“That the political ascendency of the English is paramount here is apparent. They might if they pleased, by means of an offensive and defensive alliance between the two powers, gain the entire trade of the northwest coast of Borneo, from Tanjong Datu to Malludu Bay.
“I obtained subsequently from Macota the following list of imports and exports; which I here commit to paper, for the information of those whom it may concern.
“From Singapore.—Iron; salt, Siam; nankeen; Madras, Europe, and China cotton cloth, coarse and fine; Bugis and Pulicat sarongs; gold and other threads, of sorts and colors; brass wire, of sizes; iron pans from Siam, called qualis; chintzes, of colors and sorts; coarse red broadcloth, and other sorts of different colors; China crockery; gunpowder; muskets; flints; handkerchiefs (Pulicat and European); gambir; dates; Java tobacco; soft sugar; sugar-candy; biscuits; baharri; common decanters; glasses, &c. &c.; China silk, of colors; ginghams; white cottons; nails; beside other little things, such as Venetian beads; ginger; curry-powder; onions; ghee; &c. &c.
“The returns from Sarāwak are now: antimony ore, sago, timber (lackah, garu), rattans, Malacca canes, bees-wax, birds-nests, rice, &c. Other articles, such as gold, tin, &c. &c., Macota said, would be procured after the war, but at present he need say nothing of them; the articles above mentioned might subsequently be greatly increased by demand; and, in short, as every person of experience knows, in a wild country a trade must be fostered at first.
“To the foregoing list I must add, pipeclay, vegetable tallow, which might be useful in commerce, being of fine quality; and the ore, found in abundance round here, of which I can make nothing, but which I believe to be copper.
“12th.—I received from the rajah a present of an ourang-outang, young, and like others I have seen, but better clothed, with fine long hair of a bright chestnut color. The same melancholy which characterizes her race is apparent in Betsyʼs face; and though but just caught, she is quite quiet unless teased.
“From the man who brought Betsy I procured a Lemur tardigradus, called by the Malays Cucan, not Poucan, as written in Cuvier—Marsden has the name right in his dictionary—and at the same time the mutilated hand of an ourang-outang of enormous size. This hand far exceeds in length, breadth, and power, the hand of any man in the ship; and though smoked and shrunk, the circumference of the fingers is half as big again as an ordinary human finger. The natives of Borneo call the ourang-outang the Mĭas, of which they say there are two distinct sorts; one called the Mĭas rombĭ (similar to the specimen aboard and the two in the Zoological Gardens), and the Mĭas pappan, a creature far larger, and more difficult to procure. To the latter kind the hand belongs. The mĭas pappan is represented to be as tall or taller than a man, and possessing vast strength: the face is fuller and larger than that of the mĭas rombĭ, and the hair reddish, but sometimes approaching to black. The mĭas rombĭ never exceeds four or four and a half feet; his face, unlike the pappan, is long, and his hair redder. I must own myself inclined to this opinion from various reasons:—1st. The natives appear so well agreed on the point, and so well acquainted with the distinction and the different names, that it is impossible to suppose it a fabrication for our peculiar use. Of the many whom I asked respecting them, at different times and in different places, the greater part of their own accord mentioned the difference between the mĭas pappan and the mĭas rombĭ. The animal when brought aboard was stated to be the mĭas rombĭ, or small sort. In short, the natives, whether right or wrong, make the distinction. 2d. The immense size of the hand in my possession, the height of the animal killed on the coast of Sumatra, and the skull in the Paris Museum, can scarcely be referred to an animal such as we know at home; though by specious analogical reasoning, the great disparity of the skulls has been pronounced the result merely of age.
“However, facts are wanting, and these facts I doubt not I can soon procure, if not actual proof; and whichever way it goes, in favor of Buffonʼs Pongo or not, I shall be contented, so that I bring truth to light.
“19th.—From the 12th to the 19th of September we lay, anxious to be off, but delayed by some trifling occurrence or other, particularly for the letters which I was to receive for the merchants of Singapore. Our intercourse the whole time was most friendly and frequent; almost daily I was ashore, and the rajah often visited the vessel. How tedious and ennuyant to me can only be known by those who know me well, and how repugnant these trammels of society and ceremony are to nature. Nevertheless, I suffered this martyrdom with exemplary outward patience, though the spirit flagged, and the thoughts wandered, and the head often grew confused, with sitting and talking trifling nonsense, through a poor interpreter.
“I here bid adieu to these kind friends, fully impressed with their kindness, and the goodness of their dispositions. To me they are far different from anything I was at all prepared to meet, and devoid of the vices with which their countrymen are usually stigmatized by modern writers. I expected to find an indolent and somewhat insolent people, devoted to sensual enjoyments, addicted to smoking opium, and eternally cock-fighting or gambling: let me speak it to the honor of the Borneons, that they neither cock-fight nor smoke opium; and in the military train of their rajah they find at Kuching few conveniences and fewer luxuries. Like all the followers of Islam, they sanction polygamy; and the number of their women, and, probably, the ease and cheerfulness of the seraglio, contrasted with the ceremonial of the exterior, induce them to pass a number of their hours amid their women, and excite habits of effeminacy and indolence. I should pronounce them indolent and unwarlike; but kind and unreserved to foreigners, particularly to Englishmen. They are volatile, generally speaking very ignorant, but by no means deficient in acuteness of understanding; and, indeed, their chief defects may be traced entirely to their total want of education, and the nature of their government. The lower orders of people are poor and wretched, and the freemen are certainly poorer and more wretched than the slaves. They are not greatly addicted to theft, and yet, unlike the scrupulous honesty of the Sibnowans, they pilfered some trifling articles occasionally when left in their way. The retainers of the court showed much the same mean intriguing spirit which is too often found in courts, and always in Eastern ones; and the rajah himself seldom requested any favor from me directly, but employed some intermediate person to sound me—to get whatever was required for himself if possible, if not for the rajah. I took the hint, and always expressed my wishes through the interpreter when not present myself. In this way we were enabled to grant or refuse without the chance of insult or offence. The suite of the rajah consists principally of slaves, either purchased or debtors: they are well treated, and rise to offices of some note. The Panglima rajah was a slave-debtor, though we did not know it for some time after our arrival. I never saw either cruelty or undue harshness exercised by the great men during my stay, and in general their manners were affable and kind to those about them. The Rajah Muda Hassim is a remarkably short man, and slightly built; about 45 years of age; active and intelligent, but apparently little inclined to business. His disposition I formed the highest estimate of, not only from his kindness to myself, but from the testimony of many witnesses, all of whom spoke of him with affection, and gave him the character of a mild and gentle master. Muda Hassimʼs own brother, Muda Mahammed, is a reserved and sulky man, but they spoke well of him; and the rajah said he was a good man, but given to fits of sulkiness.