factory of Pontiana. They had it
in contemplation, in 1795, to take repossession of Sambas, and wrote
to Abdul Ramman as to the preparatory measures requisite, when the
English war, as before observed, obliged them to abandon Pontiana.

This Abdul Ramman, the first sultan or chief of Pontiana, reigned
thirty-five years, and died in 1807, leaving his eldest son, the
present Sultan Kasim, now forty-six years of age, his successor;
who has a second brother, called Pangeran Marko, aged thirty-eight,
and Pangeran Hosman, thirty-six years, beside four sisters, one
of whom married the present Rajah of Matan, and about seventy half
brothers and sisters, the natural children of his father, with an
extensive sub-progeny. The present sultan has three sons (Abibuker,
heir-apparent, twenty-one years old, Ali, and Abdul Ramman), and
four daughters, lawfully begotten. None of the royal family make use
of either opium, betel, or tobacco, in any shape whatever; and the
present sultan has much the appearance of an Arab. The grandfather
of the present sultan was from Arabia, a Sayed Suriff; one of his
relations was fixed at Palimbang, whose name is unknown to me, and
the other, Shad Fudyel, at Acheen, who has been long dead.

The wet season commences from September, and ends in April,
when heavy rain, hard squalls, and much thunder and lightning are
experienced. From April till September is called the dry season, but
even in this portion of the year seldom a day elapses without a smart
shower or two. The monsoons on the northerly shores of Borneo are found
to correspond with those prevalent in the China seas, viz. from the
N.E. from October to April, and from the S.W. the rest of the year. To
the southward, about Benjarmasing, the monsoons are the same as in the
Java seas, _i. e._ westerly from October to April, and easterly the
rest of the year. Those parts of Borneo near or upon the equator have
variable winds all the year, and land and sea breezes close in shore.

This country is by no means so warm as one would be led to imagine by
its proximity everywhere to the line: this arises from the perpetual
refreshing showers and the land and sea breezes, the former being
wafted over innumerable rivers. In the month of November, the
thermometer at Pontiana ranges from 78 deg. to 82 deg..

During the wet season, the rivers swell and overflow the adjacent
shores, and run down with such continued rapidity, that the water may
be tasted fresh