PART IV.— BORNEO. 



CHAPTER XXVin. 



SARAWAK, PAST AJ^D PRESENT. 



Geographical Position and Area of Borneo. — Explorations. — ^From Singapore 

 to Sarawak. — The Finest City in Borneo. — Historical Sketch of Sarawak 

 Territory. — Sir James Brooke. — Anarchy and Oppression. — Cession of the 

 Territory. — Order out of Chaos. — Evolution of a Model Government. — A 

 Wise and Good Rajah. — Justice in Sarawak and the United States. — 

 Present Prosperity. — A Lesson for Political Economists. 



Theee hundred miles east of Singapore, directly under the equator, 

 lies a vast island clad from centre to circumference with a wonder- 

 ful and luxuriant growth of unbroken forest, and peopled with the 

 strangest men and beasts to be found in all the East Indies. 



Rich in both vegetable and mineral products, teeming with 

 animal hfe, and fiUed with both social and scientific problems, 

 Borneo is a most inviting field, interesting alike to the natiu-ahst, 

 the anthropologist, and the student of political economy. In time, 

 also, when its vast agricultural resources are properly developed, 

 it wiU ofifer a chance for life, liberty, and happiness to the over- 

 crowded millions of China, Hindostan, and even Europe. 



With an area of one hundred and ninety thousand square miles, 

 and a coast line of over three thousand miles, Borneo is the second 

 largest island in the world. When we look at its proportions on a 

 map which compresses the whole of Asia or Australasia into the 

 limits of a single atlas page, we fail to realize its actual immensity. 

 The whole of New England, the Middle States, and Maryland 

 could be set down in the forest which covers Borneo, and still be 

 surrounded by a wide belt of jungle. The length of the island is 

 eight hundred and fifty miles, and its greatest width six hundred 

 and twenty-five. 



