Borneo

BORNEO (see also BORNEO, STATE OF NORTH), a great island of the Malay Archipelago between 7° N. and 4° 2o' S., 1o8° 53' and 119 ° 2 2' E. ; 83om. long N.E. to S.W., 600m. max. breadth; area (calculations of Topographical Bureau, Batavia, 1894), square miles. Meyer, who is generally accurate, gives area 289,860 square miles. It is roughly five times as large as England and Wales. Politically Borneo is divided into four portions: (I) State of North Borneo (q.v.) under the Chartered British North Borneo Company; (2) Brunei (q.v.), a Malayan sultanate under British protection with a British Resident; (3) Sarawak (q.v.), the large territory ruled by Rajah Brooke, and with its foreign relations under British protection; and (4) Dutch Borneo, by far the largest and most valuable portion.

Physical Features.

The general character of the country is mountainous, though no range attains to any great elevation, and Kinabalu, the highest peak, near the north-western extremity, is only 13,698f t. above sea-level. There is no proper nucleus of mountains whence chains ramify in different directions. The cen tral and west central parts of the island, however, are occupied by three mountain chains and a plateau. These chains are : the folded chain of the upper Kapuas, which divides the western divi sion of Dutch Borneo from Sarawak, extends west to east, and attains near the sources of the Kapuas river a height of 5,000 to 6,000f t. ; the Schwaner chain, south of the Kapuas, 3,000 to 7,5ooft., the latter being the height of Bukit Raja, a plateau which divides the waters of the Kapuas from the rivers of south ern Borneo; and (3) the Muller chain, between the eastern parts of the Madi plateau and the Kapuas chain, a volcanic region pre senting heights such as Bukit Terata (4,700ft.), long extinct. The Madi plateau lies between the Kapuas and the Schwaner chains. Its height is from 3,00o to 4,000f t., and it is clothed with tropical tree ferns. From the eastern end of the Kapuas mountains there are further to be observed : (I) a chain running north-north-east, forming the boundary between Sarawak and Dutch Borneo, the highest peak of which, Gunong Tebang, approaches i o,000f t. This chain can hardly be said to extend continuously to the ex treme north, but it carries on the line of elevation towards the mountains of Sarawak to the west, and those of British North Borneo to the north, of which latter Kinabalu is the most remarkable. (2) A chain which runs eastward from the central mountains and terminates in the great promontory of the east coast, known variously as Cape Kanior or Kaniungan. (3) A well marked chain running in a south-easterly direction among the congeries of hills that extend south-eastward from the central mountains, and attaining, near the southern part of the east coast, heights up to and exceeding 6,000ft.

Coasts.—Resting on a submarine plateau of no great depth, the coasts of Borneo are for the most part rimmed round by low alluvial lands, of a marshy, sandy, and sometimes swampy char acter. In places the sands are fringed by long lines of Casuarina trees ; in others, and more especially in the neighbourhood of some of the river mouths, there are deep banks of black mud covered with mangroves and Nipa palms ; in others there are bold head lands, cliffs, mostly of a reddish hue, clad with greenery, or roll ing hills sometimes covered by a growth of rank grass. The depth of the sea around the shore rarely exceeds a maximum depth of I to 3 fathoms, and there are few accessible ports. The towns and seaports are, as a rule, at or near the mouths of those rivers which are not barricaded too efficiently by bars. The long coast-line of Dutch Borneo has only seven ports of call, which are habitually made use of by the ships of the Dutch Packet Company. They are Pontianak, Banjermassin, Kota Baru, Pasir, Samarinda, Beru and Bulungan. The islands off the coast are not numerous. Excluding some of alluvial formation at river-mouths, and others along the shore which owe their existence to volcanic upheaval, the principal islands are the Natuna group on the west, the Tawi-tawi group to the east, Banguey and Balambangan on the north, Labuan (q.v.), a British colony off Brunei, Tarakan on the east, Pulo Laut on the south-east, and the Karimata islands.

Rivers.

The rivers play a very important part both as high ways and as lines along which run the main arteries of population. Hydrographically the island has five principal versants. The shortest embraces the north-western slope, north of the Kapuas range, and discharges its waters into the China sea. The most important rivers of the north-west coast are the Sarawak, on which Kuching, the capital of Sarawak, is situated, the Batang Lupar, the Saribas, the Re j ang (navigable for more than loom.), the Baram, the Limbang or Brunei river, and the Padas. The rivers of British North Borneo to the north of the Padas are, except the Kinabatangan, of no importance and of scant practical utility, owing to the proximity of the mountain range to the coast with which it runs • parallel. In the south-western versant, the largest river is the Kapuas, which, rising near the centre of the island, falls into the sea between Mampawa and Sukadana at Pontianak, the chief town of the south-western division, after a long and winding course. This river, of volume varying with tide and rainfall, is normally navigable by small steamers and native prahus, of a draught of 4 to 5ft., for 30o to 400m., that is to say, from Pontianak up to Sintang, and thence as far as Benut. The middle part of this river, wider and more shallow than the lower reaches, gives rise to a region of inundation and lakes which ex tend as far as the northern mountain chain. The southern Melawi, with its affluent the Penuh, is a considerable tributary. It reaches the sea through several channels in a wide marshy delta. The Sambas, north of the Kapuas, is navigable in its lower course for vessels drawing 25ft. Rivers, south of the Kapuas, but less im portant, are the Simpang, Pawan and Kandawangan, near whose mouths or upon the adjacent coast, the principal native villages are situated in each case. The Barito, which is the principal river of the southern versant, takes its rise in the Kuti Lama lake, and falls into the Java sea in i 14° 30' E. Its upper reaches are greatly impeded by rocks, rapids and waterfalls, but the lower part of its course is wide, and traverses a rich, alluvial district, much of which is marshy. Cross branches unite it with two rivers of con siderable size towards the west, the Kapuas Murung or Little Dayak, and the Kahayan or Great Dayak. The Katingan or Men dawei, the Sampit, Pembuang or Surian, and the Kota Waringin fall into the sea farther to the west. The rivers of the southern versant are waters of capacious drainage, the basin of the Kahayan having, for instance, an area of i6,000sq.m., and the Barito one of 38,00o square miles. These rivers, and the Barito's affluents, are navigable for two-thirds of their course by steamers of a fair size, but in many cases the bars at their mouths present consid erable difficulties to ships drawing anything over 8 or 9f t. The south-eastern, like the north-western corner of the island, is watered by several short mountain streams. The one great river of the eastern versant is the Kutei or Mahakam, which, rising in the central mountains, flows east with a sinuous course and falls by numerous mouths into the Straits of Macassar. At a great distance from its mouth it has still a depth of three fathoms, and, in all its physical features, it is comparable with the Kapuas and Barito. The Kayan or Bulungan river is the only other in the eastern versant that calls for mention. Most rivers of the north ern versant are comparatively small, as the island narrows into a kind of promontory.

Lakes are neither numerous nor very large. In most cases they are more fittingly described as swamps. In the flood area of the upper Kapuas, already mentioned, there occurs Lake Luar, and there are several lake expanses of a similar character in the basins of the Barito and Kutei and all other large rivers. A really fine natural harbour is that of Sandakan, the principal settlement of the North Borneo Company on the north coast.

Geology.

The geology of Borneo is very imperfectly known. The mountain backbone between Sarawak and the Dutch posses sions consists chiefly of crystalline schists, together with slates, sandstones and limestones, all much disturbed and folded. The sedimentary deposits were formerly believed to be Palaeozoic, but Jurassic fossils have since been found in them, and it is probable that several different formations are represented. Some what similar rocks appear to form the axis of the range in south east Borneo, and possibly of the Tampatung mountains. But the Muller range, the Madi plateau, and the Schwaner mountains of West Borneo, consist chiefly of almost undisturbed sedimentary and volcanic rocks of Tertiary age. The low-lying country be tween the mountain ranges is covered generally by Tertiary and Quaternary deposits, but there are Cretaceous beds at sev eral localities. Vertebraria and Phyllotheca, plants characteristic of the Indian Gondwana series, have been recorded in Sarawak; and marine forms, similar to those of the lower part of the Aus tralian Carboniferous system, are stated to occur in the limestone of Northern Borneo. Pseudomonotis salinaria, a Triassic form, has been noted from the schists of the west of Borneo. In the Kapuas district radiolarian cherts of supposed Jurassic age are to be found. Undoubted Jurassic fossils, of several horizons, have been described from West Borneo and Sarawak. The Cretaceous beds, long known in West Borneo, are comparatively little dis turbed. They consist for the most part of marls with Orbitolina concava, and are referred to the Cenomanian. Cretaceous beds of somewhat later date are found in the Martapura district in south-east Borneo. The Tertiary system includes conglomerates, sandstones, limestones and marls, which appear to be of Eocene, Oligocene and Miocene age. They contain numerous seams of coal. The Tertiary beds generally lie nearly horizontal and form the lower hills, but in the Madi plateau and the Schwaner range they rise to a height of several thousand feet. Volcanic rocks of Tertiary and late Cretaceous age are extremely developed, espe cially in the Muller mountains of Dutch Borneo. The whole of this consists of tuffs and lavas, andesites prevailing in the west and rhyolites and dacites in the east. A great deal of survey has still to be done, especially in several parts of the mountainous interior.

Climate and Health.

The climate is hot and damp. In the hills and in the interior, regions are found which may almost be described as temperate, but on the coast the atmosphere is dense, humid and oppressive. Throughout, the average temperature is from 78° to 86°, but the thermometer rarely falls below 7o°, except in the hills, and occasionally on exceptional days mounts as high as 96° in the shade. The rainy westerly winds (south-west and north-west), prevail at all the meteorological stations not the comparatively dry south-east wind. The average rainfall over the whole island is approximately i 5oin. a year. The atmosphere is uniformly moist, and though days of continuous downpour are rare, comparatively few days pass without a shower. Most rain falls between November and May, and at this season the torrents are tremendous while they last, and squalls of wind are frequent and violent, almost invariably preceding a downpour. Over such an extensive area there is, of course, great variety in the climatic character of different districts, especially when viewed in rela tion to health. Among the native races the prevailing diseases, apart from those of a malarial origin, are chiefly such as arise from bad and insufficient food. Skin diseases are common among the natives throughout the country, and especially in the interior ; elephantiasis is frequently met with on the coast. Smallpox, dys entery and fevers, frequently of a bilious character, are endemic, and occasionally epidemic. Cholera, brought in by ships, breaks out from time to time and works great havoc. Ophthalmia is common, and sometimes will attack whole tribes. About one sixth of the native population of the interior, and a smaller pro portion on the coast, suffer from kurap, a kind of ringworm, which is almost universal among the Sakai and Semang, the aboriginal hill tribes of the Malayan Peninsula. The disease is believed to be aggravated by chronic anaemia. Consumption is not common. Beriberi was a scourge, where people lived on imported milled rice (see BERI-BERI).

Fauna.

The fauna of Borneo comprises a large variety of species, many of which are numerically of great importance. Among the large mammals the most remarkable is the orang-utan (Malay, ()rang titan, i.e., jungle man), as the huge ape, called Maias by the natives, is named by Europeans. Numerous species of monkey are found in Borneo, including the gibbon, a creature more human in appearance and habits that the orang-utan, and several Semnopitheci, such as the long-nosed monkey (Nasalis larvatTCs), Hose's grey monkey (S. hosci), and a red variety with a black cross down the back and arms (S. cruciger). There are also three species of macaque monkeys. The large-eyed Tarsius spectrum and Nycticebus tardigradus also deserve mention. The larger beasts of prey are not met with, and there is little check on the graminivores. A small clouded tiger-cat (so-called)—Felis nebulosa—is the largest animal of the cat kind. The little honey bear is common. The rhinoceros is widely distributed, but the elephant occurs only in the north ; both are somewhat rare. The distribution of quadrupeds as between Borneo, Sumatra and the Malayan Peninsula is peculiar and seemingly capricious. Many quadrupeds, such as the honey-bear and the rhinoceros, are com mon to all, but while the tiger is common both in the Malayan Peninsula and in Sumatra, it does not occur in Borneo; and the orang-utan, so plentiful in parts of Borneo and Sumatra, has never been discovered in the Malay Peninsula. It has been sug gested, but with very scant measure of probability, that the ex istence of elephants in Borneo, whose confinement to a single area is remarkable and unexplained, is due to importation; and the fact is on record that when Magellan's ships visited Brunei in 1522 tame elephants were in use at the court of the sultan of Brunei. Wild oxen (Bos sondaicus) are found all over the island, and the whole country swarms with wild swine. Four species of deer are common, including the mouse-deer, or plandok, of re markable grace and beauty, about the size of a hare but consider ably less heavy. There are also to be found civet-cats, bear-cats, flying-foxes, otters, porcupines, squirrels, flying-squirrels, tree shrews (Tupaia), rats, bats and the curious little badger (Mydaus). Crocodiles are found in all the rivers, but the gavial is met with less frequently. Lizards are in great variety, some of the genus Draco being able to fly; snakes of various kinds, from the python downward, are abundant, while the forests swarm with tree-leeches, and the marshes with horse-leeches and frogs. A remarkable flying-frog was discovered by Prof. A. R. Wallace. The most important birds are eagles, kites, falcons, owls, horn bills, pheasants—notably the argus, fire-back, and the peacock pheasant (Polypectron), partridges, crows, parrots, pigeons, wood peckers, doves, snipe, quail and swifts. The swift (Collocalia) builds the edible nest from which the famous bird-nest soup is made by the Chinese. Its nests are built mostly in limestone caves, and the Borneo variety is esteemed the best in the archi pelago. Mosquitoes and sand-flies are the chief insect pests, and in some districts are very troublesome. Several kinds of parasitic jungle ticks cause much annoyance to men and beasts. There are also two kinds of fire-ants which are peculiarly painful. Hornets, bees and wasps of many varieties abound. The honey and the wax of the wild bee are collected by the natives. Butter flies, moths and beetles are remarkable for their number, size, variety and beauty. The swamps and rivers, as well as the sur rounding seas, swarm with many kinds of edible fish. The trobok is a species of fish found in the sea and valued for its roe, which is salted. The natives are expert and ingenious fishermen. Turtles, sea-cucumbers and pearl-shell are also of some commercial im portance.

The dog, cat, pig, and fowl are domesticated. The buffalo, a smaller breed than that met with in the Malayan Peninsula, and in some districts bullocks of the Brahmin breed, zebu, and small horses and goats are the principal domestic animals. The char acter of the country and the nomadic habits of many of the na tives of the interior, who rarely occupy their villages for more than a few years in succession, have not proved favourable to pastoral modes of life. The buffaloes are used not only in agri culture, but also as beasts of burden, and as draught-animals. Horses, introduced by Europeans and owned only by the wealthier classes, are found in Banjermasin and in Sarawak. In British North Borneo, and especially in the district of Tempasuk on the north-west coast, Borneo ponies bred originally, it is supposed, from stock indigenous to the Sulu archipelago, are fairly common.

Flora.

The flora is very rich, the far greater portion of the surface of the island being clothed in luxuriant vegetation. The king of the forest is the Tapang (Arburia), rising to a great height without fork or branch to a splendid dome of foliage, beneath which may often be seen 5o to 7o nests of the wild bees on the larger branches. The official seats of some of the chiefs are con structed from the wood of this tree. Ironwood, remarkable for its durability, is abundant ; it is used by the natives for the pillars of their homes and forms an article of export, chiefly to Hong kong. It is rivalled in hardness by the tembesu. In all, about 6o kinds of timber of marketable quality are furnished, but the difficulty of extraction, even in the regions near the large water ways, renders it improbable that the timber trade of Borneo will attain to any very great dimensions until other and easier sources of supply have become exhausted. Palm-trees are abundant in great variety, including the nipah (the leaves of which are much used for roofing) ; others are the cabbage, fan, sugar, coconut and sago palms. The last two furnish large supplies of food to the natives. Some copra is exported, and sago factories, mostly in the hands of the Chinese, prepare sago for the Dutch, British, and other markets. Rubber, gutta-percha, camphor, cinnamon, gambier, ilippi (shorea) nuts, are all produced in the island ; most of the tropical fruits flourish, including the much-admired, but, to the uninitiated, most evil-smelling, durian, a large fruit with an exceedingly strong outer covering of stout pyramidal spikes, like a huge horse chestnut. It grows upon the branches of a tall tree. Yams, several kinds of sweet potatoes, melons, pumpkins, cucumbers, pineapples, oranges, pomelos, bananas, mangoes and mangosteens are cultivated, as are a large number of other fruits. Rice is grown in irrigated lands near the rivers and in the swamps, and also in rude clearings of considerable size in the interior on the hillsides, where the whole of the forest is cut down and burnt off before planting the seed padi ; sugar-cane of superior quality is grown all over the country; cotton, sometimes exported in small quantities, is found on the banks of the Negara, a tributary of the Barito, and many other rivers; tobacco, used very largely now in the production of cigars, comes from various parts of Northern Borneo ; and tobacco for native consumption, of small commercial importance, is cultivated in most parts. Indigo, coffee, and pepper have been cultivated since 1855 in the western divi sion of Dutch Borneo and also extensively in Sarawak. Among the more beautiful of the flowering plants are chlorodendrons, orchids and pitcher-plants, the latter reaching extraordinary de velopment, especially in the northern districts about Kinabalu, Mulu, and many other mountains of the interior. Epiphytous plants are common, many that are usually independent assuming here the parasitic character ; the orchid Vanda for example, grows on the lower branches of trees, and its strange pendant flower-stalks often hang down almost to the ground. Rafflesia, the largest flower in the world, grows at Lundu, in Sarawak. Ferns and allied plants are abundant everywhere, particularly on the limestone mountains.

See H. Keppel, The Expedition to Borneo of H.M.S. "Dido" for the Suppression of Piracy, etc. (1847) ; Posewitz, Borneo (trans. 1892) ; Hose and MacDougall, Pagan Tribes of Borneo (1912) ; H. N. Ivor Evans, Among Primitive Peoples in Borneo (1922). (C. H.; E. S.) Population.—The population of Borneo was estimated (1927) to be about 3,000,000. The Europeans number some 5,000 and the Chinese 250,000. According to the latest official estimates, the population of the four divisions of the island is: Dutch Borneo, 2,194,533 (census of 1930) ; British North Borneo, 270,223 (census of 1931) ; Sarawak, 600,000 (estimated) ; Brunei, 30,135 (census of 1931).

Races.

The peoples of Borneo belong to a variety of races, of different origin and degrees of civilization (see GENERAL ETH NOLOGY section). The Chinese seem to have been among the first civilized people who had dealings with Borneo, if the colonization of a part of the island by Hindus be excepted. Chinese an nals speak of tribute paid to the empire by Pha-la on the north east coast of the island as early as the 7th century, and later documents mention a Chinese colonization in the 15th century. Traditions of Malays and others seem to confirm the statements, and many of the leading families of Brunei in north-west Borneo claim to have Chinese blood in their veins, while the annals of Sulu record an extensive Chinese immigration about 1575. The flourishing condition of Borneo in the 16th and 17th centuries was largely due to the energy of Chinese settlers and to trade with China. In the 18th century there was a considerable Chinese population settled in Brunei, engaged for the most part in plant ing and exporting pepper, but consistent oppression by native rajahs destroyed their industry and led eventually to the practical extirpation of the Chinese. The Malay chiefs of other districts encouraged immigration from China with a view to developing the mineral resources of their territories, and before long Chinese settlers were to be found in considerable numbers in Upper Sarawak, at Bau and Bidi, Sambas, Montrado, Pontianak and elsewhere. They were at first forbidden to engage in commerce or agriculture, to carry fire-arms, to possess or manufacture gun powder. About 1779 the Dutch acquired immediate authority over all strangers, and thus assumed responsibility for the control of the Chinese, who presently proved themselves somewhat trou blesome. Their numbers constantly increased and were re-enforced by new immigrants, and, pushing inland in search of fresh min eral-bearing areas, they contracted frequent intermarriages with the Dayaks and other non-Mohammedan natives. They brought with them from China their aptitude for the organization of secret societies which, almost from the first, assumed the guise of po litical associations. These secret societies facilitated collective action, and under astute leaders they offered a formidable opposi tion to the Dutch Government. Later, when driven into the in terior, and eventually out of Dutch territory, they cost the first rajah of Sarawak, about the year 1857, some severe contests be fore they were at last reduced to obedience. Serious disturbances among the Chinese are now, in Borneo, matters of ancient history, and to-day the Chinaman forms, perhaps, the most valuable ele ment in the civilization and development of the island, just as does his fellow in the mining states of the Malay Peninsula. They are industrious, frugal and intelligent ; the richer among them are ex cellent men of business, and are peculiarly equitable in their deal ings; the majority of all classes can read and write their own script, and the second generation acquires an education of an European type with great facility. The bulk of the shop-keeping, trading and mining industries, so long as the mining is of an alluvial character, is in Chinese hands. The greater part of the Chinese on the west coast were originally drawn from the boun daries of Kwang-tung and Kwang-si. They are called Kehs, and are of the same tribes as those which furnish the bulk of the workers to the tin mines of the Malay Peninsula. They are a rough and hardy people, and are apt at times to be turbulent. The shop-keeping class comes mostly from Fuh-kien and the coast districts of Amoy. The Hylams make excellent domestic servants.

The classification of the peoples of Borneo is beset with diffi culties, because clear lines of demarcation between types are, for various reasons, almost impossible to determine.

Causes of Admixture.

In the first place, of all the pagan tribes, the Kayans and perhaps the Punans have alone remained, in the real sense of the word, true to type. In all other cases the perpetual fusion of tribe with tribe and people with people has caused countless intermediate subtypes. Most of the tribes are migratory by nature, and whether from the mainland to Borneo, or from one part of the island to an other, have advanced by fighting; as they advanced, they took cap tives, who, in order to strengthen and increase the tribe, were grad ually absorbed by marriage.

Another cause of intermixture is economic. Certain tribes espe cially skilful in the obtaining of valuable forest products, have been, during all periods, in great request ; and isolated members, or small parties, have constantly left their home-districts for some centre where they have been able to find a ready market and good prices. In later days the demand in Europe for forest products has brought down to the coast or else to convenient up-country de pots, people who otherwise would have lived remote.

The rivers are always the highways of the country, and have been responsible for a number of landslides of population on a considerable scale ; e.g., the movement of the Peng tribe on the Upper Mahakam of Dutch Borneo down river in 1885 (following an attack by the Ibans of Batang Lupar), and, again, from Dutch Borneo into the up-country portions of the Baram district of Sarawak in 1898-99.

Negritos.

It is probable that at one time the island was in habited by people of the Negrito (pygmy) race. Remnants of a Negrito population are to be found in almost all the islands adja cent to the coast of Borneo, and on the island of Palawan there exists to-day a dwarfish Negrito people known as Alta, undoubted ly an indigenous element, and, still in many places, the recognized owners of the soil.

In Borneo itself it is doubtful if any communities of this race remain, although individuals may occasionally be met with whose hair and facial characteristics strongly suggest an infusion of Negrito blood. Such cases are perhaps sufficiently accounted for by the fact that from time to time slaves and captives have been imported from outside.

Malays.

To-day the inhabitants of the island may be classified generally as Lant and Dayak.

The first word means "Sea people," and is applied by the pagan inhabitants of the island to Malays. who are Mohammedans and mostly live on the coast ; the second is a Bornean word varying in exact significance according to locality, and meaning either up country people, or more generally, all people who are not coast people or Mohammedans. The Malays first settled in Borneo, especially on the north coast, some 70o years ago, and later pene trated inland, naturally following the course of the many rivers. They seem to have belonged, in the main, to the class known as Orang-Benua (men of the soil) , such as are found elsewhere (e.g., in Celebes, Jilolo and Madagascar) and are distinct from the cultured Malay peoples, many of whom were probably Hindus before conversion. Many of the Orang Malayu in the island to day are either recent converts to Islam, or the descendants of such converts.

"Pagan" Tribes.—Regarding the origin of the older and pagan peoples, at some very remote period, a considerable migration took place, of Caucasian' tribes and peoples, described as a Proto Caucasic race, and in a south-easterly direction, even reaching, at its extreme easterly limit, as far as the islands of the western Pacific. To these peoples when settled in their Asiatic home, was given the name Indonesians, meaning thereby all the earlier in habitants of the islands and sea-coast countries from Burma to New Guinea. These Indonesians were dolichocephalic. On their way south and east they encountered, with varying results, other migratory tribes known as Southern Mongols and Oceanic Mon gols, who seem to have originated in northern China and would appear to have parted company on their way south. An admix ture in various degrees between them and the Caucasic peoples then formed two distinct great groups of peoples travelling south, either down the valleys of the Brahmaputra and the Irrawaddy, or through southern China and Cambodia by way of the Mekong and Sikiang and in some cases passing to their present habitat by way of the Philippines. From an admixture of these two elements are descended the pagan tribes of Borneo.

The Cambridge university anthropological expedition in 1898 confirmed Hose's suggested classification of these six groups; viz., Punans, Klemantans, Kenyahs, Kayans, Muruts and Ibans (commonly known as Sea-Dayaks) ; the first three representing the oldest stock in the island, Kayans, Ibans and Muruts being later arrivals. Of these tribes it is more than likely that the Kayans and Kenyahs took the westerly route, the Punans, Kle mantans, Ibans and Muruts, the easterly. The Kayans and Ken yahs are, therefore, presumably akin to such peoples as the Nagas, Karens, Arakanese, and what Keane calls Tibeto-Burmese; while the Punans, Klemantans, Ibans, and Muruts (the latter of whom show considerable affinity with certain Philippine tribes) have as their kinsmen Formosans, Bugis, Javanese, Sundanese, and Ma lays. The Punans, Klemantans and Kenyahs have a predominant percentage of Caucasian features, the long head, wavy rather than curly hair and fair complexion. The Mongolian ingredients are shown by the Mongol "fold" of the eyelid, which is found in a very large number of cases. They arrived in Borneo as pagans and remain pagans to this day, having a number of gods of an in definite character and personality, mostly deities derived from natural phenomena (as the sea, the forest, and so forth), but be lieving vaguely in one Supreme Being. They make figures of their gods and build altars, but have not reached the stage of temple-building.

The three other tribes, the Kayans, the Muruts and the Ibans, all arrived in Borneo late enough for them to be called in vaders. The Kayans, though later arrivals than the Punan Klemantan-Kenyah group, are undoubtedly the most occidental of all the peoples. They seem to have migrated very slowly, halt ing for long periods at the various stages, but never remaining permanently at any point until they reached Borneo. They brought with them their own culture, and hardly mingled at all with the various Mongol peoples whom they encountered. With them are to be grouped, according to Dr. A. W. Nieuwenhuis (Quer durch Borneo, Leyden, 1904-07), the great Bahau people found in the eastern part of Dutch Borneo.

The Muruts are rather more Caucasian than the Kayans, but they brought with them less from the west, very possibly because they took a longer time over their journey, and were more af 'The words "Caucasian," "Caucasic" are here used as convenient terms without any geographical significance. "We are no more called upon to believe that the Caucasic peoples originated in the Caucasus than that the Semites are all descendants of Shem." (Keane op. cit.) fected in habits, although not in race, by the peoples whom they met.

The third group, the Ibans, who perhaps are nearer to the Muruts than any other group and may be the latest of the in vaders, stand somewhat apart, for they differ more from the other tribes than the latter do from each other. They, like Punans, Klemantans and Muruts, have been called Proto-Malayans, and are often referred to as Malays. This nomenclature, however, re quires correction. The Malays are not a racial or ethnological, but a religious group; converts to Islam dating from the i 2th cen tury, who after their conversion so changed their habits of life that, acquiring great influence over all parts of Indonesia, they appeared to be a homogeneous race, though in fact made up of all sorts of tribes and peoples. These energetic sea-rovers and conquerors appear to have spread either from the peninsula or from the Sumatran district of Menangkabau, about eight or nine hundred years ago, founding permanent settlements around the Bornean sea-board and the adjacent islands of the Archipelago, and spreading eastwards almost to Papua and north to Cambodia and Annam. Among others with whom they came into close con tact were the Ibans of Sarawak, who, if they were not actually converted, at least acted with them in various enterprises, chiefly piracy and the capture of slaves.

There is a tradition, which cannot be satisfactorily checked, that a few centuries ago the Ibans were brought from Sumatra into Borneo by Malay nobles of Sarawak. This is possibly cor rect, but it is quite probable that many settlements of Ibans had already been formed in other parts of Borneo before any Malay occupation of the coastal districts.

Ibans have undeniably associated with Malays and actually, by conversion to Islam, become Malays and intermarried with them, and the Malay language undoubtedly contains many Iban words ; but they are only one of the many widely differing and widely scattered peoples out of whom the present day Malays have been built up.

Dutch Borneo.--Dutch

Borneo is divided for administrative purposes into three divisions, the western and the south and eastern respectively. Of the three, the first is under the more complete and effective control. In these divisions there is an aver age density of eight people to the square mile. The sparseness of the population throughout the Dutch territory is due to a variety of causes—to the physical character of the country re stricting population to the near neighbourhood of the rivers; to the low standard of civilization many natives have attained ; to wars, piracy and head-hunting, the last of which has not even yet been wholly checked in the interior ; and to aggression and oppressions in earlier times of Malayan, Arab, Bugis and other settlers. Among the natives of the north, more especially of the interior, an innate restlessness which leads to a life of poverty, in sufficient nourishment, an incredible improvidence which induces them to convert into intoxicating liquor a large portion of their annual crops, feasts of a semi-religious character which are in variably accompanied by prolonged drunken orgies, and certain superstitions which necessitate frequent procuration of abortion, have contributed to check growth of population. In Sambas, Montrado, and some parts of Pontianak, the greater density of the population is due to immigration from Java and Sumatra, the greater fertility of the soil, the opening of mines, the naviga tion and trade plied on the larger rivers, and the concentration of the population at the junction of the rivers, the mouths of rivers and the seats of government. In Amuntai and Martapura, early Hindu colonization, of which the traces and the influence still are manifest, the fertile soil, trade and industry aided by navigable rivers, have led to large growth of population. Only a very small proportion of the Europeans in Dutch Borneo, Sarawak, or British North Borneo, live by agriculture or business industry, the great majority of them being officials. The Arabs and Chinese, Malays and interior tribes, are engaged in trading, mining, fishing, rubber planting and agriculture. Of the natives. fully go% live by the collection of forest produce or by agriculture, which, however, until recent years has been for the most part of a somewhat primi tive description. The industries of the natives are confined to such crafts as spinning, weaving and dyeing, the manufacture of iron weapons and implements, boat and ship-building, and the collec tion of jungle products. More particularly in the south-eastern division, and especially in the districts of Negara, Banjermasin, Amuntai and Martapura, in Dutch Borneo, and amongst most of the peoples of Sarawak, shipbuilding, iron-forging, gold and silver smith's work, and the polishing of diamonds, are industries of high development in the larger centres of population.

The actual power and influence of a chief depend naturally on local and tribal custom and personality. Among Kayans, Ken yahs, and most Klemantans, the influence of the village chief is considerable; among Muruts and Ibans it is less marked, while among the Punans the functions of the chief are informal and are chiefly concerned with social welfare. Among the Kayans, and still more so among the Kenyahs, his position is one of greater au thority and he receives much voluntary assistance, consideration, and respect.

Social Classes.—A peculiar feature especially noticeable among Kayans and Kenyahs, but one which with the diffusion of Euro pean influence is gradually disappearing, is the existence in a vil lage of three different classes of inhabitant. Such a class distinc tion doubtless owes its origin to the taking of captives by con quering tribes, and is for that reason more to be observed among the Kayans than with others; in some cases also the creation of a lower class has been due to disciplinary action. Among Kay ans and Kenyahs there are to-day three strata of society, more or less distinguishable and recognized by the people themselves. The upper class consists of the family of the village chief and his near relatives; they bear their part in the work of the community, such as the cultivation of crops, but their work is less prolonged and less intensive than that of the lower classes.

The lowest of the three classes is that containing descendants of captives taken in the former civil wars. The modern governments of Borneo have given such opportunities for captives to regain their independent status, that this third class is gradually dying out. Among the Ibans, who are geographically the nearest to the important centres of the Government of Sarawak on all the large rivers of the country, it can be said no longer to exist. Among the tribes where the system still remains, the position of these cap tured people is in no sense that of slaves except that they are at tached to the house, and need certain formalities to procure their emancipation, a step rarely taken and often retraced. These de pendents are either what is called "servants of the house" or "servants outside the room." Those inside the house are the fam ilies of captives, absorbed into it by marriage; their work and posi tion are servile only in so far as they are bound to the house; in practice they are part of the tribe. The servants outside the room are hangers-on, whose connection with the house is accidental; and whose absence or presence is immaterial. They are not inclined to leave, and when they do so, are easily persuaded to return.

Between these is a middle class, who commonly comprise the majority of the people in a house. De facto they belong to the upper class although their voices in public affairs carry less weight. They are, as might be expected, the result of fusion or of de cadence, parvenus who are in the process of working upwards, or members of a higher class who have fallen. As the influence of the central government spreads, these distinctions tend toward obliteration, the lowest class ceasing to be created, and the middle class being gradually absorbed into the higher.

The unit of political life is the village, which may consist of one or more long houses. Each house has its own chief, but one is recognized as the. head chief of the village. Each village is inde pendent although, as a matter of caution, before any important affair, such as a change of location or the undertaking of a war expedition, the advice and often the co-operation of neighbour ing villages belonging to the same tribe is sought. Intermarriages between villages, which, especially in the case of chiefs, are common, more usually result in alliance than fusion.

Long Houses.—The Long House, which is found in all parts of the island, is derived perhaps from the pile-built houses of lake dwellers, such as are found to-day, together with raft-dwellings, along the tidal rivers and especially at Brunei, a pile-built town. These long houses, the best of which are built by Kayans, are erected on the banks of tidal rivers, out of reach of the freshets, and are usually of one type, the average length being six or seven hundred feet. They are divided longitudinally into two parts, the front forming a long gallery serving as a communal room, a sort of combination of public hall and village street. The back is divided into a number of rooms, each housing one family. The whole is built on massive piles of ironwood and raised 15 to 2of t. from the ground, the gallery being reached by ladders. A Kayan village usually consists of three to five such houses. The same is frequently the case with Kenyah and some Klemantan villages, but an Iban settlement invariably consists of a single house at no great distance from others.

The House Chief.

The powers of the house chief are con cerned with house matters, such as marriage and divorce, com pensation for personal injury or loss, and disputes arising from the ownership of property, especially farming and fruit lands. The village chief, who sits in council with subordinate chiefs, deals with matters which affect the village as a whole, and trials for serious personal injuries. He is also responsible for the proper observa tion of omens, and the regulation of taboos and restrictions (other than those of individuals), and various religious rites. He takes the leading part in social ceremonies and is regarded by other chiefs as largely responsible for the behaviour of his people. Above all, in war he is responsible for both strategy and tactics.

The Penghulu.

At the head of a tribe, or of a group of villages more or less scattered, is a kind of justice of the peace or native magistrate, called the Penghulu. The title is largely an honorary one, the Penghulu being a Government officer, elected by the people and approved by the Government and a member of the general council; whether in Dutch Borneo, Sarawak or British North Borneo, he is an essential part of the administration.

In the matter of beliefs the Bornean, possessing a mechanical mind, is under no illusion as to "devils" resident in machinery. At the same time, the belief in various spirits is an essential in gredient in his nature. In Borneo, as elsewhere, the progressive stages of belief range from Animism through Polymorphism to Monotheism. These forms of belief are found not only spread throughout the islands, but commonly combined in one tribe and in one individual. The belief in spiritual powers is universal, such powers being either (a) Anthropomorphic gods, or (b) vague im palpable nature spirits, for which the generic name in Kayan is Toh, possibly a corruption of the Malay word Hantu, ghost.

The Greater Gods.--Of

these the first are spirits, thought of as possessing man's shape and, by certain fortunate individuals in the past, actually so seen. They are regarded with awe and gratitude, and are addressed in prayers and thanksgivings. Such gods are Ballingo, the Kenyah god of thunder, Laki Pesong, the Kayan god of fire, and three Kayan gods of life ; some, such as the gods of fire and of the harvest, are friendly, others, as the gods of madness and fear, malevolent. In origin these gods are undoubtedly animistic. Images representing them are found outside most houses, but the images are not regarded either as being gods themselves or having any divine power ; rather they are symbolic reminders, serving a double purpose, to the wor shipper recalling the existence of the spirits, and to the gods the needs of their suppliants.

Beside and above all these is one principal god who is perhaps regarded as a sort of house or village chief among gods, and whose name, rather than his functions, varies in different tribes. Among the Kayans he is known as Laki Tenangan, and has a wife Doh Tenangan, who is especially addressed by women; among many Klemantans he is Pa Silong, among Kenyahs, Penyalong. Pen yalong, with the Punans, is the title given to a crocodile god, who is almost the only personal god in whom they believe.

Toh.—The second class of spirits, the Toh, are vaguely con ceived and may include the souls of animals and men past and present. They are regarded as malevolent and the object of fear, surrounding the long house and infesting the rivers, the moun tains, the forest, and, by coastal tribes, the sea. Death, sickness, the failure of crops and other major disasters are ascribed to the influence of these spirits which may be avoided by disguise, or propitiated by offerings. Toh are naturally most formidable in the least accessible places, such as mountain-tops, and, to some ex tent, caves and waterfalls. In the regulating of conduct they play an important part, being connected with various taboos; it is on fear of them rather than any feeling towards the major gods, that morality is based. The most important Toh are those connected with the.dried heads of enemies, which are found in many Bornean long houses.

Iban Petara.

The Ibans do not seem to have any concept corresponding to the Supreme Spirit of the other tribes. The Petara of these people is a conception of one god having many manifestations and functions, each manifestation being anthropo morphic. Such are the mythical warrior, Klieng, and the god of war, Singalang Burong, who has a material animal form (that of the white-headed hawk, Bali Flaki of the Kenyahs) ; a yearly festival (Begawai) is held in his honour at which songs and prayers are continued for ten or twelve hours without cease.

The Unknown Helper.

Ibans, and some other tribes, have another, but a very rare belief in the Ngarong (Tua of the Ma lays), an invisible helper, usually the spirit of an ancestor or dead relative, who becomes the special protector of some individual, being first manifested in a dream. After such a dream the Iban wanders through the forest seeking a sign, either an animal or an inanimate object, which thereafter becomes to him the abode of his guardian spirit. The animal is most commonly a snake, a bear, a tiger-cat, a wild boar, or a gibbon. In such a case all individuals of that species become objects of special regard to the protege of the Ngarong; he will not kill or eat any such animal, and as far as he can, restrains others from so doing. Every Iban who has no such guardian hopes to obtain some bird or beast as his helper at the Begawai, the festival of the Petara.

Life after Death.—The attitude of Borneans towards death and the life after death is peculiar, since a man's soul is regarded as remaining in the neighbourhood of the body so long as it re mains in the house. The Kayans appear to distinguish two souls, the one (Blua) the true vital principle, the other a ghost-soul, which in a live man may wander far, in dreams, in sickness and in abstractions; and accordingly the word urip, meaning to be alive, is used as a term of respect to a person recently dead, but still, so to speak, in the neighbourhood. After death the soul is sup posed to wander on foot until from a high point it views a great river, Long Malan (Long Bali Matai of the Kenyahs), in the basin of which are found the dwelling places of souls, the destination of each varying according to the manner of death. The largest of these districts is Apo Leggan (Kayan), where life is continued much as on earth. Other districts are Tan Tekkan, where suicides pass a miserable existence, and Long Julan, the weir leading to the lake of blood, where warriors who have met a violent end live in comfort, having for wives the ghosts of women who died in child birth. The river of death, which all must cross, is bridged by a single log suspended from bank to bank, and constantly shaken by a guardian, Maligang (Klemantan) . At the far end of this rocking bridge, according to the Punans, sits a giant helmeted hornbill, which frightens timid souls and causes them to fall into the river and be swallowed by a great fish.

In general the life after death is considered as not in any way much different from this life. Social distinctions, especially such as are achieved by the taking of heads in war, are perpetuated; hence the importance attached to tattooing. Death is neither greatly feared nor desired, and often old people, apparently cheer ful and vigorous, will express their entire indifference to the whole matter.

Omens.—The observation of omens, whether by the cries of birds and beasts, or by the livers of sacrificial pigs, plays a most important part in the life of every tribe.

In the first place, auspices from birds are always taken by the aristocracy of a tribe, and consist in the observation of the flight of hawks made from a tabernaculum or booth with a rectangular frame, embracing a definite portion of the sky (templum) . The flight of birds to the left is considered, in each case, a good omen. While the omens are being taken all sounds which might be unpro pitious are drowned by the beating of gongs and drums, a band of young men being provided for the purpose. These omens, when obtained, must be corroborated by the inspection of a sacrificial animal, a pig or a fowl. In Borneo, the liver is the seat of omens, and is, for the purposes of haruspicy, divided into certain regions, which are chiefly geographical or territorial. The omens thus ob tained are held to be the answer of the god to the prayers carried to him by the spirit of the pig.

The rice-harvest (danggi) is one of the greatest importance, and the continuity of life, in the seed-grain, with which is asso ciated the fertility of the women of the tribe, is ensured by the ceremonial mixture of old and new rice, grains taken from a spe cial store of rice kept in the house for this semi-religious purpose, being added each year to the grain intended for planting. The old store is on each occasion replenished by a similar quantity of new seed.

The taking of the heads of enemies killed in battle has certain characteristic features which deserve special notice. In this mat ter it is necessary to distinguish clearly between the practice of the Ibans in this matter, and that of the other tribes. (See HEAD HUNTING.) Among Ibans.—Ibans alone appear to take heads for the sake of glory, and to attack other tribes with this aim. It is highly probable that they were not the originators of the habit, but hav ing come across it in existence among other tribes, they found it to their liking and made a hobby of it. In this doubtless they were encouraged by the Mohammedan pirates with whom they co operated between the r 5th and 19th centuries and who allowed them to take the heads of such enemies as were not captured alive. To-day the spread of European influence and the fact that Ibans are mostly to be found near government stations, has done much to stamp out head-taking; but, in any case there has been, both in fiction and in sober histories, a deal of exaggeration as to the custom. Undoubtedly Ibans have been known to attack friendly villages and even rob tombs in order to obtain heads; and it is equally true that they have been encouraged by their women-folk. But to suggest, as has been done frequently, that marriage is con ditional upon head-taking, or that head-hunting is a habitual exer cise, is completely misleading.

Other Tribes.

Among other tribes head-taking is almost ex clusively connected with retaliation on enemies, the prosperity of the rice-crop, or the funeral rites of a dead chief. In earlier days an essential part of the burial of a person of importance was the sacrifice of a slave who was to accompany and serve the departed in the next world. This appears clear from the presence, at the head and foot of coffins, of wooden effigies, to which a live fowl is attached. For slaves, economy, in the course of time, no doubt, suggested the substitution, first of an outsider, later of an enemy taken in battle; and then, for convenience, of an enemy's head. Such a head is always thickly covered with palm-leaves tied round it, as if to disguise the fact that it is a head.

Among the Kayans, whose practice is typical and largely influ ences that of other tribes, the period of mourning for a dead chief is only terminated by the taking of a head; but, since that termi nation may be indefinitely delayed, the village waits (often for years) for a casus belli with another tribe, when a successful raid may achieve a double purpose. Nowadays, indeed, a dried head is often borrowed from a friendly village, both for this purpose and for the harvest festival and fertility of the crops and also for the ceremony of initiation of young boys into the art of war, in which a head is struck at by tiny children in mimic warfare; while at certain stations the Government keeps a few old heads which can be borrowed. Kayans do not care to have in the house more than some 20 or 3o heads at most, and on certain occasions, e.g., the removal to a new house, such as are superfluous are furtively left behind in a newly built hut where a fire kept burning for several days deceives the ghost souls of the heads.

The Rite of the Heads.

When the heads of enemies are taken they are not immediately placed in the gallery of the long house, but are lodged in a temporary hut built for the purpose. Here, outside the hut, the initiation of the boys is held. On the next day, a tall bamboo post is erected at a distance from the house near the image of the war god ; this post is covered with strips of palm-leaves and from its top a single head is suspended. Before this altar-piece are placed smaller posts bearing small portions of human flesh, a thank-offering to the gods and to the omen-birds. The mourning period is terminated by a head or portion of one being carried down stream and placed on the dead chief's tomb ; the ceremony is completed by the sacrifice of pigs and chickens. Later, other heads taken are brought into the house, where they are hung up amid general rejoicing, in the main verandah, op posite the principal room.

Heads and Toh.

The heads are believed to be haunted by a ghost soul or Toh of exceptional power and value. They are treated with respect and awe. Old men only may touch them since their hold on life is short. Fire is kept constantly burning below, a circle of small hooks is attached to them, and occasionally they are offered pork and rice-spirit.

The origin of Toh is probably due to the belief that the ghost souls are resident in the human head, which, as long as it is not neglected, produces fertility in the soil, and promotes the growth of crops as well as the prosperity of the community in general and in particular that of the person who, alone, or with others, took the head. If neglected, the head is said to grind or champ its teeth, and on occasions, to cast itself on the floor, breaking the rattan by which it is suspended. The wooden hooks and bamboo cups attached to the heads of enemies mean that pro vision is made for additional heads and sustenance for the ghost-souls. Similar beliefs are current among the people of Assam, and this similarity is of importance in indicating the origin, migrations, and the persistence of beliefs amongst tribes which must have separated before the dawn of recorded history.

The Bornean tribes seem in earlier days to have done little or nothing in the way of raising crops, being content, as are the Punans, with the products of the forest ; and rice would seem to have been unknown in the island until some three hundred years ago. To-day it is the staple food of the island, having, in all like lihood, been introduced from Java by Malays or from the Philip pines by the Muruts and their kindred. Muruts are credited with having introduced rice-cultivation in terraces and irrigation, and they are the best farmers in the interior of Borneo inasmuch as they raise two crops a year. Apart from rice, they cultivate a cer tain amount of maize, millet, tobacco and vegetables, especially gourds, cucumbers and chillies; and they are thus able to be self supporting throughout the year. The only other tribes that produce enough to keep themselves are the Kayans and the Ibans. The Kayan is here, as in other matters, painstaking and methodical. His only crop is rice, but he takes great care in selecting various kinds so as to suit different localities. The Iban shows his versatil ity in the variety of produce, and he is careful not to exhaust his land. He is a hard worker and grows various vegetables in small areas cultivated by individual families.

Of the other tribes Klemantans are skilful up to a point, but they have only comparatively recently become farmers, and as their chief aim is to economize labour, they depend largely on im ported food-stuffs. The Kenyah is prevented from being a good agriculturist only by his natural improvidence and his hospitality. He rarely raises enough rice to last him for more than nine months; for the rest of the year if he cannot exchange jungle produce for what he needs, he is, like the Punans, satisfied with wild sago.

The collection of various commercial products for sale or ex port is the source of various profitable industries. The chief com modities thus obtained are rattans, vegetable tallow from the seed of the Shorea tree (Punans and Ibans) , rubber, both wild and (latterly) Para, beeswax, beche-de-mer or trepang (coastal tribes); camphor (Punans), gutta-percha (Kayans, Klemantans and Ibans) and edible birds' nests (Kayans and Klemantans). The most important arts are boat and house building, ironwork (Kayans and Kenyahs), basket and mat work (Klemantans and Punans), weaving (Ibans), carving (Kayans, Klemantans and Kenyahs), and the manufacture of the blow-pipe (Kayans, Ken yahs and Punans). Tattooing is common all over the island, espe cially among Kayan women, with whom it has a ceremonial and religious significance.

Minerals.

The mineral wealth of Borneo is great and varied. It includes diamonds, the majority of which, however, are of a somewhat yellow colour, gold, cinnabar, copper, iron, stibnite, mineral oils, sulphur, rock-salt, marble and coal. The exploitation of the mines suffers from difficulties of transport, high duties pay able in Dutch Borneo to native princes, competition among rival companies, and often the limited quantities of the minerals found. The districts of Sambas and Landak in the west, the Kahayan river, the mountain valleys of the extreme south-east, and parts of Sarawak, have furnished the largest quantities of gold, mostly from alluvial washings. Diamonds are also found widely dis tributed. The Kapuas valley near Landak has so far yielded the largest quantity.

Considerable progress has been made in the development of oil-fields in Dutch Borneo, and the Nederlandsch Indische Indus trie en Handel Maatschappij, the Dutch business of the Shell Transport and Trading Company, increased its output from 123, 592 tons in 1901 to about 675,000 tons in 1926. At Miri, in Sarawak, great discoveries have been made (see SARAWAK), but in North Borneo up to the end of 1925 no oil in paying quantities had been found, although there are numerous indications in Kalias and other parts of the State. Coal mines have, in many instances, been opened and abandoned. Coal of good quality has been found in Pengaron and elsewhere in the Banjermasin dis trict, but most Borneo coal is considerably below this average. It has also been found in fair quantities at various places in the Kutei valley, and in Sarawak. The coal-mines of Labuan (q.v.) have been worked spasmodically, but success has never attended the venture. Sadong yields something under 130 tons a day, and there is the Kilingkang range of hills in Sarawak, at Selantik, an enormous coal-field, well surveyed by the Government. In 1825, John Crawfurd, the orientalist, learned that a quantity of anti mony had been brought to Singapore by a native trader as ballast. The principal mine is at Bidi, in Sarawak, but the supply has been diminishing for several years.

There is no reason to believe that Borneo has ever formed a political unity; and few if any of its indigenous inhabitants have any conception of it as an island. By some Klemantan has been declared to be its native name, but for this there is scant war ranty, natives of the archipelago speaking invariably of a particu lar part of the island, never of the island as a whole. The name Borneo is derived from Brunei (q.v.), the Malayan sultanate of that name on the west coast, which is to-day under British protec tion. The only archaeological remains are a few Hindu temples, and it is probable that the early settlement of the south-eastern portion of the island dates from about the sixth century A.D. In Borneo the primitive Hinduism, which still lingers on in Lombok and Bali, has long ago died out. There exist no data from which the early history of Borneo can be reconstructed. It began to be known to Europeans after the fall of Malacca in 1511, when d'Albuquerque despatched Antonio d'Abreu with three ships to search for the Molucca, or Spice, islands, with instructions to es tablish friendly relations with all native potentates whom he might meet. D'Abreu, sailing in a south-easterly direction from the Straits of Malacca, skirted the southern coast of Borneo and laid up his ships at Amboyna (q.v.) . He returned to Malacca in 1514, leaving one of his captains, Francisco Serrano, a kinsman of Ma gellan, at Ternate, where the latter's followers found him still liv ing in 1521. After Magellan's death, his comrade sailing south south-by-west, entered the Brunei river and landed at Brunei town. During the remainder of the 16th century Borneo, being on the highway between Malacca and the Spice islands, was fre quently visited by the Portuguese, who established a trade with Brunei. Of this the Spaniards in 1573 tried unsuccessfully to win a share, but this object was not attained till 158o, when they supported a claimant to the throne of Brunei who had ap pealed to them for aid. Thereafter the commercial intercourse between Brunei and the Spaniards was intermittent and hos tilities frequent. In 1645 the latter sent an expedition on a larger scale to punish repeated acts of piracy, but the Spaniards and the Portuguese were both seeking trade, not territory. Pros elytizing was only once essayed and Antonio Ventimiglia, a Thea tine monk, its originator, was speedily killed. The monopoly of the Iberian nations in the trade of the archipelago was now as sailed by the Dutch and British East India companies, and the former established trading-depots on the west coast of Borneo in 1604, and in 1608 Samuel Bloommaert was appointed Dutch head factor at Landak and Sukedana. The British reached Borneo in 1609 and by 1698 they had an important factory at Banjermasin, whence they were expelled about 1733 through Dutch influence, the latter having obtained from the Sultan of Bantam a trading monopoly throughout his Bornean territory. In the north of the island, over which the Sultan of Sulu claimed sovereign rights, the British succeeded in establishing their influence to some ex tent, Alexander Dalrymple obtaining possession of the island of Balambangan and the whole of the northern promontory (Sabah). The local Data' (chiefs), who resented this cession of their terri tories, destroyed a British fort in 1775, and this incident pre vented the latter from profiting by a treaty with Brunei concluded in 1774. By the end of the 18th century British influence in Borneo was extinct; and the Dutch also, after a troublous ex perience, abandoned all their Bornean posts in 1809, by order of Marshal Daendels. Freed from intruders, the natives of the Bor nean coast aided and stimulated by immigrants from the archipel ago, devoted themselves to piracy on a large scale, putting to sea in great fleets manned by 2,000 or 3,00o men for three year cruises, and interfering materially with the trade of more civil ized nations. During the British occupation of Java an embassy was sent to Sir Stamford Raffles by the Sultan of Banjermasin asking for assistance; and in 181i Alexander Hare was sent there as Commissioner and Resident. He obtained an advantageous treaty and for himself the grant of a district. In 1816, Java hav ing been restored to the Dutch, the latter obtained concessions from the sultan of about half his kingdom. Meanwhile George Muller, while exploring the east coast, obtained from the Sultan of Kutei an acknowledgment of Dutch authority, but was shortly afterward killed. Trouble in Java caused Borneo to be neglected by the Dutch during a prolonged period, and piracy became ram pant. On the rise of Singapore a direct trade sprang up with Sara wak and Brunei, and to this the piratical adventures of the Bajaus and Ilanuns of north-west Borneo constituted a serious and con stant menace. James Brooke, a retired officer of the Indian Army, who had fitted out his yacht Royalist for exploration in the Malay archipelago, determined to deal with the nuisance. On August 15th, 1839, he anchored off Kuching, the capital of Sarawak, and in 1841 the Sultan of Brunei ceded to him the huge district of Sarawak as a reward for his services in suppressing a civil war in that part of the country and checking piracy. By a treaty con cluded with the British Government in 1888 the second Rajah Brooke surrendered the control of his foreign relations to the British Government. Piracy was finally extirpated by the British Navy by the battle of Marudi bay in 1845. The island of Labuan (laboh-an, "anchorage") was ceded by the Sultan of Brunei to the British Crown in 1847. The conclusion of this treaty with the Sultan of Brunei finally excluded the Dutch from the northern part of Borneo, but it stimulated them to increased activity in the south. The boundaries of British and Dutch Borneo were finally defined by a treaty concluded on June 20, 1891. The rise of Brit ish North Borneo under its Chartered Company is dealt with in a separate article. Labuan was at first only a naval outpost, but in 1848 it became a separate Crown colony, ruled by its own gov ernor. Later, for a period, it was governed by the governor of the Chartered Company's territory. In 1907 it was annexed to the Straits Settlements and declared to be part of the settlement of Singapore. In 1912 it was constituted a separate settlement. The Government of the Straits is represented there by a Resident, who is also the district judge. The Governor of the Straits Settlements is British Agent for Sarawak and British North Borneo.

(H. CL.) Keppel, The Expedition to Borneo of H.M.S. Dido (1846) ; J . R. Logan, The Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia (Singapore, 1847-62) ; H. Low, Sarawak, its Inhabitants and Productions (1848) ; Schwanner, Borneo (Amsterdam, A. H. Keane, Ethnology, and Man—Past and Present (1896) ; H. Ling Roth, The Natives of Sarawak and British North Borneo (1896) ; W. Kiikenthal, Ergebnisse einer zoologischen Forschungsreise in den Molukken and in Borneo (Frankfurt a.M., 1896) ; A. C. Haddon, Head Hunters, Black, White and Brown (i9o1) ; A. W. Nieuwenhuis, Quer durch Borneo (Leyden, 19o4) ; C. Hose and MacDougall, The Pagan Tribes of Borneo (1 912) ; Ranee Margaret of Sarawak, My Life in Sarawak (1913) ;W . Warde Fowler, "Ancient Italy and Modern Borneo" in Roman Essays and Interpretations (1920) ; C. Hose, Natural Man, A Record from Borneo (1926) ; J. H. Hutton, British Association Proceedings (Leeds, 1927) ; Archdeacon Perham, Jour. Straits Asiatic Soc.: No. 2, p. 123 (Mengop, Song of the Dyak head feast) ; No. 8, p. 183 (Petara, or Sea Dyak Gods) . (C. H.)