402 



GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, UNITED KINGDOM OF. 



The island of Mauritius, lying in the Indian 

 Ocean, 500 miles east of Madagascar, has an 

 area of 708 square miles, and a population of 

 368,415. The present Governor is Sir John 

 Pope Henessy. The Council of Government is 

 composed of 10 elective, 8 official, and 9 ap- 

 pointed members. A new Constitution was 

 adopted in 1885, introducing the elective prin- 

 ciple. But few votes are cast by the Indians, 

 who constitute two thirds of the population, 

 and who are at present represented in the 

 Government by one of the nominated members 

 of the Council. The rest of the population 

 comprises natives of African race, Chinese, 

 French Creoles, a lew English, and mixed 

 races. The imports in 1886 were valued at 

 23,946,967 rupees, and the exports at 32,383.- 

 399 rupees, of which sum 29,126,169 rupees 

 represent the export of raw sugar. 



In the beginning of 1888 the English, by 

 means of a warlike expedition, imposed their 

 dominion on the Yonnies and other tribes back 

 of Sierra Leone. The Mendis and the Lok- 

 kohs, residing within the frontiers of British 

 Qtriah, made an attack on their neighbors out- 

 si Je of the British protectorate. These in- 

 vited the aid of the Yonnies, who in October, 

 1887, descended on the town of Sennehoo, and 

 destroyed this and other places belonging to a 

 female chief called Madame Yoko. Sir Francis 

 de Winton was then appointed the head of an 

 expedition into the Yonnie country, which 

 captured Robari, the chief town, and subju- 

 gated the country, which was then placed un- 

 der a chief selected by the conquerors. 



The state of Sarawak, in the island of Borneo, 

 was founded in 1841 by Sir James Brooke, who 

 established a settled and peaceful government 

 among the hostile races of Sulus. Malays, and 

 Dyaks, who had previously lived by piracy and 

 rapine. He prayed for the protection of the 

 British Government, and even offered to trans- 

 fer the dominion that he had established to the 

 British Crown, with reservation of the rights of 

 the natives; but was unable to obtain from his 

 own Government ths recognition of the country 

 as an independent state until after the United 

 States and Italy had given such recognition. 

 After he had relinquished the government to 

 his successor, and returned to England to end 

 his days, he still labored to secure the pro- 

 tection of the Imperial Government for the 

 state that he had created, which he feared 

 would pass under the dominion of some other 

 European p nver, and in 1864 was gratified 

 when a British consul was appointed to S ira- 

 wak. In June, 1888, the Supreme Council of 

 Sarawak sanctioned an agreement that the pres- 

 ent Rajah Brooke had concluded with the 

 British Government, which has at last decided 

 to establish a protectorate over Sarawak, whi:-h 

 will probably soon be extended to the recently 

 founded state of North Borneo and the inde- 

 pendent native state of Brunai. Sarawak will 

 continue to be governed as an independent state 

 by the Rajah Brooke and his successors, and the 



British Government acquires no right to inter- 

 fere in the internal administration, but will be 

 the arbiter in cases of disputed succession and 

 in all disputes with foreign states, including 

 North Borneo and Brunai, and no cession of 

 territory to a foreign power can take place 

 without its consent. 



Labuan, an island thirty square miles in ex- 

 tent, off the northwest coast of Borneo, is a 

 Crown colony. It is peopled by about 6,000 

 Malays from Borneo, with some Chinese traders 

 and a score of Europeans who carry on a trade 

 in sago, gutta-percha, India-rubber, wax, and 

 other products of the main island with Singa- 

 pore. The imports of 1887 were valued at 

 $370,751, and the exports at $417,551. The 

 state of North Borneo is under the direction 

 of the proprietary British North Borneo Com- 

 pany, with headquarters in London, which 

 pays over $50,000 in salaries ia the colony. 

 The area is 27,500 square miles, and the popu- 

 lation 175,000. consisting of Mohammedan set- 

 tlers on the coast and native tribes in the 

 mountainous interior, with a few Chinese trad- 

 ers and artisans. Sandakan, on the east coast, 

 is the chief port. The revenue in 1886 from 

 licenses, duties, royalties, etc., was $127,781, 

 and from land sales $12,034; the expenditure, 

 $218,061. The valu3 of the exports was $524,- 

 724; of imports, $849,115. The convention 

 with Sarawak is of the same form as those con- 

 cluded with the sultans or rajahs of Perak, Se- 

 langore, Sungei Ujong, and other native terri- 

 torus around Singapore, and the acquisitions 

 in Borneo will probably, like these, be placed 

 under the direction of the Governor ot the 

 Straits Settlements. The last protectorate es- 

 tablished in the Malay peninsula was over the 

 dominions of the Rajah of Pahang, lyinjrto the 

 east of Perak and Selangore. The rajah, who 

 is invested by the treaty with the title of sultan, 

 agrees to make no concession or grant of any 

 kind to a foreigner unless he be a British sub- 

 ject or a person of Chinese, Malay, or other 

 Oriental race. The present Governor of the 

 Straits Settlements is Sir Frederick Aloysius 

 Weld, who received his appointment in 1880. 

 The colony comprises the islands of Singapore 

 and Penang, with small adjacent isLmds, the 

 strips of coast on the Malayan peninsula known 

 as Province Wellesley and the Dindings, newly 

 acquired territory south of Krian, and Malacca, 

 on the western coast of the peninsula. The 

 native states under British protection occupy 

 the whole coast line between Malacca and Prov- 

 ince Wellesley. The British Resident in each 

 native state, and the European officers on his 

 staff, besides discharging executive functions 

 reserved to them, share in the government as 

 members of the State Council. The native 

 rulers obtain their revenue mainly from the ex- 

 port duty on tin. The population of Singapore, 

 Penang, and Malacca, in 1881, was 423,384. 

 There were 3,483 whites, 30.985 natives of In- 

 dh, 174,327 Chinese, and 174,392 Malays. The 

 chief exports are tin, sugar, pepper, nutmegs, 



