g and seafaring Sulus know enough Malay
to conclude a bargain.

The most numerous Muhammadan race in British North Borneo is that of the
Bajows, who are found on both coasts, but, on the West Coast, not South
of the Pappar River. These are the _orang-laut_ (men of the sea) or
sea-gipsies of the old writers, and are the worst class that we have to
deal with, being of a treacherous and thievish disposition, and
confirmed gamblers and cattle-lifters.

They also form a large proportion of the population of the Sulu Islands,
where they are, or used to be, noted kidnappers and pirates, though also
distinguished for their skill in pearl fisheries. Their religion is that
of Mahomet and their language Malay mixed, it is said, with Chinese and
Japanese elements; their women are not secluded, and it is a rare thing
for a Borneo Bajow to take the trouble of making the pilgrimage to
Mecca. They are found along the coasts of nearly all the Malay Islands
and, apparently, in former days lived entirely in their boats. In
British North Borneo, a large majority have taken to building houses
and residing on the shore, but when Mr. PRYER first settled at Sandakan,
there was a considerable community of them in the Bay, who had no houses
at all, but were born, bred, married and died in their small canoes.

On the West Coast, the Bajows, who have for a long time been settled
ashore, appear to be of smaller build and darker colour than the other
Malays, with small sparkling black eyes, but on the East Coast, where
their condition is more primitive, Mr. PRYER thinks they are much larger
in stature and stronger and more swarthy than ordinary Malays.

On the East Coast, there are no buffaloes or horned cattle, so that the
Bajows there have, or I should say _had_, to be content with kidnapping
only, and as an example of their daring I may relate that in, I think,
the year 1875, the Austrian Frigate _Friederich_, Captain Baron
OESTERREICHER, was surveying to the South of Darvel Bay, and, running
short of coal, sent an armed party ashore to cut firewood. The Bajows
watched their opportunity and, when the frigate was out of sight, seized
the cutter, notwithstanding the fire of the party on the shore, who
expended all their ammunition in vain, and carried off the two
boat-keepers, whose heads were subsequently shewn round in triumph in
the neighbouring islands. Baron OESTERREICHER was unable to discover the
retreat of these Bajows, and they remain u