came to an untimely end in the
death of the Theatine monk, Antonio Ventimiglia, who had been its
originator. Meanwhile the Dutch and British East India Companies had
been formed, had destroyed the monopoly so long enjoyed by the
Portuguese, and to a less extent the Spaniards, in the trade of the
Malayan Archipelago, and had gained a footing in Borneo. The
establishment of Dutch trading-posts on the west coast of Borneo dates
from 1604, nine years after the first Dutch fleet, under Houtman, sailed
from the Texel to dispute with the Portuguese the possession of the
Eastern trade, and in 1608 Samuel Blommaert was appointed Dutch
resident, or head factor, in Landak and Sukedana. The first appearance
of the British in Borneo dates from 1609, and by 1698 they had an
important settlement at Banjermasin, whence they were subsequently
expelled by the influence of the Dutch, who about 1733 obtained from the
sultan a trading monopoly. The Dutch, in fact, speedily became the
predominant European race throughout the Malay Archipelago, defeating
the British by superior energy and enterprise, and the trading-posts all
along the western and southern coasts of Borneo were presently their
exclusive possessions, the sultan of Bantam, who was the overlord of
these districts, ceding his rights to the Dutch. The British meanwhile
had turned their attention to the north of the island, over which the
sultan of Sulu exercised the rights of suzerain, and from him, in 1759,
Alexander Dalrymple obtained possession of the island of Balambangan,
and the whole of the north-eastern promontory. A military post was
established, but it was destroyed in 1775 by the natives under the
_dato'_, or vassal chiefs, who resented the cession of their territory.
This mishap rendered a treaty, which had been concluded in 1774 with the
sultan of Brunei, practically a dead letter, and by the end of the
century British influence in Borneo was to all intents and purposes at
an end. The Dutch also mismanaged their affairs in Borneo and suffered
from a series of misfortunes which led Marshal Daendels in 1809 to order
the abandonment of all their posts. The natives of the coasts of Borneo,
assisted and stimulated by immigrants from the neighbouring islands to
the north, devoted themselves more and more to organized piracy, and
putting to sea in great fleets manned by two and three thousand men on
cruises that lasted for two and even three years, they terrorized the
neighb