Borneo and the Indian Archipelago / with drawings of costume and scenery

by Frank Marryat

The largest, and perhaps the most important of the islands in this archipelago, although at present the most barbarous, and the most hostile to us, is that of Papua, or New Guinea. The inhabitants are as well inclined to commerce as the other natives of the archipelago, and do at present carry on a considerable trade with the Chinese, who repair there every year in their junks, which they fill with valuable cargoes adapted for the Chinese market. The Chinese have found the trade with New Guinea so lucrative, that they are doing all that they can to secure the monopoly of it, and with this view take every occasion, and do all that they possibly can, to blacken the character of the Europeans in the minds of the inhabitants. It is to this cause that the Papuan's hostility to Europeans, and especially to the English, is to be ascribed; and before we have any chance of commerce with this people, it is necessary that the Chinese should be driven away from the island, that they may no longer injure us by their malicious fabrications. This will be but a just retribution for the falsehoods and lies which they have circulated to our disadvantage. And there is another reason why we should be little scrupulous in taking this measure, which is, that one of their principal articles of commerce with the Papuans consists in slaves, which are taken on board by the Chinese, and sold at Borneo, and the adjacent islands of the archipelago, at a great profit. To obtain these slaves, the Chinese stimulate the Papuan tribes to war with each other, as is done for the same purpose in Africa. As this traffic is very considerable, and we are as much bound to put down the slave trade in the east as in the west, we have full warrant for driving their junks away, and, by so doing, there is little doubt but that in a few years we shall secure all the valuable trade of this island to ourselves.

Borneo is, however, the island (or continent) to which our first attention will be particularly devoted. Up to the present we know little of it except its coasts and a portion of its rivers; but it is here that our principal attention must be given, as in its rivers and the island of Sooloo the chief piratical hordes exist. We have already had some sharp conflicts with them, and have given them some severe lessons; but although we have given them a momentary check, and some idea of our immense superiority, we must not imagine that two or three successful conflicts are sufficient to put an end to a system which has been carried on for centuries, and which is so universal, that the whole of the present generation may be said to have been "born pirates." In fact, we shall be compelled to subdue them wholly, to destroy them in all their fastnesses, to leave them without a prahu in their possession, to depose or confine their chiefs, to destroy their forts, and to carry on a war of extermination for some years, before we shall put down the piratical system which at present exists. It is not quite so easy a task as may be imagined to reform so many millions of people: for it must be remembered that it is not only at Borneo that we shall have to act, but that we must destroy the power of the sultan of Sooloo, and other tribes who frequent other islands, and who follow the same profession. It must not be forgotten that one of the principal objects of these piratical excursions is to procure slaves for sale at other ports; and perhaps this is by far the most profitable part of the speculation. As long as there is no security for the person, commerce must languish, and be proportionably checked. In putting down these marauders, we are, therefore, putting down the slave trade as with the Chinese at New Guinea. The sooner that this is effected the better; and to do it effectually we should have a large force at Labuan, ready to act with decision. Let it be remembered that, with people so crafty and so cruel as the Malays and descendants of the Arabs, lenity is misplaced, and is ascribed to cowardice. No half measures will succeed with them. Indeed, I have my doubts whether it will not be necessary to destroy almost every prahu in the archipelago, and compel the natives to remain on their territory, to cultivate or collect articles for barter, before we shall effect our purpose; for the prahu that sails as a trader is changed into a pirate as soon as temptation rises on her way. Indeed, if Labuan becomes, as it will probably be, an emporium and dépôt for European commerce, without such stringent measures a great stimulus would be given to piracy. The peaceable trading parties, on their return, would be laid in wait for by the piratical prahus, and the English manufactures on board would be so tempting, and such a source of wealth, that they would be irresistible. Neither should we be able to afford any protection to the traders, as they would be laid in wait for at the mouths or up the rivers, and would be captured without our knowledge; with this difference, perhaps, that the fear of detection would induce them to murder all the prisoners, instead of selling them as slaves, as they do at present. Unless, therefore, the most stringent measures are resorted to on our parts, an increase of commerce with this archipelago would only occasion in a reciprocal ratio an increase of piracy.

The occupation of Labuan and Sarawak will, I should imagine, prove hardly sufficient to effect the important change to be desired, i. e. that of the total suppression of piracy. Stations, with forts, must be established at the mouths of the principal rivers, that we may have a constant watch upon the movements of the occupants. In so doing we should be only encroaching upon those who have encroached upon others: these rivers have been taken forcible possession of by the Malays and Arabs, who have driven away the proprietors of the soil, which are the Dyaks, the aborigines of the island; and they have no more right to the possessions which they hold, than their chiefs have to the high-sounding titles which they have assumed. That in taking this step we shall interfere with no vested rights is certain: we shall merely be dispossessing these piratical marauders of their strongholds; and the cause of humanity will sufficiently warrant such interference on our parts.

In our first attempts to establish, a peaceful and secure commerce with this archipelago, it appears to me that it would be advisable for the Government to take some share in the venture. Ten or twelve schooners, well manned, confided to intelligent officers, and armed with one heavy gun, and swivels in the gunwales, should sail for Labuan, with assorted cargoes, with the view of both trading and checking piracy. Much depends upon the way in which the barter is first commenced, and it would be as well that it should not be left in the hands of adventurers, whose mercenary feelings might induce them to excite doubt or irritation in the minds of the natives, and, by such means, do great mischief, and impede the trade. The constant appearance of these vessels in the archipelago, the knowledge that they were sent, not only to barter, but also to protect the well-disposed against violence and rapine, would soon produce most beneficial effects, and would impose confidence. Merchant vessels which entered the trade should be empowered, by letters of marque, to put down piracy, and should be armed in a similar way. Although there is little doubt but that in a short time vessels would sail from Labuan with full cargoes for Europe, still it is more than probable that the most important part of the trade, and which would employ most vessels, would be the colonial trade, or rather, country trade, to the several marts in the Indus and China. There are many productions of the archipelago which are only valued in the East, such as bêche-de-mer, or trepang; edible birds' nests, &c. This trade we might very soon monopolise to ourselves, and a most lucrative one it would prove. The following are the articles to be found in more or less quantities over the whole of the Indian archipelago:—Antimony, tin, gold, diamonds, pearls, sapphires, ivory, gums, camphor, sago, pepper, tortoise-shell, mother-of-pearl, skins, wax, honey, cocoa-nut oil, coffee, rice, and coal, edible birds' nests and trepang; all the varieties of spices, as cinnamon, cloves, nutmegs, can be grown as soon as there is a market for them; the cotton tree nourishes; and, although not yet worked, it is proved that there is abundance of copper and lead. An archipelago containing such rich productions, and which we may, with some little trouble, receive in exchange for our manufactures, becomes a national concern, and it is the paramount duty of the Government to take every measure to facilitate the communication with it.

The expedition of Mr. Murray to the river Coti, on the south side of Borneo, although, from imprudence, it ended not only unsuccessfully but tragically, fully establishes that an opening for commerce is to be established. In this expedition Mr. Murray, by his imprudence and unguarded conduct, brought upon himself the attack of the natives, in which he lost his own life, and the vessels with great difficulty escaped. Since that failure, no English vessels have attempted to trade to the south of Borneo; but we discovered that the Macassar boats paid the coast an occasional visit, under Dutch colours, exchanging beads and other trumpery for rich cargoes of ivory and skins. We also discovered that commercial negotiations with this country would not be attended with any risk, provided that the vessels employed were well armed, and the arrangements were so made as not to excite the jealousy and suspicion of the natives.

European manufactures would be eagerly purchased by the natives, and would be paid for in ivory, rough ores, or dollars. Mr. Wyndham, who has settled at Sooloo, has already sent a vessel to trade on the south-east side of the island, near Gonong Tabor.

So much for the southern portion of this immense archipelago. We have still to examine the more northern. Indeed, when we look upon the map, and see the quantity of territory with which we may eventually find the means of trading,—the millions who, but for the jealousy of the governments, would be glad to receive our manufactures,—we are lost in conjecture as to what extent it might eventually be driven. In the north we should certainly have more difficulties to contend with; and it will require that the whole of the naval force in India should be, for a time, devoted to this object. I believe it is as much from their utter ignorance of our power, as from any other cause, that we have hitherto been so unsuccessful at Japan; but the object we have in view may be effected, provided that a certain degree of the fortiter in re be combined with the suaviter in modo. The Japanese now carry on a large trade with China, and also a confined trade with the Dutch, to whom they have allowed a factory upon a small island; but they treat the Dutch with the greatest indignity, and the Dutch submit to it, and, in so doing, have rendered the Europeans vile in the estimation of the Japanese. This is the error which must be destroyed by some means or other, even if it should be necessary to pick a quarrel with them, as we have already done with the Chinese. At the same time that I admit the expediency of so doing, I by no means assert that we shall be altogether justified.

There is another point worthy of consideration, which is, that a whale fishery dépôt might be made with great success in this archipelago, any where to the southward and eastward; and we might recover a large portion of that lucrative employment, which, by the means of British seamen employed in American vessels, has been wrested from us; for although, at the commencement, the whale fishery from the States was carried on by Americans only, since it has so enormously increased, at least two-thirds of the people employed in the vessels are English seamen, who have become expert in the profession. It is much to be lamented that the laudable exertions of Mr. Enderby and others to revive this lucrative employment for our vessels and seamen has hitherto failed, and that some part of our surplus capital has not been devoted to an object so important to us as a maritime country.

I shall conclude with a reflection which I made while I was on the coast, leaving the reader to agree with me or not, as he may be disposed. How is it, as I have already observed, that all the colonies founded by other nations, either languish or have been swept away,—not all, perhaps, as yet, but the major portion of them; while every colony founded by our little island appears to flourish, till it becomes so powerful as not only no longer to require the nursing of the mother country, but to throw off its dependence, and become a nation of itself? How is it that it can so truly be said that the sun never sets upon the English flag? It cannot be from any want of energy, or activity, or intelligence, or judgment in other nations; for surely in these qualifications we are not superior to the French or to the Dutch, although we may be to the present race of Spaniards and Portuguese. Our colonies have not been more carefully fostered than theirs: on the contrary, they have been neglected, and, if not neglected, they have been but too often oppressed. Why, then, should this be? Can religion have any thing to do with this? Can it be that Providence has imperceptibly interfered, and has decided that England shall perform the high mission; that she has been selected, as a chosen country, to fill the whole world with the true faith, with the pure worship of the Almighty? Has it been for this object that we have been supported in our maritime superiority? Has it been with this view that we have been permitted to discomfit the navies of the whole world? May it not be that when our naval commanders, with a due regard to propriety, have commenced their despatches with "It has pleased the Almighty to grant us a splendid victory," at the same time that they were trusting to the arms of flesh and blood which have so well supported their endeavours, and in their hearts ascribed their successes to the prowess of man,—may it not be, I say, that the Almighty has, for his own good reasons, fought on our side, and has given us victory upon victory, until we have swept the seas, and made the name of England known to the uttermost corners of the globe? Has this been granted us, and have we really been selected as a favoured nation to spread the pure light of the gospel over the universe? Who can say? "His ways are not our ways;" but if so, it is a high destiny, which we must act up to at every sacrifice and at every expence.

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