3/0 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ON THE ISLAND OF BORNEO. 
of its rivers navigable far into the interior ; the richness of its pro¬ 
ducts and the fertility of its soil; the treasures hidden in the bosom 
of the earth ; its climate, which is said to be salubrious; its advan¬ 
tageous position for commerce in the seas of China and Japan ; its 
immense size, combined with its scanty population, which adapts it 
for colonization ; but more than all these material advantages, the 
interest which ought to be aroused in us by the people of the inte¬ 
rior, bent under the yoke of Malays, whose miserable lot causes hu¬ 
manity to lament, and for whom philanthropy claims the interven¬ 
tion of civilized nations ; all these considerations are so many motives 
for engaging the Netherlands government to put their hands prompt¬ 
ly to the work, in according effectual protection to these oppressed 
Dayaks, whom in the nineteenth century we behold still plunged in 
all the ignorance, which is the companion of misery, as well as di¬ 
vested of alljhose spiritual aids of which savage people partake. If it 
is true that we ought to pardon the government of the old Company 
for not having taken more salutary measures, during nearly two 
centuries when it exercised power in the Archipelago, for secur¬ 
ing the well being of the aboriginal population of Borneo, it is 
equally manifest that such a feeble consideration will not at this day 
serve to excuse us, if we neglect any longer to fulfil the duty which 
humanity appears to demand from us ; for the masters of the flourish¬ 
ing metropolis of the Archipelago cannot now admit of any delay 
which would remit to a future period the accomplishment of this 
work, in which the national honour is intimately concerned. The 
sympathy in the opinions manifested on this subject by the different 
parties in the European metropolis, joined to the interest which at 
the present day the whole nation attaches to our beautiful inter tro¬ 
pical possessions, are powerful motives to engage the authorities of 
India to take the most efficaceous measures in order that the Dayaks 
should be speedily able to enjoy the benefits of civilization ; and at 
the same time, let us say, these measures are equally necessary for 
maintaining the incontestible rights of Netherlands over the island 
of Borneo. In the midst of the general movement of commercial 
nations, as well as that which manifests itself in the Indian Archipc* 
