216 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 



was a few years later by the English, so that in the 

 middle of the seventeenth century three European nations 

 were busily engaged in trying to supplant each other at 

 the various ports. For more than half a century, how- 

 ever — from 1670 to 1733 — the Dutch left the field, and 

 were followed by the Portuguese, and in 1707 the 

 English, who had a settlement at Banjarmasin, then a 

 place of considerable trade, were driven out by the 

 natives. In 1733 the Dutch returned, and fifty-two 

 years later a civil war placed them in possession of the 

 large territory belonging to the Sultan of Banjarmasin. 

 The country nevertheless remained undeveloped, and it 

 was only subsequent to the restoration to the Dutch in 

 1816 of their Malayan dominion that anything was done 

 in the way of settlement. Since that time considerable 

 additions have been made to their possessions, and the 

 entire island, with the exception of the Brunei, Sarawak, 

 and British North Borneo Company's territories, now be- 

 longs to Holland. The history of the English occupation 

 of these latter countries wiil be separately considered on 

 a later page. 



The medieval history of the island is chiefly con- 

 jectural, and we have even less knowledge of it than of 

 that of Java and Sumatra. Numerous ruins of Hindu 

 temples in various parts of the island, as for example at 

 Pontianak on the west, Sangkulirang on the east, and 

 400 miles in the interior on the Koti river, prove that 

 the Borneans must in bygone ages have come under a 

 western influence if not an actual dominion, but it is 

 probable that the immigration took place largely from Java. 

 Borneo, however, could at no time have been a political 

 unit. Later, Malays from the Peninsula or from 

 Sumatra invaded the island, and, settling on the coasts, 

 drove the aborigines inland ; but although they brought 



