lo PAGAN TRIBES OF BORNEO chap. 



accounts until the fifteenth century. The Chinese, 

 on the other hand, always a literary people, carefully 

 preserved in their archives all that could be gathered 

 with regard to the "southern seas." But China 

 was far away, and many local events would possess 

 no interest for her subjects. Under the circum- 

 stances, the official historians deserve our gratitude 

 for their geographical descriptions and for the 

 particulars of tribute-bearing missions to the Son of 

 Heaven, though they have little else to tell. 



The first account we have been able to find 

 referring to Borneo is a description of the kingdom 

 of Poli from the Chinese annals of the sixth century. 

 Poli was said to be on an island in the sea south- 

 east of Camboja, and two months south-east of 

 Canton. The journey thither was made by way 

 of the Malay Peninsula, a devious route still 

 followed by Chinese junks. Envoys were sent 

 to the Imperial court in a.d. 518, 523, and 616. 

 '* The people of this country," our authority says, 

 "are skilled in throwing a discus - knife, and the 

 edge is like a saw ; when they throw it at a man, 

 they never fail to hit him. Their other arms 

 are about the same as in China. Their customs 

 resemble those of Camboja, and the productions 

 of the country are the same as of Siam. When 

 one commits a murder or theft they cut off his 

 hands, ^ and when adultery has been committed, 

 the culprit has his legs chained for the period of 

 a year. For their sacrifice they choose the time 

 when there is no moon'; they fill a bowl with wine 

 and eatables and let it float away on the surface 

 of the water ; in the eleventh month they have 

 a great sacrifice. They get corals from the sea, 

 and they have a bird called s'ari, which can talk." 

 A later reference to the same place says: "They 

 carry the teeth of wild beasts in their ears, and 



^ There is a Bruni still alive whose hands have been cut off for theft. 



