V. —The Tributes paid in former days to the Sultan 
OF BRUNEI BY THE THEN DEPENDENT PROVINCES OF 
Sarawak. —By E. Parnell, of the 
Sarawak Government Service. 
In former clays when the Sultans of Brunei ruled the 
greater part of Borneo a special department of the 
state was organised to control the collecting of tributes 
due from the subjects of the Sultanate. 
Feudal chiefs, who were given titles by the Sultan, 
were directly responsible to him for the payment of 
tribute due from the people of their respective provinces. 
Under these chiefs, tax-collectors of various degrees 
were responsible for the collections of tributes due. 
The appointment of chief collector carried with it 
the style Juatan, under whom came his assistants, the 
Jejenang 1 2 . This last was not used as a title denoting 
any rank or status but was merely the name by which 
the assistants were known. 
These men were empowered to collect taxes without 
any great amount of supervision, and consequently 
extortion became rife throughout the country. 
The system was probably something of this nature:— 
a feudatory chief was ordered to pay yearly, 600 
pasan 2 of padi to the Sultan ; the Juatan would demand 
700 pasau to be collected by his assistants, who in 
their turn would force the people to provide 800 pasau. 
By means of these extortions, while the collectors 
grew fat on their commissions, the unfortunate natives 
were ground down to a pitiable state of poverty; 
resulting eventually in discontent and in some cases 
armed refusal. 3 
It was in this state that Sir James Brooke found 
Sarawak on his arrival here in 1839. 
An interesting old document recently came to my 
hands giving an account of the various tributes 
received by the Sultan of Brunei from his feudatory 
chiefs in charge of the provinces, now known as 
Sarawak. 
1. - —Jejenang or Jenang , an assistant in an office. 
2. — Pasau. 1 pasau = 8 gantang. 1 gantang = 1 gallon. 
3. —For an interesting account of the oppression of the natives by their 
Brunei rulers see “A History of Sarawak under its two white Rajahs” Chapter 
XIII, p. 326—'372, 1309, by S. Baring-Gould and C. A. Bampfylde. 
