1 68 The Gardens of tJic Sun. [ch. vm. 



house I came across our host's coffin standing on sup- 

 ports in one of the sheds. It was large and curiously 

 shaped, and made of some dark durable wood highly 

 valued by the wealthy Chinese. Most Chinese settlers 

 here, when sufficiently wealthy, send to China for one of 

 these coffins, which is preserved until their death. Nearly 

 all the Chinese settlers here in the capital are married to 

 Malay women, and healthy children generally result from 

 these unions. On the other hand, the Malay or Bornean 

 women rarely bear children when married to Europeans, 

 and if so, the children are generally unhealthy, and they 

 themselves rarely have offspring. No doubt the Malays 

 of the capital are gradually becoming absorbed by inter- 

 marrying with the native Bornean women of the Murut, 

 Kadyan, and other inland tribes. Many of the Malays, 

 so called, closely resemble the aboriginals in physiognomy, 

 and the common people or Bruneis may be characterised 

 as an ugly and immoral lot of mongrels. Now and then 

 traces of African blood are seen. 



Nowhere else in Borneo are the men such liars and 

 thieves as here, and the Brunei women have been de- 

 scribed by a former writer as being perhaps "the most 

 immoral in the whole world." Of classical celebrities, 

 Cato and Phryne are certainly well represented in this 

 great water city of the far East. The climate is sultry. 

 A large upas tree is pointed out to all comers, and it is a 

 fine specimen, standing on the right bank of the river, 

 just below the town, near some ancient tombs. A burial- 

 ground, indeed, occupies nearly the whole right bank of 

 the river from just beyond the Consulate as far as the 

 sago factory. One or two of the tombs are large, and 

 built of stone, with entrance gates ; but most are small, 

 with perhaps only a large stone to mark the spot. 



The capital, as also the towns all along the coast, suffer 



