an island of Asia, in the East Indies, and one of the three great Sunda islands. It is thought to be the largest island in the world, next to New Holland; being 800 miles long, and 700 broad. It is seated under the equator, that line cutting it almost through the middle. It is almost of a circular figure: abounds with gold; and the finest diamonds in the Indies are found in its rivers, being probably washed down from the hills by torrents. Here are also mines of iron and tin, and leadstones. Birds nests* are to be had in this island, which are eatable, and reckoned a great delicacy. The beasts are, oxen, buffaloes, deer, goats, elephants, tigers, and monkeys. This island has fine rivers, especially towards the west and south. In their monsoon, from April to September, the wind is westerly; and they have continual heavy rains, attended with violent storms of thunder and lightning. The rainy season continues for eight months of the year; and as during that time all the flat country near the coast is overflowed, the air is rendered very unhealthy, and the inhabitants are forced to build their houses on floats, which they make fast to trees. The houses have but one floor, with partitions made with cane; and the roofs are covered with palmetto leaves, the caves of which reach within four or five feet of the bottom. The west and north-east sides of the island are almost desert, and the east is but little known. The inland parts are very mountainous; and the southeast, for many leagues together, is a stinking morass, which, being overflowed in the wet season, is very unhealthy.

The Portuguese, who first discovered Borneo, had arrived in the Indies above 30 years before they knew anything of it more than the name, and its situation, by reason of their frequently passing by its coast. At last one Captain Edward Corril had orders to examine it more narrowly; and being once acquainted with the worth of the country, they made frequent voyages thither. They found the coasts inhabited by Malayan Moors, who had certainly established themselves there by conquest; but the original inhabitants still remain in the mountains, and are styled Beajus, which in the Malayan language signifies a wild man. The most authentic account of these people is the following, which was extracted from the papers of Father Antonio Ventimiglia, an Italian missionary. He was sent to Borneo from Macao, on board a Portuguese ship, converted great numbers to Christianity, and died on the island about the year 1691. The Beajus have no kings, but many little chiefs. Some are subject to the Moorish kings, and pay them tribute; but such as live far up the country are altogether independent, and live according to their own customs. They are generally very superstitious, and much addicted to augury. They do not adore idols; but their sacrifices of sweet wood and perfumes are offered to one God, who, they believe, rewards the just in heaven, and punishes the wicked in hell. They marry but one wife; and look upon any breach of conjugal faith, either in the man or woman, as a capital offence. The Beajus are naturally honest and industrious, and have a brotherly affection for one another. They have a notion of property, which yet does not render them covetous. They sow and cultivate their lands; but in the time of harvest, each reaps as much as will serve his family, and the rest belongs to the tribe in common; by which means they prevent necessity or disputes. With the Moors on the coasts the Portuguese for some time carried on a considerable trade, and at their request settled a factory there; which, however, was afterwards surprised and plundered by the Moors, who put most of

an island in the Baltic sea, to the south-east of the province of Schonen in Sweden. It is twenty-one miles in length, and above thirteen in breadth. It has three considerable towns, Rattum, Sandwick, and Nexia; with a great number of villages; and is fertile and populous. It was conquered by the Swedes in 1658: but the inhabitants, under the conduct of Jens Roegfods, voluntarily surrendered it to the king of Denmark, on account of the bad usage they received from the former. In 1678, a body of 5000 Swedish troops, in their passage from Pomerania to Sweden, being shipwrecked on this island, such of them as remained were made prisoners of war. The inhabitants defend the island by their own militia, without any expense to the crown. It was a short time in the hands of the British, who took it from the Danes in 1809. E. Long. 14. 36. N. Lat. 55. 15.