The pagan tribes of Borneo - Get a Free Blog Here

22 PAGAN TRIBES OF BORNEO chap.
From this time onwards the power of Bruni has
continuously declined. Recurrent civil wars invited
the occasional interventions of the Portuguese and
of the Spanish governors of the Philippines, which,
although they did not result in the subjugation of
the Malay power, nevertheless sapped its strength.
The interest of the later history of Borneo lies
in the successive attempts,^ many of them fruitless,
made by Dutch and English to gain a footing on
the island. The Dutch arrived off Bruni in the
year 1600, and ten days afterwards were glad to
leave with what pepper they had obtained in the
interval, the commander judging the place nothing
better than a nest of rogues. The Dutch did not
press the acquaintance, but started factories at
Sambas, where they monopolised the trade. In
1685 an English captain named Cowley arrived
in Bruni ; but the English showed as little inclination
as the Dutch to take up the commerce which
the Portuguese had abandoned.
At Banjermasin, on the southern coast, more
progress was made. The Dutch arrived there
before their English rivals, but were soon compelled
by intrigues to withdraw. In 1704^ the English
factors on the Chinese island of Chusan, expelled
by the imperial authorities and subsequently driven
from Pulo Condar off the Cochin China coast by
a mutiny, arrived at Banjermasin. They had every
reason to be gratified with the prospects at that
port ; for they could sell the native pepper to the
Chinese at three times the cost price. But their
bitter experiences in the China seas had not taught
them wisdom ;
they soon fell out with the Javanese
Sultan, whose hospitality they were enjoying, and
after some bloody struggles were obliged to withdraw
from this part of the island.
^ Much of the following information is extracted from an article by J. R.
Logan on European intercourse with Borneo, Joui-nal Vidian Archipelago, vol.
ii. p. 505.
'^ The article in \hQ Journal Indian Archipelago says 1702.