THE EASTERN Aitnni'O.A^u. 



137 



Native Territory in Borneo. 



Brunei, which p^ives its name U> the islim<l, is probably the oldest 

 ■ittid tJie niily surviving unlive Stale j-till enjuviiitf nbuduir. mitutinjiiy. 

 It is a Malay principality on the nurth'Weat coast, bounded east and 

 west by (lie British ^'tttemenl:-; uf Subah and Samw'ak, jujiI <4 retelling 

 from 100 to 15Q mile* inland, but with little authority beyond ihe 

 const. The native* are mostly Mi ihauiinedaiia, governed by a sultan, 

 wlm i» nominally absolute, and who until recent year* ruled over the 

 wlmh- north-west coart from Sarawak to beyond Marudu bay. On 

 I he etmt Hide his territory was limited by ihe district nmiut Cjipe 

 t'TiNin^', "ivt-r wlii » ■ 1 1 wiltun nf the Sulu Archipelago i-tattm-i] 

 jurisdiction. But thiw potentate i? himself now tt vassal of Spain, 

 white tin 1 1 tu mean purtimi nf territory iiu'nr[ ion tied in Brit Mi 

 >"nrth Burnett The last ntlttD of Brunei died in 1884, in bit* 

 hundredth year. 



The largest m<l only important town in /ifthtti la the capital of liko 

 name, which liea fourteen mile* un the nijfylbtt river LimbttPg Brunei, 

 <h-sr nihil I iy Sir .lame* Brooke a» **n Venice of btovdV tv.-is by the 



British in 184fl> button after re&torod ui»on the ce.-- : LU-;m. "I'll.- 



imputation, men? Maluvun thun tlmt nf other twist towns, was at that lime 

 fttntcil to lie IO,UOO, but bad fatten in 1SS5 to soini. 25,000. 



TllC State of Brunei but become wi ilui nl pirated, tliat Uh ruler might 

 probably be easily induced lu Hurrni'b-i hi- ruvii] iiirrnjjatLve.-i, :mu accept 

 tlm position of a peu&ioner staler the Knptish Crown. The whole of North 

 Borneo from Cape L>atu to julJ hn-mul Cape ruling might Ihen 1«? con- 

 veniently conanliihiteil inlu n MUjzU- l!mi.-h iNtvsewiuii, *-4L] ^lUIc of huh/finite 

 expansion under an enlightened adiuinifttration. Its petition fin the great 

 highway of troth between India mu3 f'hiru* could m>l fail 1-> M-curc n per- 

 manent market fur its abundant and varied natural resources. 



HlSTOIlK Al, Xotes. 



The grow th of European inlluenec ia Borneo hafi been less steady and 

 more intermittent than yt$M the cnne in the Straits or in Java, The island 

 ssm li: -L visit. ■■! by buiviDrn ih- ' l^iii. / in 1.1] 8, and by Hgftfetta with the 

 Mldns of Magellan "a expedition in I in Hi lunula it Brunei from the 



-oca-port an its nurth-weat coast, where they happened to touch, and this 

 tens* written by the Malays Brtini or Bwrnij assumed the f> no of ifomto 

 (TOOUgat Europeans, by whom it woa romnmnly ojijihed to the whole island 

 in the 1 7th e^ntury. f he Alternative Alalay ■■^iression, Tanah Ketaimmtati, 

 or "Mango Land, r may i»e.rliji|i«i be eaire&t especially in tlu' Dutch turn- 

 lory; bur lljii rwtive tribi-sjiave hevi-r h:nl :;|iy n. r.-.j ii.iIjh- f-T llic 

 whole btnnd. 



Uommerciol relations wen; uooii forna'd with the unlives by thu rortu- 

 acme, at first in Brunei itself, atul then in the other nuiritimaSute*. In 

 lruZ tlie Spaniards, reeeully tfltablishecl in Manilla, endeavoured loo]«n a 

 connection with Brunei, whose snltan had nought their aid, and woh rein- 

 Btated by them in 1SS0. Bill neither Spain nor ruttugal ever exerted 



