BRUNEI
GEOGRAPHY
Brunei is a State on the north-west coast of Borneo, lying between Latitude 42′ and 5°3′ North and Longitude 114° 4′ and 115° 22 East. It forms two enclaves into the territory of Sarawak, by which it is bounded on all sides, or perhaps it would be more correct to say, historically speaking, that an intru- sion of Sarawak formed by the basin of the Limbang River splits the State into two separate parts. It comprises an area of some 2,226 square miles, and has a coast line of about a hundred miles extending from Brunei Bay in the East to the boundary with Sarawak in the West.
The capital of the same name, or, to give it its honorific Arabic title, Daru'l Salam (Abode of Peace), is situated on the Brunei River about nine miles from its mouth and is distant by sea 758 nautical miles from Singapore. At the time of the last census in 1931 it had a population of 10,453. Prior, to 1910 the town consisted entirely of Malay houses built on nibong piles on mud flats in t the river, but it has now spread over a portion of the mainland, partly reclaimed, on which the Government Offices and other public buildings, and streets of
of shop- houses have been built.
Set in a wide sweep of the river, soinewhat reminiscent of one of the smaller Italian lakes, this river town is in its way unique. At high tide under fayour- able conditions of light it takes on quite a remarkable beauty; viewed at close quarters it is even more remarkably ramshackle. The houses are grouped to- gether in small villages, many being connected by precarious bridges, and there the inhabitants carry on their multifarious activities in much the same way as if they were on land. Here, it is said, there are to be found still living old women who have never set foot on dry land.
i
The only other town of any size is Kuala Belait at the south-western end of the State's seaboard with a population of about 5,000. It is the centre of a rapidly expanding oil producing district and the local head-quarters of the British Malayan Petroleum Company. Here, with municipal services, piped water supply, electric light, domestic gas, cold storage, cinema and other ameni- ties, it is difficult to realise that within living memory it has been the scene of human sacrifices, and that only two hours up river there are pagan tribes treasuring the grisly relics of head-hunting expeditions; of not so long ago.
HISTORY ⠀⠀
Brunei has no pre-history, and the meagre written records do not begin until Mohammedanism established the Arabic script in the fifteenth century. For records of the pre-Mohammedan era we have to turn to Hindu and Chin- ese chroniclers. Chinese annals of the sixth and seventh centuries contain_re-, ferences to a kingdom known as Poli or Puni which sent tribute to the Em- perors of China in A. D. 518, 523 and 616. Similar references to a State of that name 45 days' sail from Java occur in the annals of the Sung dynasty which ruled over South China from about 960 to 1280 A. D., and there are strong grounds for identifying it with Brunei, though the authorities are not unanim cus on this point. With the decline of the Sung dynasty Brunei transferred its allegiance to Hindu Majapahit in Java, then back again to China, and finally, at the end of the fourteenth century, paid tribute to Mohammedan Malacca. With the coming of the Ming emperors the ties with vassal states were strengthened, and tribute were sent to China several times between 1405 and 1425. Thereafter there is no record.
T
!
Brunei must soon have thrown off all allegiance, for by the early years of the sixteenth century it had risen to great power, and one of its rulers. Sultan Bulkiah, or Nakhoda Ragam (the Singing Captain), a renowned sea rover,