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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Untitled Article
? Job of genuine Christianity and coaaequentT civilization . They are become sensible * of-the disadvantages of ignorance of letters and ciphers , and are anxious for their acquirement . A chief * with whom I became acquainted anxiously wished to be able to put
his ideas on paper ; and though rather past the middle age of life , he acquired the art of writing very qmickly . I of course taught him the Roman characters , with the exception of those which I considered unnecessary , viz ., the C ,
aad the X ; * givi n g the broad or Teutonic pronunciation to the others , which , it may be remarked , agrees much better with ail the Oriental languages , than the softened pronunciation " adopted by the English . I never mentioned religion to him , except by
inquiring what his ideas were on the subject ; -but his cur iosity soon impelled him to seek information on the subject from me ; and I gratified it , by telling him what we believe according to Unitarian tenets ; and after sketching to him the history and contents of the Divine word , I took
occasion to contrast the reli g ion which represented God as love , and as a loving Father over all his works , with that of the ceremonious , bigoted , intolerant and bloody Mussulmen ; and with the ignorance of his countrymen , which made them fit to be the prey of any
delusion which might be introduced amongst them . I however acquainted him , thafr the greatest number of those people professing Christianity , held only a corrupted sort of it , being so corrupted by the remains of a flood of ignorance and anarchy , which overspread the world during the infancy of its establishment : the chief of
which was a tenet relative to the One God and his chosen Messenger , and gifts dispensed by . , similar to that of the Hindoos , from . whom , indeed , it appeared to have been taken by
superstitious men , who had professed Christianity without examining its real nature and design . His unprejudiced mind acknowledged the truth as soon as it was stated , and anxiously
Neither the ^ V . nor F is pronounced « * thsir language ; P being substituted # r . tjie Jatter . /
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inquired how it could be introduced into . Iris country . Pj<abljK h 4 d tine British Government kept a footing in the country , 1 should have endeavoured to follow up the impression which had been made , but I could not , under
the then existing circumstances , spare ticae from the ship I was building , to attend properly to it . Seeing I could not come to his country as he wished , he proposed to abandon his lands and villages , and bring his people , to the number of near 2000 persons , to where I was ; and there break up the
surrounding forest , settle , and conform to my directions in ail respects . The adjacent country did , indeed , offer abundance of . room , being a fertile plain for 15 miles round , with a noble river and safe harbour ; and no inhabitants besides the few people I had with me , who were native Javanese convicts . I was necessitated to
dissuade him from the execution of this design , until it should be seen whether the British government would re-oecupy the settlement , which I was then holding for them , and did continue to hold about 18 months after their departure . The Dutch government , in the
neighbouring settlement , however , became jealous of the good understand - ing subsisting between the natives and me y and being fearful * besides , that the British government would re-occupy so advantageous a situation , in a very few davs after my launching the
ship , sent about 500 troops with armed vessels , and took forcible possession of the place , without being able to assign any reason for such conduct > against which , therefore , I protested ; and soon after left the place , and came away with all the people I had with me , leaving tlje counJE&y to the Dutch as I found it , viz ., void .-of inhabitants .
My friend , the chieftain , had returned to his country with the intention '' bringing his two sons from thence , for the purpose of sending them to England with me ; but the t mbhs 6 bn
setting in earlier $ han usually happened , compelled ine to ^ feall from w hence without them . Tiie fotal , population of Borneo , doe , s not , prqbar jply * exceed three jmilUonsof souls , pnd When it is known , tl \ at . the , island is ; one of the most . bwlthy within the tropics , that it is in fact much naotc temtioraie
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^ uM&i ^ MvJn ® rh $ « &n Jiian d Borneo . 99
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1822, page 99, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2509/page/35/
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