122 AUSTRALASIA. 



Permanent European settlements on the coast were first made in 1812, when 

 the English occupied Pontianak and Banjermassiu, which were two years later 

 surrendered to the Dutch. These two stations, and those subsequently founded at 

 other places along the seaboard, became the points of departure for the various 

 expeditions that have since been sent to the interior for military, geographical, or 

 scientific purposes. No systematic survey has yet been undertaken ; but the 

 different itineraries of independent explorers already intersect each other at several 

 points. Except the more central regions, nearly all the unexplored districts have 

 also been at least viewed from a distance, and described from the reports of the 

 natives. 



The routes followed by travellers have mainly been the watercourses, which 

 for the most part flow in a sufficiently deep and gentle current to be ascended in 

 boats a long way from their mouths. These highways were taken by von Martens, 

 and many others, who penetrated into the heart of the island from Pontianak ; by 

 Schwaner, who traversed nearly the whole of the Barito, Kahajan, and Kapuas 

 fluvial basins; by Karl Bock, who on the east side visited the "Land of Cannibals," 

 watered by the Kutei Piver. Land journeys have been relatively more frequent in 

 the northern parts, where the streams, being less developed, present fewer facilities 

 for reaching the hillj^ regions of the interior. The memorable excursions of A. R. 

 Wallace were made round about Sarawak, and since the British occupation of the 

 northern territory, the network of itineraries has been extended over the whole of 

 that domain. 



The Dutch, masters of all the rest of Indonesia, except the eastern half 

 of Timor, have not had time to establish their rule over the whole of Borneo. 

 They have, however, gradually reduced or annexed all the section Ij'ing south of 

 the equator, as well as about half of the northern districts. But possession of the 

 north-west and northern parts has been secured by the English, through various 

 treaties with the Sultan of Brunei, former suzerain of the whole of this region. 

 In 1846 the British Government obtained the absolute cession of the island of 

 Labuan, at the entrance of Brunei Bay, despite the protests of the Netherlands. 

 But the Sultan had already granted to James Brooke the principality of Sarawak, 

 comprising the southern part of his kingdom. In return for a yearly subsidy, this 

 soldier of fortune, commonlj^ known as Pajah Brooke, thus became master of an 

 extensive territory, which has since been gradually enlarged at the expense of the 

 sultan's domain. 



On the opposite side of Brunei the sultan has also yielded the northern part of 

 the island to a powerful British company, which has already obtained a royal 

 charter from the Crown of England. A part of this territory having also been 

 claimed by the sovereign of the Sulu archipelago, that potentate, like his Brunei 

 colleague, has been bought off by a pension. Thanks to this purchase of the land, 

 Spain, which had meantime become the suzerain of the Sulu prince, has henceforth 

 been excluded from all claim to the possession of any part of Borneo. Lastly, the 

 sultanate of Brunei itself depends for its very existence on the sufferance of 

 England, and it is now proposed to unite it to the other territories of the two 



