INHABITANTS OF BOENEO. 137 



yield ample both for tlieir own wants and for a considerable export trade ; celi- 

 bacy is unknown, all marrying in the prime of life ; yet their villages still remain 

 scattered in small groups over A^ast spaces. This arrest of growth must be 

 attributed partly to destructive epidemics, partly to the slight fecundit}- of the 

 women. The families average not more than from two to four, which, according 

 to Wallace, is due to the life of hardships to which the women are condemned. 

 Although otherwise highly respected by their husbands, all the hard work falls 

 to their lot, and they thus become exhausted and prematurely aged. The 

 consequence is that in the whole of Borneo the full-blooded Dayaks are estimated 

 at not more than about a million altogether. 



The Mohammedan Malays, who are disseminating the tenets of Islam amongst 

 the aborigines, are nearly all settled on the seaboard and along the banks of the 

 rivers. Attracted by the profits of trade, they advance slowly from market to 

 market towards the hilly regions of the interior, gradually transforming and 

 assimilating the Dayaks by crossings and the influence of their higher culture. 

 Although numerically inferior, they have already acquired the predominance, and 

 every day adds to their ascendency. The Moslem element is also augmented by 

 Bugis and Bajaus fronl Celebes, by Javanese, lUanos from the Philippines, and a 

 few Arabs. But more numerous than all together are the Chinese, who are settled 

 chiefly in the seaports, and who even enjoy a monopoly of several industries, 

 including that of gold-mining. The Europeans had scarcely established their 

 permanent factories in Borneo when the Chinese made their appearance, and soon 

 developed considerable settlements. From them the Dutch met with the most 

 active resistance during their gradual conquest of the southern provinces. 



Of pure Chinese there are over thirty thousand, but with the half-castes they 

 may be estimated at about two hundred thousand, the great majority of whom, 

 have been settled in the island and intermingled with the Malays for several 

 generations. The Dutch and English do not number more than a few hundred 

 altogether ; but they hold the political power, in consequence of which thousands 

 of the natives have begun to speak their languages and adopt their usages. 



Dutch Borneo. 



On the east coast Pontianak was the first town visited by its present masters, 

 and it still continues to be the capital and commercial centre of the country. In 

 1856 it was ceded by the local sultan to the Dutch, by whom it has been made a 

 free port. The wooden houses of Pontianak are disposed in two groups on either 

 side of the Kapuas River, at the confluence of the Landak, about 10 miles from 

 the coast. Some Hindu ruins, temples and statues, are seen here and there in the 

 surrounding- forests. 



North of Pontianak, in the petty states subject to the Dutch about the Sarawak 

 frontier, the Chinese element preponderates. Attracted to Sambas and Montrado 

 by the rich gold and platinum mines, to Landak by its diamond fields, and now to 

 the banks of the Kapuas by its coal deposits, they have gradually driven back the 



