368 general considerations on THE ISLAND OP BORNEO. 
flatter ourselves that these measures will have the immediate effect 
of repressing 1 piracy, and annihilating it completely, if that be possi¬ 
ble, but above all, of lending a succouring hand to the indigenous 
population, whom it is our duty as well as our interest to withdraw 
from the domination of the Malay despdts. 
Thirty years have hardly elapsed since the time when our Go¬ 
vernment regained possession of our ancient factories ; Borneo was 
then a land almost unknown to Europe. Sir Stamford Raffles even 
describes it in his writings, as forming a blank space on tli& map of 
the world ! Now, this large portion of the globe is no longer indi¬ 
cated by some doubtful lines traced on paper, but this great land, of 
which the superficies is 12,743 geographical leagues, begins to occu¬ 
py an important place in the annals of geography and ethnography. 
Some parts, but recently totally unknown, have been explored by 
our naturalists ; their journies have also been distinguished by the 
acquisition of a knowledge of the courses of some rivers, the naviga¬ 
tion of which will offer new routes for developing the commerce of 
the eastern side with the parts of the interior. The superior officers 
of the army of India have been commissioned to ascend the princi¬ 
pal rivers which have their embouchures on the east and west, and 
to regenerate these two coasts. Diplomatic missions have been sent 
to renew the former treaties with the allied Sultans, and new con¬ 
tracts made with many Malay princes of the eastern coast will con¬ 
solidate our power, while at the same time they are intended to 
protect the natives, and to repress piracy in the seas between Borneo 
and Celebes. But these are only preparatory Measures for the at¬ 
tainment of the ends which ought to be proposed. The future pro¬ 
mises to government much more important results, if ever so little 
it will continue to consecrate some of the annual surplus which Java 
pours into the treasury to extend its influence in the interior of Bor¬ 
neo, For this end, let it spare no means for acquiring precise 
notions respecting the physical constitution of these countries, and set 
it as a task before it to penetrate more and more to the centre of the 
country, seeking before all exact knowledge ; when it shall have 
made its influence be appreciated in the midst of the indigenous po« 
