as representative of the Sultan, signed the document which conferred
this title and authority; but since he was not in any proper sense
Rajah of Sarawak, which in fact was not a raj, but a district hitherto
ruled or misruled by Bruni governors not bearing the title of Rajah,
this transaction cannot properly be described as an abdication by
Muda Hasim in favour of Brooke. Brooke accordingly felt that it was
desirable to secure from the Sultan himself a formal recognition of
his authority and title. To this end he visited the Sultan in the year
1842, and obtained from him the desired confirmation of the action of
his agent Muda Hasim. The way in which the raj of Sarawak has since
been extended, until it now comprises a territory of nearly 60,000
square miles (approximately equal to the area of England and Wales),
will be briefly described in a later chapter (XXII.).

The northern end of Borneo had long been a hunting-ground for slaves
for the nobles of Bruni and Sulu, whose Sultans claimed but did
not exercise the right to rule over it. In 1877 Mr. Alfred Dent,
a Shanghai merchant, induced the two Sultans to resign to him their
sovereign rights over this territory in return for a money payment. The
British North Borneo Company, which was formed for the commercial
development of it, necessarily undertook the task of pacification
and administration. In 1881 the company was granted a royal charter
by the British Government; and it now administers with success and a
fair prospect of continued commercial profit a territory which, with
the exception of a small area about the town of Bruni, includes all
of the island that had not been brought under the Dutch or Sarawak
flag. In 1888 Sarawak and British North Borneo were formally brought
under the protection of the British Government; but the territories
remained under the rule of the Rajah and of the company respectively,
except in regard to their foreign relations. In the year 1906 the