The headquarters of the true Malay in Northern Borneo is the City of
Brunai, on the river of that name, on the North-West Coast of the
island, where resides the Court of the only nominally independent Sultan
now remaining in the Archipelago.[4]
The Brunai river is probably the former mouth of the Limbang, and is now
more a salt water inlet than a river. Contrary, perhaps, to the general
idea, an ordinary eastern river, at any rate until the limit of
navigability for European craft is attained, is not, as a rule, a thing
of beauty by any means.
The typical Malay river debouches through flat, fever-haunted swampy
country, where, for miles, nothing meets the eye but the monotonous dark
green of the level, interminable mangrove forest, with its fantastic,
interlacing roots, whose function it appears to be to extend seaward,
year by year, its dismal kingdom of black fetid mud, and to veil from
the rude eye of the intruder the tropical charms of the country at its
back. After some miles of this cheerless scenery, and at a point where
the fresh water begins to mingle with the salt, the handsome and useful
_nipa_ palm, with leaves twenty to thirty feet in length, which supply
the native with the material for the walls and roof of his house, the
wrapper for his cigarette, the sugar for his breakfast table, the salt
for his daily needs and the strong drink to gladden his heart on his
feast days, becomes intermixed with the mangrove and finally takes its
place--a pleasing change, but still monotonous, as it is so dense that,
itself growing in the water, it quite shuts out all view of the bank and
surrounding country.
One of the first signs of the fresh river water, is the occurrence on
the bank of the graceful _nibong_ palm, with its straight, slender,
round stem, twenty to thirty feet in height, surmounted with a plume of
green leaves. This palm, cut into lengths and requiring no further
preparation, is universally employed by the Malay for the posts and
beams of his house, always raised several feet above the level of the
ground, or of the water, as the case may be, and, split up into lathes
of the requisite size, forms the frame-work of the walls and roof, and
constitutes the flooring throughout. With the pithy centre removed, the
_nibong_ forms an efficient aqueduct, in the absence of bambu, and its
young, growing shoot affords a cabbage, or salad, second only to that
furnished by the coco-nut, which will next come into view, together with
the betel (_Areca_) nut palm, if the river visited is an inhabited one;
but if uninhabited, the traveller will find nothing but thick, almost
impenetrable jungle, with mighty trees shooting up one hundred to a
hundred and fifty feet without a branch, in their endeavour to get their
share of the sun-light, and supporting on their trunks and branches
enormous creepers, rattans, graceful ferns and lovely orchids and other
luxuriant epiphytal growths. Such is the typical North Borneo river, to
which, however, the Brunai is a solitary exception. The mouth of the
Brunai river is approached between pretty verdant islets, and after
passing through a narrow and tortuous passage, formed naturally by
sandbanks and artificially by a barrier of stones, bare at low water,
laid down in former days to keep out the restless European, you find
your vessel, which to cross the bar should not draw more than thirteen
or fourteen feet, in deep water between green, grassy, hilly,
picturesque banks, with scarcely a sign of the abominable mangrove, or
even of the _nipa_, which, however, to specially mark the contrast
formed by this stream, are both to be found in abundance in the _upper_
portion of the river, which the steamer cannot enter. After passing a
small village or two, the first object which used to attract attention
was the brick ruins of a Roman Catholic Church, which had been erected
here by the late Father CUARTERON, a Spanish Missionary of the Society
of the Propaganda Fide, who, originally a jovial sea captain, had the
good fortune to light upon a wrecked treasure ship in the Eastern seas,
and, feeling presumably unwonted twinges of conscience, decided to
devote the greater part of his wealth to the Church, in which he took
orders, eventually attaining the rank of Prefect Apostolic. His Mission,
unfortunately, was a complete failure, but though his assistants were
withdrawn, he stuck to his post to the last and, no doubt, did a certain
amount of good in liberating, from time to time, Spanish subjects he
found in slavery on the Borneo Coast.
Had the poor fellow settled in the interior, amongst the Pagans, he
might, by his patience and the example of his good life, have made some
converts, but amongst the Mahomedans of the coast it was labour in vain.
The bricks of his Brunai Church have since been sold to form the
foundation of a steam sawmill.
Turning a sharp corner, the British Consulate is reached, where
presides, and flies with pride the Union Jack, Her Majesty's Consular
Agent, Mr. or Inche MAHOMET, with his three wives and thirteen children.
He is a native of Malacca and a clever, zealous, courteous and
hospitable official, well versed in the political history of Brunai
since the advent of Sir JAMES BROOKE.
The British is the only Consulate now established at Brunai, but once
the stars and stripes proudly waved over the Consulate of an unpaid
American Consul. There was little scope at Brunai for a white man in
pursuit of the fleeting dollar, and one day the Consulate was burnt to
the ground, and a heavy claim for compensation for this alleged act of
incendiarism was sent in to the Sultan. His Highness disputed the claim,
and an American man-of-war was despatched to make enquiries on the spot.
In the end, the compensation claimed was not enforced, and Mr. MOSES,
the Consul, was not subsequently, I think, appointed to any other
diplomatic or consular post by the President of the Republic. A little
further on are the palaces, shops and houses of the city of Brunai, all,
with the exception of a few brick shops belonging to Chinamen, built
over the water in a reach where the river broadens out, and a vessel can
steam up the High Street and anchor abreast of the Royal Palace. When
PIGAFETTA visited the port in 1521, he estimated the number of houses at
25,000, which, at the low average of six to a house, would give Brunai a
population of 150,000 people, many of whom were Chinese, cultivating
pepper gardens, traces of which can still be seen on the now deserted
hills. Sir SPENCER ST. JOHN, formerly H. B. M. Consul-General in Borneo,
and who put the population at 25,000 at the lowest in 1863, asserts that
fifteen is a fair average to assign to a Brunai house, which would make
the population in PIGAFETTA'S time 375,000. From his enquiries he found
that the highest number was seventy, in the Sultan's palace, and the
lowest seven, in a fisherman's small hut. PIGAFETTA, however, probably
alluded to families, _fires_ I think is the word he makes use of, and
more than one family is often found occupying a Brunai house. The
present population perhaps does not number more than 12,000 or 15,000
natives, and about eighty Chinese and a few Kling shop-keepers, as
natives of India are here styled. Writing in 1845, Sir JAMES BROOKE,
then the Queen's first Commissioner to Brunai, says with reference to
this Sultanate:--"Here the experiment may be fairly tried, on the
smallest possible scale of expense, whether a beneficial European
influence may not re-animate a falling State and at the same time
extend our commerce. * * * If this tendency to decay and extinction
be inevitable, if this approximation of European policy to native
Government should be unable to arrest the fall of the Bornean dynasty,
yet we shall retrieve a people already habituated to European habits and
manners, industrious interior races; and if it become necessary, a
Colony gradually formed and ready to our hand in a rich and fertile
country," and elsewhere he admits that the regeneration of the Borneo
Malays through themselves was a hobby of his. The experiment has been
tried and, so far as concerns the re-animation of the Malay Government
of Brunai, the verdict must be "a complete failure." The English are a
practical race, and self-interest is the guide of nations in their
intercourse with one another; it was not to be supposed that they would
go out of their way to teach the degenerate Brunai aristocracy how to
govern in accordance with modern ideas; indeed, the Treaty we made with
them, by prohibiting, for instance, their levying customs duties, or
royalties, on the export of such jungle products as gutta percha and
India rubber, in the collection of which the trees yielding them are
entirely destroyed, and by practically suggesting to them the policy, or
rather the impolicy, of imposing the heavy due of $1 per registered ton
on all European Shipping entering their ports, whether in cargo or in
ballast, scarcely tended to stave off their collapse, and the Borneans
must have formed their own conclusions from the fact that when they gave
up portions of their territory to the BROOKES and to the British North
Borneo Company, the British Government no longer called for the
observance of these provisions of the Treaty in the ceded districts. The
English have got all they wanted from Brunai, but I think it can
scarcely be said that they have done very much for it in return. I
remember that the late Sultan thought it an inexplicable thing that we
could not assist him to recover a debt due to him by one of the British
Coal Companies which tried their luck in Borneo. Moreover, even the
cession to their good and noble friend Sir JAMES BROOKE of the Brunai
Province of Sarawak has been itself also, to a certain extent, a factor
in their Government's decay, that State, under the rule of the
Rája--CHARLES BROOKE--having attained its present prosperous condition
at the expense of Brunai and by gradually absorbing its territory.
Between British North Borneo, on the one side, and Sarawak, on the
other, the sea-board of Brunai, which, when we first appeared on the
scene, extended from Cape Datu to Marudu Bay--some 700 miles--is now
reduced to 125 or 130 miles, and, besides the river on which it is
built, Brunai retains but two others of any importance, both of which
are in rebellion of a more or less vigorous character, and the whole
State of Brunai is so sick that its case is now under the consideration
of Her Majesty's Government.
Thus ends in collapse the history of the last independent Malay
Government. Excepting only Johor (which is prosperous owing to its being
under the wing of Singapore, which fact gives confidence to European and
Chinese capitalists and Chinese labourers, and to its good fortune in
having a wise and just ruler in its Sultan, who owes his elevation to
British influences), all the Malay Governments throughout the Malay
Archipelago and in the Malay Peninsula are now subject either to the
English, the Dutch, the Spanish or the Portuguese. This decadence is not
due to any want of vitality in the race, for under European rule the
Malay increases his numbers, as witness the dense population of Java and
the rapidly growing Malay population of the Straits Settlements.
That the Malay does so flourish in contact with the European and the
Chinese is no doubt to some extent due to his attachment to the
Mahomedan faith, which as a tee-total religion is, so far, the most
suitable one for a tropical race; it has also to be remembered that he
inhabits tropical countries, where the white man cannot perform out-door
labour and appears only as a Government Official, a merchant or a
planter.
But the decay of the Brunai aristocracy was probably inevitable. Take
the life of a young noble. He is the son of one of perhaps thirty women
in his father's harem, his mother is entirely without education, can
neither read nor write, is never allowed to appear in public or have any
influence in public affairs, indeed scarcely ever leaves her house, and
one of her principal excitements, perhaps, is the carrying on of an
intrigue, an excitement enhanced by the fact that discovery means
certain death to herself and her lover.
Brunai being a water town, the youngster has little or no chance of a
run and game ashore, and any exercise he takes is confined to _being_
paddled up and down the river in a canoe, for to paddle himself would be
deemed much too degrading--a Brunai noble should never put his hand to
any honest physical work--even for his own recreation. I once imported a
Rob Roy canoe from England and amused myself by making long paddling
excursions, and I would also sometimes, to relieve the monotony of a
journey in a native boat, take a spell at the paddle with the men, and I
was gravely warned by a native friend that by such action I was
seriously compromising myself and lowering my position in the eyes of
the higher class of natives. At an early age the young noble becomes an
object of servile adulation to the numerous retainers and slaves, both
male and female, and is by them initiated in vicious practices and,
while still a boy, acquires from them some of the knowledge of a fast
man of the world. As a rule he receives no sort of school education. He
neither rides nor joins in the chase and, since the advent of Europeans,
there have been no wars to brace his nerves, or call out any of the
higher qualities of mind or body which may be latent in him; nor is
there any standing army or navy in which he might receive a beneficial
training. No political career, in the sense we attach to the term, is
open to him, and he has no feelings of patriotism whatever. That an
aristocracy thus nurtured should degenerate can cause no surprise. The
general term for the nobles amongst the Brunais is _Pangeran_, and their
numbers may be guessed when it is understood that every son and
daughter of every many-wived noble is also a Pangeran.
Some of these unfortunate noblemen have nothing wherewith to support
their position, and in very recent times I have actually seen a needy
Pangeran, in a British Colony where he could not live by oppression or
theft, driven to work in a coal mine or drive a buffalo cart.
With the ordinary freeborn citizen of Brunai life opens under better
auspices. The children are left much to themselves and are merry,
precocious, naked little imps, able to look out for themselves at a very
much earlier age than is the case with European infants, and it is
wonderful to see quite little babies clambering up the rickety stairs
leading from the river to the house, or crawling unheeded on the
tottering verandahs. Almost before they can walk they can swim, and they
have been known to share their mother's cigarettes while still in arms.
All day long they amuse themselves in miniature canoes, rolling over and
over in the water, regardless of crocodiles. Happy children! they have
no school and no clothes--one might, perhaps, exclaim happy parents,
too! Malays are very kind and indulgent to their children and I do not
think I have seen or heard of a case of the application of the parental
hand to any part of the infant person. As soon as he is strong enough,
say eight or nine years of age, the young Malay, according to the
_kampong_, or division of the town, in which his lot has been cast,
joins in his father's trade and becomes a fisherman, a trader, or a
worker in brass or in iron as the case may be. The girls have an equally
free and easy time while young, their only garments being a silver fig
leaf, fastened to a chain or girdle round the waist. As they grow up
they help their mothers in their household duties, or by selling their
goods in the daily floating market; they marry young and are, as a rule,
kindly treated by their husbands. Although Mahomedans, they can go about
freely and unveiled, a privilege denied to their sisters of the higher
classes. The greatest misfortune for such a girl is, perhaps, the
possession of a pretty face and figure, which may result in her being
honoured with the attentions of a noble, in whose harem she may be
secluded for the rest of her life, and, as her charms wane her supply of
both food and clothing is reduced to the lowest limit.
By the treaty with Great Britain traffic in slaves is put down, that is,
Borneo is no longer the mart where, as in former days, the pirates can
bring in their captives for sale; but the slaves already in the place
have not been liberated, and a slave's children are slaves, so that
domestic slavery, as it is termed, exists on a very considerable scale
in Brunai. Slaves were acquired in the old days by purchase from pirates
and, on any pretext, from the Pagan tribes of Borneo. For instance, if a
feudal chief of an outlying river was in want of some cash, nothing was
easier than for him to convict a man, who was the father of several
children, of some imaginary offence, or neglect of duty, and his
children, girls and boys, would be seized and carried off to Brunai as
slaves. A favourite method was that of "forced trade." The chief would
send a large quantity of trade goods to a Pagan village and leave them
there to be sold at one hundred per cent, or more above their proper
value, all legitimate trade being prohibited meanwhile, and if the money
or barter goods were not forthcoming when demanded, the deficiency would
be made up in slaves. This kind of oppression was very rife in the
neighbourhood of the capital when I first became acquainted with Borneo
in 1871, but the power of the chiefs has been much curtailed of late,
owing to the extensive cessions of territory to Sarawak and the British
North Borneo Company, and their hold on the rivers left to them has
become very precarious, since the warlike Kyans passed under Rája
BROOKE'S sway. This tribe, once the most powerful in Borneo, was always
ready at the Sultan's call to raid on any tribe who had incurred his
displeasure and revelled in the easy acquisition of fresh heads, over
which to hold the triumphal dance. The Brunai Malays are not a warlike
race, and the Rájas find that, without the Kyans, they are as a tiger
with its teeth drawn and its claws pared, and the Pagan tribes have not
been slow to make the discovery for themselves. Those on the Limbang
river have been in open rebellion for the last three or four years and
are crying out to be taken under the protection of the Queen, or,
failing that, then under the "Kompani," as the British North Borneo
Company's Government like that of the East India Company in days gone
by, is styled, or under Sarawak.
The condition of the domestic slaves is not a particularly hard one
unless, in the case of a girl, she is compelled to join the harem, when
she becomes technically free, but really only changes one sort of
servitude for another and more degrading one. With this exception, the
slaves live on friendly terms with their masters' families, and the
propinquity of a British Colony--Labuan--has tended to ameliorate their
condition, as an ill-used slave can generally find means to escape
thither and, so long as he remains there, he is a free man.
The scientific description of a typical Malay has already been given,
and it answers well on almost all points for the Brunai specimen, except
that the nose, as well as being small, is, in European eyes, deficient
as to "bridge," and the legs cannot be described as weak, indeed the
Brunai Malay, male and female, is a somewhat fleshy animal. In
temperament, the Malay is described as "taciturn, undemonstrative,
little given to outward manifestations of joy or sorrow, courteous
towards each other, kind to their women and children. Not elated by good
or depressed by bad fortune, but capable of excesses when roused. Under
the influence of religious excitement, losses at gambling, jealousy or
other domestic troubles they are liable to _amok_ or run-a-muck, an
expression which appears to have passed into the English language." With
strangers, the Brunai Malay is doubtless taciturn, but I have heard
Brunai ladies among themselves, while enjoying their betel-nut, rival
any old English gossips over their cup of tea, and on an expedition the
men will sometimes keep up a conversation long into the night till
begged to desist. Courtesy seems to be innate in every Malay of whatever
rank, both in their intercourse with one another and with strangers. The
meeting at Court of two Brunai nobles who, perhaps, entertain feelings
of the greatest hatred towards each other, is an interesting study, and
the display of mutual courtesy unrivalled. I need scarcely say that
horseplay and practical joking are unknown, contradiction is rarely
resorted to and "chaff" is only known in its mildest form. The lowest
Malay will never pass in front of you if it can be avoided, nor hand
anything to another across you. Unless in case of necessity, a Malay
will not arouse his friend from slumber, and then only in the gentlest
manner possible. It is bad manners to point at all, but, if it is
absolutely necessary to do so, the forefinger is never employed, but the
person or object is indicated, in a sort of shamefaced way, with the
thumb. It is impolite to bare a weapon in public, and Europeans often
show their ignorance of native etiquette by asking a Malay visitor to
let them examine the blade of the _kris_ he is wearing. It is not
considered polite to enquire after the welfare of the female members of
a Brunai gentleman's household. For a Malay to uncover his head in your
presence would be an impertinence, but a guttural noise in his throat
after lunching with you is a polite way of expressing pleased
satisfaction with the excellence of the repast. This latter piece of
etiquette has probably been adopted from the Chinese. The low social
position assigned to women by Brunai Malays, as by nearly all Mahomedan
races, is of course a partial set-off to the general courtesy that
characterises them. The average intelligence of what may be called the
working class Malay is almost as far superior to that, say, of the
British country bumpkin as are his manners. Mr. H. O. FORBES says in his
"Naturalist in the Eastern Archipelago" that he was struck with the
natives' acute observation in natural history and the accuracy with
which they could give the names, habits and uses of animals and plants
in the jungle, and the traveller cannot but admire the general handiness
and adaptability to changed circumstances and customs and quickness of
understanding of the Malay coolies whom he engages to accompany him.
Cannot one imagine the stolid surprise and complete obfuscation of the
English peasant if an intelligent Malay traveller were to be suddenly
set down in his district, making enquiries as to the, to him, novel
forms of plants and animals and asking for minute information as to the
manners and customs of the new people amongst whom he found himself,
and, generally, seeking for information as the reasons for this and for
that?
Their religion sits somewhat lightly on the Brunai Malays; the Mahomedan
Mosque in the capital was always in a very dirty and neglected state,
though prayers were said there daily, and I have never seen a Borneo
Malay under the influence of religious excitement.
Gambling prevails, doubtless, and so does cock-righting, but neither is
the absorbing passion which it seems, from travellers' accounts, to be
with Malays elsewhere.
When visiting the Spanish settlements in Sulu and Balabac, I was
surprised to find regular officially licensed cock-fighting pits, with a
special seat for the Spanish Governor, who was expected to be present on
high days and holidays. I have never come across a regular cockpit in
Brunai, or in any part of northern Borneo.
The _amoks_ that I have been cognisant of have, consequently, not been
due to either religious excitement, or to losses at gambling, but, in
nearly every case, to jealousy and domestic trouble, and their
occurrence almost entirely confined to the British Colony of Labuan
where, of course, the Mahomedan pains and penalties for female
delinquencies could not be enforced. I remember one poor fellow whom I
pitied very much. He had good reason to be jealous of his wife and, in
our courts, could not get the redress he sought. He explained to me that
a mist seemed to gather before his eyes and that he became utterly
unconscious of what he was doing--his will was quite out of his control.
Some half dozen people--children, men and women--were killed, or
desperately wounded before he was overpowered. He acknowledged his
guilt, and suffered death at the hands of the hangman with quiet
dignity. Many tragical incidents in the otherwise uneventful history of
Labuan may be traced to the manner in which marriages are contracted
amongst the Borneo Malays. Marriages of mere love are almost unknown;
they are generally a matter of bargain between the girls' parents and
the expectant bridegroom, or his parents, and, practically, everything
depends on the amount of the dowry or _brihan_--literally "gift"--which
the swain can pay to the former. In their own country there exist
certain safeguards which prevent any abuse of this system, but it was
found that under the English law a clever parent could manage to dispose
of his daughter's hand several times over, so that really the plot of
Mrs. CAMPBELL PRAED'S somewhat unpleasant play "Arianne" was anticipated
in the little colony of Labuan. I was once called upon, as Coroner, to
inquire into the deaths of a young man and his handsome young wife, who
were discovered lying dead, side by side, on the floor of their house.
The woman was found to be fearfully cut about; the man had but one
wound, in his abdomen, penetrating the bowels. There was only one weapon
by which the double murder could have been committed, a knife with a six
inch blade, and circumstances seemed to point to the probability that
the woman had first stabbed the man, who had then wrenched the knife
from her grasp and hacked her to death. The man was not quite dead when
found and he accused the dead woman of stabbing him. It was found, that
they had not long been married and that, apparently with the girl's
consent, her father had been negociating for her marriage with another.
The father himself was subsequently the first man murdered in British
North Borneo after the assumption of the Government by the Company, and
his murderer was the first victim of the law in the new Colony.
Altogether a tragical story.
Many years ago another _amok_, which was near being tragical, had an
almost comical termination. The then Colonial Treasurer was an
entertaining Irishman of rather mature age. Walking down to his office
one day he found in the road a Malay hacking at his wife and another
man. Home rule not being then in fashion with the Irish, the Treasurer,
armed only with his sun umbrella, attempted to interfere, when the
_amoker_ turned furiously on him and the Irish official, who was of
spare build, took to his heels and made good his escape, the chase,
though a serious matter to him, causing irrepressible mirth to
onlookers. The man was never captured, and his victims, though
disfigured, recovered. I remember being struck by the contemptuous
reply of Sir HUGH LOW'S Chinese servant when he warned him to be on his
guard, as there was an _amoker_ at large, and alluded to Mr. C.'s narrow
escape--it was to the effect that the Treasurer was foolish to interfere
in other people's concerns. This unwillingness to busy oneself in
others' affairs, which sometimes has the appearance of callousness, is
characteristic of Malays and Chinese.
The readers of a book of travels are somewhat under a disadvantage in
forming their opinion of a country, in that incidents are focussed for
them by those of the same nature being grouped together. I do not wish
it to be thought that murders and _amoks_ are at all common occurrences
in Northern Borneo, indeed they are very few and far between, and
criminal acts of all kinds are remarkably infrequent, that is, of
course, if we regard head-hunting as an amusement sanctioned by usage,
especially as, in the parts under native government, there is a total
absence of any kind of police force, while every man carries arms, and
houses with palm leaf walls and innocent of locks, bolts and bars, offer
unusual temptations to the burglariously inclined. My wife and I nearly
always slept without a watchman and with the doors and windows unclosed,
the servants' offices being detached from the house, and we have never
had any of our property stolen except by a "boy."
Brunai is governed by a Sultan styled Iang-di-pertuan, "he who rules,"
and four principal Ministers of State, "Wazirs"--the Pangeran Bandahara,
the Pangeran di Gadong, the Pangeran Pamancha and the Pangeran
Temenggong. These Ministers are generally men of the royal blood, and
fly distinctive flags at their residences, that of the Bandahara being
white, of the di Gadong, green, and of the Temenggong, red. The flags
are remarkably simple and inexpensive, but quite distinctive, each
consisting of a square bit of bunting or cloth of the requisite colour,
with the exception of the Temenggong's, which is cut in the shape of a
burgee. The Sultan's flag is a plain piece of yellow bunting, yellow
being the Brunei royal colour, and no man, except the Sovereign, is
permitted to exhibit that colour in any portion of his dress. It shows
how little importance attaches to the female sex that a lady, even a
slave, can sport yellow in her dress, or any colour she chooses.
Theoretically the duties of the Bandahara are those of a Home Secretary;
the di Gadong is Keeper of the Seal and Chancellor of the Exchequer; the
Pamancha's functions I am rather uncertain about, as the post has
remained unfilled for many years past, but they would seem to partake of
those of a Home Secretary; and the Temenggong is the War Minister and
Military and Naval Commander-in-chief, and appears also to hear and
decide criminal and civil cases in the city of Brunai. These
appointments are made by the Sultan, and for life, but it will be
understood that, in such a rough and ready system of government as that
of Brunai, the actual influence of each Minister depends entirely on his
own character and that of the Sultan. Sometimes one Minister will
practically usurp the functions of some, or, perhaps, all the others,
leaving them only their titles and revenues, while often, on a vacancy
occurring, the Sultan does not make a fresh appointment, but himself
appropriates the revenue of the office leaving the duties to take care
of themselves.
To look after trade and commerce there is, in theory, an inferior
Minister, the Pangeran Shabander.
There is another class of Ministers--_Mantri_--who are selected by the
Sultan from among the people, and are chosen for their intelligence and
for the influence and following they have amongst the citizens. They
possess very considerable political power, their opinions being asked on
important matters. Such are the two Juwatans and the Orang Kaya di
Gadong, who may be looked upon as the principal officers of the Sultan
and the Wazirs.
The State officials are paid by the revenues of certain districts which
are assigned, as will be seen below, to the different offices.
The Mahomedan Malays, it has already been explained, were an invading
and conquering race in Borneo, and their chiefs would seem to have
divided the country, or, rather, the inhabitants, amongst themselves,
in much the same way as England was parcelled out among the followers of
WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. The people of all the rivers[5] and of the
interior, up to the limits where the Brunai Malays can enforce their
authority, own as their feudal lord and pay taxes to either the Sultan,
in his unofficial capacity, or to one of the nobles, or else they are
attached to the office of Sultan or one of the great Ministers of State,
and, again theoretically speaking, all the districts in the Sultanate
are known, from the fact of the people on them belonging to a noble, or
to the reigning Sultan for the time being, or to one of the Ministers of
State, as either:--
1. Ka-rájahan--belonging to the Sultan or Rája.
or 2. Kouripan--belonging to certain public officials during
their term of office.
or 3. Pusaka or Tulin--belonging to the Sultan or any of the
nobles in their unofficial capacity.
The crown and the feudal chiefs did not assert any claim to the land;
there are, for instance, no "crown lands," and, in the case of land not
owned or occupied, any native could settle upon and cultivate it without
payment of any rent or land tax, either to the Sultan or to the feudal
chief of the district; consequently, land was comparatively little
regarded, and what the feudal chief claimed was the people and not the
land, so much so that, as pointed out by Mr. P. LEYS in a Consular
report, in the case of the people removing from one river to another,
they did not become the followers of the chief who owned the population
amongst whom they settled, but remained subject to their former lord,
who had the right of following them and collecting from them his taxes
as before. It is only of quite recent years, imitating the example of
the English in Labuan, where all the land was assumed to be the property
of the Sovereign and leased to individuals for a term of years, that the
nobles have, in some instances, put forward a claim to ownership of the
land on which their followers chose to settle, and have endeavoured to
pose as semi-independent princes. These feudal chiefs tax, or used to
tax, their followers in proportion to their inability to resist their
lords' demands. A poll tax, usually at the rate of $2 for married men
and $1 for bachelors, is a form of taxation to which, in the absence of
any land tax, no objection is made, but the chiefs had also the power of
levying special taxes at their own sweet will, when they found their
expenditure in excess of their income, and advantage was taken of any
delay in payment of taxes, or of any breach of the peace, or act of
theft occurring in a district, to impose excessive fines on the
delinquents, all of which if paid went to the chief; and if the fine
could not be paid, the defaulter's children might be seized and
eventually sold into slavery. The system of "forced trade" I have
alluded to when speaking on the subject of domestic slavery. The chiefs
were all absentees and, while drawing everything they could out of their
districts, did nothing for their wretched followers. The taxes were
collected by their messengers and slaves, unscrupulous men who were paid
by what they could get out of the people in excess of what they were
bidden to demand, and who, while engaged in levying the contributions,
lived at free quarters on the people, who naturally did their best to
expedite their departure. Petty cases of dispute were settled by headmen
appointed by the chief and termed _orang kaya_, literally "rich men."
These _orang kayas_ were often selected from their possessing some
little property and being at the same time subservient to the chief. In
many cases, it seemed to me, that they were chosen for their superior
stupidity and pliability. I have made use of the past tense throughout
my description of these feudal chiefs as, happily, for reasons already
given, the "good old times" are rapidly passing away.
The laws of Brunai are, in theory, those inculcated by the Korán and
there are one or two officials who have some slight knowledge of
Mahomedan law. Owing to the cheap facilities offered by the numerous
steamers at Singapore, there are many Hajis--that is, persons who have
made the pilgrimage to Mecca--amongst the Brunais and the Kadaaans,
amongst the latter more especially, but of course a visit to Mecca does
not necessarily imply that the pilgrim has obtained any actual knowledge
of the holy book, which some of them can decipher, the Malays having
adopted the Arabic alphabet, but without, however, understanding the
meaning of the Arabic words of which it consists. A friend of mine, son
of the principal exponent of Mahomedan law in the capital, and who
became naturalised as a British subject, had studied law in
Constantinople.
There is no gaol in Brunai, and fines are found to be a more profitable
mode of punishment than incarceration, the judge generally pocketing the
fine, and when it does become necessary to keep an offender in
detention, it is done by placing his feet in the stocks, which are set
up on the public staging or landing before the reception room of the
Sultan, or of one of his chief Ministers, and the wretched man may be
kept there for months.
The punishment for theft, sanctioned by the Korán, is by cutting oft the
right hand, but this barbarous, though effective, penalty has been
discountenanced by the English. On one occasion, however, when acting as
H. B. M. Consul-General, I received my information too late to
interfere. I had been on a visit to the late Sultan in a British
gunboat, and anchored off the palace. During the evening, just before
dinner, notwithstanding the watch kept on deck, some natives came
alongside and managed to hook out through the ports my gold watch and
chain from off the Captain's table, and the first Lieutenant's revolver
from his cabin. During our interview next morning with the Sultan, I
twitted him on the skill and daring of Brunai thieves, who could
perpetrate a theft from a friendly war-ship before the windows of the
Royal palace. The Sultan said nothing, but was evidently much annoyed,
and a few weeks afterwards the revolver and the remains of my watch and
chain were sent to me at Labuan, with a letter saying that three thieves
had been punished by having had their hands chopped off. I subsequently
heard that two of the unfortunate men had died from the effects of this
cruel punishment.
On another occasion, some Brunai thieves skilfully dismounted and
carried off two brass signal guns from the poop of a merchant steamer at
anchor in the river, eluding the vigilance of the quarter-master, while
the skipper and some of the officers were asleep on the skylight close
by. The guns were subsequently recovered.
Execution is either by means of the bow string or the _kris_.
I had once the unpleasant duty of having to witness the execution by the
bow string of a man named MAIDIN, as it was feared that, being the son
of a favourite officer of the Sultan, the execution might be a sham one.
This man, with others, had raided a small settlement of Chinese traders
from Labuan on the Borneo coast, killing several of the shop-keepers and
looting the settlement. So weak was the central government, and so
little importance did they attach to the murder of a few Chinese, that,
notwithstanding the efforts of the British Consul, MAIDIN remained at
liberty for nearly two years after the commission of the crime.
The execution took place at night. The murderer was bound, with his
hands behind his back, in a large canoe, and a noose of rope was placed
round his neck. Two men stood behind him; a short stick was inserted in
the noose and twisted round and round by the two executioners, thereby
causing the rope to compress the windpipe. MAIDIN'S struggles were soon
over.
In the case of common people the _kris_ is used, the executioner
standing behind the criminal and pressing the _kris_ downwards, through
the shoulder, into the heart. This mode of execution has been retained
by the European rulers of Sarawak. In British North Borneo the English
mode by hanging has been adopted.
Formerly, when ancient customs were more strictly observed, any person
using insulting expressions in talking of members of the Royal family
was punished by having his tongue slit, and I was once shewn by the
Temenggong, in whose official keeping it was, the somewhat cumbrous pair
of scissors wherewith this punishment was inflicted, but I have never
heard of its having been used during the last twenty years, although
opportunities could not have been wanting.
I was once horrified by being informed by an observant British Naval
Officer, who had been to Brunai on duty, that he had been disgusted by
noticing, notwithstanding our long connection with Brunai and supposed
influence with the Sultan, so barbarous a mode of execution as that of
keeping the criminal exposed, without food, day and night, on a stage on
high posts in the river. I had never heard of this process, and soon
discovered that my friend had mistaken men fishing, for criminals
undergoing execution. Two men perch themselves up on posts, some
distance apart, and let down by ropes a net into the river. Waiting
patiently--and Brunais can sit still contentedly doing nothing for
hours--they remain motionless until a shoal of fish passes over the net,
when it is partially raised and the fish taken out by a third man, and
the operation repeated.
I do not think my naval friend ever published his Brunai reminiscences.
I have already said there is no police force in Brunai; an official
makes use of his own slaves to carry out his orders, where an European
would call in the police. Neither is there any army and navy, but the
theory is that the Sultan and Ministers can call on the Brunai people to
follow them to war, but as they give neither pay nor sufficient food
their call is not numerously responded to.
Every Brunai man has his own arms, spear, kris and buckler, supplemented
by an old English "Tower" musket, or rifle, or by one of Chinese
manufacture with an imitation of the Tower mark. The _parang_, or
chopper, or cutlass, is always carried by a Malay, being used for all
kinds of work, agricultural and other, and is also a useful weapon of
offence or defence.
Brunai is celebrated for its brass cannon foundries and still produces
handsome pieces of considerable size. PIGAFETTA describes cannon as
being frequently discharged at Brunai during his visit there in 1521.
Brass guns were formerly part of the currency in Brunai and, even now,
you often hear the price of an article given as so many pikuls (a pikul
= 133-1/3 lbs), or catties (a catty = 1-1/3 lbs) of brass gun. The
brass for the guns is chiefly furnished by the Chinese cash, which is
current in the town.
In former days, in addition to brass guns, pieces of grey shirting
(_belachu_) and of Nankin (_kain asap_) and small bits of iron were
legal tender, and I have seen a specimen of a Brunei copper coinage one
Sultan tried to introduce, but it was found to be so easily imitated by
his subjects that it was withdrawn from circulation. At the present day
silver dollars, Straits Settlements small silver pieces, and the copper
coinage of Singapore, Sarawak and British North Borneo all pass current,
the copper, however, unfortunately predominating. Recently the Sultan
obtained $10,000 of a copper coin of his own from Birmingham, but the
traders and the Governments of Singapore and Labuan appear to have
discountenanced its use, and he probably will not try a second shipment.
The profit on the circulation of copper coinage, which is only a token,
is of course considerable, and the British North Borneo Company obtained
a substantial addition to its revenue from the large amount of its coin
circulated in Brunai. When the Sultan first mooted the idea of obtaining
his own coin from England, one of the Company's officers expostulated
feelingly with him, and I was told by an onlooker that the contrast of
the expressions of the countenances of the immobile Malay and of the
mobile European was most amusing. All that the Sultan replied to the
objections of the officer was "It does not signify, Sir, my coin can
circulate in your country and yours can circulate in mine," knowing well
all the time the profit the Company was making.
The inhabitants of the city of Brunai are very lightly taxed, and there
is no direct taxation. As above explained, there is no land tax, nor
ground rent, and every man builds his own house and is his own landlord.
The right of retailing the following articles is "farmed" out to the
highest bidder by the Government, and their price consequently enhanced
to the consumer:--Opium (but only a few of the nobles use the drug),
foreign tobacco, curry stuff, wines and spirits (not used by the
natives), salt, gambier (used for chewing with the betel or _areca_
nut), tea (little used by the natives) and earth-nut and coco-nut oil.
There are no Municipal rates and taxes, the tidal river acting as a self
cleansing street and sewer at the same time; neither are there any
demands from a Poor Law Board.
On the other hand, there being no Army, Navy, Police, nor public
buildings to keep up, the expenses of Government are wonderfully light
also.
Other Government receipts, in addition to the above, are rent of Chinese
house-boats or rather shop-boats, pawnbroking and gambling licenses, a
"farm" of the export of hides, royalties on sago and gutta percha,
tonnage dues on European vessels visiting the port, and others. The
salaries and expenses of the Government Departments are defrayed from
the revenues of the rivers, or districts attached to them.
Considerable annual payments are now made by Sarawak and British North
Borneo for the territorial cessions obtained by them. The annual
contribution by Sarawak is about $16,000, and by the British North
Borneo $11,800. These sums are apportioned amongst the Sultan and nobles
who had interests in the ceded districts. I may say here that the
payment by British North Borneo to the Sultan of the State, under the
arrangement made by Mr. DENT already referred to, is one of $5,000 per
annum.
An annual payment is also made by Mr. W. C. COWIE for the sole right[6]
of working coal in the Sultanate, which he holds for a period of several
years. Coal occurs throughout the island of Borneo, and its existence
has long been known. It is worked on a small scale in Sarawak and in
some portions of Dutch Borneo, and the unsuccessful attempts to develope
the coal resources of the Colony of Labuan will be referred to later on.
In the Brunai Sultanate, with which we are at present concerned, coal
occurs abundantly in the Brunai river and elsewhere, but it is only at
present worked by Mr. COWIE and his partners at Muara, at the mouth of
the Brunai river--Muara, indeed, signifying in Malay a river's mouth.
The Revd. J. E. TENNISON-WOOD, well known in Australia as an authority
on geological questions, thus describes the Muara coalfields:--"About
twenty miles to the South-west of Labuan is the mouth of the Brunai
river. Here the rocks are of quite a different character, and much
older. There are sandstones, shales, and grits, with ferruginous joints.
The beds are inclined at angles of 25 to 45 degrees. They are often
altered into a kind of chert. At Muara there is an outcrop of coal seams
twenty, twenty-five and twenty-six feet thick. The coal is of excellent
quality, quite bitumenised, and not brittle. The beds are being worked
by private enterprise. I saw no fossils, but the beds and the coal
reminded me much of the older Australian coals along the Hunter river.
The mines are of great value. They are rented for a few thousand dollars
by two enterprising Scotchmen, from the Sultan of Brunai. The same
sovereign would part with the place altogether for little or nothing.
Why not have our coaling station there? Or what if Germany, France or
Russia should purchase the same from the independent Sultan of Brunai?"
As if to give point to the concluding remarks, a Russian man-of-war
visited Muara and Brunai early in 1887, and shewed considerable interest
in the coal mines.[7]
Footnotes:
[Footnote 4: He has since been "protected"--see ante page 6, note.]
[Footnote 5: Owing to the absence of roads and the consequent importance
of rivers as means of getting about, nearly all districts in Borneo are
named after their principal river.]
[Footnote 6: This right was transferred by Mr. COWIE to Rája BROOKE in
1833.]
[Footnote 7: The British Protectorate has obviated the danger.]