A History of Sarawak under Its Two White Rajahs 1839-1908Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
History
A History of Sarawak under Its Two White Rajahs 1839-1908
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Charles, Rajah of Sarawak, 1829-1917; James, Rajah of Sarawak, 1803-1868; Sarawak (Malaysia) -- History
The name Borneo is a corruption of Burni, itself a corruption of
Beruni or Bruni, the capital of that ancient but now decayed Sultanate
bearing the same name, and of which Sarawak, and a great part of
British North Borneo, once formed parts. It was the first place in
Borneo with which the Spanish and Portuguese had any dealings, and in
their old chronicles it is referred to as Burni, and Borneo
subsequently became the distinguishing name of the whole island to
Europeans. The natives themselves have none, except perhaps the
doubtful one of Pulau Ka-lamanta-an, the island of raw sago, so named
in recent times by the merchants and traders of the Straits
Settlements as being the island from which that commodity was brought,
and in those settlements it has since become the native name for
Borneo. But in Sarawak this name is known to the Malays alone, and in
other parts of Borneo, perhaps only a few have heard of it. In fact,
it is applicable to Sarawak only, for in former days sago was exported
to the Straits solely from that country, and the trade was carried on
by Sarawak Malays, first with Penang and subsequently with Singapore.
An old English map of about 1700 gives to the town of Bruni, as well
as to the whole island, the name of Borneo. Mercator (1595) also gives
Borneo to both.
Bruni is variously spelt Brunai, Brunei, Bruné, Borneo, Borney,
Bornei, Porne, and Burni by old writers; all corruptions of Bruni. The
Sanskrit word Bhurni, meaning land or country, has been suggested as
the origin of the name.
Footnote 8:
See page 34.
Footnote 9:
Everett (A. Hart). "Notes on the Distribution of the Useful Minerals
in Sarawak," in the _Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal
Asiatic Society_, 1878. Mr. Everett was a distinguished naturalist. He
served for eight years in the Sarawak service, and died in 1898.
Footnote 10:
Odoardo Beccari, _Wanderings in the Great Forests of Borneo_, 1904.
Footnote 11:
Probably the first European to discover these strange insects was the
Italian Pigafetta, who in 1521 noticed them in the island of Palawan,
to the north of Borneo, and thus quaintly describes them: "In this
island are found certain trees, the leaves of which, when they fall
off, are animated, and walk." He surmised they lived upon air.—
_Magellan, Hakluyt Society._
Footnote 12:
St. John mentions one that was killed at Brooketon 26 feet 2 inches in
length.—_Life in the Forests of the Far East_, 1863.
Footnote 13:
With regard to the collection of orchids it has also been found
necessary to do this. Collectors would ruthlessly destroy all orchids,
especially the rarer kinds, which they could not carry away, in order
to prevent others from collecting these.
Footnote 14:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account