VI.] BRUNEI. 123 



In the following year Sir James Brooke was appointed the 

 first Governor. 



Some four hundred years ago the great island of Borneo was 

 conquered by the Malays. To be strictly accurate I ought, per- 

 haps, to say that it was re -conquered, for the Dyaks are them- 

 selves of Malayan stock, and have probably only supplanted a 

 previous race, of which nothing certain is at present known. 

 The new-comers did not penetrate very far into the interior, but 

 established themselves at various places on the coast, and of these 

 settlements Brunei rapidly rose to be the chief From its size and 

 importance it was naturally the first place with which Europeans 

 became acquainted, and hence it came about that the great water 

 city of the East and the island on which it was situated were 

 known by one and the same name. Its large size and the extra- 

 ordinary manner in which it is built have astonished travellers for 

 the past three hundred years. Pigafetta and other old voyagers 

 have described it, and in later times it has become familiar to those 

 who have read the works of St. John, Keppel, and Earl. Even in 

 these days of easy steam communication, however, Brunei is but 

 little visited, and it is remarkable as being one of the largest 

 places in the Eastern Archipelago, and at the same time destitute 

 of a single European inhabitant. 



We had, of course, determined on visiting the city, and since 

 the Marchesa had too large a draught to permit of her entering the 

 river, -^v^e gladly accepted the loan of a large steam launch belong- 

 ing to the North Borneo Company, which the Governor, Mr. 

 Treacher, kindly placed at our service. From the harbour at 

 Labuan to Moaro at the entrance of the Brunei Eiver is a distance 

 of about nineteen miles, and the city lies fifteen miles farther up 

 stream. Unlike most Bornean rivers, it has no mangroves or Nipa 

 palms along its banks, or so few that they do not attract attention. 

 There is high land on either side, and the range of hills on the left 

 bank is believed to be very largely carboniferous, since there are 

 surface outcrops of coal in many places. The scenery is in no way 



