Golden Dreams Of Borneo

Dreams of Gold Dreams of Power These drove men and women to seek their fortune in Sarawak. They came from Britain to carve a future on virgin soil from China - to escape grinding poverty. They fought and traded, lived and died in the struggle to fulfil their dreams. Some lost their lives to bloodthirsty headhunters, or in the disease-ridden swamps and trackless jungles of the interior; some survived to make their fortune. Chinese, British, Malays rubbed shoulders with fearsome Sea Dayaks, and nomads in the hunter-gatherer stage of evolution. The Steam Age met the Stone Age in this exotic, untouched land. Cultures clashed in a multiracial society. Charles Brooke, enigmatic White Rajah of Sarawak, was a man of vision, a man with a mission to tame the natives first, then to protect them from exploitation. His dream was to take them gently towards modern civilisation, to bring them the rewards of self-development. He was paternalistic but loving, a truly benevolent despot. Dreams of Adventure Dreams of Romance Stephen Young, a young graduate, arrives in Sarawak in 1898. Seduced by its virgin beauty steaming jungle, majestic mountains and noble savages he stays. Erotic intrigue, passion, violence and warfare surround him. His goal is to survive these with his head and his heart intact.

A strong-willed journalist did not heed a Murut shaman's advice to conquer the unexplored, saucer-like forested mountain summit that sits in the middle of a 390 km remote nature paradise, better known as Maliau Basin (a.k.a. Sabah's Lost World), in the Eastern Sabah State of Malaysia Borneo. Before embarking on his quest, the journalist encountered unusual happenings and experienced strange events in very unlikely situations. He suspected these weird incidents had something to do with his plan to conquer the summit. He was also suspicious that the Tingkaayoh had kept many secrets away from him and did not like the idea that someone like him was about to reveal it to the world.

Power, passion, politics. The sleepy state of Sarawak is stirred up as never before by the arrival of Gerald McBryan. An unscrupulous adventurer, he soon has the Rajah and Ranee eating out of his hand. The eminence grise of Rajah Vyner, he forces through decisions that have shaped what Sarawak is today. Twilight of the White Rajahs is set in the Sarawak of the interwar and immediate postwar period. Vyner, like Henry VII of England, has inherited a tightly run ship of state. But his own playboy nature, the antics of his wife and most important his failure to produce a male heir, threaten the dynasty into which he was born. Outside forces also increase the pressure on his regime. War clouds in the Pacific and the South China Sea. The desire for self-determination. The bullying of the British Colonial Office. The turbulent wave of anti-cession created by the Rajah Muda, Peter Brooke. A war of hot tempers, cunning and deviousness ensued; a war that everyone was determined to win at all costs. Twilight of the White Rajahs recounts in fascinating detail the lives of the chief actors during this period. Twilight of the White Rajahs continues the saga of Golden Dreams of Borneo as the tough pioneering spirit of the 19th century gives way to the more sophisticated politics of the 20th.

Has White-Brown colonialism been replaced by Brown-Brown arrogance? How close are we to orangutans? This is Borneo as you've probably never imagined, full of curious people, startling happenings, and unexpected moments of humanity and introspection, giddiness and solemnity, avarice and ambition.

An account of the California Gold Rush, discussing the people and events involved and the effect of that gold discovery upon the future of California and the nation.