Chapter 2

ONE LAND WITH THREE RULERS

WHILE THE Chinese setters were enlarging their province in eastern part of the country, another race of people were building up their country in the west. These were the Bruneis; their leader was the Sultan of Brunei and their fist home was in Malaya. When we think of Brunei today, we think of a sultanate the name of which is well known because of its importan oil town, Seria, Six hundred years ago, however, it was quite different. Oil had not then been discovered but Brunei was the most important town in these part, and the borders of the sultanate reached far north beyond what we call Jesselton today, and they reached the Interior too.

Of course the Sultan was not able to rule all his land personally; he was unable to visit most of it, because travelling was so difficult in wild country. Neither could his officials go far from the rivers and plains. As a result many of the people whom the Sultan claimed as his subjects had probably never even heard of him. Nevertheless he had his stations in several places, and he considered as his own the land between them.

The Sultan of Sulu too was ambitious to gain land in the north and east as his own. As a result no less than three governments were interesting themselves in our own small country.

The Sultan of Brunei, Sultan Mohammed, was friendly towards China; his ancestors are said to have visited China once or twice bearing wonderful gifts. Sultan Mohammed is a very important figure in the history of Borneo. He did two memorable things. First he made the religion of Islam known in Brunei and encouraged his people to become Moslems. Next he established friendly relations with the Chinese province of Kinabatangan and married the sister of the Governor of the province. This happened in the year 1375 according to Sulu legends, which were passed down for many years in speech before people learned to write.

In this way two of the three territories of North Borneo become united in friendship. Tradition says that Sultan Mohammed accepted the Emperor of China for a time as his overlord, just as the Governor of Kinabatangan province did . Many gifts were sent from Brunei to the Emperor's count, and adventurous Chinese merchants began to sail to Borneo in search of trade. These travellers were not always treated kindly. Some of them were captured and kept for a long time as prisoners. The Bruneis made these unfortunate people teach them their Chinese crafts. That is how Brunei craftsmen fist become very clever at working with silver and brass.

It seems likely that it was at this time that Mount Kinabalu become famous. The Dusuns have passed down a legend that the Chinese from Kinabatangan Province came to the mountain. They sent back to China stories about it. One of the stories was that there was a precious jewel on top of the mountain, but it was guarded by a dragon. The Emperor of China, so some Dusuns say, sent his three sons to win this jewel for him. Of course the dragon was angry when he found that his jewel had been stolen, and he chased the princes and their followers back to the sea. The princes escaped to China, but all their followers were stranded and had mountain and made their homesn there and married native wives. Some people say that as a result the mountain was called New China, Kina Balu.

Scholars today say that the name Kinabalu has nothing to do with China. But many people think it has. Anyway, it's a good story, isn't it?

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