xvn] DECAY OF THE CITY 



rights in Sarawak to Sir James Brooke, and who was assassinated by 

 instigation of the reigning Sultan. 



The Malay character, at all events of the aristocratic portion of 

 the population, was well exemplified in this personage. Intriguing, 

 insinuating, and astute, with a mysterious air of self-importance, and 

 employing a curiously figurative language, he endeavoured to make 

 us understand that he was at the head of a popular party who desired 

 European rule. He asserted that his influence over his fellow-citizens 

 was great, and tried to make us believe that the people were tired 

 of the government of the Sultan, and of the pretences of the Panger- 

 angs. Perhaps all he said was true, for the Bruni people could only 

 gain by a change of government. The city showed evident signs 

 of decay, whilst the prosperity of Sarawak and the security all en- 

 joyed there had proved to the people of Bruni that it was far better 

 to be governed by Europeans than by one of their native princes. 



There must, undoubtedly, have been a time when all the north- 

 east of Borneo was a dependency of China. According to Mr. St. 

 John, 1 a tradition still lingers at Bruni that North Borneo once be- 

 longed to China, and that on the Limbang a Chinese fort once existed. 

 It is well known that at one time a number of Chinese cultivated 

 pepper at Bruni, and on the Limbang river, where people are still 

 living who remember their plantations extending to the Madidit. A 

 story is also told of an Orang Kaya of the Murut who was a direct 

 descendant of a Chinaman from Amoy. Many of the descendants 

 of these old Chinese pepper planters are not now to be distinguished 

 from the natives, having adopted their dress and habits. Some of 

 them, now indistinguishably blended with the Muruts, are, accord- 

 ing to St. John, to be found up to 150 miles inland on the Limbang 

 river, and the same author states that some of the people about 

 Kina Balu are very like Chinese. It appears certain that in the past 

 the connexions of North Borneo with China, and also with Cochin- 

 china, were extensive. But who can say how long such connexions 

 had been in existence ? Could the question only be answered we 

 might get some light on the origin of the present population 

 of Borneo. Nowadays the Chinese in Bruni occupy a separate 

 quarter of the town, with shops well provided with the necessities 

 of life, but quite devoid of the products of local industries and 

 manufactures. 



We weighed anchor in the afternoon, and with the tide in our 

 favour descended the river ; but when we got to its mouth the water 

 was so low that we ran aground in hardly a fathom, and were obliged 

 to remain within the bar until the next high tide. Whilst in this 

 condition we were approached by several fishing boats, whose crews 

 offered us a singular bivalve, which is eaten like an oyster. It is the 



1 Op. cit. ii. p. 313. 

 253 



