Life in the forests of the Far East (vol. 2 of 2)

[1] Trusan, means a passage connecting one stream with another, or a short cut joining two reaches of the same stream.

[2] I may remark here that the map I had with me had been constructed during my former journeys, and I verified it as I proceeded.

[3] The Murut tribe, who formerly inhabited the Madalam branch of the Limbang, and occupied the country round the base of the mountain of Molu.

[4] A pikul is 133⅓ lb.

[5] A gantang is six pints.

[6] Gray shirtings.

[7] There are two ranges, which explain why I was so puzzled by the different appearances presented by these mountains. In fact, it was only afterwards I discovered that in ascending the Trunan we had got under the “child of Molu” as it is called by the Malays; had we continued ascending the Madalam, we should have found ourselves under the great peak.

[8] The best kinds are Timbaran and Damuan.

[9] Journal of the Indian Archipelago, vol. vi. page 562.

[10] I think it very probable that he meant that Andrew was the name of the captain, and that he was one of the crew of Maria Frederica, whose capture is referred to farther on.

[11] This horrible story was originally told us by Mr. Wyndham, but I made many subsequent inquiries, and had every particular of the story confirmed by trustworthy native authority. A man named Si Bungkul, who was a captive at Tungku at the time, told me he saw an English captain buried up to his waist, and that an elderly Lanun chief, called Rajah Muda, who was famous for his long beard, walked up to him, and with one blow cleft him from the shoulder to the side with his kempilan or heavy Lanun sword.

[12] I may notice that many of the under estimates of the population of this city arise from reckoning the houses at two thousand, and multiplying that number by five, as the average of a family. But in Brunei this system will not apply, as to test it, we have made above a hundred inquiries of different men, as to the amount of inhabitants in each of their houses, and the highest was the sultan, with seventy in his palace, while the lowest was seven in a small fisherman’s hut. I think in placing the average at fifteen, and reducing the number of houses, I am understating the population, which is considered by many to exceed forty thousand.