The town of Borneo Proper, the capital of the kingdom of the same name, lies in latitude 5° 7′ north; it is situated fifteen miles up one of the finest rivers in the world, with three fathoms low water on the bar, and a rise and fall of fifteen feet. A correct plan of the river and town is published by Mr. Dalrymple. Here are mud docks for vessels of 500 or 600 tons. The town consists of about three thousand houses, built on stakes, in the middle of the river, with a population altogether of fifteen thousand souls, Chinese, Malays, Moruts, &c.
The palace is slightly fortified; but the Rajah of Pontiana says, the Rajah of Borneo Proper is preparing the means of defence, apprehending the resentment of the English in vindicating the rights of their flag, so frequently insulted by them with impunity; however, as there is sufficient water for a line-of-battle ship to the city, nothing need be apprehended from them. The remains of a stone fort up the river are still seen, but the one on Pulo Laboan is destroyed. Both banks of the river are planted with pepper, which formerly produced sixty thousand piculs annually; these are now running to decay from want of commerce. The Chinese junks, for years past, have ceased touching here, from the numberless piratical depredations committed upon them; and the Portuguese from Macao have attempted to renew the trade from time to time, but at length, in 1808, their agent withdrew to Macao, a large ship having been cut off and the crew murdered the year preceding. They now have no other resource but piracy; and the produce, such as it is, finds its way in prows to Tringan, Sambas, Pontiana, Lingin, and Malacca. Very large quantities of the finest camphor in the world are procurable here; it comes down from the Morut country, by the great river; a great deal of wax, some gold, much birdsʼ-nests of an inferior quality, any quantity of sago, cassia, clove-bark, pepper, betel-nut, rattans, camphor-oil, &c., tripan, tortoise-shell, &c.
The hills hereabout are clear of jungle, and wear a beautiful appearance, and, without the aid of history, bear evident marks of a more extensive population and culture. There are plenty of black cattle, buffaloes, goats, fruits and vegetables of all kinds, abundance and variety of fish, turtle, &c. The articles best suited for this market are coarse China, white cangyans, brass plates, China crockery, brass wire, tea, sugar-candy, coarse China silks and satins, blue and white coarse guras and salampories, coarse ventipallam handkerchiefs, arcot chintzes, iron and steel, quallies, cooking utensils, and other articles suited to a Malay market—all coarse; no opium. The Borneo catty is two and a half lbs.
The English have been very desirous of a port in the China seas for ages past, but have generally appeared to stumble on the most unhealthy and ill-adapted places possible, such as Balambangan, Pulo Condore, &c.; and even the principal object of Lord Macartneyʼs embassy was the obtaining of a cession of this nature. But if a capital harbor, a navigable and majestic river, a productive country, a healthy site, population ready formed, and a commerce all sufficient to pay the expenses of an establishment (within one hundred miles of Balambangan) is required, the East India Company ought to have pitched upon Borneo Proper. It was once a most flourishing country, and a very short period under British auspices would render it the first mart in the East for China-Malayan commerce. There are large, populous towns of Moruts, and Orang Idan, who abhor the Malays, but who would be soon reconciled to a milder and less traitorous government.
Kimanis lies in latitude 5° 8′ north; this is the first port on this coast ceded to the English by the Sultan of Sulo. The town lies ten miles up the river, at the foot of some of the most beautiful hills I ever saw, and is inhabited by thirty-five thousand Orang Idan. The river is small, and almost choked up at the mouth. This province has the following sea-ports in it, viz., Kimanis, Benome, Papal, and Pangalat, each governed by Orang Kayas, which still continue to send their produce to Borneo Proper, consisting of ten piculs of birdsʼ-nests annually, two hundred piculs of wax, two piculs of camphor, and cassia, sago, betel-nut, and pepper, as much as required; tripan, camphor-oil, and rice; with fruit, fish, and provisions, of sorts which are cheap and plentiful. The articles mentioned as fit for Borneo answer here, only their produce is had about fifty per cent cheaper.
The province of Kiney Baulu has the following seaports:—Putatan, Mangatal, Innanam, Labatuan, Mangabong, Tawaran, Sulaman, Ambung, Abai, Tampasuk, and Padasan. The whole of this province is tremendously high. The stupendous mountain of Kiney is about fifteen miles from Tampasuk, which at present is the most considerable pirate-port in the Malay seas, and belongs to the Rajah of Borneo Proper. The pirates frequenting this place have committed such depredations hereabout as to have induced the English to call the north of Borneo Piratesʼ Point. These desperate banditti originally resided at Tawaran, but were compelled to leave it from the resentment of whole tribes of Orang Idan. The whole of this province is very fertile; it is the source of all the great rivers on the island, and is more populous with the aborigines of the country than perhaps the rest of the island put together. The gold mines of Tampasuk have been mentioned; there are also mines of rock-crystal. Tawaran and several other places abound in goats and cattle. Abai has a small harbor, and the whole of this coast is accurately laid down by Lieutenant James Burton, in the sloop Endeavor. There are produced in this province much wax, tortoise-shell, very fine camphor, sago, rattans, and a red birdsʼ-nest (which comes from Mantanane isle to Pandasan). They send their produce to Borneo Proper. The pirates are commanded by Datus from Borneo Proper. The lake in the vicinity of Kiney Baulu is said to be delightful; it is many miles in circumference, well cultivated, populous, and productive. It is said to be very cold, from the extreme elevation, and the inhabitants are almost as fair as Europeans. There is a valuable coral-tree somewhere hereabout.
The Bay of Maludu, on the north of Borneo, is thirty miles in length, and from four to six in breadth, with numberless rivers flowing into it. There is no danger on the right-hand shore going up, but what is seen; on the larboard shore considerable coral-reefs are met with. Laurie and Whittleʼs chart of it is tolerably correct. The principal towns are, Sungy Bassar, nearly at the head of the bay, and Bankaka, on the left; the former, under Sheriff Mahomed, sends its produce to Sulo; the latter, under Orang Kayas, trades with Borneo Proper. The British, when last at Balambangan, threw up a small redoubt on the Bankaka side, with a view to supplies of rice and provisions; and this part is tranquil and a good roadstead, being sheltered from the swell brought in by the sea-breeze.
The rich and valuable fishery of copis or Ceylon oyster in this bay has been mentioned; it might be rendered of considerable value. The whole of the rivers for miles up abound in rattans; Mr. A. Dalrymple thinks four thousand tons might be easily cut down every year without exhausting it, and sent by junks to China. There are forests of beautiful pines of stately growth, well calculated for the largest masts, and in high esteem at China. There is no quarter of the world which abounds more in that species of the sea-turtle (called by the Malays pakayan) which yields the shell; any quantity may be had on all the shores and isles of this bay.
The interior abounds in camphor, which can be had in any quantities; so vastly abundant is it, and so little does the Orang Idan know of the extreme value of this commodity, that a bamboo of camphor may be procured in exchange for a bamboo of salt. The petty towns are Sandeck, Bowengun, Patasan, Pone, and Milawi. It produces in one year two hundred piculs of wax, fifty piculs of tortoise-shell, ten piculs of best camphor, and as much inferior; ten piculs of birdsʼ-nests, at ten dollars the catty; 1st camphor, twenty-five; rattans, one dollar per picul; tortoise-shell, one dollar the catty; wax, twenty the picul. Articles required are the same as at Borneo Proper. Rice, provisions, fish, and fruits are abundant and cheap; the sugar-cane also.
The province of Paytan is the principal district for camphor of any in the world. Whole forests for miles everywhere meet the eye, and the produce from them is the finest that can be conceived, large and transparent as Chin-chew sugar-candy. The principal towns are Pitan, Kinarubatan, Kulepan, and the famous town of Sugut. The coast is so full of coral-reefs, and has been so very indifferently surveyed, that it is only frequented by prows; there is a road from Sugut to Bankaka in Maludu Bay. Much wax, tripan, sago, &c., is produced here.