ii] THE MALAYS OF BORNEO AND THEIR ORIGIN 



St. John, who tells us that when the town of Kuching was located 

 nearer the sea at Santubong, it was attacked by a fleet of Pegu 

 pirates, who carried off all the women, the majority of the men 

 being absent on an expedition. 1 But the latter returned in time 

 to pursue the ravishers, and their swift boats quickly overtook the 

 heavy prahus of the Peguans, who were soon defeated and cap- 

 tured. Thus the Malays not only recovered their women, but 

 carried back to Sarawak as slaves the Pegu pirates, with the excep- 

 tion of the chiefs, who were slain. In Sarawak there is still 

 a tradition that some of the Malays of Samarahan, and also 

 of Kuching, are descendants of these Peguans. 



It is also undeniable that a certain proportion of the Malays 

 of Sarawak and other parts of Borneo came originally from 

 Sumatra, and from the Malay Peninsula. But the Malays of 

 Malacca, who are considered typical and of pure descent, must 

 undoubtedly have been influenced by the geographical position 

 of the peninsula, along which the people of India, Burma, Siam, 

 and Cochinchina would naturally pass on their way to the islands 

 of the Indian Archipelago. 



Sarawak, before being ceded to Sir James Brooke by Rajah 

 Muda Hassim, was one of the principal provinces of the kingdom 

 of Bruni. Thus besides the Arab Sareibs, who, under the 

 cloak of religious hypocrisy, managed to domineer the native 

 population, there were the nobles, or " Pangerangs," of Bruni, 

 who emulated the Sareibs in fleecing the Land-Dyaks and in 

 carrying off their women. 



It appears that the Pangerangs of Bruni are the descendants 

 of Mussulman chieftains who came originally from Malacca, and 

 settled at Bruni with the spread of Islamism. But it is believed 

 that the kingdom of Bruni was originally founded by Chinese, 

 and it is asserted that in its capital at the end of the eighteenth 

 century there were no less than 30,000 Chinamen, mostly pepper 

 planters. At present the true Chinese at Bruni are few ; but it 

 cannot be doubted that the native population there must have 

 been ethnologically modified by so large an immigration from 

 China. St. John (Oft. cit. I., p. 290) further asserts that in North 

 Borneo many natives of the Philippine Islands are to be seen ; 

 they were originally captured by the Lanuns and Balignini, sold 

 as slaves, and eventually married native women. Moreover, 

 in the case of a very large island like Borneo, with its 

 peculiar geographical position, it is not enough to take into 

 consideration events which have happened in recent and historical 

 periods, but possible immigrations in remote times must not be 

 overlooked. However, even allowing only for what we know 

 has taken place during the last four or five centuries, one cannot 



1 St. John. Life in the Forests of the Far East,I.,~p. 126. London, 1862. 



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