BORNEO. 



from the Malayan or rather Javanese kingdom of that 

 name. The natives of Borneo in general have no idea 

 that their country is an island : it is only the Malays 

 and inhabitants of the sea-coasts, whose maritime 

 pursuits have necessarily forced upon them the know- 

 ledge of its insular position, who have one compre- 

 hensive term for the countries which compose it. 

 These call it Tanah Kalamantan, and occasionally Pulo 

 Kalamantan, or the island Kalamantan ; but this term 

 is usually restricted to what we should call an islet, 

 large countries being designated Tanah, or land a 

 word nearly similar in signification to our term conti- 

 nent their language having no other expression 

 equivalent to that geographical term, and consequently 

 more appropriate to this land, than the term Pulo. 



Though this large island has been long known to 

 Europeans, settlements were not for many years after 

 its discovery attempted upon it, and it is remarkable 

 that the Portuguese, Spanish, and Dutch, who so long 

 contended for the spice trade of the Moluccas, should 

 have so neglected the rich island of Borneo, the pro- 

 ductions of which must have been well known to 

 them all. In 1747, the Dutch made a settlement at 

 Banjar, on the southern coast, which was abandoned 

 by Marshal Daendels, the Governor- general of Nether- 

 lands, India, in 1810; the sultan paying them, by 

 agreement, the sum of 50,000 Spanish dollars for 

 the forts and buildings. They had previously, in 

 the year 1687, attacked Sucadana, at the instigation of 

 the Sultan of Bantam, for the purpose of replacing the 



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