araja
of Sabah (North Borneo) and Raja of Gaya and Sandakan, with power of
life and death over the inhabitants, with all the absolute rights of
property vested in the Sultan over the soil of the country, and the
right to dispose of the same, as well as of the rights over the
productions of the country, whether mineral, vegetable, or animal, with
the rights of making laws, coining money, creating an army and navy,
levying customs rates on home and foreign trade and shipping, and other
dues and taxes on the inhabitants as to him might seem good or
expedient, together with all other powers and rights usually exercised
by and belonging to sovereign rulers, and which the Sultan thereby
delegated to him of his own free will; and the Sultan called upon all
foreign nations, with whom he had formed friendly treaties and
alliances, to acknowledge the said Maharaja as the Sultan himself in the
said territories and to respect his authority therein; and in the case
of the death or retirement from the said office of the said Maharaja,
then his duly appointed successor in the office of Supreme Ruler and
Governor-in-Chief of the Company's territories in Borneo should likewise
succeed to the office and title of Maharaja of Sabah and Raja of Gaya
and Sandakan, and all the powers above enumerated be vested in him." I
am quoting from the preamble to the Royal Charter. Some explanation of
the term "Sabah" as applied to the territory--a term which appears in
the Prayer Book version of the 72nd Psalm, verse 10, "The kings of
Arabia and Sabah shall bring gifts"--seems called for, but I regret to
say I have not been able to obtain a satisfactory one from the Brunai
people, who use it in connection only with a small portion of the West
Coast of Borneo, North of the Brunai river. Perhaps the following note,
which I take from Mr. W. E. MAXWELL'S "Manual of the Malay Language,"
may have some slight bearing on the point:--"Sawa, Jawa, Saba, Jaba,
Zaba, etc., has evidently in all times been the capital local name in
Indonesia. The whole archipelago was pressed into an island of that name
by the Hindus and Romans. Even in the time of MARCO POLO we have only a
Java Major and a Java Minor. The Bugis apply the name of Jawa, _jawaka_
(comp. the Polynesian _Sawaiki_, Ceramese _Sawai_) to the Moluccas. One
of the principal divisions of Battaland in Sumatra is called _Tanah_
Jawa. PTOLEMY has both Jaba and Saba."--"Logan, Journ. Ind. Arch., iv,
338." In the B