Some Interesting Quotations on Borneo
When I was right in the middle of Borneo, you thought you
were in a different world. There was no radio, no ways of communicating.
-- David Attenborough, British journalist
We could send 500 volunteers into Borneo and do a good job
and the gross national product might still go down!
-- Sargent Shriver, American politician
The Ruffed Padanga of Borneo and Rotherham spreads out his
feathers in his courtship dance and imitates Winston Churchill and Tommy Cooper
on one leg. The padanga is dying out because the female padanga doesn't take it
too seriously.
-- Mike Harding, British musician
"The five cells [of the Durian] are silky-white within,
and are filled with a mass of firm, cream-coloured pulp, containing about three
seeds each. This pulp is the eatable part, and its consistence and flavour are
indescribable. A rich custard highly flavoured with almonds gives the best
general idea of it, but there are occasional wafts of flavour that call to mind
cream-cheese, onion-sauce, sherry-wine, and other incongruous dishes. Then
there is a rich glutinous smoothness in the pulp which nothing else possesses,
but which adds to its delicacy. It is neither acid nor sweet nor juicy; yet it
wants neither of these qualities, for it is in itself perfect. It produces no
nausea or other bad effect, and the more you eat of it the less you feel
inclined to stop. In fact, to eat Durians is a new sensation worth a voyage to
the East to experience."
-- Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913), English naturalist in
his essay, "On the Bamboo and Durian of Borneo"
Borneo has never, as far as we have information, formed a
political unity; and even its physical unity as an island is so little known or
considered by its native inhabitants that it possesses in their languages no
general designation. As a natural consequence Borneo has no proper history.
The island was first discovered by European navigators in
the beginning of the 16th century, according to one account by Lorenzo de
Gomez, a Portuguese, in 1518, and according to another by Don Jorge de Menezes
in 1526. Before long commercial relations were formed with the natives by the
Portuguese traders, at first in the city of Bruni [Brunei] itself, and then in
various other maritime states.
In 1573 their Spanish rivals tried to open a connection with
Bruni [Brunei], but their attempts were without success till the sultan being
dethroned appealed to them for assistance, and was restored in 1580. From that
time they kept up intercourse with the country, but it was not unfrequently
interrupted by war. In 1645 an expedition was sent to punish the inhabitants of
the capital for their piratical excursions. The real influence exerted by the
Portuguese and Spaniards on the condition of the country was very slight; and
the only effort at proselytizing of which we have record came to an untimely
end in the death of the Theatine monk, Antonio Ventimiglia, who had been its
originator.
Meanwhile the Dutch and English had been gaining a footing
in the island. In 1604 Waerwijck began to trade on the west coast, and in 1608
Samuel Blommaert was appointed Dutch resident in Landak and Sukkedana.
The English appeared for the first time about 1609, and by
1698 had an important settlement at Banjermassin, from which, however, they
were expelled by the influence of the Dutch, who about 1733 obtained from the
sultan a monopoly of the trade. The Dutch, in fact, became paramount all round
the west and south coasts, and the king of Bantam ceded his rights of
suzerainty to the company.
The attention of the English was meantime turned to the
north of the island, which was subject to the sultan of Sulu, from whom, in
1756, Alexander Dalrymple obtained possession of the island of Balangbangan,
and all the north-eastern promontory. A military post was established, but in
1775 it was surprised and destroyed by the natives under the dutus or
subordinate chiefs, who were dissatisfied with the cession of their territory.
This disaster rendered a treaty, which had just been concluded (in 1774) with
the sultan of Bruni [Brunei], in great measure a dead letter, and before the
end of the century English influence in Borneo was practically at an end.
The Dutch, too, were overtaken, in spite of apparent
success, with a succession of misfortunes, through their own mismanagement; and
in 1809 their settlements were all abandoned by order of Marshal Daendels. The
natives along the coast, assisted and stimulated by immigrants from the
neighbouring islands to the north gave themselves more and more to piracy, and
rendered the trade of civilized nations almost an impossibility.
In 1811, however, an embassy was sent to the British
Government in Java by the sultan of Banjermassin to crave their assistance, and
in reply Alexander Hare was despatched as commissioner and resident. He not
only formed an advantageous treaty with the sultan, but got for himself a grant
of a district of country which lie proceeded to colonize and cultivate. An
expedition was also sent against Sambas, and a post established at Pontianak.
On the restoration of the Dutch possessions in 1818 all
these arrangements were cancelled, and a free field was left to the enterprise
of the Dutch Government. A succession of active commissioner -- Boekholtz,
Tobias, Halewijn, &c. -- soon laid the foundations of an extensive
supremacy. About half of the kingdom of Banjermassin was surrendered by the
sultan in 1823, and further concessions were granted by his son in 1825.
Meanwhile, George Muller was exploring the east coast, and
obtained from the sultan of Kuti an acknowledgment of the Dutch authority -- a
concession which seems to have been immediately regretted, as the enterprising
traveller was shortly afterwards killed.
The outbreak of a war in Java turned the attention of the
Dutch in some measure from Borneo, and nothing was done by them to check the
piracy which was growing more and more unendurable. On the rise of Singapore
direct trade had been opened with Sarawak and Bruni [Brunei], and it was a
matter of moment to the English merchants that their traffic should be safe. In
1838 Sir James Brooke, an Englishman, whose attention had been turned to the
state of affairs in the Eastern Archipelago, set out for Borneo, determined, if
possible, to remedy the evil. By 1841 he had obtained from the sultan of Bruni
[Brunei] the highest authority in Sarawak, and before many years were over he
succeeded in restoring order and peace to the district, and, with the
assistance of the English Government, in repressing piracy. (See BROOKE and
SARAWAK.) In 1847 the sultan of Bruni agreed to make no cession of territory to
any nation or individual without the consent of Her British Majesty.
The Dutch hopes of gradually incorporating the whole island
were thus frustrated, but this served only to increase their activity in other
directions. In 1844 the sultan of Kuti had acknowledged their protectorate, and
about the same time a treaty of similar character was formed with Passir. Since
1834, when Gunong-Tebur, Tanjong, and Bulungan are said to have made a nominal
submission, the boundaries of their authority have undergone no change to the
north; and in general their political power has been rather rising in level, so
to speak, over the southern part of the island than seeking to spread over a
wider area.
The above article was written by Hugh A. Webster, formerly
Librarian, Edinburgh University; editor of the Scottish Geographical Magazine;
sub-editor of the Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Source : 1902encyclopedia
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