of which those best known to Europeans are the Borneo, the Banjari or Bander, and the Sukadana and Pontiana, which are all navigable, by boats, for more than 50 miles above their junction with the sea. It is probable they arise from a marshy table-land of great elevation in the mountainous district. The interior is covered with immense forests filled with wild animals, particularly orang-outangs; but no European has yet explored this region. A great part of the coast, for a breadth of 15 or 20 miles, is marshy, exhibiting in scattered patches the exuberance of tropical fertility. Inland is the lake of Danao Malayu in 1o 5′ N. lat. and 114° 20′ E. long. It was first visited by Europeans in 1823. It is 8 leagues by 4 broad, in some places 18 feet deep, and its dimensions are considerably increased in the rainy season. Two islands rise above the surface of its waters, and it is stored with numerous fish. The larger island is called Vander Capellen, and the lesser Tobias. This island has been often devastated by volcanoes and earthquakes. At Sukadana the thermometer is very seldom under 820 or above 94°. The sea and mountain breezes, and the rains, which are constant from November till May on the western coast, considerably freshen the atmosphere.

Productions.] Borneo produces rice, sago, black pepper, camphor, honey, cotton, cloves, dye-woods, sandal-wood, ebony, gold, iron, tin, copper, diamonds, and antimony. The diamond-mines are confined to the W. and S. coasts, being principally situated in the territories of Pontiana and Bangermassin. The resident Bugis are the great dealers in diamonds. The rajah of Mastan is in possession of one of the largest diamonds known to exist. It was obtained about 100 years ago from the mine at Landak, and weighs 367 carats gross. Its estimated value is £269,377. Previous to 1818, when the Dutch seized this coast, upwards of 32,000 Chinese were employed in the gold mines at Mantradu, and the western parts of Borneo. Valuing the yearly produce extracted at 72 dollars each man, the sum total would amount to 2,224,000 dollars annually, or £556,000. But taking the medium quantity at 117 dollars per man, the sum total would be 3,744,000 dollars, or £936,000. In 1812, it was estimated that the annual amount of these mines amounted to 4,744,000 dollars, or £1,186,000, valuing the dollars at 5s. each. The sum annually remitted by these industrious emigrants to China was £500,000, and about one-half of that was remitted to Bengal and the western part of India, and the surplus went to Java. But as a just punishment of Dutch avarice, the government of Java now suffers a monthly loss of 34,000 gulders in supporting the residency of the W. coast of Borneo. The camphor of Borneo is excellent; it is obtained from the Daobalanops camphora of Colebrooke -a different tree from the Laurus camphora, and found only in Sumatra and Borneo. The Borneo camphor, however, sells for £500 per quintal, while that of Sumatra is usually valued at £330. Benzoin, the resin of a species of styrax, is largely exported. Antimony has been found in masses, or rather mountains, and the exportation of this article has prodigiously increased of late years. It is in Borneo that the largest of the monkey-tribe, the pongo, is found. Wild buffaloes, boars, tigers, and elephants abound; and the species of birds are innumerable.

Population.] The population of Borneo has been estimated-we suppose above the truth-at 3,000,000. The interior is entirely occupied by a native race, bearing the general name of Dayaks, but variously named according to the parts of the island which they inhabit, and nearly similar in character to those who occupy the interior of Sumatra. Some cultivate

the ground, others display considerable industry in fishing,-and a few employ themselves in collecting gold, but their institutions in general indicate the rudest state of human society. In personal appearance they are decidedly superior to the Malays, and their women are rather good-looking. Polygamy is not practised. It has been reported that they devour the flesh of their enemies-an assertion probably in this, as in many instances, without foundation. All accounts agree, however, as to another truly savage custom, by which every man is debarred from the privilege of matrimony until he has with his own hand cut off the head of an enemy. Those who are desirous of entering into this state, form themselves into what Dr Leyden calls head-hunting expeditions,' and make an inroad into the territories of a neighbouring tribe; if their strength appears sufficient, they endeavour to effect their objects by force; if otherwise, they conceal themselves behind thickets till an unfortunate individual passes, whom they can make their prey. When a married woman dies, her husband is not allowed to take a second wife until he has slain an enemy in battle, and offered his head in sacrifice to the manes of his deceased wife. Some are also said to immolate human victims on the altars of their divinities. The inhabitants of the towns along the coast consist chiefly of Malays and Chinese. The number of the latter has been estimated, by a recent writer in the Singapore Chronicle, at 125,000 souls. There is another race called Papons, or Negrillos, who reside in the most inaccessible parts of the island, and have no intercourse with the surrounding population.

STATES.] Borneo is divided into a great number of independent states, whose chiefs, being musselmen, assume the title of rajah or sultan. Of these the states of Banjarmassin, Succadana, Sambas, and Borneo, are the principal.

Borneo Proper.] This state has a sea-coast of more than 700 miles in extent, by a depth of from 100 to 150 miles. It has the Dutch residency on the W., the boundary in this direction being Tanjong Data, in 3° N. lat. and 110° 36′ E. long.; on the E. it has the Bornean territories of the state of Suluk; the mouth of the Sandakan river, in 5° 50′ N. lat. and 118° 15′ E. long., being the frontier. On the S. it has various savage tribes, as the Dayan, Dusum, Mureet, and Tataos, men who take a pleasure in decapitating strangers, and glory in hoarding their skulls, which are handed down to posterity as heir-looms of the family, and trophies of hereditary renown. To the state of Borneo belong the islands of Malaweli, Banggi, Balambang, twice a British settlement, Balabak, and Babullan, containing several fine harbours, favourably situated for the trade of China, the Philippines, and their own vicinity. Borneo contains a number of fine rivers, the most important of which are those of Rayung and Batavia, which lead to Sibita, the capital of the Kayan, the most powerful, idolatrous, and uncivilized tribe of the whole island. Mahari, like the two last on the N. coast, that of Borneo, properly so called, navigable for 20 miles for vessels of 300 tons; and Sandakan, or China Batangan, on the N.E. coast of the island. The interior of the Bornean territory is filled by extensive chains of high mountains, the most elevated of which is Keeneebalu, in 6° N. lat., and visible from both sides of the island, which here runs out into a sort of peninsula. The western districts, as Sarawak and Kasinlaka, between 20 and 30 N. lat., abound in metals, as gold, zinc, and antimony. Though land animals abound, yet it is curious that the elephant, the rhinoceros, and a species of leopard, (but not the royal tiger,) exist only in a corner of this vast island, its northern peninsular extremity, in

the districts of Ungsang and Paitna, they are nowhere to be found in any part of the archipelago, to the eastward of this. Like all countries in a rude and unimproved state, the Bornean territory is inhabited, or rather infested, by numerous barbarous tribes, differing from each other in language, and ever in a state of hostility. The principal tribes inhabiting the country are 16 in number, of which the Malays are the chief, the most powerful, and the most civilized. The Pagan tribes closely resemble each other in manners and customs, and in one thing the most of them agreein cutting off human heads and hoarding skulls. Savage, however, as they are, they are not, in some respects, in the lowest scale of social life, as they have almost all some knowledge of agriculture, cultivating rice and farinaceous roots and pulse. None of them are huntsmen, nor wretches living on wild roots or raw oysters. In religious feelings the Bornean savages are eminently deficient, as they have no apparent system of religious belief, have neither gods nor idols, nor temples nor priests. Yet they are very superstitious, very attentive to good or bad omens, and especially to the cry of birds. None of them have any knowledge of an alphabet, or any other way, by visible signs, of permanently recording their ideas. This is somewhat singular, as all the great islands have each one or more alphabets. This may be owing to the primitive sterility of a country rich in minerals, but without foreign intercourse with people more civilized than themselves, and the difficulty of communication with a coast which has no large openings into the interior by means of bays, indentations, or large æstuaries, but is throughout a compact and unbroken shore. The sultan of Borneo is a Malay prince whose Malay subjects do not constitute onetenth of the population, even including the tribes converted to the faith of the Koran. Like the other Malayan races, they seem to have come from the interior of Sumatra, to the W. coast of Borneo, and thence to the N. coast; and this is an event of no great antiquity; for it took place 29 Bornean reigns since, or 580 years ago, estimating each reign at 20 years on an average, and the Borneans had not even adopted the Mohammedan creed at their first migration. The government is like that of other Malay states, hereditary and despotic. The radah or sultaun has a council of four ministers, the treasurer, the general, the chief justice, and the minister properly so called, and are denominated the pillars of the state. Under these are two subordinate great officers, the second minister, and a deputy-general. The affairs of trade are managed by four inferior chiefs, of whom the principal are the intendant of the port and the warehouse-keeper, which latter was sent as an envoy to Sincapore in 1825, from the king, to open up a commercial correspondence with the British government. There are in Borneo 30 or 40 pangeraus, or hereditary governors, rendering the government a sort of aristocracy. Borneo city is seated 15 miles up the river, in 50 N. lat., and is built on the banks within high-water mark, in a good measure resembling Venice, each house being raised on posts from one to two fathoms in height, and connected with the neighbouring house by a single plank. The fortification alone is built on dry land. It had a considerable commerce with China till about 15 years since, and the annual emigration of Chinese to it was great, but it is now, or very lately, reduced to 500 emigrants, from the anarchy which then prevailed. The most considerable trade the Borneans have at present is with the port of Sincapore, which was, in 1826, visited by 40 vessels from the ports of Borneo Proper. The present monarch of Borneo is said to be a liberal and enlightened prince, the best that ever filled a Bornean throne, one who loves justice

and hates oppression, speaks Chinese fluently, and settles all disputes in person between his Malay and Chinese subjects, which has had the best effect, and terminated those feuds formerly so frequent. Pepper, antimony, bees-wax, and seed-pearl, are principally exported to Sincapore. The pepper is all the produce of Chinese industry, these people being the sole cultivators. By means of Borneo an intermediate commerce may be carried on with those provinces of China with which no European nation has ever had direct communication, and may eventually be of great advantage to the British commercial interest.

State of Sambas.] The town of Sambas is situated about 30 miles up the river of the same name. Like most other towns in Borneo, it is built of tim ber and bamboos, and raised by stakes above the swampy foundation. Sambas has been always a powerful state, devoting itself so entirely to piracy as to render its existence scarcely compatible with that of its civilized neighbours. On this account the British, in 1813, undertook an expedition against it; carried the fort by storm, and obliged the rajah to retire into the interior of his dominions. A number of small villages are scattered over the face of the country betwixt Borneo and Sambas.

State of Passir.] The chief state on the eastern coast is Passir, situated on a river of the same name. This district is low and flat, marshy, woody, and extremely unhealthy. The inhabitants have a very bad character.

States of Banjarmassin, &c.] Banjarmassin is the principal state on the southern coast; it too owes its prosperity to a large river, on the banks of which it is situated. Ships may anchor near the mouth of the river, in the port of Tombangou, or Tombornio, where they are well-supplied with water and provisions. The population of Banjermassin is chiefly Javanese, with a considerable proportion of Bugis, Macassars, and Malays. The Chinese are also pretty numerous. The sultan resides at Mortapara, about three days' journey up the river. The district of Banjar produces gold and diamonds; pepper is abundant, and may be considered the staple commodity. The iron is very excellent, and peculiarly fit for making steel; but the inhabitants themselves do not understand the art of manufacturing it. On the eastern coast, Mangedava and Pappul are populous, fertile, and well-watered districts.-Malloodoo possesses these advantages in a still higher degree.-Tiroon produces sago in abundance, and edible birds' nests more copiously than any other part of the Eastern archipelago.

States of Succadana, &c.] Succadana was anciently the most powerful state on the western coast. The Dutch began to trade here in 1604; but it is now entirely in the hands of the Malays, and seldom visited by Europeans. Pontiana is a state of recent origin, though it now exceeds in wealth and power-or at least did so until the recent Dutch expedition— all others on the western coast. This distinction it owes to the wisdom of the Arab prince by whom it was founded. He renounced the pernicious policy—almost universal in these petty states of embarking in trade, and monopolizing its principal articles, but confined himself to his proper functions, of dispensing justice and securing protection to all who resorted to his dominions. Under this salutary policy, the town of Pontiana soon rose to be the greatest emporium in these seas. It is situated on a large river, formerly called Lana.-Mompariva, situated a little to the N. of Pontiana, is the best market for opium upon the coast. The city lies 19 miles up the river.

Authorities.] Beckmann's Voyage, 8vo., Lond., 1788.-Valentyn Beschryving van Borneo.-Raffles' Account.-Sonnerat's Notices.-A Mr

Muller was lately employed by the Dutch government to survey this island, but he was murdered by the natives, and his journals have not yet been published.

CHAP. V.-CELEBES AND THE MOLUCCAS.

THE islands situated to the east of Borneo and Java, and to the south of the Philippines, and extending to the immediate neighbourhood of New Guinea, are called by the French geographers the Moluccas, or Spice Islands. More divided and irregular than the Sunda Islands, they also contain a greater number of volcanoes. Trees, bearing more or less exquisite spices, seem to be diffused over the whole of them. The king of Ternate possesses the whole N. coast of Celebes; and the governments of Macassar and Banda share with each other the Timoorian chain. The Dutch of Batavia comprehend all these countries under the general name of De Groote Oost, or the Great East.'

6

year.

The largest of these islands is Celebes, separated from Borneo on the W. by the strait of Macassar, and from the Moluccas, properly so called, on the E., by the Molucca passage. That portion of the sea on the N. which lies betwixt this island and Mindanao, is sometimes called the sea of Celebes, sometimes the Mindanao sea. The figure of Celebes is extremely irregular. Its superficies, according to Crawford, amounts to nearly 55,000 British square miles. The bays of Boni, of Tole, and, most of all, that of Tomini or Gunong-Tellu, divide it into a number of peninsulas. The more our maps have been improved in correctness, the more ragged and skeleton-like does this islaud appear. It may be compared, says Malte Brun, to a star-fish from which the radiating limbs on that side which lies to the W. have been removed: and it is remarkable that the smaller island of Gilolo, adjoining to it on the E., has the very same singular form. The numerous gulfs confer on this island the advantage of a temperature mild for its equatorial situation, the heat being moderated by the copious rains and the cooling winds. The eastern monsoon lasts from May to November; the opposite one prevails through the rest of the The tides here are extremely irregular. Celebes contains several volcanoes in a state of activity. The bold, broken, and verdant coasts, present some charming landscapes. Numerous rivers fall in broken cascades at the feet of immense rocks, in the midst of majestic groups of picturesque trees. The most poisonous of known vegetables grow in this island. The famous upas, the existence of which in Java has given occasion to so many fables, grows also here; and the Macassars dip their arrows in its juice. Here also grow the clove and nutmeg-trees, which the Dutch so avariciously engross, the ebony, the sandal, the calambac, the valuable woods of which are articles of export, the sago tree, the pith of which is used as an aliment by so many nations, the bread-fruit, and other fruit-bearing species. Rice and cotton are abundant. No elephants or tigers are seen in the forests, but many deer, boars, and, according to some accounts, elks or antelopes. There is an infinity of monkeys of a very strong and very mischievous kind; and there is a large species of serpent, by which many of them are devoured. The cattle of Celebes are small, and have a hump on the back. The island also produces buffaloes, goats, and sheep, which are remarkably lively and sure-footed, being well accustomed to the mountain roads. Besides the fishes common to the seas of Celebes, with others in the same regions, we may remark that large quantities of turtle are taken