20 BRITISH BORNEO. 
blow from which at any rate that of Borneo is only now re- 
covering. By the terms of its Charter, the British@ anes 
Borneo Company is prohibited from creating trade monopolies, 
and of its own accord it has decided not to engage itself in 
trading transactions at all, and as Raja BROOKE’S Govern- 
ment is similar to that of a British Crown Colony, and the 
Dutch Government no longer encourage monopolies, there is 
good ground for believing that the wrong done is being 
righted, and that a brighter page than ever is now being 
opened for Borneo and its natives. | 
Before finishing with this part of the subject, I may men- 
tion that the United States Government had entered into a 
treaty with the Sultan of Brunai, in almost exactly the same 
words as the English one, including the clause prohibiting 
cessions of territory without the consent of the other party to 
the treaty, and, in 1878, Commodore SCHUFELDT was ordered 
by his Government to visit Borneo and report on the cessions 
obtained by Mr. DENT. I was Acting British Consul-General 
at the time, and before leaving the Commodore informed me 
emphatically that he could discover no American interests in 
Borneo, ‘‘ neither white nor black.” 
The native population of Borneo Is given in books of refer- 
ence as between 1,750,000 and 2,500,000. ‘The aborigines 
are of the Malay race, which itself is a variety of the Mongo- 
lian and indeed, when inspecting prisoners, I have often been 
puzzled to distinguish the Chinese from the Malay, they being 
dressed alike and the distinctive pzg-tai/ having been shaved 
off the former as part of the prison discipline. 
These Mongolian Malays from High Asia, who presumably 
migrated to the Archipelago vz@ the Malay Peninsula and 
Sumatra, must, however, have found Borneo and other of 
the islands partially occupied by a Caucasic race, as amongst 
the aborigines are still found individuals of distinctive Cau- 
casic type, as has been pointed out to be the case with the 
Buludupih tribe of British North Borneo, by Dr. MONTANO, 
whem | had the pleasure of meeting in Borneo in 1878-9. To 
these the name of pre-Malays has been given, but Professor 
KEANE, to whom I beg to acknowledge my indebtedness on 
