OF BORNEO PROPER. 525 
or five of which come annually from Amoy, of five or six hundred 
tons burden. The water is salt, and the tide runs about four miles 
an hour in the springs. Some of the houses on the right side of 
the water are two stones high, which 1 never saw in any other Ma¬ 
lay country, with stages or wharfs before them, for the convenience 
of trade. At Passir, on the opposite side of this island, the houses 
front the river; some have stages or wharfs in front; but there are 
no water lanes as here at Borneo. At Passir, the river is fresh, 
and often rapid; at Borneo, the river is salt, and seldom rapid. 
“ In those divisions of the town made by the water lanes, is nei¬ 
ther firm land nor island; the houses standing on posts, as lias been 
said, in shallow water; and the public market is kept sometimes in 
one part, sometimes in another part of the river. Imagine a fleet 
of London wherries, loaded with fish, fowl, greens, &c., floating up 
with the tide, from London Bridge towards Westminster, then down 
again, with many buyers floating up and down with them; this will 
give some idea of a Borneo market. These boats do not always 
drive with the tide but sometimes hold by the stairs of houses, or 
by stakes, driven purposely into the river, and sometimes by one ano¬ 
ther: yet in the course of a forenoon, they visit most part of the 
town, where the water lanes are broad. The boat people (mostly 
women) are provided with large bamboo hats, the shade of which 
covers great part of the body, as they draw themselves up under it, 
and sit, as it were, upon their heels.” * 
Productions and Trade of Borneo Proper in former times .— 
The commodities for which Brune was noted and sought in early 
times were the same which supply its export trade at this day. Ma¬ 
gellan’s companions mention its camphor, Sir Thomas Herbert its 
“ gold, diamonds, bezoar, lignum, aloes, musk, eivit, benjamin, am¬ 
ber, dragons blood, wax, rice, and rattans.” Valentyn gives the 
following list of its products,! 
Gold (in abundance.) 
* Voyage to New Guinea p. 380. 
f Yol. III. p. 237. 
