bii5cb*»®®sf§j sea-sl'Ug, and other 'commodities in great "demand in the
Chinese market,- than rthe ;o.ther islands of the east; font the interior: has
gH^ppl^er
and the tax- of & dollar per head,' established by the native authority, while theirimmediate
wants of food, clothing, and habitation,1 .are urgent and imperious, the proprietors of. the
mines find.it easy to engage their services for three or four years. In some other cases, agents
are employed to obtain men from China, cm stipulated agreements, to 'work for a number of
yews; the-usual rate of payment to the miners -so engaged is not considered to average
less than fiveSpanish dollars a month. No sooner, however, are these engagements concluded
with their masters, than a number e f them club together with the funds they have been:able
to save, and commence anew mine upon their.joint account, in a few years acquiring a competency
to return to their native country.
I>iAMoN»s.--'Phere appears to be no just foundation for the idea« that the diamonds of Borneo
are inferior to those of Golconda. Many-of-an inferior quality havecno SouhtfaunETtheir
way into the market, because there was perhaps less skill and' .judgment* in' the selection; blit
the value of diamonds here, as well as every where else, depends upon their, shape, size,, and
water, and in this respect the diamonds of Borneo will bear a comparison with those of any
country yet known. Indeed, as far as we may. judge from the present state a£ am-information,
the Landak mines -alone are as productive, and its diamonds as precious, as any .other in the
world?
The principal mines where diamonds are-rpgularlytlug for ®ji Berne», and found inim^%Ba*
siderable quantities, are those of Lfindak, Sangau on the great river Lawi, audfthc districts'of
Diamonds have been occasionally found within the limits of-'Borneo Proper,, at
Milan and Sukadana. The mines e f Landak are as ancient as th e Malayan -dominion on the
islands, those of Sangau are of more recent date, and those-of ;Banjer-masia are said to’have
been .first, discovered inrthe reign e f Sultan Sepoh, t e n whom the-pcesent sultan is the.fourth
Diamonds are not only found in the bottom of rivers when dry, but at the foot of craggy
bilk and mountains. The points, or mines, are dug to the depth of from one -to five fathoms
only; but experience has invariably proved, -that the deeper they are dug, .aoti only §re the
diamonds more abundant, hut superior in siae, shape aitd'water. The soil which produces
diamonds is known from a species of parth caSed by the aarivestHfar labor-giglgi* This,-is
sometimes blacky sometimes, whiter -red, orange, and green: it is a species of earth which stains
tjbe elothes, of the labourer, and is distinguished by many names.
At Lfindakthere-are t&a:p$rits worked by Chine»,-and *;rilii§y
labourers employed. 4 s a general average, eight Chinese are supposed to find, about 'eight
bengkals of’diamonds*}® a year. From two to three hundred of the smallest sort are supposed
to go-to a- ierigkal,' valued at from twenty to twenty-four rupees. This is"independent df^the
larger ones, which are casual. • So far back as the year 1-7S8, the Dutch annually exported from
the produce of these mines, diamonds to the value’ of from two. to three hundred thousand
dollars.
Few court» of Europe eould perhaps boast of a moire brilliant display of diamonds than,
mthe prosperous times e f the Dutch, was exhibited by the ladies of Batavia, the principal and
Only mart yet opened for the Bornean diamond mines, and wheaee those known. in.-Bte.‘Ea,
ropeau
never been.explored by.Earep'eatisa I t mayl bei conjectured, that the ignorance
of. the■stkte,,.,ofi the country, is onev^f (the -principal causes that no
Eur.opeanisettlementon it has hitherto-proved advantageous, hilt has gene-
rally-been abandoned? after a shor-MidaL. TFhweS ©lily i exception ter this obset-*
ration is the Dut&h '-Settlement of -Md/iyierm,d)Sin,' > which continued from 1747
to 1810, .wheriyit was formally abandoned by Marshal Daendals to the Sultan,
by^agr ee menty<t for.the sum of 'fifty thousand Spanish? dollars. The
Sultan soon after sent i an embassy, inviting the.»English to settlei; and pre-'
rlws to the conquest of'.Java,, the, Earl <of* Minto^e&ciwedi! the^atabassadors
at Malacca and aEeepted their. havitafiioin. ,
- The onljt -temtory to which the< Dutch had any- claim on < the island of
Borneo, was the coast, from S&h&dana .t6>*>Mempcma ; this, territory they
acquired by virtue1 of a cession from the Sultan of'Bantam in Wfflm They
^fcroyed Sukaddm,-and established- factories at Pontidrta and Mempawatf
which however i-theyi abandoned as unproductive: after, a--period of fourteen
.yfeawfst* ■
'. - in
ropean world have been procured.!' With the declineof.the Dutch governments however, the
demand has decreased, and the mines are now almost neglected, the numerous, diamond-cut'
ters. nofeteuing abiOUo ohtame livelihood,, j^jrmggfeijyhen more. Chinese were employed ip
the^ ^ g gW Landak. "diamond's *to thirteen-carats .were ccimmop in the public markets.
The^Panglran of LandakOiw' Wears <mer w eighteen, Vtnd-anotbe# of fourteen'' carats and a Half.
Since Java has »been in the possessiohef-tbe Englkb, . rough-diamondsfrom Boraeohave been
gent to England, and, even in a very unfavourable -state’ of the market, burned out an advantageous
A
, ISAmong theJarger diamonds which thesp p ^ ^m v en ro d u c e d , it be uninteresting
toinention, that the Lgreat'diamond now in flm posse&ion' of the SultanafyMatah, which Has,
bpehhbeen and' examined- by Europeans, weighs three hundred and sixty-seven carats ^ ^ i s
of the .Shape .of an egg, indented, on .one .sddmic.lt,*> however,,sficutjs' and, toniAhis aecoufitj
it(may[he> d ^ jp jty te ^ay, whether i^ftiU beeome ^ e ? largest <jut diamond even knovjn^ for
the famous diamond ofA.urung Zebe, called the, ogul,;m^ts;ropgbf|tate w ^ te A ^ te n hundred
an& ninety-five carats, and was then valued at^£600,000,"bm when cut was ƒ educed to
twnhundred and seventy-nine’ 'carats’.* ‘ This ‘cblehrated diamohd, kn'owriftiy' themifne bf the
Matan'diamond, was diseovered 'by -a dfiyak/-afid -claimed ?as a d-roil of’, royalty by- the Sultan
of the (country, ,Guru-L6ya^ but was. handed >yer to the PangSran of Landak, whose brother
having, gotmossession of-j,tj,' gav.ei,ta^a bribe to the Spit an. of {Sukadana, in.order^that he might
®6 placed on.the throne of Land^r pfimee, fiowevep,.hawing, fled to Bantam, by
the aid of the rirmce of that’ country and \h e iDutch, succeeded'regyinpm possession of
Hi| district, ‘ and nearly destroyed Sdkad&ha. It has remained as an* life loom in the family
of these priiices'-for four -descents; and is- almost the only appendage of royalty now remaining.