BRITISH BORNEO. 43 
1334lbs), or catties (a catty—14lbs) of brass gun. The brass 
for the guns is chiefly furnished by the Chinese cash, which 
is current in the town. 
In former days, in addition to brass guns, pieces of grey 
shirting (delachu; and of Nankin (ain asap) and small bits 
of iron were legal tender, and [ have seen a specimen of a 
Brunei copper coinage one Sultan tried to introduce, but it 
was found to be so easily imitated by his subjects that it was 
withdrawn from circulation. At the present day silver dollars, 
Straits Settlements small silver pieces, and the copper coin- 
age of Singapore, Sarawak and British North Borneo all pass 
current, the copper, however, unfortunately predominating. 
Recently the Sultan obtained $10,000 of a copper coin of his 
own from Birmingham, but the traders and the Governments 
of Singapore and Labuan appear to have discountenanced its 
use, and he probably will not try a second shipment. 
The profit on the circulation of copper coinage, which is 
only a token, is of course considerable, and the British North 
Borneo Company obtained a substantial addition to its reve- 
nue from the large amount of its coin circulated in Brunai. 
When the Sultan first mooted the idea of obtaining his own 
coin from England, one of the Company’s officers expostulated 
feelingly with him, and I was told by an onlooker that the con- 
trast of the expressions of the countenances of the immobile 
Malay and of the mobile European was most amusing. All 
that the Sultan replied to the objections of the officer was “ It 
does not signify, Sir, my coin can circulate in your country 
and yours can circulate in mine,’ knowing well all the time 
the profit the Company was making. 
The inhabitants of the city of Brunai are very lightly taxed, 
and there is no direct taxation. As above explained, there 
is no land tax, nor ground rent, and every man builds his own 
house and is his own landlord. The right of retailing the 
following articles is “farmed’’ out to the highest bidder by 
the Government, and their price consequently enhanced 
to the consumer :—Opium (but only a few of the nobles use 
the drug), foreign tobacco, curry stuff, wines and spirits (not 
used by the natives), salt, gambier (used for chewing with the 
