File:Pirate Craft off North Point of Borneo.jpg

English: Excerpt from the book: PIRATE CRAFT

The Dyaks are great head hunters, a proclivity still carried on in the interior. Rajah Brooke got them well in hand, and now the comparatively gentle Dyak uses his "Eilean Pareng" for more domestic purposes than the decapitation of his neighbours or enemies. The weapon >till remains general amongst them; the blade is about 22 in. long. 1 1/2 in. wide at the end, and only 3/4 in. at the handle, which is made of Sambur deer horn, elaborately carved and ornamented, as well as the scabbard, with tufts of black and red hair.

The pirate craft are very narrow, with two large outriggers, so that when seen stem on they have the appearance of vast water spiders. The huge sail is made of fibre ; to furl it it is rolled up ; round the bulwarks are numerous bamboos to form a kind of balustrade instead of a life-line. The pirates used to be armed with heavy "parengs," interspersed with a great variety of bills and catchpoles, instruments shown by the warders in the Tower of London. The accommodation on board is very much limited, in fact hardly required in such a lovely climate as lat. 5° N.

The north part of this vast island is known as British North Borneo, now rapidly developing under a royal charter, with Sandaken for its capital, under the Protectorate of Great Britain. This was obtained in 1888. The natives are indolent, but the proximity of Chinese supply many who are too glad to settle down under peaceful English rule and grow vegetables, and John Chinaman does that admirably anywhere, wherever he may be.