"Such is a slight sketch of Brunai of the Brunais. If the
Pangerans are corrupt, the lower classes are not, but are law
abiding, though not industrious. And the day may yet come when
their city may lift her head up again, and be to North Borneo
what Singapore is to the straits of Malacca."

This description gives a capital idea of modern Brunai, and I would only
observe that, from the colour of his flag and umbrellas the nobleman who
paid the state visit must have been the Bandahara and not the Di Gadong.

The aged Sultan to whom Mr. DALRYMPLE refers was the late Sultan MUMIM,
who, though not in the direct line, was raised to the throne, on the
death of the Sultan OMAR ALI SAIFUDIN, to whom he had been Prime
Minister, by the influence of the English, towards whom he had always
acted as a loyal friend. He was popularly supposed to be over a hundred
years old when he died and, though said to have had some fifty wives and
concubines, he was childless. He died on the 29th May, 1885, having
previously, on the advice of Sir C. C. LEES, then British
Consul-General, declared his Temenggong, the son of OMAR ALI SAIFUDIN to
be his successor. The Temenggong accended the throne, without any
opposition, with the title of Sultan, but found a kingdom distracted by
rebellion in the provinces and reduced to less than a fourth of its size
when the treaty was made with Great Britain in 1847.

I have said that there is no ground rent in Borneo, and that every one
builds his own house and is his own landlord, but I should add that he
builds his house in the _kampong_, or parish, to which, according to his
occupation, he belongs and into which the city is divided. For instance,
on entering the city, the first _kampong_ on the left is an important
one in a town where fish is the principal article of animal food. It is
the _kampong_ of the men who catch fish by means of bambu fishing
stakes, or traps, described hereafter, and supply the largest quantity
of that article to the market; it is known as the _Kampong Pablat_.

Next to it is the _Kampong Perambat_, from the casting net which its
inhabitants use in fishing. Another parish is called _Membakut_ and its
houses are built on firm ground, being principally the shops of Chinese
and Klings. The last _kampong_ on this side is that of _Burong Pinge_,
formerly a very important one, where dwelt the principal and richest
Malay traders. It is now much reduced in size, European