SKETCH ÓF BORNÊO. 13 



Jiong to the river Tawaw the country is brokea 

 by creeks and riverJ into numerous inlets. 



Tirun or Tedong is the common name of a 

 large district on the East of Borneo, which has 

 never been much frequented bj European ship* 

 ping. The coast of Tirun is in general a low 

 «wamp overgrown with Mangroves, inhabited 

 by a savage people addicted to piracy, and nam- 

 ed Orang Tedong or Tirun who have never era- 

 braeed the religion of Islam. They are proba- 

 bly like the Idaan^ a tribe of Dayak. Dalryra- 

 ple observes in his Oriënt. Repert. vol. I^ page 

 552, that the Tirun and Idaan languages are 

 equally foreign to the Sulu, and each other. 

 The matter, however, has never been properly 

 investigated. The mountains of the Idaan are 

 at a great distance towards the interior. The 

 Tirun country produces a much greater quanti- 

 iy of bird's-nests than all other regions of the 

 East. The whole country is covered v^ith sago 

 trees, which afford the chief subsistance of the 

 inhabitants. The rivers are numerous, large 

 and navigable. Bef?ides sago and bird's-nests, 

 the chief products of the country are gold, 

 wax, honey, canes, rattans, mafts, seaslugand 

 a species of gulega and bezoar. Some say it 



