come to no terms till his officers had examined them with the
utmost attention, after which they had trade for pepper with a people
called _Pattannees_, of Chinese origin. Both these and the native
Borneans were fond of Chinese cotton cloth, but the linen from Holland
was a mere drug, and quite unsaleable. In the mean time, the Borneans
laid a plot to surprise the ship; for which purpose, on the 1st January,
1601, they came with at least an hundred praws full of men, pretending
to have brought presents from the king, and would have come on board the
ship; but the Dutch, suspecting their treachery, commanded them to keep
at a distance from the ship, or they would be obliged to make them do so
with their shot, on which the Borneans desisted.

Borneo is the largest of all the islands in the East-Indies; and its
capital, of the same name, contains about 300 houses, but is built in a
dirty marshy soil, or rather in the water, so that the inhabitants have
to go from one house to another in their praws. The inhabitants all go
constantly armed, from the noble down to the fisherman; and even the
women are of so martial a disposition, that on receiving an affront,
they instantly revenge it, either with a dagger or a javelin. This a
Dutchman had nearly proved to his cost; for having offended one of these
viragoes, she set upon him with a javelin, and had surely dispatched
him, if she had not been prevented by main force. They are Mahometans,
and so very superstitious, that they would rather die than eat of
swine's flesh, nor will they keep any of these animals about them. The
better sort have a cotton garment from the waist down, with a turban on
their heads; but the common people go entirely naked. They continually
chew betel and areka, which is also a common practice in many other
parts of India.

On the 4th January, four Borneans came to the ship, intending to have
cut the cables, that she might drive on shore and become their prey; but
the Dutch fortunately discovered them, and drove them away with shot,
when they left their praw behind, which the Dutch took, to serve instead
of their own boat, which they had lost at the Philippines. Seeing no
hope of any profitable trade at this place, they now left it, intending
for Bantam, not much pleased either with the country or the people. The
day after leaving Borneo, they met a junk from Japan bound for Manilla,
which informed them of a great Dutch ship being forced by tempests into