22 PAGAN TRIBES OF BORNEO chap. 



From this time onwards the power of Bruni has 

 continuously declined. Recurrent civil wars invited 

 the occasional interventions of the Portuguese and 

 of the Spanish governors of the Philippines, which, 

 although they did not result in the subjugation of 

 the Malay power, nevertheless sapped its strength. 



The interest of the later history of Borneo lies 

 in the successive attempts,^ many of them fruitless, 

 made by Dutch and English to gain a footing on 

 the island. The Dutch arrived off Bruni in the 

 year 1600, and ten days afterwards were glad to 

 leave with what pepper they had obtained in the 

 interval, the commander judging the place nothing 

 better than a nest of rogues. The Dutch did not 

 press the acquaintance, but started factories at 

 Sambas, where they monopolised the trade. In 

 1685 an English captain named Cowley arrived 

 in Bruni ; but the English showed as little inclina- 

 tion as the Dutch to take up the commerce which 

 the Portuguese had abandoned. 



At Banjermasin, on the southern coast, more 

 progress was made. The Dutch arrived there 

 before their English rivals, but were soon compelled 

 by intrigues to withdraw. In 1704^ the English 

 factors on the Chinese island of Chusan, expelled 

 by the imperial authorities and subsequently driven 

 from Pulo Condar off the Cochin China coast by 

 a mutiny, arrived at Banjermasin. They had every 

 reason to be gratified with the prospects at that 

 port ; for they could sell the native pepper to the 

 Chinese at three times the cost price. But their 

 bitter experiences in the China seas had not taught 

 them wisdom ; they soon fell out with the Javanese 

 Sultan, whose hospitality they were enjoying, and 

 after some bloody struggles were obliged to with- 

 draw from this part of the island. 



^ Much of the following information is extracted from an article by J. R. 

 Logan on European intercourse with Borneo, Joui-nal Vidian Archipelago, vol. 

 ii. p. 505. '^ The article in \hQ Journal Indian Archipelago says 1702. 



