ng divisions.--British
settlements in 1775.--The province of Sarawak formally ceded by
the sultan in perpetuity to Mr. Brooke its present ruler.--General
view of the Dyaks, the aborigines of Borneo.--The Dyaks of Sarawak,
and adjoining tribes; their past oppression and present position.

I will now endeavor to make the reader better acquainted with the
nature of a country and people so imperfectly known, by offering that
general view of its past events and present condition which will
make the information respecting them more intelligible, as well as
applicable to new circumstances and future measures.

By looking at the map, it will be seen that the island of Borneo
extends over 11 degrees of latitude and as many of longitude, from
4 deg. N. to 7 deg. S., and 108 deg. to 119 deg. E. The N.W. coast is but thinly
populated; and the natives who inhabit the banks of some of the
beautiful rivers differ, as has been already stated, from each
other in manners and customs, and have but little communication
among themselves. The S., E., and N.E. coasts of Borneo are also
but thinly inhabited, and very little known. There are various
divisions of Malays, as well as different tribes of Dyaks, who live
in an unsettled state, and occasionally make war on one another:
their principal occupation, however, is piracy. The north part of
the island was once in the possession of the East India Company, who
had a settlement and factory on the island of Balambangan, which was
attacked in 1775, when in a weak and unguarded state, by a powerful
piratical tribe of Sooloos, who surprised the fort, put the sentries
to death, and turned the guns on the troops, who were chiefly Buguese
(or Bugis) Malays. Those who escaped got on board the vessels in
the harbor, and reached the island of Labuan, near the mouth of the
Borneo river; while the booty obtained by the pirates was estimated
at 375,000_l._ From that time to this these atrocious pirates have
never been punished, and still continue their depredations.

The remainder of the coast on the N.W. is now called Borneo Proper,
to distinguish it from the name that custom has given to the whole
island, the original name of which was Kalamantan, and Bruni that of
the town now called Borneo. The latter was probably the first part
of the coast ever visited by Europeans, who consequently extended
the appellation to the island itself. The town of Borneo, situated
on the river of that n