Chapter XXVII: Appendix: No. I (2)

The natives and the Malays, formerly, and even at this day, call this large island by the exclusive name of Pulo Kalamantan, from a sour and indigenous fruit so called. Borneo was the name only of a city, the capital of one of the three distinct kingdoms on the island. When Magalhaens visited it in the year 1520, he saw a rich and populous city, a luxuriant and fertile country, a powerful prince, and a magnificent court: hence the Spaniards hastily concluded that the whole island not only belonged to this prince, but that it was likewise named Borneo. In this error they have been followed by all other European nations. The charts, however, mark this capital "Borneo Proper," or in other words, the only place properly Borneo: this is the only confession of this misnomer that I have met with among Europeans. The natives pronounce Borneo, Bruni, and say it is derived from the word Brani, courageous; the aboriginal natives within this district having ever remained unconquered.

The aborigines of Borneo, or Pulo Kalamantan, still exist in the interior in considerable numbers; there are various tribes of them, speaking different dialects. Some of them acknowledge Malay chiefs, as at Landa, Songo, Mantan, &c. Several communities of them still remain under independent chiefs of their own nation; and everywhere their origin, their language, their religion, their manners and customs, are totally distinct and apparent from those of the Islams, or Malays, who have settled on the island. About Pontiana and Sambas they are called Dayers; at Benjarmasing, Biajus; at Borneo Proper, Moruts; farther northward, Orang Idan. Their original history is as much enveloped in obscurity as that of the Monocaboes of Malaya, the Rejangs and Battas of Sumatra, or the Togals of the Philippines. On a nearer acquaintance with their language, customs, traditions, &c., perhaps an affinity in origin may be discovered among all the original possessors of the Eastern isles. The Moruts and Orang Idan are much fairer and better featured than the Malays, of a more strong and robust frame, and have the credit of being a brave race of people. The Dayer is much darker, and approaches nearer in resemblance to the Malay. The Biajus I never saw. The few particulars which I have been able to collect of these people I shall briefly state: They live in miserable small huts; their sole dress consists of a slight wrapper round their waists, sometimes made of bark, at others from skins of animals, or perhaps of blue or white cloth; they eat rice or roots, and indeed any description of food, whether beast, reptile, or vermin: they are extremely filthy; this and bad food give them a cutaneous disorder, with which they are very generally afflicted. Several tribes of them smear themselves with oil and pigments, which gives them the appearance of being tattooed. Whether this is intended to defend them against the bites of insects, to operate as a cure or prevention of this epidemic, or to adorn their persons, I cannot take upon me to decide. They believe, it is said, in a Supreme Being, and offer sacrifices of gratitude to a beneficent Deity. Polygamy is not allowed among them; no man has more than one wife; they burn their dead. They are said to shoot poisoned balls or arrows through hollow tubes; and whenever they kill a man, they preserve the skull to exhibit as a trophy to commemorate the achievement of their arms. They are said to have no mode of communicating their ideas by characters or writing, like the Battas. Driven from the sea-coast of Borneo into the mountains and fastnesses in the interior, they are more occupied in the chase and the pursuits of husbandry than in commerce. They, however, barter their inland produce of camphor, gold, diamonds, birds'-nests, wax, and cattle, for salt (which they hold in the highest degree of estimation, eating it with as much _gout_ as we do sugar), china, porcelain, brass and iron cooking utensils, brass bracelets, coarse blue and white cloth, Java tobacco, arrack (which they also like), parangs, hardware, beads, &c. Some tribes of them are said to pull out their front teeth and substitute others of gold, and others adorn themselves with tigers' teeth. The greatest numbers and most considerable bodies of these men are found near Kiney Balu and about Borneo Proper.

The Malays represent them as the most savage and ferocious of men; but to be more savage or ferocious than a Malay is a thing utterly impossible. Their representations may be accounted for. These aborigines have always evinced a strong disposition and predilection for liberty and freedom; they have either resisted the yoke of the Malay, or have retired to their mountains to enjoy this greatest of all human blessings. The Malay, unable to conquer them, lays plans for kidnapping as many as he can fall in with. Every Dyak so taken is made a slave of, his children sold, and his women violated. The Malay, hence, is justly considered by them as the violator of every law, human and divine; and whenever any of these people meet with one, they satiate their vengeance, and destroy him as the enemy of their race, and as a monster of the human kind. The Portuguese missionaries found these people very tractable converts, and very large bodies of them are very easily governed by a single Malay chief, as at Landa, Songo, and Matan. I have seen very large bodies of them at Kimanis and Maludu, but none of them possessing the ferocity of a Malay.

The Islams, or Malayans, who now possess the sea-coasts of Borneo (as well as the sea-coasts of all the Eastern islands), are said to be colonies from Malacca, Johore, &c., planted in the fourteenth century; at this period, according to Mr. Poivre, "Malacca was a country well peopled, and was consequently well cultivated. This nation was once one of the greatest powers in the Eastern seas, and made a very considerable figure in the theater of Asia; they colonized Borneo, Celebes, Macassar, Moluccas, &c." The Malays on Borneo are like the Malays everywhere else, the most atrocious race of beings on the earth; and from their general character, and imprudent institutions, both political and religious, are fast moldering in self-decay, or mutual destruction.

From the earliest date that I have been able to trace, the island of Borneo was always divided into three distinct kingdoms. The kingdom of Borneo, properly so called, extended from Tanjong Dato, in latitude 3 deg. 15' north, to Kanukungan point, in the Straits of Macassar, 1 deg. 15' north, which included the whole north part of the island. The kingdom of Sukadana (from _suka_, happiness, and _dunia_, the world, or earthly paradise), extending from Tanjong Dato to Tanjong Sambar, which belonged to the King of Bantam (when or how acquired I have not learned): and the remainder of the island from Tanjong Sambar to Kanukungan Point aforesaid, to the kingdom of Benjarmasing (from _bendar_, a port of trade, and _masing_, usual, or the ordinary port of trade).

When the Portuguese first visited Borneo, in 1520, the whole island was in a most flourishing state. The numbers of Chinese that had settled on her shores were immense; the products of their industry, and an extensive commerce with China in junks, gave her land and cities a far different aspect from her dreary appearance at this day, and their princes and courts exhibited a splendor and displayed a magnificence which has long since vanished.

Pigofetta says there were twenty-five thousand houses in the city of Borneo Proper, and that it was rich and populous. Much later accounts describe the numbers of Chinese and Japanese junks frequenting her ports as great; but in 1809 there were not three thousand houses in the whole city, nor six thousand Chinese throughout that kingdom, and not a junk that had visited it for years. But the ports of Borneo have not dwindled away more than Acheen, Johore, Malacca, Bantam, Ternate, &c. All these places likewise cut a splendid figure in the eyes of our first navigators, and have since equally shared a proportionate obscurity.

Were the causes required which have eclipsed the prosperity of Borneo and the other great emporiums of Eastern trade that once existed, it might be readily answered--a decay of commerce. They have suffered the same vicissitudes as Tyre, Sidon, or Alexandria; and like Carthage--for ages the emporium of the wealth and commerce of the world, which now exhibits on its site a piratical race of descendants in the modern Tunisians and their neighbors the Algerines--the commercial ports of Borneo have become a nest of banditti, and the original inhabitants of both, from similar causes--the decay of commerce--have degenerated to the modern pirates of the present day.

In exact proportion as the intercourse of the Europeans with China has increased, in precise ratio has the decrease of their direct trade in junks become apparent. The Portuguese first, and subsequently the Dutch, mistress of the Eastern seas, exacted by treaties and other ways the Malay produce at their own rates, and were consequently enabled to undersell the junks in China. But these powers went further; by settling at ports on Borneo, or by their guardas de costas, they compelled the ports of Borneo to send their produce, calculated for the China market, to Malacca and Batavia, which at length completely cut up the direct trade by means of the Chinese junks.

The loss of their direct intercourse with China affected their prosperity in a variety of ways. First, by this circuitous direction of their trade, the gruff goods, as rattans, sago, cassia, pepper, ebony, wax, &c., became too expensive to fetch the value of this double carriage and the attendant charges, and in course of time were neglected; the loss of these extensive branches of industry must have thrown numbers out of employment. But the loss of the direct intercourse with China had more fatal effects; it prevented large bodies of annual emigrants from China settling upon her shores; it deprived them of an opportunity of visiting the Borneon ports, and exercising their mechanical arts and productive industry; and of thus keeping up the prosperity of the country in the tillage of the ground, as well as in the commerce of her ports. The old Chinese settlers by degrees deserted these shores; and to fill up the chasms in their revenues by so fatal a change, the rajahs have been tempted to turn their views to predatory habits, and have permitted their lands to run to jungle, by dragging their wretched laborers from agricultural employments to maritime and piratical enterprises.

The first material alteration in the sovereignty of the territorial possession took place in the kingdom of Borneo Proper, when her rajah was obliged to call in the aid of the Solos to defend him against an insurrection of the Maruts and Chinese. In consideration of this important aid, the Rajah of Borneo Proper ceded to the Sultan of Solo all that portion of Borneo then belonging to him, from Kimanis, in latitude 5 deg. 30' north, to Tapean-durian, in the Straits of Macassar, which includes the whole north of Borneo. After this period, the power and fortunes of the Sultan of Solo rapidly declined. The Spaniards succeeded in conquering all their islands. Solo, the capital, was taken and fortified; the sultan and his court made prisoners. When the English captured Manilla, they found this sultan incarcerated. They agreed to relieve him from prison, and reinstate him on the musnud of his forefathers under the express stipulation that the whole of the aforesaid territory of Borneo, ceded to Solo by the rajah of that kingdom, should be transferred to the English East India Company, together with the south of Palawan, and the intermediate islands. These terms were joyfully acceded to by the Sultan of Solo, and signed, sealed, and delivered by him to the late Alexander Dalrymple, in the year 1763.

The kingdom of Sukadana was ceded by the Rajah of Bantam (in what year I know not) to the Dutch East India Company. Whether the kingdom of Benjarmasing was ever actually ceded to the Dutch or not, I have not been able to learn. But the occupancy of her capital, the military government of the country, by the erection of forts, and a permanent standing force, since transferred to the English arms, give to the East India Company, actually or virtually, the entire sovereignty and rule over the whole of this large island, with the exception of the piratical port of Borneo Proper, and the portion of territory yet annexed thereto.

The Portuguese, at a very early period, established themselves at Benjarmasing: at Borneo Proper there still remain two bastions and a curtain of a regular stone fort built by them: they had also one on the island of Laboan, since destroyed. They fixed themselves at old Sambas, from which they were driven by the Dutch in the year 1690, and nearly about this period from all their establishments on Borneo.

When, or from what causes, the Dutch were induced to evacuate Sambas, I know not, nor have I learned the period when they fortified themselves at Benjarmasing and Pasir, but believe it could not have taken place before the middle of the last century. They, however, settled at Pontiana in 1786, and built a fortified wall round the palace and factory, but were compelled to withdraw from it when the war broke out with the English in 1796. The ports at Benjarmasing, when evacuated, were sold by the Dutch to the sultan, and are since said to have been repurchased from him by the English. The Dutch obtaining the cession of the kingdom of Sukadana from the Rajah of Bantam, and their subsequent measures in different parts of this territory, will show that they had extensive views of firmly establishing themselves on this island; and waking from an age of lethargy, at last began to see the great advantages and unbounded resources these rich possessions were capable of affording them, without any cost or expense whatever. The year they withdrew from Pontiana they had it in contemplation to take repossession of Sambas, and to unite all the ports, as well as the interior, under the Rajah of Pontiana, in trust for them. Some letters to this effect were written by the Dutch government to the late rajah.

That the English were not insensible to the value and importance of the once valuable commerce of Borneo may be inferred not only from the number of the Honorable Company's regular ships annually dispatched to her ports prior to the year 1760 (vide Hardy's Shipping Register), but from the efforts they have repeatedly made to establish themselves on her shores. There still exist the remains of a British factory at Borneo Proper. Before the year 1706, they had made two successive attempts to fortify themselves at Benjarmasing; twice they have attempted an establishment on the sickly island of Balambangan (lying north of Borneo, near Maludu); and in 1775, the Honorable Company's ship Bridgewater was sent to Pasir with similar views.

The failure of these British attempts, as well as the exclusion of all other powers from the ports of Borneo, may be principally attributed to the sordid desire of the Dutch of monopolizing the whole produce of the Eastern Archipelago, and their rooted jealousy in opposing the establishment of every other power in the vicinity of Java, or that of the Spice Islands.

These considerations and feelings have induced them to commit the most flagrant crimes, not only against the natives of these regions, but against every European power. Their infamous massacres at Amboyna, Banda, Bantam, &c., have been historically recorded to their eternal disgrace. By their intrigues at Benjarmasing, the British attempts at a settlement twice failed; and Forrest, in his Voyage to New Guinea, says, that the Solos were by Dutch instigation induced to cut off the infant establishment of Balambangan, in 1775. They frustrated the attempts of the Bridgewater at Pasir; and even the massacre of the garrison of Pulo Condore was effected by Javanese soldiers supplied by the governor of Batavia. The English, from their strong desire of having a port in the China seas, hastily pitched upon the most unhealthy spots for that purpose, viz. Balambangan and Pulo Condore.

The father of the present Sultan of Pontiana was the descendant of an Arab, residing at Simpan, near Matan. By the advice and concurrence of the Dutch he was induced, about forty-two years ago, to settle on the unfrequented shores of the river Pontiana, or Quallo Londa, with promises of early cooeperation and assistance, as well as of rendering it the mart of the trade and capital of all Sukadana. As soon as Abdul Ramman (the name of the first sultan) had succeeded in attracting around him several Chinese, Buguese, and Malay settlers, and in building a town, the Dutch (in 1786) came with two armed brigs and fifty troops to establish their factory. To make good their promises to Abdul Ramman (the treaty I have never seen), they immediately overthrew the chief of Mompava, and gave his country in trust to this ally: they shortly after invested the ancient city of Sukadana, burned it to the ground, transferred the inhabitants to Pontiana, or dispersed them and their chief into the interior. The Dutch likewise placed the present rajas on the musnuds of Songo, Landa, &c., and kept up a force at the former, with the express stipulation that the whole of their produce should be sent from each of their respective districts to the Dutch factory of Pontiana. They had it in contemplation, in 1795, to take repossession of Sambas, and wrote to Abdul Ramman as to the preparatory measures requisite, when the English war, as before observed, obliged them to abandon Pontiana.

This Abdul Ramman, the first sultan or chief of Pontiana, reigned thirty-five years, and died in 1807, leaving his eldest son, the present Sultan Kasim, now forty-six years of age, his successor; who has a second brother, called Pangeran Marko, aged thirty-eight, and Pangeran Hosman, thirty-six years, beside four sisters, one of whom married the present Rajah of Matan, and about seventy half brothers and sisters, the natural children of his father, with an extensive sub-progeny. The present sultan has three sons (Abibuker, heir-apparent, twenty-one years old, Ali, and Abdul Ramman), and four daughters, lawfully begotten. None of the royal family make use of either opium, betel, or tobacco, in any shape whatever; and the present sultan has much the appearance of an Arab. The grandfather of the present sultan was from Arabia, a Sayed Suriff; one of his relations was fixed at Palimbang, whose name is unknown to me, and the other, Shad Fudyel, at Acheen, who has been long dead.

The wet season commences from September, and ends in April, when heavy rain, hard squalls, and much thunder and lightning are experienced. From April till September is called the dry season, but even in this portion of the year seldom a day elapses without a smart shower or two. The monsoons on the northerly shores of Borneo are found to correspond with those prevalent in the China seas, viz. from the N.E. from October to April, and from the S.W. the rest of the year. To the southward, about Benjarmasing, the monsoons are the same as in the Java seas, _i. e._ westerly from October to April, and easterly the rest of the year. Those parts of Borneo near or upon the equator have variable winds all the year, and land and sea breezes close in shore.

This country is by no means so warm as one would be led to imagine by its proximity everywhere to the line: this arises from the perpetual refreshing showers and the land and sea breezes, the former being wafted over innumerable rivers. In the month of November, the thermometer at Pontiana ranges from 78 deg. to 82 deg..

During the wet season, the rivers swell and overflow the adjacent shores, and run down with such continued rapidity, that the water may be tasted fresh at sea at the distance of six or seven miles from the mouths: these overflowings fertilize the banks and adjacent country, and render the shores of Borneo, like the plains of Egypt, luxuriantly rich. Susceptible of the highest possible culture, particularly in wet grain, in the dry season the coast, from these overflowings, presents to the eye the richest enameled fields of full grown grass for miles around. It is at this season that whole herds of wild cattle range down from the mountains in the interior to fatten on the plains, but during the wet season they ascend to their hills.

The whole of the north, the northwest, and the center of Borneo is extremely mountainous. The greatest portion of the ancient kingdom of Borneo Proper is extremely elevated. That of Kiney Baulu, or St. Peter's Mount, in latitude 6 deg. north, is perhaps one of the highest mountains known. The country about Sambas, Pontiana, and Sukadana is occasionally interspersed with a few ranges of hills, otherwise the land here might be deemed low. But to the southward, and more particularly to the east, in the Straits of Macassar, it is very low. The shore in these latter places is extremely moist and swampy, but the interior is said to be dry.

The common charts of Borneo will show the innumerable rivers that water this vast island in every possible direction; but it is worthy of remark, that all the principal rivers on this island have their main source in a large lake in the vicinity of that stupendous mountain before mentioned, Kiney Baulu. The river Benjarmasing takes its rise from thence, and after traversing in all its windings a distance of 1500 miles, intersecting the island into two parts, falls into the Java sea. Its rise and fall is said to be twelve feet, and it has only nine feet at low water on the bar. It is said to have numberless villages scattered on its banks; but I have obtained no particular accounts of them, or their produce.

The great river of Borneo Proper is certainly the finest on the island. It is a deep, navigable, and majestic stream; it has three fathoms upon the bar at low water; the rise and fall is, I believe, fifteen feet; there are docks here for Chinese junks of five or six hundred tons, and a first-rate ship of war might get up far above the town. The country, too, is populous, productive, and healthy. The southern branch of this river has been well surveyed, but the branch leading to the Marut country is little known; it has its source in Kiney Baulu.

In the ancient kingdom of Sukadana, the five principal rivers are the Sukadana, the Lava, the Pogore, the Pontiana, and the Sambas. The former rivers communicate inland, and their main source is in Kiney Baulu. The whole of these rivers are deep and navigable for seventy or eighty miles; but have all of them mud flats at their mouths, which would not admit of the entry of vessels exceeding fourteen feet at high water springs.

The third most considerable river on Borneo is the Kinabatangan, lying in the north of the island, and emptying itself into the Sulo seas. It is said to be deep and navigable much farther than the Benjarmasing river; it has several mouths, but it has never been surveyed. The rivers Kuran, Pasir, and a variety of others that fall into the Straits of Macassar, are said to be noble streams, navigable for vessels of large burthen; but I have no accurate information of them. The harbor of Sandakan is one of the finest in the world; a correct chart of the same is published. The harbor of Tambisan, near Cape Unsing, is equal to Pulo Pinang, and calculated for careening and building ships; a tolerable chart of these is also published. The harbors of Pulo Laut, Punangan, Maludu, and several others in the Straits of Macassar, afford good anchorage and complete shelter for shipping.

Situated as Borneo is, immediately under the equator, everything that can be produced in vegetation by the combined influence of heat and moisture is here displayed in the highest luxuriance and super-excellence. All the Oriental palms, as the cocoa-nut, the areca, the sago, &c., abound here. The larger grasses, as the bamboo, the canna, the nardus, assume a stately growth, and thrive in peculiar luxuriance. Pepper is found wild everywhere, and largely cultivated about Benjarmasing and the districts of Borneo Proper. The _laurus cinnamomum_ and _cassia odoriferata_ are produced in abundance about Kimanis. In no part of the world does the camphor-tree flourish in equal perfection as in the districts of Maludu and Payton, in the north of Borneo. The ebony, the dammar, the tree that yields the finest dragon's blood in the world, all abound here. The cotton and coffee trees are found in all parts of Borneo, though not much attended to. The chocolate nut of Sulo is preferred at Manilla to that from South America. The tree that yields the clove-bark, and the nutmeg, and clove, thrive luxuriantly, though never tried to any extent.

The woods about Pontiana for carpentry and joinery, are kayu bulean, chena, mintangore, laban, ebony, iron-wood, dammar, and dammar laut, &c. &c. The pine abounds in the bay of Maludu, teak at Sulo. The fruit-bearing trees which enrich and adorn the Indian continent, offer, on the Borneon shore, all their kindred varieties, nurtured by the bountiful hand of luxuriant nature. The durian, mangustin, rambutan, proya, chabi, kachang, timon, jambu, kniban, beside the nanka or jack, tamarind, pomplemose, orange, lemon, and citron, all the kindred varieties of the plantain, banana, melon, annanas, pomegranate, &c., are found on Borneo.

The garden-stuffs met with are onions, garlic, yams, pumpkins, brinjals, greens, beans, cucumbers; and turnips, cabbages, and potatoes would succeed, were there Europeans to attend to them.

The elephant was said to be seen about Cape Unsing, where several teeth are still found; but it is conceived this animal is extinct on the island. There are no dromedaries nor camels; nor are horses, asses, or mules met with on Borneo (the former are seen at Sulo). None of the larger breed of the feline species are found here, as the lion, tiger, leopard; nor the bear, the wolf, the fox, nor even a jackal, or dog, that I ever saw. The ourang-outang, or the man of the woods, is the most singular animal found in these regions. The rivers swarm with alligators, and the woods with every variety of the monkey tribe. The names of other animals on Borneo are the bodok or rhinoceros, pelando or rabbit, rusa or stag, kijang or doe, minjagon, babi utan or wild hog, tingileng, bintangan, &c. There are buffaloes, goats, bullocks, hogs, beside the rat and mouse species; a dog I never saw on Borneo.

There are few snakes on the sea-coast, owing to the moisture; plenty, however, are found in the interior. The musketoe, the fly, the frog, and the noisy beetle, with other insects and vermin found in Malay countries, abound here.

The coasts and rivers abound with excellent and wholesome fish in the greatest variety, and of the most delicious flavors; but such is the miserable state of society, that few Malays have either the inclination or the inducement to venture beyond the mouths of their rivers in quest of them; and even there they are more indebted to the industry of the Chinese with their fishing-stakes than to their own labor for the supply of their markets. The names of their fish are, the kakab, klabaw, jilawat, lai-is, pattain, udang or prawn, shrimp, talang, sinanging, bawan, rowan, taylaon, duri, bleda, tingairy, alu-alu, pako, jumpul, pari or skait, boli ayam, tamban or shad, belut or eel, iyu or shark, lida or sole, batu batu, kabab batu, klaoi, krang or cockle, tiram or oyster, tipy and lapis pearl oysters, cupang or muscle, all the varieties of the turtle, with several other sorts.

The ornithology of Borneo is somewhat limited. There are the bayan, nuri, dara, pepit or sparrow, tukukur or turtle-dove, berkey, kandang, kiridi, gogaw or crow, seyrindit, layang or swallow, kalilawan. The Chinese rear ducks; the tame fowl abounds; but the turkey, goose, and peafowl are seldom met with.

The principal gold mines on Borneo are in the vicinity of Sambas. There is a mountain called Guning Pandan, about eighty miles inland; from this branch out three rivers--one leads to Mompava, one to Batu Bulat near Tanjong Mora, and one to Landa; the whole intermediate area between the above rivers is of a firm yellow argillaceous schistus, or ferruginous quartz, interspersed with horn and vitreous ores, of a remarkable dark reddish color, abounding with the richest veins of gold, and equal if not superior to any mine extant. There are only fifty parets or mines now wrought in the whole kingdom of Sukadana, thirty of which are in the Sambas district, each mine having at least three hundred men, Chinese, employed in them. Their pay, one with another, is four dollars per mensem.

The mines are rented from the rajah at the rate of fifty bunkals of gold per mine per annum, beside a capitation tax of three dollars per head on every Chinaman. There are thirty thousand Chinese in the Sambas districts, and they feel themselves strong enough to oppose or evade this tax; it hence becomes a perpetual contest between greedy extortion on the one side, and avaricious chicane on the other; there are beside about twelve thousand Malays and Dayers.

The Laurat gold mines are situated to the eastward of the town of Sambas, and are particularly rich and productive. The mines of Siminis are one day's journey from Sambas, up a small creek leading from Sambas river, below the town; and the mines are abundant. Salako is up a river fifteen miles south of the Sambas river; it lies nearly forty miles up, but communicates with Sambas by another river: here the metal is found more abundant than anywhere else; and twenty thousand Chinese are found in this district. Mantrado is three days' journey up the Mompava river; it is under an independent Malay prince. Some accounts make the population of this district great, near fifty thousand Dayers, Malays, and Chinese; but perhaps half the number may be nearer the truth; these are chiefly employed on the gold mines, and in producing food for the miners; these mines, however, do not produce that quantity which they might under Chinese management. Mandore is about a day's journey from Pontiana, and belongs to the sultan; it is reckoned a very rich mine, though but recently wrought. There are as yet only twelve parets of about two hundred men each, but it is capable of extension. Likewise are found in this district some very rich specimens of copper ore; it has not as yet been wrought, gold being deemed a much more productive article. The sultan wishes, however, he had some boring utensils and an experienced miner, to enable him to decide whether it would be worth working under the peculiar circumstances above mentioned. Numbers of Chinese are settled in this district, and the population is annually increasing.

About three days' journey up the Pongole river lies the district of Songo, with a population of twenty-five thousand souls, Dayers, and a few Chinese, under a Malay and an independent prince. The population is chiefly employed on the rich mines of gold in the neighborhood, which is particularly pure and abundant; but the mines are not wrought with the same industry as those under Chinese management. The Dutch thought it of so much consequence as to keep a force at Songo, and to place the present rajah on that musnud. About two days' journey farther up lies another gold district, called Santam, the inhabitants of which are principally Dayers. Beyond Santam, and higher up on the same river, lies the town of Sukadow, abounding in gold, the inhabitants of which are also Dayers.

Matan belongs to the rajah of that name: he had the title of Rajah of Sukadana, until driven out of the latter place by the Dutch, seventeen years ago. There are ten thousand Dayers in this district, and a few Chinese and Malays. The mines of gold are abundant, and capable of becoming highly productive, as well as the mines of iron and unwrought tin; but the sultan is much addicted to the use of opium, and hence neglects a valuable country, capable, under better management, of becoming the most valuable district on all Borneo.

About three days' journey from Pontiana lies the celebrated mountain of Landa, which, after Golconda, is the most valuable diamond mine in the world. There are at least thirty thousand people, principally Dayers, employed on the mines and agriculture; it belongs to a Malay prince, raised to that musnud twenty-five years ago by the Dutch, through the agency of the present Sultan of Pontiana: here also much gold is produced; and much more might be had under proper management.

There is a very valuable gold mine in the north of Borneo, at a place called Tampasuk, situated in the district ceded to the English by the Sultan of Sulo; but having become the principal pirate port on the coast, the working of the mines has been discontinued.

The whole produce of the gold mines of Sukadana is said to be annually about twenty piculs, or a million of dollars, at twenty-five dollars a bunkal; but no calculation of this sort can possibly be correct. Living, as the Chinese do, under the rapacity of despotic and ferocious freebooters, who are actuated by no one principle of honor, justice, or good faith, it is their interest to conceal the riches they amass, not only to preserve themselves from the clutches of these tyrants, but as the most compact substance to transport to their native shores, to which they repair with the fruits of their industry, by the annual junks that arrive at Pontiana, leaving the mines to new settlers: from two to three hundred leave Pontiana every year.

The standard of Slakow gold at Pontiana is affixed at twenty-three Spanish dollars the bunkal, of two dollars weight. The Songo and Laurat is twenty-five dollars the said bunkal.

Not having had an opportunity to inspect any of the gold mines personally, I know not if the ores readily melt of themselves, or whether they require the aid of any fluxes before they yield the metal; but I believe the principal attention of the miners is directed to the rich veins of pure native gold, and that no operation is performed beyond that of pulverizing, and simple washing; all the gold about Pontiana being in dust, though some I have met with in Borneo Proper was run into bars. About Landa, where the diamonds are found, the whole of the stratum is observed to be a clay of a red burnt appearance, nearly to the same degree as that of burnt bricks, which gives to the rivers hereabouts a peculiar tinge. Whether this has been formed by the action of subterraneous fires, or is the effect of volcanoes or earthquakes, I cannot decide; the latter are said to be frequently felt at Pontiana and at Sambas; and the former are said to exist in the central mountains of Borneo.

From the slovenly manner in which the diamonds are sought for by the Dayers, they seldom collect them of a size exceeding three or four carats weight each. When rough, the Landa diamond has a white or yellow hue; but none are found of that inky and flinty tinge, so valuable in some of the Golconda diamonds. But that Landa does produce them of a very considerable size, the extensive and valuable specimens in Java, as well as the quantities annually sent to Batavia, will evince. The King of Matan is at this instant in possession of a diamond weighing 367 carats: the value of which, according to the old mode of calculation, would be (367 x 367 x 2 = 269,378_l._) The Sultan of Pontiana says, however, that a much larger price was offered for it by the Dutch government of Java. He refused, it is said, twenty-five laks of dollars, two sloops of rice, fifty pieces of cannon, and a hundred muskets. Several from twenty to thirty carats have been dug up. At Mompava there are said to be very rich copper mines; but from want of population, a vigorous government, and scientific mineralogists, little is to be hoped from them at the present day. At Pulo Bongorong, near Borneo Proper, there is plenty of loadstone found.

About one degree north of Sambas there is a country called Sarawak, belonging to the Rajah of Borneo Proper; there is a vast district abounding in tin, in veins as rich and as plentiful as those wrought on Banca: but they have been neglected for a series of years; they were partially wrought before those of the latter were discovered, in the beginning of the last century. The tyranny of that government, the want of hands, and the contiguity of rich and valuable gold-mines, have together caused their utter neglect; and there is little probability of more favorable results, except under a change of government, and a happier order of things.

In the Matan districts there is an extensive and most valuable iron-mine, producing pure metal without any admixture of ore: it is fully equal in quality to the best Swedish iron. They run it into shot, and much of it is exported; but the gold-mines in its vicinity, and the want of a proper government, are obstacles to its further productiveness and utility. At Maday, on the northeast coast of Borneo, in the province of Mangidara, there is a very rich mine of gold. Pasir and Coti, in the Straits of Macassar, produce considerable quantities of gold; and gold and diamonds are brought down by the river to Benjarmasing. I have, however, no accurate information on the subject, and can simply note the general fact.

There are several fine specimens of crystal found at Kimanis and Sulo; they call them water diamonds. To give full effect to the mines in the kingdom of Sukadana, says the Sultan of Pontiana, and to raise the excess of food required for the additional hands, would together give employment to at least a million of Chinese. Under the British flag, he thinks thousands of new settlers will find their way in the annual junks.

All that extensive range, from Cape Unsing, passing by the Tawi Tawi islands and Sulo, as far as Baselan, is one vast continued bed of pearl-oysters, principally of the Behoren or mother-of-pearl-shell species; these are called by the natives _tipi_. There is likewise an extensive bed of the Ceylon oyster, called by the Malays _kapis_; the principal banks of the latter are found in Maludu Bay. The Sulo pearls have, from time immemorial, been the most celebrated, and praised as the most valuable of any in the known world. Pigofetta, the companion of Magalhaens, mentions having seen in 1520 two Sulo pearls in the possession of the Rajah of Borneo as large as pullet eggs. Very large ones, from one to two hundred _chaw_ weight, are at all times to be purchased at Sulo; and there are altogether sold here to the China junks, the Spaniards, &c. more than two laks of dollars worth annually. The quantity of mother-of-pearl-shell, _communibus annis_, sold there is two thousand piculs, at six dollars a picul. The fishery is partly carried on by the Malays, and partly by the Chinese; the large pearls they endeavor to conceal as much as possible, from a law that all pearls above a certain size of right belong to the sultan. "The small narrow guts," says Dalrymple in his account of the Sulo seas, "about Tawi Tawi, are the most rich and valuable fishery in the world." I have had an opportunity of inspecting the banks about Manar and Tutacoryn, as well as all the banks in the Sulo seas; but the former have not banks near as extensive, equaling in the quantity of oysters, in productiveness, size, or richness, the Sulo pearl, nor are they to be compared in any way to the Sulo beds. Still the Ceylon fishery has netted the British Government from one to two laks of pagodas for permitting it to be fished fourteen days annually. As this portion of Borneo belongs to the English, a much greater revenue might be drawn from these vast sources of wealth, under proper management.

As there are no people of sufficient opulence to contract for so vast a fishery, the Company might undertake it themselves; three or four gun-boats would be necessary to protect the fishermen; and a small fort should be erected at Tambisan or Tawi Tawi. But it is necessary to observe, the Sulo people do not practice diving at all, as is the case at Beharen and Ceylon, but only comprehend the slow method of dredging for the tipy with a thing like the fluke of a wooden anchor. It would be a desirable thing, in the event of prosecuting this valuable fishery as a national concern, to obtain forty or fifty Arab divers from Beharen, and perhaps an equal number of Chulias from Nagore and Negapatam, from the number employed annually on the Ceylon fishery. These men would teach the Malay the superiority of diving, which can, in fourteen days' fishing, bring into government a revenue of two laks of pagodas, pay the expenses of the fishery, and enrich all parties concerned; while the Malayan operose plan of dredging perhaps affords but a precarious subsistence. But had they divers, from the extent of the banks, instead of fourteen days in the year, they might, one after another, be fished the whole year round, and never be exhausted. The Chinese fishermen, though laborious, possess no enterprise, and can never be prevailed on to dive, from apprehension of the sharks. The Caffris from New Guinea and the Arroes would be superior to them.

The Sultan of Sulo, in 1810, proposed to me to bring over one hundred Chulia divers from Negapatam on our joint expense and profit: and the divers agreed to go over on receiving each twenty-five rupees advance, their victuals being found, and one-fourth of the produce of oysters allowed them, as at Ceylon. Circumstances, however, occurred to prevent an undertaking which I think must have turned out highly lucrative. They dredge the banks all the year round. The water on the Tahow, Maludu, and Tawi Tawi banks, is from seven to ten fathoms deep; in other places they fish in fifteen fathoms water.

The Malays of Borneo understand the art of cutting, polishing, and setting their diamonds. Gold and silver filagree works they excel in; gunpowder is manufactured at Pontiana; brass cannon is cast at Borneo Proper; iron-shot is run from their mine. They can manufacture and repair krises, and clean their arms. Their carpentry extends to the building and repairing of prows, and the erecting of a hut. Their industry is further exerted in collecting birds'-nests and wax; in cutting rattan and felling timber; in the pearl and tripan fisheries; or as mariners in commercial or piratical pursuits. The tillage of the ground and the edible fisheries are often left to the more indefatigable industry of the Chinese. For the exercise of every other useful occupation also, the mechanical and scientific arts, and the labor of the mines, these indolent savages are indebted solely to the superior industry and civilization of the Chinamen.

The amusements of the Malays in other parts are unpractised on the shores of Borneo: the only ones I ever saw were flying the kite, swimming, and the songs of their women; this latter is confined to the rajahs.

Wherever a water-communication on Borneo presents, the indolence of the Malay will not permit him to think of the construction of a road. In the interior, however, there are pathways in all directions; about Mompava, where the river is narrow and shallow, they have constructed several roads. Being a people much occupied in maritime pursuits, they prefer, like the amphibious Dutch, traveling by rivers, or the innumerable cuts, canals, and creeks, which everywhere intersect the country: beside, their prows afford more protection from surprise, and they conceive their town as safer by being surrounded by a jungle and situated in a swamp; nor have they any conception beyond water-carriage.

Their laws neither depend upon the Koran nor any written code, human or divine, beyond the whim and caprice of the chief (assassin) and his gang of desperadoes. The Sultan of Pontiana has, however, established the following regulations:

Punishments for murder:--Life for life, except when the parties can commute the same by fine.

A proclamation is publicly affixed announcing the law, that if any person be found adulterating gold-dust, or uttering it, so depreciated, with a view to defraud, the perpetrator shall lose his right arm, and the adulterated gold shall be confiscated.

For theft:--Five dollars per head is given by the sultan to any one bringing in the head of a thief: if brought in alive, he is suspended by the heels and flogged as far as nature can bear short of death, and the punishment repeated _ad libitum_.

Prisoners taken from an enemy, whether found in arms or not, are made slaves of, or suffer death, at the option of the captor.

The Malay government is said to exhibit the feudal system in its most perfect form. The chief, or rajah, issues his orders to the Pangerans, or princes of the blood; to the Datus, or nobles of royal descent; or to the Orang Kayas, or wealthy vassals. All these obey and follow him to war, free of expense, when the king is sufficiently powerful to enforce it; but whenever the vassal feels himself strong enough to throw off the yoke, and to assert his independence, he sets up for himself. These vassals exact the same obedience from their slaves or villains, who pay the like deference only so long as they are compelled to observe and obey them. The property acquired by a slave he is often allowed to enjoy unmolested during his lifetime; but at his death, his master administers to the estate as heir, executor, and sole legatee.

In fact, it is a government that inspires on all sides one universal distrust--that rules by precedents of oppression without a view to protection. The chiefs dread the power of their vassals, who, in return, apprehend everything from the rapacity of the governing power; while the bulk of the people, having no property to lose, are still compelled to appear abroad armed to defend their very persons from the outrage and violence of the next assassin they meet.

Where governments not only tolerate murder, rapine, thefts, piracies, conflagrations, with every outrage violating the happiness and safety of society, but are the first to set the example and to consecrate the atrocity--where the people are taught no one principle of morality or religion--where the arts and sciences are wholly unknown or despised--where the amusements and sociabilities of human life are totally disregarded--where the bounties and comforts of nature are rather dispensed with than enjoyed, and where the absolute necessaries to existence and the decorations of life are more scanty and wretched than yet discovered among the rudest set of barbarians extant; if, from the experience of the past, expectations of the future are to be formed, we may safely infer that every vestige of Malay government and dominion will be ingulfed in the vortex of self and mutual destruction. Such a system of society has in itself the seeds of dissolution, and is rapidly verging to an inherent decay and general oblivion, which it will doubtless meet, unless some beneficent power arrest its baneful impetus, and direct its feverish energies through channels calculated to promote the happiness and to consolidate the welfare of the inhabitants of these scattered regions.

Should so fortunate an occurrence ever fall to the lot of Borneo--should a strong and a wise government ever be established on her shores--a government that will religiously respect property and secure to industry the fruits of her labor--that will, by a wise system of laws, protect the peaceable and punish the violator of the laws of a well-organized society--that will direct their industry to useful purposes, and check their propensities to violence and plunder--such a government, in a short series of years, would behold, as if by magic, a paradise burst from her wilds, see cultivation smile upon her jungles, and hail a vast and increasing population, blessing the hand that awoke them to life, to happiness, and to prosperity. That so felicitous a change is not the mere reverie of a glowing imagination, or the sheer effusion of benevolence alone, is easily demonstrable.

Whoever has seen the Egyptian fertility of the soil, from the moistness of the climate, the numberless rivers meandering around and intersecting the country in all directions, with the mild temperature of the climate, from similar causes--whoever considers the vast extent and inexhaustible wealth of her innumerable mines of pure native gold, her block-tin, her copper, her iron, her diamonds, &c., her various valuable fisheries of pearl and tripan--whoever views her ports, her harbors, and her productive shores, at the threshold of the over-teeming population of China, and at the same moment recollects that the country abounds in various valuable products in the highest possible estimation, and of increasing demand in the empire of China, must easily conceive what a tempting field and rich harvest this land of promise holds out to their industry and cupidity under such a system of laws and government as we have deemed a _sine qua non_.

If, under the present codes of tyranny, oppression, and general ferocity, where nothing is permanent but violence and desolation--if, under such a system of barbarism, a hundred thousand Chinese (which is the fact) have found inducements sufficiently strong to settle on her shores, what might we not hope and expect from the overburdened population of that vast empire under a happier order of things? The astonishing number of Chinese settled within a few years at Pulo Pinang, on a contracted soil, possessing no peculiar advantages but from a free trade and equitable laws impartially administered, is both a fact and an illustration; and what might not Borneo hope for from a happier soil, greater inducements, and other physical advantages? Java, under the despotism of the Dutch, with the character of a sickly climate, and the remembrance of the cruel massacre of sixty thousand innocent Chinese, could still boast a hundred thousand of these people at the period it fell to the British arms; and withal, let it be remembered that these shores were once blessed with the industry of these people to a far greater extent under a happier period of her history.

Whatever, indeed, might prove the work of ages in various other parts of the globe would, under the present circumstances of the Chinese empire, be instantaneous on these shores; and their habits of industry and civilization, when once rooted to the soil, would soon spread their genial influence to the extensive population of the interior, unite them in the bonds of social life, cement them in the general prosperity, and render these extensive shores a valuable appendage and an increasing resource to the wealth and power that brought about so happy a revolution in their affairs.

For a considerable series of years past, the piratical ports of Borneo, &c., have been in the habit of committing depredations upon the commerce of British India, in the capture of her ships, the insulting of her flag, the offering of outrageous violence to the persons and lives of her mariners, merchants, &c., and this, too, with the most perfect impunity; no retribution having been exacted, no reprisals made, no remonstrance presented, and, in fact, no notice taken of their atrocious depredations. Hence these desperadoes, from inference and experience of the past, have been led to conclude, that whatever was practicable would be tolerated; that wherever they had the means or opportunity of overpowering, it was their duty, as it was to their advantage, to seize it to their own use, without any other apprehensions of the consequences than what might arise in the attempt.

Under this discouraging aspect of affairs, there was but little more left to the commercial community of India than either to abandon the valuable commerce of Borneo wholly; or, if allured to it by a prospect of gain, to proceed in armed vessels at an increased expense and high insurance, so as to cover the extraordinary risks. These enhanced prices either operated as a prohibition to the trade, or circumscribed it so much, that an occasional capture excited no surprise, and was frigidly dismissed as a matter of course.