3o8 PAGAN TRIBES OF BORNEO chap. 



resources of western civilisation, as by the fact that, 

 with very few exceptions, the white men with whom 

 the natives have had intercourse have been English 

 gentlemen, animated by the spirit and example of 

 the two white Rajahs, and keenly conscious of their 

 individual and collective responsibility as repre- 

 sentatives of their race and country in a foreign 

 land/ 



We have dwelt at some length on the govern- 

 ment of the Rajah of Sarawak in its relation with 

 the pagan tribes, and, if we dismiss in a few words 

 the administrative labours of the Dutch and of the 

 British North Borneo Company in their respective 

 territories, it is not because we regard those labours 

 as of less interest and importance or as less success- 

 ful, but because in the main they have run on 

 similar lines and have achieved similar results to 

 those of the government of Sarawak, of which 

 alone we have intimate knowledge. Dutch Borneo 

 comprises roughly two-thirds of the whole island, a 

 very large territory which comprises the basins of 

 the largest rivers and hence, the rivers being the 

 only highways, the most inaccessible parts of the 

 island. The Kapuas River, for example, is estimated 

 to be nearly 700 miles in length ; and the necessity 

 of ascending these hundreds of miles of river-way, 

 much of it difficult and dangerous, has rendered the 

 process of establishing control over the tribes of the 

 interior slow and laborious. For this reason the 

 process is not yet completed ; although the Dutch 

 have had stations in Borneo since the early years of 

 the seventeenth century, when they expelled the 



^ The Rajahs of Sarawak have personally chosen and appointed their white 

 officers with the greatest care ; and their good judgment has secured for 

 their country the services of a number of Englishmen of high abilities and 

 sterling moral quality. Of those members of the Sarawak service who have 

 passed away, the following have pre-eminent claims to be gratefully remembered 

 by the people of the country : James Brooke Brooke (nephew of the first 

 Rajah), W. Brereton, A. C. Crookshank, J. B. Cruickshank, C. C. de 

 Crespigny, A. H. Everett, H. Brooke Low, C. S. Pearse, and, above all, 

 F. R. O. Maxwell. 



i 



