It is a very singular circumstance that the teak is not found in any of the forests of Borneo, although in former days it was said to exist on the north-east coast, but I made very particular inquiries of the Sulus whom I found there, and they said they had never seen it except on their own island. It is a matter of regret, as although Borneo possesses some very fine woods, yet none equal to the teak. Remembering Forest’s statement that elephants were found in his time in the forests which clothed so much of the soil of the island, I asked Datu Daniel about it; his answer was, that even within the remembrance of the oldest men then alive, there were still a few elephants left in the woods, but that, finding they committed so much damage to the plantations, the villagers had combined and hunted the beasts till they were all killed; I was pleased to find the old traveller’s account confirmed. CHAPTER X. THE KINGDOM OF BORNEO PROPER. Its Nominal Extent--Its Government--The Sultan--The Viziers--The Shabandar--The inferior Officers--Their Influence--“The Abode of Peace”--Poverty-stricken Gentlemen--Possessions of the Nobles--The Country parcelled out among them--Distant Dependencies becoming independent--Oppression of the surrounding Districts--Divisions among the Nobles--Poverty of the Nobles--Population of Brunei--System of Plunder--Sale of Children--Handsome Brass Guns--Their Fate--No Justice--Crime nominally Punished--No Possibility of Improvement--Anecdotes--System of Local Self-government--The Parishes--Their Names, and the Occupation of their Inhabitants--Fishing--Shell Heaps--Asylum--Treatment of a Slave Girl--Political Parties--Religious Schism--An attempted Explanation--Followers of each Party--Difference of Length of Fast Month--Visiting the Graves of Ancestors--A pretty Custom--Search after Excitement--Story Tellers--Conjurors--Their Arts--Practice of Abortion--The Egg-cooking Trick--The Sultan’s Palace--Its Inhabitants--His Wife and his Concubines--Their Treatment--Bold Lovers--Anecdote--Tragical Termination--The Women deceive their Lords--The Inverted Language--Education neglected--Sight of a Harim--Mutual Disappointment--Rajahs pleasant Companions--Their Customs--Tenacious of Rank--Decay of Brunei--Exactions suffered by the Aborigines--The Kadayans--Tradition--Hill Men united--Commotion--Kadayans have great Influence--Lovely Country--Kadayans removed to Labuan--Short Description of that Colony--Excellent Position--Coal--Telegraphic Communication--Good Effect of our Colony--Trade Increasing--Pepper--Exports--Cotton--Fine Jungle--Method of Collecting the Camphor and the Gamboge in Siam--The Coal-fields--Revenue of the Sultan--Brunei Government no Power--Crime unpunished--A Bold Thief--Makota and the Fire--Nominal Punishments--Cutting off the Hand--The