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The object in visiting Abai would he chiefly to penetrate to the lake, which, on the authority of Dalrymple and Burton, is not far distant thence, by a water communication; but should any success have attended similar efforts from Malludu Bay, this project will be needless, as in that case the enterprise will have been prosecuted to the westward, and reach to the vicinity of Abai.
The gold mines of Tampasuk have been mentioned; there are also mines of rock-crystal. Tawaran and several other places abound in goats and cattle. Abai has a small harbor, and the whole of this coast is accurately laid down by Lieutenant James Burton, in the sloop Endeavor. They send their produce to Borneo Proper. The pirates are commanded by Datus from Borneo Proper.
To return, however, to the proceedings of the Royalist, I would remark, that it depends greatly on the time passed in Malludu Bay whether our next endeavor be prosecuted at Abai on the western, or Tusan Abai on the eastern coast.
By the aboriginal tribes of Borneo, the Brunai people are always spoken of as Orang Abai, or Abai men, but though I have often enquired both of the aborigines and of the Brunais themselves, I have not been able to obtain any explanation of the term, nor of its derivation.
They are known as Brunais called by the Natives, for some unexplained reason, orang abai Sulus, Bajows, Illanuns and Balininis; there are also a few Bugis, or natives of Celebes.
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