BRUNEI. 



143 



Like most places on the coast, Brunei, the Sultan's residence, is an amphibious 

 town, but presents a more singular aspect even than Pontianak or Banjermassin. 

 The picturesque Malay structures are not here mingled with flat European houses. 

 The stream, at this point considerably over a mile wide, is lined by long avenues 

 of inhabited boats, while the neighbouring bay is crowded with Chinese junks and 

 praus from Mindanao. After two years of navigation amid the oceanic wastes, the 



Fig. 54. — Beunei. 



Scale 1 : 35,000. 





\\A-°55 



Sands exposed 

 at low water. 



Depths. 



to32 

 Feet. 



32 Feet and 

 upwards. 



.1,100 Yards. 



companions of Magellan were surprised at the spectacle presented b}^ this great city, 

 which, according to Pigafetta, at that time contained " twenty-five thousand 

 hearths." The present inhabitants, reduced to about ten thousand, are described 

 as mild and timid, impoverished, crushed by heavy imposts, all slaves of the 

 Sultan. Their chief industry is the manufacture of arms and copperware. The 

 neighbouring Kadyan and Murut tribes have already been partly converted to 

 Islam. 



