152 PALACE OF THE SULTAN OF BRUNI. 



whole town is divided into a number of solid squares 

 of houses, each of which communicates with one of the 

 streets of the town. The palace of the sultan is a 

 large building of wood, situated on the neck of land 

 formed by the Kadyan river, and a few hundred feet 

 from its mouth : it is surrounded by a high pagar of 

 split and flattened bamboo, neatly plaited into a close 

 fence, so that nothing can be seen from the outside ; 

 strangers are never admitted into the interior. Every 

 thing about the palace had a much neater and cleaner 

 appearance than the other parts of the town (May, 

 1845), and the landing-place to it was defended by 

 six small brass guns on handsomely carved carriages ; 

 both the general audience- hall and the private recep- 

 tion-room were situated outside the enclosure of the 

 palace. On the low point of land, which was not 

 occupied by the buildings of the sultan's residence, 

 were lying several fine large brass guns without 

 carriages, some of them fifty-six pounders, which had 

 been cast in Borneo in earlier times, others were said 

 to have been presented by the Kings of Spain to former 

 Sultans of Bruni ; the whole of these guns have been 

 captured by the British since this account of Borneo 

 was written. The palaces of the rajahs, which are 

 ungainly looking, but very large wooden buildings, are 

 the only ones of this construction, and most of these 

 are in a dilapidated condition ; their mosques, of which 

 there are several in the town, are in an equally ruinous 

 state. 



The public market in Bruni presented an unique 



