietors, it is provided that any foreigner +desirous of purchasing land from a native must do so through the +Government. + +Titles and mutations of titles to land are carefully registered and +recorded in the Land Office, under the provisions of the Hongkong +Registration of Documents Ordinance, which has been adopted in the +State. + +The local Government is administered by a Governor, selected by the +Court of Directors subject to the approval of the Secretary of State for +the Colonies. He is empowered to enact laws, which require confirmation +by the Court, and is assisted in his executive functions by a Government +Secretary, Residents, Assistant Residents, a Treasurer-General, a +Commissioner of Lands, a Superintendent of Public Works, Commandant, +Postmaster-General and other Heads of Departments usually to be found in +Crown Colonies, and the British Colonial Regulations are adhered to as +closely as circumstances admit. The title of Resident is borrowed from +the Dutch Colonies, and the duties of the post are analogous to those of +the Resident Councillors of Penang or Malacca, under the Governor of +Singapore, or of the Government Agents in Ceylon. The Governor can also +call to assist him in his deliberations a Council of Advice, composed of +some of the Heads of Departments and of natives of position nominated to +seats therein. + +The laws are in the form of "Proclamations" issued by the Governor under +the seal of the Territory. Most of the laws are adaptations, in whole or +in part, of Ordinances enacted in Eastern Colonies, such as the Straits +Settlements, Hongkong, Labuan and Fiji. + +The Indian Penal Code, the Indian Codes of Civil and Criminal Procedure +and the Indian Evidence and Contract Acts have been adopted in their +entirety, "so far as the same shall be applicable to the circumstances +of this Territory." + +The Proclamation making these and other Acts the law in North Borneo was +the first formal one issued, and bears date the 23rd December, 1881. + +The law relating to the protection of estate coolies and labourers has +been already referred to. + +The question of domestic slavery was one of the first with which the +Company had to grapple, the Royal Charter having ordained that "the +Company shall to the best of its power discourage and, as far as may be +practicable, abolish by degrees, any system of domestic servitude +existing among the tribes of the Coast or interior of Borneo; and no +foreigners whether European, Chinese or other, shall be allowed to own +slaves of any kind in the Company's territories." Slavery and kidnapping +were rampant in North Borneo under native regime and were one of the +chief obstacles to the unanimous acceptance of the Company's rule by the +Chiefs. At first the Residents and other officers confined their efforts +to prohibiting the importation of slaves for sale, and in assisting +slaves who were ill-treated to purchase their liberty. In 1883, a +Proclamation was issued which will have the effect of gradually +abolishing the system, as required by the Charter. Its chief provisions +are as follows:--No foreigners are allowed to hold slaves, and no slaves +can be imported for sale, nor can the natives buy slaves in a foreign +country and introduce them into Borneo _as slaves_, even should there be +no intention of selling them as such. Slaves taking refuge in the +country from abroad will not be surrendered, but slaves belonging to +natives of the country will be given up to their owners unless they can +prove ill-treatment, or that they have been brought into the territory +subsequently to the 1st November, 1883, and it is optional for any slave +to purchase his or her freedom by payment of a sum, the amount of which +is to be fixed, from time to time, by the Government. + +A woman also becomes free if she can prove that she has cohabited with +her master, or with any person other than her husband, with the +connivance of her master or mistress; and finally "all children born of +slave parents after the first day of November, 1883, and who would by +ancient custom be deemed to be slaves, are hereby proclaimed to be free, +and any person treating or attempting to treat any such children as +slaves shall be guilty of an offence under this Proclamation." The +punishment for offences against the provisions of this Proclamation +extends to imprisonment for ten years and to a fine up to five thousand +dollars. + +The late Mr. WITTI, one of the first officers of the Association, at my +request, drew up, in 1881, an interesting report on the system of +Slavery in force in the Tampassuk District, on the West Coast, of which +the following is a brief summary. Slaves in this district are divided +into two classes--those who are slaves in a strict and rigorous sense, +and those whose servitude is of a light description. The latter are +known as _anak mas_, and are the children of a slave mother by a free +man other than her master. If a female, she is the slave or _anak mas_ +of her mother's master, but cannot be sold by him; if a boy, he is +practically free, cannot be sold and, if he does not care to stay with +his master, can move about and earn his own living, not sharing his +earnings with his master, as is the case in some other districts. In +case of actual need, however, his master can call upon him for his +services. + +If an _anak mas_ girl marries a freeman, she at once becomes a free +woman, but a _brihan_, or marriage gift, of from two to two and a half +pikuls of brass gun--valued at $20 to $25 a pikul is payable by the +bridegroom to the master. + +If she marry a slave, she remains an _anak mas_, but such cases are very +rare and only take place when the husband is in a condition to pay a +suitable _brihan_ to the owner. + +If an ordinary slave woman becomes _enceinte_ by her owner, she and her +offspring are henceforth free and, she may remain as one of her late +master's wives. But the jealousy of the inmates of the harem often +causes abortion to be procured. + +The slaves, as a rule, have quite an easy time of it, living with and, +as their masters, sharing the food of the family and being supplied with +tobacco, betel-nut and other native luxuries. There is no difference +between them and free men in the matter of dress, and in the arms which +all carry, and the mere fact that they are allowed to wear arms is +pretty conclusive evidence of their not being bullied or oppressed. + +They assist in domestic duties and in the operations of harvest and +trading and so forth, but there is no such institution as a slave-gang, +working under task masters, a picture which is generally present to the +Englishman's mind when he hears of the existence of slavery. The slave +gang was an institution of the white slave-owner. Slave couples, +provided they support themselves, are allowed to set up house and +cultivate a patch of land. + +For such minor offences as laziness and attempting to escape, the master +can punish his slaves with strokes of the rattan, but if an owner +receives grave provocation and kills his slave, the matter will probably +not be taken notice of by the elders of the village. + +An incorrigible slave is sometimes punished by being sold out of the +district. + +If a slave is badly treated and insufficiently provided with food, his +offence in endeavouring to escape is generally condoned by public +opinion. If a slave is, without sufficient cause, maltreated by a +freeman, his master can demand compensation from the aggressor. Slaves +of one master can, with their owner's consent, marry, and no _brihan_ +is demanded, but if they belong to different masters, the woman's +master is entitled to a _brihan_ of one pikul, equal to $20 or $25. +They continue to be the slaves of their respective masters, but are +allowed to live together, and in case of a subsequent separation they +return to the houses of their masters. Should a freeman, other than her +master, wish to marry a slave, he practically buys her from her owner +with a _brihan_ of $60 or $75. + +Sometimes a favourite slave is raised to a position intermediate between +that of an ordinary slave and an _anak mas_, and is regarded as a +brother, or sister, father, mother, or child; but if he or she attempt +to escape, a reversion to the condition of an ordinary slave is the +result. Occasionally, slaves are given their freedom in fulfilment of a +vow to that effect made by the master in circumstances of extreme +danger, experienced in company with the slave. + +A slave once declared free can never be claimed again by his former +master. + +Debts contracted by a slave, either in his own name, or in that of his +master, are not recoverable. + +By their own extra work, after performing their service to their owners, +slaves can acquire private property and even themselves purchase and own +slaves. + +Infidel slaves, of both sexes, are compulsorily converted to +Muhammadanism and circumcized and, even though they should recover their +freedom, they seldom relapse. + +There are, or rather were, a large number of debt slaves in North +Borneo. For a debt of three pikuls--$60 to $75--a man might be enslaved +if his friends could not raise the requisite sum, and he would continue +to be a slave until the debt was paid, but, as a most usurious interest +was charged, it was almost always a hopeless task to attempt it. + +Sometimes an inveterate gambler would sell himself to pay off his debts +of honour, keeping the balance if any. + +The natives, regardless of the precepts of the Koran, would purchase any +slaves that were offered for sale, whether infidel or Muhammadan. The +importers were usually the Illanun and Sulu kidnappers, who would bring +in slaves of all tribes--Bajaus, Illanuns, Sulus, Brunais, Manilamen, +natives of Palawan and natives of the interior of Magindanau--all was +fish that came into their net. The selling price was as follows:--A boy, +about 2 pikuls, a man 3 pikuls. A girl, 3 to 4 pikuls, a young woman, 3 +to 5 pikuls. A person past middle age about 1-1/2 pikuls. A young +couple, 7 to 8 pikuls, an old couple, about 5 pikuls. The pikul was then +equivalent to $20 or $25. Mr. WITTI further stated that in Tampassuk the +proportion of free men to slaves was only one in three, and in Marudu +Bay only one in five. In Tampassuk there were more female than male +slaves. + +Mr. A. H. EVERETT reported that, in his district of Pappar-Kimanis, +there was no slave _trade_, and that the condition of the domestic +slaves was not one of hardship. + +Mr. W. B. PRYER, speaking for the East Coast, informed me that there +were only a few slaves in the interior, mostly Sulus who had been +kidnapped and sold up the rivers. Among the Sulus of the coast, the +relation was rather that of follower and lord than of slave and master. +When he first settled at Sandakan, he could not get men to work for him +for wages, they deemed it _degrading_ to do so, but they said they +would work for him if he would _buy_ them! Sulu, under Spanish +influence, and Bulungan, in Dutch Borneo, were the chief slave markets, +but the Spanish and Dutch are gradually suppressing this traffic. + +There was a colony of Illanuns and Balinini settled at Tunku and Teribas +on the East Coast, who did a considerable business in kidnapping, but in +1879 Commander E. EDWARDS, in H. M. S. _Kestrel_, attacked and burnt +their village, capturing and burning several piratical boats and prahus. + +Slavery, though not yet extinct in Borneo, has received a severe check +in British North Borneo and in Sarawak, and is rapidly dying out in both +countries; in fact it is a losing business to be a slave-owner now. + +Apart from the institution of slavery, which is sanctioned by the +Muhammadan religion, the religious customs and laws of the various +tribes "especially with respect to the holding, possession, transfer and +disposition of lands and goods, and testate or intestate succession +thereto, and marriage, divorce and legitimacy, and the rights of +property and personal rights" are carefully regarded by the Company's +Government, as in duty bound, according to the terms of Articles 8 and 9 +of the Royal Charter. The services of native headmen are utilised as +much as possible, and Courts composed of Native Magistrates have been +established, but at the same time efforts are made to carry the people +with the Government in ameliorating and advancing their social position, +and thus involves an amendment of some of the old customs and laws. + +Moreover, customs which are altogether repugnant to modern ideas are +checked or prohibited by the new Government; as, for example, the +time-honoured custom of a tribe periodically balancing the account of +the number of heads taken or lost by it from or to another tribe, an +audit which, it is strange to say, almost invariably results in the +discovery on the part of the stronger tribe that they are on the wrong +side of the account and have a balance to get from the others. These +hitherto interminable feuds, though not altogether put a stop to in the +interior, have been in many districts effectually brought to an end, +Government officers having been asked by the natives themselves to +undertake the examination of the accounts and the tribe who was found +to be on the debtor side paying, not human heads, but compensation in +goods at a fixed rate per head due. Another custom which the Company +found it impossible to recognize was that of _summungap_, which was, in +reality, nothing but a form of human sacrifice, the victim being a slave +bought for the purpose, and the object being to send a message to a +deceased relative. With this object in view, the slave used to be bound +and wrapped in cloth, when the relatives would dance round him and each +thrust a spear a short way into his body, repeating, as he did so, the +message which he wished conveyed. This operation was performed till the +slave succumbed. + +The Muhammadan practice of cutting off the hair of a woman convicted of +adultery, or of men flogging her with a rattan, and that of cutting off +the hand of a thief, have also not received the recognition of the +Company's Government. + +It has been shewn that the native population of North Borneo is very +small, only about five to the square mile, and as the country is fertile +and well-watered and possesses, for the tropics, a healthy climate, +there must be some exceptional cause for the scantiness of the +population. This is to be found chiefly in the absence, already referred +to, of any strong central Government in former days, and to the +consequent presence of all forms of lawlessness, piracy, slave-trading, +kidnapping and head-hunting. + +In more recent years, too, cholera and small-pox have made frightful +ravages amongst the natives, almost annihilating some of the tribes, for +the people knew of no remedies and, on the approach of the scourge, +deserted their homes and their sick and fled to the jungle, where +exposure and privation rendered them more than ever liable to the +disease. Since the Company's advent, efforts are being successfully made +to introduce vaccination, in which most of the people now have +confidence. + +This fact of a scanty native population has, in some ways, rendered the +introduction of the Company's Government a less arduous undertaking than +it might otherwise have proved, and has been a fortunate circumstance +for the shareholders, who have the more unowned and virgin land to +dispose of. In British North Borneo, luckily for the Company, there is +not, as there is in Sarawak, any one large, powerful tribe, whose +presence might have been a source of trouble, or even of danger to the +young Government, but the aborigines are split up into a number of petty +tribes, speaking very distinct dialects and, generally, at enmity +amongst themselves, so that a general coalition of the bad elements +amongst them is impossible. + +The institution and amusement of head-hunting appears never to have been +taken up and followed with so much energy and zeal in North Borneo as +among the Dyaks of Sarawak. I do not think that it was as a rule deemed +absolutely essential with any of our tribes that a young man should have +taken at least a head or two before he could venture to aspire to the +hand of the maiden who had led captive his heart. The heads of slain +enemies were originally taken by the conquerors as a substantial proof +and trophy of their successful prowess, which could not be gainsaid, and +it came, in time, to be considered the proper thing to be able to boast +of the possession of a large number of these ghastly tokens; and so an +ambitious youth, in his desire for applause, would not be particularly +careful from whom, or in what manner he obtained a head, and the victim +might be, not only a person with whom he had no quarrel, but even a +member of a friendly tribe, and the mode of acquisition might be, not by +a fair stand-up fight, a test of skill and courage, but by treachery and +ambush. Nor did it make very much difference whether the head obtained +was that of a man, a woman or a child, and in their petty wars it was +even conceived to be an honourable distinction to bring in the heads of +women and children, the reasoning being that the men of the attacked +tribe must have fought their best to defend their wives and children. + +The following incident, which occurred some years ago at the Colony of +Labuan, serves to shew how immaterial it was whether a friend, or foe, +or utter stranger was the victim. A Murut chief of the Trusan, a river +on the mainland over against Labuan, was desirous of obtaining some +fresh heads on the occasion of a marriage feast, and put to sea to a +district inhabited by a hostile tribe. Meeting with adverse winds, his +canoes were blown over to the British Colony; the Muruts landed, held +apparently friendly intercourse with some of the Kadaian (Muhammadan) +population and, after a visit of two or three days, made preparations to +sail; but meeting a Kadaian returning to his home alone, they shot him +and went off with his head--though the man was an entire stranger to +them, and they had no quarrel with any of his tribe. + +With the assistance of the Brunai authorities, the chief and several of +his accomplices were subsequently secured and sent for trial to Labuan. +The chief died in prison, while awaiting trial, but one or two of his +associates paid the penalty of their wanton crime. + +A short time afterwards, Mr. COOK and I visited the Lawas River for +sport, and took up our abode in a Murut long house, where, I remember, a +large basket of skulls was placed as an ornament at the head of my +sleeping place. One night, when all our men, with the exception of my +Chinese servant, were away in the jungle, trying to trap the then newly +discovered "Bulwer pheasant," some Muruts from the Trusan came over and +informed our hosts of the fate of their chief. On the receipt of this +intelligence, all the men of our house left it and repaired to one +adjoining, where a great "drink" was held, while the women indulged in a +loud, low, monotonous, heart-breaking wail, which they kept up for +several hours. Mr. COOK and myself agreed that things looked almost as +bad for us as they well could, and when, towards morning, the men +returned to our house, my Chinese boy clung to me in terror and--nothing +happened! But certainly I do not think I have ever passed such an +uncomfortable period of suspense. + +Writing to the Court of Directors of the East India Company a hundred +and thirteen years ago, Mr. YESSE, who concluded the pepper monopoly +agreement with the Brunai Government, referring to the Murut +predilection for head-hunting says:--"With respect to the Idaan, or +Muruts, as they are called here, I cannot give any account of their +disposition; but from what I have heard from the Borneyans, they are a +set of abandoned idolaters; one of their tenets, so strangely inhuman, I +cannot pass unnoticed, which is, that their future interest depends +upon the number of their fellow creatures they have killed in any +engagement, or common disputes, and count their degrees of happiness to +depend on the number of human skulls in their possession; from which, +and the wild, disorderly life they lead, unrestrained by any bond of +civil society, we ought not to be surprised if they are of a cruel and +vindictive disposition." I think this is rather a case of giving a dog a +bad name. + +I heard read once at a meeting of the Royal Geographical Society, an +eloquent paper on the Natives of the Andaman Islands, in which the +lecturer, after shewing that the Andamanese were suspicious, +treacherous, blood-thirsty, ungrateful and untruthful, concluded by +giving it as his opinion that they were very good fellows and in many +ways superior to white man. + +I do not go quite so far as he does, but I must say that many of the +aborigines are very pleasant good-natured creatures, and have a lot of +good qualities in them, which, with care and discriminating legislation +on the part of their new rulers, might be gradually developed, while the +evil qualities which they possess in common with all races of men, might +be _pari passu_ not extinguished, but reduced to a minimum. But this +result can only be secured by officers who are naturally of a +sympathetic disposition and ready to take the trouble of studying the +natives and entering into their thoughts and aspirations. + +In many instances, the Company has been fortunate in its choice of +officials, whose work has brought them into intimate connection with the +aborigines. + +A besetting sin of young officers is to expect too much--they are +conscious that their only aim is to advance the best interests of the +natives, and they are surprised and hurt at, what they consider, the +want of gratitude and backwardness in seconding their efforts evinced by +them. They forget that the people are as yet in the schoolboy stage, and +should try and remember how, in their own schoolboy days, they offered +opposition to the efforts of their masters for _their_ improvement, and +how little gratitude they felt, at the time, for all that was done for +them. Patience and sympathy are the two qualifications especially +requisite in officers selected for the management of native affairs. + +In addition to the indigenous population, there are, settled along the +coast and at the mouths of the principal rivers, large numbers of the +more highly civilized tribes of Malays, of whose presence in Borneo an +explanation has been attempted on a previous page. They are known as +Brunais--called by the Natives, for some unexplained reason, _orang +abai_--Sulus, Bajows, Illanuns and Balininis; there are also a few +Bugis, or natives of Celebes. + +These are the people who, before the Company's arrival, lorded it over +the more ignorant interior tribes, and prevented their having direct +dealings with traders and foreigners, and to whom, consequently, the +advent of a still more civilized race than themselves was very +distasteful. + +The habits of the Brunai people have already been sufficiently +described. + +The Sulus are, next to the Brunais, the most civilized race and, without +any exception, the most warlike and powerful. For nearly three +centuries, they have been more or less in a state of war with the +Spaniards of the Philippine Islands, and even now, though the Spaniards +have established a fortified port in their principal island, their +subjugation is by no means complete. + +The Spanish officials dare not go beyond the walls of their settlement, +unless armed and in force, and it is no rare thing for fanatical Sulus, +singly or in small parties, to make their way into the Spanish town, +under the guise of unarmed and friendly peasants, and then suddenly draw +their concealed krises and rush with fury on officers, soldiers and +civilians, generally managing to kill several before they are themselves +cut down. + +They are a much bolder and more independent race than the Brunais, who +have always stood in fear of them, and it was in consideration of its +undertaking to defend them against their attacks that the Brunai +Government conceded the exclusive trade in pepper to the East India +Company. Their religion--Muhammadanism--sits even more lightly on the +Sulus than on the Brunais, and their women, who are fairer and better +looking than their Brunai sisters, are never secluded or veiled, but +often take part in public deliberations and, in matters of business, are +even sharper than the men. + +The Sulus are a bloodthirsty and hard-hearted race, and, when an +opportunity occurs, are not always averse to kidnapping even their own +countrymen and selling them into slavery. They entertain a high notion +of their own importance, and are ever ready to resent with their krises +the slightest affront which they may conceive has been put upon them. + +In Borneo, they are found principally on the North-East Coast, and a +good many have settled in British North Borneo under the Company's +Government. They occasionally take contracts for felling jungle and +other work of similar character, but are less disposed than the Brunai +men to perform work for Europeans on regular wages. Among their good +qualities, it may be mentioned that they are faithful and trustworthy +followers of any European to whom they may become attached. Their +language is distinct from ordinary Malay, and is akin to that of the +Bisaias, one of the principal tribes of the Philippines, and is written +in the Arabic character; but many Malay terms have been adopted into the +language, and most of the trading and seafaring Sulus know enough Malay +to conclude a bargain. + +The most numerous Muhammadan race in British North Borneo is that of the +Bajows, who are found on both coasts, but, on the West Coast, not South +of the Pappar River. These are the _orang-laut_ (men of the sea) or +sea-gipsies of the old writers, and are the worst class that we have to +deal with, being of a treacherous and thievish disposition, and +confirmed gamblers and cattle-lifters. + +They also form a large proportion of the population of the Sulu Islands, +where they are, or used to be, noted kidnappers and pirates, though also +distinguished for their skill in pearl fisheries. Their religion is that +of Mahomet and their language Malay mixed, it is said, with Chinese and +Japanese elements; their women are not secluded, and it is a rare thing +for a Borneo Bajow to take the trouble of making the pilgrimage to +Mecca. They are found along the coasts of nearly all the Malay Islands +and, apparently, in former days lived entirely in their boats. In +British North Borneo, a large majority have taken to building houses +and residing on the shore, but when Mr. PRYER first settled at Sandakan, +there was a considerable community of them in the Bay, who had no houses +at all, but were born, bred, married and died in their small canoes. + +On the West Coast, the Bajows, who have for a long time been settled +ashore, appear to be of smaller build and darker colour than the other +Malays, with small sparkling black eyes, but on the East Coast, where +their condition is more primitive, Mr. PRYER thinks they are much larger +in stature and stronger and more swarthy than ordinary Malays. + +On the East Coast, there are no buffaloes or horned cattle, so that the +Bajows there have, or I should say _had_, to be content with kidnapping +only, and as an example of their daring I may relate that in, I think, +the year 1875, the Austrian Frigate _Friederich_, Captain Baron +OESTERREICHER, was surveying to the South of Darvel Bay, and, running +short of coal, sent an armed party ashore to cut firewood. The Bajows +watched their opportunity and, when the frigate was out of sight, seized +the cutter, notwithstanding the fire of the party on the shore, who +expended all their ammunition in vain, and carried off the two +boat-keepers, whose heads were subsequently shewn round in triumph in +the neighbouring islands. Baron OESTERREICHER was unable to discover the +retreat of these Bajows, and they remain unpunished to this day, and are +at present numbered among the subjects of the British North Borneo +Company. I have been since told that I have more than once unwittingly +shaken hands and had friendly intercourse with some of them. In fairness +to them I should add that it is more than probable that they mistook the +_Friederich_ for a vessel belonging to Spain, with whom their sovereign, +the Sultan of Sulu, was at that time at war. After this incident, and by +order of his Government, Baron OESTERREICHER visited Sandakan Bay and, I +believe, reported that he could discover no population there other than +monkeys. Altogether, he could not have carried away with him a very +favourable impression of Northern Borneo. On the West Coast, gambling +and cattle-lifting are the main pursuits of the gentlemanly Bajow, +pursuits which soon brought him into close and very uncomfortable +relations with the new Government, for which he entertains anything but +feelings of affection. One of the principal independent rivers on the +West Coast--_i. e._, rivers which have not yet been ceded to the +Company--is the Mengkabong, the majority of the inhabitants of which are +Bajows, so that it has become a sort of river of refuge for the bad +characters on the coast, as well as an entrepot for the smuggling of +gunpowder for sale to the head-hunting tribes of the interior. The +existence of these independent and intermediate rivers on their West +Coast is a serious difficulty for the Company in its efforts to +establish good government and put down lawlessness, and every one having +at heart the true interests of the natives of Borneo must hope that the +Company will soon be successful in the negotiations which they have +opened for the acquisition of these rivers. The Kawang was an important +river, inhabited by a small number of Bajows, acquired by the Company in +1884, and the conduct of these people on one occasion affords a good +idea of their treachery and their hostility towards good government. An +interior tribe had made itself famous for its head-hunting proclivities, +and the Kawang was selected as the best route by which to reach their +district and inflict punishment upon them. The selection of this route +was not a politic one, seeing that the inhabitants _were_ Bajows, and +that they had but recently come under the Company's rule. The expedition +was detained a day or two at the Bajow village, as the full number of +Dusun baggage-carriers had not arrived, and the Bajows were called upon +to make up the deficiency, but did not do so. Matters were further +complicated by the Dusuns recognising some noted cattle-lifters in the +village, and demanding a buffalo which had been stolen from them. It +being impossible to obtain the required luggage carriers, it was +proposed to postpone the expedition, the stores were deposited in some +of the houses of the village and the Constabulary were "dismissed" and, +piling their arms, laid down under the shelter of some trees. Without +any warning one of two Bajows, with whom Dr. FRASER was having an +apparently friendly chat, discharged his musket point blank at the +Doctor, killing him on the spot, and seven others rushed among the +unarmed Constables and speared the Sikh Jemmadhar and the +Sergeant-Major and a private and then made off for the jungle. Captain +DE FONTAINE gallantly, but rashly started off in pursuit, before any one +could support him. He tripped and fell and was so severely wounded by +the Bajows, after killing three of them with his revolver, that he died +a few days afterwards at Sandakan. By this time the Sikhs had got their +rifles and firing on the retreating party killed three and wounded two. +Assistant Resident LITTLE, who had received a spear in his arm, shot his +opponent dead with his revolver. None of the other villagers took any +active part, and consequently were only punished by the imposition of a +fine. They subsequently all cleared out of the Company's territory. It +was a sad day for the little Colony at Sandakan when Mr. WHITEHEAD, a +naturalist who happened to be travelling in the neighbourhood at the +time, brought us the news of the melancholy affray, and the wounded +Captain DE FONTAINE and several Sikhs, to whose comfort and relief he +had, at much personal inconvenience, attended on the tedious voyage in a +small steam-launch from the Kawang to the Capital. On the East Coast, +also, their slave-dealing and kidnapping propensities brought the Bajows +into unfriendly relations with the Government, and their lawlessness +culminated in their kidnapping several Eraan birds' nest collectors, +whom they refused to surrender, and making preparations for resisting +any measures which might be taken to coerce them. As these same people +had, a short time previously, captured at sea some five Dutch subjects, +it was deemed that their offences brought them within the cognizance of +the Naval authorities, and Captain A. K. HOPE, R.N., at my request, +visited the district, in 1886, in H. M. S. _Zephyr_ and, finding that +the people of two of the Bajow villages refused to hold communication +with us, but prepared their boats for action, he opened fire on them +under the protection of which a party of the North Borneo Constabulary +landed and destroyed the villages, which were quickly deserted, and many +of the boats which had been used on piratical excursions. Happily, there +was no loss of life on either side, and a very wholesome and useful +lesson was given to the pirates without the shedding of blood, thanks +to the good arrangements and tact of Captain HOPE. In order that the +good results of this lesson should not be wasted, I revisited the scene +of the little engagement in the _Zephyr_ a few weeks subsequently, and +not long afterwards the British flag was again shewn in the district, by +Captain A. H. ALINGTON in H. M. S. _Satellite_, who interviewed the +offending chiefs and gave them sound advice as to their conduct in +future. + +Akin to the Bajows are the Illanuns and Balinini, Muhammadan peoples, +famous in former days as the most enterprising pirates of the Malayan +seas. The Balinini, Balignini or Balanguini--as their name is variously +written--originally came from a small island to the north of Sulu, and +the Illanuns from the south coast of the island of Mindanao--one of the +Philippines, but by the action of the Spanish and British cruisers their +power has been broken and they are found scattered in small numbers +throughout the Sulu Islands and on the seaboard of Northern Borneo, on +the West Coast of which they founded little independent settlements, +arrogating to their petty chiefs such high sounding titles as Sultan, +Maharajah and so forth. + +The Illanuns are a proud race and distinguished by wearing a much larger +sword than the other tribes, with a straight blade about 28 inches in +length. This sword is called a _kampilan_, and is used in conjunction +with a long, narrow, wooden shield, known by the name of _klassap_, and +in the use of these weapons the Illanuns are very expert and often boast +that, were it not for their gunpowder, no Europeans could stand up to +them, face to face. I believe, that it is these people who in former +days manufactured the chain armour of which I have seen several +specimens, but the use of which has now gone out of fashion. Those I +have are made of small brass rings linked together, and with plates of +brass or buffalo horn in front. The headpiece is of similar +construction. + +There are no Negritos in Borneo, although they exist in the Malay +Peninsula and the Philippines, and our explorers have failed to obtain +any specimens of the "tailed" people in whose existence many of the +Brunai people believe. The late Sultan of Brunai gravely assured me +that there was such a tribe, and that the individuals composing it were +in the habit of carrying about chairs with them, in the seat of each of +which there was a little hole, in which the lady or gentleman carefully +inserted her or his tail before settling down to a comfortable chat. +This belief in the existence of a tailed race appears to be widespread, +and in his "Pioneering in New Guinea" Mr. CHALMERS gives an amusing +account of a detailed description of such a tribe by a man who vowed _he +had lived with them_, and related how they were provided with long +sticks, with which to make holes in the ground before squatting down, +for the reception of their short stumpy tails! I think it is Mr. H. F. +ROMILLY who, in his interesting little work on the Western Pacific and +New Guinea, accounts for the prevalence of "yarns" of this class by +explaining that the natives regard Europeans as being vastly superior to +them in general knowledge and, when they find them asking such questions +as, for instance, whether there are tailed-people in the interior, jump +to the conclusion that the white men must have good grounds for +believing that they do exist, and then they gradually come to believe in +their existence themselves. There is, however, I think, some excuse for +the Brunai people's belief, for I have seen one tribe of Muruts who, in +addition to the usual small loin cloth, wear on their backs only a skin +of a long-tailed monkey, the tail of which hangs down behind in such a +manner as, when the men are a little distance off, to give one at first +glance the impression that it is part and parcel of the biped. + +In Labuan it used to be a very common occurrence for the graves of the +Europeans, of which unfortunately, owing to its bad climate when first +settled, there are a goodly number, to be found desecrated and the bones +scattered about. The perpetrators of these outrages have never been +discovered, notwithstanding the most stringent enquiries. It was once +thought that they were broken open by head-hunting tribes from the +mainland, but this theory was disproved by the fact that the skulls were +never carried away. As we know of no Borneo tribe which is in the habit +of breaking open graves, the only conclusion that can be come to is that +the graves were rifled under the supposition that the Europeans buried +treasure with their dead, though it is strange that their experiences of +failure never seemed to teach them that such was not the case. + +The Muhammadan natives are buried in the customary Muhammadan manner in +regular graveyards kept for the purpose. + +The aborigines generally bury their dead near their houses, erecting +over the graves little sheds adorned, in the case of chiefs, with bright +coloured clothes, umbrellas, etc. I once went to see the lying in state +of a deceased Datoh, who had been dead nine days. On entering the house +I looked about for the corpse in vain, till my attention was drawn to an +old earthen jar, tilted slightly forward, on the top of the old Chief's +goods--his sword, spear, gun and clothing. + +In this jar were the Datoh's remains, the poor old fellow having been +doubled up, head and heels together, and forced through the mouth of the +vessel, which was about two feet in diameter. The jar itself was about +four feet high. Over the corpse was thickly sprinkled the native +camphor, and the jar was closed with a piece of buffalo hide, well +sealed over with gum dammar. They told us the Datoh was dressed in his +best clothes and had his pipe with him, but nothing else. He was to be +buried that day in a small grave excavated near the house, just large +enough to contain the jar, and a buffalo was being killed and +intoxicating drink prepared for the numerous friends and followers who +were flocking in for the wake. Over his grave cannon would be fired to +arouse the spirits who were to lead him to Kinabalu, the people shouting +out "Turn neither to the right nor to the left, but proceed straight to +Kinabalu"--the sacred mountain where are collected the spirits of all +good Dusuns under, I believe, the presidency of a great spirit known as +Kinaringan. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +The population of North Borneo, as has been shewn, is very scanty, and +the great object of the new Government should be to attract population +and capital to their territory. Java is often quoted as an island which, +under Dutch rule, has attained great prosperity without any large +immigration of Chinese or other foreigners. This is true, but in Java +the Dutch had not only a fertile soil and good climate in their favour, +but found their Colony already thickly populated by native races who +had, under Hindu and Arab influences, made considerable advances in +civilization, in trade and in agriculture, and who, moreover, had been +accustomed to a strong Government. + +The Dutch, too, were in those days able to introduce a Government of a +paternal and despotic character which the British North Borneo Company +are, by the terms of the Royal Charter, precluded from imitating. + +It was Sir JAMES BROOKE'S wish to keep Sarawak for the natives, but his +successor has recognised the impolicy of so doing and admits that +"without the Chinese we can do nothing." Experience in the Straits +Settlements, the Malay Peninsula and Sarawak has shewn that the people +to cause rapid financial progress in Malayan countries are the +hard-working, money-loving Chinese, and these are the people whom the +Company should lay themselves out to attract to Borneo, as I have more +than once pointed out in the course of these remarks. It matters not +what it is that attracts them to the country, whether trade, as in +Singapore, agriculture, as in Johor and Sarawak, or mining as in Perak +and other of the Protected Native States of the Peninsula--once get them +to voluntarily immigrate, and govern them with firmness and justice, and +the financial success of the Company would, in my opinion, be assured. +The inducements for the Chinese to come to North Borneo are trade, +agriculture and possibly mining. The bulk of those already in the +country are traders, shop-keepers, artisans and the coolies employed by +them, and the numbers introduced by the European tobacco planters for +the cultivation of their estates, under the system already explained, is +yearly increasing. Very few are as yet engaged in agriculture on their +own account, and it must be confessed that the luxuriant tropical jungle +presents considerable difficulties to an agriculturist from China, +accustomed to a country devoid of forest, and it would be impossible for +Chinese peasants to open land in Borneo for themselves without monetary +assistance, in the first instance, from the Government or from +capitalists. In Sarawak Chinese pepper planters were attracted by free +passages in Government ships and by loans of money, amounting to a +considerable total, nearly all of which have since been repaid, while +the revenues of the State have been almost doubled. The British North +Borneo Company early recognised the desirability of encouraging Chinese +immigration, but set to work in too great haste and without judgment. + +They were fortunate in obtaining the services for a short time, as their +Commissioner of Chinese Immigration, of a man so well-known in China as +the late Sir WALTER MEDHURST, but he was appointed before the Company's +Government was securely established and before proper arrangements had +been made for the reception of the immigrants, or sufficient knowledge +obtained of the best localities in which to locate them. His influence +and the offer of free passages from China, induced many to try their +fortune in the Colony, but the majority of them were small shop-keepers, +tailors, boot-makers, and artisans, who naturally could not find a +profitable outlet for their energies in a newly opened country to which +capital (except that of the Governing Company) had not yet been +attracted, and a large proportion of the inhabitants of which were +satisfied with a loin cloth as the sole article of their attire. Great, +therefore, was their disappointment, and comparatively few remained to +try their luck in the country. One class of these immigrants, however, +took kindly to North Borneo--the Hakkas, an agricultural clan, many of +whom have embraced the Christian religion and are, in consequence, +somewhat looked down upon by their neighbours. They are a steady, +hard-working body of men, and cultivate vegetable and coffee gardens in +the vicinity of the Settlements and rear poultry and pigs. The women are +steady, and work almost as well as the men. They may form a valuable +factor in the colonization of the country and a source of cheap labour +for the planters in the future. + +Sir SPENCER ST. JOHN, formerly Her Britannic Majesty's Consul-General at +Brunai and who knew Borneo well, in his preface to the second edition +of his "Life in the Forests of the Far East," lays great stress on the +suitability of North Borneo for the immigration of Chinese on a very +large scale, and prophesied that "should the immigration once commence, +it would doubtless assume great proportions and continue until every +acre of useless jungle is cleared away, to give place to rice, pepper, +gambier, sugar-cane, cotton, coffee, indigo and those other products +which flourish on its fertile soil." No doubt a considerable impetus +would be given to the immigration of Chinese and the introduction of +Chinese as well as of European capital, were the British Government to +proclaim[23] formally a Protectorate over the country, meanwhile the +Company should try the effect of the offer of free passages from China +and from Singapore and of liberal allotments of suitable land to _bona +fide_ agriculturists. + +The sources of the Company's revenues have been referred to on a +previous page, and may be summarised here under the following principal +heads:--The "Farms" of Opium, Tobacco, Spirits, and of Pawnbroking, the +Rent of the edible birds'-nest caves, Market Dues, Duties on Imports and +Exports, Court Fines and Fees, Poll Tax on aborigines, House and Store +Rents, profit accruing from the introduction of the Company's copper or +bronze token coinage--a considerable item--Interest and Commission +resulting from the Banking business carried on by the Treasury pending +the establishment of a Banking Company, Land Sales and Quit-rents on +land alienated, and Postal Receipts. + +The Poll Tax is a source of revenue well-known in the East and not +objected to by most of our natives, with whom it takes the place of the +land rent which the Government of India imposes. To our aborigines a +land rent would be most distasteful at present, and they infinitely +prefer the Poll Tax and to be allowed to own and farm what land they +like without paying premium or rent. The more civilized tribes, +especially on the West coast, recognize private property in land, the +boundaries of their gardens and fields being carefully marked and +defined, and the property descending from fathers to children. The rate +of the Poll Tax is usually $2 for married couples and $1 for adult +bachelors per annum, and I believe this is about the same rate as that +collected by the British Government in Burma. At first sight it has the +appearance of a tax on marriage, but in the East generally women do a +great deal of the out-door as well as of the indoor work, so that a +married man is in a much better position than a bachelor for acquiring +wealth, as he can be engaged in collecting jungle produce, or in +trading, or in making money in other ways, while his womenkind are +planting out or gathering in the harvest. + +The amounts _received_ by the Company for the sale of their waste lands +has been as follows:-- + + 1882, $16,340 + + 1883, $25,449 + + 1884, $15,460 + + 1885, $2,860 + + 1886, $12,035 + + 1887,[24] $14,505 + +The receipts for 1888, owing to the rush for tobacco lands already +alluded to, and to the fact that the balances of the premia on lands +taken up in 1887 becomes due in that year, will be considerably larger +than those of any previous period. + +The most productive, and the most elastic source of revenue is that +derived from the Excise on the retail of opium and, with the +comparatively small number of Chinese at present in the country, this +amounted in 1887 to $19,980, having been only $4,537 in 1882.[25] The +next most substantial and promising item is the Customs Duties on Import +and Export, which from about $8,300 in 1882 have increased to $19,980 in +1887.[26] + +The local expenditure in Borneo is chiefly for salaries of the +officials, the armed Constabulary and for Gaols and Public Works, the +annual "rental" payable to the Sultans of Brunai and Sulu and others, +the subsidizing of steamers, Medical Services, Printing, Stationery, +Prospecting, Experimental Gardens and Harbour and Postal Services. The +designations of the principal officials employed by the Company in +Borneo have been given on a previous page; the salaries allowed them, as +a rule, can scarcely be called too liberal, and unfortunately the Court +of Directors does not at present feel that it is justified in +sanctioning any pension scheme. Those of my readers who are conversant +with the working of Public Offices will recognize that this decision of +the Directors deprives the service of one great incentive to hard and +continuous work and of a powerful factor in the maintenance of an +effective discipline, and it speaks volumes for the quality of the +officials, whose services the Company has been so fortunate as to secure +without this attraction, that it is served as faithfully, energetically +and zealously as any Government in the world. It I may be allowed to say +so here, I can never adequately express my sense of the valuable +assistance and support I received from the officers, with scarcely any +exception, during my six years' tenure of the appointment of Governor. +An excellent spirit pervades the service and, when the occasions have +arisen, there have never been wanting officers ready to risk their lives +in performing their duties, without hope of rewards or distinctions, +Victoria Crosses or medals. + +The figures below speak for the advance which the country is making, not +very rapidly, perhaps the shareholders may think, but certainly, though +slowly, surely and steadily:-- + + Revenue in 1883, $51,654, with the addition of Land Sales, + $25,449, a total of $77,103. + + Revenue in 1887, $142,687, with the addition of Land Sales, + $14,505, a total of $157,192. + + Expenditure in 1883, including expenditure on Capital Account, + $391,547. + + Expenditure in 1887, including expenditure on Capital Account, + $209,862. + +For reasons already mentioned, the revenue for 1888 is expected to +considerably exceed that of any previous year, while the expenditure +will probably not be more and may be less than that of 1887.[27] + +The expenses of the London office average, I believe, about L3,000 a +year. + +As Sir RUTHERFORD ALCOCK, their able and conscientious Chairman, +explained to the shareholders at a recent meeting, "with reference to +the important question of expenditure, the position of the Company was +that of a man coming into possession of a large estate which had been +long neglected, and which was little better than a wilderness. If any +rent roll was to be derived from such a property there must be, in the +first place, a large outlay in many ways before the land could be made +profitable, or indeed tenantable. That was what the Company had had to +do and what they had been doing; _and that had been the history of all +our Colonies_." I trust that the few observations I have offered will +have shewn my readers that, though British North Borneo might be +described as a wilderness so far as regards the absence of development +when the Company took possession of it, such a description is by no +means applicable to it when regard is had to its great and undoubted +natural resources. + +British North Borneo not being a Crown Colony, it has to provide itself +for the maintenance of order, both ashore and afloat, without assistance +from the Imperial Army or Navy, except such temporary assistance as has +been on two occasions accorded by Her Majesty's vessels, under +circumstances which have been detailed. There are no Imperial Troops +stationed either in Labuan or in any portion of Borneo, and the Company +has organized an armed Police Force to act both in a military and in a +civil capacity. + +The numbers of their Force do not much exceed two hundred of all ranks, +and are composed principally of Sikhs from the Punjaub and a few Dyaks +from Sarawak--an excellent mixture for fighting purposes, the Dyaks +being sufficiently courageous and expert in all the arts of jungle +warfare, while the pluck and cool steadiness under fire of the Sikhs is +too well-known to need comment here. The services of any number of Sikhs +can, it appears, be easily obtained for this sort of work, and some +years ago a party of them even took service with the native Sultan of +Sulu, who, however, proved a very indifferent paymaster and was soon +deserted by his mercenaries, who are the most money-grabbing lot of +warriors I have ever heard of. Large bodies of Sikhs are employed and +drilled as Armed Constables in Hongkong, in the Straits Settlements and +in the Protected Native States of the Malay Peninsula, who, after a +fixed time of service, return to their country, their places being at +once taken by their compatriots, and one cannot help thinking what +effect this might have in case of future disturbances in our Indian +Empire, should the Sikh natives make common cause with the malcontents. + +Fault has been found with the Company for not following the example of +Sarawak and raising an army and police from among its own people. This +certainly would have been the best policy had it only been feasible; but +the attempt was made and failed. + +As I have pointed out, British North Borneo is fortunate in not +possessing any powerful aboriginal tribe of pronounced warlike +instincts, such as the Dyaks of Sarawak. + +The Muhammadan Bajows might in time make good soldiers, but my +description of them will have shewn that the Company could not at +present place reliance in them. + +While on the subject of "fault finding," I may say that the Company has +also been blamed for its expenditure on public works and on subsidies +for steam communication with the outer world. + +But our critics may rest assured that, had not the Company proved its +faith in the country by expending some of its money on public works and +in providing facilities for the conveyance of intending colonists, +neither European capital nor Chinese population, so indispensable to the +success of their scheme, would have been attracted to their Territory as +is now being done--for the country and its new Government lacked the +prestige which attaches to a Colony opened by the Imperial Government. +The strange experiment, in the present day, of a London Company +inaugurating a Government in a tropical Colony, perhaps not unnaturally +caused a certain feeling of pique and uncharitableness in the breasts of +that class of people who cannot help being pleased at the non-success of +their neighbours' most cherished schemes, and who are always ready with +their "I told you so." The measure of success attained by British North +Borneo caused it to come in for its full share of this feeling, and I am +not sure that it was not increased and aggravated by the keen interest +which all the officers took in the performance of their novel duties--an +interest which, quite unintentionally, manifested itself, perhaps, in a +too enthusiastic and somewhat exaggerated estimate of the beauties and +resources of their adopted country and of the grandeur of its future +destiny and of its rapid progress, and which, so to speak, brought about +a reaction towards the opposite extreme in the minds of the class to +whom I refer. This enthusiasm was, to say the least, pardonable under +the circumstances, for all men are prone to think that objects which +intensely engross their whole attention are of more importance than the +world at large is pleased to admit. Every man worth his salt thinks his +own geese are swans. + +A notable exception to this narrow-mindedness was, however, displayed by +the Government of Singapore, especially by its present Governor, Sir +CECIL CLEMENTI SMITH, who let no opportunity pass of encouraging the +efforts of the infant Government by practical assistance and +unprejudiced counsel. + +Lord BRASSEY, whose visit to Borneo in the _Sunbeam_ I have mentioned, +showed a kindly appreciation of the efforts of the Company's officers, +and practically evinced his faith in the future of the country by +joining the Court of Directors on his return to England. + +In the number of the "Nineteenth Century" for August, 1887, is a sketch +of the then position of the portion of Borneo which is under the British +influence, from his pen. + +As the country is developed and land taken up by European planters and +Chinese, the Company will be called upon for further expenditure on +public works, in the shape of roads, for at present, in the interior, +there exist only rough native tracks, made use of by the natives when +there does not happen to be a river handy for the transport of +themselves and their goods. Though well watered enough, British North +Borneo possesses no rivers navigable for European vessels of any size, +except perhaps the Sibuku River, the possession of which is at the +present moment a subject of dispute with the the Dutch. This is due to +the natural configuration of the country. Borneo, towards the North, +becoming comparatively narrow and of roughly triangular shape, with the +apex to the North. The only other river of any size and navigable for +vessels drawing about nine feet over the bar, is the Kinabatangan, +which, like the Sibuku, is on the East side, the coast range of +mountains, of which Kinabalu forms a part, being at no great distance +from the West coast and so preventing the occurrence of any large rivers +on that side. From data already to hand, it is calculated that the +proceeds of Land Sales for 1887 and 1888 will equal the total revenue +from all other sources, and a portion of this will doubtless be set +aside for road making and other requisite public works. + +The question may be asked what has the Company done for North Borneo? + +A brief reply to this question would include the following points. The +Company has paved the way to the ultimate extinction of the practice of +slavery; it has dealt the final blow to the piracy and kidnapping which +still lingered on its coasts; it has substituted one strong and just +Government for numerous weak, cruel and unjust ones; it has opened +Courts of Justice which know no distinction between races and creeds, +between rich and poor, between master and slave; it is rapidly adjusting +ancient blood feuds between the tribes and putting a stop to the old +custom of head-hunting; it has broken down the barrier erected by the +coast Malays to prevent the aborigines having access to the outer world +and is thus enabling trade and its accompanying civilisation to reach +the interior races; and it is attracting European and Chinese capital to +the country and opening a market for British traders. + +These are some, and not inconsiderable ones, of the achievements of the +British North Borneo Company, which, in its humble way, affords another +example of the fact that the "expansion of Britain" has been in the main +due not to the exertions of its Government so much as to the energy and +enterprise of individual citizens, and Sir ALFRED DENT the the founder, +and Sir RUTHERFORD ALCOCK the guide and supporter of the British North +Borneo Company, cannot but feel a proud satisfaction in the reflection +that their energy and patient perseverance have resulted in conferring +upon so considerable a portion of the island of Borneo the benefits +above enumerated and in adding another Colony to the long list of the +Dependencies of the British Crown. + +In the matter of geographical exploration, too, the Company and its +officers have not been idle, as the map brought out by the Company +sufficiently shews, for previous maps of North Borneo will be found very +barren and uninteresting, the interior being almost a complete blank, +though possessing one natural feature which is conspicuous by its +absence in the more recent and trustworthy one, and that is the large +lake of Kinabalu, which the explorations of the late Mr. F. K. WITTI +have proved to be non-existent. Two explanations are given of the origin +of the myth of the Kinabalu Lake--one is that in the district, where it +was supposed to exist, extensive floods do take place in very wet +seasons, giving it the appearance of a lake, and, I believe there are +many similar instances in Dutch Borneo, where a tract of country liable +to be heavily flooded has been dignified with the name of _Danau_, which +is Malay for _lake_, so that the mistake of the European cartographers +is a pardonable one. The other explanation is that the district in +question is known to the aboriginal inhabitants as _Danau_, a word +which, in their language, has no particular meaning, but which, as above +stated, signifies, in Malay, a lake. The first European visitors would +have gained all their information from the Malay coast tribes, and the +reason for their mistaken supposition of the existence of a large lake +can be readily understood. The two principal pioneer explorers of +British North Borneo were WITTI and FRANK HATTON, both of whom met with +violent deaths. WITTI'S services as one of the first officers stationed +in the country, before the British North Borneo Company was formed, have +already been referred to, and I have drawn on his able report for a +short account of the slave system which formerly prevailed. He had +served in the Austrian Navy and was a very energetic, courageous and +accomplished man. Besides minor journeys, he had traversed the country +from West to East and from North to South, and it was on his last +journey from Pappar, on the West Coast, inland to the headwaters of the +Kinabatangan and Sambakong Rivers, that he was murdered by a tribe, +whose language none of his party understood, but whose confidence he had +endeavoured to win by reposing confidence in them, to the extent even of +letting them carry his carbine. He and his men had slept in the village +one night, and on the following day some of the tribe joined the party +as guides, but led them into the ambuscade, where the gallant WITTI and +many of his men were killed by _sumpitans_.[28] So far as we have been +able to ascertain the sole reason for the attack was the fact that WITTI +had come to the district from a tribe with whom these people were at +war, and he was, therefore, according to native custom, deemed also to +be an enemy. FRANK HATTON joined the Company's service with the object +of investigating the mineral resources of the country and in the course +of his work travelled over a great portion of the Territory, prosecuting +his journeys from both the West and the East coasts, and undergoing the +hardships incidental to travel in a roadless, tropical country with such +ability, pluck and success as surprised me in one so young and slight +and previously untrained and inexperienced in rough pioneering work. + +He more than once found himself in critical positions with inland +tribes, who had never seen or heard of a white man, but his calmness and +intrepidity carried him safely through such difficulties, and with +several chiefs he became a sworn brother, going through the peculiar +ceremonies customary on such occasions. In 1883, he was ascending the +Segama River to endeavour to verify the native reports of the existence +of gold in the district when, landing on the bank, he shot at and +wounded an elephant, and while following it up through the jungle, his +repeating rifle caught in a rattan and went off, the bullet passing +through his chest, causing almost immediate death. HATTON, before +leaving England, had given promise of a distinguished scientific career, +and his untimely fate was deeply mourned by his brother officers and a +large circle of friends. An interesting memoir of him has been published +by his father, Mr. JOSEPH HATTON, and a summary of his journeys and +those of WITTI, and other explorers in British North Borneo, appeared in +the "Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society and Monthly Record of +Geography" for March, 1888, being the substance of a paper read before +the Society by Admiral R. C. MAYNE, C.B., M.P. A memorial cross has been +erected at Sandakan, by their brother officers, to the memory of WITTI, +HATTON, DE FONTAINE and Sikh officers and privates who have lost their +lives in the service of the Government. + +To return for a moment to the matter of fault-finding, it would be +ridiculous to maintain that no mistakes have been made in launching +British North Borneo on its career as a British Dependency, but then I +do not suppose that any single Colony of the Crown has been, or will be +inaugurated without similar mistakes occurring, such, for instance, as +the withholding money where money was needed and could have been +profitably expended, and a too lavish expenditure in other and less +important directions. Examples will occur to every reader who has +studied our Colonial history. If we take the case of the Colony of the +Straits Settlements, now one of our most prosperous Crown Colonies and +which was founded by the East India Company, it will be seen that in +1826-7 the "mistakes" of the administration were on such a scale that +there was an annual deficit of L100,000, and the presence of the +Governor-General of India was called for to abolish useless offices and +effect retrenchments throughout the service. + +The British North Borneo Company possesses a valuable property, and one +which is daily increasing in value, and if they continue to manage it +with the care hitherto exhibited, and if, remembering that they are not +yet quite out of the wood, they are careful to avoid, on the one hand, a +too lavish expenditure and, on the other, an unwise parsimony, there +cannot, I should say, be a doubt that a fair return will, at no very +distant date, be made to them on the capital they have expended. + +As for the country _per se_, I consider that its success is now assured, +whether it remains under the rule of the Company or is received into the +fellowship of _bona fide_ Colonies of the Empire. + +In bringing to a conclusion my brief account of the Territory, some +notice of its suitability as a residence for Europeans may not be out of +place, as bearing on the question of "what are we to do with our boys?" + +I have my own experience of seventeen years' service in Northern Borneo, +and the authority of Dr. WALKER, the able Medical Officer of the +Government, for saying that in its general effect on the health of +Europeans, the climate of British North Borneo, as a whole, compares not +unfavourably with that of other tropical countries. + +There is no particular "unhealthy season," and Europeans who lead a +temperate and active life have little to complain of, except the total +absence of any cold season, to relieve the monotony of eternal summer. +On the hills of the interior, no doubt, an almost perfect climate could +be obtained. + +One great drawback to life for Europeans in all tropical places is the +fact that it is unwise to keep children out after they have attained the +age of seven or eight years, but up to that age the climate appears to +agree very well with them and they enjoy an immunity from measles, +whooping cough and other infantile diseases. This enforced separation +from wife and family is one of the greatest disadvantages in a career in +the tropics. + +We have not, unfortunately, had much experience as to how the climate of +British North Borneo affects English ladies, but, judging from +surrounding Colonies, I fear it will be found that they cannot stand it +quite so well as the men, owing, no doubt, to their not being able to +lead such an active life and to their not having official and business +matter to occupy their attention during the greater part of the day, as +is the case with their husbands. + +Of course, if sufficient care is taken to select a swampy spot, charged +with all the elements of fever and miasma, splendidly unhealthy +localities can be found in North Borneo, a residence in which would +prove fatal to the strongest constitution, and I have also pointed out +that on clearing new ground for plantations fever almost inevitably +occurs, but, as Dr. WALKER has remarked, the sickness of the newly +opened clearings does not last long when ordinary sanitary precautions +are duly observed. + +At present the only employers of Europeans are the Governing Company, +who have a long list of applicants for appointments, the Tobacco +Companies, and two Timber Companies. Nearly all the Tobacco Companies at +present at work are of foreign nationality and, doubtless, would give +the preference to Dutch and German managers and assistants. Until more +English Companies are formed, I fear there will be no opening in British +North Borneo for many young Englishmen not possessed of capital +sufficient to start planting on their own account. It will be remembered +that the trade in the natural products of the country is practically in +the hands of the Chinese. + +Among the other advantages of North Borneo is its entire freedom from +the presence of the larger carnivora--the tiger or the panther. Ashore, +with the exception of a few poisonous snakes--and during seventeen +years' residence I have never heard of a fatal result from a bite--there +is no animal which will attack man, but this is far from being the case +with the rivers and seas, which, in many places, abound in crocodiles +and sharks. The crocodiles are the most dreaded animals, and are found +in both fresh and salt water. Cases are not unknown of whole villages +being compelled to remove to a distance, owing to the presence of a +number of man-eating crocodiles in a particular bend of a river; this +happened to the village of Sebongan on the Kinabatangan River, which +has been quite abandoned. + +Crocodiles in time become very bold and will carry off people bathing on +the steps of their houses over the water, and even take them bodily out +of their canoes. + +At an estate on the island of Daat, I had two men thus carried off out +of their boats, at sea, after sunset, in both cases the mutilated bodies +being subsequently recovered. The largest crocodile I have seen was one +which was washed ashore on an island, dead, and which I found to measure +within an inch of twenty feet. + +Some natives entertain the theory that a crocodile will not touch you if +you are swimming or floating in the water and not holding on to any +thing, but this is a theory which I should not care to put practically +to the test myself. + +There is a native superstition in some parts of the West Coast, to the +effect that the washing of a mosquito curtain in a stream is sure to +excite the anger of the crocodiles and cause them to become dangerous. +So implicit was the belief in this superstition, that the Brunai +Government proclaimed it a punishable crime for any person to wash a +mosquito curtain in a running stream. + +When that Government was succeeded by the Company, this proclamation +fell into abeyance, but it unfortunately happened that a woman at +Mempakul, availing herself of the laxity of the law in this matter, did +actually wash her curtain in a creek, and that very night her husband +was seized and carried off by a crocodile while on the steps of his +house. Fortunately, an alarm was raised in time, and his friends managed +to rescue him, though badly wounded; but the belief in the superstition +cannot but have been strengthened by the incident. + +Some of the aboriginal natives on the West Coast are keen sportsmen and, +in the pursuit of deer and wild pig, employ a curious small dog, which +they call _asu_, not making use of the Malay word for dog--_anjing_. The +term _asu_ is that generally employed by the Javanese, from whose +country possibly the dog may have been introduced into Borneo. In +Brunai, dogs are called _kuyok_, a term said to be of Sumatran origin. + +On the North and East there are large herds of wild cattle said to +belong to two species, _Bos Banteng_ and _Bos Gaurus_ or _Bos +Sondaicus_. In the vicinity of Kudat they afford excellent sport, a +description of which has been given, in a number of the "Borneo Herald," +by Resident G. L. DAVIES, who, in addition to being a skilful manager of +the aborigines, is a keen sportsman. The native name for them on the +East Coast is _Lissang_ or _Seladang_, and on the North, _Tambadau_. In +some districts the water buffalo, _Bubalus Buffelus_, has run wild and +affords sport. + +The deer are of three kinds--the _Rusa_ or _Sambur_ (_Rusa +Aristotelis_), the _Kijang_ or roe, and the _Plandok_, or mousedeer, the +latter a delicately shaped little animal, smaller and lighter than the +European hare. With the natives it is an emblem of cunning, and there +are many short stories illustrating its supposed more than human +intelligence. Wild pig, the _Sus barbatus_, a kind distinct from the +Indian animal, and, I should say, less ferocious, is a pest all over +Borneo, breaking down fences and destroying crops. The jungle is too +universal and too thick to allow of pig-sticking from horseback, but +good sport can be had, with a spear, on foot, if a good pack of native +dogs is got together. + +It is on the East Coast only that elephants and rhinoceros, called +_Gajah_ and _Badak_ respectively, are found. The elephant is the same as +the Indian one and is fairly abundant; the rhinoceros is _Rhinoceros +sumatranus_, and is not so frequently met with. + +The elephant in Borneo is a timid animal and, therefore, difficult to +come up with in the thick jungle. None have been shot by Europeans so +far, but the natives, who can walk through the forest so much more +quietly, sometimes shoot them, and dead tusks are also often brought in +for sale. + +The natives in the East Coast are very few in numbers and on neither +coast is there any tribe of professional hunters, or _shikaris_, as in +India and Ceylon, so that, although game abounds, there are not, at +present, such facilities for Europeans desirous of engaging in sport as +in the countries named.[29] + +A little Malay bear occurs in Borneo, but is not often met with, and is +not a formidable animal. + +My readers all know that Borneo is the home of the _Orang-utan_ or +_Mias_, as it is called by the natives. No better description of the +animal could be desired than that given by WALLACE in his "Malay +Archipelago." There is an excellent picture of a young one in the second +volume of Dr. GUILLEMARD'S "Cruise of the Marchesa." Another curious +monkey, common in mangrove swamps, is the long-nosed ape, or _Pakatan_, +which possesses a fleshy probosis some three inches long. It is +difficult to tame, and does not live long in captivity. + +As in Sumatra, which Borneo much resembles in its fauna and flora, the +peacock is absent, and its place taken by the _Argus_ pheasant. Other +handsome pheasants are the _Fireback_ and the _Bulwer_ pheasants, the +latter so named after Governor Sir HENRY BULWER who took the first +specimen home in 1874. These pheasants do not rise in the jungle and +are, therefore, uninteresting to the Borneo sportsman. They are +frequently trapped by the natives. There are many kinds of pigeons, +which afford good sport. Snipe occur, but not plentifully. Curlew are +numerous in some localities, but very wild. The small China quail are +abundant on cleared spaces, as also is the painted plover, but cleared +spaces in Borneo are somewhat few and far between. So much for sport in +the new Colony. + +Let me conclude my paper by quoting the motto of the British North +Borneo Company--_Pergo et perago_--I under take a thing and go through +with it. Dogged persistence has, so far, given the Territory a fair +start on its way to prosperity, and the same perseverance will, in time, +be assuredly rewarded by complete success.[30] + + W. H. TREACHER. + + +P.S.--I cannot close this article without expressing my great +obligations to Mr. C. V. CREAGH, the present Governor of North Borneo, +and to Mr. KINDERSLEY, the Secretary to the Company in London, for +information which has been incorporated in these notes. + + +Footnotes: + +[Footnote 23: Now accomplished.] + +[Footnote 24: In 1888, $246,457.] + +[Footnote 25: In 1888, $22,755 were realized, and the Estimate for 1890 +is $70,000 for the Opium Farm.] + +[Footnote 26: In 1888, $22,755.] + +[Footnote 27: Revenue in 1888, $148,286, with addition of Land Sales, +$246,457, a total of $394,743. + +Expenditure in 1888, including Padas war expenses, $210,985, and +expenditure on Capital Account, $25,283--total $236,268.] + +[Footnote 28: The _sumpitan_, or native blow-pipe, has been frequently +described by writers on Borneo. It is a tube 6-1/2 feet long, carefully +perforated lengthwise and through which is fired a poisoned dart, which +has an extreme range of about 80 to 90 yards, but is effective at about +20 to 30 yards. It takes the place in Borneo of the bow and arrow of +savage tribes, and is used only by the aborigines and not by the +Muhammadan natives.] + +[Footnote 29: Dr. GUILLEMARD in his fascinating book, "The Cruise of +the Marchesa," states, that two English officers, both of them +well-known sportsmen, devoted four months to big game shooting in +British North Borneo and returned to Hongkong entirely unsuccessful. +Dr. GUILLEMARD was misinformed. The officers were not more than a week +in the country on their way to Hongkong from Singapore and Sarawak, and +did not devote their time to sport. Some other of the author's remarks +concerning British North Borneo are somewhat incorrect and appear to +have been based on information derived from a prejudiced source.] + +[Footnote 30: In 1889, the Company declared their first Dividend.] + + + + + * * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + + +The author's original spelling has been preserved as far as possible, +including any idiosyncrasies and inconsistencies in the spelling and +accenting of words. Changes have only been made in the case of obvious +typographical errors and where it was felt necessary to remove +ambiguity or improve readability. All changes have been documented +below. + +Inconsistencies in the hypenation of words preserved. ( blood-thirsty, +bloodthirsty; head-quarters, headquarters; kina-balu, kinabalu; +kina-batangan, kinabatangan; salt-water, saltwater; sand-stone, +sandstone; sea-board, seaboard; shop-keepers, shopkeepers; war-like, +warlike) + +Treatment of Blockquotes. There are several blocks of text where the +author quoted extensively from other documentary sources. In some +cases, very long paragraphs contain a mixture of the author's words and +quoted material. In order to enhance readability, the portions of text +which are quoted material have been separated out and indented as +blockquotes. This treatment has been given to: + + Pg. 33-37. The block of text beginning '"When," says he....' to + 'maintaining their gravity.' which was originally a single + contiguous paragraph. + + Pg. 37-40, several paragraphs beginning 'Mr. Darymple's + description....' to 'Singapore is to the straits of Malacca.' The + first paragraph from 'Mr. Darymple's description....' to + 'commercial enterprise' was originally a single contiguous + paragraph. This block of text is also unusual in that while + elsewhere, each new paragraph of quoted material began with a + doublequote mark, in this block, only some paragraphs do so while + others do not. This inconsistency on the part of the author has + been preserved. + + Pg. 54-55, several paragraphs beginning 'Javanese element, and + Hindu work....' to 'make a stone fort."' The section from + 'Javanese element, and Hindu work....' to 'country of + Saguntang.' was originally one contiguous paragraph. The quoted + material was originally printed with a doublequote mark at the + beginning of each line. These doublequote marks have been + removed except for those indicating the beginning and end of a + quotation. + + Pg. 58-62, several paragraphs beginning 'The agreement to so + transfer....' to 'reference will be made hereafter.' The + section from 'The agreement to so transfer....' to 'twenty in + number' was originally one contiguous paragraph. The block from + 'Mr. Brooke concludes....' to 'reference will be made + hereafter.' was also one contiguous paragraph. The quoted + material was originally printed with a doublequote mark at the + beginning of each line. These doublequote marks have been + removed except for those indicating the beginning and end of a + quotation. + +On Pg. 86 there is a short section of quoted material from '"Lieutenant +Little....' to 'await my arrival."' This quotation was originally +printed with a doublequote mark at the beginning of each line. The +doublequote marks have been removed. Because of its short length, the +quote has been left in the body of its parent paragraph, demarcated by +opening and closing doublequotes. + +When the author quoted extensively from other sources, he used a row of +between 3-6 asterisks to represent omitted material. This style has +been reproduced in this transcription. + +The author was inconsistent with respect to whether a space was added +between the letters in abbreviations such as A.M., R.N., i.e. and so +on. The original spacing has been preserved in all cases. + +The original text included an Errata with the following text: "Page +136, line 15, _for_ 'head of a thief' _read_ 'hand of a thief.'" The +required change has been incorporated into this ebook and hence the +Errata has not been transcribed. + +Table of Contents, Chapter VI., "expecttations" changed to +"expectations" (Original expectations of the Colony) + +Table of Contents, Chapter X., "Tranfer" changed to "Transfer". +(Transfer from natives) + +Pg. 2, "concesssions" changed to "concessions". (confirming the grants +and concessions acquired from the Sultans of Brunai) + +Pg. 9, "slighlty" changed to "slightly". (black and slightly oblique) + +Footnote 2 makes mention of an Appendix but the source document for +this transcription, although complete, did not have an Appendix. +Library catalogue entries for this title (with matching publication and +physical parameters) at libraries such as the Bodleian Library of +Oxford University (UK) and Harvard University make no mention of an +appendix and state that this title had 165 pages, which is exactly the +same as for the source document used. + +Pg. 21, "adapability" changed to "adaptability". (adaptability to +changed circumstances) + +Pg. 44, "fatening" changed to "fattening". (used for fattening pigs) + +Pg. 53, "invesiture" changed to "investiture". (his conversion and +investiture by the Sultan) + +Pg. 55, "beetwen" changed to "between". (quarrel ensued between them) + +Pg. 59, sentence ends after "had the desired effect" without +punctuation. This is followed by a row of asterisks (omitted material) +and then the beginning of a new sentence: "None joined....". As it is +unclear whether "had the desired effect" ends the sentence or there +were more words (which have been omitted), the original text is +preserved as is. + +Pg. 63, "poputation" changed to "population". (supporting a population) + +Pg. 70, "beloved" original printed with an inverted "e". Corrected. +(beloved of the Colonial) + +Pg. 72, "expirements" changed to "experiments". (but experiments are +being made) + +Pg. 74, "scarely" changed to "scarcely". (We can scarcely let) + +Pg. 75, "chaples" changed to "chapels". (twenty-five Mission chapels in +Sarawak) + +Pg. 79, "uncrupulous" changed to "unscrupulous". (most unscrupulous +agents) + +Pg. 87, "witb" changed to "with". (covered with a strong growth) + +Pg. 105, "authories" changed to "authorities". (for the Spanish +authorities) + +Pg. 114, "hat" changed to "that". (and found that next morning) + +Pg. 114, "he" changed to "the". (and that the swifts went) + +Pg. 116, "ino" changed to "into". (have been put into circulation) + +Pg. 120, "rear", last letter originally printed as an inverted "r". +Corrected. (and appears to rear its isolated) + +Pg. 120, inserted missing period at sentence end. (at all rare. The +dryest months) + +Pg. 124, "amasing" changed to "amassing". (an innate desire of amassing +dollars) + +Pg. 126, inserted missing period at sentence end. (Kinabatangan River +on the East.) + +Pg. 126, "ordidary" changed to "ordinary". (higher price than ordinary +kinds) + +Pg. 131, "hegrees" changed to "degrees". (abolish by degrees, any +system of) + +Pg. 132, duplicated word "an" removed. (If an _anak mas_ girl) + +Pg. 133, "incorrigble" changed to "incorrigible". (An incorrigible +slave) + +Pg. 133, "agressor" changed to "aggressor". (compensation from the +aggressor) + +Pg. 135, "pu-a stop to" changed to "put a stop to". (altogether put a +stop to in) + +Pg. 135, "effecttually" changed to "effectually". (effectually brought +to an end) + +Pg. 136, "and to the.consequent", extraneous dot removed. (and to the +consequent) + +Pg. 145, inserted missing period at end of sentence. (HOPE. In order +that the) + +Pg. 145, "Zepyhyr" changed to "Zephyr". (in the Zephyr a few weeks) + +Pg. 148, "acccustomed" changed "accustomed". (had been accustomed to) + +Pg. 149, "desirabilty" changed to "desirability". (recognised the +desirability) + +Pg. 152, "Expendiure" changed to "Expenditure". (Expenditure in 1887) + +Pg. 163, apparently extraneous comma removed from inside parenthesis of +"(_Rusa Aristotelis_,),". (_Rusa Aristotelis_), the) + +Pg. 164, "N better" changed to "No better". (No better description of +the) + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRITISH BORNEO*** + + +******* This file should be named 27547.txt or 27547.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/7/5/4/27547 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. 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