BRUNEI, a protected British State in the north-west of Borneo, included, northern Borneo and southern Palawan, and stretched down the coast as far as Sambas. What remains of this once powerful sultanate is a triangular-shaped territory, the base of the triangle being represented by 8om. of coastline, and the two sides by the frontiers of Sarawak. The area is vari ously given as 4,000 and 5,000 sq. m. but is much nearer 3,000. This great reduction has been brought about by the cession on successive occasions of strips of territory to Sarawak and to the British North Borneo Company on condition of annual payments of money. The Sultan Mohammed Jamal-ul-alam, K.C.M.G., who succeeded his father in 1906, died in 1924. The present Sul tan is a minor, and the country is ruled by two regents. The sul tan receives an allowance of 12,000 dollars a year from State funds, and his two principal ministers receive allowances of 6,000 dollars a year each.
The bulk of the inhabitants, Malays, Kadayans, Orang Bukits and a few Muruts, live in and about the capital—also called Brunei—the population of the city being estimated at about 15, 000, and the whole territory at 25,00o to 30,000. The city is prettily situated on the river, with a background of cleared hills, and in the distance heights clothed with magnificent forest. The dwelling-houses are built over the river on slender piles of Nibong palm which resists the action of the water for several years. Some of the natives are skilled workers of brass, and the Brunei women make very beautiful cloth, interwoven and embroidered with gold thread. Sago is worked in the important river-valleys of the Tutong and the Balait, but only a small quantity of rice is cultivated.
Since the War the trade of Brunei with the outside world and the interior tribes of Sarawak and British North Borneo has shown steady development. In 1921 exports of cutch, rubber, sago, hides and horns, brassware, etc., were valued at $791,028; in 1923 at $900,307, and in 1925 at $1,859,736. The jump in 1925, the year when rubber touched 4s. per lb., was however mainly due to the output of the rubber plantations of which Brunei possesses some admirable examples. Imports of rice, to bacco, piece goods, sugar, preserved provisions, kerosene oil, etc., were valued in 1921 at $410,854, and in 1925 at $1,013,418. In 1925 the revenue of the country was $315,261 and the expenditure $245,286, giving a surplus of The history of this ancient and decaying sultanate is of some interest. Brunei, or, as it is called by the natives Bruni or Darui Salam (city of peace), possesses an historic tablet of stone upon which, in A.11. 1221 (1804), was engraved in Malay characters the genealogy of the sovereigns who have ruled over the country. The book of descent is kept in the palace by the sultan. The other heirlooms, which are also kept in the sultan's palace, and descend to each sultan in turn, are the "Nobab Nagara" (two royal drums) from Johore and Menang-Kabau, and the "Gunta Alamat" (bells of emblem), the gift of Sultan Bahkei of Johore or Malacca. The first sultan of Brunei was Alak-ber-Tata, who was probably of Bisaya stock, and governed the country before the introduction of Islam, in the 13th century. He assumed the name of Mohammed on his conversion to Islam, which was brought about during a visit to the Malay Peninsula. Brunei at this time was a dependency of Majapahit (Java), and paid a yearly tribute of a jar of areca juice of no monetary value. The Hindu kingdom of Majapahit was destroyed by the Mohammedans in 1478, and Brunei is mentioned in the history of Java as one of the coun tries conquered by Adaya Mingrat, the general of Angka Wijaya. Sultan Berkat, an Arab sherif of high rank, from the country of Taif in Arabia, who had married a niece of Alak-ber-Tata, built a large mosque and enforced Mohammedan law, and with the assistance of the Chinese built the stone wall (which is still in existence between the islands of Kaya Orang and Chermin), by sinking 4o junks filled with rock across the mouth of the Brunei river. This work was completed before the arrival of Pigafetta in 152/. In the reign of Sultan Bulkeiah Magellan's squadron anchored off the mouth of Brunei river in August 1521, and Pigafetta makes mention of the splendid court and the imperial magnificence of the Borneo capital. Sultan Bulkeiah was other wise known as Nakoda Ragam; he was the greatest warrior of Brunei and made military expeditions to Java, Malacca, Luzon and all the coasts of Borneo. His tomb, which is handsomely built of stone, is still to be seen in Brunei, and is constantly visited by Malays, who leave money and various articles on the tomb as offerings to his memory. Others, again, come and take away anything they can find, which they keep as charms and mementoes. The Spaniards captured Brunei in 1580, the reigning sultan and his court retiring to Suai in the Baram dis trict. The invaders were compelled to evacuate the place, how ever. Brunei's golden age was nevertheless at an end. The East India Company started a factory in the town in the 18th century, but commerce had already decayed and the establish ment was abandoned. In the early part of the 19th century Brunei was but a resort for pirates and a market for the slave trade. During the 'forties Admiral (then Captain) Keppel and other officers of the British navy suppressed piracy in the neigh bourhood. Sarawak (q.v.) was handed over to Raja Brooke, and, after the capture and temporary occupation of Brunei by Sir Thomas Cochrane, Labuan was ceded to the British empire. From this island it was possible to exercise a certain control over the townspeople, and a consul was stationed there to watch affairs. In 1888 Brunei was placed under British protection. On January 2 1906, a treaty was made whereby the Sultan agreed to hand over the administration to a British resident. Brunei, with Labuan, thus became a part of the British Empire, much in the position of an unfederated Malay State.