Borneo Fun Factoids
The following information is taken from the end notes of “The Unpublished Rennell M.S: A Borneo Philippine Journey 1762-1763.” There are 95 end notes to the Rennell manuscript. I have reduced these to a manageable number according to the topic. They were probably written by Cornell graduate students, Barabra Harrisson and a very few by Tom Harrisson.
Birds
Large numbers of birds are unusual in the Southwest China Sea. Mariners usually note them when they enter new water. The seabird exception is Barren Island which houses a vast colony of Noddy Terns. There are no vultures in Borneo however the critically endangered monkey eating eagle or Great Philippine Eagle has been mistaken for the vulture.
Weather
Strong afternoon thunderstorms are a frequent feature of June-August in the Southwest China Sea especially as the land mass of Borneo is approached. Wind direction is erratic and violent during these times. Well out to sea, normal monsoon (meaning calm Southwest monsoon) weather prevails.
Sailing
Navigating off of Borneo, the ship would have sailed by Natuna Islands. Sailing further, the ship would have spotted six tiny islands and then clear water for two hundred miles until off of Brunei Bay. The ship would have sailed off of Mt. Kinabalu however the mountain is invisible from the sea because of cloud cover.
Language
Suluk is a distinctive language unintelligible to Malays.
Migration
At the time of this voyage, 1762, Islamic Suluks were expanding south into Sabah, especially on the northern tip and eastward where they now dominate. They never really penetrated into Sarawak.
Abbai
This town no longer exists. The town of Abbai has quite a difficult anchorage. Old Chinese potsherds have been found there. The island is a continuation of the foothills of Kota Belund and Mt. Kinabalu.
The main present (1966) settlement is a small and beautiful pile village on the true right bank of a sandy mouth of the cove. The people live by fishing, copra and some rice planting. Inland, extensive rice planting and individual houses. These Bajus, abandoning their maritime way of life, established a rice culture. The Chinese settled in 1878 and soon there was strong Chinese trade.
St. Pedro
St. Pedro was in sporadic use until the late 18th century. Some earlier maps call it St. Thomas (Tome )Mercator called in Monta de Adas.
Mt Kinabalu
Many geologists and biologists believe Mt Kinabalu is a recent (in geologic age)emergent massif. There has been considerable debate on the height of Mt Kinabalu which varied from 13,000 feet to 19,000 feet until it was finally settled at 13,435 feet or 40,095 meters.
The Lone Sailor
There was a habit of leaving a sailor or two behind at a rendezvous. Several of these men were never recovered. Sometimes, they were the source of new ideas and a blood strain for the local population.
Cannon
Excellent cannons were available by now (1762) widespread not only along the coasts but into the Borneo interior. Most were made in Brunei originating under Chinese influence later augmented by early Spanish techniques. Other long-time factories existed in Cebu and the Celebes.
Small Pox
Smallpox does not seem to be a menace in Sabah until the early 18th century. Smallpox, cholera and influenza decimated whole populations from the coasts to deep in the interior of Borneo.
Demise of the natives
Confused and corrupt trade practices pushing south from Manila and culminating in the over bids of Dent and Overbrook in Sabah and Brooke in Sarawak was one cause of the decline of the natives. The other was epidemics with health with psychological impacts.
James Brooke wrote in his 1840 diary:
“I must mention the effect of European domination in the archipelago. The first voyagers from the West found the natives rich and powerful with strong established governments and thriving trade with all parts of the world. The rapacious Europeans have reduced them to their present condition. (1840) Their governments have been broken up, the old states decomposed by treachery, by bribery and intrigue, their possession wrested from them by flimsy pretences, their trade restricted, their vices encouraged, their virtues repressed and their energies paralysed or rendered desperate, till there is every reason to fear the gradual extinction of the Malay race”.
Chinese
The Chinese survived in strength and even as dominant traders even when the Spaniards and others were most terribly persecuting them. Their influence stretched far beyond small numbers and local trade. They succeeded by marrying into the families of high-class natives and effective ideas of mechanical devices, medicinal concepts and economic values.
Islam
Islam reached Brunei in the 1300’s and to Sulu a little later. The first Islamic Sultan of Sulu was Sayid Abu Bakar 1405-1420.
Fingernails
The elongation of fingernails in 1762, especially the left-hand little finger, continues to this day (2025). The fashion could have originated from China.
Coats of Mail
Coats of Mail are not contusive in this climate and came with the manufacture of cannons. They did not spread to inland Borneo or Sarawak. Armour was described as the hides of buffalo, pangolin or fish scales.
Horses
Ponies are of uncertain origin in the islands. It is probable that some came from China in early times most notably to Sabah. Another strain was brought to Manila from Spain and later spread south through the Philippines. The southernmost area was said to be in the inland plain of Keningkau. There are no horses in Sarawak or other areas of Kalimatan.
Sambar Deer
The deer were widely kept as pets or when caught young forced reared in pens and cages under houses. The hooves are still exported to China for medicinal use and the horns are valued for knife and sword handles.
Goats
Goats are even more of an uncertain origin than horses but are spread over a wide area. The remote Kenyans of Long Nawang rely on dyed goat hair for ornamentation of their finest artefacts.
Water Buffalo
Banteng or Temadau (bos javanicus) are certainly endemic. However, riding water buffalo is a common practice throughout Sabah and Sulu but not Sarawak or in buffalo-rich Kelabits.
Cowries
Cowries are small sea snails whose shells are divided in half by an opening. They are found in the Sulu Sea but never south into Borneo or Sarawak. They were traded in Sabah and interior Borneo. They were used in great numbers for decoration on hats, clothing, beads, jewellery, box decorations as well as many other decorative uses and closely sewn over cloth as armour. Rennell, the first British trader in the Sulu’s, stated they brought over sixty tons of these shells on board the ship. They were traded with the Chinese.
Slaves
The capture and selling of slaves was the major occupation of the Illanau described as a savage people inhabiting the northern part of Mindanao Island. Some of the Illanau have settled in Sulu Island and act as privateers in slaving. The slaves probably began as prisoners many generations beforehand. Their offspring became natives but were not treated as equals. Intercommunal slavery for debt was also widespread and became a headache, along with buffalo stealing, all over Sulu and Sabah. There was a major terror of slave raids by the interior peoples. A large class had a status between slaves and serf servants. These were the offspring of secondary wives and concubines acquired by purchase or as gifts from inland peoples to the very numerous nobles, officials, datus connected with the Sultanates, scattered all along the coasts and small islands of west Borneo and the Sulu and Celebes Seas.
From: Harrisson, Tom The Unpublished M.S.: A Borneo Philippine Journey 1762-1763 Kuala Lumpur: The Journal of the Malaysia Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society vol. 34, pt. 1 1966
Tom McLaughlin for BorneoHistory.net