PPOSITE THE RAJAH'S FORT]

We were shown one of the ingenious air-compressing tubes which have
been used by the natives for hundreds of years past to produce fire.
It seemed to afford a proof of the truth of the old adage that there
is nothing new under the sun. Professor Faraday alluded in one of his
lectures to the possibility of producing fire by means of compressed
air as a discovery of comparatively modern science; whereas the fact
has long been recognised and put to practical use in these obscure
regions of the earth. The war-jackets were made of birds' feathers
and wild beasts' skins, or of the barks of trees. Sometimes these
garments were liberally decorated with small bells, cowries, and
pieces of metal cut from old petroleum and preserved meat tins, which
jingle and rattle as the wearer moves. Others were like chain-armour,
of which the strips were fastened together by bits of hide or leather.
The shields seemed of all sorts of shapes and sizes, some long and
narrow, some circular, and some large enough to cover a man
completely, and they were nearly all ornamented with tufts of black,
silky, human hair. The kreises and parongs were similarly decorated,
as well as with fine horsehair dyed bright scarlet, and streaked with
white. Some of the weapons had splendidly carved handles and very fine
bead-decorations, and many of the blades were inlaid with gold and
silver. Sulu and Brunei have for centuries been celebrated for their
arms, specially for their steel and damascene-worked armour, as well
as for their bronze guns. The latter are used as current coin by the
native tribes in their more important transactions. If a slave be
bought or sold, or a quantity of rice, sago, or beans changes hands,
the value is almost always reckoned in bronze guns. Grey-shirtings, a
more convenient form of money for small dealings, have now gone out of
fashion, but blue cloth still holds its own. Chinese 'cash' and
Spanish dollars are in circulation, but the natives will not look at a
'bit,' nor at any other sort of coin, either gold or silver. The metal
which the natives prefer for their guns is composed of Chinese cash
melted up, and for their swords they use the iron bands by which
cotton bales are kept together. Outside the Government buildings stand
some beautiful and curious cannon, of moderate calibre. Some came from
Brunei, while others had only just been captured on the Barram and
Leyun rivers, during the Rajah's expeditio