SOMETHING ABOUT BORNEO AND ITS PEOPLE
"I don't think we know much of anything about Borneo," said Scott, as
the Blanchita continued on her course up the Sarawak, after the dinner
of roast pork.
"We all heard the lecture of Professor Giroud on board the ship,"
replied Louis.
"I should like to hear it over again, now that we are on the ground,"
added the captain.
"Sure, we're not on the ground, but on the wather," suggested Felix.
As the reader did not hear the lecture, or see it in print, it becomes
necessary to repeat it for the benefit of "whom it may concern." The
professor, after being duly presented to his audience in Conference
Hall, proceeded as follows:--
"Australia is undoubtedly the largest island in the world, and some
geographers class it with the continents; but Chambers makes Borneo the
third in size, while most authorities rate it as the second, making
Papua, or New Guinea, the second in extent. Lippincott says Papua
disputes with Borneo the claim to the second place among the great
islands of the world; and I do not propose to settle the question.
Chambers gives the area of Borneo at 284,000 square miles, the
population in the neighborhood of 200,000, and the dimensions as 800 by
700 miles.
"It has a coast-line of about 3,000 miles, nearly the whole of which is
low and marshy land. A large portion of the island is mountainous, as
you may see by looking at the map before you;" and the professor
indicated the several ranges with the pointer. "One chain extends nearly
the whole length of the island, dividing in the middle of it into two
branches, both of which almost reach the sea on the south. Near the
centre of the island are two cross ranges, one extending to the east,
and the other to the south-west. It would be useless to mention the
Malay names of these ranges, for you could not remember them over night.
The general idea I have given you is quite enough to retain.
"The interior of Borneo is but little known; and when Mr. Gaskette makes
another map of the island twenty or thirty years hence, it will probably
differ considerably from the one before you. In the extreme north is the
peak of Kini Balu, the height of which is set down at 13,698 feet, with
an interrogation point after it. Other mountains are estimated to be
from 4,000 to 8,000 feet high. There are no active volcanoes.
"In the low lands on the coast, it is hot, damp, and unhealthy for those
who are not acclimated; but in the high lands among the mountains, the
temperature is moderate, from 81° to 91° at noon, and it is sometimes
worse than that in New York. From November to May, which is the rainy
season, violent storms of wind with thunder-showers prevail on the west
coast. In hot weather the sea-breezes extend a considerable distance
inland. Vegetation is remarkably luxuriant, as our young hunters will
find in their explorations. The forests produce all the woods of the
Indian Archipelago, of which you know the names by this time. Bruneï, on
the north-west coast, produces the best camphor in Asia, which is about
the same as saying in the world."
"What is camphor, Professor?" asked Mrs. Belgrave. "I have used it all
my life, but I have not the least idea what it is."
"Camphor is an oil found in certain plants, mostly from the camphor
laurel. This oil is separated from the plant, and then undergoes the
process of refining. It is mixed with water, and then boiled in a sort
of retort. It makes steam, which is allowed to escape through a small
aperture, which is then closed, and the camphor becomes solid in the
upper part of the vessel. This is the article which is sent to market.
"All the spices and fruits of the Torrid Zone are produced in Borneo,
with cotton and sugar-cane in certain parts. The animals of the island
are about the same as in other parts of the Archipelago. The monkey
tribe is the most abundant, including the simia, the gibbon, the
orang-outang, found in no other island, except very rarely in Sumatra,
where our hunters did not find even one; tapirs"--
"What are they?" asked Uncle Moses.
"They are a sort of cross between an elephant and a hog. They are found
all over South American tropical regions and in this part of Asia. The
animal is more like a hog than like an elephant, though it has the same
kind of a skin as the latter. It is about the size of the average
donkey. It has a snout which is prehensile, like the trunk of an
elephant, but on a very small scale.
"What does that mean?" asked Mrs. Blossom.
"Capable of taking hold of anything, as the elephant does with his
proboscis. The tapir is one of the gentler animals, and may be easily
tamed; though it will fight and bite hard when attacked, or harried by
dogs. They take to the water readily, though the American swims, while
the Asiatic only walk on the bottom. One book I consulted calls the
tapir a kind of tiger, to which he bears hardly any resemblance.
"The other animals are small Malay bears, wild swine, horned cattle, and
puny deer. The elephant and rhinoceros are found, few in number, in the
north. The birds are the eagle, vulture, argus-pheasant,--a singular and
beautiful bird,--peacocks, flamingoes, and swifts."
"What in the world are swifts?" inquired Mrs. Woolridge.
"They are a kind of swallow, of which you may have seen some as we came
down from Rangoon. They make the edible birds'-nests which are so great
a delicacy among the Chinese when made into soup. The rivers, lakes,
and swamps swarm with crocodiles, the real man-eaters. Leeches are a
nuisance when you bathe in the rivers and ponds, and various kinds of
snakes abound. There are plenty of fish in the sea, lakes, and rivers.
Diamonds, gold, coal, copper, are mined in the island.
"All of New England and the Middle States, with Maryland, could be set
down in Borneo, still leaving a considerable border of swamp and jungle
all around them. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland could
be slapped down upon it like a flapjack, and there would still be more
than space for another United Kingdom, without covering up all the mud
of Borneo. We do not see how big it is when we look on the map.
"The larger portion of the island is included in the Dutch possessions.
Banjermassin, of which something was said as we passed the mouth of the
Barito River, on which it is located, contains 30,000 inhabitants, and
is the most important in the island. Borneo proper is in the north-west,
and is under the government of the Sultan of Bruneï. He lost nearly
one-half of his territory, taken by the North Borneo Company, and that
in the west, which is now Sarawak, of which I shall have something more
to say later. The island of Labuan lies six miles west of the northern
portion of Bruneï. It was ceded to the English by the sultan, and is
principally valuable as a coaling-station, though it has a considerable
trade.
"Sabah is the country of the North Borneo Company. An American obtained
the right to this territory in 1865, and transferred it to the present
company. It has an area somewhat larger than the State of Maine. No
doubt they will develop and improve the country.
"Sarawak has a territory nearly as large as that of the State of
Pennsylvania, and larger than the State of Ohio. Its history is involved
in the life of Sir James Brooke, who was originally created the rajah,
or governor of the country, by the Sultan of Bruneï, and retained the
title till his death in 1868. He was born in Benares in 1803, and
educated at Norwich, England. In 1819 he entered the East Indian army,
and was severely wounded in the Burmese war. He returned to England; and
his furlough lapsed before he could rejoin his regiment, and with it his
appointment. He left the service. He next conceived a plan for putting
down piracy in the Indian Archipelago, and of civilizing the savage
inhabitants of these islands, a grand and noble scheme to be carried out
by a single individual on his own responsibility.
"He bought a small vessel, and made a voyage to China, probably with the
intention of improving his finances for the work he had in view. In 1835
he inherited $150,000 at the death of his father. After a cruise in the
Mediterranean, he sailed in a schooner-yacht from London for Sarawak,
where he arrived in 1839. The uncle of the sultan was engaged in a war
with some tribes of rebels, and Brooke rendered him important
assistance. He returned to Kuching with the title of rajah, his
predecessor, a native, having been compelled to resign.
"The new governor immediately went to work very vigorously to establish
a better government, introducing free trade, and framing a new code of
laws. At this time the atrocious custom of head-hunting prevailed in the
island. Enemies killed in battle were decapitated simply for the sake of
the head, and the Dyak who obtained the greatest number of them was
esteemed the most valiant warrior.
"A Dyak girl would not accept the addresses of a young man who had not
obtained a head, in the earlier time; and murders were often committed
for the sole purpose of obtaining the head of the victim, either to
conciliate some dusky maiden, or as a trophy for the head-house, of
which there is one in every village. The heads were 'cooked,' as they
called it, though the operation was merely drying and cleaning the
skull. Rajah Brooke made the penalty of this kind of murder death,
without regard to the customs and antecedents of the natives; and he
soon abolished head-hunting in his dominion.
"The sultan, either directly or by 'winking at it,' encouraged piracy;
and the crime was as common as in the vicinity of the Malay states fifty
years ago. Sir James Brooke resolutely attacked the pirates, and with
the means at his command soon vanquished and drove them from the sea and
the land. The Dyaks, in spite of their head-hunting propensities, were
rather a simple people; while the Malays of the island were cunning,
dishonest, treacherous, and cruel. The simple Dyaks were no match for
them, and were cheated and abused in every possible way. There was no
such thing as justice in the land. The new rajah corrected all these
abuses.
"Having established his government on the basis of right and justice to
all, Brooke went to England in 1847. He was invited to Windsor by the
Queen, and created a K. C. B. (Knight Commander of the Bath), a
distinguished honor in Great Britain. The next year he was made governor
of Labuan. He was charged in the House of Commons with receiving
head-money for pirates killed; but the charge was disproved.
"Brooke continued to hold his position as Rajah of Sarawak while at
Labuan; but in 1857 he was superseded at the latter, and returned to his
government. The Chinese, of whom there are a great many in Borneo,
became incensed against him because he prevented the smuggling of opium
into his territory. A large body of them attacked his house in the
night, and destroyed a great amount of his property.
"But the rajah was not a man to submit quietly to such an outrage. He
immediately collected a force of Dyaks and Malays, and attacked the
Celestials. He razed a fort they had constructed, and thoroughly
defeated them in several successive battles. He was very prompt and
decided in action, and to see an abuse was to remedy it without
unnecessary delay. He established and maintained a model government, and
the country prospered greatly under his mild but decisive rule.
"He found a town with 1,000 inhabitants, and left it with 25,000. He
died in 1868, and was succeeded by his nephew, Sir C. T. Brooke, who
extended his territory, and ten years ago placed it under the protection
of the United Kingdom. This is the history of a noble man and a model
colony."
"But what are Dyaks, Professor?" inquired Mrs. Belgrave.
"They are natives of Borneo, though all the people are not known by this
name. They are divided into Hill Dyaks and Sea Dyaks. At the present
time they are a high-toned class of savages; for they do not steal or
rob, and they have many social virtues which might be copied by the
people of enlightened nations. Head-hunting and piracy are known among
them no more. They are the farmers and producers of the island. There is
much that is very interesting about them. They build peculiar houses,
some of them occupied by a dozen or more families, though they always
live in peace, and do not quarrel with their neighbors. The young women
select their own husbands, and a head is no longer necessary to open the
way to an engagement.
"If any of the party wish to learn more of the Dyaks, their manners and
customs, present and past, you will find a work in two volumes, by the
Rev. J. G. Wood, entitled, 'The Uncivilized Races of Men;' and you will
find that the author often quotes from Rajah Brooke."